Part #1 This posting includes the surnames of BUFFINGTON, PHIFER, GREENE, CORNWALLIS, CURUTHERS, PHILLIPS, LYTLE, FROST, KIRKLAND, WASHINGTON, SAUNDERS, and SCOTT. Mill Sites in Simpsonville Township Rockingham Co. NC IRON WORKS Mill (site) is located on Troublesome Creek, NC State Road 2423, approximately 1.5 miles north of Monroeton. In operation as early as 1770. Speedwell Furnace at the Iron Works built in 1770 by an ironmaster Joseph BUFFINGTON of Rowan County, but a native of Chester County, Pennsylvania. On 14 March 1772, the property sold to John PHIFER of Mecklenburg Co. NC. This iron works probably supplied iron for the war effort during the Revolution. PHIFER sold this iron works in 1799 and before the end of the war it was burned by Tories. Toward the end of the Revolutionary War the Iron Works became a campsite for both the British and American Armies. Early in February 1781 General Nathaniel GREENE's army retreated through the area with Lord CORNWALLIS'army in pursuit. Rev. Eli W. CARUTHERS writing in 1856, stated that based on tradition he believed that CORNWALLIS' army camped at Speedwell Iron Works on March 13th. Rev. CARUTHERS was minister at nearby Speedwell Church fifty years after the Revolution, and probably heard stories related by some of the older folks living in the area. Tradition also states several British soldiers were buried on a hill near Speedwell Church, and that CORNWALLIS spent a night at what later was known as the Polly SCOTT Inn. An area militia officer Captain Abraham PHILLIPS, who lived several miles from the Iron Works on Rock House Creek, wrote in his journal "After the Battle General GREEN Retreated to the Iron Works and I went to him, he ordered me to go to Col. William WASHINGTON who then was stationed then within one mile of my house". From Captain Robert KIRKWOOD's diary we learn that on 16 March 1781 Colonel WASHINGTON and Captain KIRKWOOD marched from the Iron Works to James SAUNDERS farm. SAUNDERS' farm lay on Rock House Creek and Haw Branch about one mile north east of Captain PHILLIPS home. They camped at SAUNDERS' until the nineteenth when they marched toward Guilford Court House with Captain PHILLIPS as guide. During the Revolutionary War, North Carolina began to allow people to enter claims for vacant land, and many cases several years passed before these lands were granted. The Iron Works tract had reverted to the state during the war and on 16 March 1782, Col. Archibald LYTLE of Hillsboro entered a claim for the tract. On 5 January 1785, the 640 acre property was granted to Col. LYTLE who was a distinguished veteran of the NC Fourth Regiment. By May 1782, Col LYTLE and James FROST were in a lawsuit apparently over property lines. FROST had entered a claim for land east of the Iron Works and the court ordered the suit to be tried on the premises. The jury's verdict in the case is "unknown". To be continued...