USA > North Carolina > Stanly County > Albemarle > In ancient Albemarle > Part 5
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
But as the years passed on, the Indian troubles gradually ceased, and the red men mostly disap- peared from the eastern portion of the State, though as late as 1731 Dr. Brickwell speaks of finding there "a nation called the Pasquotanks, who kept cattle and made butter, but at present have not cattle."
With the dangers from the Indians over, and with the transfer of Carolina from the hands of the neglectful Lords Proprietors into the posses- sion of King George II, brighter and more pros- perous days began to dawn for North Carolina. The population rapidly increased; and, whereas, in 1717 there were only 2,000 persons in the colony, by 1735 this number had increased to 4,000. Lively wranglings there were often be- tween the Royal Governors and the sturdy and in- dependent members of the Grand Assembly, who resolutely carried out their purpose to preserve
79
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
the constitutional rights of the people of the province. But no war cloud darkened the skies for many years after the Indian troubles were over.
Not until 1740 was there again a call to arms heard in North Carolina; then trouble arose be- tween Spain and England, and the colonists in America were called upon to aid their Sovereign, King George II, in his war against the haughty Don.
The real cause of this war was the constant vio- lation on the part of the English of the commer- cial laws which Spain had made to exclude foreign nations from the trade of her American colonies. But the event which precipitated matters and gave to the conflict which followed the name of "The War of Jenkins' Ear," was as follows :
The Spanish captured an English merchant ves- sel, whose master they accused of violating the trade laws of Spain. In order to wring a confes- sion from the master, Captain Jenkins, his captors hung him up to the yard arms of his ship until he was nearly dead, and then let him down, thinking he would confess. But on his stoutly denying that he had been engaged in any nefarious dealings, and since no proof could be found against him, the captain of the Spanish ship cut off one of the English captain's ears, and insolently told him to show it to his countrymen as a warning of what
80
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
Englishmen might expect who were caught trad- ing with Spain's colonies in America.
Captain Jenkins put the ear in his pocket, sailed home as fast as wind and wave would carry him, and was taken straight to the House of Parliament with his story. Such was the indignation of both Lords and Commons at this insult to one of their nation, and so loud was the clamor for vengeance, that even Walpole, who for years had managed to hold the English dogs of war in leash, was now compelled to yield to the will of the people, and Parliament declared war with Spain.
Immediately upon this declaration, King George called upon his "trusty and well beloved subjects in Carolina" and the other twelve colonies, to raise troops to help the mother country in her struggle with arrogant Spain. Carolina responded nobly to the call for troops, as the following ex- tract from a letter from Governor Gabriel Johns- ton to the Duke of Newcastle will testify: "I can now assure your grace that we have raised 400 men in this province who are just going to put to sea. In those Northern Parts of the Colony ad- joining to Virginia, we have got 100 men each, though some few deserted since they began to send them on board the transports at Cape Fear. I have good reason to believe we could have raised 200 more if it had been possible to negotiate the Bills
81
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
of Exchange in this part of the Continent; but as that was impossible we were obliged to rest satis- fied with four companies. I must in justice to the assembly of the Province inform Your Grace that they were very zealous and unanimous in promot- ing this service. They have raised a subsidy of 1200 pounds as it is reckoned hereby on which the men have subsisted ever since August, and all the Transports are victualed."
While no mention is made of Pasquotank in this war, nor of men from any other county save New Hanover, we may reasonably infer that among the three hundred troops from the northern coun- ties adjoining Virginia, men from our own county were included. No record has been kept of the names of the privates who enlisted from Carolina in this war. Nor do we know how many of those who at the king's call left home and country to fight a foreign land ever returned to their native shores ; but we do know that these Carolina troops took part in the disastrous engagements of Carta- gena and Boca-Chica; and that King George's troops saw fulfilled Walpole's prophecy made at the time of the rejoicing over the news that Par- liament had declared war with Spain: "You are ringing the joy bells now," said the great Prime Minister, "but before this war is over you will all be wringing your hands !"
82
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
After the two crushing defeats of Cartagena and Boca Chica, the troops from the colonies who still survived embarked upon their ships to return home; but while homeward bound a malignant fever broke out among the soldiers which de- stroyed nine out of every ten men on the ships. But few of those from Carolina lived to see their native home again. That they bore themselves bravely on the field of battle, none who know the war record of North Carolina will dare deny ; though as regards her private soldiers in this war, history is silent.
One of the officers from Carolina, Captain Innes, of Wilmington, made such a record for gallantry during the two engagements mentioned, that in the French and Indian War, in which fourteen years later, not only the Thirteen Colonies, but most of the countries of Europe as well, were embroiled, he was made commander-in-chief of all the American forces, George Washington him- self gladly serving under this distinguished Caro- linian.
83
CHAPTER XI
A SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION-THE STORY OF A PASQUOTANK BOY WHO FOLLOWED WASHINGTON
I IT IS a well known fact that the records of the services of the North Carolina soldiers who took part in the Revolutionary War are very meagre. Of the private, and other officers of lesser rank, this is especially true. Therefore, it is not surprising that a search through the Colonial Records for a statement of the services rendered his country by John Koen, a brave soldier of the Revolution from Pasquotank County, reveals only this fact: that he enlisted in Moore's Company, Tenth Regiment, on May 30, 1777, and served for three years.
But in addition to the above information, the following incidents in the life of John Koen have been furnished the writer of this history by Mrs. Margaret Temple, formerly of Rosedale, now a resident of Elizabeth City.
Mrs. Temple is a granddaughter of Colonel Koen, the widow of William S. Temple, a brave Confederate soldier from Pasquotank, and the mother of two of our former townsmen, Hon. Oscar Temple, of Denver, Colorado, and Robert Temple, of New Orleans.
84
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
Mrs. Temple was about twelve years old at the time of Colonel Koen's death, and retains a very vivid recollection of the stirring stories of the Revolution told by her grandfather during the long winter evenings, when the family gathered around the big fire-place in the old Koen home- stead near Rosedale.
A record copied from the Koen family Bible states that John Koen, son of Daniel Koen and Grace Koen, his wife, was born on the 27th day of January, 1759; and years later this record was entered: "John Koen, departed this life Septem- ber 5th, 1840, aged 83 yrs."
At the age of eighteen he entered his country's service as a volunteer, and served through the Revolution, participating in many of the greatest victories won by the Americans, sharing the worst hardships of the war with his fellow patriots, and laying down his arms only after Cornwallis had surrendered his sword at Yorktown.
At the beginning of the winter of 1775-1776, North Carolina was confronting the most perilous conditions which she had ever been called to face. From the north, east and west, the foe was press- ing, while within her own borders the Tories were rising, and planning to join the British in the sub- jection of this rebellious state.
85
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
The plan formulated by the enemy was this: Sir Henry Clinton, with troops of British regulars, was to come down the coast to the mouth of the Cape Fear River, where Lord Cornwallis, who with seven regiments from England was hastening across the Atlantic, was to join him. Lord Dun- more, Royal Governor of Virginia, was to incite the slaves and indentured servants in the Albe- marle district to unite with the Tories in the State; and the Indians in the western counties were to be induced to take up arms against the whites.
If these plans had matured, North Carolina would have been overpowered, but one by one they were frustrated. The battle of Great Bridge de- feated Dunmore in his purpose. The Snow Cam- paign quieted the Indian uprising. The battle of Moore's Creek Bridge crushed the Tories, and the heavy winter storms delayed Cornwallis and pre- vented him from joining Clinton at the mouth of the Cape Fear.
When Lord Dunmore issued his proclamation offering freedom to the slaves and indentured ser- vants who should join his majesty's forces, and then followed up this notice by burning and rav- aging the plantations around Norfolk, Virginia, called upon her sister State for help, and Long and Sumner, from Halifax, and Warren, Skinner and
86
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
Daugé from Perquimans and Pasquotank counties, hastened with their minute men and volunteers to Great Bridge, where Colonel Woodford in com- mand of the Virginia troops, had thrown up forti- fications.
Among the volunteers who were hastening to the scene of action was John Koen, of Pasquotank, a boy in years, but a man in purpose and resolu- tion.
On December 9, 1775, the British attacked the fortifications, and the sound of heavy firing at Great Bridge, the first battle in which the men of the Albemarle section had been called to partici- pate, was heard by the dwellers in the counties nearest Norfolk.
The story is still told by old residents of Rose- dale, that John Koen's mother, who was washing the breakfast dishes when the firing began, hear- ing the first heavy reverberations from the can- non some thirty miles away, dropped the dish she was wiping, and in her motherly anxiety for the safety of her boy, cried out, "Dodge, John, dodge!"
Whether John dodged or not we do not know, but we do know that he bore his part manfully in this, his first battle, and shared in the victory which drove Dunmore from Virginia, and saved North Carolina from invasion from that direc- tion, and a threatened uprising of the slaves.
87
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
On February 26, 1776, the battle of Moore's Creek Bridge was fought, which defeated the Tories in Carolina, and convinced the British that further attempts at this time to conquer the State were useless. So, toward the end of May, Clinton's fleet sailed from the mouth of Cape Fear River to Charleston, South Carolina, where his intention was to reduce that city.
Generals Charles Lee and Robert Howe, of the Continental army, hastened immediately to the de- fense of that city, and among the soldiers who fol- lowed them was John Koen. Here again the British were defeated, Colonel Moultrie's Palmetto fortifications proving an effective defense to the city by the sea, and Thompson's South Carolinians and North Carolinians bravely repelling the British land troops. Here Koen fought by the side of the soldiers of North Carolina, and here, possibly, he was an eye witness of the brave deed by which Sergeant Jasper won undying fame.
The British fleet, repulsed in the attempt to cap- ture Charleston, sailed northward, the danger of invasion that for six months threatened the South was over, and we find many of the soldiers in North Carolina released from duty and returning to their homes.
But John Koen's heart was filled with boyish love and admiration for the commander-in-chief
88
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
of the American army, and his one desire now was to follow Washington; so, shouldering his musket, the hardy young soldier marched away to offer his services to the great general.
We do not know whether or not John Koen was with Washington in the battle at Long Island and at White Plains, but from his own account as re- lated by him to his family, he did have the glorious honor of sharing in the victory at Trenton on De- cember 26, 1776.
Most of us are familiar with the picture of "Washington Crossing the Delaware," wherein he is represented standing erect in a small boat that seems about to be dashed to pieces by the heavy waves and the cakes of ice, but according to Col- onel Koen, who was with Washington on that momentous night, no boats were used. The river was frozen over, and the soldiers, in order to keep their footing on the slippery ice, laid their muskets down on the frozen river and walked across on them to the Jersey shore. At times the ice bent so beneath the tread of the men that they momentarily expected to be submerged in the dark waters, but the dangerous crossing was safely made, the British and Hessian troops, spending the holiday hours in feasting and carous- ing at Trenton, were captured, and a great victory won for the American army.
89
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
Some time in the spring of 1777, John Koen must have returned to his home in Pasquotank County, for we find in the Colonial Records that in the month of May, 1777, he enlisted in Moore's Company, Tenth Regiment, from North Carolina, and that in June he was promoted to the rank of corporal.
According to the fireside tales told by Colonel Koen to the household in the old Koen homestead, this young soldier, then only twenty years old, was with Gates' army, that, under the valiant leader- ship of Morgan and Arnold, won for the newly born nation the great victory of Saratoga; and the winter of that same year-'77-we find him sharing with Washington's army the trials and privations of the days of suffering at Valley Forge.
"I have seen the tears trickling down my grand- father's face when he told of the sufferings of that awful winter," said his granddaughter, Mrs. Tem- ple to the writer, "and I used to wonder at seeing a grown man cry, and often I said in my childish way that war should never bring a tear in my eyes. Little did I know then that the bitterest tears I should ever shed would be caused by war, and for eighteen months during the terrible strug- gle between the North and the South I should mourn as dead my soldier husband, whom God in
90
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
His mercy restored to me after all hope of seeing him alive again was over."
Although the Colonial Records state that Koen enlisted for only three years in May, 1777, he must have re-enlisted in 1780, for he has left with his family a graphic description of General Lincoln's surrender of Charleston in that year, and of the horrible treatment to which the Continental troops were subjected, who found themselves pris- oners of the victorious British army.
The hot climate, the wretched condition of the prison ships, the unwholesome and insufficient food, made these days of imprisonment at Char- leston equal in horror to the worst days at Valley Forge. Of the 1,800 prisoners who were taken captive on May 12, 1780, only 700 survived when they were paroled, and of these our hero was one.
In what other battles or experiences Colonel Koen shared we have no record, historical or tra- ditional, but according to his granddaughter's account, learned from his own lips, he served his country until the victory of Yorktown was won and peace was declared. And it is easy to believe that this gallant soldier who was one of the first to volunteer at Great Bridge, and who fought so bravely in many of the sharpest struggles of the great conflict, would not have been willing to lay
91
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
down his arms until his country was freed from the power that had so long held it in thrall.
So we can imagine him following Greene in his retreat across the State, taking part in the battle of Guilford Courthouse, and possibly present when the proud Cornwallis was forced to surren- der at Yorktown.
When the struggle at last had ended, John Koen returned to his home. During the years of his absence his plantation was managed by William Temple, whose pretty young daughter, Susannah, soon won the heart of the brave soldier, and con- sented to become his bride. After some years of happy married life, the young wife died, and a few years later we find John Koen making a second marriage, his bride being Christian Hollowell, of Perquimans County.
Owing to his gallant conduct in the Revolution- ary War, John Koen, a few years after the war was over, was appointed Colonel of the militia in Pasquotank County, and the government awarded him a pension, which was paid until his death in 1840.
92
CHAPTER XII GENERAL ISAAC GREGORY, A REVOLUTIONARY OFFICER OF PASQUOTANK-CAMDEN
D URING the War of the Revolution, the Albe- marle Region, though threatened with in- vasion time and again by the British, sel- dom heard the tread of the enemy's army, or felt the shock of battle. For this immunity from the destruction of life and property, such as the citi- zens whose homes lay in the path of Cornwallis and Tarleton suffered, this section of North Caro- lina is largely indebted to General Isaac Gregory, one of the bravest officers who ever drew sword in defense of his native home and country.
Both Pasquotank and Camden claim this gallant officer for their son, and both have a right to that claim; for the two counties were one until 1777. In that year a petition was presented to the Gen- eral Assembly by Joseph Jones, of Pasquotank, from citizens living in what is now Camden County, that the portion of Pasquotank lying on the northeast bank of the river should be formed into a separate county, and have a courthouse of its own, in order to do away with the inconven- ience the people of that section suffered in having to cross the river to attend court, military drills
93
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
and other public gatherings. The General As- sembly passed an act providing for the erection of a new county, and this county was named for Charles Pratt, Earl of Camden, a member of Par- liament and Chancellor, who in the stormy days of 1765 worked for the repeal of the hated Stamp Act, and justice to the Colonies.
Before the long and bloody days of the Revolu- tion proved his worth as a soldier, Isaac Gregory had won a prominent place in the public affairs of his county. His name first occurs in the Colonial Records in 1773, when he was elected sheriff of Pasquotank. In the same year he was appointed one of the trustees of St. Martin's Chapel in In- dian Town, Currituck County, a settlement whose citizens were many of them to become honored in the civil and military history of our State.
Ever since the passing of the Stamp Act in 1765, low mutterings of the storm that was soon to sweep over the country some ten years later had disturbed the peace of the Thirteen Colonies ; and events in North Carolina showed that this colony was standing shoulder to shoulder with her American sisters in their endeavor to obtain jus- tice from England.
In 1774, John Harvey's trumpet call to the peo- ple of North Carolina to circumvent Governor Martin's attempt to deprive them of representa-
94
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
tion in the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, had resulted in the convention at New Bern, the first meeting in America at which the represen- tatives of a colony as a whole had ever gathered in direct defiance of orders from a Royal Gov- ernor.
The next year, in April, Harvey again called a convention of the people to meet in New Bern. Again Governor Martin was defied; again, the North Carolinians, taking matters into their own hands, elected delegates to Philadelphia, and be- fore adjourning, added Carolina's name to the as- sociation of Colonies.
Pasquotank was represented in this convention by Edward Jones, Joseph Redding, Edward Everi- gen, John Hearing, and Isaac Gregory. The last named, being by now an acknowledged leader in his county, was appointed by this body a mem- ber of the Committee of Safety in the Edenton District.
The path toward separation from the mother country was now being rapidly trod by the Ameri- can colonies, though few, as yet, realized whither their steps were tending. In the vanguard of this march toward liberty and independence, North Carolina kept a conspicuous place. The Edenton Tea Party in October, 1774, had proved the mettle of her women. The farmers of Mecklenburg had
95
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
struck the first chord in the song of independence, hardly a note of which had been sounded by the other colonies. Governor Martin had fled from New Bern, and in August, 1775, the Hillsboro Con- vention had organized a temporary form of gov- ernment, and had placed at the head of public affairs Cornelius Harnett, who, as President of the Provincial Council, had more power in the State than is generally delegated to a governor.
In December, 1775, Lord Dunmore's attempted invasion of the State had been thwarted, largely by the aid of the Minute Men from Albemarle. Then came the famous Snow Campaign, in which the militia of the western counties joined the pa- triots of South Carolina in defeating the Tories of that State. And in February, 1776, the important victory at Moore's Creek Bridge had completely for a time broken the power of the Loyalists in North Carolina. There was no longer any hope of obtaining justice from England, nor, after such open and steady rebellion against the king's offi- cers, civil and military, could there be any hope of conciliation with the mother country, save on terms too humiliating to even contemplate.
North Carolina, recognizing these facts, called another convention to meet at Halifax in April, 1776, and there sounded her defiance as a State to King and Parliament, and boldly authorized her
96
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
delegates to the next Continental Congress at Philadelphia to vote for independence.
The convention then proceeded to make further preparations for the war which all now felt was inevitable. Pasquotank, in response to the call immediately issued for more troops, raised two regiments of militia. Isaac Gregory, who had been appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Pasquo- tank Militia by the Convention of 1775, was pro- moted and made Colonel of the Second Regiment of Pasquotank Militia, the other officers being Dempsey Burgess, Lieutenant - Colonel, Joshua Campbell, Major, and Peter Daugé, Second Major.
Independence having been declared by the Con- tinental Congress of 1776, the thirteen Colonies, now independent States, proceeded to organize a permanent government within their several bor- ders.
In North Carolina a State convention was called to meet at Halifax in November, 1776, to frame a constitution for the government of that State. To this convention Isaac Gregory, Henry Abbott, De- votion Davis, Dempsey Burgess and Lemuel Bur- gess were elected to represent Pasquotank, and Abbott was appointed on the committee to frame the constitution. By the 18th of December the work was completed and the constitution adopted,
97
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
which, with amendments, is still the organic law of the State.
After Clinton's unsuccessful attempt to invade North Carolina in May, 1776, no further effort to place the State under British control was made until 1780. But during the intervening years the Carolina troops had not been idle. Their valor had been proved at Brandywine, Germantown and Stony Point, and during the winter at Valley Forge 1,450 of her soldiers shared with their com- rades from the other States the hunger, cold and suffering that was the portion of Washington's army throughout those dreary months. The North Carolina troops had aided in the brave but unsuc- cessful attempt to drive the British from Savan- nah, and 5,000 of her soldiers had been sent to prevent the capture of Charleston; but the patriot forces had been unable to repulse the invaders. Savannah fell, then Charleston, and by the last of May, 1780, both Georgia and South Carolina were in the hands of the enemy, and Cornwallis was threatening North Carolina.
So great was the blow to the American cause from the loss of these Southern States, and so great the danger confronting North Carolina, that Congress ordered DeKalb, of the Continental line with the regulars from Maryland and Delaware to march to the rescue of the patriots in the South.
98
IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE
General Gates, the reputed victor at Saratoga, was also ordered South, and put in command of the Southern forces.
For awhile the enemy remained quiet, Cornwal- lis delaying the devastation of South Carolina until the maturing crops should be safe. This respite gave the Carolinians time to collect their forces on the South Carolina border, in order to drive back the enemy.
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.