USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina, V I pt 2 > Part 13
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Pressing on after the battle of Great Bridge, Howe drove the British and the Tories from Norfolk and took possession of the town.
C. R., X, 372
Norfolk burned
On December 30th Captain Bellew, commanding the Brit- ish ships, notified Colonel Howe that he would not suffer men in arms against their sovereign to appear before his Majesty's ships, and he warned Colonel Howe that his sentinels must not be seen or the women and children might suffer-a plain intimation that he proposed to fire on the town unless the American sentinels should be withdrawn. Howe's reply was that he had given orders to his sentinels not to fire on any boat unless approaching the shore in a hostile manner. But Dunmore's mind was made up. He proposed to destroy Norfolk, even if it involved the slaughter of women and children. Without further warning. about three o'clock on the afternoon of the next day, a cannonade of one hundred pieces opened on the devoted town and con- tinued without interruption until ten o'clock that night. Under cover of their guns, the British landed and set fire to the houses at several places near the water. They landed frequently, but were repulsed in every instance. Once, in- deed, they reached the street with several field pieces, but were driven back with considerable loss. In the meantime the conflagration spread with amazing rapidity, and the women and children, seeking to escape, were subjected to the British fire and some of them were killed. For two days the fire raged, and nine-tenths of the town was destroyed before it was extinguished. A midshipman on board the British ship Otter thus describes the event: "The detested town of Norfolk is no more! Its destruction happened on New Year's Day. About four o'clock in the afternoon the signal was given from the Liverpool, when a dreadful cannonading began from the three ships, which lasted till
.
C. R .. X, 331, 387, 395
Jan. 1, 1776
491
NORFOLK DESTROYED
'twas too hot for the rebels to stand on their wharves. Our boats now landed and set fire to the town in several places. It burnel fiercely all night and the next day; nor are the flames yet extinguished ; but no more of Norfolk remains than about twelve houses, which escaped the flames."
A month later Colonel Howe, with the concurrence of his officers, visited the Virginia convention, then sitting at Williamsburg, and on his recommendation that body directed that the remaining houses, only twelve in number, should be destroyed. In Colonel Howe's encounters with the British, although his forces were under a long-protracted, heavy cannonade, he lost only five or six men wounded and none killed. It was his good fortune to bear himself so well that notwithstanding local jealousies, he won high applause and received the thanks of the Virginia convention, while gain- ing merited distinction for himself and his North Carolina troops.
Colonel Howe had with him some six hundred North Carolinians on this duty in Virginia, and the aid given so expeditiously and effectively at the same time against the Scovellites at the south and Dunmore at the north estab- lished for North Carolina an enviable reputation throughout America.
Measures for defence
On December 18th the Provincial Council met at the court-house of Johnston County in its second session.
It was now known that the province was to be invaded ; and as the inhabitants were not well supplied with arms and ammunition for defence, commissioners were appointed to make and repair guns and to purchase munitions of war : and the delegates in the Continental Congress were directed to send powder, drums, colors and fifes from Philadelphia for the use of the troops.
Waightstill Avery, one of the members, was directed to repair to South Carolina and obtain twenty hundredweight of gunpowder, a supply of which had been received from abroad by that province. Powder and ammunition belong- ing to the British Government had also been seized in South Carolina, Georgia, and apparently Florida.
1775 ---
C. R., X, 34 )
C. R., X. 355
492
THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL, 1775-76
1775 C. R., X, 352, 362 December
Importa- tions
Because of the necessity to continue importations and protect vessels engaged in such commerce, the council took steps to fit out three armed ships, one at Wilmington, oue at New Bern, and one at Edenton, and gentlemen at each of those towns were appointed to charter one or more vessels. which they were to load with commodities and send abroad to procure arms and ammunition for the province. And renewed efforts were made to obtain at home an additional supply of arms and equipments. It was ordered that two battalions of minute men should be embodied in the district of Salisbury, one of them to be under Griffith Rutherford, as colonel, and the other to be commanded by Colonel Thomas Polk. It was also directed that the test adopted by the Provincial Congress should be signed by all the minute men and militiamen, and it was recommended that no person should be allowed any relief against a debtor unless ten days previous to his application he should have subscribed the continental association and the test.
Progress of events
Hope of rec- onciliation
C. R., X, 373
Early in September the address of the Continental Congress urging the king to point out some way for an accommoda- tion was presented to the ministry by Governor Penn. Three days later Dartmouth replied that to it no answer would be given ; while in a speech from the throne it was declared that the protestations of loyalty were meant only to deceive, the rebellious war being carried on for the pur- pose of establishing an independent empire. When informa- tion came of this closing of the door to all hope of accom- modation the colonists were profoundly moved. So far there had been no purpose to separate. All that fall the chaplains in Washington's army were still leading their troops in prayer "for the king." In December. James Hogg, who was attending the Continental Congress seeking recognition for Transylvania, wrote that "the famous John and Sam Adams" presented this difficulty: "There seems to be an impro- priety in embarrassing our reconciliation with anything new : and the taking under our protection a body of people who have acted in defiance of the king's proclamations will be looked on as a confirmation of that independent spirit with which we are daily reproached." As yet. even those aggres- sive delegates from Massachusetts were unwilling to give
493
THE GROWTH OF INDEPENDENCE
color to the charge that they favored independence .* To make a reasonable explanation of the resort to arms while professing allegiance, the Whig leaders denounced the efforts to deprive the colonists of their constitutional rights as emanating from a profligate ministry, and stigmatized those who opposed the American cause as "tools of the ministers," and the British troops were known as "minis- terial troops." It was sought to emphasize a distinction be- tween the king and his ministry ; but, indeed. the king was more determined than Lord North, an amiable man, who still hoped for some accommodation. George III was of an arbitrary disposition. Being intent to free himself from the great Whig leaders, who had governed ever since the house of Hanover came to the throne, he had placed at the head of affairs Lord North, who was a Torv, and the admin- istration at this period was conducted by Tories. The Par- liament was subservient, but the people were greatly divided. There were those who opposed the administration for politi- cal reasons and others who favored America for industrial and commercial purposes. Men like Horace Walpole con- sidered that the constitution was in danger from the despot- ism of the king. and that the preservation of British liberty was involved in the struggle of the Americans for their rights as British subjects : the merchants and manufacturers real- ized that the prosperity of Great Britain required a cessation of the disturbance. About November 1, 1775, Walpole wrote : "The ministers have only provoked and united, not intimidated, wounded or divided, America. At this instant they are not sure that the king has a foot of dominion left on that continent." "It is certain that the campaign has answered none of the expectations of the administration. It seems to be the opinion now that they will think of pacific measures. They have even talked in Parliament of treating. The Parliament grants whatever is asked ; and yet a great alteration has happened in the administration. The Duke
*After the event John Adams claimed that he favored indepen- dence as early as the summer of 1775. The question in such cases is, when did he really begin by acts and measures to promote the canse? When did he seek to disseminate views favorable to the success of the canse? The above letter indicates that neither of the Adamses was promoting independence early in December, 1775.
1775
The Tory ministry blamed
The Whigs in England
Walpole's Letters, 1, 391,394
494
THE PROVINCIIL COUNCIL. 1775-76
1775 -- of Grafton has changed sides, and was turned out last Friday. Lord Dartmouth has quitted the American prov- ince and taken the privy seal. Lord George Germaine i- made secretary of state for America, and Lord Weymouth has taken the southern province. The town is impatient to see whether this change of men implies any change of meas- ures. I do not see why it should, for none of the new ministers have ever inclined to the Americans; and I doubt whether the success of the latter will make them have a better disposition toward the present administration. They have felt their strength, and experienced how much less hurt we can do them than we imagined. If they have such ideas of independence as have been imputed to them, and as prob- ably some ambitious men among thein may have. we have done nothing to convince them that their plan is impracticable.
We must exhaust our men, money, navies and trade. These are the four trifling articles we pay to the old scheme of arbitrary power. When will the kings of England learn how great they may be by the constitution ; how sure of ruin if they try to be despotie? Cannot the fate of the Stuarts teach even the house of Hanover to have common sense ?"
Tories and Whigs
On December 24th the council resolved that, "Whereas. Governor Martin hath distributed great numbers of Tory pamphlets in the western parts of this province, where the people are not well informed," the delegates in congress be desired to secure the best pamphlets to counteract and frus- trate the wicked and diabolical tools of a corrupt ministry. Anterior to this era there had been no political differences among the colonists. The king and the ministers had since 16S8 been Whigs and the colonists were in full sympathy with the administration. But when George III broke with the Whigs and forined the first Tory ministry under Lord North, and the measures oppressive to America were de- vised, those who adhered to the ministry and allied them- selves with the Tory party became Tories.
The other inhabitants. being in the opposition, naturally called themselves Whigs, for the Whigs in England violently
495
WHIGS AND TORIES
opposed the administration. Thus these English party names were, in 1775, applicable in America.
Once introduced they became fixed : and even after inde- pendence and separation became the object of the struggle, the revolutionists still called themselves Whigs. Likewise the adherents of the Crown continued to be known as Tories, and the name Tory became a term of odium and reproach. synonymous with detested enmity to the country : the Tories being considered traitors and hated as men aiding to de- prive the people of their rights and liberties.
1775 -
CHAPTER XXVIII THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL, 1775-76-Continued
Martin prepares 10 act .- He sends commissions .- The rising .- The Western patriots .- Caswell marches .- At Wilmington .- At Cross Creek .- The Tories embody .- Moore at Rockfish .- McDonald marches .- Moore's Creek .- The battle .- Death of Grady .- The Spoils .- Trouble in Currituck .- The effects of the victory .- In Vir- ginia .- In North Carolina .- Mary Slocumb's ride .- Reports of Caswell and Moore.
Martin prepares to act
Early in December Governor Martin sailed for Charles- ton. where he was detained a month, returning to the Cape Fear only in January. Doubtless his conferences there strengthened his purpose to embody the Loyalists in the interior. His original design had been to send a British battalion to Cumberland as a nucleus around which the Highlanders and Regulators should centre; but no British force had reached him, although he had been advised that a large expedition was now on the way to the Cape Fear. On his return from South Carolina some of the Loyalists of Brunswick County solicited him not to delay longer, rep- resenting "that the rebel troops were weak; that one-third of them had not been provided with arms ; that they were equally deficient of ammunition, and that the people were sore under their new-fangled government and had a dispo- sition to revolt ; and that they would engage in a month's time to raise two or three thousand men." Major McLean had gone into the interior with instructions to ascertain the number of men that might be relied on; and now the anxious governor confided a commission to a confidential messenger. recommended by the Brunswick Loyalists, to establish the concert he proposed and to carry necessary instructions to the people of the more distant counties. At length Major McLean brought gratifying assurances that two or three thousand men. one-half of them well armed, would quickly respond to his call. This organization extended
1775 C. R., X, 407, 652, 653
C. R., X. 397, 487-489
Plans to embody the Loyalists
497
COMMISSIONS TO THE LOYALISTS
1776
from Surry County to Brunswick, and the plan promised good hope of success. Again McLean was despatched with powers to proper persons to raise and embody men and with orders to press down to Brunswick by February 15th ; and soon came a verbal message "that the Loyalists were in high spirits and very fast collecting : that they assured them- selves of being six thousand strong, well furnished with wagons and horses : that they intended to post one thousand at Cross Creek, and with the rest would take possession of Wilmington by February 25th at farthest." By these emis- The Tery leaders saries commissions were conveyed to the McDonalds and other Scotch leaders in Cumberland and Anson; to John c. R., X, Pyle, of the county of Chatham ; to William Fields, James 447 Hunter, Saymore York, and others, of Guilford; Samuel Bryan and others, of Rowan: Gideon Wright and James Glyn, of Surry ; Paul Barringer,* of Mecklenburg ; Michael Holt, of Orange : and Philemon Hawkins, of Bute .* These and their associates were to erect the king's standard and array his Majesty's faithful subjects in their respective counties, forming them into companies of fifty men each, and with authority to commission the company officers, The preliminary arrangements having been secretly made, the Loyalists soon were all astir.
Now the mission of Donald McDonald and Alexander McLeod. who had reached New Bern the previous June, became known. The first had an appointment as brigadier- general and the latter as colonel in the British army, and they had been sent by General Gage to organize not merely an insurrectionary force, but a division of Loyalists in the . interior of North Carolina for service in any part of America. At this crisis General McDonald took the chief command, by virtue of his commission. Allan McDonald, the husband of Flora, was appointed by Governor Martin to a subordinate position, but the highest in his gift. He was a man of great influence and high station among his countrymen. As Boswell saw him on his native heath, just prior to his departure for America, he was the beau ideal of a Highland chieftain-of graceful mien and manly looks ;
*Barringer and Hawkins did not accept these commissions, but were Whigs. Hoit and Hunter later took the oath.
498
THE PROUINCL.IL COUNCIL, 1775-76
1776
"he had his tartan plaid thrown about him, a large bl. bonnet, with a knot of blue ribbons, . . . and brown coat
Graham's British Invasion. 115
. . and tartan waistcoat with gold buttons, . . . a blunt filibeg, and tartan hose : . . jet black hair tied behind
Flora Mc Donald
. . a large, stately man, with a steady, sensible counte nance." then near fifty years of age; a man. indeed. who might well have swayed his countrymen to any enterprise His wife, who beyond her romantic career had also a pre -- ence both notable and attractive, vied with her husband in manifestations of enthusiasm and devoted loyalty. She ac- companied McDonald on horseback in arousing the Scotch to action, visiting the camp and exerting all of her persuasive powers in rallying the people to the standard.
Ibid., III
The entire territory between the Cape Fear and Haw on the east and the waters of the Yadkin on the west. inhab- ited largely by the Highlanders and Regulators, was per- meated by loyal influences, and a close association existed between the chieftains of the Scotchinen and the leaders of those whom Governor Martin distinguished as "the country people." Both responded with alacrity to the call of the governor. and there was general co-operation throughout that entire region. The Tories of Bladen and Surry and Guilford as well as the Highlanders of Cumberland and Anson prepared for the march and were organized into companies by their local officers.
C. R .. X, 594 et seq. The rising
C. R., X, 443
At length, on February 5th, there having been a confer- ence of the leaders. Donald McDonald issued his manifesto as the commanding general, inviting all to repair to his Majesty's royal standard to be erected at Cross Creek.
C. R., X, 440
The movement then began. Secret at its inception, it now was open, and was at once discovered by vigilant Whigs. Messengers were immediately despatched to give warning to the patriot leaders. It was quickly known in Salisbury. where the district Committee of Safety met on February 6th and issued orders to the county committees to embody and send forward their minute men and militia.
The western patriots act
The committee of Rowan, meeting on the same day. urged the disaffected in the forks of the Yadkin to peace, now
499
LOCAL WHIGS EMBODY
it this time, "when the friends of American liberty in these southern colonies are determined, by the assistance of C. R., X, Mmighty God. at the hazard of their lives and fortunes, to 434 mell an insurrection of the blackest nature, fomented and supported by the arts of wicked and abandoned men in the very bosom of this country": and the committee "appointed Monday, February 14th, as a day of public fasting, humilia- February tion and prayer in this country, and recommended that it be religiously observed."
Three days Inter the Tryon committee hastily convened, C. R., X and, pursuant to the directions of the district committee, 440 resolved that each captain should detail one-third of the effective men in his district and march to suppress the insur- rection. In every part of the province the same zeal was manifested. There was no hesitation. The action of the Whigs was quick and determined. At the west they collected at Charlotte, Salisbury. and Hillsboro.
Thomas Person wrote from Hillsboro on February 12th, C. R., X, saying: "Things move very well in this place. The advo- 450 cates for liberty seem very numerous, and by what we hear. their enemies are likely to prove but few in number. In short, we hear that they are mostly dispersed up ahead. . . . 'Tis said that the Scotch in Cumberland are making head. . . . The forces will move from here. 'tis thought. to-morrow for Chatham County, toward Cross Creek."
The Loyalists in Surry appear to have been speedily dis- persed by the active Whigs of that county. In Guilford, Colonel James Martin assembled the Whigs at the "Cross Roads," but the Tories resolutely pressed on. A company of which Samuel Devinny, one of the former Regulators, was the head, being opposed by Captain Dent, killed him. James Lowe and Robert Adams were particularly charged with firing the fatal shots. It thus appears that Captain Dent was the first North Carolinian to fall in the contest.
An express carrying intelligence that the Loyalists were embodying. and had on the 5th begun to march to Cross Creek, was received by the district Committee of Safety of New Bern on the 10th. The committee immediately directed C. R., X, Colonel Caswell to march with his minute men to suppress 444 the insurrection, and the colonels of Dobbs, Johnston. Pitt.
1776
Captain Dent killed
C. R., X, 500, 599
The Whigs in motion
500
THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL, 1775-76
1776 -
-
February
and Craven were ordered to raise the militia of those counties and join Caswell. Similarly, the patriot forces in Mecklenburg and Rowan, in Granville and Bute, in the Hillsboro district and on the Cape Fear, were put in rapid motion. The militia and minute men of Surry. Guilford. Orange, and Chatham, under Colonel Thackston, also hur- ried to the scene of operations.
C. R., X, 46; et seq. At Wilmington
On the 9th the express conveying the intelligence of the insurrection reached Wilmington. There the greatest ac- tivity prevailed. All vied in enthusiastic ardor. Colonel Moore issued orders to prepare for marching against the insurgents. The artillery was to be equipped, the companies armed. wagons supplied for transporting the provisions. For eighty hours there was severe, unremitting service, night and day, making preparations. At length, being ready, Colonel Moore, with his regulars and artillery, moved toward Cross Creek, being joined on his route by the Bladen militia. Four days later he was followed by the two companies of minute men of New Hanover under Colonel Lillington and Colonel Ashe's independent rangers, while Colonel Purviance re- mained with his militia for the defence of the town. On the 14th the Cruiser sloop-of-war with a tender passed Bruns- wick, and, fearing an attack, many inhabitants of Wilming- ton moved out, carrying the women and children, and breast- works were thrown up on the principal streets and wharves and on the hills above and below the town. Quickly there came Captain Clinton's company of minute men from Duplin, a minute company from Onslow, and a part of the militia from Onslow under Colonel Cray, and fifty men from Brunswick under Major Quince. These all assisted in com- pleting the breastworks. mounting the swivels and pre- paring fire rafts. The Cruiser, however, made no attack on the town, but tried to pass up the Clarendon River into tlie Northwest, with the intention of meeting the Loyalists on their way down and protecting their provision boats from Cross Creek.
The attempt, however, was abortive. Riflemen on shore attacked the men from the Cruiser whenever they landed, and the water not being sufficient for the vessel to pass, she again fell below the island.
LOYALISTS RENDEZL'OUS
At Cross Creek
Cross Creek had for months been greatly disturbed. There a few sterling Whigs lived in the very midst of the Tory element. In the early stages of the movement Rob- ert Rowan had formed an independent company, and patri- otically sought to determine the action of the community. But there the Tory leaders held their meetings and resolved upon their course. The first rendezvous was appointed at Cross Hill Cross Hill, near Carthage, in Moore County, on Feb- ruary 5th ; and thence the companies moved to Campbellton. Colonel Thomas Rutherford, who at the previous congress had been chosen colonel of the county, proved unfaithful. and gave in his adherence to the royal cause. He called for a general muster on the 12th. Many, however, would not obey. To arouse them. on the next day he issued a flaming manifesto, entreating, beseeching, and commanding the people to join the king's army. On the 16th the converging columns began to arrive, and Peter Hay bore the royal standard from Campbellton to Cross Creek, where it was formally erected. Now regiments came in from Anson, Chatham, Guilford, and Bladen, and companies from Orange and Rowan and other communities. The entire number of Loyalists then assembling at Cross Creek was variously esti- mated at between thirty-five hundred and five thousand men. Colonel Cotton, of Anson, and other leaders asserted that there would be five thousand of the Regulators in addition to the Highlanders. But it had been given out that Governor Martin was at Campbellton with a thousand British regulars to receive them, and this report had given an impetus to the movement. On approaching their encampment the state- ment was found to be without foundation, and large num- bers abandoned the cause. Deceived in one matter, the Reg- ulators lost confidence in all other representations made by their leaders, and hundreds retired.
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