Joseph Winston

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Winston<ref>He held the ranks 1st Major, 2nd Major and Lt Col in the Surry County Regiment. See #Lewis for details, A DAR Chapter was named the Colonel Joseph Winston Chapter. Template:Cite web</ref> (June 17, 1746 – April 21, 1815) was an American pioneer, politician and American Revolutionary War hero from Surry County, North Carolina, and the first cousin of statesman and Virginia governor Patrick Henry. He also served in the United States House of Representatives and North Carolina Senate.<ref>Winston-Salem: A History, Frank Tursi, Published by John F. Blair, 1994 Template:ISBN</ref> In 1766, Winston moved to the northern part of Rowan County, North Carolina, the area which subsequently became the current Stokes County, North Carolina.

Early life

Joseph Winston was born on June 17, 1746, in Louisa County in the Colony of Virginia. His ancestors emigrated to the American colonies from Yorkshire, England, in the 17th century. His father was Samuel Winston. In his youth, he fought with the Virginia militia against border Indians in 1763 before moving to the Province of North Carolina in the late 1760s. He settled on the Town Fork of the Dan River in what was Surry County and later became Stokes County, North Carolina.<ref name='NCPedia'/>

Career

Before the war, he was elected a delegate to the North Carolina Provincial Congress in Hillsborough. He was a member of the Surry County Committee of Safety. In 1775, he was selected as a delegate from Surry County to the North Carolina Provincial Congress in Halifax in April 1776. He was the entry taker (register of deeds) for Surry County in 1778, where he assisted the Moravians in their Wachovia settlement.<ref name='NCPedia'/>

During the American Revolutionary War, he was a 2nd major and 1st major in the Surry County Regiment of the North Carolina militia, leading a unit of riflemen in several important battles, including the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, Battle of Kings Mountain and the Battle of Guilford Court House.<ref name='Lewis'>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name='NCPedia'/>

Winston later represented North Carolina as a U.S. Congressman and also served in the North Carolina Senate (1787-1789).<ref name='NCPedia'>Template:Cite web</ref>

Winston owned slaves.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Death

Monument to Major Joseph Winston, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

He is buried in the National Park at the site of the Battle of Guilford Court House, where a monument erected in 1893 notes Major Winston's command of the militia forces.<ref>A Memorial Volume of the Guilford Battle Ground Company, Organized May 6, 1887, at Greensboro, N.C., archive.org</ref> The town of Winston, North Carolina (which later became part of Winston-Salem), is named for him.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Congbio