The Rev. Thomas W. Woolsey was born in November 1719 in Bedford, Westchester County, N.Y. In 1771, at age 52, he and his family moved, along with several other Baptist families, to settle on the South Fork of the Holston River near the present-day town of Chilhowie, Va., in an area still known as Sinclair’s Bottom.
The other hardy pioneer Baptists for whom Woolsey served as pastor included the Bishops, Coles, Thomases, and Wheelers.
Soon after arriving, Woolsey established a Baptist meeting house at Riverside on the South Fork of the Holston River. St. Clair’s Bottom Baptist Church is perhaps the oldest church in Southwestern Virginia of any denomination.
While we are uncertain of the reasons for the migration of these Baptist families, it is almost certain their desire for religious liberty was part of their motivation in moving to the frontier.
Religious persecution
In much of Colonial America, Baptists, as well as those from other denominations, were forced to be part of the established Church of England. Baptist ministers were prohibited from preaching, conducting weddings, and performing baptisms.
Baptists were forced to attend the Anglican church, to have their children baptized as infants in that church, and to pay taxes to support the state church. Those who dissented or acted in opposition to the state church were often fined or imprisoned.
On the frontier, early Baptists found some freedom from this religious persecution.
Religious liberty
The call for liberty, including religious liberty, was at the core of America’s battle for independence from England.
Historically, Baptists have stood on strong theological and moral ground in their fight for religious liberty for all people. Religious liberty, in essence, is the right to worship or not worship God according to individual conscience. True worship can never be forced but must be freely given by the worshiper.
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Religious liberty deplores establishment by the state of any prescribed religion or religious test.
Fight for liberty
In 1780, near the end of America’s fight for liberty, the British were gaining ground in their southern advance from South Carolina into North Carolina under the command of British Major Patrick Ferguson.
When the call for patriots to check this advance went out, Rev. Woolsey, along with five Baptist laymen—Levi Bishop, Matthew Bishop, Capt. Joseph Cole, Hugh Cole, and James Pierce—became part of a group of over 1,000 patriots known as the Overmountain Men.
Col. William Campbell of Washington Co., Va., assembled volunteers from Southwestern Virginia on the Muster Grounds near Abingdon, Va.
On Oct. 7, 1780, the Overmountain Men, under the command of Col. Campbell, surprised the British, who were atop King’s Mountain, S.C., by attacking them from all sides and subduing them in only one hour.
“The results of the Battle of King’s Mountain were far reaching. Sir Henry Clinton aptly described the situation when he said it was ‘the first link of a chain of evils that followed each other in regular succession until they at last ended in the total loss of America’”*
Continuing the fight
While Rev. Thomas W. Woolsey and his fellow Baptist pioneers in Southwestern Virginia are not well-known today, it is clear they were patriots of the American Revolution as participants with the Overmountain Men in the fight for American liberty at King’s Mountain.
We must not easily surrender the liberties for which they fought. As Baptists, we must continue to guard religious liberty for all people.
We must fight against any establishment or favoritism on the part of our government for any religion or even for no religion at all. We must muster for religious liberty to ensure future generations continue to enjoy this fundamental freedom for all people.
Bill Bryan, pastor of Abingdon Baptist Church in Abingdon, Va., narrated the video that accompanies this transcript, which is published by permission of the Baptist General Association of Virginia. The video is part of a series produced by BGAV’s Religious Liberty Committee. Other videos in the series feature John Weatherford, John Leland and James Madison.
* William Cox, Battle of Kings Mountain Participants: October 7, 1780, reprint (Abingdon, VA: Historical Society of Washington County, VA, 1972), 8.
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