Benjamin Hester was born in Louisa County, Virginia in about 1760. He volunteered as a private in the Granville County Regiment of the North Carolina Militia in 1778 and served in the New Levies. In 1779 he served in the North Carolina Light Dragoons on service in South Carolina under Col. Francois DeMalmedy. He then returned to the Granville Militia and was captured and paroled by the enemy during the fall of Charleston, South Carolina in May 1780. He served brief tours in both the Caswell and Orange County Regiments of the North Carolina Militia, as well as the Light Dragoons. In 1781 he served as a private in the 2nd NC Regiment of the Continental Line and served throughout the rest of the war. In 1832 he made a sworn affidavit in support of William Taburn's pension application attesting that he knew Taburn to be a Revolutionary soldier. He died sometime after 1835.