Background
He was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, though eventually moved with his parents to Rowan County, North Carolina.
United States representative politician
He was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, though eventually moved with his parents to Rowan County, North Carolina.
He was engaged in cotton and tobacco planting. He was commissioned captain in the Continental Army under Colonel Joseph McDowell in 1780, and at the Battle of Kings Mountain as major of the “Lincoln County Men”. He would eventually rise to the rank of brigadier general in the North Carolina militia.
During this time, he was appointed to the commission to establish the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
He was elected as a Federalist to the Sixth Congress in 1798, representing North Carolina"s 1st district. Dickson moved to Tennessee in 1803 and settled in that portion of Davidson County which subsequently became Rutherford County.
He died in Rutherford County, and is interred on his plantation northeast of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Dickson was elected clerk of the Lincoln County Court in 1781, and was a member of the North Carolina Senate from 1788 to 1795. He was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1807 to 1811, serving as speaker the last two years.