Career
General The first State Senator ever elected from Mecklenburg County, he served as the North Carolina State Senator from Mecklenburg County in the years 1778-1783, again, in the years 1787 and 1795, and, finally, from 1797-1800, dying in office. He commanded the battalion while fighting strategically against Loyalist (American Revolution) militia forces beside South Carolina patriot militia General Thomas Sumter at the Battle of Rocky Mount and later beside him victoriously against loyalist provisional units and militia while heavily outnumbered at the Battle of Hanging Rock. Irwin is reported to have been a signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.