Charles Word

Life & Service

Charles Word was born between 1738 and 1740 to Charles Word Sr. and Sarah Collins in New Kent County, Virginia. He married Elizabeth Adams, and the couple had seven children between 1772 and 1779. Family history holds that Elizabeth was kin to Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and to Samuel Adams. Before 1777, Charles moved from Pittsylvania County, Virginia to Surry County, North Carolina, settling on the middle fork of the Ararat River at Bledsoe’s Creek.

At just 17 years old, Charles volunteered for military service during the French and Indian War, serving under then-Colonel George Washington with the Virginia Blues militia. He most likely accompanied Washington on the ill-fated 1755 expedition to capture Fort Duquesne, during which General Braddock was killed.

Charles’s brothers — Thomas, John, Peter, and Cuthbert — all served during the American Revolution as well. Charles, along with some or all of his brothers, fought under Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, for whom his grandson Benjamin Cleveland Word was later named. Charles was killed at the Battle of King’s Mountain on October 7, 1780. While lying mortally wounded on the battlefield, he began writing his will. His brother Cuthbert was captured by the British during the war and died aboard the prison ship Jersey.

Elizabeth later married Charles’s friend, Sergeant Richard Brooks Hooper, and the couple had seven more children together.