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Gc 975.6 M36h v. 1 1686594
M.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02419 1345
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https://archive.org/details/historyofnorthca01mart 0
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
THE
HISTORY
OF
NORTH CAROLINA,
FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD.
BY FRANÇOIS-XAVIER MARTIN.
Colonia autem jura, institutaque populi Romani, non sui arbitrii habebant.
CEL. lib. 16, cap. 23.
V.I
VOLUME I.
NEW ORLEANS:
PRINTED BY A. T. PENNIMAN & CO. Corner of Chartres and Bienville Streets.
1829.
1686594
Eastern District of Louisiana, Sy.
BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, and of the independence of the United States the fifty-third, FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARTIN, of the said district, hath deposited in the Clerk's office for the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the title of' a book, the right whereof he claims as author, to wit:
" The History of North Carolina, from the earliest period. By François-Xavier Martin.
Colonie autem jura, institutaque populi Romani, non sui arbitrii, habebant.
GEL. lib. 10, cap. 23.
In conformity to an act of Congress of the United States, entitled " Ax act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned;" and also, to the act entitled " An act sup .. plementary to an act, entitled ' an act for the encouragement of learning. by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned,' and ex- teuding the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other prints."
FRANKLIN W. LEA, Clerk of the United Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
PREFACE.
AN historical inquiry into the discovery, settlement and improvement of the country, now covered by the important member of the North American confederacy, on the shores of which the English made their first attempt towards colonization, is certainly an object of general curiosity ; and the work has been undertaken, in the hope, that, if it be not too negligently performed, the youth of North Carolina may not find it void of interest and utility.
If it be true, that history is the best mean of teaching and exercising the minds of those who destine themselves to public life, this advantage will, more certainly and eminently be found in the annals of the country, which is to be the theatre of one's actions: especially, if these annals present the rare and interest- ing spectacle of a handful of adventurers, attempting, with incredible toil and danger,
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PREFACE.
a settlement in a new world, and after re- peated disasters, successively falling victims to their enterprising spirit, and the cruelty and treachery of the aborigenes : next, that of a new set, continuing the like efforts, un- dismayed by a beginning so disastrous, enduring for years the combined calamities of famine, disease and war, succeeding at last, in laying the foundation of a colony, which suffered a long time, under the errors of a theoretical system of government, ill calculated for its moral and local condition, struggled afterwards under the oppression of an unnatural parent country, and finally, shaking off the yoke of dependence, through alternate vicissitudes of misfortune and success, became a powerful state.
Imperfect as the present publication is, it began to engage the attention of the writer as early as the year 1791: at that period, the legislature of North Carolina afforded him some aid, in the publication of a collection of the statutes of the parliament of England, then in force and use within that state. In preparing that work, he examined all the
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VII
PREFACE.
statutes from Magna Charta to the Declara- tion of Independence, and an arrangement of all those which related to America, afford- ed him a complete view of the colonial sys- tem of England. In 1803 he was employed by the same legislature to publish a revisal of the acts of the general assembly, passed dur- ing the proprietary, royal and state govern- ments, and the local information he acquired in carrying into effect the intentions of those who employed him, suggested the idea of collecting materials for a history of the state ; and when afterwards he had the honor of representing the town of Newbern, in the house of commons, he was favored with a resolution of the general assembly, authoriz- ing the secretary of state to allow him access to the records of his office. In the speeches of the governors, at the opening of the ses- sions of the legislature, he found a reference to the principal transactions during the re- cess, and there were few important events, particularly relating to the state, which left no trace on the journals of the legislature, or the proceedings of the executive.
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VIII
PREFACE.
During several journeys, which he after- wards made to several parts of the country, he received considerable information from individuals. Mr. George Pollock of New- bern, confided to him an official letter book, and several documents left by one of his ancestors, who came to the county of Albe- marle, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and who, in the beginning of the following, exercised the functions of chief magistrate over the northern part of Caro- lina. The late governor Johnson, a nephew of Gabriel Johnson, who presided over the affairs of the province from the year 1734 to 1754; governor Smith, who was in pos- session of the papers of president Rowan, and governor Ashe, whose ancestors were among the earliest settlers of the country, afforded considerable materials. The gen- tlemen in possession of the records of the Quaker meetings, in Perquimans and Pas- quotank counties, and the head of the Uni- tas Fratrum, or Moravian Brethren, cheer- fully yielded their assistance,
IX
PREFACE.
A citizen of North Carolina, being a citi- zen of the United States, has a right to ex- pect. in a history of his own state, some notice, not only of the settlement of, but also of the most prominent events that took place in, the sister states; and, as the affairs of the mother country have necessarily a considerable influence on those of her colo- nies, the principal wars, in which England was engaged, must necessarily be noticed in the history of any of her American pro- vinces. Under these impressions, the neces- sary information, in this respect, was sought in the most approved publications.
The writer imagined, he had collected sufficient materials to justify the hope of producing a history of North Carolina, worth the attention of his fellow citizens, and he had arranged all those that related to transactions, anterior to the declaration of independence, when, in 1809, Mr. Madison thought his services were wanted, first in the Mississippi territory and afterwards in that of Orleans; and when the latter terri-
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PREFACE.
tory became a state, the new government thought proper to retain him.
He had entertained the hope, that the time would arrive, when disengaged from public duties, he might resume the work he had commenced in Carolina; but years have rolled away, without bringing on this period ; and a shock his health lately received during the year of his great climacteric, has warn- ed him, that the moment is arrived when his intended work must engage his immediate attention, or be absolutely abandoned.
A circumstance, for some time, rocom- mended the latter alternative. The public prints stated, that a gentleman of known industry and great talents, who has filled a very high office in North Carolina, was en- gaged in a similar work ; but several years have elapsed since, and nothing favors the belief, that the hopes which he had excited, will soon be realized.
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This gentleman had made application for the materials now published, and they would have been forwarded to him, if they had
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PREFACE.
been in a condition of being useful to any but him who had collected them. their circuitous way from Newbern to New- York and New-Orleans, the sea water found its way to them : since their arrival, the mice, worms, and the variety of insects of a humid and warm climate, have made great ravages among them. The ink of several very ancient documents has grown so pale, as to render them nearly illegible, and notes hastily taken on a journey, are in so cramped a hand, that they are not to be deciphered by any person but him who made them.
The determination has been taken to put the work immediately to press, in the con- dition it was when it reached New-Orleans: this has prevented any use being made of Williamson's History of North Carolina, a copy of which did not reach the writer's hands till after his arrival in Louisiana.
The expectation is cherished, that the people of North Carolina will receive, with indulgence, a work, ushered to light under circumstances so untoward.
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PREFACE.
Very ample notes and materials are ready for a volume, relating to the events of the revolutionary war, and another, detailing subsequent transactions, till the writer's de- parture from Newborn, in 1809. If God yield him life and health, and his fellow citizens in North Carolina appear desirous these should follow the two volumes, now presented to them, it is not improbable they will appear.
Gentilly, near New-Orleans, July 20, 1829.
THE
HISTORY
OF
NORTH CAROLINA.
CHAPTER I
THE country, the history of which is now at. tempted to be traced, was first known to the Eu- ropeans, in the year 1512, twenty years after the anding of Christopher Columbus in the new world, as an undefined part of the vast section of the north- ern continent of America, which was then discover- ed by Juan Ponce de Leon, a subject of the crown of Spain. He gave it the name of Florida, either from its flowery appearance, or from the circumstance of his first discovering it on Palm Sunday. He landed on the most southern part of the continent, near a small river, which falls into the gulf of Mexico, a few leagues to the south of the present town of Pensacola.
Sebastian Cabot, however, had fifteen years be- fore sailed along the eastern coast of that conti- nent, from that latitude to the 56th degree, under a commission from Henry VII. of England, without any attempt towards a settlement.
On the return of Juan Ponce de Leon to Spain, his sovereign bestowed on him a grant of Florida. He soon after made a second voyage; but on his landing, the Indians fell on his men and massacred N. CAROLINA. 1
CHAPTER [1590
the greater part of them. In the conflict, the chief received a wound, which put an end to his existence, shortly after his arrival in Spain.
The French made three fruitless attempts to es. tablish a colony on the continent of North America, in the year 1535. In the year 1506, nearly thirty years before, Jean Denys, one of their navigators, sailed from Rouen, visited and drew a chart of the gulf of St. Lawrence: and Thomas Aubert of Dieppe, in the year 1508, had sailed up the river of that name, and it is said, that as early as the vear 1504, fishermen from Normandy and Brittany visited its shores.
Lucas Vasquez de Aillon, in 1520, equipped two vessels in Hispaniola, for Florida, with the view of seizing on a number of Indians, reducing them to slavery, and employing them in working in the mines. He passed through the Lucaye islands, and discovered the continent in the thirty-second degree of northern latitude, and anchored between two capes, then called Chicora and Guadalpe, on the river afterwards called Jordan river. The Indians fled, on the landing of the Spaniards. who overtook two of them and car- ried them on board; and after giving them meat and drink, they suffered them to return to their friends. This courteous demeanor, induced the Indians to come on board in great numbers, bringing a large quantity of fowls and vegetables. The Spaniards land. d again, and proceeded a considerable distance in the interior of the country, where they were received with great hospitality and friendship.
On their return, they invited a number of Indians to an entertainment on board ; and weighing anchors in the
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THE FIRST.
1528]
midst of it, brought oway their unsuspecting hosts. One of the vessels was lost at sea; the other reached Hispaniola, but most of the Indians on board, perished, victims to their sadness, or an obstinate abstinence.
Other vessels went from Hispaniola to Florida, and brought away a number of Indians, who were reduced to slavery, and employed in working the mines.
Vasquez having obtained the king's privilege, sent several vessels to Florida, in 1524; and his ambition being excited by the information which he received, that the land was extremely fertile and contained mines of gold, sailed with those vessels in 1525, and proceeded to the river Jordan, where he lost one of his vessels on the cape of St. Helena, and two hundred of his men were, on his landing, massacred by the Indians.
In 1523 and the two following years, the same coast was explored with a considerable degree of accuracy, by Giovano Veranzzany, employed by Francis I. of France.
Pamphilo de Narvaez obtained, in 1526, from Charles I. of Spain, the office of governor of all the lands which he might discover, from Rio de Palmas, to the confines of Florida. He sailed in the latter part of the year 1528, from the port of Yagua, on the southern coast of the island of Cuba; and having passed round the island, they left its nothern coast, at the distance of twelve leagues above the Havana; and taking advantage of a strong southern wind, they reached the coast of Florida, in the gulf of Mexico, on the 12th of April. He landed on the next day, and procured fish and venison from the natives. It is said, one of their huts was so capacious as to be capable of sheltering three hundred men. He discovered in the possession of
[1528
CHAPTER
the Indians, a cymbal of gold, which induced Narvaez to believe that this metal was in abundance in the neighborhood. He landed ten men and forty horses, and took possession of the land with the accustomed ceremonies. The Indians, though they could not make themselves understood by the Spaniards, manifested by their countenances and demeanor, the reluctance with which they received them. The Spaniards, pro- ceeding farther, came to a tribe of Indians who received them better, and supplied them with corn ; and saw here some boxes containing the skele tons of dead men, cover- ed with skins. Narvaez sojourned several days near these Indians, and made frequent excursions into the country, during which he had several skirmishes with them. At last, destitute of provisions, and finding nothing but a sterile country and impassable roads, he re-embarked; but the greatest part of his men perished, through fatigue, hunger and disease. Those who es- caped these complicated disasters, reached Rio de Palmas. Narvaez was not among them : his ship foundered in a storm, and he was never heard of.
A little more than ten years after, Ferdinand de Soto was sent by the crown of Spain as governor of Florida. More fortunate or more prudent, at first, than those who had preceded him, he effected the landing of the colonists who accompanied him, with- out the loss of any of them : they were as nume- rous as those whom Narvaez had brought from Spain. For a while, this was the first successful es- tablishment of a colony of Europeans on the conti- nent of North America. It supported itself during five years against the natives who at last vanquish- ed and destroyed it. The Spaniards during that
1519]
THE FIRST.
period made no effort to obtain their subsistence by agriculture: they employed their time in excur- sions into the country, in a fruitless search after the precious ores.
Jacques Cartier is said to be the navigator, who in the year 1534, gave the name of St. Lawrence to the gulf and river, from the circumstance of his enter- ing them on the day of the festival of that Saint. In. the following year, he wintered in the country, now called Canada, to which he gave the name of New France. He went as high up as a place then called Hochelaga, now Montreal. He returned in the year 1540, and began a settlement at a short distance from the spot on which the city of Quebec was afterwards built. Two years after, Mons. de Robertval, with two ships and two hundred men proceeded up the river St. Lawrence, twelve miles above the island now called the island of Orleans," built a fort, and wintered there.
In 1541. Carthagena was invaded by a company of French adventurers. This is the first act of hos- tility between European nations, in the new world.
Although the British nation had yet made no ef- fort to form any establishment in America, their ships had for several years been engaged in the fisherv at Newfoundland. In the year 1548, the first British statute relating to America was passed; the ob- ject of it was to repress the extortions of the officers of the admiralty who demanded a duty or part of the profits on every voyage made to Ireland, Iceland and Newfoundland.
In 1549, Charles V. of Spain, sent Lewis de Be- luastro, a Dominican friar, to Florida, with orders to
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CHAPTER
[1564
reduce the natives to the Christian faith and Span- ish obedience; and he and two of his followers were slain, and eaten by the savages.
The country remained unnoticed by the Euro- peans until the year 1562, when Jasper de Coligny, admiral of France, procured two vessels to be fit- ted out, under the orders of Jean Ribaud, for the os- tensible purpose of discoveries on the eastern coast of the continent of North America, but perhaps with a view of securing an asylum for the protestants of France, if a continuation of ill success should des- troy their cause in that kingdom. The adventurers made the land in the highest degree of northern lati- tude, near a cape to which they gave the name of Cape Français; it is one of the promontories of the estuary on which the town of St. Augustine now lies, and they landed on the banks of the river St. Mary, which now separates Florida from Georgia. After spending some time in reconnoitering the country, and carrying on some little trade with the natives, Ending themselves in no condition to effect a settle- ment, they returned home, bringing to their country- men the best account of the climate, the country and its inhabitants, which their short stay could enable them to procure.
The admiral, charmed with the report, deter- mined on forming a settlement, that might afford him and his companions a retreat, which the cir- cumstances of the times rendered daily more neces- sary. Unforeseen difficulties delayed the small fleet which he procured for this purpose till the year 1564. Five or six ships then carried as many hun- dred persons to begin a colony, under the orders of
1584]
THE FIRST.
Rene Laudoniere. They disembarked at the place of landing of the first expedition. They immedi- ately commenced the building of a fort, which was called /rx Carolina, or Fort Charles, and the coun- try Caroline, in honor of Charles IX. who then fill- ed the throne of France. The colony was hardly settled, when the Spaniards, who then asserted an exclusive right to the whole continent, sent a consi- derable force under Admiral Don Pedro Menendez to attack it. The French, too small in number to offer any resistance, sought their safety in submis. sion; but the cruel enemy, deeming that no faith needed to be preserved with the Huguenots, disre- garded the promise, under which the weaker party had been induced to yield, and treacherously put them to the sword. A few, however, escaped to the woods: they were pursued and hung to the trees, with this deriding inscription, not as Frenchmen, but as Heretics.
Far from endeavoring to avenge this outrage, the ministers of Charles VII. rejoiced at the miscar- riage of a project, which indeed they had sanctioned, but which they did not relish because it had origi- nated with the chief of the Huguenots, and the suc- cess of it might have given strength to their cause. The fanaticism of the times confirmed their resolu- tion to manifest no resentment ; an individual was to do what the nation ought to have done.
Dominique de Gourgues, a Gascon, an able and bold navigator, the known enemy of the Spaniards, on whom he had personal injuries to avenge, ar- dently attached to his country, fond of hazardous undertakings and of glory, sold his patrimony, built
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a few vessels, and uniting to himself some choice companions, went in pursuit of the murderers of his countrymen in America, drove them from one fort to another; vanquished them every where. hung & number of them to the trees on the sea shore, and opposing derision to derision, inscribed over them, not as Spaniards, but assassins.
Here ended this expedition. De Gourgues, either from want of provisions, or the apprehensions that the friendship of the Indians would cease, with the means of purchasing it, or that the Spaniards might arrive in numbers sufficient to overcome him, des- troyed all the forts which they had erected, and sail- ed back to France. He was received by his coun- trymen with all the admiration he deserved: not so by the court; despotic and superstitious, it had every thing to fear from virtue.
Neither the French nor the Spaniards made any further attempt to transplant a colony into Caroline; this was to be the work of the English. Their first attempt was made in 1584. On the 22d of July of that year, the English flag was displayed before the shores of Carolina by Arthur Barlow and Philip Amidas. They were the commanders of two small vessels built by Sir Walter Raleigh, who had ob- tained from queen Elizabeth a patent, authorising him, his heirs or assigns, to take possession of such remote, heathen and barbarous lands, as were not occupied by any Christian prince. Amidas and Barlow had sailed from the Thames, and taking their route by the Canary and West India islands. had approached the continent towards the gulf of Mex- ico, after a passage of fifty-seven days.
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1384]
A fragrant odour wafted to the adventurers, the glad tidings of the vicinity of the land, some time before they could descry it. The coast at first offered no convenient harbor, and they sailed by it for upwards of one hundred miles, without discovering any. They entered however with difficulty and cau- tion, the first inlet which they saw, and having returned thanks to God, went ashore to take posses- sion of the land in the name of their sovereign.
At first, they judged themselves on the continent, but taking advantage of an eminence, they discover- ed that the sea surrounded them. Theisland appear- ed to be seventy miles in length, and six in breadth: it lay between cape Fear and cape Hatteras, and was very low, and is concluded to be that of Ocra- cock, or some other near it along the coast, now in the county of Carteret. Stately cedars, pines, cy- press, sassafras, and other trees of a fragrant smell, covered it; on them numerous and large clusters of grape hung in natural festoons: and the land abound- ed in deer, raccoons, and wild fowls. They were nearly three days on this island, without seeingany of the natives; on the third, three Indians came in a ca- noe from the main land; they fearlessly approach- ed the strangers, and one of them went on board one of the vessels; he chattered much, ate, drank, and gladly accepted a shirt and a hat, which were pre- sented him; after viewing attentively every thing on board, he went away, and in a short time returned with his canoe loaded with fish.
On the next day, a great number of Indians came in large canoes: among them was the king's brother; the English learnt from him that his name was N. CAROLINA. 2
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[1584
.
Granganameo, that of the king Wingina, and that the country was called Wingadocea, and the island Woccon. The natives were generally tall and well shaped, very respectful to the chief, and cour- teous to each other. The king lay at the principal town, ill from the wounds he had lately received in battle. Granganameo sat down on a mat, which was spread for him, and received the English, with- out manifesting the least fear, as they approached him with their arms; he invited them by signs to sit down, and stroaked his own head and breast and then theirs, as a mark of courtesy. Four of the natives sat down also: the others stood up around. The English made presents to Granganameo, and the four Indians who were sitting; but he took the whole to himself. The parties having spent some time in traffic, separated.
Two days after, Granganameo paid the English another visit, came on board, and ate and drank merrily. He had brought a quantity of dressed deer skins, which he bartered for a copper kettle and a pewter plate. The latter pleased him so much that, boring it in the rim, he hung it to his neck as a breastplate. He afterwards brought his wife and children to see the vessels: she was of a short stature, but remarkably well made; her behaviour was modest. She had on a long loose coat, with a short apron of leather; a band of white coral en- circled her temples, and strings of large pearl, hung from her ears down to her waist. The children were fanci- fully decked with red copper and feathers. The women who attended her, had pendants of red copper in their cars.
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