Samuel Caldwell was born in Orange County, N.C., on the 10th of February, 1759, and moved to Tryon county, afterward Lincoln, in 1772. He first entered the service in Captain Gowen’s company in 1776, and marched against the Cherokee Indians beyond the mountains. In 1779, he volunteered (in Captain William Chronicle’s company) in the “nine months service,” and joined General Lincoln’s army at Purysburg, S.C. In March, 1780, he joined Captain Isaac White’s company, and marched to King’s Mountain. In the battle which immediately followed, he and his brother, William actively participated. Shortly after this celebrated victory, he attached himself to Captain Montgomery’s company and was in the battle of the Cowpens, fought on the 17th of January, 1781. Soon afterward he marched to Guilford, and was in the battle fought there on the 15th of March, 1781. In the following fall, he substituted for Clement Nance, in Captain Lemmonds cavalry company in the regiment commanded by Col. Robert Smith and Major Joseph Graham.
At the Raft Swamp, they attacked and signally defeated a large body of Tories; and in two days afterward defeated a band of Tories on Alfred Moore’s plantation opposite Wilmington. On the next day, the same troops made a vigorous attack on the garrison, near the same place. After this service, he returned home and was frequently engaged in other minor but important military duties until the close of the war.
After the war, Captain Caldwell settled on a farm three miles southwest of Tuckaseege Ford where he raised a large family. He was a kind and obliging neighbor, attained a good old age, and is buried in the graveyard of Goshen church, Gaston county N.C.