This article is scheduled to appear in Recall, the magazine of the North Carolina Military Historical Society, and is published here with permission.North Carolina formed Rutherford County (along with Lincoln County) in 1779, effectively abolishing the former Tryon County, named for previous Royal Governor William Tryon. Griffith Rutherford, one of the most prominent Revolutionary patriots in the state and namesake of the county, served on both the battlefield and in the legislature. Eight years later, in 1787, the county seat was established at Rutherfordton.