The following account is from the History of Edgefield County by John A. Chapman, 1897, with minor edits.

Samuel Hammond was born on the 21st of September, 1757, in Richmond County, Farnham's Parish, Virginia. He began his career of public service at an early age. In an expedition ordered out by Governor Dunmore against the Western Indians, he was a volunteer, and was in the desparate battle at the mouth of the Great Kenhawa River, fought by General Andrew Lewis, October 10, 1774.

When the troubles with the mother country began, he took the side of Independence - was made captain of a company of volunteers and was engaged in a battle at Great Bridge, near Norfolk, under Colonel Woodford in December of 1775. He also served in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with the Virginian troops, under Colonel Mathews, General Maxwell, and others.

In 1778, he volunteered as an Aide to General Hand and with him went to Pittsburg. In January of 1779, he removed with his father's family to the Edgefield District in South Carolina, and at once joined the army under Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, under orders of Gen. McIntosh, who had superceded Gen. Hand in Pennsylvania. The Virginia troops were about to return hom as their eighteen months' term had expired; but Hammond remained with Maj. Gen. Lincoln, as a captain, that having been his rank in Virginia as Gen. Hand's Aide.

On the second of February, he sas ordered by Gen. Andrew Williamson to raise a company of mounted volunteers to be attached to LeRoy Hammond's regiment. He did so, and on the 3rd of March 1779, he was commissioned by Governor Rutledge captain of company, and continued in that service until the surrender of Lincoln in May 1780 was known in the upper countryl.

Before the fall of Charleston, during Prevost's invasion, he had fought at the battle of Stono, under Col. Henderson and Col. Malmedy. At the siege of Savannah, these officers with their men made a gallant attack upon the left of the British lines. After the siege of Savannah, he continued under Gen. Williamson until the surrender of Gen. Lincoln at Charlestown, when Williamson with a great many other Whigs, accepted British protection as paroled prisoners; but Samuel Hammond did not.

Gen. Andrew Williamson was at Augusta, GA with a few South Carolina militia when Charlestown surrendered. Governor Howley, of Georgia, Colonel Clary, of Georgia, Colonel Dooly and several other officers, continental and militia, held a conference which Williamson attended. The convention entered into and agreed upon by the British and American commander at Charlestown, was presented by Williamson and was read by one of the governor's secretaries. Various plans were discussed, but nothing definite was agreed upon.

Governor Howley determined to retreat northward with such State papers as he could carry away, and Williamson determined to return to Whitehall [his plantation], near Ninety-Six. Colonels Dooly and Clarke promised Williamson to cooperate with him in any plan that might be adopted by the council at Whitehall for the defense of the lower part of the two States; or to retire with him to the North, if that should be the determination. These officers then retired to Wilkes County, GA, and Williamson to Whitehall.

Many of his officers were there assembled, and Samuel Hammond had high hopes, before the council met, that they would determine to move, without loss of time, northward, with all their forces they had assembled; to keep together; to increase their numbers; and to be ready, at all times, for offensive or defensive operations, until assistance could come from the main army.

Gen. Williamson had, then and there, three companies of regular infantry, raised by the State and enlisted for three years of the war. The officers were good; the troops well trained. Besides these there were present one hundred and fifty or two hundred unorganized men. Colonel Andrew Pickens, with his force - number not given - was halted about three miles below Ninety-Six. This was the situaton when the council met.

Gen. Williamson read the capitulation of Charlestown; made some comments; advised keeping together and retreating; but said that he would be governed by the determination a majority of the council should adopt. Samuel Hammond said that he was struck dumb on finding that not more than one officer of the staff, one field officer, and four or five captains were opposed to an immediate acceptance of the terms stipulated for the militia of the State by the Convention at Charlestown. It was now proposed and carried, to send a flag at once to Colonel Parris to notify him of their conclusion, and to settle the time, place, and manner of surrender.

Still Williamson persevered and again addressed the council and expressed a wish for a different conclusion; and proposed to ride, with any number of the officers present, to Col. Pickens' camp - a few miles distant - stating that he wished to consult with him and to address the men of his command. This was agreed to. Williamson talked with Pickens. The troops were then drawn up in a square, all mounted. Williamson then addressed them in spirited terms, stating that with his men alone he could drive all the British then in the District without difficulty. He then caused the capitualtion of Charlestown to be read. He again addressed them, and told them that they could safely retreat, and that he was sure they could soon return with force sufficient to keep the enemy confined to Charlestown.

He told them what they had already done, and what he hoped they would do. He concluded by putting the question to vote, and said: "My fellow citizens, all of you who are for going on with me on a retreat with arms in our hands, will you hold up your hands; and all who are for staying and accepting the terms made for you by General Lincoln will stand as you are." Two officers, Capt. McCall and Capt. McLidle, and three or four privates, held up their hands; all others stood as they were. He then put the question again with the same result.

Samuel Hammond, who was present at this conference, rode back with Gen. Williamson and his staff to Whitehall. That evening, in company with Bennett Crofton, adjutant of one of the regiments, he left Whitehall, determined to make their retreat and not acquiesce in the decision just arrived at.

Hammond and Crofton raised a company of sevent-six men, determined to seek assistance, or to die fighting as they were. Over half these men withdrew from Hammond in a short time and hid out; but they were afterwards captured by the British and sent to prison where many of them died. Hammond and thirty-two escaped to North Carolina. Concealing themselves all day and traveling all night, they passed the Saluda River and the Bush River, and were supplied by T. Harvey and Charles Moore, but still they could hear of no party of Whigs they could join.

Near the foot of the mountains, they came to the home of Calvin Joines, a good Whig. He was absent and Mrs. Jones was in great trouble, as she had been ill-treated that day and her house plundered by a party of Tories had taken the clothing of her children, her side saddle, and wantonly destroyed what they could not carry away. Mrs. Jones told Hammond that they were seventy or eighty in number. Hammond's small bank, thirty-five in all, determined to follow and chastise them. Mrs. Jones sent her little boy, a lad twelve or fourteen years of age, to guide them in their pursuit.

They followed the Tory trail and overtook them the next morning when they were at breakfast. Hammond and his men immediately charged, and they were in the midst of the Tory camp before they were aware of their approach. All the enemies' arms were taken, four were killed and eleven made prisoners, these released on parole. Mrs. Jones' valuables were all restored to her and she gladly supplied the Whigs with all refreshments in her power. They went on their way rejoicing, with a number of captured horses and a fine supply of ammunition and provisions.

A day or two after this, while broiling their bacon and eating parched corn for bread, they heard the sound of horses in a brisk march coming towards them. They had come within reach of the guns before they were discovered. On being hailed they answered, "Friends of America." "So are we, but let us know you. Men, stand to your arms." So they stood, both parties with their guns pointed at each other. Capt. Edward Hampton, from the other party, advanced with a flag. He was well known and received a cordial welcome from all of Hammond's men.

Both parties, actuated by the same motives, and moving in the same direction, were now happily united. Moving on together they soon came upon the trail of a party as numerous as their own, whom they supposed to be enemies. They determined to attack them. Hastening on they soon discovered a horse standing in the trail, a man lying on the ground fast asleep, but holding to the bridle. They surrounded him and hailed him, when he sprang up and boldly replied, "Friend to America, if I die for it." His name was Harris, and he said he belonged to Col. G. Clarke's command, which was not far ahead.

They joined Clarke the same evening and they now numbered over two hundred men. They moved on into North Carolina. Then they learned of other parties, who had left South Carolina moved by the same impulse as themselves: Sumter's, Williams' and Brandon's. They sent expresses to all these to let them known of their arrival and intentaions. They were here joined by Capt. McCall and Capt. Liddell of Col. Pickens' Regiment with a small detachment. Pickens himself, had laid down his arms, but he soon afterwards resumed them, when called upon by the British to bear arms against his countrymen.

Samuel Hammond was in active service from the beginning of the trouble until the evacuation of Charleston in December of 1782. His rank was that of Major. He was in the battle of Musgrove's Mills, from which place, having heard of the defeta of both Generals Gates and Sumter, he moved rapidly to Charlotte, NC. At Charlotte the prisoners taken from the British were delivered to him and conducted to Hillsborough. At Hillsborough he collected all the stragglers and refugees from LeRoy Hammond's regiment, and others who might come into service.

At Salisbury he formed a company and advertised for recruits; and collected a number, who formed part of Williams' command at Kings Mountain, in which battle some were killed and some severely wounded. After the battle of Kings Mountain he was joined by some from Ninety-Six, and with all the men under his command he marched into North Carolina, where he acted a short while under Colonel Davis. He was at the battle of Blackstocks with Sumter - he had a fight at Long Canes, near Ninety-Six. In the battle of Cowpens, on the 17th of January of 1781, he commanded, as Major, the left of the front line. From this time till the battle of Eutaw, he was actively engaged as a partisan. At the battle of Eutaw, on the 8th of September, he had the good fortune to distinguish himself.

After the war he settled in Savannah; and in Georgia he was honored with several important posts. He was Colonel in the war against the Creeks on the border; member of the Legislature; elected to Unites States Congress in 1802. In 1805, he was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson as Military and Civil Governor of Upper Louisiana (Missouri), where he remained until 1824.

In 1824, he returned to South Carolina, where he received a warm welcome; and in 1827, was elected Surveyor-General; and in 1831, Secretary of State. In 1835, being then old and infirm, he retired to his Varello farm, near Hamburg, SC, at which place he continued to reside until his death. He died on the 11th of September of 1842, in the 87th year of his age. He died on a Sunday.

On Monday, the 12th, the military of Hamburg were joined by those of Augusta, comprising the Clinck Riflemen and the Augusta Artillery Guard, all under the command of Samuel C. Wilson; together with the Masonic Lodges of Hamburg and Augusta, and the citizens of both places, formed a procession at the corner of Covington and Market streets, Joseph El. Gladding acting as marshal. Minute gunes were fired from the site of his old fort on Shultz's Hill by the artillery, while the procession followed the body of the deceased Veteran, with the solemn sounds of the muffled drums. When they arrived at the family burial ground, above Campbellton, the remains were lowered into the vault with Masonic honors, and a volley fired over it by the escorting infantry.

"It is remarkable," says his biographer, "that although so much of his early life was familiarized with battles and bloodshed, he preserved his natural gentleness and suavity of manner to the last - enlivening every circle where he went with his cheerful sallies of good humor." Dr. A.S. Hammond is the authority for the foregoing facts in the life of his father.