USA > North Carolina > Historical sketches of North Carolina : from 1584 to 1851, Vol. I > Part 65
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South Carolina.
John Dunn, Attorney at Law, late of Salisbury Town, in North Caro- lina, personally appeared before me, the subscriber, one of the Justices as- signed to keep the peace for the district of Charles Town, and being first sworn upon the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, deponeth that the accu- sation wherewith he stands charged by William Kennon and Adlai Osborne, Samuel Spencer, and others, of and concerning his being inimical to Ameri- can liberties, and of his holding of correspondence with Gov. Martin, of North Carolina, and other government officers, and acting and doing other matters and things to the prejudice of the people of North Carolina in par- ticular, and America in general, is false, and without foundation, and further declareth on his oath aforesaid, that he has not at any time heretofore, di- rectly or indirectly, wrote any letter or letters to Gov. Martin, or any Crown
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officers, or through any person whatever, of or concerning the present dis- putes between Great Britain and the American Colonies; neither was he privy to any letters being wrote or sent by other persons on that account ; neither did he ever write, dictate, or cause any petition, remonstrance, plan, 'or scheme, either for himself or other person or persons, nor has he at any time been privy to any combination or meeting of any number of people whatever, in order to oppose or frustrate the views or designs of the Ameri- cans; neither has he at any time aided or assisted in any of the above schemes, nor has he ever been solicited by any person or more on that head but once (which he then positively refused), that of drawing what was called a petition, and would not, and further that he has never exhibited nor read to others, nor even so much as carried about him a certain paper called a pro- test, nor wrote or caused to be wrote any copies thereof, nor tendered such to be signed by others ; neither has he at any time set his name to any other paper, remonstrant or petition, other than the paper mentioned in the fore- going state of facts'mentioned in this paper ; but whatever his private opin- ion or sentiments may be with regard to those matters, he has not aided at any time, directly or indirectly, by any act of his or others deeds, to the pre- judice of the common laws.
Sworn and subscribed to before me, this 27th day of July, 1776.
ROUTE OF THE BRITISH ARMY THROUGH THIS COUNTY, IN THE REVOLUTION-GENE- RAL' N. GREENE AT SALISBURY, 1781.
The extracts from the Journal of Lord Cornwallis (see Lincoln County) will show the march of the British army from the first of February, 1781, when they crossed the Catawba River, to the 7th February, when he crossed the Yadkin at Shallow Ford, and to the 9th, when he reached Salem. The maps in the quarto edition of Tarleton's Campaigns lay down the topography of the country, the different creeks, roads, and rivers, far more accurate than any .\ modern Atlas. The course of the armies of both sides are traced with great precision and accuracy.
At Torrence's, where Alfred D. Kerr now lives, about seven miles from Beat- tie's Ford, Tarleton and his light horse attacked, about two o'clock in the after- noon, a party of three hundred militia. The day was wet and rainy, and unfa- vorable to the use of firearms. The militia retreated; few were killed, and none taken. The militia gave the British one fire, by which seven of the horse- men were killed, and twenty horses; they then broke and ran in all direc- tions .* This was just after Tarleton's defeat at the Cowpens, and in his Journal he vaunts this as a splendid victory .; But a cotemporary# writer of the British side says "that this is Tarleton's account. But a British officer who rode over the ground not long after the action, says that he did not see ten bodies of the provincialists in the whole."
General Greene arrived at Salisbury that night. His prospects and his feel- ings, and the generous conduct of Mrs. Steele, will be found in her biography. After a hasty meal, he and the body of his troops passed the Yadkin, at the Trading ford, on that night and the next day (the 2d of February). The light horse forded, and the infantry and baggage were carried over in flats. Here a direct interposition of Divine Providence saved Greene and the Ameri- can army, as before at the Catawba. Flushed with hope, and burning for con- test, the British, after the death of Davidson, and the dispersion at Torrence's, advanced rapidly on Greene. They arrived at the Trading ford at midnight, on the 2d of February. Some baggage of the Americans, and wagons, had yet to cross, under guard of some riflemen. The advance of the British troops under O'Hara, attacked them, and took the wagons; the riflemen retreated under the cover of night. Greene and his little army on the one side of the Yadkin, and the whole body of British on the other. The position was criti- cal ; but Heaven was propitious. It rained hard all night, and the river be- came impassable. Cornwallis opened a furious cannonade upon the Ameri- cans across the Trading ford.
* Tarleton's Campaigns, 226. t Tarleton, 226.
# Stedman, ii. 329.
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
The surgeon of the American army, Dr. Read, has left this record of the scene :-
" At a little distance from the river was a small cabin, in which General Greene had taken up his quarters. At this the enemy directed their fire, and the balls rebounded from the rocks in the rear of it. But little of the roof was visible to the enemy. The General was preparing his orders for the army, and his dispatches to the Congress. In a short time the balls began to strike the roof, and clapboards were flying in all directions. . But the Gene- ral's pen never stopped, only when a new visitor arrived, or some officer for orders; and then the answer was given with calmness and precision, and Greene resumed his pen."*
The British had to fall back to Salisbury ; while Greene proceeded on his retreat to Virginia. Had the enemy been enabled to'encounter Greene at this time, defeat would have been certain to Greene, and to the cause of America in the South.
Connected with Rowan and this deeply exciting period of her history, is the name of ELIZABETH STEELE, who was distinguished among the "Women of the Revolution," not only for her attachment to the cause of America, but for her prudence, piety, and virtue.' It was at her house, in the evening of the 1st of February, 1781, that "the Fabius of America," General Greene, after riding hard all day, in the rain, arrived, "fatigued, hungry, alone, and penniless," as he expressed himself to Dr. Read, who had charge of the sick and wounded prisoners at that place. Mrs. Steele heard this, and the fire of patriotism was augmented by that deep sympathy which woman's heart ever feels for distress. Hardly had General Greene seated himself at a well-spread table, before a cheerful fire, when Mrs. Steele entered, and reminded her dis- tinguished guest that she had overheard his desponding remark to Dr. Read; she drew from under her apron two small bags of specie, her earnings for years. "Take these," she said, "for you will want them; I can do without them." "Never," says his biographer, " did relief come at a more needy moment," and the hero resumed his dangerous journey that night, with a heart lightened by woman's kindness, and her devotion to the cause of her country." , Can any son of North Carolina read such an occurrence without feeling his blood flow in more rapid currents at the patriotism of Rowan ? and wherever this liberty has advanced, let the self-sacrificing act of this noble woman be named in remembrance of her ; or, may we not, without any impiety, say in the inspired words of the Scripture : "Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told as a memorial of her."+
On the wall of the room hung a portrait of George III., which had been sent as a present from England, from a friend at court, to one of Mrs. Steele's connections.
Filled with the mournful recollection of the sufferings of his country, and the innocent blood that even that day had been spilled by the myrmidons of royalty, General Greene took it from the wall and wrote on the back: "O George! hide thy face and mourn," and replaced it, with the face to the wall. .
This picture, with the writing still visible, I have seen. It is in possession .- of Governor Swain, at Chapel Hill. The recollection of the events of this pe- riod, and the circumstances, caused it to possess a deep interest to my mind.
Mrs. Steele died on the 22d of November, 1790, at Salisbury. She was twice married ; her first husband was a Gillespie, by whom she had a daugh- ter, who married Rev. Samuel McCorkle ; and a son, Richard Gillespie, who was a Captain in the Revolution, and died unmarried. By her second hus- band, William Steele, she had an only son,
GENERAL JOHN STEELE, who was born in Salisbury, on the 1st November, 1764. He was educated in that place, and commenced life a merchant, but soon turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, in which he was skillful, prudent, and successful. In 1787 he appeared in public life, as a member of the House of Commons, and was re-elected in 1788.
* Dr. Read's letter in Johnson's life of Greene, vol. i. p. 418.
1 Matthew, xxvi. 43.
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He was a member of the Convention that assembled at Hillsboro' on the 21st of July, 1788, to consider the Constitution of the United States, and with Johnston, Davie, and Iredell, made active but ineffectual efforts in its defence.
In 1790 he was elected a member of the first Congress under the Constitu- tion, from the Salisbury district, and served until 1793.
In 1794 he was again elected a member of the House of Commons, and served, with some intermissions, until 1813, of which he was often speaker.
On the removal of General. Davie to the State of South Carolina, in 1806, General Steele succeeded him as commissioner for North Carolina, to adjust the boundaries between the two States. There is ample documentary evi- dence that he conducted this delicate, protracted, and difficult negotiation, with consummate ability and skill.
He was appointed by General Washington first Comptroller of the Trea- sury, which he held throughout the remainder of Washington's and John Adams' administration, and resigned in 1802, in opposition to the earnest and repeated remonstrances of Mr. Jefferson.
On the 14th of August, 1815, he was again elected to the House of Com- mons, but on that day he died.
He is buried at his residence, now the seat of Archibald Henderson, Esq., near town.
He married, in 1783, Mary Nesfield, who survived him many years, and by whom he left three daughters : Ann, who married Gen. Jesse A. Pearson ; Margaret, who married Dr. Stephen L. Ferrand, and Eliza, who married Col. Robert MacNamara. The following is a copy of his tombstone :--
On the West side.
In the memory of GENERAL JOHN STEELE. Died Aug. 14th, 1815, Age 50. On the East side.
Consecrated by Conjugal and Filial Affection. An enlightened Statesman, A vigilant Patriot, An accomplished Gentleman.
The archives of the country testify the services of his short but useful life. Long will that country deplore his loss ; but when will this sequestered spot cease to witness the sacred : sorrow of his family and friends.
The name of GRIFFITH RUTHERFORD is associated with the Revolutionary history of Rowan.
We regret that we know so little of the birth, life, services, and death of a man so distinguished in the annals of the State, and from whom so large and populous a county derives its name.
He was an Irishman by birth, and uncultivated in mind or manners, but brave, ardent, and patriotic.
He resided west of Salisbury, in the Locke settlement, and represented Rowan County at Newbern in 1775.
In 1776 he commanded an army of two thousand four hundred men to sub- due the "Over-hill" Cherokee Indians. He marched to the territory, de- stroyed thirty-six towns, cut up their standing corn, and drove off their cattle.
The Guilford Regiment, who joined General Rutherford, rendezvoused at Martinsville on 23d July, 1776. ' It was commanded by James Martin, as Colonel, and John Paisley, as Lieutenant-Colonel. Rutherford crossed the Blue Ridge. at Swannanoa Gap, and passed down the French Broad, and crossed the river at the ford, which passes to this day by the name of the " War Ford," then up the valley of Hominy Creek, then crossing Pigeon to
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the Tuckasege. From thence they crossed the Cowee Mountain to the Ten- nessee River. In the valley of the Tennessee River they burned the Indian towns of Watauga, Estoetoa, and Ellajay. Here, on the 14th of September, they met General Williamson, with troops, from South Carolina, who had crossed the Blue Ridge at the sources of the Tennessee River. In his march for the valley towns, General Williamson was attacked in a narrow pass near the present town of Franklin by a body of Indians in ambush. He lost thirteen men killed and thirty wounded. The Indians were routed with great slaughter.
Rutherford lost in a skirmish at Valley Town, Ellajay, and near Franklin, three men ; but he completely subdued the Indians, and, turning his large stock of cattle, which he had for subsistence along with the army, on their growing crops, destroyed their means, and with his troops burned their towns. He returned in October, and at Salisbury disbanded his troops.
The uniform of the officers was a hunting-shirt of domestic, trimmed with colored cotton ; the arms were rifles.
The Rev. James Hall, of Iredell, accompanied this expedition as chaplain. William Lenoir, of Wilkes, was a, captain in this expedition, and many others of our hardy sons of the west here witnessed their first essay in arms.
On the 22d of April, 1776, he was appointed Brigadier-General. He com- manded a brigade in the ill-fated'battle of Camden (August, 1780), and was taken prisoner by the British. When exchanged, he took the field, and com- manded at Wilmington when that place was evacuated by the British.
In 1786 he was Senator from Rowan, and soon after removed to Tennessee: The Knoxville Gazette of the 6th of September, 1794, contains the follow- ing :-
"On Monday last the General Assembly of this Territory commenced their session in this town. General Rutherford, long distinguished for his ser- vices in the Legislature of North Carolina, is appointed President of the Legislative Council."
North Carolina and Tennessee have preserved his name by calling in each State, Counties after him.
Hon. MATTHEW LOCKE, of this County, was an early and devoted friend of the rights of the people. He was born in 1730.
In 1771 he was selected by the people, with Herman Husbands, to receive the fees of the Sheriffs and Court officers of the Crown, In 1775 he was a . member of the popular Assembly, and in 1776 member of the Congress at Halifax which formed the Constitution.
In 1793 to 1799 he was a member of Congress, and was succeeded by Hon. Archibald Henderson. He died in 1801. He married the daughter of Richard Brandon, and left a large family, now chiefly extinct or removed.
He had four sons at one time in the Revolutionary War, one of whom (George) was killed by the British near Charlotte in 1780.
Hon. FRANCIS LOCKE, son of Francis, the hero of Ramsour's Mill, and nephew of the above, was born on the 31st of October, 1766. He was elected Judge of the Superior Courts in 1803, and resigned in 1814, when he was elected a Senator in Congress in 1814-15. He never married. He died in January, 1823.
Hon. SPRUCE MCCAY resided in this county. He was educated by Rev. David Caldwell, appointed Judge of the Superior Courts of Law and Equity in 1790, and died in 1808. "
He married Fanny, daughter of George Richard Henderson. William S. McCay, of Salisbury, is the only son of this union.
Hon. JAMES MARTIN, son of Colonel James Martin, resided for many years in Salisbury. He was elected Senator from Rowan County in 1823, and Judge of the Superior Courts in 1826, and resigned in 1835. He married Miss Alexander, and removed to Mobile, Alabama, where he died a few years ago.
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ROWAN COUNTY.
Hon. GEORGE MUMFORD represented this County in 1810 and 1811, and this District in Congress in 1817, and died at Washington City in 1819, while in Congress.
PEARSON FAMILY.
RICHMOND PEARSON, late of Davie, when it was Rowan, was born in Din- widdie County, Virginia, in 1770, and at the age of nineteen came to North Carolina and settled in the forks of the Yadkin.
When the war of the Revolution broke out he was a Lieutenant in Captain Bryan's company (afterwards the celebrated Colonel Bryan, of Tory memory).
After the Declaration of Independence, at the first muster which occurred, he requested some in whom he could rely to load their guns. When Capt. Bryan came on the ground, he ordered all the men into ranks. Pearson refused, and tendered his commission to Bryan. Bryan ordered him under arrest. This was resisted, and he was told that the men had their guns loaded. . Whereupon they came to a parley, and it was agreed by the crowd, as matters then stood, that Bryan and Pearson, on a day fixed, should settle this national affair by a fair fist fight, and whichever whipped, the company should belong to the side of the conqueror, Whig or Tory. At the time and place the parties met, and the Lieutenant was victor.
From this time the Fork company was for liberty, and Bryan's crowd, on Dutchman's Creek, were Loyalists. The anecdote illustrates by what slight circumstances events of this period were affected.
When Cornwallis came south, Pearson, with his company, endeavored to harass his advance. He was present on the first of February, 1781, when General Davidson fell, and witnessed the fall of that brave and meritorious officer. He was a successful merchant and enterprising planter. He effect- ed the navigation of the Yadkin, from his. mills, on South Yadkin, to the narrows, and from thence, by land, below Grassy Islands, thence, by water, to Sneedsboro', which was then a rival to Cheraw. He died in 1819.
By his first wife, Miss Hayden, he had three sons, Jesse A. Pearson, Joseph and Richmond Pearson, and Betsey, who married.
Hon. JOHN STOKES, who was a colonel in the Revolutionary War, and who lost an arm in the affair of Buford's defeat, was U. S. District Judge, and after whom Stokes County was called ; and eldest brother of the late Gover- nor Montford Stokes.
JESSE A. PEARSON Was a member of the General Assembly in the House of Commons in 1808, 1809, and in 1813 and 1814, from Rowan. He marched in 1814, as colonel of a regiment, to the Creek nation, under General Joseph Graham, and was afterwards elected Major-General of the State.
HIe had a duel with General Montford Stokes at Mason's old field, near Salisbury
He married, first, a daughter of General John Steele, and, second, Mrs. Wilson, whose daughter, by a former husband, married Archibald G. Carter, Esq., of Davie County. He died in 1823 without issue.
Hon. JOSEPH PEARSON, who was a member of the House of Commons in 1804 and 1805, from Salisbury, was a lawyer by profession. He was mem- ber of Congress from 1809 to 1815.
He had a duel, while in Congress, with Hon. John J. Jackson, about 1811, on political grounds.
He died at Salisbury on the 27th of October, 1834.
He was thrice married. By his first wife, Miss M. Linn, he had no issue ; by the second, Miss Ellen Brent, he had two daughters, one the wife of Ro- bert Wash, of Philadelphia, the other wife of Lieut. Farly, of the U. S. Navy ; and by the third wife (Miss Worthington, of Georgetown), he left four chil- dren, one of whom married John Jay.
Richmond married Miss McLinn. He was never in public life, but an
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active, enterprising man. He, with George Fisher and a negro, passed the falls of the Yadkin in a boat-a feat never performed before, or since. By his second wife, Col. Pearson left
1. Sarah, who married Isaac Croom, of Alabama.
2. Eliza, who married W. G. Bently, of Bladen.
3. Charles, who died without issue.
4. Hon. RICHMOND MUMFORD PEARSON, now one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, who was born in June 1805, educated at Statesville by John Mushat, and was graduated at Chapel Hill in June 1823. Studied law under Judge Henderson; licensed in 1826. He entered public life in 1829 as a member of the House of Commons from Rowan, and continued until 1832; elected Judge of the Superior Courts of Law in 1836, and trans- ferred to the Supreme Court in 1848, which elevated position he now occupies. '5. Giles N. Pearson, who was by profession a lawyer, married Miss Ellis, and died in 1847, leaving a wife and five children.
6. John Stokes Pearson, who married Miss Beattie in Bladen County, died in 1848, leaving four children.
HON. ARCHIBALD HENDERSON
Was long a resident and representative of Salisbury, one of her brightest ornaments and distinguished sons. He was the son of a distinguished father, late Judge Richard Henderson (for whose biography see Vol. I. 116), and was born in Granville County 7th Aug. 1768, and was educated in that county ; studied law with Judge Williams, his relative, and was pronounced by one well qualified to judge, "the most perfect model of a lawyer that our bar has produced."*
This sketch was published soon after Mr. Henderson's death, by one who knew him well; and as it is far more accurate than anything I could offer, I here present it.
"I became acquainted with Archibald Henderson in the year 1803, and from that time to the time of his death, I looked to him as a model of that perfect character in the profession of the law, which all his brethren should be am- bitious to imitate. From him, judges might learn wisdom and discretion, and lawyers the dignity of their profession and the high duties which it im- poses. I here speak only of his professional character; that which he exhi- bited to his country for more than twenty years, with a force and effect that ought to be remembered as long as a reverence for our civil institutions shall be cherished. No man could look upon him without pronouncing him one of the great men of the age. The impress of greatness was upon his counte- nance; not that greatness which is the offspring of any single talent, or mo- ral quality ; but a greatness which is made up by blending the faculties of a fine intellect with exalted moral feelings. Although he was at all times ac- cessible, and entirely free from austerity, he seemed to live and move in an atmosphere of dignity. He exacted nothing by his manner; yet all ap- proached him with reverence, and left him with respect. . The little quarrels and contests of men were beneath him; their bickerings, their envyings, their slanderings, and all the workings of their little passions, kept at a distance from him; and I have often seen him discomfited at the bar, when contend- ing for his clients, in cases where the little passions only, had play. His was the region of high sentiment; and there he occupied a standing that was pre-eminent in North Carolina. He contributed more than any man, since the time of General Davie and Alfred Moore, to give character to the bar of the State, and to impress upon the people a reverence for their Courts of Justice. His career at the bar has become identified with the history of North Carolina ;'and his life and his example furnish themes for instruction to gentlemen of the bench and to his brethren of the bar. May they study his life and profit by his example !
"The Constitution and jurisprudence of his country were his favorite stu-
* Judge A. D. Murphy, (Oration at Chapel Hill, 1827.)
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dies. Profound reflection had generalized his ideas, and given to his political and legal learning a scientific cast. No man of the age better understood the theory of our government; no man more admired it; and no man gave more practical proofs of his admiration. The sublime idea that he lived un- der a government of laws, was forever uppermost in his mind, and seemed to give a coloring to all his actions. "As he acknowledged no dominion but that of the laws, he bowed with reverence to their authority, and taught obedience no less by his example than by his precept. To the humblest officer of jus- tice, he was respectful; the vices of private character were overlooked, when the individual stood before him clothed with judicial authority. In the county courts, when the justices of the peace administered the law, he was no less respectful in his deportment and submission to their decisions, than in the highest tribunal of the State. He considered obedience to the laws to be the first duty of a citizen; and it seemed to be the great object of his pro- fessional life, to inculcate a sense of this duty, and to give to the administra- tion of the laws an impressive character. To understand his character, and profit by that understanding, we should consider it first in its relation to the court; and, secondly, in its relation to the bar. <
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