|The history of the Rev. David Caldwell is in many ways identified with
that of North Carolina. He was for almost sixty years the pastor of
the two oldest and largest Presbyterian congregations in the county of
Guilford, and kept a celebrated classical school, for a long time the
only one of note in the State, in which for forty years nearly all its
professional men, and many from adjoining States, were educated. Not
only was he thus the father of education in North Carolina, but before
and during the Revolutionary struggle, he exerted a strong influence in
favor of the promotion of national independence, and bore an active part
in the prominent events of that period. The influence of Mrs. Caldwell
in his school was great and beneficial, increasing the respect of
the students towards him, and disposing their minds to religious
impressions. They bore uniform testimony to her intelligence and zeal,
and to the value of her counsels, while her kindness won their regard
and confidence. The success with which she labored to inculcate the
lessons of practical piety, gave currency to the saying throughout the
country--"Dr. Caldwell makes the scholars, and Mrs. Caldwell makes the
preachers." She was the third daughter of Rev. Alexander Craighead, the
pastor of the Sugar Creek congregation, and a man of eminent piety and
usefulness. In early life she had a share in many of the perils and
hardships of the Indian war--the inroads of the savages being frequent
and murderous, and her home in an exposed situation. She often said,
describing these incursions, that as the family would escape out of one
door, the Indians would come in at another. When Braddock's defeat left
the Virginia frontier at the mercy of the savages, Mr. Craighead fled,
with some of his people, and crossing the Blue Ridge, passed to the more
quiet regions of Carolina, where he remained till the close of his life.
Rachel married Dr. Caldwell in 1766.
For some days before the battle at Guilford Courthouse, the army
of Cornwallis was encamped within the bounds of Dr. Caldwell's
congregations; and most of the men being with General Greene, the
distress fell on the defenceless women and children. In the detail of
spoliation and outrage, their pastor suffered his share. He had been
repeatedly harassed by the British and tories, who bore him special
enmity; a price had been set upon his head, and a reward of two hundred
pounds offered for his apprehension. *
* The reader is referred to the Life and Character of Rev. David
Caldwell, D. D., by Rev. E. W. Caruthers, Greensboro', N. C.
On the 11th of March, while he was in Greene's camp, the army was
marched to his plantation and encamped there, the officers taking
possession of his house. Mrs. Caldwell was at home with her children
when they arrived. They at first announced themselves as Americans, and
asked to see the landlady; but a female domestic who had ascertained
by standing on the fence and seeing red coats at a distance, that they
belonged to the army of Cornwallis, quickly communicated her discovery
to her mistress. Excusing herself by saying that she must attend to
her child, Mrs. Caldwell retired within the house, and immediately gave
warning to two of her neighbors who happened to be there, that they
might escape through the other door and conceal themselves. She then
returned to the gate. The party in front when charged with being British
soldiers, avowed themselves such, and said they must have the use of the
dwelling for a day or two. They immediately established themselves in
their quarters, turning out Mrs. Caldwell, who with her children retired
to the smoke house, and there passed a day with no other food than a few
dried peaches and apples, till a physician interposed, and procured
for her a bed, some provisions, and a few cooking utensils. The family
remained in the smoke house two days and nights--their distress being
frequently insulted by profane and brutal language. To a young officer
who came to the door for the purpose of taunting the helpless mother,
by ridiculing her countrymen, whom he termed rebels and cowards, Mrs.
Caldwell replied, "Wait and see what the Lord will do for us."
"If he intends to do anything," pertly rejoined the military fop, "'tis
time he had begun." In reply to Mrs. Caldwell's application to one of
the soldiers for protection, she was told she could expect no favors,
for that the women were as great rebels as the men.
After remaining two days, the army took their departure from the ravaged
plantation, on which they had destroyed every thing; but before leaving
Dr. Caldwell's house, the officer in command gave orders that his
library and papers should be burned. A fire was kindled in the large
oven in the yard, and books which could not at that time be replaced,
and valuable manuscripts which had cost the study and labor of years,
were carried out by the soldiers, armful after armful, and ruthlessly
committed to the flames. Not even the family Bible was spared, and the
house, as well as plantation, was left pillaged and desolate.
On the fifteenth was heard the roar of that battle which was to compel
the retreat of the invaders, and achieve the deliverance of Carolina.
The women of Dr. Caldwell's congregation met, as has been mentioned, and
while the conflict was raging fiercely between man and man, wrestled
in earnest prayer for their defenders. After the cold, wet night which
succeeded the action, the women wandered over the field of battle to
search for their friends, administer the last sad rites to the dead,
and bear away the wounded and expiring. One officer who had lain thirty
hours undiscovered, was found in the woods by an old lady, and carried
to his house, where he survived long enough to relate how a loyalist of
his acquaintance had passed him the day after the battle, had recognized
him, and bestowed a blow and an execration, instead of the water he
craved to quench his consuming thirst. Conscience, however, sometimes
avenged the insulted rights of nature;--the man who had refused the
dying request of a fellow creature, was found after the officer's death,
suspended on a tree before his own door. *
* Sketches of North Carolina.
The persecution of Dr. Caldwell continued while the British occupied
that portion of the State. His property was destroyed, and he was hunted
as a felon; snares were laid for him, and pretences used to draw him
from his hiding-place; he was compelled to pass nights in the woods,
and ventured only at the most imminent peril to see his family. Often he
escaped captivity or death, as it were, by a miracle. At one time
when he had ventured home on a stolen visit, the house was suddenly
surrounded by armed men, who seized him before he could escape,
designing to carry him to the British camp. One or two were set to guard
him, while the others went to gather such articles of provisions and
clothing as could be found worth taking away. When they were nearly
ready to depart, the plunder collected being piled in the middle of the
floor, and the prisoner standing beside it with his guard, Mrs. Dunlap,
who with Mrs. Caldwell had remained in an adjoining apartment, came
forward. With the promptitude and presence of mind for which women are
often remarkable in sudden emergencies, she stepped behind Dr. Caldwell,
leaned over his shoulder, and whispered to him, as if intending the
question for his ear alone, asking if it was not time for Gillespie and
his men to be there. One of the soldiers who stood nearest caught the
words, and with evident alarm demanded what men were meant. The lady
replied that she was merely speaking to her brother. In a moment all was
confusion; the whole party was panic-struck; exclamations and hurried
questions followed; and in the consternation produced by this ingenious
though simple manouvre, the tories fled precipitately, leaving their
prisoner and their plunder. The name of Gillespie was a scourge and
terror to the loyalists, and this party knew themselves to be within the
limits of one of the strongest whig neighborhoods in the State.
Sometime in the fall of 1780, a stranger stopped at the house of Dr.
Caldwell, faint and worn with fatigue, to ask supper and lodging for
the night. He announced himself an express bearing despatches from
Washington to General Greene, then on the Pedee river. He had imagined
that he would be free from danger under the roof of a minister of the
gospel; but Mrs. Caldwell soon undeceived him on this point. She was
alone; her husband was an object of peculiar hatred to the tories, and
she could not tell the day or hour when an attack might be expected.
Should they chance to hear of the traveller, and learn that he had
important papers in his possession, he would certainly be robbed before
morning. She said he should have something to eat immediately--but
advised him to seek some safer place of shelter for the night. This
intelligence so much alarmed the stranger that his agitation would not
permit him to eat, even when the repast was prepared and placed before
him. But a short time had passed before voices were heard without, with
cries of "Surround the house!" and the dwelling was presently assailed
by a body of tories. With admirable calmness, Mrs. Caldwell bade the
stranger follow her, and led him out at the opposite door. A large
locust tree stood close by, and the night was so dark that no object
could be discerned amid its clustering foliage. She bade him climb
the tree, thorny as it was, and conceal himself till the men should
be engaged in plundering the house. He could then descend on the other
side, and trust to flight for his safety. The house was pillaged as
she had expected; but the express made his escape, to remember with
gratitude the woman whose prudence had saved him with the loss of her
property.
One little incident is characteristic. Among such articles as the
housewife especially prizes, Mrs. Caldwell had an elegant tablecloth,
which she valued as the gift of her mother. While the tories on one
occasion were in her house collecting plunder, one of them broke open
the chest or drawer which contained it, and drew out the tablecloth.
Mrs. Caldwell seized and held it fast, determined not to give up her
treasure. When she found that her rapacious enemy would soon succeed
in wresting it from her, unless she could make use of some other than
muscular force to prevent him, she turned to the other men of the party,
whose attention had been attracted by the struggle, so that they had
gathered around her. Still keeping her hold on the tablecloth, she
appealed to them with all a woman's eloquence, asking if some of them
had not wives or daughters for whose sake they would interfere to cause
her to be treated with more civility. A small man who stood at the
distance of a few-feet presently stepped up, with tears in his eyes, and
said that he had a wife--a fine little woman she was, too! and that he
would not allow any rudeness to be practised towards Mrs. Caldwell. His
interference compelled the depredator to restore the valued article.
It was not unfrequently that female prudence or intrepidity was
successful in disappointing the marauders. The plantations of Dr.
Caldwell and his brother Alexander were near each other. One evening,
during Alexander's absence from home, two soldiers entered his house,
and began rudely to seize upon every thing they saw worth carrying off,
having ordered his wife to prepare supper for them. They were supposed
to belong to the army of Cornwallis, at that time foraging in the
neighborhood. Not knowing what to do, Mrs. Caldwell sent to her
brother-in-law for advice. He sent word in answer that she must treat
the men civilly, and have supper ready as soon as practicable; but that
she must observe where they placed their guns, and set the table at the
other end of the house. He promised to come over in the meantime and
conceal himself in a haystack close by; and she was to inform him as
soon as the men had sat down to supper. These directions were implicitly
followed. The house was a double cabin, containing two rooms on the
same floor. While the men were leisurely discussing their repast, Dr.
Caldwell quietly entered the other apartment, took up one of the guns,
and stepping to the door of the room where they were so comfortably
occupied, presented the weapon, and informed them they were his
prisoners, and their lives would be the forfeit, should they make the
least attempt to escape. They surrendered immediately, and Dr. Caldwell
marched them to his own house, where he kept them till morning, and then
suffered them to depart, after putting them on their parole by causing
them to take a solemn oath upon the family Bible, that they would no
longer bear arms against the United States, but would return to him upon
a day named. This pledge was faithfully kept.
After the war, Dr. Caldwell resumed his labors as a teacher and
preacher--his pastoral services being continued till within about four
years of his death. He died in the summer of 1824, in the hundredth year
of his age. His wife, who had accompanied him in the vicissitudes of
his long pilgrimage, aiding him in his useful work, followed him to the
grave in 1825, at the age of eighty-six. All who knew, regarded her as
a woman of remarkable character and influence, and she is remembered
throughout the State with high respect.
The influence of Colonel Hamilton, of the British army, contributed
greatly--at the time-Lord Cornwallis, on his last ill-fated expedition,
was in the neighborhood of Halifax--to mitigate the evils usually
attendant upon the march of a hostile force. Hamilton had resided there
before the Revolution, and showed a regard for his old acquaintances
by inducing the Commander to forbid the molestation of the persons or
property of non-combatants.
It is not improbable that female influence had something to do with this
magnanimity. The tone of public opinion in Halifax and its neighborhood
was affected in no slight degree by three women, who were rendered
prominent by the position of their husbands, and by their own talents
and example. These women were Mrs. Willie Jones, Mrs. Allen Jones, and
Mrs. Nicholas Long. Their husbands were men of cultivated minds,
of wealth and high consideration, having great influence in
public councils, and being zealously devoted to the achievement of
independence. The importance of the principles for which they contended,
was vindicated not less impressively by the conversation and patriotic
zeal of their wives, than by their own efforts in more striking appeals.
Colonel Nicholas Long was Commissary general for the forces raised in
North Carolina, and superintended the preparation, in workshops erected
on his premises, of warlike implements, military equipments, and
clothing for the soldiers. His wife was a most efficient co-operator
in this business. She possessed great energy and firmness, with mental
powers of no common order. Her praises were the theme of conversation
among the old officers of the army as long as any were left who had
known her. Her maiden name was M'Kinney. She died when about eighty
years of age, leaving a numerous offspring.
Mrs. Allen Jones was a Miss Edwards, the sister of Isaac Edwards, the
English secretary of Governor Tryon. She had the reputation of being the
most accomplished woman of her day, and was remarkable for the elegance
and taste shown in all her domestic arrangements. She died shortly after
the Revolution, leaving an only daughter, who married the son of Mrs.
Long.
_Mrs. Willie Jones_ was the daughter of Colonel Montfort, and was
married at a very early age. She is regarded as the most conspicuous
among the Revolutionary heroines in the region where she lived, and is
said to have been eminent in every quality that constitutes excellence
in female character. She possessed a remarkable faculty of gaining
influence by the affections. One of her acquaintances says: "She is the
only person with whom it has been my fortune to be acquainted, who was
loved--devotedly, enthusiastically loved--by every human being who knew
her." Born to an ample fortune, she dispensed it with a munificent and
elegant hospitality rarely seen in a new country, while her charities
were extended to all proper objects of her beneficence. A native
nobility of soul rendered her superior to the influence of any selfish
feeling, or of accidental circumstances, which often mould the character
of ordinary minds. The enjoyments of life were partaken by her with
sobriety, while the troubles and privations that fell to her lot were
borne with calmness and cheerful fortitude. She died about 1828, leaving
five children, of whom two are living in North Carolina.
The celebrated retort to Tarleton's sneering remark concerning Colonel
William Washington, a witticism variously repeated, has been generally
attributed to Mrs. Jones; but I have been assured by her daughter
that it was incorrectly ascribed to her. Mrs. Jones often related the
occurrence to this lady, and disclaimed the merit of the retort, which
belonged to her sister Mrs. Ashe. The circumstances were as follows:
During the stay of General Leslie and the British troops in Halifax,
several of his officers were quartered at the house of Colonel Ashe, and
Mrs. Ashe was in the habit of playing backgammon with them. Among these
was Tarleton, who often conversed with her, and was especially fond
of indulging his sarcastic wit in her presence at the expense of
her favorite hero Colonel Washington. On one occasion he observed,
jestingly, that he should like to have an opportunity of seeing that
man, who he had understood was very small. Mrs. Ashe replied quickly:
"If you had looked behind you, Colonel Tarleton, at the battle of the
Cowpens, you would have had that pleasure." The taunt was keenly felt,
and the British Colonel so moved, that his hand involuntarily sought the
hilt of his sword. At this moment General Leslie entered the room, and
observing that Mrs. Ashe was much agitated, inquired the cause of her
emotion. She explained what had passed, to which General Leslie answered
with a smile; "Say what you please, Mrs. Ashe; Colonel Tarleton knows
better than to insult a lady in my presence."
The following illustrative incident was communicated to the Rev. J. H.
Saye, by two Revolutionary officers, one of whom lived in the vicinity
where it occurred--the other being of the party concerned in the
adventure.
Early in the war, the inhabitants on the frontier of Burke County,
North Carolina, being apprehensive of an attack by the Indians, it was
determined to seek protection in a fort in a more densely populated
neighborhood in an interior settlement. A party of soldiers was sent to
protect them on their retreat. The families assembled, the line of march
was taken towards their place of destination, and they proceeded some
miles unmolested--the soldiers marching in a hollow square, with the
refugee families in the centre. The Indians, who had watched these
movements, had laid a plan for their destruction. The road to be
travelled lay through a dense forest in the fork of a river, where the
Indians concealed themselves, and waited till the travellers were in
the desired spot. Suddenly the war-whoop sounded in front, and on either
side; a large body of painted warriors rushed in, filling the gap
by which the whites had entered, and an appalling crash of fire-arms
followed. The soldiers, however, were prepared; such as chanced to be
near trees darted behind them, and began to ply the deadly rifle; the
others prostrated themselves upon the earth, among the tall grass, and
crawled to trees. The families screened themselves as best they could.
The onset was long and fiercely urged; ever and anon amid the din and
smoke, the warriors would rush, tomahawk in hand, towards the centre;
but they were repulsed by the cool intrepidity of the back-woods
riflemen. Still they fought on, determined on the destruction of the
victims who offered such desperate resistance. All at once, an appalling
sound greeted the ears of the women and children in the centre; it was a
cry from their defenders--a cry for powder! "Our powder is giving
out," they exclaimed. "Have you any? Bring us some, or we can fight no
longer!" A woman of the party had a good supply. She spread her apron on
the ground, poured her powder into it, and going round from soldier to
soldier as they stood behind the trees, bade each who needed powder put
down his hat, and poured a quantity upon it. Thus she went round the
line of defence, till her whole stock, and all she could obtain from
others, was distributed. At last the savages gave way, and pressed by
their foes, were driven off the ground. The victorious whites returned
to those for whose safety they had ventured into the wilderness.
Inquiries were made as to who had been killed, and one running up,
cried, "Where is the woman that gave us the powder! I want to see her!"
"Yes!--yes!--let us see her!" responded another and another; "without
her we should have been all lost!" The soldiers ran about among the
women and children, looking for her and making inquiries. Directly came
in others from the pursuit, one of whom observing the commotion, asked
the cause, and was told. "You are looking in the wrong place," he
replied. "Is she killed? Ah, we were afraid of that!" exclaimed many
voices. "Not when I saw her," answered the soldier. "When the Indians
ran off, she was on her knees in prayer at the root of yonder tree, and
there I left her." There was a simultaneous rush to the tree--and there,
to their great joy, they found the woman safe, and still on her knees
in prayer. Thinking not of herself, she received their applause without
manifesting any other feeling than gratitude to Heaven for their great
deliverance.