16 Facts About James Hogun

James Hogun was an Irish-American military officer who was as one of five generals from North Carolina to serve with the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

James Hogun participated in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown in 1777.

James Hogun was in command of North Carolina's line brigade during the siege of Charleston in the spring of 1780, which ended in the surrender of all but one of North Carolina's regiments of regular infantry as well as more than 5,000 Patriot soldiers under Major General Benjamin Lincoln.

James Hogun was the highest-ranking officer from North Carolina to be captured and imprisoned after the surrender of Charleston, and despite being offered the opportunity to leave internment under a parole that was generally extended to other captured Continental officers, he remained in a British prisoner-of-war camp near Charleston.

James Hogun likely chose imprisonment in order to prevent the British Army from recruiting Continental soldiers for its campaign in the West Indies.

James Hogun became ill and died in the prison on Haddrel's Point, a peninsula in Charleston's harbor.

James Hogun made his home near the modern-day community of Hobgood in Halifax County.

In 1774, James Hogun became a member of the Halifax County Committee of Safety, which indicated his rise to prominence since arriving in the colony 23 years prior.

James Hogun was forced to reprimand his officers sharply, threatening them with the loss of their commissions.

In 1778, James Hogun was given orders to assist in recruiting the so-called "additional regiments" requested by the Continental Congress from North Carolina, and afterwards was ordered to West Point with the first regiment so recruited.

James Hogun was not satisfied with this task, but his men lacked sufficient weapons to allow them to serve as a combat unit at that time.

James Hogun's promotion came about in part as a result of what Thomas Burke, a delegate to the Continental Congress from North Carolina, and a fellow Irishman, termed the "distinguished intrepidity" Hogun had exhibited at Germantown.

Sumner was promoted, but Clark was passed over in favor of James Hogun, who received the support of nine of the thirteen states.

Rather than allowing himself to be paroled, James Hogun requested he be taken prisoner, and was interned at the British prison camp at Haddrel's Point on Point Pleasant, located in what is Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, across from Sullivan's Island.

James Hogun's decision was based, in part, on his desire to stifle the recruiting efforts of the British, who sought to enlist captured Continental soldiers to serve in the British West Indies.

The elder James Hogun was one of twenty-two Patriot generals who perished during the American Revolutionary War, and one of twelve who died from disease or other non-combat causes.