John Alexander Lillington was born in Beaufort Precinct, North Carolina in the 1720s. A resident of New Hanover County, he held many public offices in the North Carolina colonial government. A colonel of the Wilmington District Minutemen, he led troops at the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge in 1776. After a brief term in the North Carolina Assembly, he was appointed a general of the North Carolina Militia in 1779. He died in New Hanover County in April 1786.