 After Colonel William Caswell took over command of the regiment, they led the regiment in the Battle of Briar Creek in Georgia on March 3, 1779.When Lieutenant Colonel Henry Goodman resigned his position in the regiment due to illness, John was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel on July 30, 1779.When the North Carolina General Assembly created Wayne County from Dobbs County on November 2, 1779, John Sheppard was commissioned as a colonel of the newly created Wayne County Regiment of the North Carolina militia.