Locke settled a plantation near Salisbury, in Rowan County, in 1753, on 640 acres of land he had purchased from his step-father. He and his brother, Matthew Locke, ran a regional transportation company with several wagons based out of the plantation.[1]
On June 18, 1780, Rutherford learned that a large force of Loyalists, or "Tories," was assembling at Ramseur's Mill (near present-day Lincolnton).[5] Rutherford began moving his troops in that direction, and on June 19, he sent orders to Lieutenant Colonel Locke and the other militia leaders in the region to call up their men. Locke quickly gathered a force of 400 cavalry and infantry at Mountain Creek[6] about 16 miles (26 km) to the northeast of Lincolnton.[7] Locke and his second-in-command, Captain John Dickey, decided to attack early the next morning—without waiting for Rutherford's forces to join up—counting on the element of surprise to be to their advantage. The threat of expected additional reinforcements to the Tory force also compelled them to this action.[8]
The battle, in which muskets were sometimes used as clubs because of a lack of ammunition, was fought between "neighbors, near relations, and friends".[8][9] At first, the battle went Locke's way. When the battle turned against the Patriots, however, Locke ordered a retreat, but Dickey stubbornly refused to retreat from the superior force, and instead sought higher ground, and dug in. Following this, most of Locke's men returned to the battle, flanking the Tories. Dickey is credited with turning the tide of battle. The action delayed the Loyalists long enough for Rutherford's forward detachment to arrive and force the Loyalist surrender. The defeat so badly demoralized the mid-southern Loyalists that they could never organize again in that region.[8]