{{Infobox military person |name= Edward Buncombe |nickname = |birth_date= 1742 |death_date= {{death year and age|1778|1742}} |birth_place= [[Saint Kitts|St Christopher, West Indies]] |death_place= [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] |burial_place= [[Christ Church Burial Ground]], [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] |burial_label= Place of burial |burial_coordinates = <!--{{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}}--> |image= |caption= |allegiance=[[United States of America]] |branch= [[North Carolina]] militia, [[Continental Army]] |service_years= 1775-1778 |rank= [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] |unit= [[Edenton_District_Brigade#Tyrrell_County_Regiment|Tyrrell County Regiment]], [[5th North Carolina Regiment]] |commands = [[Edenton_District_Brigade#Tyrrell_County_Regiment|Tyrrell County Regiment]], [[5th North Carolina Regiment]] |battles= [[Battle of Brandywine Creek]], [[Battle of Germantown]] |awards= |spouse= Elizabeth Dawson Taylor |children = |relations = |other_work = |signature = |signature_size = |signature_alt = |website = <!--{{URL|example.com}}--> }} '''Edward Buncombe''' (1742–1778) was a plantation owner from the [[Province of North Carolina]] who served as a colonel in the North Carolina militia and [[Continental Army]] (the army of the [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriot]] side) in the [[American Revolutionary War]]. He is the namesake of [[Buncombe County, North Carolina|Buncombe County]] in western North Carolina. In 1820, his surname (in its status as the name of that county) became the source of the derogatory American slang term, "[[wikt:bunkum|bunkum]]" and its shortened form, "[[wikt:bunk|bunk]]" in consequence of the U.S. representative for the county, [[Felix Walker (American politician)|Felix Walker]], invoking the county during a poorly received speech delivered on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bunkum|title=Bunkum|website=wiktionary.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/buncombe-edward|title=Edward Buncombe|author=Lemmon, Sarah Mcculloh|year=1979|website=NCPEDIA|accessdate=December 17, 2019}}</ref>
==Biography== Buncombe was born in 1742 on the [[West Indies]] island of St. Christopher (today [[St. Kitts]]).<ref name=WNCH-Bunc-bio>WNC Heritage - A Collaborative Database. Col. Edward 8Buncombe. Web page.</ref> He grew up there and in England. He immigrated to North Carolina in 1768 and settled at a plantation he had inherited<ref name=WNCH-Bunc-bio/> near the shore of Albemarle Sound on the Atlantic coast, in what is now [[Washington County, North Carolina|Washington County]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMC1K|title=Waymark for Buncombe Hall, North Carolina Historical Marker B-23|accessdate=March 10, 2019}}</ref> In 1774, as the independence movement of the Thirteen Colonies gathered steam, he took a leading role in convening proindependence meetings, especially the [[North Carolina Provincial Congress|First Provincial Congress]],<ref name=WNCH-Bunc-bio/> which is reportedly the first assembly anywhere in the [[Thirteen Colonies]] to defy a royal governor.<ref name=killough>Killough, Patrick. Colonel Edward Buncombe, 1742-1778. Web page</ref><ref name='NCPedia'>{{cite web|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/buncombe-edward|title=Edward Buncombe|author=Lemmon, Sarah Mcculloh |year=1979|accessdate=March 10, 2019|website=NCPedia}}</ref>
Service record:<ref name='Lewis'>{{cite web |url=http://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/patriot_leaders_nc_edward_buncombe.html|title=The American Revolution in North Carolina, Edward Buncombe|author=Lewis, J.D.|accessdate=March 10, 2019}}</ref> *[[Edenton_District_Brigade#Tyrrell_County_Regiment|Tyrrell County Regiment]], North Carolina militia (1775-1777) *9/9/1775, a Colonel in the Tyrrell County Regiment of militia. *4/15/1776 until his death in May 1778, Colonel of the [[5th North Carolina Regiment]] *10/4/1777, captured at Germantown, POW in Philadelphia, paroled *May 1778, fell down a flight of stairs, reopened old wounds, died as a result.
He joined a local militia, the Tyrrell County Regiment of the [[North Carolina]] militia. The "[[North Carolina Provincial Congress#Fourth Provincial Congress|Halifax Assembly]]" elected him colonel of the 5th North Carolina Regiment<ref>NCGenWeb. North Carolina in the Revolutionary War. Roster of the 5th Regiment.</ref> of the [[Continental Army]] on April 15, 1776<ref name='Lewis'/> (three days after it had passed the historic [[Halifax Resolves]]). He was wounded and captured on October 4, 1777 at the [[Battle of Germantown]], fought several miles outside of the rebel capital of [[Philadelphia]], which the British had recently seized. The British army [[Parole#Prisoners of war|paroled]] him to that city. The following May 1778, Col. Buncombe fell down some stairs while sleepwalking and his wounds reopened, causing him to bleed to death.<ref name=WNCH-Bunc-bio/> He is buried in [[Christ Church, Philadelphia|Christ Church Burial Ground]] in Philadelphia.<ref>good-times.webshots.com. Photo of Edward Buncombe's gravestone.</ref>
Tax records of 1782 say that his estate included {{convert|2250|acre|km2}} of land and 10 Negroes.<ref name=killough/>
In 1791, the State of North Carolina created a new county from parts of two other counties and named it for Col. Buncombe. The present [[Buncombe County, North Carolina|Buncombe County]] is a combination of parts of the original one with parts of neighboring counties.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *Ashe, Samuel. 1905. A Biographical History of North Carolina. Vol. I. p. 198. *Powell, William S., editor. 1979. Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Volume 1. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
==External links== *[http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMC1K Photo of the waymark of Buncombe Hall, Col. Buncombe's manor.] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20081007013405/http://www.heritagewnc.org/people/buncombe_col_edward.htm Capsule biography of Col. Edward Buncombe] *[http://www.patrickkillough.com/ethics/buncombe.html Colonel Edward Buncombe, 1742-1778.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050507045815/http://www.patrickkillough.com/ethics/buncombe.html |date=2005-05-07 }} *[http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncrevwar/5thregimentar.htm Roster of the 5th Regiment]{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} *[http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2302515690011778759FdciWl Photo of Edward Buncombe's grave site] *[http://www.ushistory.org/tour/christ-church-burial-ground.htm USHistory.org. Christ Church Burial Ground]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Buncombe, Edward}} [[Category:1742 births]] [[Category:1778 deaths]] [[Category:North Carolina militiamen in the American Revolution]] [[Category:Continental Army officers from North Carolina]] [[Category:People from colonial North Carolina]] [[Category:People from Saint Kitts]] [[Category:Saint Kitts and Nevis people of British descent]] [[Category:Accidental deaths from falls in the United States]] [[Category:Deaths from bleeding]] [[Category:Accidental deaths in Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Burials at Christ Church (Philadelphia)]] [[Category:Buncombe County, North Carolina]] [[Category:United States military personnel killed in the American Revolutionary War]] [[Category:People from the British West Indies]]