About the year 1763, five of the great, great grandsons of Lord Douglas Kilgore (Kilgour), traveling with other Scotch and Irish immigrants, came to North America.  These five Kilgore brothers are thought to have settled in the northwestern part of North Carolina.  Some of them, at least, were married in Ireland before coming to America.  

All five of the Kilgore brothers fought in the Battle of King’s Mountain on October 7, 1780.  The battle, which was a victory for the Americans, was a major turning point in the Revolutionary War.

In the battle Hiram Kilgore was killed, Charles Kilgore was shot through the body, and Robert Kilgore was seriously wounded, but Charles and Robert both recovered.  Judge G. W. Kilgore stated “In an old history of the Battle of King’s Mountain is given with honorable mention the names of the said Kilgore brothers:  Charles, Hiram, Robert, William and James.”  

In 1773, Charles Kilgore settled in Washington County, Virginia.  (That location became Russell County in 1786, and in 1815, it became Scott County.)  Charles later moved his family to Green County, Tennessee where he owned 600 acres of land.  Following Charles’s injury at King’s Mountain, his wife and daughter Mary reportedly traveled by wagon to the site of the battle and brought Charles home to heal. 

According to a January 30, 1929 letter from Winfield Scott, Commissioner of the U. S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Pensions, “Charles Kilgore served in Captain James Dysart’s Company in Colonel William Campbell’s Virginia Regiment during the Revolution.  He was pensioned from April 28, 1809 on account of disability incurred in service, the nature of disability not stated.  In May 1820, he was living in Green County, Tennessee.  There are no further data relative to the soldier’s service and no data as to his family, due to the destruction of papers when the War Office was burned in 1814.” 

There is an interesting twist to the Kilgore genealogy.  Early DAR records stated that Charles Kilgore was married to Winnie Clayton.  However, the Virginia State DAR Registrar, a direct descendent of Charles’s brother Robert Kilgore, knew this was incorrect and she set out to prove it.  Charles was actually married to Martha McIlhaney.  The State Registrar proved that it was her ancestor, Robert Kilgore, who was married to Winnie Clayton. Robert was killed in an attack by Native Americans and Winnie, along with her children, then lived with Charles and Martha.  McClelland suggests that local records became confused by the two families living in the same household.  National DAR records have been corrected thanks to the work of the Virginia State Registrar.