Evan Shelby
{{Short description|Colonial-era American General}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{distinguish|Evan Shelby Alexander}}
Evan Shelby (c. 1719 or 1720 – 4 December 1794) was a Welsh-American trapper and militia officer in the Washington District Regiment of the North Carolina militia on the frontier of the Southern colonies.
Early life
Evan Shelby was born in Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales, in 1720 (some sources give 1719). His father was also Evan Shelby; his mother was Catherine Davies Morgan. The family moved to the American colonies in about 1734, settling first in Pennsylvania, but later moving to Maryland. The younger Evan worked on a farm near Frederick, Maryland, named "Mountain of Wales".Paul W. Beasley, [http://ncpedia.org/biography/shelby-evan "Evan Shelby"] in William S. Powell, ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography (UNC Press 1996).
On the American frontier
File:Captain Joseph Martin payroll 1777.jpg, under the command of Colonel Evan Shelby of the Washington District Regiment, 1777. From the Lyman Draper Manuscripts, General Joseph Martin papers, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin.]]
Shelby served as a captain, scout, and surveyor in the French and Indian War, and was present at the fall of Fort Duquesne. In the 1770s, he built a fort, store, and trading station near the Virginia/North Carolina border, near present-day Bristol, Tennessee,Kevin T. Barksdale, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SJUfBgAAQBAJ&dq=Evan%20Shelby%20Franklin&pg=PA20 The Lost State of Franklin: America's First Secession] (University Press of Kentucky 2015): 20. {{ISBN|9780813150093}} which included perhaps the first distillery in the region.Kay Baker Gaston, [https://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/htallant/border/bs12/fr-gasto.htm "Tennessee Distilleries: Their Rise, Fall, and Re-emergence"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710145359/http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/htallant/border/bs12/fr-gasto.htm |date=10 July 2011 }} Border States: Journal of the Kentucky-Tennessee American Studies Association 12(1999). He led a militia group to the Kanawha River site of the Battle of Point Pleasant during Lord Dunmore's War.Samuel Gordon Heiskell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HuwTAAAAYAAJ&dq=Evan+Shelby&pg=PA230 Andrew Jackson and Early Tennessee History] (Ambrose Printing Company 1918): 230-235.
Military service record:{{cite web|url=http://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/patriot_leaders_nc_evan_shelby_sr.html|title=Evan Shelby, Sr.|accessdate=March 4, 2019|author=Lewis, J.D.}}
- Major in the Virginia Militia, 1775-1776
- Colonel in the Washington District Regiment of the North Carolina militia, 1776-1777
- Colonel in the Washington County Regiment of the North Carolina militia, 1777-1783
Shelby signed the Fincastle ResolutionsThad Tate, "The Fincastle Resolutions: Southwest Virginia's Commitment" Journal of the Roanoke Valley Historical Society IX (9)(1975). and actively supported the war for American independence, serving on a boycott committee and eventually taking the lead in defending Virginia's western frontier. He rose to the rank of colonel in 1777, in raids against the Chickamauga.Zella Armstrong, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XWEU0MaU87kC&dq=Evan%20Shelby%20Chickamauga&pg=PA27 The History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga, Tennessee] (Overmountain Press 1992): 27-28. {{ISBN|9780932807915}} In 1787, he became a brigadier general in western North Carolina, and was even elected governor of the State of Franklin, a post which he declined.Dave Foster, [https://books.google.com/books?id=oq2QKloMleEC&dq=Evan%20Shelby%20Franklin&pg=PA12 Franklin the Stillborn State: And the Sevier-Tipton Political Feud] (Overmountain Press 2006): 10-12. {{ISBN|9781570722592}}
Personal life
Shelby married twice; his first wife was Letitia Cox, with whom he was the parent of five sons and three daughters. Their son Isaac Shelby was later the governor of Kentucky. Letitia Cox Shelby died in 1777. There were three more children born into Evan Shelby's second marriage, to Isabella Elliot, in 1787.
Evan Shelby died in 1794, age 74. His current gravesite is in East Hill Cemetery in Bristol, Tennessee.[http://www.bristolhistoricalassociation.com/docs/East%20Hill%20Cemetery%20Brochure.pdf Historic East Hill Cemetery, Walking Tour Guide] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303214035/http://www.bristolhistoricalassociation.com/docs/East%20Hill%20Cemetery%20Brochure.pdf |date=3 March 2016 }} (pamphlet). The Shelby Family Papers are archived in the Library of Congress.Frank Tusa, [http://rs5.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2013/ms013008.pdf Shelby Family Papers: A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress] (Washington DC 2011).
There is a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution named for General Shelby, in Owensboro, Kentucky.{{Cite web |url=http://www.kentuckydar.org/chaptersites/generalevanshelby.html |title=Daughters of the American Revolution, General Evan Shelby Chapter, Owensboro, Kentucky. |access-date=15 April 2016 |archive-date=21 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421190852/http://www.kentuckydar.org/chaptersites/generalevanshelby.html |url-status=dead }} Another D. A. R. chapter is named for his first wife.[http://lamesa.californiadar.org/index.php/about-us/chapter-history Daughters of the American Revolution, Letitia Coxe Shelby Chapter, La Mesa, California.]
References
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Category:British emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies
Category:Signers of the Fincastle Resolutions
Category:18th-century Welsh people