The Revolutionary South: 1775

Showing posts with label 1775. Show all posts

Thursday, March 13, 2008

The Battle of Moores Creek Bridge:
Meanwhile...

During Josiah Martin's offshore exile, the patriots, in August and September 1775, set up a Provincial Council to govern the colony. Upon recommendation of the Continental Congress, two regiments of the Continental Line and several battalions of minutemen and militia were raised.

At the news that loyalists were assembling at Cross Creek, the patriots mobilized their forces. In Wilmington, they threw up breastworks and prepared for fighting. In New Bern, authorities mustered the district's militia under Colonel Richard Caswell, and ordered it to join with other militia to counter the loyalists. Colonel James Moore, senior officer of the 1st North Carolina Continentals and first to take the field, was given command.

The loyalists' plan was to advance along the southwest bank of the Cape Fear River to the coast, provision the British troops arriving by sea, and join with them to re-conquer the colony. On February 20, 1776, Donald MacDonald began his movement toward the coast. Blocked by James Moore at Rockfish Creek, he marched eastward in the general direction of Richard Caswell's force, crossed the Cape Fear, and proceeded toward the Negro Head Point Road, a route into Wilmington along which he expected little opposition. Outmaneuvered by MacDonald's march tactics, Caswell withdrew from defending Corbett's Ferry on the Black River in order to "take possession of the Bridge upon Widow Moore's Creek," some 20 miles above Wilmington and a place the loyalists had to cross on their way to the coast. After sending Colonel Alexander Lillington to join Caswell, Moore fell back toward Wilmington, hoping to fall on the rear of MacDonald's column as Caswell obstructed him in front.

(Source: State Library of North Carolina)

The Battle of Moores Creek Bridge:
The Prelude

As the economic and political controversy with Great Britain gave way to open rebellion in the mid-1770s, North Carolina was left a badly divided colony. The legislature, which was popularly elected, opposed royal governor Josiah Martin, almost to a man. "Government here is as absolutely prostrate as impotent," Martin warned his superiors in London, "and nothing but the shadow of it is left." Yet many people who disliked parliamentary taxation and royal authority over provincial affairs nevertheless found the thought of fighting the mother country abhorrent. By mid-1775, North Carolinians had split into two groups: patriots, perhaps half the people, who were willing to take up arms for independence; and loyalists, primarily the Crown's officials, wealthy merchants, planters, and others of a conservative mind who opposed redressing their grievances by war. This last party included many Highlanders, who in recent decades had immigrated in sizable numbers to North Carolina, and some of the Regulators who had been defeated at Alamance in 1771.

News of the fighting at Lexington and Concord in April, 1775, received in North Carolina a month later, further weakened royal authority. Unable to stem the tide of revolution in the colony, Martin abandoned New Bern, the capital, and fled to Fort Johnston on the lower Cape Fear, arriving on June 2, 1775. Within 6 weeks, North Carolina militia forced him to flee again, this time offshore to the British warship Cruizer, as the fort burned behind him.

(Source: State Library of North Carolina)

Friday, January 11, 2008

Tryon Safety Committee Meeting, 14 Aug 1775

From manuscript records, State of North Carolina, Office of Secretary of State; Vol. x-11; Colonial Records:

Proceedings of the Safety Committee in Tryon County.
Met according to adjournment. [14 August, 1775.]

Present

Resolved

AN ASSOCIATION.

Signed by

Resolved

Signed by

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

The Cunningham Mess, part 4:
A Defection, A Lie & First Blood

From The History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780, by Edward McCrady, published 1901, Macmillan & Co., ltd., South Carolina, pp. 89-92:

In the meanwhile the Congress men under Williamson and the King's men under Cuningham continued embodying their forces. Williamson lay almost a fortnight at Ninety-Six Court House, receiving those who came in and waiting for Colonel Thomson with the Rangers. Captain Richard Pearis, who, then acting with the Revolutionary party, had accompanied Mr. Drayton on his visit to the Indians, disappointed that he had not received the military position he desired, now changed sides and joined the King's party. He charged the Council of Safety with the design of bringing down the Cherokees upon the settlements to cut off all the King's men. He went so far as to make affidavit that the ammunition taken by Patrick Cuningham was on the way to the Cherokee Nation for that purpose. As it was known that he had brought the Indians who had met Mr. Drayton in September, it was naturally supposed that he was acquainted with the intentions of the Council, and his assertions were readily believed. The King's party was thus speedily swelled in numbers, while Williamson's militia came in but slowly. Williamson, however, could not believe that the Loyalists would dare to attack him, until the 18th of November, when he received certain information that they were in full march upon him and had actually crossed the Saluda River for the purpose. Major Mayson now joined him with a small party of Rangers and proposed to march at once, themselves assume the offensive, and attack their opponents in camp. A council of war was called which, as councils of war usually do, overruled this vigorous plan of operations. On the contrary, Williamson with his forces fell back to a position near the Court House, where they fortified themselves as far as they could before the appearance of the opposing forces. They had hardly closed their slight fortification when on Sunday, the 19th of November, Major Robinson and Captain Patrick Cuningham appeared with their party. A conference was called, and a meeting took place between Major Mayson and Captain Bowie on the one side, and Robinson, Cuningham, and Evan McLaurin on the other. Robinson and his party demanded that Major Williamson's militia should surrender their arms and disband. While Williamson was considering this demand two of his men were seized by the other party, whereupon he gave orders to rescue them, and thus brought on a conflict, the first bloodshed in the Revolution in South Carolina. For two hours and a half the firing on both sides was incessant. The garrison including officers consisted of 562 men, while the number of besiegers was about 1890. The siege lasted two days, during which Major Williamson's men suffered great hardship, though but one man was killed and twelve wounded; while on the other side several were killed and about twenty wounded. On Tuesday, the 21st, at sunset the King's party displayed a white flag and called a parley, in which Major Robinson renewed his former demand, allowing only one hour for answer. Captain Bowie was sent at once with the joint answer of Majors Williamson and Mayson, that they were determined never to resign their arms. In two hours Major Robinson returned with Captain Patrick Cuningham, and upon their withdrawing the peremptory demand for surrender it was agreed that a conference should take place the next morning. Accordingly, at the appointed hour, Majors Williamson and Mayson with Captains Pickens and Bowie met Major Robinson, Captain Cuningham, Evan McLaurin, and Pearis, when it was agreed that hostilities should immediately cease, that the garrison should be marched out of their improvised fort and their swivels given up, which by a secret agreement for that purpose were in a day or two privately restored. This mock surrender of the swivels was agreed upon by the leaders to appease a large party of the besiegers who, while the negotiation was progressing, demanded their surrender. The treaty further stipulated that the public differences should be submitted to Lord William Campbell the Governor on the part of the King's men, and to the Council of Safety on the part of Major Williamson and those under his command; that each party should send messengers to their principals, and twenty days be allowed for their return; that Major Robinson should withdraw his men over the Saluda River, and keep them there or disperse them as he pleased until he should receive his Excellency's orders; that no person of either party should be molested in returning home; that should reinforcements arrive, they should be bound by the treaty; that all prisoners should be set at liberty, the fortifications levelled, and the well which had been dug in the forts filled up.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

The Cunningham Mess, part 3:
Enter Sumter

From The History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780, by Edward McCrady, published 1901, Macmillan & Co., ltd., South Carolina, pp. 88-89:

... What action should be taken in this emergency was the subject of another contention between the two parties in the Congress, Arthur Middleton as usual urging vigorous measures and Rawlins Lowndes opposing them. The parties were so evenly divided that in a hundred votes two decided the question. Fifty-one supported Middleton and forty-nine Lowndes. By this vote, on the 8th of November [1775], it was determined to assemble a force under Colonel Richard Richardson, and to send him to seize Patrick Cuningham, Henry O'Neal, Hugh Brown, David Reese, Nathaniel Howard, Henry Green, and Jacob Bochman, the leaders of the Royal party. Captain Ezekiel Polk, who had been led to desert the cause by Moses Kirkland in August, had returned and had been taken back into favor, and was again given a company. He now accompanied Colonel Richardson. There was another person in this expedition, whom, before this book closes, we shall find becoming the real leader in the struggle for the American cause, and who, with others whose names were scarcely yet known, was to redeem the State after it had been overrun and lost to those who were now in control of the revolutionary movements. This was Thomas Sumter, and this was the manner in which he was received into the ranks of the Revolutionary party. "We have consulted with Colonel Richardson touching Mr. Sumter's application to the Council," wrote William Henry Drayton and the Rev. Mr. Tennent to the Council of Safety. "The Colonel readily approved not only of the measure, but of the man, notwithstanding Kirkland recommended him as his successor in the company of Rangers which lie quitted and attempted to disband. The Colonel nevertheless from his seeming connection with Kirkland proposes to keep a sharp eye upon Mr. Sumter's conduct." Sumter thus entered the service under suspicion and upon probation. In this expedition he acted as Colonel Richardson's Adjutant General.

Friday, January 4, 2008

The Cunningham Mess, part 2:
The Ammunition

From The History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780, by Edward McCrady, published 1901, Macmillan & Co., ltd., South Carolina, page 87:

... Drayton while on his mission in that part of the country [Ninety Six District] had had a "talk" with the Cherokees, and had promised to send them a supply of powder and lead; and in compliance with this promise the Council of Safety on the 4th of October [1775] had dispatched a wagon with one thousand pounds of powder and two thousand pounds of lead as a present to them. It unluckily happened that about this time Robert Cuningham's arrest became known; whereupon Patrick Cuningham immediately assembled a party of about sixty armed men to rescue his brother. They failed in doing that, but seized the ammunition on its way to the Indians. Upon this Major Andrew Williamson, who then resided in Ninety-Six, embodied his militia for the purpose of recovering the powder and lead. He formed a camp at Long Cane, and sent a letter to Edward Wilkinson and Alexander Cameron, the Indian agents then in the Cherokee Nation, informing them of the seizure, and requesting that the matter should be explained to the Indians so as to prevent them from revenging themselves upon the people of this frontier. On the other hand, the Cuningham party represented that the ammunition had been sent to the Indians to arm them against the King's friends, who formed so large a part of that population. This unfortunate event added greatly and not unnaturally to the opposition to the government of the Congress and was of great influence in assisting the collection of a considerable force in arms between the Broad and Saluda.

The Cunningham Mess, part 1:
The Arrest

From The History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780, by Edward McCrady, published 1901, Macmillan & Co., ltd., South Carolina, pp. 86-87:

1775

Monday, December 31, 2007

Georgia Enters The Revolution

From Our Country, a "Household History for All Readers," Vol. II, by Benson J. Lossing, published 1877:

Georgia, tardy in joining the Continental movement, felt the flame of patriotism warming the hearts and minds of her sons early in 1775. In February, the inhabitants of the parish of St. Johns, in that province, chose Lyman Hall to represent them in the second Congress, and he took his seat as such at the middle of May. In July the Provincial Convention that had been formed adopted the American Association, and chose delegates to represent the whole province in the Congress; and then the bright galaxy of the "Old Thirteen" was perfected. The royal governor, Sir James Wright, had tried in vain to suppress the rising tide of republicanism in Georgia. So early as May, 1775, when it was suspected that he was about to imitate General Gage, by seizing the ammunition of the province, several members of the Council of Safety and others broke open the magazine, sent a greater portion of the powder to Beaufort, South Carolina, and hid the remainder in their own garrets. When the governor and the Tories were preparing to celebrate the king's birthday, on the 4th of June, by firing the cannon on the battery in Savannah, some of the leading Whigs spiked the guns there, and hurled them to the bottom of the bluff. Not long afterward, a letter written by the governor to General Gage, asking him to send troops to Georgia to suppress the rising rebellion there, was intercepted at Charleston. The republicans were greatly exasperated; and a day or two afterward they seized a British ship at the mouth of the Savannah River, with thirteen thousand pounds of gunpowder on board. The spirit of resistance waxed from stronger and stronger, until, in January, 1776, the Whigs resolved to endure the adverse influence of the governor and the Tories no longer. Joseph Habersham, a member of the popular legislature, with some armed volunteers, seized Governor Wright and made him a prisoner on parole at his own house. A sentinel was placed before it, with orders not to allow any intercourse between the governor and the Loyalists. During a stormy night in February, Sir James escaped through a back window of his house, walked five miles down the borders of the river with a friend, and then entering an open boat, fled in the pelting rain, under the cover of darkness, for shelter to the British vessel-of-war Scarborough, lying in Tybee Sound. [John] Stuart, the Indian agent for the Southern Department, had fled for safety to St. Augustine. He had incurred the bitter resentment of the patriots by trying to execute an atrocious order from Gage, as commander-in-chief of the forces, in these words:

"The people of Carolina in turning rebels to their king have lost all faith; improve a correspondence with Indians to the greatest advantage, and even when opportunity offers make them take arms against his majesty's enemies, and distress them all in their power; for no time is now to be kept with them; they have brought down all the savages they could against us here, who, with their riflemen, are continually firing upon our advanced sentries; in short, no time should be lost to distress a set of people so wantonly rebellious; supply the Indians with what they want, be the expense what it will, as every exertion must now be made on the side of government."

Gage had borne the same false testimony concerning the employment of the savages by the Americans, to the British ministry, as an excuse for his barbarous recommendations to make allies of them with the British army. At the same time the British emissaries were among the savage tribes of the north trying to form alliances with them, and to incite them to war against the Patriots.

So was ended royal rule in Georgia.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Archeology at Ninety Six: Williamson's Fort

Williamson's Fort of 1775 (38-GN-2)
The trenches exposed in this area were found to enclose an area 85 by 150 feet. These trenches were found to end at three places with each of these places containing "footing holes" (post holes) for three structures. The south structure had seven footing holes that formed a rectangle 15 by 30 feet, the west structure was represented by six footings forming a square 19 by 21 feet, and the north structure had four footing holes and measured 21 by 32 feet. When matched with a 1821 map that portrayed Williamson's Fort of 1775, these three structures matched those structures identified as John Savage's barns shown on the map. A fourth building was also shown on the map, but South didn't investigate this; he simply extrapolated its location. A bastion was found just west of the south barn location. Most of the fort had been intruded upon by Holmes Fort. Very little excavation was done in the ditches (which were found to be one foot wide and two feet deep). Near the center of the area of Williamson's Fort, a rectangular pit was found measuring 3.8 by 8 feet, and 2 feet deep; thought to be a possible burial, there was no evidence of a body. A few feet to the north of the south barn, a larger shallow feature containing a two by six feet burial pit was found [pictured]. This pit contained human remains, a large pocket knife (at the hip), large brass coat buttons (near the center of the body), pewter buttons (near the rib cage), and brass wire eyes (near the ankles) (South 1972:30). It is possible that these are the remains of James Birmingham of the Long Cane Militia, who was the sole fatality in the brief conflict at the fort between Loyalists and Patriots in 1775.

(info: "A Research Design for Archeological Investigations at Ninety Six National Historic Site," SEAC 1996, by Guy Prentice)

The Siege of Williamson's Fort

From South Carolina Revolutionary Battles: Part I, Institute for Southern Studies, University of South Carolina:

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Gen. Sir Henry Clinton & the Southern Theatre

In March 1775, King George III dispatched reinforcements to the American colonies under General Sir Henry Clinton and fellow Major-Generals William Howe and John Burgoyne to strengthen the British position in Boston. On 17 June, with the British army having been besieged in Boston since April, Clinton was one of the British field commanders in the Battle of Bunker Hill. This assault to drive the rebels from the heights north of Boston harbor was successful, but only at the heavy cost of over 1,000 British casualties.
In January 1776, Clinton was sent south with a small fleet and 1,500 men to assess military opportunities in the Carolinas. In June, Clinton led a naval assault on Fort Sullivan at Charleston, South Carolina, successfully defended by Colonel William Moultrie. It was a humiliating failure for Clinton. The British did not attempt to renew the battle to try to take the fort again, and by mid-July the fleet withdrew northward. Clinton and his twenty-five ships rejoined the main fleet to participate in General Howe's August 1776 assault on New York City.
In May of 1778, after the British disaster of the Saratoga Campaign, Clinton replaced Howe as Commander-in-Chief for North America. He assumed command in Philadelphia. France had by this time overtly entered the war on the American side, and because of this Clinton was ordered by his government to send 5,000 of his troops to the Caribbean, which forced him to withdraw from Philadelphia and retreat to New York. Having concentrated his forces, for a time he pursued a policy of making mere forays from there. Before year's end, however, Clinton regained the initiative for the British and sent an expedition south to strike at Georgia. This force took Savannah in December, and by early 1779 it had gained control of the hinterland.
The Georgia campaign presumed Loyalist support would appear as soon as redcoats were present in strength. The notion that the South was more likely to be friendly to British forces had been entertained by George Germain, the American Secretary, for much of the war to date, a notion fed by Loyalist exiles in London. Contrary to expectations, the wave of public support for the arrival of British troops never materialized, leaving Clinton and his subordinates isolated. For much of the remainder of the war in the South, British commanders aimed at mobilizing Loyalist support, but results were never as successful as they had anticipated.
By late 1779 Clinton assembled a force for the next step in his strategy, an invasion of South Carolina. he took personal command of this campaign, and a force with 14,000 men sailed south from New York at the end of the year. By early 1780, Clinton lay siege to Charleston. In May, together with Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot, he forced the surrender of the city, with its garrison of 5,000. It was during the siege and capture of Charleston that Clinton's inability to cooperate with equal ranking officers began to become more evident. Arbuthnot and Clinton did not work well together, and the feud would last until the end of the war with disastrous results for the British high command.
Clinton subsequently returned north, leaving 8,000 British troops in the southern theatre under the command of General Cornwallis, his second-in-command. From New York, he continued to oversee and take an active interest in the Southern campaign, as evidenced in his correspondence with Cornwallis. However, as the campaign progressed, he grew further and further away from his subordinate. As the campaign drew to a close, the correspondence became more and more acrimonious.
In 1782, after being replaced as Commander-in-Chief by Sir Guy Carleton, Sir Henry Clinton returned to England.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

The First Declaration of Independence?

THE MECKLENBURG DECLARATION.
20 May 1775

Resolved, 1st. That whosoever directly or indirectly abetted, or in any way, form, or manner, countenanced the unchartered and dangerous invasion of our rights, as claimed by Great Britain, is an enemy to this country, to America, and to the inherent and unalienable rights of man.

Resolved, 2d. That we, the citizens of Mecklenburg county, do hereby dissolve the political bonds which have connected us with the mother country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British crown, and abjure all political connection, contract, or association with that nation, who have wantonly trampled on our rights and liberties, and inhumanly shed the blood of American Patriots at Lexington.

Resolved, 3d. That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people; are, and of right ought to be, a sovereign and self-governing association, under the control of no power, other than that of our God, and the General Government of the Congress:--to the maintenance of which independence, we solemnly pledge to each other, our mutual co-operation, our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honor.

Resolved, 4th. That as we acknowledge the existence and control of no law, nor legal office, civil or military, within this county; we do hereby ordain and adopt, as a rule of life, all, each, and every of our former laws; wherein, nevertheless, the crown of Great Britain never can be considered as holding rights, privileges, immunities, or authority therein.

Resolved, 5th. That it is further decreed, that all, each, and every military officer in this county is hereby retained in his former command and authority, he acting conformably to these regulations. And that every member present of this delegation shall henceforth be a civil officer, viz.: a Justice of the Peace, in the character of a committee man, to issue process, hear and determine all matters of controversy, according to said adopted laws; and to preserve peace, union, and harmony in said county; and to use every exertion to spread the love of country and fire of freedom throughout America, until a general organized government be established in this province.

signers:
Abraham Alexander, Chairman
John McKnitt Alexander, Secretary
Ephraim Brevard, Clerk
Adam Alexander, Charles Alexander, Ezra Alexander, Hezekiah Alexander, Waightstill Avery, Hezekiah J. Balch, Richard Barry, John Davidson, Henry Downs, John Flennekin, John Foard, William Graham, James Harris, Richard Harris, Robert Irwin, William Kennon, Matthew McClure, Neil Morrison, Benjamin Patton, John Phifer, Thomas Polk, John Queary, David Reese, Zaccheus Wilson

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Arthur Middleton (1742-1787)

from Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence, by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, New York: William Reed & Co., 1856:

Saturday, November 10, 2007

William Henry Drayton (1742-1779)

William Henry Drayton, born in 1742, was the oldest son of John Drayton and his second wife, Charlotta Bull, daughter of John Bull, the colony's Governor. Afer spending early childhood on his father's South Carolina plantation, Drayton Hall, William lived in England from age nine until twenty-one, and, while there, studied at Oxford University. His first political writings appeared in the mid 1760s under the name "Freeman," and his most famous early piece was the 1774 pamphlet Letter from Freeman of South Carolina to the Deputies of North American Assembled in the High Court of Congress at Philadelphia. The pamphlet, addressed to the Continental Congress, discussed in detail America's grievances and included a suggested bill of American rights.
In 1775, Drayton was appointed to the South Carolina Provincial Congress and became its president. As president, he oversaw the formation of South Carolina's first constitution and issued the state's first order to fire on the British when, on November 9, 1775—almost eight months before the colonies would officially declare their independence—he ordered Colonel William Moultrie to fire from Fort Sullivan on British ships as they tried to enter the harbor.
In fact, William Henry Drayton was one of the first South Carolinians to openly call for a break from England. Speaking before the South Carolina Provincial Congress in February of 1776, Drayton declared that the British "hand of tyranny" threatened to "spoil America of whatever she held most valuable" and that America needed to decide quickly between "independence or slavery!"
Later appointed first chief justice of South Carolina, Drayton led the colony further along its path to independence with a series of charges to South Carolina's grand juries. According to his famous April 23, 1776 charge, "Under color of law, the king and parliament of Great Britain have made the most arbitrary attempts to enslave America," and "true reconcilement never [could] exist between Great Britain and America." Printed in newspapers throughout the colonies, Drayton's charge was also read by Arthur Middleton, another South Carolina patriot, to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and has been credited with inspiring the delegates to push forward with the Declaration of Independence.

(info: Drayton Hall, http://www.draytonhall.org/research/people/drayton.html)

The Treaty of Ninety-Six, 1775

TREATY OF NINETY-SIX.
SOUTH CAROLINA — NINETY-SIX DISTRICT.
Whereas, misunderstandings but too often precipitate men and friends into quarrels and bloodshed, which, but for such misunderstandings, never could have happened: And whereas the present unhappy disputes between Great Britain and North America, have unhappily occasioned uneasiness between a part of the people living between Broad and Saluda rivers and other adjacent parts, and the other inhabitants of the Colony aforesaid, from misunderstandings as aforesaid, inasmuch as the said part of the people as aforesaid, having tender consciences, declined to accede to the Association signed in Congress on the 4th of June last; and the said other inhabitants thereby thinking that the said declining to accede, proceeded from principles and designs, in them the said part of the people, inimical to the proceedings and designs of the said other inhabitants; and that they, the said part of the people, did mean to aid, assist and join the British troops if any should arrive in the Colony aforesaid, during the present unhappy disputes as aforesaid: And whereas these are all misunderstandings, and it being the sincere wish and desire of all parts of the Colony to live in peace and friendship with each other: Wherefore, for the clearing up of the said misunderstandings, and for the manifestation of the wish and desire aforesaid, Colonel Thomas Fletchall, Captain John Ford, Captain Thomas Greer, Captain Evan McLaurin, the Reverend Philip Mulkey, Mr. Robert Merrick and Captain Benjamin Wofford, deputies for, and sent by the part of the people aforesaid, have repaired to the camp of the Honorable William Henry Drayton, Esquire, acting under the authority of the Council of Safety for this Colony; and, for the purposes aforesaid, it is hereby contracted, agreed, and declared by the Honorable William Henry Drayton, in pursuance of powers vested in him by the Honorable the Council of Safety as aforesaid on the one part, and the deputies aforesaid, in pursuance of powers vested in them by the said part of the people on the other part:

1st.

2d.

3rd.

4th.

And it is hereby declared, that all and every person of the part of the people as aforesaid, not offending in or against any of the premises aforesaid, shall, and may continue to dwell and remain at home as usual, safe in their lives, persons, and property. Such being nothing more, than what has been, and is the aim, intention and inclination of the Congress of this Colony, and the authorities under that body.
All persons who shall not consider themselves as bound by this treaty must abide by the consequences.
Done at the camp, near Ninety-Six, this 16th day of September, 1775.
WM. HY. DRAYTON,
THO. FLETCHALL,
JOHN FORD,
THO. GREER,
EVAN McLAURIN,
BENJ. WOFFORD.
Witness,
WM. THOMSON,
ELI KERSHAW,
FRANCIS SALVADOR.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Gen. John Sevier (1745-1815)

John Sevier, pioneer, soldier, statesman and a founder of the Republic, was Tennessee's first governor and one of its most illustrious citizens. Married and on his own at sixteen, he was in the vanguard of frontier life and accomplishment from his late teens until his death. First and only governor of the short-lived State of Franklin, six-term governor of Tennessee, and congressman for four terms from the eastern district, Sevier was also a formidable soldier, having risen to the rank of general in the North Carolina militia.
Born near the present town of New Market, Virginia, Sevier was the oldest of seven children of Valentine and Joanna Goad Sevier. His forebears–the Xaviers–were Huguenots who had fled France for England, anglicized their name, and become prosperous farmers. By 1740 Valentine had arrived in Virginia and settled in the Shenandoah Valley on Smith's Creek.
By 1773 he lived on the Holston River, but three years later he had moved to a farm on the Watauga River near the present town of Elizabethton, Tennessee. In the same year, North Carolina authorities created the Washington District, which included the Watauga settlements, and Sevier was sent to the Provincial Congress of North Carolina as representative.
When the Revolutionary War began in 1775, Sevier was named a lieutenant colonel of the North Carolina militia, and was initially assigned to protecting frontier settlements. He ultimately distinguished himself as one of the commanding officers of the Overmountain Men at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780, which took down the forces of British Col. Patrick Ferguson and figured prominently in turning the tide towards Patriot victory at Yorktown.
Soon after the Revolutionary War, Sevier became involved in a movement designed to secure separate statehood for the people living in Washington, Sullivan, and Greene Counties. The Continental Congress in 1780 had urged that lands claimed by North Carolina and Virginia should become states soon after hostilities might end. Thomas Jefferson had presented a plan whereby eighteen new states might be carved from the western territories. But North Carolina authorities objected vehemently when western leaders assembled in Jonesborough in August 1784 to make plans for statehood. When they chose Sevier as governor and drafted a constitution, claiming an "inalienable right" to form an independent state, Governor Alexander Martin threatened to "render the revolting territory not worth possessing" if North Carolina did not retain sovereignty over it. Attempts at conciliation divided the Franklin people into factions, and border warfare developed. Several men were killed or wounded, and two of Sevier's sons were captured, threatened, and held briefly.
Sevier's term as governor of Franklin expired in the spring of 1788, and for all practical purposes the state came to an end. Sevier was arrested and charged with treason but never tried. Within less than a year he had taken an oath of allegiance to North Carolina and was elected to the state Senate. A few months later he was restored to his rank of brigadier general in the North Carolina militia.
In March, 1809, a few months before his final term ended–Sevier ran before the legislature for the U.S. Senate but was defeated by Judge Joseph Anderson. Later in that year, voters in Knox County sent him to the state Senate. Then, in 1811, he was elected to Congress. His advanced years and his unfamiliarity with federal procedures resulted in his being an ineffective legislator on the national level, however.
John Sevier died on September 24, 1815, while on a mission to the Alabama territory where he had gone with U.S. troops to determine the proper location of the Creek boundary. He was buried on the eastern bank of the Tallapoosa River near Fort Decatur.

(Source: The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, Tennessee Historical Society, Nashville, Tennessee; http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=S023#)

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Uncle Samuel McDowell

Patrick Henry was one of the most influential (and radical) advocates of the American Revolution. He is perhaps best known for the speech he made in the Virginia House of Burgesses on 23 March 1775, urging the legislature to take military action against the encroaching British military force. The House was deeply divided, but was very much leaning toward not committing troops. As Henry stood in Saint John's Church in Richmond, he ended his speech with his most famous words: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" This speech is credited, by some, with single-handedly delivering the Virginia troops to the Revolutionary War.
My 5x great-uncle Samuel McDowell (1735-1817) was one of two delegates from Rockbridge County to the Virginia Conventions of 1775, and was present that day in the House of Burgesses. His life remains a lesson in citizenship and patriotism. Samuel McDowell had been a captain in the French and Indian War, commissioned 16 August 1759. On 21 November 1759, he was installed as County Commissioner and Justice in Augusta County, Virginia. He was a captain of the Rangers Company at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. At the Battle of Point Pleasant, he served as aide-de-camp to Gen. Isaac Shelby, who later became the first governor of Kentucky. Samuel became a colonel in the Revolutionary War, serving in Gen. Nathanael Greene's campaign in North Carolina, and was with the army that drove Gen. Cornwallis to Wilmington. In 1775, in conjunction with his kinsman Thomas Lewis, son of Augusta County settler John Lewis and brother of Gen. Andrew Lewis, hero of Point Pleasant, Samuel was chosen to represent the freeholders of Augusta County in the convention which met at Richmond, Virginia. He was also a member of the second convention that met at Williamsburg in 1776. As an officer, Samuel McDowell distinguished himself in the Battle of Guilford Court House. In addition, he raised a battalion at his own expense to aid in repelling the invasion of Virginia by Benedict Arnold.
In 1783, uncle Samuel McDowell moved his family to what became Fayette County, Kentucky (but was then still part of Virginia), where he was a surveyor. He was appointed to the first District Court ever held in Kentucky, 3 March 1783, and was President of the convention which was called to frame the constitution for the state of Kentucky on 19 April 1792.
All this, and 13 children, too.

(info: "Rockbridge County, Virginia Notebook", The News-Gazette, Lexington, Virginia)

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Thomas "Kanawah" Spratt (1731-1807)

Thomas "Kanawah" Spratt was born in 1731 onboard ship while his parents and older sisters were crossing the Atlantic from Ireland. Thomas was his parents' only son, and lived to become a legendary figure in their region of the Carolina frontier. According to Carolina historian Louise Pettus:

Martha McDowell, Colonel Buford, and the Butcher

My cousin Martha McDowell, daughter of Col. Samuel McDowell and Mary McClung, was born 26 June 1766 in Rockbridge County, Virginia. I don't know much about Martha, except that she married Col. Abraham Buford, a military man caught in a terrible, terrible situation still argued about in history circles.
Abraham Buford was a Continental Army officer during the Revolutionary War, most known as commanding officer during the "Waxhaw Massacre". Born in Culpeper County, Virginia, Buford quickly organized a company of minutemen upon the outbreak of war in 1775, eventually rising to the rank of colonel by May 1778. Assuming command of the 11th Virginia Regiment in September, he would be assigned to the 3rd Virginia Regiment in April 1780 and sent south to relieve the British siege of Charleston, South Carolina.
Banastre Tarleton [pictured, portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds] was a British officer and politician. His reputation for ruthlessness earned him the nickname "Bloody Ban" and "Butcher" amongst American revolutionists. On May 29, 1780, Lt. Col. Tarleton, with a force of 150 mounted soldiers, overtook the detachment of 350 to 380 Virginia Continentals led by Col. Buford near Lancaster, South Carolina. Buford refused to surrender or even to stop his march. Only after sustaining heavy casualties did Buford order surrender. The battle has always been controversial, since after breaking Buford's line Tarleton's men slaughtered many of the Virginians who surrendered, hacking them down with their sabres. Some sources, such as Buford's Adjutant Henry Bowyer and Surgeon's Mate Robert Brownfield, claim that Buford belatedly raised a white flag but was ignored by Tarleton. In Tarleton's own account, he virtually admits the massacre, stating that his horse had been shot from under him during the initial charge and his men, thinking him dead, engaged in "a vindictive asperity not easily restrained." In the end, 113 Americans were killed and another 203 captured, 150 of whom were so badly wounded that they had to be left behind. Tarleton's casualties were 5 killed and 12 wounded. The British called the affair the Battle of Waxhaw Creek, while the Americans knew it as the Buford Massacre or the Waxhaw Massacre.
Col. Buford escaped on horseback with his remaining men and would hold no further commands for the remainder of the war. He and Martha eventually settled in Scott County, Kentucky.

(sources: Wikipedia - Waxhaw Massacre, Banastre Tarleton, Abraham Buford)

The Tryon Resolves

In Tryon County, North Carolina there were many loyal subjects of the king, but there was likewise a band of patriots who, as early as August, 1775, adopted and signed the following declaration:

[signed] John Walker, Charles McLean, Andrew Neel, Thomas Beatty, James Coburn, Frederick Hambright, Andrew Hampton, Benjamin Hardin, George Paris, William Graham, Robt. Alexander, David Jenkins, Thomas Espey, Perrygreen Mackness, James McAfee, William Thompson, Jacob Forney, Davis Whiteside, John Beeman, John Morris, Joseph Harden, John Robison, James McIntyre, Valentine Mauney, George Black, Jas. Logan, Jas. Baird, Christian Carpenter, Abel Beatty, Joab Turner, Jonathan Price, Jas. Miller, John Dellinger, Peter Sides, William Whiteside, Geo. Dellinger, Samuel Carpenter, Jacob Mauney, Jun., John Wells, Jacob Costner, Robert Hulclip, James Buchanan, Moses Moore, Joseph Kuykendall, Adam Simms, Richard Waffer, Samuel Smith, Joseph Neel, Samuel Loftin

The Revolutionary South