USA > North Carolina > Rowan County > A history of Rowan County, North Carolina > Part 11
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From the time that Lord Cornwallis left the lower Cape Fear, in the early part of 1775, until 1780, there were few if any British troops in North Carolina. But during all these four years the flower of the North Carolina soldiery were far from their homes- in the north under General Washington, or in the South under General Lincoln, Gates, or other National Commanders. Thus we read in history that the North
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Carolina Continentals and a brigade of militia under Gen. John Ashe were present at Charleston, June 8, 1776, when Sir Peter Parker was beaten off from Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island. At the same time, Gen- eral Rutherford of Rowan, with Colonels Polk of Mecklenburg, and Martin of Guilford, marched nine- teen hundred men against the Indians in what is now Tennessee. Early in 1777 the North Carolina Con- tinentals went to the support of General Washington in the North. The whole of the North Carolina Con- tinentals were with General Washington at the battle of Brandywine, September II, 1777. North Carolin- ians were also at the battle of Princeton. At German- town also North Carolina troops made for themselves a glorious record, and on that fatal field was poured out some of the best blood of the State. There Gen. Francis Nash, of Orange County, brother of Gov. Abner Nash, commanded a brigade under General Washington, and fell in battle. There too fell Col. Edward Buncombe and Colonel Irwin, besides a large number of subalterns and privates. In 1778 the North Carolina Continentals were found engaged in the battle of Monmouth. Shortly after this time all the North Carolina battalions, except the third and fifth, were transferred under General Lincoln to Charleston, S. C. In 1779, we find two thousand North Carolina militia, under General Ashe, at the battle of Brier Creek, in Georgia. In consequence of the precipitation of General Lincoln in rushing un- trained militia upon dangerous ground, this affair of Brier Creek was a sad defeat. But immediately
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after this disaster, the North Carolina Assembly or- dered the enrollment of eight thousand new levies. These were placed under the command of Gen. Rich- ard Caswell. In the year 1779, General Lincoln's forces at Charleston consisted chiefly of six North Carolina battalions. These, by years of service, had become veterans. General Lincoln placed these bat- talions in the center, while Major William R. Davie with his mounted troops led on the right, at the bloody battle of Stono. And when, on the twelfth of May, 1780, General Lincoln surrendered Charleston to Sir Henry Clinton, all the North Carolina Continentals and a thousand of her militia became prisoners of war. This was a terrible blow to North Carolina, at this particular juncture. Lord Cornwallis at once assumed charge of the British forces and marched to- wards North Carolina, at the very time when her en- tire forces of trained soldiers were consigned to an enforced military inactivity. But to make matters worse, General Caswell, with a considerable portion of the North Carolina militia, became connected with General Gates' army, and on the fifteenth and six- teenth of August of the same year, sustained the dis- astrous defeat near Camden, S. C. General Ruther- ford with Colonels Lockhart and Geddy were among the captives. Major Davie with his small band of troopers still hovered around the Waxhaws, while Gens. Jethro Sumner and William Davidson still kept the field with a few North Carolina militia on the bor-
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ders of the State. But even these were pressed back as far as Charlotte by the British forces. With one hundred and fifty cavalry, and fourteen volunteers under Major Graham, Colonel Davie gave Tarleton's legion a warm reception at Charlotte Courthouse. But they could not hold their ground against overwhelm- ing numbers. Retreating on the Salisbury Road, a skirmish occurred between Charlotte and Sugar Creek Church, at which Lieut. George Locke was slain. Lord Cornwallis did not remain long at Charlotte. So hostile were the people, and so much did bodies of armed men harrass his troops on their foraging ex- cursions, that Cornwallis bestowed upon that section the name of the "Hornets' Nest," a name that every patriotic son of Mecklenburg cherishes as fondly as an Englishman does the titles of knighthood, or the decorations of the Star and Garter. Colonel Tarle- ton says: "It was evident, and had been frequently mentioned to the King's officers, that the Counties of Mecklenburg and Rohan (Rowan) were more hostile to England than any others in America. The vigilance and animosity of these surrounding districts checked the exertions of the well affected, and totally destroyed all communications between the King's troops and Loyalists in other parts of the Province. No British commander could obtain any information in that posi- tion which would facilitate his designs, or guide his future conduct." Steadman says that the only way they could secure their foraging parties from destruc-
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tion was for Lord Rawdon to take one-half of the army one day, and Colonel Webster the other half the next day, to protect them from the inhabitants.
Owing to these causes, and further, to the destruc- tion of Ferguson at King's Mountain, on the seventh of October, Lord Cornwallis determined to return to South Carolina.
Such was the condition of matters in North Carolina at the time when Lord Cornwallis re-entered the State, the twentieth of January, 1781.
During this time the able-bodied men were either in the troops of Colonels Davie, Locke, or Gen. William Davidson, or were prisoners of war, or on parole, and therefore prevented from taking up arms. As a con- sequence the women of that day were left at home, often entirely unprotected, or with only the old men and the boys, the former too old, the latter too young, for military duty. But these ladies were the mothers, ' wives, daughters, sisters, and sweethearts of heroes on the tented field, and their hearts burned with patriotic feelings. Those whom they loved were ex- posed to hardship and danger in behalf of their homes and families, and thus the love of the patriots' cause was not with them an abstraction, or a sentiment, but an undying passion. As an illustration of this, we quote from Lossing's "Pictorial Field Book (Vol. II, p. 626. note 2) : "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
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volunteer in defense of the country, they being of the 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." (From South Caro- lina Gazette, February, 1780.) As early as May 8, 1776, the young ladies of Rowan had taken important action upon this subject. At a meeting of the Com- mittee of Safety of that date, we have the following entry upon the Minutes, viz .: "A letter from a num- ber of young ladies in the county, directed to the chairman, requesting the approbation of the committee to a number of resolutions enclosed, entered into, and signed by the same young ladies, being read ;
"Resolved, That this Committee present their cordial thanks to the said young ladies for so spirited a per- formance, look upon their resolutions to be sensible and polite ; that they merit the honor, and are worthy the imitation of every young lady in America."
What a pity that we have not a copy of these spirited resolutions, and the names of the fair signers! They were probably similar to those entered into by the Mecklenburg and Rowan ladies four years later, in- cluding perhaps a resolution in behalf of simplicity in dress, abstinence from luxuries, and sympathy with the cause of independence, not yet declared at Phila- delphia. And then the names! Who were they?
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Daughters of the Brandons, Lockes, Youngs, Cham- berses, Gillespies, Osbornes, Davidsons, Winslows, Simontons, Brevards, Sharpes, no doubt; but the dainty signatures to the "spirited performance" are lost, and the fair signers that signed them have mol- dered away. For is it not one hundred and four years since all this was done? A further illustration of matronly zeal and self-denial in behalf of the cause of liberty will be recited in its proper place.
CHAPTER XVI
GENERAL GREENE AND LORD CORNWALLIS IN ROWAN COUNTY
Lossing, in his "Field Book," says that "the village of Salisbury is the capital of Rowan County, a portion of the 'Hornets' Nest' of the Revolution. It is a place of considerable historic note. On account of its geographical position it was often the place for the rendezvous of the militia preparing for the battle- fields of various regular corps, American and British, during the last years of the war, and especially as the brief resting-place of both armies during Greene's memorable retreat" (Vol. II, p. 615). The writer is not aware that the British troops were ever in Salis- bury, except once, when Lord Cornwallis was in pur- suit of General Greene. Mr. Lossing seems to have been peculiarly unfortunate in his visit to Salisbury. He seems to have seen nothing there that had any his- toric interest, although the house occupied by Corn- wallis, as his headquarters, was still standing there (January, 1849), besides other buildings where the British officers congregated, as we shall see. He seems however to have heard of the famous Rowan "Natural Wall, " which he locates in Salisbury, and supposes to be "a part of the circumvallation of a city of the Mound Builders !" The fact is that about three miles
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from Salisbury, and again about nine miles from Salis- bury, in the direction of Mocksville, there are "trap dikes," or natural walls of trap rock, beneath the sur- face of the ground, from twelve to fourteen feet deep, and twenty-two inches thick, as Lossing says, that have the appearance of being laid in cement. But this cement is nothing but a fine decomposition of the trap rock itself, or an infiltration of fine material from without. Mr. Lossing does however give us in his book a beautiful little moonlight sketch of Trading Ford, showing the point of the island, and the row of stakes that then stood there to guard the stranger from the deep water below. There General Greene, with Gen- eral Morgan and his light troops, crossed the Yadkin, February 2, 1781.
After the unfortunate battle of Camden, August 16, 180, General Gates was superseded by General Greene, who immediately proceeded to his field of labor. Passing through Delaware, Maryland, and Vir- ginia, and ascertaining what supplies he was likely to obtain from these States, he hastened on to Charlotte, the headquarters of the Southern Army, where he took formal command, December 3, 1780. Corn- wallis had fallen back to Winnsboro. Greene divided his little army, sending the larger portion to the Pee Dee, near Cheraw, about seventy miles to the right of Lord Cornwallis. The other portion, consisting of about one thousand troops, he sent under General Morgan about fifty miles to the left of Cornwallis, to the junction of Broad and Pacolet Rivers, in Union District, S. C .. General Morgan with his little force
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gained the memorable battle of the Cowpens over Colonel Tarleton, January 17, 1781. Colonel Tarleton, with the remnant of his troops, retreated precipitately to the main army of Cornwallis, while General Morgan with his prisoners hastily crossed the Broad River, and pressed towards the Catawba, to effect a junction with General Greene. This brought on the famous retreat of Greene, a military maneuver that will not compare unfavorably with Xenophon's famous "Re- treat of the Ten Thousand." Mortified at the disaster that had befallen his favorite officer, Tarleton, and hoping to recover the prisoners carried away by Gen- eral Morgan, Cornwallis began his pursuit on the twenty-fifth of January. At Ramsour's Mill-Lin- colnton-he destroyed all his superfluous baggage, and hastened towards the Catawba River, hoping to over- take Morgan, encumbered as he was with prisoners, before he could effect a junction with General Greene's main army, supposed to be now hastening up from Cheraw. But we will probably get a clearer idea of this affair by following each party in succession, one at a time.
On the same day that Cornwallis began his pursuit -January 25, 1781-General Greene was apprised of Morgan's victory at Cowpens, and ordered General Stevens, with his body of Virginia militia, whose term of service was almost expiring, to hasten to Charlotte, relieve Morgan of his prisoners, and convey them to Charlottesville, Va., while he himself left the camp on Pee Dee under Generals Huger and Williams, and hastened, with one aide and two or three mounted
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militia, to meet Morgan on the Catawba. On the route he was informed of the pursuit of Cornwallis, and im- mediately sent orders to General Huger to break up the camp on the Pee Dee and meet Morgan in Salis- bury or Charlotte. General Greene reached Sherrill's Ford on the Catawba, ten or fifteen miles above Beat- tie's Ford, on the thirty-first of January, meeting Gen- eral Morgan there, and taking charge of the future movements of his detachment. General Greene im- mediately placed the prisoners in the hands of Mor- gan's militia, to be carried to Virginia by a more northern route, while Morgan, with his five hundred regulars, was left unencumbered, and ordered to guard the Fords of the Catawba. On the same day General Greene issued a stirring appeal to Colonel Locke of Rowan, urging him to embody the militia and hasten to his assistance. But so many of the sol- diers of Rowan were prisoners of war at this time, and the Fords of the Catawba were so numerous, and the enemy so near, that very little could be done to stay their progress. Gen. William Davidson suc- ceeded in collecting three hundred militia, and was posted at Cowan's Ford, a few miles below Beattie's Ford, while Morgan with his regulars was higher up the river. In order to create the impression that the British would cross at Beattie's Ford, Cornwallis sent Colonel Webster with his brigade to that point, while he with the main body of his army decamped at mid- night, and hastened to Cowan's Ford, which he reached a little before dawn, February 1, 1781. Plunging into the stream, nearly five hundred yards
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wide, and waist deep, the British soon reached the Mecklenburg shore, where they were received by Gen- eral Davidson and his three hundred militia with a galling fire. The guide having deserted the British at the first shot of the sentinel, they missed the ford, and came out a considerable distance above the place where General Davidson was stationed. Davidson at once led his men to that part of the bank which faced the British. But by the time of his arrival, the light infantry had reached the shore, and quickly forming, they soon dispersed the handful of patriots. General Davidson was the last to leave the ground, and as he was mounting his horse to make his escape, he re- ceived a mortal wound. Dr. Caruthers states that General Davidson was killed by a shot fired by Fred- erick Hager, a German Tory, who piloted the British across the river; but this statement does not agree with the generally accredited story, that the pilot de- serted at the sentinel's first fire. He was killed in Dr. Samuel E. McCorkle's great coat, which he had bor- rowed the day before. The Rev. Thomas H. Mc- Caule, another Presbyterian minister, with Col. Wil- liam Polk accompanied General Davidson to the river that morning. And when Cornwallis, after tarrying about three hours for the purpose of burying his dead, had proceeded in the direction of Salisbury, David Wilson and Richard Barry, both of whom were at the skirmish that morning, returned, and secured the body of General Davidson, and buried it in Hopewell churchyard that same night by torchlight. The Con- gress on the following September ordered a monu-
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ment, costing not more than five hundred dollars, to be erected to his memory, but the resolution was never carried out. But it is a pleasing fact that a half-cen- tury later there was established near that place an in- stitution of learning that was named Davidson College, after the brave and patriotic General. His son, Wil- liam Lee Davidson, Esq., was an early friend and pa- tron of the College, gave the lands upon which it is sit- uated to the trustees, and when leaving this State placed his father's trusty sword in the College. There it hangs today in the College Museum.
From Cowan's Ford, the British pressed on and soon met Colonel Webster's division, which had crossed at Beattie's Ford, at Torrence's Tavern ; which Lord Cornwallis in his general orders styles "Cross- roads to Salisbury," and Tarleton in his map desig- nates as "Tarrant's." This place is about two miles above Davidson College, and within a quarter-mile from where "Center Depot, on the Atlantic, Ten- nessee, and Ohio Railroad, now stands. They burned the house of Mr. Torrence, of John Brevard, General Davidson's father-in-law, and set fire to Moses Win- slow's house; but the fire was extinguished by order of Lord Cornwallis. At Torrence's Tavern, Colonel 'Tarleton with his light horse found about three hun- dred American militia, with a motley company of ref- ugees in their wagons, from South Carolina and else- where, fleeing for safety. Tarleton made an onslaught upon these, killed a few of the militia, less than ten, and scattered the refugees. He sustained a loss of seven men and twenty horses in this action. This
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was about two o'clock in the afternoon. From Corn- wallis' order book we learn that the British army en- camped at Torrence's that night, and began its march in pursuit of Greene at half-past five o'clock on the morning of the second of February. From Tarleton's map we learn that the route of the army was almost directly eastward for some fifteen or twenty miles, to a point which is called "Grimes," southeast of Salis- bury. This was probably Graham's plantation, on the west side of Grant's Creek, near "Wiseman's Mill." This was in the immediate neighborhood of General Rutherford's residence, among the Lockes, Grahams, Brandons, Nesbits, and Allisons. Lord Cornwallis designates his headquarters for that day "Canthard's Plantation." As the Registry of Deeds shows no such name as "Canthard," this is probably a mistake for some other name. And since the "Order Book," as well as Tarleton's map, is full of errors in the spelling of names, arising from the fact that their information as to localities was frequently derived from ignorant persons, the better class keeping out of the way-it is easy to see how a stranger in hot pursuit of an enemy would confound familiar names. Or perhaps the printer might easily misread a manuscript written in haste by a busy secretary. It is probable therefore that instead of "Canthards" we should read "Ruther- ford's Plantation." From "Wiseman's Mill," there may be seen at many places the deep-cut bed of an old road, crossing the County westward, and passing a little southward of Villa Franca, the residence of the late Dr. F. N. Lucky. This road probably led on past
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"Atwell's" old place, past General Kerr's, now Mr. Hedrick's residence, and so on past Spring Grove, Cross Keys, and on to Torrence's. This was once called the "Old Wilmington Road." Having left Tor- rence's at half-past five that morning, February 2, a march of fifteen or eighteen miles would bring them to "Rutherford's Plantation." Anyone acquainted with these roads in midwinter, after a hard day's rain, will consider this a good half-day's march.
General Morgan was ahead of them, and the Yad- kin was about fifteen miles from this post. There was therefore but a short rest, and they were on the march again. In a few miles they fell into the old "Trading Path," five or six miles south of Salisbury. And as darkness gathered around them, we conceive that they would be passing along that old "Pathway," then the Great South Road, somewhere about the western slopes of Dunn's Mountain, in haste to reach Trading Ford before Morgan should cross. Lord Cornwallis appears to have halted at a place which he styles "Camp Cassington," a fanciful name perhaps. This place may have been at a point about four miles east of Salisbury, between the residence of Dr. I. W. Jones and the railroad. We are led to this conjecture from the fact that there are quite a number of graves in the forest at that point, and none can account for their being there except on some such hypothesis. But while Cornwallis halted, he sent forward General O'Hara, Colonel Tarleton, and the Hessian Regiment of Bose, to the Trading Ford, hoping to find Morgan on the western bank. But the hope was a vain one.
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Morgan had crossed early in the evening, securing all the boats and flats on the eastern side. When there- fore O'Hara and Tarleton reached the Ford at mid- night, they found only a small detachment of Ameri- can riflemen, left there to guard some wagons and stores belonging to the frightened country people, who were fleeing from the British army. A slight skir- mish ensued, but the Americans escaped in the dark- ness. It was those who were killed at this skirmish, as well as some wounded ones that were brought from Cowan's Ford and Torrence's, that we suppose to have been buried at "Camp Cassington."
During the night, the river, already swollen by re- cent rains, and always pretty deep in winter, arose to an impassable height, and cut off all hope of pursuing the American troops on that route. It was now the third of February, and the British troops, after can- nonading across the river from the "Heights of Gowerie," at the rear of the Americans, turned to re- trace their steps, and either wait till the river fell or seek another route.
The following extract from the minutes of the Inferior Court of Rowan fixes these dates beyond dispute :
"Be it remembered that the British army marched into Salisbury on Saturday, preceding the February term, 1781, and continued in town until Monday night or Tuesday morning following; therefore the Court was not called according to last adjournment.
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The minutes of this term were transcribed from Mr. Gifford's rough minutes."
(Signed)
"ADLAI OSBORNE, C. C. C."
A calculation, carefully made from the Court rec- ords, shows that the "Saturday preceding the February term of 178I fell on the third day of February, and coincides with the foregoing account of the march, as well as the 'Order Book' of Lord Cornwallis. There has been some confusion of dates upon this point by various writers-Dr. Hunter, in his Sketches, bring- ing the British to Salisbury on the night of the first of February, and Lossing on the night of the second. The truth appears to be that the main army of the British passed near Salisbury on the evening of the second, and returned and occupied the town on Saturday, the third. It is however probable that a squadron of dragoons passed through the town on the second, where Tarleton says 'some emissaries informed him that Morgan was at the Trading Ford, but had not crossed the river.' "
CHAPTER XVII
GENERAL GREENE IN SALISBURY
Having followed the track of the British army from the Catawba River to Salisbury, thus giving a con- tinuous narrative of their march, let us now return and trace the course of Generals Greene and Morgan over nearly the same ground. Unfortunately we have not in this case the benefit of journals, maps, and "order book," as before, but still we shall be able to ascertain some facts concerning this day's march.
General Morgan crossed the Catawba River at the Island Ford, on the northern border of Lincoln County, on the twenty-eighth of January, 1781, only two hours ahead of the British vanguard, under Brigadier-General O'Hara. It was just at the hour of sunset when the British came to the banks of the broad stream, sweeping onward with its wintry cur- rent from the foot of the Blue Ridge. In the darkness there was danger in crossing the stream, especially with the courageous Morgan and his army on the other side to receive them. But with a trained army of two thousand, unencumbered with baggage or prisoners, the British commander could confidently calculate upon overtaking the Americans, numbering only about one thousand in all, half of whom were militia, and embarrassed with the five hundred prison-
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ers lately captured at Cowpens. The passage of the Catawba was therefore postponed until the next morn- ing. That delay was the salvation of Morgan and his little army. During the night the rain fell in torrents, and by morning light the river was brimful and un- fordable, in which condition it remained for forty- eight hours. For two days the British were compelled to linger on the western banks, while Morgan and Greene were on the other side planning the details of the retreat. Sending the five hundred prisoners off, under the care of the five hundred militia, by a route higher up the country towards Virginia, General Mor- gan with his regulars seems to have remained on the east bank of the Catawba, watching the British, and prepared to dispute their passage. But when it was ascertained that they had crossed below him, at Cow- an's Ford, on the first of February, General Morgan began his retreat towards the Yadkin. As he was higher up the river, we conjecture that his route was along one of the upper roads, either the Beattie's Ford or Sherrill's Ford Road to Salisbury. His forces ap- pear to have reached Salisbury late the same after- noon, and were not concerned in the skirmish at Cowan's Ford, or at Torrence's Tavern. There is a tradition in Salisbury that, as Morgan's troops filed past George Murr's house, at the east corner of Main and Franklin Streets, where Charles Gordon now lives, some of the men mischievously punched out some panes of glass with their bayonets. This must have been late in the afternoon, for Morgan's troops encamped that night about a half-mile east of Salis-
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