In the mean while, the action on the right (D), between the regiment

of Bose and the riflemen, and the legion infantry, was unremitting. The

portion of the British force thus engaged could not be brought to bear

upon the third line of the Americans, now well supported by Colonel

Washington at the head of his cavalry, and Captain Kirkwood with his

brave Delawares. Greene felt hopeful, and, riding along the lines,

exhorted his battalions to stand firm, and give the final blow which

would secure victory. Webster pressed forward over the ground lately

occupied by the Virginia militia (c) to attack the right wing of the

Continentals. There stood Colonel Gunby and Lieutenant-colonel Howard,

with the first Maryland regiment, ready to do battle. The British,

with great courage, rushed forward, and engaged in a close fire. The

Marylanders, nobly sustained by Howe s Virginia regiment and Kirkwood's

Delawares, received the shock so valiantly, that Webster recoiled and

fell back across a ravine, where, upon an elevation, he awaited the

arrival of the remainder of his line. Very soon Lieutenant-colonel

Stuart, with the first battalion of guards, followed by two other small

corps, swept across the open fields, and attacked the second Maryland

regiment, under Colonel Ford, which was supported by Captain Finley with

two six pounders. Colonel Williams expected to observe bravery on the

part of his second regiment, like that of the first, and hastened

toward it to combine his whole force in repelling the attack, but he was

disappointed. It gave way at the first shock, fled, and abandoned the

two field-pieces to the enemy. Stuart pursued, when Gunby, who had been

left free by the recession of Webster to the other side of the ravine,

wheeled upon him, and a very severe conflict ensued. Lieutenant-colonel

Washington, who was upon the flank of the Continentals, pressed forward

with his cavalry, and Stuart was soon compelled to give way. With sword

in hand, followed by his cavalry, and Howard and his infantry with fixed

bayonets, Washington furiously charged the British, and put them

to flight.* Stuart was slain by Captain Smith of the first Maryland

regiment, the two field-pieces were retaken, and great slaughter ensued.

The whole of Stuart's corps would have been killed or made prisoners,

had not Cornwallis, who came down from his post where the Salisbury road

enters the wood a little south of the court-house, ordered M'Leod

to draw up his artillery and pour grape-shot upon the pursuers. This

cannonade endangered friends as well as foes, for it was directed in the

face of the flying guards. It was effectual, however; and Washington and

Howard, perceiving two regiments of the enemy, one on the right, and the

other on the left, approaching, withdrew to the line of Continentals.

When Webster perceived the effect of Stuart's attack upon Ford, he

recrossed the ravine, and fell upon Hawes and Kirkwood. The 71st and 23d

(the two regiments discovered by Washington) were soon connected in the

center by O'Hara, who, though severely wounded, kept his horse, and,

rallying the remnant of the guards, filled up the interval between the

left and right wing. The fierce contest upon the British right still

continued, with some advantage to the enemy. Norton, believing Bose's

regiment sufficient to maintain the conflict, joined the 71st, in

preparation for a final blow upon the Continentals. Lee's legion

infantry and Campbell's riflemen immediately attacked Bose with new

vigor. Bose and his major, De Buy, fought gallantly, and by example

encouraged their men. Leaving Campbell to continue the contest, Lee

hastened, with his infantry, to rejoin his cavalry, whom he had left on

the flank with the Continentals. On his way, he found Norton with the

guards upon the eminence occupied by Lawson's brigade. He attacked

Norton, and driving him back upon Bose, withdrew with Campbell, and

joined the Continentals near the

* It was at this time that Francisco, a brave Virginian, cut down

eleven men in succession with his broadsword. One of the guards pinned

Francisco's leg to his horse with a bayonet. Forbearing to strike, he

assisted the assailant to draw his bayonet forth, when, with terrible

force, he brought down his broadsword, and cleft the poor fellow's head

to his shoulders! Horrible, indeed, were many of the events of that

battle; the recital will do no good, and I will forbear.

[[[End of die Battle.--Retreat of the Americans.--View of the Battle

ground.--Loss of the Combatants.]]]

{611}court-house. The flight of the North Carolinians, the retreat of

the second Maryland regiment, the scanty supply of ammunition, and the

junction of the two wings of the British army, convinced Greene that

there was no hope of success in a conflict with Webster, who was now

pressing forward in good order, with a prospect of speedily turning

the American right. He had resolved, before the battle, not to risk the

annihilation of his army, and he now determined to retreat before it

should be too late. Ordering the brave veteran Colonel Greene, with his

Virginia regiment, to take post in the rear, and cover a retreat, the

Americans withdrew in regular order, leaving their artillery behind, for

almost every horse had been slain.

[Illustration: 0621]

The 71st and 23d British regiments, supported by Tarleton's cavalry,

commenced a pursuit; but Cornwallis, unwilling to risk such a movement,

soon recalled them. * Thus ended the battle at Guilford Court House; a

battle, in its effects highly beneficial to the cause of the patriots,

though resulting in a nominal victory for the British army. Both of the

belligerents displayed consummate courage and skill, and the flight of

the North Carolinians from a very strong position is the only reproach

which either army deserved. It doubtless caused the loss of victory to

the Americans. Marshall justly observes, that "no battle in the course

of the war reflects more honor on the courage of the British troops

than that of Guilford." Greene had a much superior force, and was very

advantageously posted. The number of the Americans engaged in the action

was quite double that of the British. The battle lasted almost two

hours, and many brave men fell upon that field of carnage. *** The

British claimed the victory; it was victory at fearful cost and small

* Ramsay, Gordon, Marshall, Lee, &c.

** This view is from the eminence southwest of the site of old Guilford

Court House, near the junction of the roads running one north to

Bruce's Cross-roads, the other west to Salem. The log-house, partially

clap-boarded, seen on the right, was uninhabited. It stands near the

woods which intervene between Martinsville and the plantation of Mr.

Hotchkiss. In the distance, near the center, is seen Martinsville,

and between it and the foreground is the rolling vale, its undulations

furrowed by many gulleys. In an open field, on the left of the road,

seen in the hollow toward the left of the picture, was the fiercest part

of the battle, where Washington charged upon the guards. Upon the ridge

extending to the right, through the center of the picture, the seeond

line (Virginians) was posted. The fence running to the right from

Martinsville, down into the valley on the right, denotes the Salisbury

road. The snow was falling very fast when I made this sketch, and

distant objects were seen with great difficulty. Our point of view,

at the old log-house, is the extreme westerly boundary of the field of

controversy.

*** The British lost in killed and wounded over six hundred men, besides

officers. Colonel Stuart, of the guards, and Lieutenant O'Hara

(the general's brother), of the royal artillery, were killed.

Lieutenant-colonel Webster was severely wounded; so also were Captains

Schultz and Maynard, of the guards, and Captain Wilmouski and Ensign De

Trott, of the Hessian regiment. They all died of the wounds received in

the battle, during the march of the army to Wilmington. The whole

army deeply lamented the loss of Webster, for he was one of the most

efficient officers in the British serviee. He was the son of an eminent

physician in Edinburgh, and came to America with Cornwallis. During the

operations in New Jersey, in 1777, he was very active. In 1779, he had

charge of Fort La Fayette at Verplanck's Point, and sustained the attack

of General Robert Howe upon that post. He commanded the right wing in

the battle at Camden; and, as we have seen, bore a conspicuous part in

the pursuit of Greene previous to the battle in whieh he received his

death wound. Webster was buried near Elizabeth, on the Cape Fear River,

now Bladen county. Captains Goodrych, Maitland, Peter, Lord Douglas,

and Eichenbrocht, who were wounded, recovered. Among the wounded was

Adjutant Fox, a brother of the eminent statesman, Charles J. Fox.

*** The Americans lost in killed and wounded about three hundred of the

Continentals, and one hundred of the Virginia militia. Among the killed

was Major Anderson, of the Maryland line; and among the wounded were

Generals Stevens and Huger. Of the North Carolina militia, six were

killed and three wounded, and five hundred and fifty-two missing. Of the

Virginia militia, two hundred and ninety-four were missing. The missing,

"as is always the case with militia after a battle," according to Lee,

might be found "safe at their own firesides." By these desertions,

Greene's army suffered a greater diminution than that of the British,

whose loss in action was so much greater. They did not, however, desert

"by thousands," as the editor of the Pictorial History of England avers.

*** Events such as are generally overlooked by the historian, but

which exhibit a prominent trait in the character of the people of North

Carolina, occurred during this battle, and deserve great prominence in

a description of the gloomy picture, for they form a few touches of

radiant light in the midst of the somber coloring. While the roar of

cannon boomed over the country, groups of women, in the Buffalo and

Allamanee congregations, who were under the pastoral charge of Dr.

Caldwell, might have been seen engaged in common prayer to the God of

Hosts for his protection and aid; and in many places, the solitary voice

of a pious woman went up to the Divine Ear, with the earnest pleadings

of faith, for the success of the Americans. The battling hosts were

surrounded by a cordon of praying women during those dreadful hours of

contest!

[[[Effect of The Battle.--Withdrawal of Cornwallis.--Pursued by

Greene.--American Women at Prayer.]]]

{612}advantage. * In some degree, the line of the Scotch ballad might be

applied to the combatants,=

``"They baith did fight, they baith did beat, and baith did rin awa'."=

The Americans retreated in good order to the Reedy Fork, and crossed

that stream about three miles from the field of action. Tarrying a short

time to collect the stragglers, they retired to Speedwell's iron-works,

on Troublesome Creek, ten miles distant from Guilford Cornwallis

remained upon the battle-ground that night, burying the dead. The

next morning he proceeded as far as New Garden meeting-house. On the

eighteenth,[[March 1781]] he issued a proclamation boasting of his

complete victory, calling upon the Loyalists to join him in restoring

good government, and offering pardon to the rebels. Had he remained,

this proclamation might have given confidence to the Tories, but the

very next day[[March 19]] he decamped, leaving behind him between

seventy and eighty wounded British officers and soldiers in the New

Garden meeting-house, which he used for a hospital. He also left behind

him all the American prisoners who were wounded, and retreated as

speedily as possible southward, toward Cross Creek (Fayetteville),

evidently afraid that Greene would rally his forces and attack him.

Greene, supposing the earl would advance, had made preparations to

confront him; as soon as he was informed of his retreat, he eagerly

commenced a pursuit,[[March 20]] after writing a letter to the Quakers

at New Garden, desiring them to take care of the sick and wounded of

both parties. Notwithstanding heavy rains and wretched roads, Greene

pressed after his lordship with great alacrity, as far as Ramsay's

Mills, on the Deep River, in Chatham county. On the way, frequent

skirmishes occurred between the light troops of the two armies, and

Greene arrived at the earl's encampment, on the Deep River, only a few

hours after Cornwallis had left it.

* This victory of Cornwallis was considered by many British statesmen

equivalent to a defeat. In the Parliament, the intelligence of the

battle produced a great sensation. Ministers were dissatisfied, and

the opposition had a theme for just denunciation against the policy of

government. Fox moved in committee, "That his Majesty's ministers ought

immediately to take every possible measure for concluding peace "with

our American colonies and in the course of an animated debate, he

declared, "Another sueh victory will ruin the British army." William

Pitt, the successor of his father, the Earl of Chatham, inveighed

eloquently against a further prosecution of the war. He averred that it

was "wicked, barbarous, unjust, and diabolical--conceived in injustice,

nurtured in folly--a monstrous thing that contained every characteristic

of moral depravity and human turpitude--as mischievous to the unhappy

people of England as to the Americans." Fox's motion was rejected by one

hundred and seventy-two against ninety-nine.

[[[Cornwallis's March to Wilmington.--Pursued by Green.--Greene's

Approach to Camden.--New Garden Meeting-house.]]]

{613}Before leaving Winnsborough, Cornwallis sent an order to

Lieutenant-colonel Balfour, who commanded at Charleston, to dispatch a

competent force by water to Wilmington, to hold that post as a depot for

supplies for the royal army in North Carolina. Balfour detached Major

Craig upon that service, who drove the American militia from Wilmington,

and took possession of it on the same day when General Davidson was

killed at Cowan's Ford.

[Illustration: 9623]

After the battle at Guilford Court House, Cornwallis, observing the

backwardness of the Loyalists in that vicinity, and the scarcity of

provisions, determined to fall back to Cross Creek, where, he knew, had

been a population of loyal Scotchmen, and there make his head-quarters,

not doubting that his army could be easily supplied with stores, by

water, from Major Craig at Wilmington. In these expectations the earl

was bitterly disappointed. The Loyalists were comparatively few, a

large portion having been changed to either active or passive Whigs;

provisions were very scarce, and no communication could be had

with Major Craig. Greene was in eager pursuit, and the earl had no

alternative but to continue his march to Wilmington. This he performed

along the southwestern side of the Cape Fear, and arrived at Wilmington

on the seventh of April.[[1781]] He had got so much the start of Greene,

that the latter relinquished pursuit at Ramsay's Mills,[[March 28]]

where he resolved to allow his troops to repose and recruit, as far as

circumstances would allow. Greene dismissed all of the militia except a

few North Carolinians, yet he could not afford his army such comforts as

he desired. *

At the suggestion of Lieutenant-colonel Lee, Greene resolved to march

back into South Carolina and take post at Camden with the main army,

while the light troops should join Marion on the Pedee, and beat up

all the British posts between Camden and Ninety-Six, and Charleston.

Pursuant to this plan, he left Ramsay's and marched toward Camden, to

confront Lord Rawdon, then in command there. Cornwallis, as we have

already noticed in chapter xxi., soon afterward marched into Virginia,

while Greene and his brave partisan allies of the South regained all

that had been lost in previous conflicts.

Let us here leave the two commanders and their armies for a time, and

resume our journey toward King's Mountain and the Cowpens. We shall

meet them both frequently, in our future journeys in the Carolinas and

Georgia.

I left the Guilford battle-ground and the hospitable cottage of Mr.

Hotchkiss, at noon, the snow falling fast. At four miles distant, on the

Salisbury road, I reached the venerable New Garden meeting-house, yet

standing within the stately oak forest where Lee and Tarleton met. It

is a frame building with a brick foundation. It was meeting-day, and the

congregation were yet in session. Tying Charley to a drooping branch,

I entered softly. A larger number than is usually present at "week-day

meetings" had congregated, for a young man of the sect from Randolph

county, thirty miles distant, and a young woman of Guilford, had

signified their intentions to declare themselves publicly, on that day,

man and wife. They had just risen before the elders and people when

I glided into a seat near the door, and with a trembling voice

the bridegroom had begun the expression of the marriage vow. His

weather-bronzed features betokened the man of toil in the fields, and

strongly contrasted with the blonde and delicate face, and slender form

of her who, with the downcast eyes of modesty, heard his pledge of love

and protection, and was summoning

* "No magazines were opened for our accommodation." says Lee in his

Memoirs; "rest to our wearied limbs was the only boon within his gift.

Our tattered garments could not be exchanged; nor could our worn out

shoes be replaced. The exhilarating cordial was not within his reach,

nor wholesome provision in abundance within his grasp. The meager beef

of the pine barrens, with corn ash-cakes, was our food, and water

our drink; yet we were content; we were more than content--we were

happy."--Page 189.

[[[Quaker Marriage.--A Centenarian Preacher.--His

Blessing.--Jamestown.--Ridge Roads.]]]

{614}all her energy to make her kindred response. I had often observed

the simple marriage ceremony of the Quakers, but never before did

the beauty of that ritual appear so marked with the sublimity of pure

simplicity. *

At the close of the meeting, I learned from one of the elders that a

Friend's boarding-school was near, and, led by curiosity, I visited it.

The building is of brick, spacious, and well arranged. It was under the

superintendence of Thomas Hunt, a son of Nathan Hunt, an eminent Quaker

preacher. An incidental remark concerning my relationship with Quakers,

made while conversing with the wife of the superintendent, caused her to

inquire whether I had ever heard of her father-in-law. I replied in the

affirmative, having heard him preach when I was a boy, and expressed the

supposition that he had long ago gone to his rest. "Oh no," she replied,

"he is in the adjoining room," and leading the way, I was introduced to

the patriarch of ninety-one years, whose voice, still vigorous, I had

listened to when I was a lad of twelve years. He remembered well when

the New Garden meeting-house was built, and resided in the neighborhood

when the wounded and dying, from the field of Guilford, were brought

there. Although physical infirmities were weighing heavily upon him, his

mind appeared clear and elastic. When I was about departing, and pressed

his hand with an adieu, he placed the other upon my head and said,

"Farewell! God's peace go with thee!" I felt as if I had received the

blessing of a patriarch indeed; and for days afterward, when fording

dangerous streams and traversing rough mountain roads, that uttered

blessing was in my mind, and seemed like a guardian angel about my path.

Gloomy unbelief may deride, and thoughtless levity may laugh in ridicule

at such an intimation, but all the philosophy of the schools could

not give me such exquisite feelings of security in the hands of a kind

Providence as that old man's blessing imparted.

The storm yet continued, and the kind matron of the school gave me a

cordial invitation to remain there until it should cease; but, anxious

to complete my journey, I rode on to Jamestown, an old village situated

upon the high southwestern bank of the Deep River, nine miles from

New Garden meeting-house, and thirteen miles above Bell's Mills, where

Cornwallis had his encampment before the Guilford battle. The country

through which I had passed from Guilford was very broken, and I did not

reach Jamestown until sunset. It is chiefly inhabited by Quakers, the

most of them originally from Nantucket and vicinity; and as they do not

own slaves, nor employ slave labor, except when a servant is working to

purchase his freedom, the land and the dwellings presented an aspect of

thrift not visible in most of the agricultural districts in the upper

country of the Carolinas.

I passed the night at Jamestown, and early in the morning departed for

the Yadkin. Snow was yet falling gently, and it laid three inches deep

upon the ground; a greater quantity than had fallen at one time, in that

section, for five years. Fortunately, my route from thence to Lexington,

in Davidson county, a distance of twenty miles, was upon a fine ridge

road ** a greater portion of the way, and the snow produced but little

inconvenience. Toward noon, the clouds broke, and before I reached

Lexington (a small village on the west

* The marriage ceremony of the Quakers is very simple. The parties give

notice at a monthly meeting of the society that on a certain day they

intend to enter into the holy estate of matrimony. On the day appointed,

they, with their friends, repair to the meeting-house, where they arise

before the whole congregation and say, the bridegroom first, "I, A B,

do take thee, C D, to be my wedded wife, and promise, through Divine

assistance, to be unto thee a loving husband, until separated by death."

The bride then repeats the same, only changing the person. A certificate

of the marriage is then read by a person appointed for the purpose,

and is signed by as many present as may choose to do so. These simple

proceedings compose the whole marriage ceremony, which is as binding in

the sight of God and man as the most elaborate formalities of priest or

magistrate. The groomsman and bridesmaid are called waiters among the

Quakers of New Garden.

** These ridge roads, or rather ridges upon which they are constructed,

are curious features in the upper country of the Carolinas. Although the

whole country is hilly upon every side, these roads may be traveled

a score of miles, sometimes, with hardly ten feet of variation from a

continuous level. The ridges are of sand, and continue, unbroken by the

ravines which cleave the hills in all directions for miles, upon almost

a uniform level. The roads following their summits are exceedingly

sinuous, but being level and hard, the greater distance is more easily

accomplished than if they were constructed in straight lines over the

hills. The country has the appearance of vast waves of the sea suddenly

turned into sand.

[[[Journey to the Yadkin.--Salisbury.--A Night with a Cotton-planter

near Concord]]]

{615}side of Abbott's Creek, a tributary of the Yadkin), at half past

two in the afternoon, not a flake of snow remained. Charley and I had

already lunched by the margin of a little stream, so I drove through

the village without halting, hoping to reach Salisbury, sixteen miles

distant, by twilight. I was disappointed; for the red clay roads

prevailed, and I only reached the house of a small planter, within a

mile of the east bank of the Yadkin, just as the twilight gave place to

the splendors of a full moon and myriads of stars in a cloudless sky.

From the proprietor I learned that the Trading Ford, where Greene and

Morgan crossed when pursued by Cornwallis, was only a mile distant. As I

could not pass it on my way to Salisbury in the morning, I arose at four

o'clock, gave Charley his breakfast, and at earliest dawn stood upon the

eastern shore of the Yadkin, and made the sketch printed upon page 601.

The air was frosty, the pools were bridged with ice, and before the

sketch was finished, my benumbed fingers were disposed to drop the

pencil. I remained at the ford until the east was all aglow with

the radiance of the rising sun, when I walked back, partook of some

corn-bread, muddy coffee, and spare-ribs, and at eight o'clock crossed

the Yadkin at the great bridge, on the Salisbury road. * The river is

there about three hundred yards wide, and was considerably swollen

from the melting of the recent snows. Its volume of turbid waters came

rolling down in a swift current, and gave me a full appreciation of the

barrier which Providence had there placed between the republicans and

the royal armies, when engaged in the great race described in this

chapter.

From the Yadkin the roads passed through a red clay region, which was

made so miry by the melting snows that it was almost eleven o'clock when

I arrived at Salisbury. This village, of over a thousand inhabitants,

is situated a few miles from the Yadkin, and is the capital of Rowan

county, a portion of the "Hornet's Nest" of the Revolution. It is a

place of considerable historic note. On account of its geographical

position, it was often the place of rendezvous of the militia preparing

for the battle-fields; of various regular corps, American and British,

during the last three years of the war; and especially as the brief

resting-place of both armies during Greene's memorable retreat. Here,

too, it will be remembered, General Waddell had his head-quarters for a

few days, during the "Regulator war." I made diligent inquiry, during

my tarry in Salisbury, for remains of Revolutionary movements and

localities, but could hear of none. ** The Americans, when fleeing

before Cornwallis, encamped for a night about half a mile from the

village, on the road to the Yadkin; the British occupied a position

on the northern border of the town, about an eighth of a mile from the

court-house. I was informed that two buildings, occupied by officers,

had remained until two or three years ago, when they were demolished.

Finding nothing to invite a protracted stay at Salisbury, I resumed the

reins, and rode on toward Concord. The roads were very bad, and the sun

went down, while a rough way, eight miles in extent, lay between me and

Concord. Night approached, brilliant and frosty; the deep mud of the

road soon became half frozen, and almost impassable, and I was beginning

to speculate upon the chances of obtaining comfortable lodgings short of

the village, when a large sign-board by the way-side indicated a place

of entertainment, and relieved my anxiety. Such an apparition is so rare

in the upper country of the Carolinas, where the traveler must depend

upon the hospitality of the planters, that it is noteworthy. Passing

through a lane, I came to the spacious mansion of Mr. Martin Phifer, one

of the largest planters in Cabarras county. It is in the midst of one

of the finest districts of North Carolina for the production of upland

cotton. Practical observations upon that great staple of the South was

the chief topic of our evening's conversation, which was protracted to

the "small hours of the morning;"

* The Yadkin rises in North Carolina, on the east of the Alleghany

range, and flows east and southeast into South Carolina. A few miles

below the Narrows, in Montgomery county, it receives the Rocky River,

and from thence to its mouth at Winyaw Bay, near Georgetown, it bears

the name of the Great Pedee.

** An ancient stone wall exists at Salisbury, but tradition has no

knowledge of its origin. It is laid in cement, and plastered on both

sides. It is from twelve to fourteen feet high, and twenty-two inches

thick. The top of the wall is a foot below the surface of the earth

at present. It has been traced for three hundred feet. Six miles from

Salisbury there is a similar wall, and may connect wilh the other.

Conjecture alone can read its history. May it not be a part of the

circumvallation of a city of the mound builders?

[[[A Patriot's Grave at the Red Hills.--Picturesque Scenery.--Arrival at

Charlotte.--Ancient Chureh and Congregation.]]]

{616}and I left his hospitable abode a wiser man than when I entered it.

Mr. Phifer is a grandnephew of John Phifer, one of the leading patriots

of Mecklenburg, whose remains lie buried at the Red Hills, three

miles west of Concord. A rough, mutilated slab covers the grave of the

patriot. Tradition avers that when the British army was on its march

from Charlotte to Salisbury, a fire was built upon the stone by the

soldiers, in contempt for the patriot's memory.

Departing from the post-road, a little distance from Mr. Phifer's, I

traversed a nearer, though a rougher route to Charlotte than through

Concord, passing that village about three miles to the westward, close

by the Red Hills. The scenery through this whole region is extremely

picturesque. Wooded hills, deep ravines, broad cultivated slopes and

uplands, and numerous water-courses, present diversified and pleasing

pictures at every turn of the sinuous road. In summer, when the forests

and fields are clad, the roads hard, and the deep shades of the ravines

and water-courses desirable, I can not imagine a move agreeable tour

for a traveler of leisure than that portion of my journey from the

Roanoke to the Cowpens, across the Broad River, back to the eastern

side of the Catawba, and so down to the verge of the low country,

near Camden. In the vicinity of Concord are the head-waters of several

tributaries of the Yadkin and Catawba, and between that village and

Charlotte I crossed the Coddle, Stony, and Mallard Creeks, and one of

the main branches of Rocky River. The latter, which is a considerable

tributary of the Yadkin, is here a small stream, but very turbulent, and

broken into numerous cascades. I reached Charlotte at half past three

o'clock, having traveled only twenty-one miles since morning. * It was

Saturday[[Jan 6, 1840]] and I eagerly coveted the Sabbath's rest, after

a week of excessive toil. Charley, too, was jaded, and needed repose;

for a large portion of the circuitous journey from Hillsborough hither

had been through a region abounding in red clay, saturated with rains

and melting snows.

Charlotte has historical notoriety, chiefly on account of its being the

place where a convention of patriots assembled in 1775, and by a series

of resolutions virtually declared themselves and those they represented

free and independent of the British crown. To this event I particularly

directed my inquiries, but was singularly unsuccessful. Two gentlemen,

to whom I had letters of introduction from President Polk, were absent.

I called upon another, whom he named, but could not obtain information

of much value. Being an entire stranger, I knew not unto whom to apply,

and I left Charlotte on Monday, with feelings of disappointment not

to be expressed. Since my visit, I have received varied and important

information from James W. Osborne, Esq., superintendent of the Branch

Mint, and others in that vicinity, which compensates me, in a measure,

for my failure..

By the merest accident, I ascertained that the mill upon Sugar Creek,

two or three miles

* Charlotte is the capital of Mecklenburg county, and contains about

fourteen hundred inhabitants. It is pleasantly situated upon a rolling

plain, on the east side of the Sugar or Sugaw Creek, a small tributary

of the Catawba. It is in the midst of the gold region of North Carolina,

and here a branch of the United States Mint is established. Eastward of

Charlotte are several productive gold mines, which are now but little

worked, partly on account of the more inviting field for miners in

California. The first settlers in Mecklenburg county were principally

the descendants of the Puritans, Scotch-Irish, and Roundheads; and, near

Charlotte, the "Sugar Creek Congregation," the first on the Catawba, was

established. I passed the brick meeting-house" about three miles from

the village, where worshiped the tarent of the seven congregations from

which came delegates to meet in political convention in 1775 * This

meeting-house is the third erected by the Sugar Creek Congregation. The

first stood about half a mile west from this, and the second a few

feet south of the present edifice. In the second, the mother of Andrew

Jackson, late president of the United States, worshiped for a-while,

when she took refuge in the Sugar Creek Congregation after the massacre

of Burford's regiment, near her residence on the Waxhaw, in May, 1780.

Near the site of the first church is the ancient burying-ground.

Therein is the grave of Alexander Craighead, the first minister of the

congregation. His only monument are two sassafras-trees, one at the

head, the other at the foot of his grave, which are the living poles

used as a bier for his coffin, and stuck in the ground to mark,

temporarily, his resting-place. **

* These were Sugar Creek, Steel Creek, Providence, Hopewell, Center,

Rocky River, and Poplar Tent.--Foote, p. 190.

** Ibid., p.192

[[[Colonel Polk's Mill. The People of Mecklenburg.--Scheme for a

Republican Assembly.--A Convention called]]]

{617}south of Charlotte, and known as Bissell's, was formerly the

property of Colonel Thomas Polk, one of the active patriots in that

section. Early on Monday morning, I rode down to the mill. Informed that

it had been materially altered since the Revolution, I did not stop to

sketch the locality. It is an interesting spot, for there a portion

of Cornwallis's army was encamped, and the mill was used during the

cantonment there, to supply his troops with flour.

Let us glance at the historical events which render Charlotte famous

in our annals. While public sentiment in North Carolina and its sister

colonies was making rapid strides toward a bold resistance to augmenting

oppressions, the people of Mecklenburg and vicinity, between the Yadkin

and the Catawba, were neither indifferent nor inactive, notwithstanding

their distance from the sea-board. There was no printing-press in the

upper country; and as no regular post traversed that region, a newspaper

was seldom seen there among the people. They were in the habit of

assembling at stated places to hear printed hand-bills from abroad

read, or to obtain verbal information of passing events. Charlotte was

a central point for these assemblages, and there the leading men in

that section often met at Queen's Museum or College, the Faneuil Hall

of North Carolina, to discuss the exciting topics of the day. These

meetings were at first irregular, and without system. It was finally

agreed that Thomas Polk, a large property-holder in the vicinity

of Charlotte, colonel of the militia of Mecklenburg, a man of great

excellence of character, extensive knowledge of the people around him,

and deservedly popular, should be authorized to call a convention of the

representatives of the people whenever circumstances should appear

to require it. * It was also agreed that such representatives should

consist of two from each captain's company, to be chosen by the people

of the several militia districts, and that their decisions, when thus

legally convened, should be binding upon the people of Mecklenburg. This

step was in accordance with the recommendation of the eleventh article

of the _American Association_, adopted by the first Continental Congress

(see page 268), and now generally acted upon throughout the colonies.

When Governor Martin made an attempt to prevent the assembling of a

Provincial Congress at Newbern,[[April 1777]] the people were much

exasperated, for they remembered his arbitrary proceedings in dissolving

the last Provincial Legislature, after a session of four days, and

before any important business had been transacted. The excitement

throughout the province was intense. While the public mind was thus

inflamed, Colonel Polk issued a notice to the elected committee-men of

the county, to assemble in the courthouse ** at Charlotte toward

the close of May. On what precise day they first met, can not now be

positively determined. They appointed Abraham Alexander, *** an esteemed

citizen,

* Colonel Polk was great uncle to the late President Polk. His brother,

Ezekiel Polk, whose name appears quite conspicuous in the annals of

Mecklenburg county, was the president's grandfather. "The house in which

President Polk is supposed to have been born," says Honorable David L.

Swain, in a letter to me of recent date, "is about two hundred yards

south of Sugar Creek, and eleven miles south of Charlotte, on the

lands of Nathan Orr. The house shown to me is of logs, was never

weather-boarded, and is covered with a decaying shingle roof. It is

formed by joining two houses together."

*** The court-house was a frame building, about fifty feet square,

placed upon brick pillars, ten or twelve feet in height, with a

stair-way on the outside. It stood in the center of the town, at the

intersection of the two principal streets, now the village green.

The lower part was a market-house; the upper part was used for public

purposes. Stedman says it was a "large brick building," and Lee says it

was of stone. Tradition of undoubted character pronounces it such as I

have described. The village at that time contained about twenty houses.

*** Abraham Alexander was a leading magistrate in Meeklenburg county,

and represented it in the Colonial Legislature. At the time of the

convention, of which he was appointed chairman, he was almost threescore

years of age. He died on the twenty-third of April, 1786, at the age of

sixty-eight years. He was buried in the old church-yard, near Charlotte,

where a plain slab, with an inscription, marks his grave. Elijah

Alexander, a relative of the chairman, and who was present when the

Mecklenburg Resolutions were read to the people at Charlotte, died at

the residence of his son-in-law, James Osborne, Esq., in Cornersville,

Tennessee, on the eleventh of November, 1850, at the age of ninety

years. He voted for every president of the United States, from

Washington to Taylor. His widow, to whom he was married in 1784, was yet

living in 1851.

[[[Officers of the Convention.--Speakers on the Occasion.--Preamble and

Resolutions]]]

{618}who had served them in the Colonial Legislature, chairman, and Dr.

Ephraim Brevard, * a scholar and unwavering patriot, clerk or secretary.

According to tradition, intelligence of the affairs at Lexington and

Concord, in Massachusetts, was received during the session of the

delegates, and added greatly to the excitement among the people, who

had assembled in great numbers around the court-house, eager to know the

resolves of their representatives within. The principal speakers on the

occasion were Dr. Brevard, Reverend Hezekiah J. Balch, William Kennon (a

lawyer of Salisbury), and Colonel Polk. The first three gentlemen

were appointed a committee to prepare suitable resolutions, and on the

thirty-first of May, 1775, the following preamble and resolves were

unanimously adopted: ** "Whereas, By an address presented to his majesty

by both Houses of Parliament in February last, the American colonies are

declared to be in a state of actual rebellion, we conceive that all laws

and commissions confirmed by or derived from the authority of the

king and Parliament are annulled and vacated, and the former civil

Constitution of these colonies for the present wholly suspended. To

provide in some degree for the exigencies of this county in the present

alarming period, we deem it proper and necessary to pass the following

resolves, viz.:

I. That all commissions, civil and military, heretofore granted by the

crown to be exer-

* Ephraim Brevard was one of the "seven sons" of his widowed mother

who where "in the rebel army."* He graduated at Princeton, and, after

pursuing medical studies a proper time, settled as a physieian in

Charlotte. His talents commanded universal respect, and he was a leader

in the movements in Meeklenburg toward independence, in 1775. When

the British army invaded the Southern States, Dr. Brevard entered the

Continental army as a surgeon, and was taken prisoner at Charleston, in

May, 1780. Broken by disease, when set at liberty, Dr. Brevard returned

to Charlotte, sought the repose of privacy in the family of his

friend, John M'Knitt Alexander, who had succeeded him as clerk of the

Mecklenburg Committee, and there soon expired. His remains were buffed

in Hopewell grave-yard. No stone marks his resting-place, and "no man

living," says Mr. Foote, "can lead the inquirer to the spot." He was

a remarkable man, and, as the undoubted author of the Mecklenburg

Declaration of Independence and Constitution of Government, deserves the

reverence of all patriots. His pen was often employed in the cause of

freedom, and he was probably the most accomplished writer, of his day,

in Western Carolina.

* Minute biographical sketches of these leading patriots of Meeklenburg,

if they could be obtained, would make an exceedingly useful and

entertaining volume. Of the general character of the people in that

vicinity at the period of the Revolution, J. G. M. Ramsey, M.D., the

historian of Tennessee, who has studied the character of the Mecklenburg

patriots with great care, writes thus appreciatingly to me, under date

of January 19, 1852: "In regard to the people, then residing between

the Yadkin and the Catawba, it is almost impossible to conceive, at

this day, the incalculable benefits the country received from their

immigration and settlement in it; nor the happy influences, secular,

civil, religious, and literary, they uniformly diffused in their

respective neighborhoods. To these are we indebted, in a great measure,

for the enterprise, industry, thrift, skill, frugality, love of order,

sobriety, regard for wholesome laws, family and social government,

establishment of schools, churches, and a high standard of education

and training for youth, attachment to well-regulated liberty, and the

representative principle in government."

** The following are the names of the leading patriots in Mecklenburg,

and reported to have been members of the Mecklenburg Committee, who met

in the Convention at Charlotte: Abraham Alexander, Ephraim Brevard, John

M'Knitt Alexander, Adam Alexander, Hezekiah Alexander, Ezra Alexander,

Charles Alexander, Waightstill wery, Hezekiah J. Balch, Thomas Polk,

John Flenekin, James Harris, Neil Morrisson, David Reese, Robert

Harris, senior, Richard Barry, Duncan Ochiltree, John Ford, William

Kennon, Samuel Martin, Zacheus Wilson, senior,t Benjamin Patton, Robert

Irwin, John Davidson, John Pfifer, Henry Downes, William Graham, Matthew

M'Clure, John Queary, William Wilson.

* When Cornwallis was in pursuit of Greene, he passed near the

plantation of the Widow Brevard, and ordered it to be desolated. When

asked why he was so cruel toward a poor widow, he replied, "She has

seven sons in the rebel army!" What higher compliment could that noble

mother have received.

** The Wilsons were all stanch Scotch-Irish, and sturdy Republicans. The

wife of Robert Wilson, a brother of Zaclieus like the Widow Brevard, had

"seven sons in the rebel army," and also her husband. When Cornwallis

retired from Charlotte, he halted upon Wilson's plantation, and himself

and staff quartered at the house of the patriot. Mrs. Wilson was very

courteous, and Cornwallis endeavored to win her to the royal cause by

flattering words. Her reply deserves to be inscribed upon brass and

marble: "I have seven sons who are now, or have been bearing arms;

indeed, my seventh son, Zacheus, who is only fifteen years old, I

yesterday assisted to get ready to go and join his brothers in Sumter's

army. Now, sooner than see one of my family turn back from the glorious

enterprise, 1 would take these boys (pointing to three or four small

sons), and with them would myself enlist under Sumter's standard and

show my husband and sons how to fight, and, if necessary, to die for

their country!" "Ah, general," said the cruel Tarleton, "I think you've

got into a hornet's nest! Never mind; when we get to Camden, I'll take

good care that old Robin Wilson never gets back again!"--See Mrs. Ellet

Women of the Revolution, iii. 317.

[[[Autographs of the Mecklenburg Committee.]]]

{619}cised in these colonies are null and void, and the Constitution of

each particular colony wholly suspended.

[Illustration: 0629]

II. That the Provincial Congress of each province, under the direction

of the great Continental Congress, is invested with all legislative and

executive powers within their respective provinces, and that no other

legislative or executive power does or can exist at this time in any of

these colonies.

III. As all former laws are now suspended in this province, and the

Congress has not

* I am indebted to the kindness of the Honorable David L. Swain, of

Chapel Hall, John H. Wheeler, Esq., author of Historical Sketches of

North Carolina, and James W. Osborne, Esq., superintendent of the Branch

Mint at Charlotte, for the originals from which these fac similes are

made.

[[[Resolutions adopted by the Mecklenburg Convention.]]]

{620}yet provided others, we judge it necessary for the better

preservation of good order, to form certain rules and regulations for

the internal government of this county, until laws shall be provided for

us by the Congress.

IV. That the inhabitants of this county do meet on a certain day

appointed by the committee, and, having formed themselves into nine

companies (to wit: eight for the county, and one for the town), do

choose a colonel and other military officers, who shall hold and

exercise their several powers by virtue of the choice, and independent

of the crown of Great Britain, and former Constitution of this province.

V. That for the better preservation of the peace and administration

of justice, each of those companies do choose from their own body

two discreet freeholders, who shall be empowered each by himself, and

singly, to decide and determine all matters of controversy arising

within said company, under the sum of twenty shillings, and jointly and

together all controversies under the sum of forty shillings, yet so as

their decisions may admit of appeal to the convention of the selectmen

of the county, and also that any one of these men shall have power to

examine and commit to confinement persons accused of petit larceny.

VI. That those two selectmen thus chosen do jointly and together

choose from the body of their particular company two persons to act as

constables, who may assist them in the execution of their office.

VII. That upon the complaint of any persons to either of these

selectmen, he do issue his warrant directed to the constable, commanding

him to bring the aggressor before him to answer said complaint.

VIII. That these select eighteen selectmen thus appointed do meet every

third Thursday in January, April, July, and October, at the court-house

in Charlotte, to hear and determine all matters of controversy for sums

exceeding forty shillings, also appeals; and in case of felony to commit

the persons convicted thereof to close confinement until the Provincial

Congress shall provide and establish laws and modes of proceeding in all

such cases.

IX. That these eighteen selectmen thus convened do choose a clerk, to

record the transactions of said convention, and that said clerk, upon

the application of any person or persons aggrieved, do issue his warrant

to any of the constables of the company to which the offender belongs,

directing said constable to summon and warn said offender to appear

before said convention at their next sitting, to answer the aforesaid

complaint.

X. That any person making complaint, upon oath, to the clerk, or any

member of the convention, that he has reason to suspect that any

person or persons indebted to him in a sum above forty shillings intend

clandestinely to withdraw from the county without paying the debt,

the clerk or such member shall issue his warrant to the constable,

commanding him to take said person or persons into safe custody until

the next sitting of the convention.

XI. That when a debtor for a sum above forty shillings shall abscond and

leave the county, the warrant granted as aforesaid shall extend to any

goods or chattels of said debtor as may be found, and such goods or

chattels be seized and held in custody by the constable for the space of

thirty days, in which time, if the debtor fail to return and discharge

the debt, the constable shall return the warrant to one of the selectmen

of the company, where the goods are found, who shall issue orders to the

constable to sell such a part of said goods as shall amount to the sum

due.

That when the debt exceeds forty shillings, the return shall be made to

the convention, who shall issue orders for sale.

XII. That all receivers and collectors of quit-rents, public and county

taxes, do pay the same into the hands of the chairman of this committee,

to be by them disbursed as the public exigencies may require, and that

such receivers and collectors proceed no further in their office until

they be approved of by, and have given to this committee good and

sufficient security for a faithful return of such moneys when collected.

XIII. That the committee be accountable to the county for the

application of all moneys received from such public officers.

[[[Mecklenburg Resolutions dispatched to Philadelphia and

Hillsborough.--Action concerning them.]]]

{621}XIV. That all these officers hold their commissions during the

pleasure of their several constituents.

XV. That this committee will sustain all damages to all or any of their

officers thus appointed, and thus acting, on account of their obedience

and conformity to these rules.

XVI. _That whatever person shall hereafter receive a commission from the

crown, or attempt to exercise any such commission heretofore received,

shall be deemed an enemy to his country_; and upon confirmation being

made to the captain of the company in which he resides, the said company

shall cause him to be apprehended and conveyed before two selectmen,

who, upon proof of the fact, shall commit said offender to safe custody,

until the next sitting of the committee, who shall deal with him as

prudence may direct.

XVII. That any person refusing to yield obedience to the above rules

shall be considered equally criminal, and liable to the same punishment

as the offenders above last mentioned.

XVIII. That these resolves be in full force and virtue until

instructions from the Provincial Congress regulating the jurisprudence

of the province shall provide otherwise, or the legislative body of

Great Britain resign its unjust and arbitrary pretensions with respect

to America.

XIX. That the eight militia companies in this county provide themselves

with proper arms and accouterments, and hold themselves in readiness

to execute the commands and directions of the General Congress of this

province and this committee.

XX. That the committee appoint Colonel Thomas Polk and Dr. Joseph

Kennedy to purchase three hundred pounds of powder, six hundred pounds

of lead, and one thousand flints, for the use of the militia of

this county, and deposit the same in such place as the committee may

hereafter direct.

Signed by order of the Committee. Ephraim Brevard, _Clerk of the

Committee_."

These resolutions, which not only substantially declared the people of

Mecklenburg, represented by the convention, free and independent of the

British crown, but organized a civil government upon a republican basis,

were read to the assembled multitude from the courthouse door, and were

received with loud acclaims of approbation. It is said that they were

read to fresh gatherings of the people several times during the day, and

were always greeted with cheers.

These resolutions formed the closing proceedings of the convention,

and having provided for the transmission of the resolutions to the

Provincial Congress of North Carolina, to meet in Hillsborough

in August, and to the Continental Congress, then in session at

Philadelphia, it adjourned. Captain James Jack, of Charlotte, was

the appointed messenger, and a few days after the adjournment of the

convention, he proceeded to Philadelphia, and placed the papers in his

charge, in the hands of Caswell, Hooper, and Hewes, the delegates in

Congress from North Carolina. * These gentlemen, perhaps considering the

movement premature or too radical, did not make the proceedings public.

They still hoped for reconciliation with the mother country, and were

willing to avoid any act that might widen the breach. They addressed a

joint letter to the people of Mecklenburg, complimenting them for their

patriotism, recommending the strict observance of order, and expressing

their belief that the whole continent would soon follow their example,

if the grievances complained of were not speedily redressed. For

the same prudential reasons, the Provincial Congress at Hillsborough

declined taking any immediate action upon their bold proceedings. ** But

for

* It was the regular court day when Captain Jack passed through

Salisbury. Mr. Kennon, a member of the convention, was in attendance

there, and persuaded Jack to permit the resolutions to be publicly read.

They were generally approved; but two men (John Dunn and Benjamin Boole)

pronounced them treasonable, and proposed the forcible detention of

Captain Jack. For this act, Dunn and Boote were arrested by some armed

men sent by the committee at Charlotte for the purpose. They were first

sent to Camden, in South Carolina, to be kept in confinement as "persons

inimical to the country." They were afterward sent to Charleston for

better security.

** The papers were referred to a committee, who reported on the first

of September. After some discussion, the Congress resolved that "the

present Association ought to be further relied on for bringing about a

reconciliation with the parent state." No further notice was taken

of the matter, and this brilliant spark was lost in the blaze of the

Federal Declaration of Independence published the following year.

[[[History of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.]]]

{622}this hesitation, growing out of a sincere desire to preserve the

integrity of the British realm, the world would long ago have conceded

to the people of Mecklenburg, in North Carolina, the distinguished honor

of making a _Declaration of Independence_ of the British crown, thirteen

months previous to the Federal declaration by the Continental Congress.

That honor has not only been withheld, but the fact denied by men

presumed to have positive information upon all subjects connected with

Revolutionary events. Documentary evidence has settled the question

beyond cavil. *

* Almost fifty years this brilliant event in Mecklenburg county remained

in obscurity, and when its radiance appeared, it was believed to be only

reflected light. There appeared in the Raleigh Register, April 30,

1819, a statement over the signature of J. M'Knitt, that a convention of

representatives of the people of Mecklenburg county met at Charlotte,

on the nineteenth and twentieth of May, 1775, and by a series of

resolutions substantially declared themselves free and independent. *

He alleged that Captain Jack bore those resolutions to the Continental

Congress, and placed them in the hands of the delegates from North

Carolina in that body, who thought them premature. Mr. M'Knitt also

stated that John M'Knitt Alexander was the secretary of the convention,

and that all of the original papers were destroyed when the house

of that gentleman was burned in April, 1800, but that copies of the

proceedings were made, one of which was sent to Dr. Hugh Williamson,

of New York, who was writing a history of North Carolina, and one to

General William R. David. * This statement was copied from the Raleigh

Register by the Essex Register, of Massachusetts, and was brought to

the notice of the venerable John Adams. Mr. Adams sent the paper to Mr.

Jefferson, accompanied with the remark that he thought it genuine. On

the ninth of July, 1819, Mr. Jefferson replied to Mr. Adams's letter at

some length, disclaiming all knowledge of such proceedings, and giving

his decided opinion that the article in the Register was a "very

unjustifiable quiz."! Among his reasons for not believing the thing

genuine, he mentioned the fact that no historian, not even Williamson

(whose History of North Carolina was published in 1812), alluded to any

such proceedings. Such was the fact, and public opinion was divided. It

was singular, indeed, that such an important event should not have been

mentioned by Williamson, if he believed the resolutions sent to him

by Mr. Alexander to be true copies of those adopted in convention at

Charlotte. Because of a similarity of expressions and sentiments in

these resolutions and the Federal Declaration of Independence, Mr.

Jefferson was charged with gross plagiarism, *** while the North

Carolinians were charged with attempting to arrogate to themselves a

glory which did not belong to them.

In 1829, Judge Martin's History of North Carolina appeared, and in

vol. ii., pages 272--274, inclusive, he publishes an account of the

Mecklenburg proceedings, with the resolutions. These resolutions

differ materially from those which were possessed by General Davie, and

published as authentic in a state pamphlet, prepared by order of the

North Carolina Legislature, in 1831. Whence Judge Martin procured

his copy, is not known. In 1830, a publication appeared denying the

statements of the Raleigh Register in 1819, and also denying that a

convention, with such results, was ever held at Charlotte. The friends

of those patriots whose names appeared as members of the convention in

question, very properly tender of their reputation and the honor of

the state, sought for proof that sueh a convention, with such glorious

results, was held in Charlotte. The testimonies of several living

witnesses of the fact were procured, some of them as early as 1819-20,

and some as late as 1830. Their certificates all agree as to the main

fact that such a convention was held, but all are not explicit as to

date, and some evidently point to other resolves than those referred

to. These discrepancies caused doubts, and the public mind was still

unsatisfied. To set the matter at rest, the Legislature of North

Carolina appointed a committee to investigate the subject. The result

was published in pamphlet form in 1831, and the statement made in the

Raleigh Register in 1819 was endorsed as true. The certificates alluded

to (which also appear in Force's American Archives, ii., 855) are

published therein together with the names of the Mecklenburg Committee

appended thereto. Yet one stubborn fact remained in the way--a fact

favorable to a belief in the undoubted truth and sincerity of Mr.

Jefferson in his denial--namely, that in no public records or files of

newspapers of the day had the resolutions of the twentieth or an account

of the convention, been discovered. Some of the most important of those

of the thirty-first were published in the Massachusetts Spy in 1775.

Doubt still hung over the genuineness of the published resolutions, and

eminent men in North Carolina made earnest searches for «her testimony,

but in vain.

* In 1847, the Reverend Thomas Smyth, D.D., of Charleston, published an

inquiry into "The true Origin and Source of the Mecklenburg and

National Declaration of Independence," in which, assuming the published

resolutions, purporting to have been adopted at Charlotte, on the

twentieth of May, 1775, to be genuine copies of the originals prepared

by Dr. Brevard, he advances an ingenious theory, by which Mr. Jefferson

is impliedly defended against the charge of plagiarism and subsequent

misrepresentation. Assuming that both Jefferson and Dr. Brevard were, as

students of history, familiar with the confessions, covenants, and bands

(declarations and pledges) of the Presbyterian Reformers of Scotland

and Ireland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, he draws the

conclusion that them ideas, and even their expressions, were copied from

those instruments of a people struggling for religious freedom. As

a proof that such forms were appealed to, he quotes Jefferson's

acknowledgment (Memoirs, &c., i., 2), that to a Scotch Presbyterian

tutor he was indebted for his republican bias; and his statement (p. 6)

that, in preparing a resolution at Williamsburg, recommending a fast

on the first of June, 1774, they "rummaged over" Rushworth "for the

revolutionary precedents and forms of the Puritans of that day." Upon

these premises, Dr. Smyth argues that Mr. Jefferson and Dr. Brevard

doubtless drew water from the same well, without a knowledge of each

other's act--a well from which copious draughts were made by the Father

of our Republic.

* While these inquiries were in progress, the discovery of documentary

evidence settled the main question beyond cavil, and established the

fact that, on the thirty-first of May, 1775, the people of Mecklenburg,

in a representative convention assembled, passed resolutions equivalent

in spirit to a declaration of independence, and organized a civil

government upon the basis of political independence. Among the most

indefatigable searchers after the truth, was the Honorable David L.

Swain, late governor of North Carolina. A manuscript proclamation

of Governor Martin, dated August 8, 1775, which was deposited in the

archives of the state by Reverend Francis L. Hawks, D.D., was found

to contain the following words: "And whereas, I have also seen a most

infamous publication in the Cape Fear Mercury, importing to be resolves

of a set of people styling themselves a committee for the county of

Mecklenburg, most traitorously declaring the entire dissolution of the

laws, government, and Constitution of this country, and setting up a

system of rule and regulation repugnant to the laws, and subversive

of his majesty's government," &c., &c. Here was a clue. After repeated

searches at the instance of Mr. Swain, a copy of the South Carolina

Gazette and Country Journal, dated "Tuesday, June 13, 1775," and

containing the entire set of resolutions printed on pages 620-21,

bearing date of May 31, 1775, was discovered by Dr. Joseph Johnson, in

the Charleston Library. * These were copied, and sent to Mr. Swain, who

immediately forwarded a copy to Mr. Bancroft, the historian, then the

American minister at the court of St. James. Before they reached Mr.

Bancroft at London, that gentleman had discovered in the State

Paper Office a copy of the same South Carolina paper, containing the

resolutions. This paper was sent to Lord Dartmouth, the secretary of

state for the colonies, by Sir James Wright, then governor of Georgia.

In a letter which accompanied the papers, Governor Wright said, "By the

inclosed paper your lordship will see the extraordinary resolves of

the people of Charlottetown, in Mecklenburg county; and I should not be

surprised if the same should be done every where else." These facts Mr.

Bancroft communicated in a letter to Mr. Swain, written on the fourth of

July, 1848.

* The only question unsettled now is, Whether the Mecklenburg Committee

assembled at an earlier date than the thirty-first of May, 1775, and

adopted the resolutions which were in possession of General Davie, and

published in the Raleigh Register in 1819. It is a question of minor

historical importance, since the great fact is established beyond

cavil, that more than a year previous to the promulgation of the

Federal Declaration, the people of Mecklenburg declared their

entire independence of the British crown, and, in pursuance of that

declaration, organized a civil government. *

* Dr. Johnson, in his Traditions and Reminiscences of the Revolution

(Charleston, 1851), gives a fac simile of a hand-bill, containing

the first three of the Mecklenburg Resolutions published in the state

pamphlet, together with the names of the committee. Dr. Johnson says it

is "the oldest publication of the Mecklenburg Declaration yet found

in print." This is a significant fact. The hand-bill was printed by

Heiskell and Brown, who established their printing-office at Knoxville,

Tennessee, in 1816. This document is not now (1852) more than thirty

five years old. It was probably printed at about the time (1819) when

the resolutions appeared in the Raleigh Register.

* The following is a copy of the resolutions, which were in the

possession of General William R. Davie, and are now in the archives of

the state, at Raleigh:

* "Resolved, 1. That whoever directly or indirectly abetted, or in

any way, form, or manner, countenanced the unchartered and dangerous

invasion of our rights, as claimed by Great Britain, is an enemy to

this country--to America--and to the inherent and inalienable rights of

man.

* "Resolved, 2. That we, the citizens of Mecklenburg county, do hereby

dissolve the political bands which have connected us to the mother

country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British

crown, and abjure all political connection, contract, or association

with that nation, who have wantonly trampled on our rights and

liberties, and inhumanly shed the blood of American patriots at

Lexington.

* "Resolved, 3. That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and

independent people; are, and of right ought to be, a sovereign and

self-governing association, under the control of no power, other than

that of our God, and the general government of the Congress; to the

maintenance of which independence we solemnly pledge to each other our

mutual co-operation, our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honor.

* "Resolved, 4. That as we acknowledge the existence and control of

no law or legal officer, civil or military, within this county, we do

hereby ordain and adopt, as a rule of life, all, each, and every of our

former laws; wherein, nevertheless, the crown of Great Britain never can

be considered as holding rights, privileges, immunities, or authority

therein."

* "Resolved, 5. That it is also further decreed, that all, each, and

every military officer in this county is hereby retained in his former

command and authority, he acting conformably to these regulations. And

that every member present of this delegation shall henceforth be a

civil officer, viz., a justice of the peace, in the character of a

'committee-man,' to issue process, hear and determine all matters of

controversy, according to said adopted laws; and to preserve peace, and

union, and harmony in said county; and to use every exertion to spread

the love of country and fire of freedom throughout America, until a more

general organized government be established in this province."

* To these resolutions, it is said, a number of by-laws were appended to

regulate the general conduct of citizens.

** The house of Mr. Alexander was destroyed in April, 1800. The date of

the earliest copy of the resolutions is September of the same year.

*** Jefferson's Memoirs and Correspondence, iv., 322.

***The chief ground upon which this charge was predicated, was the

identity of expression in the last clause of the third resolution, and

the closing of the Federal Declaration--" We pledge to each other our

lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honor." This charge has no

weight when it is considered that this was a common parliamentary

suffix. Gibbon, writing to his friend Sheffield concerning the Boston

Port Bill, in 1774, said, "We voted an address of lives and fortunes,

&c." See volume i. of this work, page 515.

[[[History of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.]]]

{623}Charlotte was the point to which Gates retreated, with a few

followers, after the disastrous battle near Camden, in August, 1780, and

soon afterward it became the scene of act-

[[[Movements of Cornwallis and his Subordinates.--Colonel Polk

suspected.--General William R. Davie.]]]

{624}ual hostilities. After refreshing his army at Camden, and adopting

further measures for keeping down the spirit of rising rebellion in

South Carolina, Cornwallis moved, with his a Sept 8 forces, toward

Charlotte,[[Sept. 8, 1780]] for the purpose of giving encouragement to

the timid Loyalists between the Yadkin and the Catawba; to assist Major

Ferguson, who was then across the Broad River attempting to embody the

militia in the service of the king; to awe the Republicans, who were in

the ascendant in Mecklenburg, Rowan, and vicinity; in fact, to conquer

North Carolina before Congress could organize another army at the South.

[Illustration: 9634]

Cornwallis reached Charlotte toward the close of the month, where he

expected to be joined by Ferguson and his Loyalists. But he was doomed

to disappointment; that officer was soon afterward killed, and his whole

force was broken up in a severe battle on King's Mountain.[[Oct. 7]]

Cornwallis was diligent in issuing his proclamations, in which he

denounced "the rebels offered pardon to those who should seek it, and

protection to persons and property to those who would accept it.

Gates, in the mean while, had retired, with the remnant of his army, to

Salisbury, and soon proceeded to Hillsborough. Hundreds, who were stanch

patriots, came forward and accepted protection from Cornwallis, for they

saw no alternative but that and the ruin of their families and estates.

Among them was Colonel Thomas Polk, who thereby incurred the suspicions

of his countrymen; but when the danger was over, he renounced the forced

allegiance. Non-conformity would have insured the destruction of all

his property; he wisely accepted a protection, saved his estate, and was

under a cloud of distrust only for a short season. *

When Cornwallis marched from Camden, on the east side of the Wateree,

Tarleton traversed the country, with his legion, on the west side of

that river. At the Waxhaws, Cornwallis halted, and there Tarleton united

with the main body.

[Illustration: 8634]

On the fifth of September, Major William R. Davies was appointed, by

Governor Nash, colonel commandant of cavalry, and, with Major George

Davidson, was very active in collecting supplies for Gates's broken

* Colonel Polk was commissary of provisions at that time. The

acceptance of protection from the British was considered equivalent to

a renunciation of republicanism. He was, therefore, denounced as a Tory.

Among Gates's papers in the New York Historical Society is the following

order, issued after Cornwallis had retreated to Winnsborough: "From a

number of suspicious circumstances respecting the conduct and behavior

of Colonel Thomas Polk, commissary general of provisions for the State

of North Carolina, and commissary of purchases for the Continental

troops, it is our opinion that the said Colonel Polk should be directly

ordered to Salisbury to answer for his conduct; and that the persons of

Duncan Ochiltree and William M'Aferty * be likewise brought under guard

to Salisbury. Given unanimously as our opinion, this twelfth day of

November, 1780."

* William Richardson Davie was born at Egremont, near Whitehaven,

England, on the twentieth of June, 1756. He came with his father to

America at the age of five years, and was adopted by William Richardson,

a maternal uncle, who lived near the Catawba, in South Carolina. He

commenced study at Princeton, but during the summer of 1776 entered the

army as a volunteer. He resumed his studies after the battle of Long

Island, graduated in the autumn of 1776, and returned to Carolina, where

he commenced the study of law in Salisbury. He was elected lieutenant of

a troop of horse in 1779, and was attached to Pulaski's legion. He soon

rose to the rank of major. At Stono, below Charleston, he was wounded in

the thigh. When he recovered, he returned to Salisbury and resumed his

books. In the winter of 1780, he raised a troop of cavalry, with which

he was very active in beating back the enemy, while forcing his way

northward. He was in the battle at Hanging Rock; with Rutherford at

Ramsour's Mills, and nobly confronted the British army at Charlotte,

after a brilliant display of courage and skill at Wahab's plantation.

General Greene appointed Davie commissary general of the Southern army;

and he was with that officer in his Retreat, and at the battles at

Guilford, Hobkirk's Hill, and Ninety-Six. In 1783, he commenced his

career as a lawyer, and the same year married the daughter of General

Allen Jones. He was a member of the convention which framed the Federal

Constitution. He was instrumental in procuring the erection of the

buildings of the University at Chapel Hill, and as grand master of the

Masonic Fraternity, he laid the corner stone. He received the commission

of major general of militia in 1797, and in 1798 was appointed a

brigadier in the army of the United States. He was elected governor of

North Carolina the same year, and in 1799 was appointed an embassador to

France by President Adams. On his return, he was engaged in some Indian

treaties, but on the death of his wife in 1803, he withdrew from public

life. He died at Tivoli, near Landsford, in South Carolina, in December,

1820, in the sixty-fourth year of his age.

* M'Cafferty, as the name is properly spelled, was a wealthy Scotchman,

and was employed by Cornwallis as a guide when he left Charlotte

[[[Cornwallis's March toward Charlotte.--Operations of the Americans

against him.--Skirmish at Charlotte.]]]

{625}army, and in repressing the depredations of the British. They

had continually maneuvered in front of the approaching enemy, and

fell gradually back to Charlotte as the British pressed onward. While

encamped at Providence, Davie learned that some Tories and light troops

were on the western bank of the Catawba, not far distant. He determined

to beat up their quarters; and early on the morning of the twenty-first

of September,[[1780]] he surprised them at Captain Wahab's * plantation,

and killed and wounded sixty, while he lost but one man wounded. He took

ninety-six horses, with their equipments, and one hundred and twenty

stand of arms, and returned to his camp, having marched sixty miles

within twenty-four hours.

On the day of the engagement at Wahab's, Generals Sumner and Davidson,

with their brigades of militia, arrived at Providence. On the advance

of the British, they retreated to Salisbury, ordering Colonel Davie

and Major Joseph Graham to annoy the enemy on his march. Four days

afterward, Cornwallis having established a post at Blair's Mill, on Five

Mile Creek, commenced his march toward Charlotte, by the Steel Creek

road. Davie and Graham were on the alert, annoying him all the way.

They took several of his men prisoners, in one or two skirmishes. Davie

reached Charlotte at midnight,[[Sept. 25]] and determined to give the

enemy a warm reception. He dismounted his cavalry, who were armed

with swords, pistols, and muskets, and posted them in front of the

court-house, under cover of a stone wall, breast high. His infantry and

Graham's volunteers were advanced eighty yards in front on each side

of the street, covered by the garden inclosures of the villagers. While

this arrangement was in progress, Tarleton's legion, the van of the

royal army, approached. Tarleton was sick, and Major Hanger was in

command. As soon as he reached the Common at the entrance of the

village, and observed the Americans, Hanger's trumpeter sounded a

charge. The cavalry moved slowly, while the flanking infantry attacked

Graham and his party. While they were engaged, Hanger, with his cavalry,

rushed toward the court-house, when Davie poured a deadly volley upon

them. They recoiled, but were instantly rallied on the Common. In the

mean while, the contest in the street was warmly maintained. Again the

cavalry charged, and again fell back in confusion to the Common. The

British infantry having gained Davie's right, he withdrew from the

courthouse, and formed his line on the eastern side of the town.

Cornwallis had now reached the cavalry, and upbraided them for want of

courage. They charged a third time, when Davie, having mounted his men,

gave the enemy such a reception that they again fell back to the Common.

The 71st and 33d British regiments of Webster's brigade (which fought so

gallantly at Guilford nearly five months afterward) now advanced to the

support of the light

* Captain Wahab was with Davie on this occasion, and for the first time

in many months had the opportunity of embracing his wife and children.

Before he was out of sight of his dwelling, he saw his dear ones driven

from it by the foe, and their shelter burned to the ground, without the

power to protect them.

[[[Retreat of the Americans from Charlotte.--March of Cornwallis

Southward.--Young Ladies of Mecklenburg and Rowan.]]]

{626}troops. Davie, perceiving the contest now to be very unequal,

retreated toward Salisbury, leaving Cornwallis master of Charlotte.

Colonel Francis Locke (who commanded at Ramsour's) and five privates

were killed; and Major Graham and twelve others were wounded in this

action. The British lost twelve non-commissioned officers and privates,

killed; Major Hanger, two captains, and many privates, were wounded.

Cornwallis remained in Charlotte until the fourteenth of October, when

he retreated southward. It had been his intention to advance northward;

but the loss of Ferguson and his corps, and the general lukewarmness, if

not absolute hostility of the people, and the constant annoyance by the

American troops, * caused him to retrograde, and on the twenty-ninth he

established his head-quarters at Winnsborough, in Fairfield District,

South Carolina, midway between the Catawba and Broad Rivers. There we

shall leave the earl for the present.

The British army, while at Charlotte, lay encamped upon a plain, south

of the town, on the right side of the road. Cornwallis's head-quarters

were next to the southeast corner of the street from the court-house;

and most of the other houses were occupied, in part, by his officers.

I found no person in Charlotte yet living who remembered the British

occupation and the noble deeds of the patriots; but history, general and

local, fully attests the patriotism of its inhabitants during the

whole war. ** It was never visited by the British army after

Cornwallis returned to Winnsborough, and only for a short time was

the head-quarters of the American army, while Gates was preparing for

another campaign. It was at this place General Greene took the command

of the Southern army from Gates, fifty days after Cornwallis decamped

[[Dec. 3, 1780]]

* Provisions soon became scarce in the British camp, for the people in

the neighborhood refused a supply. In Colonel Polk's mill, two miles

from the town, they found twenty-eight thousand weight of flour, and a

quantity of wheat. Foraging parties went out daily for cattle and other

necessaries, but so hostile were the people that Webster's and Rawdon's

brigades were obliged to move, on alternate days, as a covering party.

There were few sheep, and the cattle were so lean that they killed

one hundred head a day. On one day, according to Stedman (who was

commissary), they killed thirty-seven cows with calf. Frequent

skirmishes occurred. On one occasion, the plantation of Mr. M'Intyre,

seven miles north of Charlotte, on the road to Beattie's Ford, was

plundered, the family having barely time to escape. While loading their

wagons with plunder, a bee-hive was overturned, and the insects made

a furious attack upon the soldiers. While their commander stood in the

door laughing at the scene, a party of twelve patriots approached in a

moment, the captain, nine men, and two horses lay dead upon the ground

The British hastily retreated to their camp, believing that a large

American force was concealed near.

** On one occasion, the young ladies of Mecklenburg and Rowan entered

into a pledge not to receive the attentions of young men who would not

volunteer in defense of the country, they "being of opinion that such

persons as stay loitering at home, when the important calls of the

country demand their military services abroad, must certainly be

destitute of that nobleness of sentiment, that brave and manly spirit

which would qualify them to be the defenders and guardians of the fair

sex."--South Carolina and American General Gazette, February, 1780.

* One of the twelve was George Graham, brother of General Joseph Graham.

He was born in Pennsylvania, in 1753, and went to North Carolina, with

his widowed mother, when six years of age. He was educated at Queen's

Museum, and was strongly imbued with the republican principles of the

Scotch-irish of that region. He was one of the party who rode from

Charlotte to Salisbury and arrested those who proposed to detain Captain

Jack, as mentioned on page 621. He was active in partisan duties while

the British were at Charlotte. After the war, he rose to the rank of

major general of militia, and often served his country in the State

Legislature. He died at Charlotte, on the twenty-ninth of March, 1826,

in the sixty-eighth year of his age.

[[[Departure from Charlotte.--Gold Region of North Carolina.--Tuckesege

Ford.]]]

{627}