JOHN DENNEY
(7th Great-Grandpa)

John Denney served in the Revolutionary War. He died fighting against the Loyalist in the Battle of Kings Mountain during the Revolutionary War (http://www.degrem.com/kingsmtn/index.htm). Kings Mountain is located in what is now South Carolina. In the late 1700's the North Carolina and South Carolina border was not certain. His death is attributed in North Carolina.

Historians consider the Battle of Kings Mountain to be the "turning point in the South" in America's War for Independence. The victory of Patriots over Loyalist troops destroyed the left wing of Cornwallis' army. The battle also effectively ended, at least temporarily, the British advance into North Carolina. Lord Cornwallis was forced to retreat from Charlotte into South Carolina to wait for reinforcements. The victory of the Overmountain Men allowed General Nathaniel Greene the opportunity to reorganize the American Army.

When British General Henry Clinton learned of his men's defeat at Kings Mountain, he is reported to have called it "the first link of a chain of evils" that he feared might lead to the collapse of the British plans to quash the Patriot rebellion. He was right. American forces went on to defeat the British at Cowpens. A little more than a year after Kings Mountain, George Washington accepted Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, Virginia. (http://www.co.cleveland.nc.us/battle_of_kings_mountain.htm) (http://www.tngenweb.org/revwar/kingsmountain.html)

(the following is from http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.com/~rdenney/john/n_0.htm#2)

Information on John Denney line provided to Richard F Denney by David W. Denney,Sr. Info was provided to him by Genealogist William Denney in Vancouver, WA.

Per Sylvester Denny's Book, John was killed in the Battle of Kings Mountain. There has been much discussion on this subject, supposedly there was a Denney killed at Kings Mountain but it may have been a Elijah. Michael Johnson, a descendant of John tells me that he called the Rangers at Kings Mountain National Park and they state that there were 28 American Revolutionary Soldiers killed there, John Denny was not recorded as such but there was a Elijah Denny.

Here are some comments from Michael Johnson: I called Kings Mountain again, and they have Elijah Denney fighting in the Kings mountain campaign, but not actually there. This is according to a book written by Dr. Bobby Moss Dr. Bobby Moss The Patriots of Kings Mountain and a second book called The Loyalist of Kings Mountain. Dr. Moss is still alive, and still doing research.

Now on to John Denney....He is not listed at Kings mountain, BUT he is listed as being in the Army, and as a possible combatant at the battle of Guilford courthouse, N.C. 3/15/1781 according to North Carolina Colonial Records book #22 page #112. ONE good thing is, there is still a place called Bull Run Creek

Here is some thoughts from Steven Denney on this Elijah: He gets listed as a member of many different battles and engagement's in various lists, sites, and publications. Most of these references to him come from apocryphal anecdotes and articles that are based on folklore rather than documentary evidence. I would like to make three points about the info in this note. First, I have only found evidence of one Elijah Denney having served in the Revolutionary War and that is the man in question here. He did serve two separate enlistments and some of his service time did take place in South Carolina. Here is a little of the info on Elijah Denney and my thoughts on his service in the war. There are no rosters for most of the original units that served in the Battle of King's Mountain that remain. Most of the units were scratch units called up by the various local commanders to meet the threat of Ferguson's thrust through the back country and were truly militia. Most of the units involved in the action were small and there was a group under Benjamin Cleveland that came from Wilkes County, which was Elijah Denney's home county during the war. As with most of the units, no official roster has survived from the battle for this unit.

Trish Carden's "King's Mountain Roster" page on the internet http://www.tcarden.com/tree/ensor/Kingsmountainroster shows Elijah Denney as a veteran of the battle. Her list is compiled from I suppose many sources, as she allows people to submit the names of their ancestors that were in the battle. Her web site states, " If you have an ancestor you know for certain fought at King's Mountain please contact, Trish Carden and I will add them to the list." Now I don't know what constitutes her criteria for proving that the ancestor was a vet, but she does not cite proof or references so it is hard to check out. I will E-mail her to see if Elijah's contributor submitted evidence. She does include the disclaimer about the evidence that she does not keep all the source notes as she should and that she can not vouch for much of the material. Her site does not even list what unit the individual was a member of so you can't even cross reference a likely point of origin for the person in question. Elijah Denney was quite a man, he did serve in the Revolutionary War, was an early Pioneer in Western NC and also an early settler in what is now Rockcastle County, Kentucky (in fact his farm was earlier part of Pulaski County, Kentucky and when Rockcastle was cut from it he lived almost just on the line. He can be found listed as a citizen of both counties.) He also lived to an old, old age, and was supposedly the last surviving Rev. Vet in Kentucky.
Now, I state emphatically that the Elijah Denney who is generally stated to have participated at the Battle of King's Mountain was not there, although some troops from his home county were. I have never seen any reference to any other Elijah Denney serving in the Revolutionary War, nor have I ever seen another Denney listed as dead at the Battle.

Now, here are some comments from William Denney on this subject of who, if anyone was killed at Kings Mountain I agree fully with Steven about Elijah Denny not dying at Kings Mountain. However, it could have been John Denny. Per family tradition, old Samuel Denny's son, John (born bef 1746?) died at the Battle of Kings Mountain and his family moved to Ohio. While this is possible, there's also a chance that this John died prior to 1780. (I once believed that this John died perhaps sometime between Nov 1778 and Nov 1779). Guy Carleton Denney in one place in his book on the Samuel Denny line stated that this John Denny died six months after the birth of his son William (Wm. was born 8 Nov., 1777). However, this death date is definitely too early, based on the following land records:

John Denny enters 300 acres of Land in Surry Co. lying on Bull Run, the waters of Tarrarat River including my Improvements for Complement. 13 November, 1778.

John Denny enters 100 acres of Land in Surry Co. on Bull Run including my Mill for Quantity. 13 November, 1778.

Nov 10, 1779, Ordered Michael Runnels overseer road in room of John Denny.

When I initially saw this last record I felt it was strong support for John's death date being prior to the Battle of Kings Mountain, since "in room of" indicates that the person had moved away, was no longer wanted in that position, or was deceased.

Furthermore, Joel Denny's letter (which has proven to be very accurate in most respects) says that John died on Bull Run Creek. (Note that John's two sons, William and Samuel remained in the Bull Run Creek area of Surry County, NC until they migrated to Gallia County, OH between 1806/1815.)

However, I now think it's just as likely that John was off to war and THAT resulted in the Nov 10, 1779 replacement of himself by Michael Runnels. If Draper got Elijah and John Denny confused, it may be that this John did die at Kings Mountain.