Historical sketches of North Carolina : from 1584 to 1851, Vol. I, Part 5

Author: Wheeler, John H. (John Hill), 1806-1882
Publication date: 1851
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Lippincott, Grambo and Co.
Number of Pages: 662

USA > North Carolina > Historical sketches of North Carolina : from 1584 to 1851, Vol. I > Part 5

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THE conduct of the mother country towards these colonies, in the eloquent denunciations of Lord Chatham, was that of "an un- just and cruel stepmother towards her helpless children;" disre- garding their complaints, and adding injuries to insults.

Towards North Carolina, the course of England was more like that of the father of the faithful, driving her, Hagar-like, into the wilderness, there to pine and perish from neglect. It is not won- derful then, that her sons, like Ishmael, should be ready to raise their hands against every form of oppression. But the God of Abraham protected the exiles, and blessed them with fair and fruit- ful lands, refreshing shades, and gushing fountains; the promise was also unto them "to make a great nation, because they too were of the promised seed."

The people of North Carolina had now become numerous, and attracted attention. The government, to aid the administra- tion of Governor Dobbs (never, in his palmiest day, favored with any extraordinary powers of intellect or energy of character), now infirm and passed eighty years of age, sent William Tryon to North Carolina with a commission as lieutenant-governor. He arrived 27th October, 1764.

HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.

Governor Dobbs was not in haste to resign the reins of power ; but death, a mightier monarch than any earthly potentate, dis- missed him.

In the town of Wilmington, on the 3d of April, 1765, WILLIAM TRYON qualified as Commander-in-chief, and Captain-General of the Province of North Carolina.

Governor Tryon was a soldier by profession. Trained to arms, he looked upon the sword as the true sceptre of government. Yet with the character of the soldier, he mingled that of the politician. He knew when to flatter and when to threaten. He knew when " discretion was the better part of valor;" and when to use such force and cruelty as achieved for him, from the Cherokee Indians, He the bloody title of the "Great Wolf of North Carolina." could use courtesy towards the Assembly when he desired large appropriations for his magnificent palace; and knew how to bring to bear the blandishments of the female society of his family, and all the appliances of generous hospitality. While his character shows that on the banks of the Alamance, when "the blast of war blew in his ears," he could, by his ferocious and bloody conduct, "imitate the action of the tiger." After passing the scenes which we shall record, for six years, during which time he ruled the State with the temper of a despot and the rod of a tyrant, he was transferred as governor to the colony of New York.

That William Tryon was a man of some ability and military talents is true. But his conduct in this State, and subsequently in New York, proved him devoid of all principles of humanity. "I should," said he, in New York, in 1777, "had I more authority, burn every committee-man's house within my reach; and, in order to purge the country of them, I will give twenty-five silver dollars for every acting committee-man, who shall be delivered up to the king's troops."* He was succeeded in New York, in 1780, by General Robinson. Of his subsequent career, and time and place of his death we are not advised.

One redeeming trait appears in his character, but this was not owing to any virtue in the man, but was the effect of his profession as a soldier. He was free from all religious intolerance, as he was destitute of any religious principles.

We have seen, that during the administration of Governor Daniel, North Carolina had been oppressed. by bigotry, under the cloak of religion. In 1741 it was enacted that the freeholders of every parish should, every Easter Monday, choose twelve vestrymen, who should lay a tax of five shillings per poll for building churches, buying glebes, and maintaining clergymen, whose salaries should be fifty pounds sterling. This salary was increased by law to one hundred and thirty-three pounds, six shillings, and eight pence. The fee of a clergyman for marrying was ten shillings, by license ;

* Sabine's History of the Loyalists, 653.

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this license to be issued by the governor through the clerks of the superior courts. Each vestryman took an oath "not to oppose the doctrine, discipline, and liturgy of the Church of England."*

Governor Tryon first met the Assembly in the town of Wilming- ton, on the 3d of May, 1765. In his address he opposed all reli- gious intolerance, although he recommended provision for the clergy out of the public treasury ; yet advised the members of the Church of England of the folly of attempting to establish it by legal enact-

ments. Under such recommendations, a law was passed legalizing the marriages (which before were denounced as illegal) performed by Presbyterian ministers, and authorizing them and other dissent- ing clergymen to perform that rite.

Governor Tryon entered upon his duties at a stormy period. The cloud, which was then " not larger than a man's hand," subse- quently spread over the whole nation, and gathered such force in its progress, that when it burst, it dissolved the colonies from all allegiance to the British crown.

Governor Tryon had early some slight intimation of the charac- ter of the people over whom he was to rule. Soon after his acces- sion to office, the people of the chivalric county of Mecklenburg, so distinguished, as we shall soon see, during the administration of his : successor, for independence, opposed Henry Eustace McCullock, who was the agent of George A. Selwyn. Selwyn had obtained by some means, large grants of land from the English crown. John Frohawk was employed to locate these grants and survey them. The people of Mecklenburg, in arms, seized the surveyor and com- pelled him to desist.t This was the first buzzing of that "Hornets' Nest" that afterwards so fatally stung the power of royalty.

The British Parliament had resolved to tax the paper and other articles used in the colonies. This iniquitous enactment received the Royal sanction 22d March, 1765. The patriotic and eloquent remonstrances of William Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham, were un- availing. He declared on the floor of Parliament (January 1766), that the stamp act should be repealed absolutely, totally and imme- diately, because it proceeded on an erroneous principle, that of taking the money of the colonists without their consent.

This act produced a violent excitement throughout the whole country, and in none more than in North Carolina.

The Legislature was then in session, and such was the excite- ment this odious measure of Parliament created among the mem- bers, that apprehending some violent expression of popular indig- nation, Governor Tryon, on the 18th of May, prorogued that body after a session of fifteen days.

The speaker of the House, John Ashe, Esq., informed Governor Tryon that this law would be resisted to blood and death.

Governor Tryon knew that the storm raged; courageous as he was, he dreaded its fury. He did not allow the Legislature to meet

* Williamson, ii. 117.

+ Martin, ii. 193.

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during the existence of this act. But faithful to the government, he condescended to use the arts of the demagogue, to avoid the odium of its measures. He mingled freely with the people, displaying profuse hospitality, and prepared dinners and feasts. But unawed by power, the people were not to be seduced by blandishments.

Early in the year 1765, the Diligence, a sloop-of-war, arrived in the Cape Fear River with stamp paper for the use of the colony.

Colonel John Ashe, of the county of New Hanover, and Colonel Waddell, of the county of Brunswick, marched at the head of the brave sons of these counties, to Brunswick, before which town the Diligence was anchored, terrified the captain, so that no attempt was made to land the paper; seized the sloop of war's boat, hoisted it on a cart, fixed a mast in her, mounted a flag, and marched in triumph to Wilmington. The whole town joined in a splendid illumination at night, and the next day these patriotic citizens went to the Governor's House, and "bearded the Douglas in his castle." They demanded of Governor Tryon, to desist from all attempts to execute the stamp act, and produce to them James Houston, who was a member of the council, an inmate of the Governor's House, and who had been appointed by Tryon, Stamp Master for North Carolina. The Governor at first refused a demand so tumultuously made. But the haughty spirit of the representative of even kingly power, yielded before the power of a virtuous and incensed people; for the people prepared to burn up the palace, and with it the Governor, the Stamp Master, and the menials of royal power.

The Governor then reluctantly produced Houston; who was seized by the people, carried to the public market house, and there forced to take a solemn oath not to attempt to execute his office as stamp master. After this, he was released. He returned to the palace, to comfort his dejected and discomfited master. The peo- ple gave three cheers and quietly dispersed.

Here is an act of North Carolinians "worthy of all Grecian or Roman fame."

The famous Tea party of Boston, when a number of citizens dis- guised as Indians, went on board of a ship in the harbor, and threw overboard the tea imported in her, has been celebrated by every writer of our National History, and

" Pealed and chimed on every tongue of fame." -

Our children are taught to read it in their early lessons ; it adorns the picture books of our nurseries, and is known in the remotest borders of the republic.

Here is an act of the sons of the " old North State," not com- mitted on the harmless carriers of the freight, or crew of a vessel; not done under any disguise or mask; but on the representative of royalty itself, occupying a palace, and in open day, by men of well known person and reputation ; much more decided in its character, more daring in its action, more important in its results ; and yet not one-half of her own sons have ever read of this ex-

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ploit ; it is not even recorded anywhere in the pages of Williamson, who is one of her historians, and who was one of the delegates from North Carolina to the Convention, which formed the Constitution of the United States; and its story is confined to the limits of " our own pent up Utica."

Truly has a late writer, who has examined our ecclesiastical his- tory with laudable care (and who is a resident and native of another State), been compelled to say, that "Men will not be fully able to understand North Carolina till they have opened the treasures of history,* and become familiar with the doings of her sons, previous to the Revolution ; during that painful struggle ; and the succeed- ing years of prosperity." Then will North Carolina be respected as she is known.

" These are deeds which should not pass away, And names that must not wither, tho' the earth Forgets her empires with a just decay, The enslavers and enslaved, their death and birth."

The names of those who figured in these trying scenes are still preserved in North Carolina by their descendants, who are distin- guished, as were their ancestors, by their intellect and proprieties of life. Should an opportunity occur, and the country call for their services, influenced by these noble recollections, they too will be ready to make the same exertions and sacrifices for the happi- ness, welfare, and honor of North Carolina.

Governor Tryon, with unwearied perseverance, earnestly endea- vored to propitiate the feelings of the leaders of the people. He implored their forbearance, and supplicated their kind advice to enable him to administer the government, while secretly he was preparing for them the severest punishments from the government at home. Failing in this, he resorted to the masses of the people, and was the most conspicuous and obsequious at all public meetings. But even here he was destined to disappointment, and to meet with discomfiture and disgrace while the odious stamp act was in force.

At a general muster of the militia of New Hanover, February 1766, the governor had prepared a whole ox to be barbecued, and had several barrels of beer unheaded. After the muster, he invited the people to partake. The people rushed in a body to the tables, overthrew the barrels and spilled the liquor on the ground, and threw the ox into the river untasted. The effect of this was electrical. Tryon and his suite retired from the ground deeply mortified and chagrined. This behavior was not confined to private citizens, but extended to even the officers of the govern- ment, some of whom sympathized deeply with the people.

At this time a duel occurred between Alexander Simpson, master of his Majesty's sloop-of-war, the Viper, and Thomas Whitechurst, lieutenant of the same. The quarrel was connected with the poli-

* Sketches of North Carolina, by Rev. W. H. Foote, of Romney, Virginia. New York, 1846, p. 83.

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tics of the day-Captain Simpson sympathizing with the colonists ; Whitechurst, a relative of Mrs. Tryon, advocating the conduct of the Governor. The latter was killed in the affair. The Governor caused the Captain to be apprehended.

He was tried before Judge Berry, and acquitted, after a fair and impartial trial .* The imperious and despotic Tryon was here foiled by those whom he thought. he could influence. He insinuated that the Judge connived in the case, and summoned him, while on the Edenton circuit, to attend the Council Board.

The character of Judge Berry was above suspicion. He knew, · or believed, that Governor Tryon would attempt to inculpate him with the government at home, in the unhappy and disordered state of the colony. He obeyed the summons, and attended the Governor, who received him very coldly. This confirmed his suspicions that he was to be impeached and removed ; and, under the agony of such a state of feeling, in the frenzy of the moment, he committed suicide, by ripping open his bowels with his penknife. Tryon was as much the murderer of this talented and amiable man as he was afterwards of many others, equally innocent in the affair of Ala- mance.

The courage of the Governor was not sufficient to allow him to face the representatives of the people during the existence of the stamp act. Writs had been issued, and the legislative body was to meet in April. But, fearing some popular outbreak, the Governor, in February, prorogued the General Assembly to meet on the 30th October, 1765.

The indignation of the people became so great, and the excite- ment so intense, that the British Parliament yielded. The stamp act was repealed March, 1766. On the 25th of June, the Governor issued his proclamation announcing the same.

This produced great joy among the people of North Carolina. The Assembly which met in October, 1766, voted a liberal appro- priation for building the Governor a house, which was suitable to a prince of the blood royal, and erected a county from Mecklenburg, called Tryon, in his honor. This county has since been divided into Lincoln and Rutherford, and the odious name of Tryon ex- punged.

The scheme of erecting a palace seemed to be a favorite object with the Governor, and to it he devoted all the intrigue of the politician and the boldness of the soldier. The Assembly had already voted £5000, to which, the next year (1767), they voted an additional £10,000 sterling.

To a people in an infant state of society, with but few resources and less money, this determination of the Governor to gratify his vanity was productive of disastrous consequences. The building was located at Newbern, and was said to be superior to any- .

* Martin, vol. ii. 212. Jones, in his defence (30), says that the survivor was condemned, but escaped, and fled to England.

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thing of the kind in America. Judge Martin* says that he visited this edifice in 1783, with General Miranda of South America, who stated, that even in South America, a land of palaces, it had no equal. It was dedicated to Sir William Draper, who was said to be the author of the lines placed over the door of the entrance :-

"Rege pio, dira inimica tyrannis Vertuti has ædes libera terra dedit. Sint domus et dominus sæclis exempla futuris Hic artes, mores, jura legesque colant."t

But its princely halls afforded but little repose to its ambitious occupant.

Heavy expenses had been also incurred by the Governor in run- ning the boundary line between the Cherokee Indians and the State.

Taxes were necessarily increased upon a people already impatient of oppression, and the extortion of the officers in shape of illegal fees, roused the free spirits of Orange, Granville, and other coun- ties to require redress and reform.

The conduct of the crown officers, from the Governor down to the lowest bailiff of the court, was a system of oppression, extortion, and fraud.

In Governor Dobbs's time, these grievances were complained of; and these complaints had reached the throne. The Governor was ordered to have a list, or table of fees set up in every public office. But, while this "promise was kept to the ear, it was broken to the hope."

At the August session of Orange County (1766), a paper was presented to the court by a number of persons, which was read by the clerk. It stated "that while the sons of liberty had withstood the lords of Parliament in behalf of true liberty, the officers under them ought not to carry on an unjust oppression in the province ; that in order thereto, as there were many evils complained of in the County of Orange, they ought to be redressed. If there were none, jealousy ought to be removed from the minds of the people." The paper proposed that there should be a meeting of the people in each captain's district, appointing one or more to attend a general meeting, on the Monday before the next court, at some suitable place (where there should be no liquor), "to inquire whether the freemen of the county labored under any abuse of power, and mea- sures taken for amendment, if so."

This was so reasonable a proposal that it was agreed to, and Maddock's Mill was selected and the time fixed (October 10, 1766).

The convention met at the time and place appointed, and re-

* Martin, ii. 265.

+ Translated thus: " A free and happy people, opposed to cruel tyrants, has given this edifice to virtue. May the house and its inmate, as an exam- ple for future ages, here cultivate the arts, order, justice, and the laws."? How complete a burlesque upon its origin, object, and tendency !

HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.

solved, " that it was necessary such meetings should occur yearly, or oftener if necessary, for free and public discussion; that the representatives of the people should attend, and give an account of the amount of taxes and manner of appropriation."

In April 1768, they again assembled and formed themselves into an association for regulating public grievances and abuse of power. Hence the name given to them of Regulators. They resolved "to pay only such taxes as were agreeable to law, and ap- plied to the purpose therein named, to pay no officer more than his legal fees." These men herein breathed the true spirit of liberty ; yet, by the early historians of the State, are stamped as insurgents and factionists. Jones even denounces the head of the Regulators, Herman Husbands, as a "turbulent and seditious character."* If he was, then John Ashe was, for opposing the stamp law, equally turbulent and equally seditious. Doubtless, to minions of royalty, his 'character was seditious; but time, that unerring test of prin- ciples and truth, has proved that the spirit of liberty which animated Husbands, was the true spirit which subsequently freed our nation from foreign oppression. He lived on Sandy Creek, now in Randolph County, and was an extensive landholder. He was from Pennsyl- vania, and was raised a Quaker, and a relation of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. I have examined carefully his correspondence and his book, giving "an impartial account of the troubles of the regulation." They prove that he was, although deficient in education, a man who felt strongly, and expressed himself forcibly. Many of his neigh- bors speak of him as a man of strict integrity, a firm advocate of popular rights, and a determined foe to oppression and extortion. Undeserved wrong and official oppression may have driven him to imprudences, but the purity of his character was above suspicion. From his pen proceeded the paper read to the court in Orange, the resolutions of the Maddock's Mill Convention were his ; he was the favorite of the people-for he was their representative to the General Assembly-and when he was arrested and carried to Hills- boro', the whole people rose to his rescue.

Had his ultimate career been successful, or the Regulators triumphed over Tryon at the battle of Alamance, his name would have come down to us with the Ashes and Waddells of that day, or the Hampdens, Sidneys, and others of a former age.

All violent diseases, in the body politic, like in the natural body, require violent remedies. The taxes to build palaces to gratify the vanity of an officer who possessed neither the affection of the people or any sympathy for their sufferings, the extortion of the clerks, sheriffs, and others were outrageous. Edmund Fanning, who was from the north, was the minion of Tryon. He was the clerk of the Court of Orange, Colonel of the county, an Attorney at law, and the Representative in the General Assembly : under the powerful patronage, and the countenance of the Governor, he defied the

* Jones' Defence, 36.

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popular will. From a condition of poverty, he became wealthy. His manners towards the people were haughty and supercilious, and his conduct as an officer was overbearing and extortionary. He demanded and received fifteen dollars for a marriage license, and charged one dollar for proving a deed.

The scarcity of money and the extreme poverty of the people, rendered their grievances intolerable; the exactions of the other officers caused even these enormous fees to be larger.

At the meeting in April, the Regulators had selected two persons to call upon the sheriff and vestrymen to meet twelve deputies from them on Tuesday, after next County Court, to show their accounts.

Before these two men could attend to this service, the sheriff being unwilling to submit to this tribunal, or to exasperate and defy its power, took, by way of distress, a mare, saddle, and bridle, and carried them to Hillsboro'. He was followed by a party of sixty or seventy men, who rescued the mare, then marching to Fanning's house, fired at the roof of it, giving him positive and striking proof that they deemed him the chief author of these troubles.

The Sheriff then took with him a party of horse, and riding about fifty miles, seized Herman Husbands and William Hunter, and lodged them in Hillsboro' jail.

The Regulators assembled May, 1768, in large force, to rescue them, but they had been released on bail.

On May 21st, the Regulators held another general meeting, and James Hunter and Rednap Howell were appointed to wait on the Governor with the address of the meeting. They attended, at Newbern, in June; the Governor laid the papers before the Council, who decided that "the grievances of which they complained did not warrant. the measures they had adopted ; that, if carried further, would amount to high treason ; that the decent behaviour of Colonel Fanning met entire approbation, and advised them to desist from further meetings; that the Governor would readily remove any hardships, and direct the Attorney-General to prose- cute every officer guilty of extortion or malpractice ; and that next month, the Governor would be at Hillsboro', and issue a procla- mation forbidding such dishonorable practices."

The Governor attended at Hillsboro', summoned his council, and issued the promised proclamation.

But matters became worse. "An association was formed in Anson, similar to that in Orange, and offered its aid.

They continued to meet, enlisting their men, training them to the use of arms, believing that a conflict must sooner or later occur.

On the 11th of July, a large body of Regulators assembled. The Governor goes to Mecklenburg, and in that and the adjacent coun- ties, raises a large body of troops, and marches from Salisbury to Hillsboro'. His journal is recorded in volume ii. chapter 1, Ala- mance. No bloodshed occurred at this time.

He swore the people to maintain and defend the king's govern- ment "with hands and hearts, life and goods, against all persons who

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should attempt to obstruct the administration of the laws." He required that the Regulators should disperse, and that twelve of the wealthiest of them should wait on him at Salisbury, and give bond that no rescue should be attempted of William Butler and Herman Husbands at the next court in Hillsboro', to which they had been bound. This they declined, but assured the Governor that no de- sign was entertained of releasing the persons bound ; they desired him to dissolve the present Assembly, and call a new one; and, if he would permit them to come peaceably and complain of their grievances of the officers, and pardon the past, they would disperse, and pay their taxes.

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Historical sketches of North Carolina : from 1584 to 1851, Vol. I, Part 5

Author: Wheeler, John H. (John Hill), 1806-1882 Publication date: 1851 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Lippincott, Grambo and Co. Number of Pages: 662

Author: Wheeler, John H. (John Hill), 1806-1882
Publication date: 1851
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Lippincott, Grambo and Co.
Number of Pages: 662