USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina, V I pt 2 > Part 29
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Terrible were the reports that were spread of the horrible misdeeds of the soldiers and camp followers. Plantations were despoiled, women outraged, even members of some of the best-known families of the State. The most painful apprehensions were excited because of their shameful con- duct. The culmination of these outrages occurred in the vicinity of Halifax, where, says Stedman, "some enormi- ties were committed that were a disgrace to the name of
McRee's Iredell, I, 514
WAR IN THE EAST
man"; and Tarleton states that there "a sergeant and a dragoon were executed" for their crimes against society.
1,81 --
Lee's Memoirs, 413
At Edenton
The Albemarle region was swept over by a storm of fears. The near approach of the British from the Chesapeake, the passage through neighboring counties of Cornwallis. rumors that a body of two thousand negroes had been sent to forage and collect supplies for the British army, the in- vasion of the sound by boats belonging to privateersmen too strong to be resisted, caused widespread alarm, and the inhabitants of Edenton dispersed. Edenton itself was raided, vessels taken. some burned and others carried off. But quickly the people recovered their resolution, and parties were formed to rid the sound of the raiders. The enemy was driven out, one of the British galleys taken and some of the vessels recaptured. "The inhabitants in general and the sailors turned out unanimously. I never saw, nor could even hope to see," wrote Charles Johnson in the midst of that turmoil and confusion. "so much public spirit. personal cour- age and intrepid resolution. I am convinced that was the measure adopted of fitting out one or two armed vessels we might laugh at all attempts of the enemy's plundering banditti."
The Whigs rally
In other sections also the same spirit was displayed. and the Whigs rallied and beat down the Tories and re-estab- lished the authority of the State.
Ect James Armstrong, writing from Martinboro at the end of May. said : "We have been alarmed for ten days past by the Tories embodying about us, but they seem to drop off. Thirty horse from this county and a few from Craven . . . S. R., XV. went up to Edgecombe. took Benjamin Vichous, one of their ringleaders, and twenty-one head of cattle, which they had collected for the British army; since, they wrote to me for peace, and was granted it provided they gave up their arms."
In Duplin. wrote Mr. Dickson, "the Tories rose and took several of our leading men and carried them to Wilmington. There were numbers of our good citizens, thus betrayed.
Mo Ree's Irede.l, 1,
McRee's Iredell, 1, 515
670
NASH'S ADMINISTRATION. 1780-81
1781 --- May
who perished on board prison ships. This so alarmed the in- habitants that none of us dared to sleep in our houses for fear of being surprised. Matters being thus in confusion, there was no subordination among men, but all the proprietors raised and commanded their own little parties and defended themselves as they could. At length, however. Colonel Kenan embodied some four hundred of the militia, and quiet was restored." Many inhabitants because of these disturb- ances removed their families to the west, and even to Vir- ginia, abandoning their plantations entirely. In New Han- over it was still worse. That county was measurably de- populated and a scene of universal desolation. It was at this time that General Ashe was wounded and captured and imprisoned at Wilmington, where he contracted the small- pox. This plague generally accompanied the British camp and became a fearful scourge. When convalescent, broken in health, Ashe was paroled in October only to die a few days later at Colonel Sampson's in Duplin County. The first to take up arms in North Carolina, he passed away ignorant of Cornwallis's surrender, and without a view of the promised land of independence.
Death of Ashe
Greene in South Carolina
Lee's Memoirs, 337
Hobkirk's Hill
After breaking camp on Deep River, Greene hurried across the barrens and soon reached the bountiful region of the Peedee. He lost no time in striking his blows. On April 20th he approached Camden, taking post at Hobkirk's Hill, where on the morning of the 25th Lord Rawdon attacked him, both suffering severely. The loss of each was somewhat more than two hundred and fifty, about one-fourth of their respective commands. In this battle, except those attached to Colonel Washington's cavalry, there were only about two hundred and fifty North Carolinians, being a militia battalion commanded by Colonel James Read; and these, having been placed in the reserve, although they gal- lantly and bravely marched forward to relieve the retreating continentals, were not in the thickest of the engagement. Their conduct, however, won them encomiums.
On May 10th, by Greene's strategy, Rawdon was com- pelled to abandon Camden, so that only Ninety-six and
671
RAII'DON FORCED INTO CHARLESTON
Augusta were retained as British posts in the interior. Quickly Greene determined to drive the enemy entirely from the country and to hedge them in at Charleston. With this view, he detached Colonel Lee's and Major Eaton's con- tinentals, who bad just joined him, to attack Augusta, then held by Colonel Browne and Colonel Grierson, in whose honor one of the forts was named. Fort Grierson was the one first attacked. In the assault the American loss was trivial, a few wounded and fewer killed. But unhappily among the latter was Major Eaton, who had endeared him- self to both officers and sokliers, and who fell gallantly at the head of his battalion in the moment of victory .* The siege of Augusta was then continued until June 5th, when Colonel Browne capitulated. During its continuance the North Carolina continentals behaved with the utmost gal- lantry. Greene's prisoners now numbered eight hundred, and he sent them to Salisbury, guarded by a detachment under the command of Major Armstrong and other con- tinental officers.
In May Greene had himself undertaken the siege of Ninety-six, a strong fort admirably defended. Lord Raw- don, having received considerable re-enforcements at Charles- ton, now pressed forward to relieve that garrison, and on the near approach of this superior force Greene resolved if possible to carry the fort by assault.
On June 18th he led his army to the attack. A desperate June 18 conflict ensued, but without avail, and the next morning Greene withdrew beyond the Saluda, proposing if pressed to seek safety in North Carolina. Rawdon, however, deter- mined to abandon Ninety-six and retire to Charleston, and Greene returned, taking post on the high hills of the Santee awaiting re-enforcements from North Carolina, for North Carolina was now his only dependence.
Cartel of exchange agreed on
On the Peedee on May 3, 1781, Colonel Carrington, on the part of General Greene, and Captain Cornwallis, on the
*Major Eaton commanded the new continentals, composed largely of men from Butler's and Eaton's brigades who had behaved badly at Guilford Court House.
1751
Augusta taken
Lee's Memoirs, 357
Death of Eaton
Ninety-six besieged
672
NASH'S ADMINISTRATION. 1780-81
1731
part of the Earl, had a meeting and agreed on an exchange of all prisoners. Pursuant to their action, the commissario- of prisoners at once gave notice that all militia taken on either side were absolutely exchanged, and were liberated from their paroles. This set free such of the North Caro- lina militia as had been captured at Charleston, at Camden and elsewhere, and tended somewhat to strengthen the militia force of the State. The continentals, officers and men, had to suffer longer delay, but it was agreed that the delivery would begin toward the end of June, and these prisoners were to be conveyed to the James River and then be at liberty to return to military service.
Painful indeed had been the period of their captivity and distressing the mortality among the men, which perhaps was quite equal to that horrid record of the hulks off Long Island, which shocked humanity. Many of the exchanged officers late in the summer were able to take their places in the continental battalions and served with Greene until the end of the war.
Atrocities lead to threats of retaliation
The excesses and atrocities of the Tories were intolerable. and the animosity which was felt against them assumed the character of ferocity. Many of them. when taken. were summarily executed as murderers and robbers. "I heard," wrote Mrs. Blair toward the end of May, "that some of the people about New Bern who had intended joining Lord Corn- wallis had been taken and nine executed. The man who brought the account said he saw one of them hanged. Cap- tain Pasteur, one of the party who made the capture, while riding with a prisoner behind him, was fired at in passing through a swamp and so badly wounded that he survive 1 but three days." On June 20th Major Craig addressed Governor Nash on "the inhuman treatment" of the king's friends, the deliberate and wanton murders committed on them, which called for vengeance. "Had I listened only to the first emotions excited by the account of Mr. Caswell'scon- duct in murdering five men at Kinston, .. . Mr. Samuel Ashe and his comrades, who were put in irons for the purpose, would have become the immediate victims to his unwarrant-
McRee's Iredeli, I, 517
SR. XX11, 1024
673
CRUELTIES AND RETALIATION
able cruelty." Major Craig threatened that if the acts he described were continued he would give the people who June had taken arms in the king's favor ample revenge, and "I shall not hesitate to deliver over to them those prisoners who from character or situation are most likely to gratify them in those sentiments." This communication was re- ceived by Governor Burke, who had just been elected suc- cessor to Governor Nash. It appears that Major Ashe, his younger brother and others taken by scouting bands of Tories, had been thrown into irons, confined on shipboard and threatened to be delivered up to the Tories for their vengeance. Burkeanswered with resolution : "Should you . .. continue your treatment of those citizens or listen to any emotions which may dictate any measure against them on the ground of retaliation. . . . I shall find myself under the unhappy necessity of taking similar measures against British prisoners, though all such measures are utterly repugnant to my disposition." "There are at present," he added, "some prisoners in my power."
Burke's threatened retaliation resulted in checking Craig in his measures of revenge. Many of these prisoners, not taken on the field of battle, were, however, conveyed to Charleston and paroled to James Island. where were congre- gated a large number of Tory refugees, men driven from their homes, animated by a relentless hostility toward the Whigs, some of desperate and despicable characters, who were a menace to the lives of these unfortunate captives.
But Craig. foiled in his purpose as to Major Ashe, con- ceived the design of wreaking vengeance on the person of Burke himself should the occasion arise. He devised the capture of the governor, and planned to hold him for pur- poses of retaliation in case any of his Tory lieutenants should fall into the hands of the Whigs and be severely dealt with.
Gregory defends the Albemarle region
While attention was centred on the larger movements at the south and west, the Albemarle region was constantly threatened.
In the fall of 1780 there was sharp skirmishing, with some
S. R., XXII, 1023
7
674
NASH'S ADMINISTRATION, 1780-81
1781 Biog. Hist. N. C., IV, 144
loss of life. between Leslie's foraging parties and the militia under General Gregory. who had taken post near the Great Bridge. And early in 1781, when Arnold's corps arrived, Gregory again was quickly in service. It was about the end of February that a circumstance occurred from which it ap- peared that a British officer sought to place the American general in the light of a traitor. but the affair afterward was shown to be a joke and without foundation. Still, to have been suspected of being a traitor grated terribly on the feel- ings of that sterling patriot. Despite his mortification. he continued to hold his camp at the Northwest Landing, and although once compelled to withdraw. he soon occupied it again. One of the few who won honor at Camden. his good fanie was never tarnished by an unworthy action.
S. R., XV, 507, 503, 618
"During the winter and spring," wrote Dr. Hugh Will- iamson, "I had not so much as an assistant . . . in General Gregory's camp." "Nothing but frenzy could have tempted the general to . . . remain a minute in his camp, after the enemy had arrived at McPherson's"; but he added : "Gen- eral Gregory has again taken possession of his camp with all his cannon and stores." All the spring and summer the general remained on guard, but toward the end of August, the British having abandoned Portsmouth and proceeded to Yorktown, General Gregory deemed it unnecessary for the militia to continue in service longer than to reduce some of the disaffected to terms, and then he dismissed his men, who had so effectively protected the Albemarle region.
CHAPTER XXXVIII BURKE'S ADMINISTRATION, 1781-82
Conditions in North Carolina,-Major Craig at Wilmington .- The Assembly meets .- Burke governor .- Action of Assembly .- Governor Burke's zeal .- Fanning embodies the Tories .-- Pittsboro taken .- Con- ditions in Bladen .- Wade's victory .-- Cornwallis's plans -- South Quay captured .- New continental battalions .- Craig invades the eastern counties .- Lillington forbidden to fight .- New Bern taken .- Tory atrocities .- Battle of Elizabethtown .- Governor Burke's plans .- Fan- ning defeats Wade .- The governor captured .- The battle of Cane Creek .- Butler surprised at Brown Marsh .- The battle of Eutaw Springs .-- The gallantry of the North Carolinians.
Conditions in North Carolina
General Sumner had been directed by General Greene to remain in North Carolina and organize the men drafted into the continental service, and he was during the spring active April, in the performance of this duty. Every thirtieth man had been called out for this service, but they were to be selected in their respective neighborhoods and clothing provided for them, and progress was slow. In April these drafts were 465 assembled at Harrisburg,* doubtless with the view of co- operating with Steuben in Virginia; but later General Greene ordered such as were then ready to join him in South Carolina. and May 26th Major Armstrong sent forward one hundred and eighty from Salisbury. There was much delay incident to the fearful times. About the middle of June Captain Doherty. writing from Duplin Court House, said that the "tumults in this part of the country have been the cause of the delay in collecting the men, buit at present some little respite from the cursed Tories, but cannot say they are entirely subdued. More than half the draft made in Duplin have been among the Tories, or of men so disaffected that they will not appear. The men have been so harassed by *Near Oxford.
S. R., XV,
1781
676
BURKE'S ADMINISTRATION, 1781-82
178T
being kept in arms that hitherto they could not attend to providing the clothing, and without clothing they cannot march."
S. R., XV, 487
Colone! Joseph Hawkins, a zealous officer, with his regi- ment of light horse was at the same time on the head of Black River among the Tories; the people there, except one family, he reported "as being all disaffected." "The Tories." he said, "continued to carry great quantities of beef from that part to the enemy at Wilmington." He himself sent a detachment in and brought off fifty-two beeves and six prisoners.
Major Craig at Wilmington
S. R., XV, 51I
Major Craig was a very efficient officer. He sought by strenuous endeavors to restore royal authority. Proclaiming that the inhabitants, being British subjects, were Loyalist militiamen. early in July he directed that they should be enrolled as such, and he issued commissions to zealous Tories as officers of their counties. He fixed August Ist as the last day of grace for those who would not obey, and all not then returning to their allegiance were to be harried as rebels. While the Whigs had measurably neither arms nor ammunition, he bountifully supplied the Tory bands with both, and inspired them to zealous activity by giving them special marks of favor.
Ruther- ford's Mills
S. R., XV, 496
Craig in Onslow
The Scotch especially responded to his calls and up the Northwest strong detachments of Loyalists held the coun- try. To the northward he threw out the British dragoons, and he established a post at Rutherford's Mills, some seven miles east of Burgaw, and there he constructed a bastion fort, whose outline still remains in perfect preservation, a memorial of those historic times. Lillington, who had after the passage of Cornwallis returned to the vicinity of Heron Bridge, now stationed himself at Richlands, in Onslow County ; and on June 28th. when a British column advanced in that direction, called on the Duplin horse and foot to assemble at the rendezvous with despatch. However. before opposition could be made, Craig's troopers penetrated into Onslow. and secured in that fertile section needed sup- plies ; but when the people collected, finding that warm work
677
DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
was to be expected, they hastily returned to their strong- hold.
The movements of Cornwallis, the perils threatened by Craig, the defection of the Loyalists, and the drafting of men in every part of the State caused a deep gloom to en- shroud the people, and public affairs were thrown into great confusion.
In the midst of all this turmoil and distress the General Assembly met on June 23d at Wake Court House. The ses- sion was held in the old Lane residence, still standing in the suburbs of Raleigh. So threatening were the bands of Tories that a regiment of militia was stationed in the vicinity to protect the body during its sitting. Alexander Martin was chosen speaker of the senate, and Benbury again presided over the house. Governor Nash declined a re-election because of ill health, but perhaps there were other reasons as well. The creation of the Board of War and later of the Council Extraordinary had divided power and responsibility and had resulted unfortunately, so that the government had lost much of its efficiency. The council had ordered that one-fifth of the provisions upon every farm 475 should be taken for the public use, and heavy taxes in kind had been imposed. Impressments having been resorted to, Major Murfree toward the end of May impressed, at Pitch Landing, two thousand gallons of rum. nine hundred weight of sugar, a thousand of coffee, six or seven hundred yards of canvas, a small quantity of ammunition and other com- modities, which the merchants had imported. Much dis- satisfaction resulted from these measures, tending to ren- der the administration unpopular, while the currency, both continental and state, had become almost worthless, and the feebleness of the military arm in checking the Tories and the scarcity of ammunition, guns and clothing for the soldiers were causes of adverse comment and grave appre- hensions. To succeed Governor Nash, the Assembly chose Dr. Burke, who qualified on June 26th.
On accepting the office of governor, Burke communicated to the Assembly with emphasis that he did not wish a con- tinuance of the Council Extraordinary, but that he himself would discharge the functions of commander-in-chief. The
1781
S. R., XV11. 877 The Assem- bly meets at Wake Court House
McRee's Iredell, I. 437 S. R., XV,
S R., XXII, 1038, 1041 Burke governor
4
678
BURKE'S ADMINISTRATION. 1;SI-82
1781 June
Measures of defence
council therefore ceased, but General Richard Caswell re- mained nominally as major-general in command of the state forces. The Assembly acted with promptness and vigor. The Marquis of Bretigny, having offered his ser- vices to the State, was appointed a special agent to procure a fast sailing vessel, and go to the French islands in the West Indies and obtain five thousand stands of arms, ten thousand pounds of powder and other military supplies, twenty thousand pounds of tobacco being placed at his dis- posal for the purpose. A regiment of state troops was di- rected to be raised, and Benjamin Williams was chosen the commander, Joel Lewis first major, and Baron de Glaubeck, who had been so active and efficient, was appointed major of horse. In view of the condition of affairs in Chatham, Cumberland, and Randolph, it was resolved that a company of light horse should be raised for two months in each of those counties. An exception was made in the operation of the confiscation act of all persons, theretofore disaffected, who should serve with General Sumner in the continental battalions for the term of ten months.
S. R., XV, 533; XVII, 930-975
The militia that had acted badly at Guilford Court House having been drafted into the continentals. the Assembly now requested the governor to recommend to General Greene to discharge them "whenever the situation of affairs would admit of such an act of benevolence." Samuel Johnston, Charles Johnson, William Sharpe, and Ephraim Brevard were on July 12th elected delegates to the Continental Con- gress. The value of the currency had now fallen so low that the Assembly rated a day's work at $250, allowed Joel Lane £15.000 for the use of his house and pasturage for one month, and paid $12,000 for a single horse. On July 14th, the body adjourned to meet again in November at Salem. more removed from the seat of war.
The depreciated currency
Governor Burke's zeal
Undismayed by the adverse circumstances of that unhappy period, when Burke assumed the reins he was all activity. Three days after his election he directed General Butler to post five hundred men between the Cape Fear and the Neuse, covering the lowest fords on each. and to patrol with
679
CIVIL WAR
cavalry toward the enemy's lines, requiring daily reports of 1781 the situation. He lost no time in urging the Assembly to S. R., XVII, action. "I perceive," said he, "the country everywhere un- June prepared for defence ; without arms, without discipline, with- out arrangements, even the habits of civil order and obedi- ence to laws changed into a licentious contempt of authority and a disorderly indulgence of violent propensities. Indus- try is intermitted, agriculture much decayed, and com- merce struggling feebly with alnost insuperable difficulties. The public money is unaccounted for, the taxes uncollected or unproductive." the individual creditors of the public un- paid for years, "and the treasury totally unable to make payment." Dark indeed was his portrayal of the situation. The And to that were to be added the perils and dangers of that depressing conditions gloomy period when the British were threatening the State from the north. the sounds and coast infested with pri- vateersinen bent on spoils. and from Guilford to Brunswick civil war raged. its horrors heightened by passion, butcheries on either side being of daily occurrence.
Even before the adjourminent of the Assembly Governor Burke began to move from point to point in the State, in- spiring confidence by his presence and assuming direction. He had full power to act. and his known energy and reso- lute will brought new hope to the Whigs in the terrorized sections. While urging the Assembly on he busied himself supervising operations ; and he began to plan a movement not merely to suppress the Tories, but to drive Craig out of his stronghold on the Cape Fear. Indeed, he was aroused to the utmost exertions by the earnest appeals that con- stantly came for immediate assistance.
General Lillington, writing from the Trent on July 6th, complained most bitterly that no aid had been furnished his district by the other counties. He represented that the The Cape Whigs of that region, distressed as they were, felt that they were to fall a sacrifice to the enemy; expelled from their homes, their plantations ravaged, their negroes carried off, and those caught compelled to accept allegiance or to go into captivity. His own immediate section was desolate and deserted, and doubtless the iron had entered into the soul
Burke's activity
S. R., XXII, 540
Fear region
680
BURKE'S ADMINISTRATION, 1781-82
1781 S. R., XXII, 543
of the old veteran, whose heart bled for the misfortunes of his friends and kindred.
From Bladen, Cumberland, and the upper Cape Fear. also, came cries for help that appealed mnost strongly to the governor for prompt and effective action.
Fanning embodies the Tories
Although Cornwallis suffered continuous disappointment while at the south from the passiveness of the North Caro- lina Loyalists, yet after his departure from the State they became very active. While many of their partisan leaders attained great prominence, chief among them was David Fanning. a native of Johnston County, but from boyhood a resident of South Carolina. In the fall of 1780 he came to Deep River and made himself acquainted with many per- sons who had received commissions from Colonel Hamilton the preceding July. He watched and waited. He was con- cerned with Dr. Pyle in the raising of that band of Tories that Lee cut to pieces in February, 1781, but was not him- self present at the massacre. Immediately afterward he be- gan to collect another body, and he gave information to Cornwallis, and was with him on his march to Ramsey's Mills, accompanying him to Cross Creek. At that time Cornwallis's plans were not matured, and he expected that he might return to Hillsboro. Fanning established himself with some seventy Loyalists at Coxe's Mill* and interfered with Greene's communications in North Carolina. Shortly afterward he attacked a detachment under Colonel Dudley, of Virginia, coming from Greene's camp with baggage, drove off the guard. capturing the baggage and nine horses. Colonels Collier and Balfour, of Randolph, embodied one hundred and sixty men, and on June Sth reached his vicinity, but he made a night attack on them, and then sought safety in concealment. A few days later Fanning contrived a gen- eral meeting of the Loyalists, who selected him as their commander. Accordingly he repaired to Wilmington and obtained on July 5th from Major Craig a commission as
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