Stokes County

The county was formed in 1789 from Surry County, and before 1770, it was part of Rowan County. It was named for John Stokes, an American Revolutionary War captain severely wounded when British Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s cavalry practically destroyed Col. Abraham Buford’s Virginia regiment in the Waxhaw’s region in 1780. After the war, Captain Stokes was appointed a judge of the United States district court for North Carolina. In 1849 the southern half of Stokes County became Forsyth County.