USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina, V I pt 2 > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
Four new battalions
In view of the pressing necessity for more troops, the con- gress now raised four additional continental regiments, assigning to their command Jethro Sumner, Thomas Polk, Edward Buncombe, and Alexander Lillington. The period for which the minute men were enlisted having expired, some of the officers of that organization were transferred to these new regiments, among them Colonel James Thack- ston becoming lieutenant-colonel under Colonel Polk. Three companies of light horse were also raised, commanded re- spectively by John Dickerson, Martin Phifer, and James Jones. An artillery company was directed to be organized by Captain John Vance. To protect the coast, five companies were embodied and stationed from Currituck to the Cape Fear. Two battalions of militia, seven hundred and fifty men
1776
Fonte, Sketches of North Carolina,
C. R., X,
Additional require- ments
524
THE PROVINCLIL COUNCIL. 1775-76
1776
each, were directed to be raised in the eastern districts, out to be under the command of Colonel Thomas Brown and the other under Colonel Philemon Hawkins. These battalion -. the Second Continental Regiment, and all the recruits en- listed for the new regiments were ordered to report imme- diately to General Moore on the Cape Fear.
C. R., X, 561
The militia
A new system was devised for the militia. The com- panies of the militia in the several counties were to consist of not less than fifty men. Each company was divided into five divisions. One of these consisted of the aged and infirm. the other militiamen being apportioned to four divisions, that drew lots to ascertain when they should go on duty. and were severally known as number one, two, three, and four, accordingly. Each county had its militia field officers ; and the province was divided into six military districts, a brigadier-general being appointed for each. In his own district the brigadier took rank of the others. The militia was not to be under continental officers, except when ordered by the civil power to join the continental troops, and then the continental officer of equal rank took command.
C. R., X, 563
The forces embody
C. R., X, 563
On May 6th. because of information from General Moore. the congress directed the generals of the province to call out their militia and hasten to join General Moore. and or- dered General Ashe to take command of the re-enforce- ments upon their arrival in his district. The generals elected by the congress were Allen Jones, for the Halifax district : John Ashe. Wilmington ; Edward Vail. Edenton ; Griffith Rutherford, Salisbury; Thomas Person, Hillsboro: and William Bryan, New Bern .*
Vestrymen to take the test oath
C. R., X, 554
Notwithstanding the military matters that were pressing on the attention of congress that body realized the necessity of making provision for the civil life of the province. On May Ist it resolved that all vestries elected in every parish, having taken the test adopted on August 23, 1775, should proceed to parochial business, and where no election had taken place on Easter Monday, April 8th, the freeholders were directed to meet in July and elect vestrymen, who should qualify themselves by subscribing the test. Con-
*Richard Caswell was at first chosen brigadier-general of the New Bern district. but did not serve.
525
PERSONNEL OF THE CONGRESS
1776
formably to this resolution, the vestry of Edenton on June 19th met and signed the test, as probably did all the other vestrymen chosen throughout the province, and as all the committees and other officers were required to do. It was the duty of the vestrymen in every county or parish to look after the poor and attend to much business not of an ecclesiastical nature.
Members of the congress of April, 1776, that declared for inde- pendence, April 12, 1776
For Anson County-Daniel Love. Samuel Spencer, John Craw- ford. James Picket and John Childs.
Beaufort-Roger Ormond. Thomas Respis, Jr., and John Cowper.
Bladen -- Nathaniel Richardson, Thomas Robeson, Maturan Col- vill, James Council and Thomas Amis.
Bertie-John Campbell. John Johnston and Charles Jacocks. Brunswick-
Bute-Green Hill. William Alston, William Person. Thomas Sherrod and Philemon Hawkins.
Craven-James Coor, Lemuel Hatch. John Bryan, William Bryan and Jacob Blount.
Carteret-William Thompson, Solomon Shepard and John Black- house.
Currituck-Samuel Jarvis. James White, James Ryan. Gideon Lamb and Solomon Perkins.
Chowan-Sammuel Johnston. Thomas Benbury, Thomas Jones, John Bap. Beasly and Thomas Hunter.
Cumberland-David Smith, Alexander McAlister, Farquard Campbell. Thomas Rutherford and Alexander McCoy.
Chatham-Ambrose Ramsay. John Thompson, Joshua Rosser, Jeduthan Harper and Elisha Cain.
Duplin-Thomas Gray and William Dickson.
Dobbs-Richard Caswell. Abraham Sheppard, George Miller, Simon Bright and William McKinnie.
Edgecomb-William Haywood. Duncan Lemon. Elisha Battle, Henry Irwin and Nathaniel Boddie.
Granville-Thomas Person, John Penn, Memucan Hunt, John Taylor and Charles Eaton.
Guilford-Ransom Southerland. William Dent and Ralph Gorrill.
Hyde-Rotheas Latham, Joseph Hancock, John Jordan and Ben- jamin Parmele.
526
THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. 1775-76
1776
Hertford-Robert Sumner, Matthias Brickle, Laurence Baker, William Murfree.
Halifax-John Bradford. James Hogan. David Sumner, Joseph John Williams and Willis Alston.
Johnston-Samuel Smith, Jr .. Needham Bryan, Jr., and Henry Rains.
Mecklenburg-John Phifer, Robert Irwin and John MeKnitt Alexander.
Martin-William Williams, Whitmill Hill. Kenneth Mckenzie, Thomas Wiggins and Edward Smythwick.
New Hanover-John Ashe, John Devane, Samuel Ashe, Sampson Moseley and John Hollingsworth.
Northampton-Allen Jones. Jeptha Atherton. Drury Gee, Samuel Lockhart and Howell Edmunds.
Onslow -- George Mitchell, Benejah Doty, John Spicer. John King and John Norman.
Orange-John Kinchen, James Saunders, John Butler, Nathaniel Rochester and Thomas Burke.
Perquimans-Miles Harvey, William Skinner, Thomas Harvey, Charles Blount and Charles Moore.
Pasquotank-Thomas Boyd, Joseph Jones, William Cuming. Dempsey Burgess and Henry Abbott.
Pitt-John Simpson. Edward Salter and William Robson.
Rowan-Griffith Rutherford and Matthew Locke.
Surry-Joseph Williams, Joseph Winston, Charles Gordon.
Tyrrell-Archibald Corrie.
Tryon -- Charles McLean. James Johnston.
Wake-Joel Lane. John Hinton, John Rand, William Hooper and Tignal Jones.
Town of Bath-William Brown.
New Bern-Abner Nash.
Edenton-Joseph Hewes.
Wilmington- Cornelius Harnett.
Brunswick-
Halifax-Willie Jones.
Hillsborough-William Johnston.
Salisbury-David Nisbet.
Cambellton-Arthur Council.
CHAPTER XXX
THE COUNCIL OF SAFETY, 1776
Attempt to frame the Constitution .- Fundamental principles .- The problemis involved .- The temporary government .- Congress ad- journs .- The first invasion .- General Lee .- Clinton's disappointment. -The fleet arrives .- The ardor of the Whigs .- Clinton offers par- don .- No hostile movement .- The descent on Brunswick .- The regi- ments land .- The fleet sails .- The Council of Safety .- The attack on Fort Moultrie .-- North Carolina's gallant troops .- Affairs at home .- The Continentals.
Attempt to frame a constitution
On April 13th the congress, now flushed by the desire of independence, appointed a committee composed of C. R., X, Johnston, Harnett, Thomas Jones, Nash, Burke, Allen Jones, 515 John Johnston, Thomas Person, Sam Ashe, Samuel Spencer and nine others to prepare a temporary civil government. April The committee seems to have at once undertaken to cast a permanent constitution. A majority of the committee favored the establishment of a purely democratic form of government, the governor, judges, and all other officers being chosen by the people, and every freeman having the right of suffrage. They were probably led to urge this Jones's Detence, 277, 273 departure from the old system not merely from the advo- cacy of the "inherent and unalienable rights of man," but with the hope and expectation that it would gain for the new government the support of the landless Highlanders and of others not freeholders, and of the Regulators, who were dissatisfied with the colonial regulations that had proved so oppressive in their practical operation.
This desire to extend suffrage is said to have been the rock on which the public men split. As yet there was no curb to the will of the legislative body. Never had a court declared any legislative action a nullity. Once elected and in pos- session of power the Assembly could extend its sessions and
1775
A pure democra y advocated
528
THE COUNCIL OF SAFETY. 1776
1776 --
Divergen- cies
Apprehen- sions
exert arbitrary sway, ignoring all limitations and every restriction that might be embodied in the constitution ; and it was apprehended that a judiciary dependent on the will of the people would lack that stability and independence which constitute the safeguard of personal rights and of property. The fundamental principles on which the new government was to be founded thus became a matter of the gravest concern. Divergencies at once arose. There were those who proposed to give the fullest recognition to the rights of the people as a source of all power, and others who deemed it wiser and more prudent not to inaugurate such a change in the administration of affairs as this would necessarily involve. Theretofore suffrage had been limited to freeholders; and the judiciary was appointed. Samuel Johnston, who had been the most influential man in the province, felt that the despotism of a democracy was to be feared, and that a judiciary resting on the popular will, with the judges not independent, but courting popularity, would! be intolerable : and he was determined in his opposition to the establishment of a government without any practical limitation to its powers, and with the tenure of all the great offices dependent on the favor of the inhabitants generally. In his view those who advocated this system were "already entering on the race for popularity." and he apprehended that the greatest evils would result from such a plan of government. Instead of a pure democracy, he urged the establishment of a representative republic, with annual elec- tions to hold the legislature in check. Educated in New England, he was a thorough republican. But he agreed with John Adams, who had written a dissertation on gov- ernment advising the establishment of new constitutions on the very principles that Johnston advocated. He would not yield. On April 17th he wrote: "I must confess our pros- pects are at this time very gloomy. Our people are about forming a constitution. From what I can at present collect of their plan, it will be impossible for me to take any part in the execution of it."
McRee's Iredell, I, 276
Jones's Defence, 278, 279
Being overborne, on the 18th he withdrew from the committee : but the next day Thomas Jones, also a con- servative, but not so avowed in his principles as Johnston.
520
CONSERVATIL'E vs. RADICAL
notified him that the disagreeable difficulty which had inter- rupted the harmony of the committee had been adjusted. and invited him to meet the other members that evening.
And again. on April 20th. Johnston wrote: "We have not yet been able to agree on a constitution. We have a meeting on it every evening. but can conclude on nothing : the great difficulty in our way is how to establish a check on the representatives of the people, to prevent their assuming more power than would be consistent with the liberties of the people, such as increasing the time of their duration. and such like. . . . Some have proposed that we should take up the plan of the Connecticut constitution for a ground- work, but with some amendments, such as that the great of- ficers, instead of being appointed by the people at large. should be appointed by the Assembly ; that the judges of our courts should hold their offices during good behavior. After all. it appears to me that there can be no check on the repre- sentatives of the people in a democracy but the people them- selves : and in order that the check may be more efficient, I would have annual elections."
Up to that time there had been no new constitution adopted in any province except alone South Carolina. The people of Connecticut were then living, and continued to live until 1818, under the charter granted in 1662 by Charles II, by which the governor and twelve assistants and the general assembly were chosen by a majority of the freemen of the colony : but the governor and his assistants were empowered to erect courts and appoint judges and otherwise administer public affairs. On March 26th South Carolina had adopted a constitution to regulate the internal polity of the colony "until an accommodation of the unhappy differences between Great Britain and America can be ob- tained." By it the electors were to be the same as under the old laws, and they were to choose members of the general assembly, who were to select out of themselves a legislative council to form a separate and distinct house. with equal leg- islative power as the Assembly itself ; and these two houses were to choose a president of the province and a council of state. A printed copy of this constitution was obtained by the North Carolina congress. On April 28th Thomas
1,-6
McRee's Iredell, 1. 276, 277
The constitution of South Carolina
530
THE COUNCIL OF SAFETY, 1776
1776 Mc Ree's Iredell, I, 277, 278
The first outline
Jones wrote: "The constitution goes on but slowly. The outlines of it made their appearance in the house for the first time yesterday, and by the last of this week it probably may be finished. The plan as it now stands will be subject to many alterations : at present it is in the following manner : First, a house of the representatives of the people, all free householders of onie year's standing to vote; and second, a legislative council, to consist of one member from each county in the province, to sit as an upper house ; and these two houses are to be a check on each other, as no law can be made without the consent of both, and none but free- holders will have a right to vote for the members of this council. Next, an executive council, to consist of the presi- dent and six councillors, to be always sitting, to do all official business of government. . . . The president and council to be elected annually, as also the Assembly and leg- islative council." The judicial system apparently had not been agreed on.
The con- stitution postponed
Johnston had so far prevailed that there were to be annual elections of assemblymen ; and at least one branch of the Assembly was to be elected by freeholders. For two days this outline was debated by the convention in committee of the whole, but the divergencies were pronounced and other matters required attention, so on April 30th the subject was postponed until November: and a new committee, com- posed, however, of some of the same members, was directed to report a temporary form of government until the end of the next congress. Although Johnston was not a member of the new committee, his relations with it were so close that on the second day after its appointment he wrote: "Affairs have taken a turn within a few days past. All ideas of forming a permanent constitution are at this time laid aside. It is now proposed for the present to establish a council to sit constantly, and county committees to sit at certain fixed periods, but nothing is concluded." Ten days elapsed before the report of the new committee was considered by the house. Then. as Johnston had indicated, a Council of Safety was appointed to sit from day to day at such places as they should think prudent and proper. The Provincial Council and the district committees were abolished.
McRee's Iredell, I. 279
C. R., X, 579
The Council of Safety
531
CONSTITUTION OF COUNCIL OF SAFETY.
As before. the members from each district selected two 1776 members and the congress one. But now Willie Jones, a C. R., X, leader among those who differed with Johnston, was selected 591 by the congress in his stead. The other changes were: Nash, Kinchen. Spencer, and Avery gave place to Simpson, Rand, Hezekiah Alexander, and William Sharpe, while J. J. Williams filled the vacancy for Halifax.
Having on May 12th made this provision for the admin- istration of provincial affairs, two days later the congress adjourned. Although it was a reasonable inference that those who opposed the views of Samuel Johnston were in Samuel Johnston the majority in the body, yet when it became necessary for him to leave the chair. on May 2d. Allen Jones, also a con- servative, was elected vice-president : and on its adjournment the congress, in tendering thanks to its president for his faithful discharge of his duties, was particular to add that he had "in that. as in all other stations, approved himself the firm and liberal patron of liberty and a wise and zealous friend and asserter of the rights of mankind." But when C. R., X, Johnston left the hall it was not to return as a representa- 590 tive until the differences of that period had faded from memory.
The first invasion
Toward the end of January General Clinton was detached from the British army at Boston with a small command to conduct operations elsewhere. When his departure became known, General Charles Lee was directed to repair to New York, his supposed destination. They arrived at that point on the same day, February 4th, but Clinton openly avowed that his expedition was intended for North Carolina. Such an avowal was received with doubt. On his sailing from New York. the Continental Congress created the Southern Department, assigned the command to General Lee, and on March Ist. appointed Moore and Howe brigadier-generals. Lee hastening to Virginia reached Williamsburg simultane- ously with Clinton's arrival in the Chesapeake. The British general lingered with Dunmore until early in April, when he joined Governor Martin below Brunswick : still it was appre- hended that the real point of attack would be Virginia,
1776
Moore and Howe briga- dier-
Lee joins Howe in Virginia
532
THIE COUNCIL OF SAFETY, 1776
1776
and Lee remained there a month making preparations to meet it.
May
Already were there many vessels in the Cape Fear harbor. drawn together in connection with the intended invasion. but week after week passed without the arrival of Sir Peter Parker's fleet bringing Cornwallis and his seven regiments of regulars. A succession of disastrous storms had delayel the vessels. Nor was this the only disappointment of the British commander. Instead of the promised support from the interior. instead of an army of Loyalists ready to co- operate, he found a hostile force awaiting him, and that the unexpected catastrophe that had befallen McDonald neces- sitated an entire change of plans.
C. R., X, 556
Lee, following Clinton, had himself started southward, preceded by General Howe, directing Howe's North Caro- linians under Major Patten and Muhlenberg's Virginia regiment to follow. On May 2d Howe reached Halifax. and on the floor of the house, pursuant to a resolve of the congress. the president returned him thanks for his con- duct during the whole of the late dangerous, important, and critical campaign, and more especially for the reputation the North Carolina troops acquired under his command. General Lee was then approaching the border, and Colonel Long was directed to receive him at the boundary with a detachment of troops and escort him to the congress. From Halifax the general passed on to New Bern, making himself acquainted with the condition of affairs in the province.
Lee re- ceived at Halifax
The fleet arrives
S. R., X1, 296
At length, about May Ist. the grand fleet began to arrive in the harbor. and all doubt about its destination being now removed. Moore despatched the news to the congress at Halifax. That body at once ordered all the continental battalions to report to General Moore, and in addition to the battalion that had been raised for Colonel Brown, a draft of fifteen hundred more militia was made from the eastern districts, those from Halifax and Edenton being assigned to the command of Colonel Peter Dauge. No drafts were made from the western districts, because of a particular purpose of importance at that time. but the western regi- ments were to hold themselves in readiness. This doubt- less was to have a reserve force near at hand to suppress
533
THE BRITISH INT.ISION
any further rising by the Tories. The Whigs of North Carolina now displayed a glorious ardor, and rushed with impetuosity to the scene of the expected conflict. Soon it was estimated that the patriot force collected on the Cape Fear numbered ninety-four hundred men. all but the con- tinentals being under the command of General Ashe. The May approaches to the town were fortified, and vessels were sunk in the channel a few miles below to prevent an attack by water. Every preparation was made for stubborn resistance.
It had been announced that the king. ignoring the Con- tinental Congress. would send commissioners to treat with each province separately, and it was thought that these commissioners might come with the fleet. North Carolina, spurning the suggestion that she could be detached from the general cause of America, resolved that "if such com- missioners should arrive in this province, unless with a commission to treat with the Continental Congress, they should be required to return immediately to their vessel : and if at any time thereafter they should be found on shore they should be seized and sent to congress." But these commis- sioners did not come with Sir Peter Parker. Later they landed at the north after independence was declared, but their errand was bootless.
After full consultation with Governor Martin, and, indeed, with Governor Tryon at New York, as to the best course to be pursued to detach the people from the revolutionary gov- ernment in North Carolina. General Clinton on May 5th issued a proclamation inveighing against the tyranny of the congresses and committees and entreating the people to avoid the miseries attendant on civil war by a return to the bless- ings of a free government. He offered pardon to all who should submit to the laws except alone Cornelius Harnett and Robert Howe. Howe had given great offence to Martin by preparing the address to the king in 1774 and procuring it to be sent through Governor Tryon instead of Governor Martin ; he had also been among the very first to form com- panies and train the people to arms, and had expelled Dun- more from the soil of Virginia as the previous year he had assisted in driving Martin from the soil of North Carolina. In this last enterprise Harnett also had been a conspicuous
8776 --
Pref. Notes, C. R., X, xiii
Prepara- sions for Jefence
The king's commis- sioners
C. R., X, 591 Clinton's proclama- tion
Harnett and Howe ex- cepted from pardon
5.34
THE COUNCIL OF S.IFETY, 1776
1776
The badge of honor
Moore and Ashe ready
Jones's Defence, 261
The burning of Orton mill
S. R., XI, 396, 398
Martin, Hist. North Carolina, 11, 390, 391
actor, and now he was the president of the State when congress was not in session and at the head of the revolu- tionary government. The exception of these two patriot, from the tender of pardon served only as a badge of hon- orable distinction, endearing them still more to the patriots of North Carolina. Two days after issuing this proclama- tion Clinton landed two regiments and made a recon- noissance in force into the interior, without, however, bring- ing on any engagement. Moore and Ashe held their forces well in hand ready for any emergency. They prepared to contest any advance Clinton might make; but days passed without any hostile movement. Besides the direct route into the interior, there was another, which it was feared the British might take, and three hundred and fifty horsemen guarded that road to give warning of such a movement and to impede it should Clinton make the venture. A hundred vessels lay at the entrance of the harbor opposite Fort Johnston, and a detachment of continentals, a hundred and fifty men. under Major William Davis, of the First Bat- talion, was stationed near Brunswick to hold marauders in check. Their headquarters were established at the mill of the Orton plantation, in the vicinity of the town. On Sun- day. May 12th, between two and three o'clock, Cornwallis hastily threw ashore nine hundred troops, with the purpose of surprising and capturing that post. Vigilant sentries, however, watchel the enemy, and these resolutely opened fire, giving the alarm, and Major Davis removed his stores and provisions and withdrew his detachment by a timely movement. Cornwallis, nevertheless, lost one man killed, several wounded. and a sergeant of the Thirty-third Regi- ment, who was taken prisoner. Foiled in his purpose, his lordship burned the empty mill. and after remaining some hours in the village of Brunswick, he ravaged the neighbor- ing plantation of General Howe, carrying off some twenty bullocks as the reward of his enterprise. Three days later five of the British regiments went into quarters at Fort Johnston and one on Baldhead, leaving one on board the ships. The larger part of the American forces remained near Wilmington ready for any movement, while a consider- able body was encamped some two or three miles from the
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.