Abstract:
Isham Blake of Fayetteville was born June 21, 1766. He served as General Marquis de Lafayette's fifer in 1779, and witnessed Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown in 1781. After the war, Blake married, fathered eight children, and was a successful mason. As a member of the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry, he served as a body guard when Lafayette returned to the area in 1825. Blake died in 1836.