Amos Johnston Battle was born 1805 in Edgecombe County, NC, the 2nd of 10 known surviving children (6 boys, 4 girls) born to the prominent and wealthy mill owner, Col. Joel Battle (1779-1829) and his wife, Mary Palmer Johnston (1786-1866). Of note, his older brother, William Horn Battle, would become Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court.

He was the paternal grandson of William Battle (1751-1781) and Charity Horn/Horne of Edgecombe; and gr-grandson of Elisha Battle (1723-1799) who came to Edgecombe from Nansemond, VA and established the plantation "Cool Spring" in Edgecombe, marrying Elizabeth Ruth Sumner. He is a direct descendant of this family's patriarch, J. John Battle (ca. 1634-1691) of Yorkshire, England who with his brother Mathew Battle emigrated from England and settled on the Nansemond River in Virginia in 1654 with his family and a number of relatives and neighbors, among whom were Sumners, Hunters, and Bakers.

Amos was well educated for a man of his time and station. At age 23, traveling through the country on horseback, from North Carolina to his plantation in Florida, he stopped at a country church called Mount Zion in Georgia. It was there that he gave his heart to God, united with the Church and was baptized by the Rev. Jesse Mercer, founder of the Mercer University in Georgia. Three years later he was ordained to the ministry at a convention held with the Baptist Church at ‘Rogers' Cross Roads,' in Wake County, NC.

In 1830, the 25-year old married 19-year old Margaret Hearn Parker, daughter of Weeks Parker and Sabra Irwin Hearn of Tarboro. The couple would become parents of 9 known children: (6 sons, 4 daughters)
Caroline Parker Battle (1832-1873),
Ann Judson Battle (1834-1906),
James Thomas Battle (1836-1836),
Martha Louise Battle (1837-1921),
Walter Raleigh Battle, CSA (1839-1869),
Kate Johnston Battle (1842-1920),
George Boardman Battle, CSA (1845-1862),
Cullen Andrews Battle (1848-1908), and
Jesse Mercer Battle (1850-1914).

Amos would become pastor of the Baptist Church in Nashville, Nash Co, from 1838-39. For the next dozen years he would become instrumental in raising funds to build Wake Forest College and the Baptist Church in Raleigh. From Raleigh he would go to Wilmington, NC and pastor the First Baptist church there. Around 1844, he once again turned his attention to Baptist education, raising funds to establish the Chowan Baptist Female Academy in Murfreesboro, Hertford County.

Amos was one of the leaders in the Baptist State Convention, succeeding William Roles as Treasurer in 1836, and held the position until 1842. He was also Recording Secretary of the North Carolina Baptist Bible Society from 1837 to 1842, He was popular and public spirited. During the Mexican War he was chosen chaplain of the North Carolina Volunteer Regiment.

In 1843 he moved the family to Wilson, NC where he remained until his death and they opened the Battle Hotel, actually run by his wife and later managed by his son-in-law, Archibald Rhodes, who married daughter, Martha Louise Battle. When the Civil War came, Amos' two eldest sons -- Walter Raleigh Battle and George Boardman Battle -- both enlisted, even though George was only 16 years old. Amos tried to get George released from duty, but the young man protested and remained. George was killed June 6, 1862 in Richmond from wounds received at the Battle of Seven Pines. His father would travel by wagon to bring his son home. Walter was devastated by the loss of his brother; and although he survived the war, he died in 1869 at age 30.
[The Battle boys' letters were later published: Battle Brothers Press Release: "As You May Never See Us Again: The Civil War Letters of George and Walter Battle, 4th North Carolina Infantry."]

Rev. Amos Battle spent the last 20 years of his time traveling and preaching as an evangelist, sometimes in the eastern part of the State, and sometimes in the mountains. He was preaching at Rutherfordton when attacked with cancer near his right eye. Despite receiving the best medical attention of the day, he lingered for some weeks in painful agony, finally succumbing to the caner on September 24th, 1870. He was 65 years old.

His bride of 40 years would survive him another 17 years, moving to St. Louis, MO in 1878 with her sons Cullen and Jesse, and and daughter, Kate. She died there in 1887, just shy of her 76th birthday.

As for his surviving children, his daughters all married. Caroline Parker Battle married Dr. William Junius Bullock, Capt, CSA and removed to Pantego, Beaufort Co, NC where she was mother to 4 children before her death in 1873. Ann Judson Battle married Rev. Dr. William B. Harrell in 1851 and was mother to 10 children. She eventually moved to Dunn, Harnett County where she died in 1906. Martha Louise Battle remained in Wilson throughout her life, marrying first Archibald Green Rhodes, and after his death in 1870, marrying his brother, Blake Rhodes. She would become mother to 14 known children before her death in 1921. Kate Johnston Battle married Rev. Dr. Joseph Henry Foy of Wilmington and removed to St. Louis. She was mother of 5 known children and died in St. Louis in 1920.

Rev. Battle's only 2 surviving sons, Cullen and Jesse, both married and eventually went into business together and removed to St. Louis, MO where the flourished, founding Battle and Company Chemists' Corporation. Cullen married Ida Pugh of Kentucky and died and is buried in St. Louis. Jesse married Laura Elizabeth Lee of Clayton, Johnston Co, NC and had one child, Helen May "Nellie" Battle. His wife, Laura, was the author "Forget-me-Nots of the Civil War; A Romance, Containing Reminiscences and Original Letters of Two Confederate Soldiers.", published in St. Louis in 1909. This book contains the letters Jesse's older brothers, Walter and George Battle, written home during the war.
Cullen and Jesse Mercer Battle are buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.