USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina, V I pt 2 > Part 18
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In Cumberland County the members of the Committee of August Safety had either retired from the province or had resigned and refused to act. In that county alone the order to read the declaration appears not to have been observed, so that on August 6th the Council of Safety directed Colonel Fol-
1776
In North Carolina
C. R .. X, 682, 688
546
INDEPENDENCE. 1776
1776
C R., X, 694
some or Colonel David Smith to call a general meeting of the inhabitants of Cumberland and proclaim the declara tion to the people and to the regiment stationed at Cross Creek.
Elsewhere independence was proclaimed with great dem- onstrations of joy. As North Carolina had been the first colony to propose it, the people now hailed it with gladness. It was the consummation of their earnest desire: and it imparted to the contest a new character. The leaders well knew that they had burned their bridges behind them ; and the people, animated by a great hope, and determined to be free, with unbounded enthusiasm threw the banner of indc- pendence to the breeze.
C. R., X, 704
Because the province was now declared a free and inde- pendent State, the test prescribed by the congress in August, 1775, was changed by omitting the profession of allegiance ; and the oath to be taken by witnesses was amended so as to read, "Between the independent State of North Carolina and the prisoner to be tried." The council also issued an address to the inhabitants. saying that as the congress had declared the thirteen united colonies free and independent states, "it be recommended to the good people of this now independent State of North Carolina to pay the greatest at- tention to the election . . . of delegates to represent them in congress, and to have particularly in view this important consideration." Not only were laws to be made. but a con- stitution, the cornerstone of all law, and "according as it is well or ill ordered, it must tend in the first degree to pro- mote the happiness or misery of the State."
C. R., X,
696
C. R., X, 699
The council had been sorely tried by the disaffection of the Regulators, who continued to regard themselves as a separate people not allied with their fellow-citizens. Now in Anson County this defection took a novel form. James Childs, a preacher of the New Light Baptist persuasion, clothed his disloyalty in the garb of religion. He declared that it was one of the tenets of his church not to bear arms. either offensively or defensively : and he preached this doc- trine in all the churches of his communion, and inculcated it by the terrors of excommunication : and he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the State. Arrested in Anson and sent to the council, he stood firmly by his doctrine. There-
547
TORIES SUBMIT TO THE STATE
upon the council resolved that he must be considered as an enciny to the State, and he was sent to Edenton on his parole.
In view of such religious teachings. General Person and Joseph John Williams were directed, each of them, to agree with a proper person to go among the inhabitants of Anson and other western parts of the State and instruct them "in their duty to Almighty God, and explain to them the justice and necessity of the measures pursued by the United States as the only means under God of supporting and maintaining our civil and religious liberties." The remedy, however, was not entirely efficacious. In October James Perry, one of the same persuasion, having great influence among the people, from being a preacher, had likewise to be arrested in the same county and conveyed to Halifax.
But while the council was in session at Salisbury early in September a favorable change was observed. and James Hunter and Joseph Dobson made their appearance, and asked the "privileges of free citizens," declaring that they were willing to take an oath of allegiance to the State, and the council resolved that they should be considered as "free citizens and members of this State." So also Booth Boote, who, with John Dunn, had been paroled to Salisbury, having taken the oath, was admitted to citizenship; and later Dr. John Pyle and other prominent malcontents took the oath of allegiance, among them Rev. George Micklejohn, who had been paroled to Perquimans. Other action was constantly taken in the way of arresting and putting under bond or confining Tories or having them released from durance on their submission to the state authorities.
The Indians become hostile
Governor Martin's plan for the subjugation of North Carolina contemplated aid from the Indians, and John Stuart, the Indian superintendent, spent several months in the spring of 1776 with the governor awaiting the arrival of General Clinton's troops. As yet he had had no instructions to employ the Indians on the frontier, but he was keeping them in readiness to act when required. Later he departed for Pensacola to be in close communication with them ; and arrangements were in progress for all the tribes from the
1776
James Hunter a patriot C. R .. X. 793, 797, 826
548
INDEPENDENCE, 1776
1776
Ohio to Alabama to begin hostilities against the western borders.
The Indians in arms
Toward the end of June fifteen Shawnees, Delawares, and Mingoes brought the war belt to the Cherokees, and it was received by the young men against the wishes of the ohler chiefs. Before measures had been fully arranged, bands of Cherokees, inflamed by the encroachments of the whites on the Holstein and Nolachucky, and eager for spoils, began their foravs.
C. R., X, 657 et seq .
S. R., XI, 333
They cross the mountains
C. R .. X, 662, 669
The massa- cre on the Catawba, July 10-11
While the council was still at Halifax this proposed in- cursion of the Indians became known. In the first week in July the Cherokees had fallen on the inhabitants in South Carolina, plundered houses, killed some settlers and carried off several prisoners. Others attacked the forts on the Holstein and Watauga. Most of the settlers, however, escaped, having been warned by Nancy Ward, from Echota, she being the "beloved woman" of that Indian capital, and always, like her kinsman. Attakullakulla (the Little Car- penter ), friendly to the whites. Some twenty women and children were victims of the tomahawk. Only Mrs. Bean, perhaps the wife of William Bean. the first white man to erect a cabin in that wilderness, and a boy named Moore were taken alive. The latter was burned at the stake, and Mrs. Bean was also bound to the stake ready for the burning when Nancy Ward interfered and saved her life. Unsuc- cessful in their assault on the forts, the Indian warriors crossed the mountains and fell on the unsuspecting families on Crooked Creek (near Rutherfordton). and. coming up the Toe, invaded the frontier of Rowan. The unheralded appearance of these murderous bands caused great conster- nation. On July 12th Rutherford wrote to the council that he had received an express the week before that forty Indians were ravaging Crooked Creek, and that appeals were made to him for relief. He pleaded for expedition. Before twenty-four hours had elapsed he despatched another ex- press that the Indians were making great progress in de- stroying and murdering in Rowan. "Thirty-seven persons." he said. "were killed last Wednesday and Thursday on the Catawba." and "I am also informed that Colonel McDowell and ten men more and one hundred and twenty women and
549
RUTHERFORD .ITT.ICKS THE CHEROKEES
children are besieged in some kind of a fort, and the Indians around them : no help to them before yesterday, and they July were surrounded on Wednesday. I expect the next account to hear is that they are all destroyed. . . Three of our captains are killed and one wounded. This day I set out with what men I can raise for the relief of the district." "Pray, gentlemen, consider our distress : send us plenty of powder, and I hope under God we of Salisbury district are able to stand them.'
Rutherford acted with that energy that ever distinguished him. Within a week he was on the frontier with near twenty-five hundred men, for the western Carolinians had sprung to arms at the first call, animated by a consuming purpose to inflict heavy punishment upon their murderous foe. Among those with him were Colonel Adam Alexander and the Mecklenburg regiment, protecting the settlers on the Catawba. Leaving the main body at Old Fort, then called Davidson's, on July 29th, with a detachment of five hundred men Rutherford crossed the mountains and dislodged some two hundred braves, who had established themselves on the Nolachucky.
On August 13th the council adjourned to meet at the house of Mr. Joel Lane. in Wake County, where it con- vened on the 21st. Cornelius Harnett being absent with leave. Samuel Ashe was unanimously chosen president. A petition was received from the settlements on the Watauga and Holstein, called by the inhabitants there "the Washing- ton district," setting forth that about six years earlier they had begun to locate in that territory, and finding themselves outside of Virginia, had formed a court and adopted the Virginia laws, and had enlisted a company of riflemen under Captain James Robertson, stationing them on the frontier to guard against an attack by the Indians. They asked that they might be annexed to North Carolina, promising to be governed by the council and to lack nothing in the glorious cause of America. This petition was signed by John Carter, John Sevier. William Bean and others as a committee, and to it were attached more than a hundred names of settlers on the Watauga and Nolachucky, among them being David Crockett. The council directed that they should hold an
1775
Rutherford Crosses the mountains
S. R., XI, 333
Washington district annexed C. R., X, 701, 708-711
550
INDEPENDENCE, 1776
1776
election on October 15th and choose five delegates to repre- sent Washington district in the congress of the State. : , meet at Halifax on November 10th.
The movement against the Indians
Colonel Williams on the Holstein
C. R., X, 789
Sept. 1st. Ruther- ford's march
President Rutledge. of South Carolina. had earlier sug- gested a joint movement on the part of Virginia and North an i South Carolina against the Indians. He proposed to sen i Major Williamson with eleven hundred men against the lower Cherokees. and that a force from North Carolina shoul 1 attack the Middle towns, and. joining Williamson, should proceed against Valley River and the Hiwassee, while the Virginians should come down the Holstein and attack the Over-hill towns. The council agreed to this proposition, and directed the militia from the Hillsboro district and from Surry County to join Rutherford, while a regiment of three hundred men under Colonel Joe Willianis was to cross the mountains and join Colonel Christian and his Virginians at Big Island, on the Holstein. On August 23d General Person was despatched to Rutherford's camp with par- ticular directions, and on September Ist Rutherford, with a great cavalcade of horses bearing his provisions and ammu- nition, entered Swannanoa Gap and pressed forward. He took with him two thousand privates and eighty light horse. with supplies for forty days carried by fourteen hundred pack horses. To defend the frontier in his absence, he ordered three captains with a hundred and thirty men to range in Tryon, one hundred and seventy-five 'in Rowan. and a hundred in Surry. that then extended to the Indian line in the mountains. Among those accompanying the expedition were Colonel Martin Armstrong, Colonel Adm Alexander. Captain Benjamin Cleveland, William Lenoir. and William Gray. The Orange regiment, under Colonel Joseph Taylor. had reached his camp, but its assistance not being needed. it returned home.
Biog. Hist. N. C., II, 384
Rutherford's course lay down the Swannanoa and French Broad and up Hominy Creek to Pigeon River, then to Rich- land Creek, and over the dividing ridge to the head of Scott's Creek, which he followed to the Tuckaseegee. He moved with such rapidity and secrecy that he passed fifty miles into the wilderness without being discovered by the Indians. The journey through the mountains was an arduous and
55[
RUTHERFORD'S EXPEDITION
difficult performance. Without a road and sometimes with- out even an Indian trail. he led his army over tremendous September mountains and across rapid streams, pursuing his way in momentary danger of amibuscade by his wily foe. But so sagacious were his movements that he had penetrated two- thirds of the distance into the forests without interruption. At length, when only thirty miles from the Middle Settle- ments on the Tuckaseegee. he detached a thousand nien to surprise the Indians by a forced march. Soon, however. in c. R., X, their quiet but rapid journey, they came upon some thirty 860 of the savages, who disputed their progress, and sent in- formation to the settlement, which thus was evacuated when Rutherford reached it. Immediately he began the work of destruction. and speedily devastated the fields and burned every house. Then. with a detachment of nine hundred men and ten days' provisions, he hurried along the Little Tennessee and moved on towards Valley River and the Hiwassee.
Williamson was to have met him at Cowee, but after devastating the Indian towns at the foothills, the South Carolinians were detained. and Rutherford proceeded alone. Missing the usual trail through Waya Gap. he crossed the Nantahala at an unaccustomed place. Five hundred braves lay in ambush at Waya, hoping to destroy his force as twenty years before they had Montgomery's. While they c. R., X, awaited his coming, Rutherford, pressing on, reached the 712, 861 head waters of Valley River. Every town on that stream was destroyed in turn, and it was as if a besom of destruc- tion had swept over those settlements, so sudden and rapid were his movements. He had the good fortune to avoid a pitched battle, killed but twelve Indians, and captured nine. He also took seven white men, with whom he got four negroes, much leather, about a hundredweight of gun- powder and a ton of lead, which they were conveying to Mobile. His own loss was but three men.
While in the midst of this devastation they encamped, on Sunday, September 15th. at Nuckesseytown (doubtless Tuckaseegee ), and there, after a sermon by Rev. Mr. James Hall, they buried one of Captain Irwin's men with due solemnity. A fortnight after Rutherford had begun his
1776
Indian settlements destroyed
Hunter's Western North Carolina, 198
552
INDEPENDENCE, 1776
17.6
C. R., X, 882
march the Council of Safety, which had adjourned to Salis- bury to be in proximity to the scene of operations, despatchedt Colonel Waightstill Avery, with an escort, with directors to the general to send. if possible, a detachment to aid Colonel Christian against the Over-hill towns, and on his return to cut a road through the mountains for future use A juncture was made by Colonel Williamson on Sept :. ber 26th on the Hiwassee; but then Rutherford's work hs been thoroughly done, and the Valley Settlement had bou obliterated. It was deemed impracticable to cross t' Smokies and assist Colonel Christian, and they turned their faces homeward. The Indians, driven from their valley- homeless refugees without food or raiment, sought the dark recesses of the Nantahala, some fleeing to the Over hills, but the greater number finding a temporary home with the Creeks on the Coosawatchee River. Others made their painful way to their British allies in Florida, where five hundred of them were received and supplied with food dur- ing that winter. Rutherford on his return marked his road through the mountains. which has since been known a- Rutherford's Trace. Within a month from his departure lic returned to Old Fort, reaching Salisbury early in October.
The Surry regiment
Beyond the mountains the Surry regiment, under Colonel Joseph Williams. Colonel Love and Major Winston, having joined Colonel Christian, moved cautiously along the great Indian warpath until the Little Tennessee was reached. where town after town was destroyed. So swift had been the action that the Indians, unable to resist. soon sought terms of peace. Some of the Indian head men came into camp, agreed to surrender all prisoners and to cede to the whites all the territory occupied in the Tennessee settle- ments. On their solemn promise that such a treaty should be made. Christian agreed to suspend hostilities. An excep- tion was made, however, as to two towns which had been concerned in burning the Moore boy, but the peace town of Echota was not disturbed. Colonel Williams was not pleased with Colonel Christian's action, attributing his
C. R . X. 837, 844, 892. 912
553
MOORE'S EXPEDITION
leniency to the Cherokees to a settled policy on the part of Virginia to absorb their trade: and he recommended to the council that as the frontiers of North Carolina were inhabited far beyond the colony line, commissioners should be appointed to run the line farther west. By treaties soon afterward made the lower Cherokees surrendered all their territory in South Carolina except a narrow strip, and the middle and upper Cherokees ceded all their possessions east of the Blue Ridge, together with the disputed territory on the Nolachucky, Watauga, and New rivers.
After reaching Old Fort. General Rutherford, to destroy some towns not on his route, and perhaps to aid Colonel Christian. directed Captain William Moore and Captain Harden, with the light horse of Tryon County, a hundred in number, to return to the Indian country. Leaving
Cathey's fort on October 29th, they penetrated to the towns on Cowee Mountain. A detachment. pursuing the fleeing Indians to Soco Creek, "crossed prodigious mountains, which were almost impassable, experiencing there a severe shock of an earthquake, reached Richland Creek Mountains, and then returned to Pigeon River."
The Tories active
Tory emissaries during the summer, and especially in C. R., X, August, were active, and seem to have expected that they would be joined by a great number of Indian allies. Ruther- ford could not take the second battalion from Rowan, "the current of Tories running strong in Guilford and Anson"; and Colonel Folsome wrote: "It is most certain they wish for nothing more . . . than an opportunity of making a head, . . . numbers would fly to join the Indians, as it is their professed declaration": while in Bladen, there were a number of deserters from the regular troops. Tories and other disaffected persons collected, whose action was so threatening that General Ashe despatched two companies under Colonel Brown to disperse them. Before Brown reached their settlement they killed Captain Nathaniel Rich- ardson and committed other outrages, and then many of them fled into South Carolina.
1775
The Indian cession
Moore's expedition C. R., X, 895-898
725, 732, 744
554
INDEPENDENCE, 1776
1776
Salt making on the coast
C. R .. X. 704 720, 724, 739, 795, 845
Salt being such an indispensable necessity, unusual effort were made to obtain a supply for the public, and Rober Williams was employed to set up salt works at Beaufort. where paus for that purpose were erected. Conference, were held with Dr. Franklin at Philadelphia as to the best process of manufacture, and salt pans were ordered from. that city. All along the coast the inhabitants began witi. their pots and kettles to make a supply. Early in October Sam Ashe wrote from the Cape Fear : "Te Deum Laudamus we here at present joyfully chant forth. The vessels of war . . . took their departure a few days since, first burning two of their tenders. We have now an open port. . The humor of salt boiling seems to be taking place here. 1 have seen some boiled . . . the cleanest and whitest of any . . I ever saw in my life ; every old wife is now scouring her pint pot for the necessary operation. God send them good luck." The council gave directions for supplying the people. The quantity being limited, it was doled out. Con- ner Dowd was to sell salt in his possession "to the Whigs who bore arms on the late expedition against the Tories at Moore's Creek at ten shillings per bushel, not selling more than a half bushel to each man."
The British abandon Cape Fear
During the summer General Moore remained at Wil- mington. There still lingered several British vessels in the lower harbor, while a detachment of their troops was in possession of Baldhead. Toward the last of August Moore took three hundred men and departed on a secret expedi- tion, no one having the slightest conjecture what was his purpose, unless to attack the enemy on that island. The result of the expedition is not recorded; but a month later the vessels departed, burning their tenders and the British sloop Cruiser, which had been on that station for several years, was the refuge of Governor Martin when driven from Fort Johnston, and now was probably so unseaworthy that she could not be removed. The ship Jenny, where the Tories seeking protection had found a resting place, also sailed for New York; and as these Loyalists had been or-
C. R .. X, 787, 824, 840
A Lovalist regiment
555
LOCATION OF THE TROOPS
ganized into companies with officers by Governor Martin, 1776 on their reaching New York they were assigned to a Loyalist regiment then formed at the north.
Toward the end of September the council again convened C. R., X., at Halifax, and in the absence of the president, Samuel 873 Ashe, Willie Jones was chosen to preside.
A winter campaign threatened
The Continental Congress having directed that two of the continental regiments should be conducted by General Moore to join General Washington. subsequently. in view of a probable winter campaign at the south. left it in the dis- cretion of the Council of Safety to retain them in the State. The council thought it best that they should not go north at that time, and the order was countermanded.
It being believed that a southern campaign was in con- templation by the British commander, preparations were made to meet it. It was considered that the invasion would be either in Virginia or South Carolina, and North Carolina would protect herself by aiding in the defence. General Moore had with him in North Carolina five continental regi- ments, except about one hundred and fifty of the First and Second, these companies and the Third Regiment being with General Howe in Georgia. They were distributed at differ- ent points in the eastern part of the State, while a small detachment of the Third was at Salisbury with Colonel Martin.
C. R., X, 858
CHAPTER XXXII THE CONSTITUTION OF 1776
Making the constitution .- Divergencies .- The conservatives .- Th, results of the election .- Johnston burned in effigy .- The congre- meets .- The committee moves slowly .- Proceedings in the conven- tion .-- Citizenship established .- The principles of government .- Sovereignty of the people .- The Orange instructions .- Those of Mecklenburg .- Hooper urges the Delaware plan .- In the committee room .- The draught reported .-- The bill of rights .- The religious- test .- Thoroughly considered .- The Virginia constitution .- A rep. resentative republic .- Public schools .- The religious test adopted -The instrument conservative .- A new administration installed.
1776 Making the constitution
Hardly had the Indians been subdued before the sombre shadow of a British invasion cast itself over the seaboard of the southern states, and toward the end of the year, as at its opening. the people of North Carolina looked to the future with painful forebodings of grave perils and devastation. In the midst of these disquieting anticipations they were now to ordain a constitution and government for the inde- pendent State and start out the new commonwealth on its voyage through unknown and uncertain seas. Happy would it be for themselves and for posterity were the foundations of the political edifice well and strongly laid ; deplorable in- deed if tyranny and despotism should find a crevice through which they might enter.
Divergencies
The first effort to frame a constitution made apparent in the summer pronounced divergencies among the public men. Johnston, Hewes. Hooper, Thomas Jones, Iredell, Allen Jones and probably Nash, Caswell and possibly Harnett and Sam Ashe might be ranked as conservatives, with varying shades of difference between them. Willie Jones, Person. Burke, Penn. Avery, the Alexanders. John Ashe, Polk, and Dr. Caldwell might be classed as advocates of a pure democ- racy. But there is so little on which to hazard a conjecture.
557
THE P.IRTIES
except uncertain tradition, that one hesitates to assign many of those mentioned to either side. All realized that they were severed forever from the past and were to establish a government for themselves and posterity on a republican basis. The Conservatives, Johnston and others, believed that the general features of the British system, with which they were familiar, offered the best government, freer from pos- sible evils than any other known to history. They preferred a stable and independent judiciary, controlled only by the principles of law established by the decisions of the courts ; justices of the peace and court officers also to have a stable tenure : the great officers to be appointed by the Assembly rather than by popular election, and the Assembly itself kept within bounds by annual elections.
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