Francis Nash

He led North Carolina's soldiers in the Philadelphia campaign, but was wounded at the Battle of Germantown on October 4, 1777, and died several days later.

There Francis started a law practice, and became a clerk of court in 1763,[4] a position which paid an annual stipend of £100 sterling.

[6] The Nash brothers also owned substantial property in the town, and established a mill on the Eno River,[5] while Francis invested in a local store.

[4][17] In September 1770, a group of Regulators took control of Hillsborough, forcing Nash and other public officials to flee for fear of bodily harm.

[18] Nash subsequently fought alongside Governor William Tryon in the Battle of Alamance against the Regulator militia.

[19] Governor Martin condemned the Provincial Congress as an extra-legal body not permitted to assemble and represent the people of North Carolina.

[20] In an attempt to quash its work, the Governor called the House of Burgesses to convene on April 5, 1775, but the Second North Carolina Provincial Congress met in a session several hours before the Assembly was set to open and many of the congressional delegates, including Nash, voted to support the work of the Continental and Provincial Congresses.

Later that year, the Provincial Congress appointed Nash lieutenant colonel of the 1st North Carolina Regiment under the command of then-colonel James Moore.

[4] Immediately prior to that engagement, Nash had been ordered by Major General Charles Lee, commander of the Southern Department, to relieve William Moultrie's South Carolina troops on Sullivan's Island, but the British assault prevented that relief.

Moultrie would go on to successfully defend the island from a much larger British force,[25] while Nash's unit guarded the unfinished rear of Fort Sullivan.

Initially, the North Carolina brigade was intended to serve in the Continental Army's reserve but Washington, out of a desire to defend his flank, ordered Nash into action.

[28] Nash was commanding a fighting retreat, slowly moving his unit backwards to stall the British advance, when he was mortally wounded by a cannonball that struck him in the hip and killed his horse.

[30] Nash was treated by Washington's personal physician, James Craik, who could not stem his bleeding, which was reported to have fully soaked through two mattresses.

In 1906, a stone arch was erected on the grounds of Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Nash's honor, but it was demolished in 1937.