The Biographical Dictionary of America/Ashe, John

ASHE, John, soldier, was born in Grovely, Brunswick county, N. C, in 1720. He was sent as a representative to the colonial assembly and was speaker of the house from 1762 to 1765. He was a leader in opposing the stamp act, and at the head of an armed force he obliged the stamp master to resign. In 1771 he aided Governor Tryon in putting down the regulators. He soon after became a Whig, was an earnest patriot at the outbreak of the Revolution, and in 1775 led five hundred men, and aided in capturing and destroying Fort Johnson. He was one of the members of the first provincial congress of North Carolina, and for its defence he raised a regiment, providing them equipments at his own expense. In April, 1776, he was promoted brigadier-general and was assigned to the command of the Wilmington district. In 1778 he fought under General Lincoln in South Carolina. In the spring of 1779 he was sent with a force from Savannah to capture Augusta. Out on the march he was surprised and routed at Brier Creek by the British soldiers under General Prevost. He made his way to Wilmington, N. C. but in 1781 he was taken prisoner with his family. While in prison he contracted small-pox, from the effects of which he died, in Sampson county, N.C., Oct, 24, 1781.