Baldwin County (Georgia) Cemeteries

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Abner Hammond

Jan 25, 1762 - Jul 9, 1829

Cemetery: Memory Hill
West Side, Section E, Lot 36, Grave 9
-- See section's Lot Layout map on Memory Hill website. (Map will open in a new window.)

Inscription and Notes:

b. Farnham Parish, VA
on same stone as Sarah Hammond
Government Service.
Military Service: American Revolution
Secretary of State, 1811-1823.

Revolutionary War veteran Abner Hammond (1762-1829) served as Secretary of State from 1811-1823. At one time he left Milledgeville for the coast in an effort to improve his health. Governor Troup took advantage of this absence by trying to oust Hammond from his position as Secretary of State. Troup issued a proclamation declaring the office vacant and announced the appointment of another man to the position. The man that Hammond had left in charge of his office refused to vacate. So Governor Troup had the locks changed on the door to the office. Eventually, a judge ruled that Hammond had not abandoned his job and issued a writ forcing Governor Troup's man to return the office to Abner Hammond.

Background

Charles Hammond, a Revolutionary War soldier, and Elizabeth Steele had a daughter, Elizabeth, and four sons who served in the Revolution, including Abner, Charles, who was killed in the conflict, Leroy, and Samuel.[1]

Abner Hammond served as a Lieutenant and later a Captain in the South Carolina Troops. He raised a volunteer company and joined his brother Samuel at the Siege of Augusta. As a Lieutenant under Colonel William Candler, he fled from Richmond, South Carolina in 1780 and served until the Siege of Augusta in 1781. Colonel Candler later certified Hammond's Revolutionary War service, and he received a federal pension (W25753) and bounty land warrant (BL Wt3533-160-55).

Abner Hammond's first marriage was to Ann Jones. In 1803, he married Sarah Dudley who was born in Petersburg, Virginia in 1782.[2] Hammond served as Georgia's Secretary of State from 1811 to 1823. Milledgeville's Southern Recorder reported his 1829 death, noting that

"Col. Abner Hammond, an old Revolutionary patriot and formerly Secretary of State of Georgia, in returning from Milledgeville to his home on the opposite side of Fishing Creek, last Thursday afternoon, was drowned. The creek was much swollen by recent rains."[3]

Hammond was originally buried in the family cemetery along the banks of Fishing Creek.

© Friends of Baldwin County Cemeteries, Inc., 2000.

[1]. Roster of Revolutionary Soldiers in Georgia

[2]  Historic Memory Hilll Cemetery, Milledgeville, Georgia, 1804-1997, p. 340.

[3]. Southern Recorder (Milledgeville, Georgia) July 11, 1829.


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