USA > North Carolina > Historical sketches of North Carolina : from 1584 to 1851, Vol. I > Part 48
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" Are there any who doubt man's capacity for self-government?" asks an eloquent writer on her history, "let them study the history of North Carolina. Its inhabitants were restless and turbulent in their imperfect submission from- abroad; the administration of the Colony was firm, humane; and tranquil, when left to themselves." The first American manifesto against the encroach- ments of power, the elective franchise, and the unwise interference of trade, was made in North Carolina as early as 1678,į and nearly two hundred years before our Independence was declared. Thus were sown, deep and broad, the seeds of Liberty among her people with a liberal hand. Sometimes these seeds produced the fruits of anarchy and confusion ; for, at an early period, the Colony was under the control of rulers in open rebellion against the English Crown. At another period, the imbecile hand that then swayed the English sceptre (Charles II.), tired of the contest, left her to her own course, undisturbed either by the tyranny of rulers, or the rapacity of avarice ..
Pursuing " the noiseless tenor of their way," the Colonists of North Caro- lina peacefully followed the avocations of labor and industry, acknowledging no superior, and bending their knee to no power but to the God Almighty. Towards many of her Colonies, that eloquent defender of American rights, Lord Chatham, on the floor of Parliament, denounced the course of the mother country as that of "a cruel and unjust stepmother." But towards the Colony of North Carolina; her course was often like that of the mother of the faithful, driving her, Hagar-like, into the wilderness, there to perish, neglected and alone. But the God of Abraham comforted her in her exile with the refreshing shade and the gushing fountain ; and declared unto her, that she should greatly increase, so that "her seed should not be numbered for multitude." It is not wonderful, that a people thus nurtured, should be ready, Ishmael-like, to raise their hands against tyranny and oppression.
That the people of North Carolina should always have been
" Men who knew their rights, and knowing dared maintain,"
is evident from every page of their history. But, that her sons should, on the 20th day of May, 1775, assemble at, Charlotte, at a period of doubt, of darkness, and of danger, without concert with other States, without assur-
* Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. ii. p. 135.
+ July, 1584. Hakluyt, vol. ii. p. 297.
¿ Williamson's History of North Carolina, vol. i. p. 263.
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ances of support from any quarter, and there "dissolve the political bands which connected them with the mother Country," and there "declare them- selves a free and independent people, and of right, ought to be sovereign and self-governing," is a subject full of moral sublimity, and a source of elevating State pride.
That this event should be deemed by some (who, ignorant of our history, are jealous of the fair name of our State,) as a legend of a doubtful authen- ticity, or of modern origin, is not to be wondered. But time, that steady but unerring guide of truth, has settled this matter beyond the reach of doubt, or the cavilings of envy.
The cotemporaneous evidence of General Graham; of Captain Jack, who bore the proceedings of the meeting to Caswell, Hooper, and Hewes, then members of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, and the testimony of others, now preserved in the archives of American History, are sufficient to satisfy incredulity itself. But should any still doubt, considering these as the traditions of an obscure event, preserved by the filial fondness of North Carolinians, we would produce the proclamation of Governor Martin, on board of his Majesty's Ship Cruiser, on the Cape Fear River, dated the 8th of August, 1775, denouncing* "as most infamous, a publication in the Cape Fear Mercury, importing to be resolves, by 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 the Country, and setting up a system of rule and regulation, subversive of his Majesty's Government."
Here is the Mecklenburg Declaration fully set forth, and vindicated from cavil or doubt. But the very fact of its being doubted, first by an oracle, whose responses however prophetic in politics, cannot be regarded as infal- lible ; and subsequently, by others abroad, should convince most earnestly and conclusively, your Honorable Body, the importance of securing to North Carolina a more enduring monument than legislative reports or paper reso- lutions. Nearly all who were actors in these scenes and perils, have now passed away. It often occurs in the history of man, that facts well known by one generation, are controverted by the next ; and at a suceeeding period are considered as doubtful legends, not worthy of historical faith. Let us then preserve these memorials of an event so soul cheering to the patriot, so elevating to our character as a State.
There are some events which are engraved on the hearts of the Nation, "and no inscriptions or tablatures less broad than the earth itself, can carry the information where it has not gone." Of these is our National Birthday, the 4th July, 1776. It is inscribed in living letters of joy, in the hearts of millions of Freemen, and annually we rejoice and read
" Its history in a Nation's eyes."
But the 20th of May, 1775, more than a year in advance of this glorious period, belongs to the Old North State. It is one of her reserved rights, and one she will never cede to the Federal Government. Let then a monument arise unto the memory of the Signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of In- dependence, and by this means show our sense of this glorious achievement, preserve the same pure spirit of patriotism, and keep alive a deep and abiding regard for the principles of our Revolution.
".Human beings," said an eloquent orator at the laying of the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, "are composed not of reason only, but of imagination and sentiment ; and that is neither wasted or misapplied, which is appropriated to giving right direction to sentiments, and opening the proper springs of feeling in the human heart." In rearing this monument at the very spot where the first Declaration of Independence was made, we direct the mind by an elevated object, to the great moral causes that produced our Revolution, to the noble daring and chivalric patriotism by which it was
* See " American Archives" of Peter Force, Fourth Series, vol. ii. p. 855. The same vol. iii. p. 62.
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achieved, and to the numberless blessings that have flown down unto us by its happy consummation.
Before this monument hoary age may pause and rejoice in the fruit of his labors, and from it youth receive the inspirations of patriotism, as shown forth in their glorious examples, and thus vow to emulate their career. In the language of the orator above alluded to, "we wish that this column, rising towards Heaven, amid temples dedicated to God, may produce in all minds a pious feeling of dependence and gratitude. Let it arise until it meet the Sun in his coming, let the earliest light of the morning gild it, and parting day linger and play on its summit."
The undersigned, in conclusion, beg leave to submit a copy of the proceed- ings of the meeting above alluded to, and hope that your Honorable Body will, as requested, grant an Act of Incorporation to this Association, and also an appropriation for funds to assist in accomplishing its objects.
And, as in duty bound, &c.
Fred. Nash,
M. Hoke,
Wm. J. Alexander, Charles Fisher,
David F. Caldwell, Jos. McD. Carson,
James W. Osborne,
Robert Strange,
H. C. Jones, James Iredell,
Paul Barringer, D. L. Swain,
John Phifer,
Wm. H. Haywood, Jr.
John H. Wheeler,*
Burton Craige,
Isaac T. Avery,
Committee to Memoralize the Legislature of North Carolina .. .
Mecklenburg sent as delegate to the meeting at Newbern, 25th August, 1774, BENJAMIN PATTON ; and to the meeting at Hillsboro', 21st August 1775, THOMAS POLK, JOHN PHIFER, WAIGHTSTILL AVERY, SAMUEL MARTIN, JAMES HOUSTON, and JOHN McKNITT ALEXANDER.
To the meeting at Halifax, 4th April, 1776, she sent JOHN PHIFER, ROBT. IRWIN, and JOHN McKNITT ALEXANDER."
The following instructions were given to the delegates from the people, extracted from a Charlotte newspaper in 1837. It was found among the old surviving papers of John McKnitt Alexander, and he is the author of them. They are dated 1st September, 1775 :-
Instructions for the Delegates of Mecklenburg County, proposed to the considera- tion of the County, viz :-
1. You are instructed to vote that the late province of North Carolina is and of right ought to be, a free and independent State, invested with all the power of Legislation, capable of making Laws to regulute all its internal policy, subject only in its external connections' and foreign commerce, to a negative of a continental Senate.
2. You are instructed to vote for the Execution of a civil Government under the authority of the People for the future security of all the Rights, Privileges and Prerogatives of the State, and the private, natural and unalien- able Rights of the constituting members thereof, either as Men or Christians. If this should not be confirmed in Congress or Convention-protest.
3. You are instructed to vote that an equal Representation be established, and that the qualifications required to enable any person or persons to have a voice in Legislation, may not be secured too high, but that every Freeman who shall be called upon to support Government either in person or property, may be admitted thereto. If this should not be confirmed, protest and re- monstrate.
4. You are instructed to vote that Legislation be not a divided right, and that no man, or body of men be invested with a negative on the voice of the People duly collected, and that no honors or dignities be conferred, for life,
* Author of this Report.
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or made hereditary, on any person or persons, either legislative or execu- tive. If this should not be confirmed-protest and remonstrate.
5. You are instructed to vote that all and every person or persons, seized or possessed of any estate, real or personal, agreeable to the last establish- ment, be confirmed in their seizure and possession, to all intents and purposes in law, who have not forfeited their right to the protection of the State by their criminal practices towards the same. If this should not be confirmed- protest.
6. You are instructed to vote that Deputies to represent this State in a Continental Congress be appointed in and by the supreme Legislative body of the State, the form of nomination to be submitted to, if free, and also that all officers the influence of whose office is equally to extend to every part of the State, be appointed in the same manner and form-likewise give your consent to the establishing the old political divisions, if it should be voted in convention, or to new ones if similar. On such establishments taking place you are instructed to vote, in the general, that all officers, who are to exercise their authority in any of the said districts, be recommended to the trust only by the freemen of said division-to be subject, however, to the general laws and regulations of the State. If this should not be substantially confirmed- protest.
7. You are instructed to move and insist that the people you immediately represent be acknowledged to be a distinct county of this State as formerly of the late province, with the additional privilege of annually electing in their own officers both civil and military, together with the election of Clerks and Sheriffs, by the freemen of the same. The choice to be confirmed by the sovereign authority of the State, and the officers so invested to be under the jurisdiction of the State and liable to its cognizance and inflictions, in case of malpractice. If this should not be confirmed, protest and remonstrate.
8. You are instructed to vote that no chief justice, no secretary of State, no auditor-general, no surveyor-general, no practicing lawyer, no clerk of any court of record,' no sheriff, and no person holding a military office in this State, shall be a representative of the people in Congress or Convention. If this should not be confirmed-contend for it.
9. You are instructed to vote that all claims against the public, except such as accrue upon attendance of Congress or Convention, be first submitted to the inspection of a committee of nine or more men, inhabitants of the county where said claimant is a resident, and without the approbation of said committee, it shall not be accepted by the public, for which purpose you are to move and insist that a law be enacted to impower the freemen of each county to choose a committee of not less than nine men, of whom none are to be military officers. If this should not be confirmed-protest and remon- strate.
10. You are instructed to refuse to enter into any combinations of secrecy as members of Congress or Convention, and also to refuse to subscribe any ensnaring jests binding you to an unlimited subjection to the determination of Congress or Convention.
11. You are instructed to move and insist that the public accounts fairly stated shall be regularly kept in proper books, open to the inspection of all persons whom it may concern. If this should not be confirmed-contend for it.
12. You are instructed to move and insist that the power of County Courts be much more extensive than under the former constitution, both with respect to matters of property and breaches of the peace. If not confirmed-contend for it.
13. You are instructed to assent and consent to the establishment of the Christian Religion as contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ments, and more briefly comprised in the 39 Articles of the Church of Eng- land, excluding the 37th Article, together with all the Articles excepted and not to be imposed on dissenters by the act of toleration ; and clearly held forth in the confession of faith compiled by the assembly of divines at West- minster, to be the Religion of the State, to the utter exclusion forever of all and every other (falsely so called) Religion, whether Pagan or Papal, and
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
that the full, free and peaceable enjoyment thereof be secured to all and every constituent member of the State as their unalienable right as Freemen, without the imposition of rites and ceremonies, whether claiming civil or ecclesiastic power for their source, and that a confession and profession of the Religion so established shall be necessary in qualifying any person for public trust in the State. If this should not be confirmed-protest and re- monstrate.
14. You are instructed to oppose to the utmost any particular church or set of clergymen being invested with power to decree rites and ceremonies and to decide in controversies of faith to be submitted to under the influence of penal laws-you are also to oppose the establishment of any mode of worship to be supported to the opposition of the rights of conscience, together with the destruction of private property. You are to understand that under modes of worship are comprehended the different forms of swearing by law required. You are moreover to oppose the establishing an ecclesiastic supre- macy in the sovereign authority of the State. You are to oppose the toleration. of the popish idolatrous worship. If this should not be confirmed-protest and remonstrate.
15. You are instructed to move and insist that not less than four-fifths of the body of which you are members, shall, in voting, be deemed a majority. If this should not be confirmed-contend for it. '
16. You are instructed to give your voices to and for every motion and bill made or brought into the Congress or Convention, where they appear to be for public utility and in no ways repugnant to the above instructions.
17. Gentlemen, the foregoing instructions, you are not only to look on as instructions, but as charges, to which you are desired to take special heed as the general rule of your conduct as our Representatives, and we expect you will exert yourselves to the utmost of your ability to obtain the purposes given you in charge, and wherein you fail either in obtaining or opposing, you are hereby ordered to enter your protest against the vote of the Congress or Convention as is pointed out to you in the above instructions.
To the meeting at Halifax, Nov. 12th, 1776 (which formed the Constitution), she sent JOHN PHIFER, ROBERT IRWIN, ZACCHEUS WILSON, HEZEKIAH ALEX- ANDER, and WAIGHTSTILL AVERY.
The officers appointed in 1775 for Mecklenburg, were ADAM ALEXANDER, Colonel; JOHN PHIFER, Lieutenant-Colonel; JOHN DAVIDSON, Major; GEORGE HI. ALEXANDER, 2d Major.
Not only were her sons active in these trying times, but no por- tion of our State was more constantly the theatre of stirring events.
It was in the streets of Charlotte that, on Sept. 26th, 1780, Colonel Davie, with a mere handful of troops, held the whole British Army in check .*
The British approached Charlotte on the street leading towards Major Benjamin Morrow's and Dr. Fox's, and lay for several weeks in camp on the old field, nearly opposite Dr. Dunlap's.
Lord Cornwallis's Head-Quarters were in the house, on the south- east corner, second house from the corner.
And when Lord Cornwallis was, quartered in this village, he was held in continual apprehension by the daring spirit of the people.
In a letter to Colonel Balfour, of the British Army, his Lordship says, " Charlotte is an agreeable village, but in a d-d rebellious county."
The testimony of Colonel Tarleton is left that the spirit of the 1
See Halifax (Life of Davie), p. 195.
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people was such that no force could overawe and subdue their rebel temper .*
The works of Stedman, Tarleton, and others, as well as the records of the day, afford ample evidence of the daring spirit of Mecklenburg. "Its inhabit- ants were more hostile," says Tarleton, "to England than any others in America." This animosity of the people, while it checked the Tory influence, cut off all supplies from the country. Constant attacks were made on the convoys from Camden and Blair's Mill, The picquet at Polk's Mill, late Bissel's, near Charlotte was attacked by the people.
A foraging party in large force at McIntire's (now HIPP's MINE), seven miles from Charlotte, on the road to Beattie's Ford, was attacked by the resolute sons of Mecklenburg, under George Graham; a British Captain was killed with others, and several wounded. The Americans made good their retreat without loss. The detachment returned to town, disappointed of their forage, and reported to Lord Cornwallis, "that every bush on the road concealed a rebel."
The British Army demanded heavy supplies. Stedman, the Commissary- General, states that they used one hundred cattle per day. . The English had at that day the reputation they still enjoy, of being great beef eaters.
After the fall of Ferguson, on King's Mountain, Cornwallis fell back in great precipitation to Winnsboro', a less dangerous and rebellious neighbor- hood.
It was in the town of Charlotte, on Dec. 3d, 1780, that General Greene took charge of the southern Army.
The last order that General Gates ever issued is as follows :-
HEAD QUARTERS.
Charlotte, December 3d, 1780.t
" The Honorable Major-General Greene, who arrived on Saturday afternoon at Charlotte, being appointed by His Excellency, General Washington, with the approbation of the honorable Congress, to the command of the Southern Army ; all orders in future will issue from him, and all reports are to be made to him.
"General Gates returns his sincere and grateful thanks to the Southern Army, for their perseverance, fortitude, and patient endurance of all the hard- · ships and sufferings while under his command.
"He anxiously hopes their misfortunes will cease therewith, and that vic- tory, and the glorious advantages attending it, may be the future portion of the Southern Army."
General Greene detached, in 1781, William Davidson, of this county, who was a Brigadier-General of militia of the State, and Lieutenant-Colonel in the North Carolina line, to guard the passage of Lord Cornwallis, with the whole British Army, over the Catawba in his pursuit of the American forces.
At Cowan's Ford, on Feb. 1st, 1781, the waters of the Catawba were mingled with the lifeblood of this distinguished and merito- rious officer.
General WILLIAM DAVIDSON was the youngest son of George Davidson, who removed from Lancaster County, in Pennsylvania, in the year 1750, to North Carolina. He was born in 1746. He was educated at the Academy in Char- lotte.
When the Revolution broke out, on April 22d, 1776, the State Congress at Halifax, raised four additional regiments, to the two already in service. Of
* Tarleton's Campaigns.
26 t Force's American Archives.
j
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
the 4th Regiment, THOMAS POLK was Colonel, JAMES THACKSTON Lieutenant- Colonel, and WILLIAM DAVIDSON Major.
With this regiment, under General Francis Nash, he marched to join the Army of the North, under General Washington, where he served until Nov., 1779, when the North Carolina line was ordered south to reinforce General Lincoln, at Charleston. Previous to this, Davidson was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the line: As the troops passed through North Caro- lina, Colonel Davidson obtained a furlough for a few days to visit his family, which he had not seen for three years. This saved him from the fate that befell Lincoln and his Army at Charleston ; for when he approached Charles- ton, he found it so closely beleaguered by the British Army, that he was pre- vented from joining his regiment. When Lincoln surrendered, Davidson returned to Mecklenburg, and rendered important services in subduing the Tories, who, encouraged by the success of the British, became numerous, daring, and dangerous.
He raised a troop of volunteers and marched against them. At CALSON'S MILL he encountered a strong force of Tories, and a severe engagement took place, in which Davidson was severely wounded. A ball entered the um- bilical region and passed through his body near the kidneys. This had nearly been fatal. He was confined for two months with this wound. On his recovery he took the field, having been promoted for his bravery to a brigadier-general, in place of Gen. Rutherford, taken prisoner at Camden. He was active, with General Sumner and Colonel Davie, in checking the advance of the British, and throughout this dark period of our fortunes gave unceasing evidence of his untiring zeal in the cause of his country.
After the brilliant affair of the Cowpens (17th Jan. 1781), in which Gen. Morgan, with an inferior force, chastised the temerity and insolence of Col. Tarleton, Davidson was most active in assembling the militia of his district to aid General Greene (who had, on the east bank of the Catawba, joined the light corps of Morgan) in impeding the advance of the enemy ; and it was his fortune to guard the very ford at which Cornwallis attempted to pass. At the head of three hundred men, he took post at Cowan's Ford.
At daybreak the British army under Cornwallis, on the 1st February, 1781, entered the waters of Catawba, then swollen by heavy rains, at Cowan's Ford.
The morning was dark and rainy .* The light infantry under Col. Hall. entered first, followed by the grenadiers and the battalions.} The picquet of Gen. Davidson challenged the enemy ; receiving no reply, the guard fired. This turned out the whole force of Davidson, who kept up a galling fire from the bank. The guide of the British, alarmed at the firing, turned about and left them. This caused an unexpected diversion of the enemy from the ex- pected landing of the ford, and Col. Hall led them directly across .; Col. Hall was killed as he ascended the bank ; Lord Cornwallis' horse was shot in the river, and fell as he reached the bank ; three privates killed, and thirty-six British wounded.
General Davidson, in riding from the point where he expected the enemy to the point where they landed, was shot ; the ball passed through his heart, and he fell dead from his horse. As he fell by a rifle-ball (the British only using muskets), it is supposed he fell by the hand of some Tory. Withered be the hand and forever cursed that did this deed !
Thus fell, in the prime of life, at a moment of usefulness, this noble and patriotic soldier. Worthily is his name bestowed on one of the most fertile counties of our State, and a seat of learning, near the scene of his death, perpetuates his fame to the
" Last syllable of recorded time."
* See Dispatch of Lord Cornwallis to Lord George Germain, Notes to Tarleton's Campaign, 259.
t Stedman's History of the American War, ii. 239.
# Tarleton's History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781, p. 235.
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