USA > North Carolina > Craven County > New Bern > History of the Presbyterian church in New Bern, N.C. : with a resume? of early ecclesiastical affairs in eastern North Carolina, and a sketch of the early days of New Bern, N.C > Part 6
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De Graffenried's Capture.
In September, 1711, taking fifteen days' provision, two ne- groes to row, and, for safety, two well-known Indian neigh- bors, one of whom spoke English, De Graffenried started up the Neuse River with Lawson for general exploration. He
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DE GRAFFENRIED'S CAPTURE.
wished to know whether the river was navigable higher up, how far it was to the mountains, and whether a new and bet- ter road to Virginia could be laid out. No danger was appre- hended, for no savages lived on the river. One Indian went on the Baron's horse by land, and, being compelled at one place to cross the river, came to the Indian King Hencock's village, Catechna. The Indians questioned him, were alarmed, kept the horse, and sent the rider to warn the boating parties that they would not be permitted to advance, but must return. It being late when the bad news was received, they landed at the next spring, not far from another village, Coerntha, to pass the night. A number of armed Indians met them, plun- dered their things, and took them prisoners. They were proud of the capture, for they took De Graffenried to be Governor of the Province; ran them all night through the woods, thickets and swamps, and about three o'clock in the morning reached Catechna, where King Hencock was sitting in state on a plat- form, with his council around him. Their case was discussed, but no conclusion was reached. Vengeance was wanted "for the rough dealings of a few wicked English Carolinians who lived near the Pamptego, Neuse and Trent Rivers." It was also to be ascertained what "help they could expect from their Indian neighbors."
By ten o'clock at night, the neighboring kings, with their retinues, had come in; and the "assembly of the great, consist- ing of forty elders sitting on the ground around a fire, con- vened, with King Hencock presiding, examined the prisoners, and consulted. They complained of abuses by the whites, and especially of Surveyor-General Lawson. After a vote it was determined that they could be liberated on the morrow. Dur- ing some delay the next day in getting their canoe, some other distinguished Indians arrived, and a second examination was held at King Hencock's cabin, two miles from the village. The king of the village, Core, reproached Lawson for some- thing, and the two had a violent quarrel, which De Graffenried vainly tried to arrest. He sharply upbraided Lawson for his imprudence in such delicate circumstances. Suddenly three or
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NEW BERN.
or four of the "Great" pounced upon them, threw their hats and periwigs into the fire, led them to the Council-ground, con- demned them to death without assigning any cause, kept them sitting in one position on the ground until daylight, and then led them to the execution ground. Bitterly did the Baron re- proach Lawson as the cause of their misfortune, and with great zeal set about making his peace with God. Seeing a savage dressed like a Christian, who knew English, he asked the cause of their condemnation. He reluctantly answered: " Why Lawson had quarreled with Cor Tom? That we had threatened that we would avenge ourselves on the In- dians." He took this Indian aside, explained matters to him, and offered large rewards if he would show his innocence to some of the " Great."
Bound hand and feet, undressed, and bare-headed, they with the larger negro were seated in the centre of the execution-' ground. Before them burned a fierce fire; near by stood the grizzled highpriest, then a wolf skin, and a motionless savage "in the most dreadful and horrible position, with a knife in one hand and an axe in the other." A great dancing rabble, beat- ing drum, mournful singing, guns discharging, dreadful howl- ings, faces painted black, red, and white, hair greased and sprinkled over with small pieces of cotton or with feathers and flying out, all dressed like a set of devils, and darting in and out of the wood, combined to make a fearful scene, premonitory of horible agonies. De Graffenried prayed fervently, recalled what he had read in the Scripture and other good books, and " prepared himself to a good and salutary death." Especially did Christ's miracles comfort him. Again night approachedy. another immense fire was kindled in the woods, and the Coun- cil 'once more assembled. Knowing that one of them under- stood English, he addressed them, asserted his innocence, threat- ened the vengeance of the powerful Queen of England if they shed his blood, and made promises for his liberation. One of the notables, a relative of King Taylor, from whom the site of New Bern had been bought, spoke earnestly in his favor. A delegation was thereupon sent to their neighbors, the Tusca-
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DE GRAFFENRIED'S CAPTURE.
roras, to consult King Tom Blunt. He says: "I spent that whole night in great anguish, awaiting my fate (always bound in the same place) in continuous prayers and sighs. Mean- while I also examined my poor negro, exhorting him in the best way I knew, and he gave me more satisfaction than I ex- pected ;- but I let Surveyor-General Lawson offer his own prayers, as being a man of understanding, and not over-reli- gious." Towards morning the delegates returned, and De Graffenried was unbound and told he had nothing to fear, but was forbidden to speak to Lawson, who took leave of him, and told him to say farewell in his name to his friends. The negro was also liberated, and the Baron was led away. His record states, "They executed that unfortunate Lawson; as to his death, I know nothing certain ; some Indians told me that he was threatened to have his throat cut with the razor which was found in his pocket,-what also acknowledged the small negro, who was not executed,-but some said he was hung, some said he was burnt. The Indians kept that execution very secret. God have mercy upon the poor soul!" Chief-Justice Gale, however, understood from the Indians that "they stuck him full of fine splinters of torch-wood, like hogs' bristles, and so set them gradually on fire."
De Graffenried was kept a prisoner for six weeks, while five hundred Indians were murdering and plundering the colonists, and women and children were brought in as prisoners with great booty. A boy he knew from his own German settlement told him the sad tale. At length he made a treaty with the Tusca- roras, Marmusckits, and Cors; and, by a promised ransom, and a threatening message from Governor Spottiswood, he was car- ried to Tasqui, a palisaded Tuscarora village; where a great council was held around the big fire in their town circle. Dan- gers threatened him still, and especially from an advance of sixty English and Palatines on the village of Catechna. The colonists were repelled with loss. Two days afterwards two notables escorted him on a horse two leagues, gave him a piece of Indian-bread, and warning him of danger in the forest from foreign Indians, advised him to run as fast as he could for two
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NEW BERN.
hours. So he did till night, and went on for two days without arms, a knife, or anything with which to strike fire. Nearly dead with cold and exposure, his legs and arms stiff and swollen, supporting himself on two sticks, and tanned by exposure, as he approached his fortified house, he looked so much like a ghost or an Indian spy, that his people did not at first recognize him ; soon, however, men, women and children met him with sur- prise, shouting and weeping, that moved him to tears.
Troubles now multiplied around the New Bern Colony. Sixty or seventy Palatines and Swiss had been killed; many had run away; some had been seduced to join the English in a garrison ; half the Palatines had deserted during the Baron's imprison- ment; fifteen were prisoners, waiting ransom; provisions and ammunition were exhausted ; and with a crowd of women and children, he had only forty men able to bear arms. Brice and a turbulent Palatine blacksmith destroyed the effects of his treaty with the Indians, so that houses marked with "N," ac- cording to its stipulations, were sacked. He supported the remnant for twenty-two weeks at his own expense. But the end was near. Disorganization, dissension, cowardice and destitution, were everywhere. His credit was gone, and his drafts were protested. An astonishing and almost incredible series of mishaps attended everything he attempted. Cary de- fied all the injunctions of the Lords Proprietors, and all their fair promises failed him. He hurls about very liberally his denunciations of ignorance, cowardice, incapacity and rascality, while he classes himself as "an honest man and a good Chris- tian." Mitchell is charged with grave deception about the mines, and dishonest practices. A writ of arrest was issued against himself for a protested bill of exchange. He skulked in a friend's house ; tried to run off his slaves; thought once of mov- ing the "remainder of the faithful Palatines and the small band of Swiss" to the mines in Virginia; mortgaged his property to Colonel Pollock; then abused his colonists as the cause of their own disasters, being deserters from their king and from him, and such ungodly people-" thieves, lewd fellows, profane fel- lows, slanderers"-"that it is no wonder if the Almighty has
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FOUNDING OF NEW BERN.
punished them by means of the heathen,-for they are worse than these, . ... I was more sorry to leave such a beautiful and good country than such wicked people. There were, how- ever, some little good grain, I mean a few persons fearing God, who loved me and whom I loved; I wish them all kind of prosperity. . May God convert the balance !" So he grew angry, bitter in his disappointment, prejudiced, and unjust. Slipping off to New York,-which he found a " nice place,"-he sailed thence to England, where he arrived in the spring of 1713, and reached Bern on the day of St. Martin, 1713. He dared not take a passport in London from fear of arrest by his American creditors. The cold shoulder was given him by old friends,-" many people bloated up with pride or arrogance !" he says. His " company " abandons him, " and so, I was com- pelled to abandon that colony." And now comes the conclud- ing pious reflection of this tried Bernese-Palatine speculating philanthropist; " since fate will not favor me any more in this world, there is no better remedy than to leave it and to seek the treasure from above, where moth and rust doth not con- sume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal."
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Founding of new Bern.
De Graffenried spoke to the Indians of the proof of his good intentions given " by the gentleness and civility of my behavior towards them, and by the payment which I made to them of the lands where I had settled at first, and where I had founded the small town of New Bern, although I had already paid double their worth to the surveyor Lawson." It was probably laid off by Lawson and Col. Pollock in May or June, 1710, and was called New Bern, in compliment to Bern, the birth-place of both the Baron and Mitchell, leaders of the colony. At the foot of Broad street, on the Neuse, was formerly a hill, called "Council Bluff." Here in solemn assemblage, around their fiercely blazing council fires, the revengeful savages, under King Taylor, deliberated on war, peace, or vengeance. Be- tween this dread spot and the foot of Craven street is said to lie the location of the original settlers of the City of Elms.
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NEW BERN.
So was born the second town in North Carolina, Bath having been laid out in 1705. Bath never grew. In November, 1723, New Bern was made a township, covering two hundred and fifty acres, and soon became the Capital of the colony. The old deeds in the clerk's office contain this singular provision, that if the purchaser of the town lot died without heirs, or a will, the property would escheat to Cullen Pollock, his heirs or assigns. Purchasers also pay a pepper-corn rent, if de- manded.
Craven County,
Was named after Willian, Earl of Craven, one of the Lords Proprietors, and called in the charter, " our trusty and well be- loved William Lord Craven." In the interesting gallery of paintings in Kensington Museum, London, I recently saw a portrait of the Earl, painted by Honhorst, and presented by the Earl of Craven, in December, 1868. His face is remark- ably fine. Beneath the picture runs this legend :
"WILLIAM, EARL OF CRAVEN, "1606-1692, SON OF SIR WILLIAM CRAVEN, MERCHANT TAILOR AND LORD MAYOR OF LONDON,
"Served with distinction under Gustavus Adolphus, and afterwards entered the service of the Prince of Orange. He aided with the wealth at his com- mand the exiled members of the royal family, more particularly Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia. He was created Earl of Craven in 1665, and succeeded Monck as colonel of the Coldstream Guards.
"During the prevalence of the great plague, he remained in London, visit- ing the infected and devising means to prevent contagion. In the following year, 1666, he successfully exerted himself to subdue the ravages of the great Fire. Lord Craven was a most accomplished gentleman. He died unmarried at his house in Drury Lane."
So the county may well take laudable pride in its honorable name.
Other Immigrants.
About 1710, came a colony of Welch Quakers, and settled below New Bern, on Clubfoot and Hancock Creeks, on the South side of the Neuse. Among these were Thomas and John Lovick, the latter of whom was one of the North Carolina
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OTHER IMMIGRANTS.
Boundary Commission in 1728, to settle the line between Vir- ginia and North Carolina. Roger and Evan Jones were also among them. The name of the last appears in the official list of freeholders and jurymen in the laws of 1723. Another German cluster of immigrants landed at New Bern in 1732, among whom were John Martin Francks, James Blackshear and Philip Miller. These ascended the Trent twenty miles, and having no horses or other stock, then packed their goods on their backs, and heroically plunging into the virgin forest, unscarred by an axe, settled in that part of Craven now known as Jones County.
Had I the means of tracing out genealogies and intermar- riages, and changes of names generally, as I have in a few cases; and were lists of the early members of the Presbyterian Church accessible, it could doubtless be shown that not a few of the de- scendants of the old stock stood true in devotion to the tried and apostolic faith of the early German, Welch, Swiss, Huguenot, and Scotch-Covenanter colonists. The names of the descend- ants of the following are still recognized in the church in New Bern, or its vicinity, as substantial Presbyterians : Isler, Cox- daille (from whom, on the mother's side, come the Stanlys), Francks, Bryan, Bray, Watson, Hatch, Clark, Everett, Noble, Shine, Jones, Moore, Lamb, and others. Hence came one of the original elders, the wife of the present pastor, and the wife of one of the present ruling elders, and one, if not more, of the original female members from the French Blanchard stock.
In the dreadful Indian massacre of September, 1711, Martin says that most of the Swiss and Palatines, who had flattered themselves with having found in the deserts of Craven a safe asylum against distress and oppression, and all of the Hugue- nots around Bath, fell under the tomahawk or knife. Sixty or more were murdered around New Bern. The Indians do not seem to have gotten into the town. This stunning carnage and the Indian war which ensued, together with other grievous colonial difficulties, caused a large exodus from the colony. In 1717, it is thought that there remained only 2,000 taxables (all freemen of sixteen years were taxable), and one-third of
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NEW BERN.
these were slaves. Still there are many representative names of this era in this section. It should be remembered that De Graffenried, while a prisoner among the Tuscaroras, just before the massacre began, effected an advantageous treaty with the Indians, which protected his Palatines in many ways.
Mem Bern Data.
On account of the increase of population southward, and the inconvenience of crossing Albemarle Sound to Edenton, the General Assembly, 6th March, 1738, met in New Bern, and continued its sessions there for years. It soon became the es- tablished place for meeting of the various courts.
First Printing Iress.
In 1749, James Davis, from Virginia, established in New Bern the first printing press in North Carolina. The laws hitherto had been only in manuscript, and much confusion had resulted. After careful revision by the Legislature, they were printed, in 1752, by James Davis, and bound in a small folio volume, in yellowish and unskilfully tanned leather, hence al- ways known as "Yellow Jacket." This was the first book printed in North Carolina. In 1764, the laws were printed by Andrew Stewart, a Scotchman in Wilmington, on a press he set up there. Mr. Davis then issued, 1st June, 1764, in New Bern, " The North Carolina Magazine, or Universal Intelli- gencer," the first periodical paper attempted in the province. It was a demi-sheet, in quarto pages, and for a long time very dry. His printing office was on the corner of Broad and East Front streets, where a gentleman and lady inform me they have" in recent years picked up the old type. I have before me a bound volume of this paper, beginning with No. 383, July 4, 1777. Its headlines are as follows in 1777:
·
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REVOLUTIONARY PRIVATEERS.
JULY 4, 1777. THE NUMBER 383.
NORTH CAROLINA GAZETTE.
With the lateft ADVICES, FOREIGN and DOMESTIC.
SEMPER PRO LIBERTATE ET BONO PUBLICO.
It contains interesting accounts of the
Revolutionary Privateers
Fitted out by John Wright Stanly from this port. " Sturdy Beggar," with fourteen carriage guns and one hundred men, was the significant name of one, which reports two prizes, worth £70,000 sterling. Others are also mentioned : the Nancy, Capt. Palmer ; the sloop Lydia, Capt. Appleton, with twelve guns and fifty men ; the Bellona, Capt. Pendleton, with sixteen guns-all report large captures for Mr. Stanly, and the Bellona brought in also a privateer with six guns. The Lydia was af- terwards captured. Many cargoes of salt and dry-goods, that had run the blockade, are advertised for sale in New Bern and Beaufort. In July, 1777, a number of Scotch gentlemen, being unwilling to take the oath of allegiance, sailed from New Bern. But when outside the Capes, they were overhauled by a Virginia privateer, and captured with all their wealth, and two hundred hogsheads of tobacco.
Capt. Charles Biddle's autobiography preserves some inter- esting facts of this period. He was from Philadelphia, but married Miss Hannah Shepard, the daughter of Jacob Shepard, a New Bern merchant. In September, 1778, the ship Cornelia, with six iron and fourteen wooden guns and seventy men, was fitted out in New Bern for a trading voyage to the West Indies, and sailed under Capt. Biddle's command. Off Cape Lookout
5
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NEW BERN.
he took a privateer with eight guns and fifty men, and sent it in to Beaufort. He made a safe voyage to the Island of St. Eus- tatia, sold his cargo well, and took on a valuable one; bought a pair of six-pounders there, and in eight weeks, on November 16th, cast anchor successfully in Beaufort Harbor. In her next voyage, under Capt. Cook, the Cornelia was captured by a Provi- dence privateer. Mr. Biddle made a successful run to the West Indies in "The Three Sisters," and made Beaufort Harbor on the return. In August, 1779, he made another good run to St. Thomas with the Eclipse, loaded with tobacco, and returned 20th September.
When he was a member of the Assembly, in session in New Bern, in 1779, at dinner one day at Governor Nash's, it was reported that a British privateer was within the bar of the Neuse, and doing much mischief. Capt. Biddle proposed to fit out some vessels at the wharf, and capture her. Many gen- tlemen at the table offered to go with him. By four o'clock the next day all was ready, and the gentlemen were notified, but all made excuses, except Mr. Spaight and Mr. Blackledge. "Some were sick, others had particular business; one of them, who had always behaved like a brute to his wife, sent me word she would not consent to his going. He was the only one I sent a second time to, and that was to inform him that I would call up and endeavor to persuade his wife to let him go. Fear- ing that I would, and knowing that his wife would readily con- sent to his going anywhere, so that she was rid of him, he rode out of town." He had several times beat her, and she detested the sight of him. This expedition lasted two weeks; but the privateer got wind of the plan, and made her escape to sea.
Education.
In 1764, was passed the first effective act for the encourage- ment of literature, by the erection of a school-house in New Bern. This school was incorporated in 1766-the first incor- porated academy in North Carolina. It rested for some years under the incubus imposed by the established ecclesiastical
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MEMORABLE ITEMS.
"oligarchy,"* prohibiting any Principal save a "churchman." The first "large and commodious building," erected at great expense, was burned down accidentally in 1795, when, by an act of Assembly, a room in the " Palace " was used for the school- room. The present old brick academy was erected in 1806; the corner stone of the additional elegant graded school build- ing was laid in 1884, just one hundred and twenty years after the first act of the Legislature already mentioned. In that older building, Gaston, Stanly, Badger, Spaight, Hawks and many other distinguished sons of Carolina were educated for future careers of honor and usefulness.
This old square, two storied brick academy has had intimate connection with the etablishment of the Presbyterian Church here. The first building was of wood; in it the lower house of the Legislature sometimes met.+
Memorable Items.
The first political representative assembly ever convened in North Carolina, independent of royal authority, and indeed in face of the Governor's prohibition, met 25th August, 1774, in New Bern. It is known as the " Provincial Congress." It in- quired into the the encroachments of England upon the rights and liberties of America; recommended holding a Continen- tal Congress in Philadelphia, 20th September, and appointed William Hooper, Joseph Hews and Richard Caswell deputies thereto.
The first "General Assembly" of the State, under the con- stitution adopted at Halifax by the Provincial Congress, 18th December, 1776, met in New Bern in April, 1777.
Governor Martin became greatly disturbed by the daring conduct of the people, and the gathering storm of revolution, and began to fortify the palace, and arranged for a military
* Bancroft, Vol. iii. pp. 13, 14, says, "Those styled 'the nobility,' together with the High Church party, constituted a colonial oligarchy against the great mass of the people." "The larger part of the settlers were Dissenters, bring- ing with them the faith and the staid sobriety of the Calvinists of that age." t Martin, ii. 393.
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NEW BERN.
body-guard. An intercepted letter of his to General Gage, at Boston, revealed his plans, and precipitated a breach. On 24th April, 1775, while the governor and council were in ses- sion, alarm having spread among the New Bernians at the Governor's proceedings, leading whigs, among whom were Dr. Alexander Gaston, Richard Cogdell, James Coor, and Jones Slates, seized and removed the six pieces of cannon that had been planted in front of the Palace. That night Governor Martin fled from New Bern to Fort Johnston, near Wilmington, and soon joined Lord Cornwallis. So ended English sway in North Carolina. At this time the population of New Bern, the largest of the only three towns in the State,-Wilmington and Edenton being the other two,-was about six hundred.
EARLIEST CHURCHES.
T' THE Quakers, their early appearance in Albemarle, their rapid increase, and their usefulness in moral and reli- gious affairs, have been already sufficiently spoken of.
The Episcopal Church.
No Episcopal Church was built in the colony before 1702, and the increase was slow. In 1703 we hear of the first settled preacher, and he did not tarry long. In 1740 an act was passed by the Legislature for building an Episcopal church in New Bern. Why did the Legislature provide for building churches for only one denomination, if there was nothing like a State Establish- ment? It has been thought that the bricks for this old church were brought from England. But this act states that during the preceding year the vestry had made 100,000 bricks for the church. It does not appear when this vestry was chosen; but it must have been under the act of 1715. By the act of 1741, we learn that the vestry had laid a tax to support a minister, though one had not been obtained; also, that Craven County was made a parish, with the name of "Christ Church Parish." Further legislation was had in 1745 and 1751 upon the same matter. In 1754, an act was passed confirming an agreement between the vestry and Rev. James Reed for his services. A letter was forwarded by the vestry of Christ Church, New Bern, in 1760, to the Society for the Propagation of the Gos- pel, in which it is said that Mr. Reed had faithfully attended Christ Church and eight chapels for six years. So he must have settled in New Bern in 1754; and the church edifice was probably completed not long before that date. He was the first incumbent of this church, and his commission is said to
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