After his father died in 1744, his mother married John Brandon, who eventually moved the family to Anson County, North Carolina Colony.
Locke was a member of the 1775 "Snow Campaign",[1] and in 1776, commanded the Rowan County Regiment of militia as part of the Light Horse Expedition (August – November 1776) led by General Rutherford against the Cherokee on the western frontier.
[1][3] Revolutionary War service:[4] On June 18, 1780, Rutherford learned that a large force of Loyalists, or "Tories," was assembling at Ramseur's Mill (near present-day Lincolnton).
[5] Rutherford began moving his troops in that direction, and on June 19, he sent orders to Lieutenant Colonel Locke and the other militia leaders in the region to call up their men.
[7] Locke and his second-in-command, Captain John Dickey, decided to attack early the next morning—without waiting for Rutherford's forces to join up—counting on the element of surprise to be to their advantage.
[8] Locke also was involved in engagements at Battle of Ninety-Six (November 1775); the Brier Creek expedition (1779); Colson's Mill (July 1780), and in Nathanael Greene's "Race to the Dan" (1782).