Joseph Hardin Sr.

Joseph Hardin Sr. (April 18, 1734 – July 4, 1801) was an Assemblyman (in the Provincial Congress) for the Province of North Carolina, and was a signatory of the Tryon Resolves.

Early in the War for Independence, as a member of the militia from Tryon County, Hardin fought the Cherokee allies of Britain along the western frontier.

Later in the war, having taken his family over the Appalachian Mountains to the Washington District[1] for safety against the advance of the Red Coats out of South Carolina, Hardin joined the Overmountain Men.

Following the peace with Britain, Hardin was a co-founder and second Speaker of the House for the State of Franklin; and an Assemblyman in the Southwest Territory before its statehood as Tennessee.

[2] He was older brother to Captain John Hardin (1736–1802) (noted as the hero who turned the tide of battle for the patriots at the Battle of Ramsour's Mill during the "Southern Campaign" of the Revolutionary War)[6][7] and Sarah Hardin, wife to Lt. Col. Frederick Hambright.

They moved to the 'Salisbury District' of the Province of North Carolina, settling in the newly formed Tryon County, where he became Justice of the Peace in 1772.

"Ben-two" and "Robert-two", as they were called, were both named after older brothers who had been lost in battle with Native Americans.

[8][9] During the period of 1784–1785, Hardin, John Sevier, and several others were instrumental in organizing the extra-legal State of Franklin.

Hardin took part in Rutherford's Cherokee Expedition into the Washington District late the following year, under Captain William Moore.

[14] Beginning in 1777, Hardin carried a captain's commission in Locke's 2nd Battalion of Volunteers (part of General Allen Jones' Halifax District Brigade) seeing action against Britain and its Native American allies.

As a major in the North Carolina militia, he raised a battalion of volunteers, the Wilkes County Regiment, in early 1779.

[15] After the cessation of the ground war with Britain (1783), Hardin, then living in the newly established Greene County, was promoted to colonel and appointed Commandant of the North Carolina Militia for "The Western Counties" (old Washington District)[13] due to the continuing hostilities with the Chickamauga.

Upon the arrival of the second group, the parties finally rejoined at Johnson Creek, near present-day Savannah, Tennessee.