Editor’s Note:
This article has been written by a team of Revolutionary War researchers, genealogists and local historians. For more information about Patriot Legacies contact Christy Martin at ccsmartin@hotmail.com.
Robert “Bobbie” Rhea was born on April 1, 1763, in Mecklenburg North Carolina. He was the son of Robert Campbell and Sara Elizabeth Bingham Rhea.
According to his pension application, he lived in the Mecklenburg area until he was about five years old then moved to South Carolina living within 90 miles of Charleston. Later he says he moved to Montgomery County, Virginia, now Wyeth Co.
Robert served in the Virginia militias as a private in Col. Isaac Campbell’s company, Col. Crockett’s regiment in Montgomery, Virginia in 1778. According to his pension application he enrolled at the lead mines at Austinville in Montgomery County Virginia.
The lead mines of Austinville were an extremely valuable resource for the patriot armies. The mines at Austinville that were run by enslaved persons, provided the lead for the muskets that armed the patriot militia and Continental Army. Tories tried to capture or infiltrate the area to take over the mines but were unsuccessful. As part of his service Robert Rhea was a part of the protective forces that guarded the area.
Robert says he aligned with other Whigs and killed and captured several Tories during this four-month campaign. After 10 days at home, he joined up again for another three months where he recalled again killing, capturing, and hanging one Torie. He says he again volunteered for another three months and his company assisted with the aftermath of the Battle of King’s Mountain. His service included capturing Tories all over North Carolina. He recalled serving in total for about two years.
After the war Robert married Mary Stephens in 1787 in Montgomery County Virginia. Mary was the daughter of Col. Jehu and Bethia Hall Shaw Stephens.
Robert and Mary were in what was then Knox County as early as 1790 before moving to what would become Blount County. His name appears on the tax list for Blount County in 1800.
Mary’s father, Jehu Stephens, appears to have moved to Monroe County or lived with the Rhea family. Accounts say he died in Blount County and is buried in Monroe County. Several of the Bingham family from Robert’s mother’s family, William, and John, also appeared to have lived with the Rhea’s in 1806.
In 1812, there appeared an announcement in the local newspaper announcing the sale of property of Robert Rhea at the courthouse “to satisfy the cost of judgement that William Tipton recovered against the said Rhea.” The property is listed as on the banks of the Little River. This William Tipton is likely patriot William Tipton who owned property in several areas of Blount County.
Robert was a teenager during the Revolutionary War making him young enough for further service. He served again in the War of 1812 for the Tennessee militia from January 1814 to July 1814. After his service he and wife Mary moved their family to what is now Happy Valley. Robert and Mary were the first to settle in what was called Rhea’s Valley for 40 years after they moved there.
In 1834 he applied for a pension in Knox County, stating that he was unaware of the process during the three months applications were taken in Blount County. He was granted a pension of $120 per year.
His name appears again on the 1840 census where there are seven individuals living in the household.
Robert and Mary Stephens Rhea had several children. They included son Luna who married Peggy Brooks and died in Missouri, Jehu Stephens Rhea who married Elizabeth Smith and died in Ohio, Dillan “Indie” Rhea who never married. Louis Rhea who married Martha Holloway and moved to Alabama, Singleton Rhea who married Mary Henry, Elizabeth Rhea who married James Wright, Bingham Rhea who married Ruthia (?) and moved to Polk County, and Mary Rhea who married Samuel Stillwell Harris and moved to Indiana.
Robert Rhea passed on Feb. 5, 1850. He is buried in the Chilhowee Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery. Mary Stephens Rhea passed Feb. 9, 1857, and is said to be buried there as well. Her grave is unmarked and there is no memorial for her.
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