William Washington William Washington ( February 28 , 1752 to March 6 , 1810 ) , was an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War , who held a final rank of Brigadier General in the newly created United States after the war . Primarily known as a commander of light dragoons , mounted troops under Washington ' s command engaged in a number of notable battles in the Carolinas during the campaigns of 1780 and 1781 . Before The War . Born in Stafford County , Virginia , he was the second son of Bailey Washington and Catherine ( née Storke ) Washington ( primary source evidence , including correspondence between George Washington and William , establishes the fact that they were second cousin s ) . William and his older brother , Henry , are said to have drawn straws to see who would get to join the Continental Army and who would stay home and manage the family plantations . William won . William Washington ( not to be confused with William " Augustine " Washington of Westmoreland County , Virginia ) was raised with a Southern planter upbringing and believed in the values of being a gentleman . He was tutored by Reverend Mr . Stuart who was a clergy from Virginia . William Washington learned the Greek language and studied several areas of theology for a potential career in the church . Instead of a career in the ministry he laid aside the Bible and took up arms against the British Government during the Revolutionary War . Revolutionary War . Washington was elected a Captain of Stafford County Minutemen on September 12 , 1775 , and became part of the 3rd Virginia Regiment , Continental Line on February 25 , 1776 , commanding its 7th Company . His lieutenant and second - in - command was future President of the United States James Monroe . Their first combat was the Battle of Harlem Heights on September 14 , 1776 , during which he may have been wounded by enemy musket fire . At the Battle of Trenton , under command of Nathanael Greene and after a night of scouting the countryside with Monroe to prevent detection , Washington led a successful assault into the town . His company drove in Hessian pickets , and seized two cannon on King Street , personally capturing their crews . Washington received wounds to both hands during the action and received thanks from Continental Army Commander - in - Chief George Washington . On January 27 , 1777 , Washington was promoted to the rank of Major and assigned to the newly created 4th Continental Light Dragoons . In the fall of 1778 , he was assigned to the 3rd Continental Light Dragoons , severely mauled in a surprise attack on the night of September 27 at Old Tappan , New Jersey , by a force of British light infantry . Only 55 of the lightly armed dragoons escaped the attack and their commander , Lt . Col . George Baylor , was wounded and captured . Washington was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and placed in command of the 3rd Light Dragoons on November 20 , 1778 . Washington ’ s unit spent the summer of 1779 recruiting and remounting , and on November 19 , 1779 , was transferred to the Southern theatre of war , and marched to join the army of Major General Benjamin Lincoln in Charleston , South Carolina . On March 10 , 1780 , Washington ’ s regiment joined forces with the remnants of the 1st Continental Light Dragoons at Bacon ' s Bridge , South Carolina , to reconnoiter and screen against the advancing British . On March 26 , his first encounter with the British Legion , under command of Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton , resulted in a minor victory near Rantowle ' s Bridge on the Stono River in South Carolina . Afterward on the Ashley River during the fight at Rutledge ’ s Plantation on March 26 , 1780 , Lt . Col . Washington again bested a detachment of Tarleton ’ s dragoons and infantry . Tarleton , however , attacked the encampment of General Isaac Huger at Monck ’ s Corner on the night of April 14 , 1780 , and routed the Continentals , including the 3rd Light Dragoons , which lost 15 dead , 17 wounded , and 100 dragoons captured , along with 83 horses . Washington and his remaining troops fled across the Santee River to escape capture . The severe attrition of Washington ' s command forced its amalgamation with the 1st Continental Light Dragoons under Lt . Col . Anthony Walton White . This force was again defeated at Lenud ’ s Ferry , waiting to cross the flooded Santee , on May 5 , 1780 . White was captured and Washington assumed command of the 1st - and - 3rd Dragoons . The force withdrew to North Carolina when Lincoln surrendered the southern army and Charleston on May 12 . The reconstituted Southern army , now under General Horatio Gates , was defeated at the Battle of Camden , South Carolina , on August 16 , 1780 , which opened up the South to British control . Gates was replaced by General Nathanael Greene who divided his army into two groups one of which was led by General Daniel Morgan and the other by himself . Washington was placed under the command of General Morgan where he participated in a series of raids in the western part of South Carolina . Two notable successes were the capture of Rugeley ' s Mill near Camden on December 4 , 1780 , and the defeat of a Tory partisan unit at Hammond ' s Old Store in the Little River District on December 27 , 1780 . At Rugeley ’ s Mill , Washington with 60 troops bluffed 112 Loyalists into surrendering a strongly fortified homestead without firing a shot by use of a " Quaker Gun " , mounting a felled tree trunk on wagon axles to resemble a cannon . At Hammond ’ s Store , Washington routed 250 Georgia Loyalists , killing or wounding 150 and capturing the rest . These successes led to Tarleton being ordered by Lord Cornwallis to chase down Morgan ' s " flying corps " , leading to the Battle of Cowpens on January 17 , 1781 . Morgan ' s battle plans called for Washington ' s group , 80 Continental dragoons and 45 mounted Georgia infantry , to serve as a defensive and offensive unit as the situation required . Washington ' s first encounter with the enemy involved the rescue of a South Carolina militia unit as it was reloading behind the front lines of Morgan ' s left flank and under attack by a unit of Tarleton ' s dragoons . Crushing the attackers , Washington regrouped and followed with an attack on Tarleton ' s left flank infantry . After repeated assaults by Washington they moved through the infantry and attacked a small artillery position behind Tarleton ' s front lines . With the main British infantry surrender and during Tarleton ' s retreat , Washington in close pursuit and finding himself somewhat isolated , was attacked by the British commander and two others . Washington managed to survive this assault and in the process wound Tarleton ’ s right hand with a sabre blow , while Tarleton creased Washington ’ s knee with a pistol shot that also wounded his horse . For his valor at Cowpens , Washington received a silver medal awarded by the Continental Congress executed under the direction of Thomas Jefferson . The unique silver medal was designed by French medallic artists Du Pre and De Vivier . ( A British version of this duel can be found under Chapter 33 Year 1781 . ) After the Battle of Cowpens , Washington ’ s dragoons assisted the retreat of General Nathanael Greene to Dan River in Virginia by rear guard actions against forces commanded by Lord Cornwallis . Afterward , Washington returned to North Carolina to act as vanguard for Greene ' s army . On April 25 , 1781 , at the Battle of Hobkirk ' s Hill , Greene was attacked by British Colonel Lord Rawdon . Ordered to attack Rawdon ’ s flank , Washington was unable to complete the maneuver while policing prisoners , forcing Greene to retreat . On September 8 , 1781 , the Battle of Eutaw Springs , the last major battle in the Carolinas , was Washington ' s final action . Midway through the battle , Greene ordered Washington to charge a portion of the British line positioned in a blackjack thicket along Eutaw Creek . The thicket proved impenetrable and British fire repulsed the mounted charges . During the last charge , Washington ’ s mount was shot out from under him , and he was pinned beneath his horse . He was bayoneted and taken prisoner , held under house arrest in the Charleston area for the remainder of the war . The British commander in the South , Lord Cornwallis , would later comment that “ there could be no more formidable antagonist in a charge , at the head of his cavalry , than Colonel William Washington . ” Post American Revolution . On April 21 , 1782 , Washington married Jane Elliott of Sandy Hill , South Carolina . Elliott and Washington met when she made his regiment a battle flag that was carried into combat from Cowpens to Eutaw Springs . After the war , the married couple settled near Charleston , South Carolina , on Sandy Hill plantation — originally owned by Jane Elliott — with ownership of other properties in the St . Paul Parish . In December 1782 , the new couple purchased a townhouse at 8 South Battery in Charleston . The couple took up farming ( a low - country planter ) and raising thoroughbred horses . Washington was elected to the State legislature from 1787 to 1804 but refused to run for State Governor because he , in his words , “ was not born a Carolinian . ” Washington also accepted a post of brigadier general commanding the Seventh Brigade of the South Carolina State Militia in 1794 . During the naval war with France in 1798 former President George Washington was appointed by President Adams ' Administration as commander of the American Army . George Washington offered a general ' s commission and staff position to William Washington , and he accepted the rank of Brigadier General and served on George Washington ’ s staff . He served the United States Army as a general from 1798 to June 15 , 1800 , and concerned himself with the defenses of South Carolina and Georgia . After a lingering illness , William Washington died on March 6 , 1810 , at the age of fifty eight . He was buried at Live Oak , a plantation near Sandy Hill . He was survived by his wife , a son , and a daughter . His daughter was married to General Alexander Spotswood , a grandson of Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood . In retrospect , William Washington is viewed as a fine officer and premier cavalry commander . He showed skill , bravery , and daring on the battlefield inspiring victory and confidence in the war of American Independence from the British Crown .