At the time of the war, the Turner family lived in Halifax County, Virginia.
When the War broke out, Turner’s son James became active in the Virginia militia and was soon a Captain. Captain Turner’s company went south and was in the sieges at Halifax County and Fort Ninety Six, and also fought in Pittsylvania County, North Carolina. Turner personally assisted the Patriots by riding as a courier, and she was unsuspecting to the British.
Eight of Turner’s descendants, her son and seven of her grandsons, fought in the battle of Guilford Courthouse. Her son Captain James Turner was gravely wounded at this battle. Word of this reached Turner, and she rushed on horseback through hostile lines to administer to her kin and others who had suffered injuries in the battle. When Turner reached her son, his thigh was completely shattered and the doctors wanted to amputate. Captain Turner refused and Turner nursed him back to health by boring holes in large tubs mounted to the rafters above him. The tubs were kept full of water and allowed to drip, continuously cleansing the wound. Captain Turner recovered.
A monument erected in her honor stands at the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro, North Carolina. Its granite base is crowned with the bronze figure of a woman clad in the costume of her time carrying in her hand the symbol of her ministry on the battlefield, a folded towel over her arm and a teacup and saucer in her hand.
Kerenhappuch Turner died approximately January 14, 1805, in Richmond County, North Carolina.