REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIERS FROM SMYTH COUNTY
MEMORIAL PROJECT

      In 1994 the Smyth County Board of Supervisors authorized the placing on the Courthouse lawn of a monument honoring Smyth County's Revolutionary War soldiers and patriots. Many of the county's fine organizations and citizens at large enthusiastically supported the plan, both by written petition and word of mouth.

      The design of the monument is completed, and the names of 60 soldiers and patriots authenticated by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Washington, D.C.

      The projected cost of the monument was $10,600, of which the Royal Oak Chapter of DAR raised close to $7,000. The monument was ready for dedication by our veterans to their comrades in arms on July 4, 1997.

      Of all the states, Virginia was foremost in the American Revolution. Southwest Virginians responded to the battle cry for freedom with a commitment unmatched in the thirteen colonies. Our soldiers were the western pioneers -- frontier fighters who lived in constant danger of their own and their families' lives while forming a new nation from vast dark woodlands and formidable mountains.

      These western mountain patriot soldiers marched in September 1775 to Williamsburg to aid Patrick Henry in forcing Governor Dunmore to return the great store of gunpowder he had removed from the powder magazine in fear of the colonists. They fought the Battle of Guilford Courthouse and the savage Battle of King's Mountain, which Thomas Jefferson said "turned the tide of war in favor of the United States and led Cornwallis to remove to Yorktown and surrender." Many died or were terribly wounded.

      Will you help us honor these patriots? They gave their lives and all they owned for our freedom and independence. By erecting this monument, we show our county, state and nation that they are remembered in their home land forever.
 

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©2001-2007 Rhonda Smith