The following information was taken from John Wesley Phillips book "Descendants of Rueben Phillips"

In 1776, William Phillips served under Colonel Locke and General Rutherford in a retaliatory strike against the Cherokees at Hiway in Tennessee.  General Rutherford led 1900 men across the mountains.  The casualties were buried at Third Creek Church.

On February 9, 1778 William Phillips filed for 100 acres of land on the headwaters of Dutch Second Creek next to Andrew Holtshouser, Wendle Miller, and Jesse Phillips in Rowan Co. N.C.

William appeared on the 1783 tax list of Rowan Co. N.C.

On October 25, 1786 William Phillips was granted 200 acres on Dutch Second Creek.

When the Phillips family split up in the late 1780's, William appears wither on the Mecklenburg Co. census or on the Wilkes Co. N.C. census in 1790.  William went west, settling first in Blount Co. TN and later in Overton Co. TN.