Hammett Plantation and the Battle of Kettle Creek

My mother's mother, Roxanne Kathrine Jones (Hammett), (1905-1984), descended from Hammetts that were part of the American Revolutionary War in Georgia.  I learned this from my cousin Karen Hammett Cook today.  She has long pursued family history and she alerted me to this gem after I obtained what I believed to be new information on the Hopper branch of the Hammett lineage.  Here is the sequence.

Mark Stidham: Fama Stidham (Jones) (1928-2013): Roxanne Jones (Hammett)(1905-1984): Americus (Mack) Christopher Hammett (1870-1923): John Robert Hammett (1820-1873): James Hammett (1797- after 1860).  The connection with James Hammett who owned the track of land on which the Battle of Kettle creek was fought is not quite clear.  In research on the internet, I found reference to a James Hammett, orphan of Edward Hammett, who was adopted by James Hammett.  It could be that Edward had a son, James and a brother James.  His son James could have had a son named James (born 1797), this one being the bona fide member of my particular Hammett branch and the one who married Elizabeth Brooker in Green County, Georgia in 1813.

The Hammetts at the Battle of Kettle Creek (February 14, 1775) included William Hammett and two Hammett brothers who were casualties according to one account reference .  The accounts of the battle indicate more of skirmish.  Its fame derives from the outcome that British loyalists were defeated by the Patriot militiamen at a time the British were counting on their "southern strategy" to win the war by recruiting loyalists.  The British went on to control Charleston on May 17, 1780.  Many more British victories came in the summer.  But in October, Cornwallis stopped his advance toward North Carolina, falling back to South Carolina.

Hammett, James -  The 450 acre plat surveyed for James Hammett is found in Plat Book G, page 176.  The warrant for the survey was issued on December 22, 1783 by Benjamin Catching, Senior Justice, presiding at a Land Court held in Wilkes County. The survey was executed on January 14, 1784 by James Finley, D.S., and Samuel Creswell, C. Surveyor. The rectangular plat is bounded by Vacant on the east, Unknown on the north, Thomas Brown and Vacant on the west and Vacant on the south. Kettle Creek forms the property line on the southwest and south. A road is shown crossing Kettle Creek and entering the plat from the south. Soon after, the road forks and the eastern fork of the road is thought to have led to Karr’s Fort. This plat was the site of the Battle of Kettle Creek.  Patriot forces coming from Karr’s Fort discovered the British near War Hill, located just south of the fork in the road. A skirmish ensued and the British, once their commanding officer was killed, were driven back to the south, down the road and across Kettle Creek.

 from http://www.hiddenancestors.com/wilkesga/narrative.htm