Last revised: 06 Mar 2014
(22 Nov 1753 – 24 Jun 1849)
Ambrose Huffman was the seventh of nine children born to German immigrants, Johannes Henrich and Elizabeth Catherine (Schuster) Hofmann. They had five daughters and four sons. Ambrose Huffman was the only son to fight in the American Revolutionary War. He entered the Continental Army on 01 Jul 1780 as a Drafted Militiaman with the rank of Private. He was 26 years old and his term of service was for eighteen months. He was assigned to Captain Posey’s Company, 1st Virginia Regiment. Private Huffman was engaged in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on 15 Mar 1781 and also fought at Camden, New Jersey, where he received a wound to his left arm. He was subsequently transferred to Salisbury, Maryland for the remainder of the war.
He was discharged on 01 Jan 1782, after which he returned to Virginia and married Mary Railsback, the daughter of Thomas Railsback. they had eleven children, the first eight born in Virginia; Mary Frances, b. 30 Mar 1784; Armstead, b. 19 Jul 1785; Lucy, b. 02 Mar 1787; Allen, b. 16 Jan 1789; Edward, b. 10 Dec 1790; Barnett, b. 10 Nov 1792; Elam, b. 10 Sep 1794; Elizabeth, b. 26 Feb 1797. In September 1797, Ambrose and his family departed Virginia for Kentucky via the Cumberland Gap. Ambrose was the first of three Huffman brothers to settle in what is now called Barren County, Kentucky. In August of 1798, he received two hundred acres of “second rate” land in Green County (now Barren County). The land was obtained based upon an Act of Kentucky General Assembly passed in 1797. The Act encouraged settlers and granted relief from land payments in return for living on and improving the property. However, Ambrose Huffman did not receive any land under the Land Warrant Bounty System for services in the American Revolutionary War. After moving to Barren County, Ambrose and Mary Huffman had three additional sons: John, b. 29 May 1799; Henry, b. 14 Jul 1801; and Jesse H., b. 26 Oct 1803.
On 17 Sep 1832, in the Barren County Circuit Court, Ambrose Huffman was granted a Pension for his service during the Revolutionary War. He continued to live on the family farm until his death 24 Jun 1849. He died at the age of eighty-six, and he is buried in the Huffman family cemetery approximately one mile east of Nobob in Barren County. In 1933, the SAR conducted a ceremony and placed a military headstone there with inscribed information about the soldier.