SUMMERHILL'S IN THE MILITARY

Revolutionary War

MARYLAND

 The Maryland Militia was formed to protect Maryland but the men were
later sent south and into North Carolina and Georgia.  The Sixth
Maryland Regiment under Col. Otho Holland Williams and General
William Smallwood went south and fought in the Carolina Campaigns;
"Battle of Camden."  

James and Phillip served in Georgia under Elijah Clarke.

"There was a Revolutionary War in Georgia, fought along the coast and up
the Savannah River when the rest of the state was largely wilderness...There
were two encounters in which the state's revolutionaries could take pride; the
fight at Kettle Creek and the first siege of Fort Morris.  It was on Feb. 1, 1779
that Col. John Boyd camped his army of loyalist Tories on a hill on the north side
of Kettle Creek in Wilkes County, near the present town of Washington.
Early on Valentine's Day, separatist Whigs under ELIJAH CLARKE stormed the
hill and overran the loyalist camp, killing more than 100 men...and routing the rest.
It was a major victory - and virtually the only one - at arms for the Whigs in Georgia...."
                    ~Article - The Atlanta (GA) Constitution - July 3, 1995 by Jack Warner

Charles received compensation from the Continental Army in 1781,
Halifax Dist. NC.  (See copy)  He settled in Warren Co. NC where he died in
1793.  A record for William has not been found in Georgia and it's not known
if he, too, came with the militia south.   He's in St. Mary's Co.  MD records in
the 1790's and died there in 1808.

NORTH CAROLINA

Charles Summerhill - Halifax District North Carolina Received Fourteen Pounds, Twelve Shillings, Six Pence Augt. 28, 1781 - probably for services to the Continental Army.

GEORGIA

James and Phillip Summerhill came to Georgia in the Maryland Militia and served under
General Elijah Clark*.  On 14 Feb 1785, they each received a 287 1/2 acre Land
Warrant in Washington Co. GA., which they sold to Elijah Clark.  He accumulated an
enormous amount of land by purchasing Warrants other than the 1,000 acres he received
for his own service.  James and Phillip both returned to Maryland.  Phillip died in Charles Co.
MD in early 1791 and James migrated to Frederick Co. MD and on to Jefferson Co. KY
where he died between 1820 - 1830.

"At the close of hostilities with England, she (Georgia) rewarded her brave defenders with
substantial grants of land.  To encourage the rapid settlement of her territory, by the best class
of immigrants, she offered handsome inducements to the veterans of independence; and thousands,
availing themselves of this offer, took the mountain trails which led to Georgia.  Two large counties -
Franklin and Washington - carved out of the lands, then recently acquired by the Indians, were
sub-divided among the new comers, A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF WHOM WERE SOLDIERS
FROM OTHER STATES."
                                               ~"Georgia's Roster of The Revolution" by Knight

*"After the Revolution, Elijah Clarke and George Walton were typical political leaders.  Clarke was a
North Carolina frontiersman who came to Georgia with almost no material goods but with the
ability to suceed in the rough-and-tumble society of the frontier.  He was a leader in the severe
back-country fighting of the war years and a real force in postwar politics.  He was usually a
member of the assembly, often a member of the council, and a militia brigadier general in the
decade after the war.  Yet his biographer does not think that he ever learned to write even his
own name...Neither Clarke nor Walton would likely have risen to such important positions
so easily in colonial Georgia.  Truly, they were products of the Revolution.
                                ~"The American Revolution in Georgia"

(front)
Phillip Sommerhill Georgia Land Warrant - 14 Feb 1785
Received 287 1/2 acres in Washington Co. GA for military service.

(back)

Warn't
Philip Sommerhill
287 1/2 Acres
Bounty
Washington County
No. 3114
Your petitioner prays the within warrant to be
Renewed for franklin County in the name of
Elijah Clark
Phillip Sommerhill
To the worshipful Court of
Franklin Co
(can't read signature at bottom)

Phillip Sommerhill signed the back of the Land Warrant,
probably the same day, renewing the Warrant for Franklin Co. GA and
selling the 287 1/2 acres to Elijah Clark.  I  believe he sold because he
was returning to Maryland.

The above transaction was recorded in the Warrant Book thus:

"Georgia: By A Court of Justices of the County of Franklin To
John Goreham County Surveyor for said County -
You are hereby authorized and required to admeasure and lay out
unto Elijah Clark - A tract of land which shall contain Eleven hundred
& fifty acres in the said County of Franklin in lieu of four OB Warrents
in the Name of John Young Sen. John Young. Phillip Summerhill .&
John Ferguson....Taking special care that the same has not heretofore
been laid out to any person or persons and you are hereby directed and
required to record the platt of the same in your office and transmit a copy
thereof together with this warrant to the Surveyor General given under my
hand as Senior Justice of said Court this 2nd Day of May 1785.
Walker Richardson CFC"

(Copies made from the originals at the Georgia Archives in Nov 1992)

Some St. Mary's Co. Maryland militiamen who received warrants
the same day as James and Phillip were:
John Ferguson, Robert Brisco (James Summerhill later married Kate Brisco),
Edward Barber, Joseph Edwards, John Wood, Hezekiah & Matthew Burress,
John Young, Sen. & Jun., Joseph Stephens and others.

Construction of The White House
1790's

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith...."

II Timothy 4:7 King James Holy Bible

This site created and maintained by Aletha Summerhill Rogers.  Any published
or commercial use of the information on this site is strictly prohibited without prior permission.

"Honor our flag!"