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About Thomas Hamilton:

Revolutionary Soldiers Buried in Alabama By Annie R. White Mell Published by , 1904

THOMAS HAMILTON.
"Nor while the grass grows on the hill, and streams flow through the vale, May we forget our father's deeds or in their covenant fail."
Thomas Hamilton, one of the five children of David Hamilton and Margaret Carlisle, was born in Belfast, Ireland, April 9, 1758. Their family emigrated to America about 1762, landing in Virginia after a voyage of nearly three months. Upon their arrival, David Hamilton settled in Culpeper county, where he lived with one of his sons. Thomas Hamilton was married on the 28th of May, 1782, to Temperance Arnold, daughter of Benjamin Arnold and Ann Hendrick of South Carolina. During the Revolution, Benjamin Arnold, an old man, left South Carolina on account of the troubles resulting from the war, and carried his family for greater safety to Culpeper county, Va., where they became acquainted with Thomas Hamilton. After their marriage in 1782, they returned to the old home of Benjamin Arnold in South Carolina, where they settled upon a place between Andy creek on the east and Horse creek on the west in Greenville district. Here they lived until 1821, when they fnoved to Butler county, Ala., near Greenville, and remained there until 1826, when they moved to Lowndes county, ten miles south of Benton, where they both died. They are buried in Watkins cemetery, near Collirene, Lowndes county. Thomas died in August, 1844, aged 86, and his wife July 22, 1849, aged 87. The spot is marked by a marble obelisk, erected to the memory of the family. The following inscription, with no dates, is among others: "Thomas and Temperance Hamilton rest here." Thomas Hamilton was with Sumter but not in the regular army. He was at the battles of the Cowpens, Eutaw Springs and King's Mountain. He was in the brigade commanded by Colonel Campbell at the latter place. After his death in 1844, over sixty years after the Revolutionary war, few of the participants of that mighty struggle were left on earth. The citizens of Lowndes county asked permission to bury him with military honors.

This account was prepared by a descendant, Gordon Rives Catts, now a cadet at West Point. The name of Thomas Hamilton of Lowndes county, Ala., may be found in the Census of Pensioners for 1840.