Francis Nash

Francis Nash

Francis Nash was a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Prior to the war, he was a lawyer, public official, and politician in Hillsborough, North Carolina. He was heavily involved in opposing the Regulator movement, an uprising of settlers in the North Carolina piedmont between 1765 and 1771. Nash led North Carolina’s soldiers in the Philadelphia campaign, but was wounded at the Battle of Germantown on October 4, 1777.

About Francis Nash in brief

Summary Francis NashFrancis Nash was a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Prior to the war, he was a lawyer, public official, and politician in Hillsborough, North Carolina. He was heavily involved in opposing the Regulator movement, an uprising of settlers in the North Carolina piedmont between 1765 and 1771. Nash served as a delegate to the first three Patriot provincial congresses. 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. Nash was one of ten Patriot generals to die from wounds received in combat between 1775 and 1781. He is honored by several city and county names, including those of Nashville, Tennessee; Nashville, N.C.; and Nash County, N Carolina. Nash married Sarah Moore, the daughter of colonial jurist Maurice Moore, niece of James Moore, and sister of future United States Supreme Court Justice Alfred Moore. Sarah was the grandmother to American Civil War Confederate blockade runner James Iredell Waddell.

Francis Nash had two children out of wedlock, one of whom some scholars identify as a son also named Francis Nash, possibly born in 1770 or 1771, and may have been the father of Nashville barmaid Ruth Jackson. He also had two daughters: Ann, who died as a child, and Sarah, who went on to marry John Waddel, the son of North Carolina colonial soldier Hugh Waddall. He had two sons: Abner Nash, who later became a statesman in North Carolina, and Francis Nash the elder, who was elected to the colonial North Carolina General Assembly in 1773. Nash also had a daughter, Sarah Nash, and a son-in-law, John Nash, both of whom were elected to that body along with other North Carolinians. Nash died in 1781, and was buried in North Carolina County, where he was buried next to his wife Sarah Moore. Nash is buried in the Hillsborough section of Orange County, near the town of Childsburgh.