Program of exercises for North Carolina Day

              PROGRAM OF EXERCISES
NORTH CAROLINA DAY
THE SETTLEMENTS OF THE GERMANS
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1908
COMPILED BY
R. D. W. CONNOR,
Secretary of the North Carolina Historical Commission
A people who have not the pride to record their history will not long have
the virtue to make history that is worth recording.
ISSUED FROM THE OFFICE OF THE
STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
RALEIGH, N. C.
NO MAN IS FIT TO BE ENTRUSTED WITH CONTROL OF THE
PRESENT WHO IS IGNORANT OF THE PAST ; AND NO PEOPLE
WHO ARE INDIFFERENT TO THEIR PAST NEED HOPE TO MAKE
THEIR FUTURE GREAT.
CHAPTER 164
OF THE PUBLIC LAWS OF 1901.
An Act to Provide for the Celebration of North Carolina Day
in the Public Schools.
The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 1. That the 12th day of October in each and every year,
to be called "North Carolina Day," may be devoted, by appropriate
exercises in the public schools of the state, to the consideration of
some topic or topics of our state history, to be selected by the Super-intendent
of Public Instruction : Provided, that if the said day shall
fall on Saturday or Sunday, then the celebration shall occur on the
Monday next following : Provided further, that if the said day shall
fall at a time when any such schools may not be in session, the cele-bration
may be held within one month from the beginning of the
term, unless the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall designate
some other time.
Sec 2. This act shall be in force from and after its ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times, and ratified this the 9th
day of February, A. D. 1901.
PREFACE.
As many of the public schools are not in session as early as October
12th, I have taken the liberty allowed under the law of fixing the
date of North Carolina Day this year and hereafter on the last Friday
before Christmas. It is earnestly desired that all the public schools
of the state shall engage in this celebration on the same day. This
pamphlet has been prepared and sent out to aid busy teachers in the
proper celebration of the day and to leave no excuse for failing to
celebrate it.
The consecration of at least one day in the year to the public con-sideration
of the history of the state in the public schools, as directed
by the act of the General Assembly printed on the preceding page, is
a beautiful idea. It is the duty of every public school teacher to obey
the letter of this law. It will, I know, be the pleasure of every
patriotic teacher to obey the spirit of it by using the opportunity of
North Carolina Day to inspire the children with a new pride in their
state, a new enthusiasm for the study of her history, and a new love
of her and her people.
Following the chronological order of the state's history, the sub-jects
of the North Carolina Day programs have been as follows : In
1901, The First Anglo-Saxon Settlement in America ; in 1902, The
Albemarle Section ; in 1903, The Lower Cape Fear Section ; in 1904,
The Pamlico Section ; in 1905, The Upper Cape Fear Section ; in 1907,
The Scotch-Irish Settlements in North Carolina. In 1906 it was
deemed proper to turn aside from this adopted plan of chronological
study to devote the day to the study of the life, character and splendid
service of Dr. Charles D. Mclver. This year the German Settlements
form the subject of study. In succeeding years the history of other
sections of the state will be studied, somewhat in the order of their
settlement and development, until the entire period of the state's
history shall have been covered. It is hoped ultimately to stimulate
a study of local and county history.
These programs have been arranged with a view of giving the chil-dren
of the rising generation a knowledge of the history of the re-sources,
manners, customs and ways of making a living of the differ-ent
sections of the state. It is hoped in this way to awaken a proper
pride in the history of the state, to inspire a proper confidence in its
present and hope in its future, and to give the people of the different
sections of the state a better acquaintance with each other.
The material for this pamphlet has been collected, arranged and
edited, at my request, by Mr. R. D. W. Connor, Secretary of the North
Carolina Historical Commission.
I desire to return my sincere thanks to the public-spirited citizens
who, at our request, have so kindly assisted in the preparation of the
pamphlet. Very truly yours,
J. Y. Joynek,
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Raleigh, N. C, October 1, 1908.
A WORD OF EXPLANATION.
The law creating the North Carolina Historical Commission makes
it part of the Commission's duty to "encourage the study of North
Carolina history in the schools of the state." The following pamphlet,
therefore, was prepared, at the request of State Superintendent J. Y.
Joyner, by the undersigned as a part of his official duties as Secretary
of the North Carolina Historical Commission. All the articles, unless
otherwise stated, were prepared by him.
The preparation of the pamphlet has been attended with unusual
difficulties, owing to the meagerness of the sources of information
relative to the German settlements in North Carolina. Some of the
teachers in the counties settled by Germans, besides finding it an inter-esting
work, could render a valuable and conspicuous service to the
state by collecting data relating to their history, printing it in pam-phlet
form or otherwise making it available for students. For more
than half a century after the settlements were begun the German set-tlers
took but little part in the public affairs of the state, owing pri-marily
to their ignorance of the English language. Consequently the
early official records contain but few notices of these settlers. With
the exception of a few interesting pamphlets, practically all that has
been written about them relates entirely to their church affairs. Con-spicuous
exceptions to this statement are found in the work of Rev.
Dr. John H. Clewell, president of Salem Female Academy and author
of "The History of Wachovia in North Carolina," and the historical
work of Miss Adelaide Fries, of Salem. To both of these I acknowl-edge
my obligations for valuable assistance in the preparation of
this pamphlet.
Others who have manifested interest in it, to whom I desire to
return thanks, are Mr. B. F. Pfohl, of Salem ; Col. Paul B. Means, of
Concord ; Mr. Alfred Nixon, of Lincolnton, and Mr. Charles L. Coon,
superintendent of schools of Wilson. I also desire to express thanks
and appreciation to Mr. William J. Andrews, of Raleigh, for permis-sion
to photograph his historic portraits of George III. and Queen
Charlotte.
R. D. W. Connor.
Raleigh, N. C, October 1, 1908.
HOW TO USE THIS PAMPHLET.
This pamphlet attempts to present the story of the principal his-toric
events connected with the German settlements in North Carolina.
It should be made the basis for the study of North Carolina his-tory
by all the pupils in the school who are sufficiently advanced to
understand the subject. This work ought to be begun some time be-fore
North Carolina Day, and continued, article by article, until the
subject is mastered. The teacher is expected, of course, to explain all
points which present difficulties that the pupils are not able to clear up
for themselves. It will greatly aid in explaining the subjects and
fixing them in the minds of the pupils if the teacher will put topical
outlines of them on the blackboard or have the pupils make them in
their note-books. After they thoroughly understand the subjects the
pupils should be questioned about them.
The best results can be obtained by having pupils reproduce the
articles in their own language. If an article as it appears in the pam-phlet
is too long for a single essay, let it be subdivided into two or
more subjects, each to be treated separately. The principal value of
the articles is to present the facts upon which the pupils may base
their own work. This practice serves both for history work and for
exercises in composition. It will tend also to develop the talent for
historical work which any of the children may have. It is important
for the teacher to discover such talent, if any of the pupils possess it,
and help to develop it.
When the pamphlet is completed in the way suggested, the pupils
will have a fair knowledge of the history of the section under con-sideration.
It has been frequently observed that many of the pupils to whom
places have been assigned on the program for North Carolina Day do
not seem to understand clearly the articles they have to read or recite.
Two reasons may be given for this : First, the articles are too difficult
for the pupils to whom they have been assigned ; second, the pupils
have not received sufficient previous training.
In regard to the first : Care should be taken not to assign parts to
pupils who are not advanced enough to take them understandingly.
If the article to be presented is too difficult, let the pupil to whom it
has been assigned, instead of reading it as it appears in the pamphlet,
use it as the oasis for ivriting an essay of his own on that subject.
It has been suggested that, in using the pamphlet for class work pre-vious
to North Carolina Day, this practice should be followed. If the
teacher will select from these essays, as they are prepared, the best
ones, they can be used in the program for North Carolina Day. The
knowledge that this will be done will stimulate pupils to their best
efforts.
As an illustration : The article entitled "A Visit to the Germans One
Hundred Years Ago" is, as it appears in the pamphlet, rather long for
one pupil to read as a single number on the program ; but it may be
used as a basis for an essay in the child's own language, or it may be
subdivided among several children, one writing from it a short essay
on "The German Minister," another on "The Superstitions of the Ger-mans,"
another on "Customs of the Germans," etc. The facts upon
which these essays may be based will be found in the original article.
Other subjects may be treated in the same way. Instead of using the
article entitled "A Journey Through the Carolina Wilderness in 1752"
as it is, let the pupil use it as the basis of a narrative of his own.
These essays in the children's own language will present no difficul-ties
to them when read in public, and a little previous training will
enable them to perform their parts with credit to themselves and to
the school. Another result of this plan will be to make the program
more truly the children's program, for they will present their own
work, not another's. This will, of course, increase their interest in the
celebration.
Perhaps it will be well to have one or two of the simpler articles
read as they appear in the pamphlet. Those entitled "John Henry
Boner" and "How a School Boy Preserved an Historic Picture" are
suitable for this purpose.
The poems, of course, must be sung, or read, or recited, and the
declamations delivered just as they are written. The pupils to whom
they are assigned should read them over and over again to the teacher
before the celebration of North Carolina Day, until every word, every
phrase, every reference is thoroughly understood. They cannot be
presented with the proper expression unless this is done. A very
beautiful exercise can be made with "The Peace Jubilee and Psalm of
Joy at Salem, July 4, 1783." With this is printed the music, and a
very little training will make this a most impressive exercise, espe-cially
at this season, when we are about to celebrate the birthday of
"The Prince of Peace."
"America," "The Old North State" and "Ho ! for Carolina !" should,
of course, be sung by the school. It will be well for the teacher to
include in the program other songs with which the children are
familiar, though no special ones are suggested in this pamphlet.
"Saddle-bags of Gold" should be read or recited. It will require a
good deal of practice to enable the pupil to read this poem properly,
but if it is read well nothing on the program will be more stirring.
The teacher should be careful to see that the pupils understand not
only the meaning of the words and phrases of these poems, but also
the historical allusions in them.
The declamation from Governor Aycock's great speech should, of
course, be memorized and spoken. This is more suitable for a boy
than for a girl, and should be assigned to a boy who is well advanced.
The subjects treated in the pamphlet are arranged in chronological
order, and the program should follow this arrangement.
It is scarcely necessary to add that the teacher should be thoroughly
familiar with the pamphlet from cover to cover, if it is to be used
intelligently.
The program may be divided into two parts—one part to be pre-sented
in the morning and one in the afternoon or night ; or one part
by the younger children, the other by the older ones. If it is too long
to be conveniently carried out by small schools, two or more schools
may unite in the celebration.
Teachers are urged to make a special effort to secure a large attend-ance
of the people of the district, and to avail themselves of this
opportunity to interest parents and patrons in the school. The occa-sion
can be used by the teacher to secure the hearty co-operation of
the committeemen, the women of the district and all other public-spirited
citizens. The day should be made North Carolina Day in
truth, for grown people as well as for children.
These pamphlets, issued from year to year for the celebration of
North Carolina Day, will contain much valuable and interesting in-formation
about the state and her people. They must be preserved as
the property of the school and filed in the school library, where they
will be accessible to teachers from year to year for the teaching of
North Carolina history.
CONTENTS.
The Old North State William Gaston.
Settlers from Germany R. D. W. Connor.
Where the Germans Settled R. D. W. Connor.
Saddle-bags of Gold John Henry Boner.
A German Pioneer—John Paul Barringer R. D. W. Connor.
A Journey Through the Carolina Wilderness. .A. G. Spangenburg.
The Cliff John Henry Boner.
The Beginning of Wachovia R. D. W. Connor.
The Guardian Angel W. S. Pfohl,
Ho ! for Carolina ! William, B. Harrell.
A Carolina Backwoodsman in Colonial Days -/. F. D. Smyth.
The Battle of Ramsauer's Mill R. D. W. Connor.
The British Invasion of the German Settlements.
R. D. W. Connor.
America Samuel F. Smith.
How a School Boy Preserved an Historic Picture. .R. D. W. Connor.
The Peace Jubilee at Salem, July 4, 1783.
Translated from the German oy Adelaide Fries.
A Visit to the Germans One Hundred Years Ago. .R. D. W. Connor.
Bells of Christmas John Henry Boner.
German Schools and School Teachers R. D. W. Connor.
John Henry Boner R. D. W. Connor.
The Wanderer Back Home John Henry Boner.
Universal Education—A Declamation.
The Morning Star.
THE OLD NORTH STATE.
BY WILLIAM GASTON.
Carolina ! Carolina ! Heaven's blessings attend her !
While we live we will cherish, protect and defend her;
Though the scorner may sneer at and witlings defame her,
Our hearts swell with gladness whenever we name her.
Hurrah ! Hurrah ! the Old North State forever !
Hurrah ! Hurrah ! the good Old North State
!
Though she envies not others their merited glory,
Say, whose name stands the foremost in Liberty's story
!
Though too true to herself e'er to crouch to oppression,
Who can yield to just rule more loyal submission ?
Hurrah, etc.
Plain and artless her sons, but whose doors open faster
At the knock of a stranger, or the tale of disaster ?
How like to the rudeness of their dear native mountains,
With rich ore in their bosoms and life in their fountains.
Hurrah, etc.
And her daughters, the Queen of the Forest resembling
—
So graceful, so constant, yet to gentlest breath trembling
;
And true lightwood at heart, let the match be applied them,
How they kindle and name ! Oh ! none know but who've
tried them.
Hurrah, etc.
Then let all who love us love the land that we live in
(As happy a region as on this side of Heaven),
Where Plenty and Freedom, Love and Peace smile before us.
Paise aloud, raise together the heart-thrilling chorus
!
Hurrah ! Hurrah ! the Old North State forever
!
Hurrah ! Hurrah ! the good Old North State
!
SETTLERS FROM GERMANY.
In the year 1773, while North Carolina was still a colony
belonging to England, a traveler set out from Hillsboro to
cross the mountains. There were then no well laid-ont roads
leading from place to place, but only a few faint tracks and
winding paths through the forests. They ran in all direc-tions
and crossed each other at a dozen places. Hunters and
trappers could easily follow them, but the stranger soon lost
his way. He wandered on, without knowing where he was or
whither he was going, until he saw the smoke curling up
through the trees from the chimney of a cabin in a clearing.
"Here/' he thought, "I can find somebody who will show me
the right path." He stopped to ask the way, but the people
stared at him, shook their heads and said something in a
strange language that he could not understand.
"It was unlucky for me," he wrote afterwards, "that the
greater number of the inhabitants on the plantations where I
called to inquire my way, being Germans, neither understood
my questions nor could render themselves intelligible to me."1
Who were these people, here in our own North Carolina,
who could neither speak nor understand the English language ?
Where did they come from ? What were they doing here ?
If this English traveler had made his journey from Hills-boro
a few years earlier he would now and then have met queer
processions moving slowly southward along the great road
from Pennsylvania to the Yadkin Valley in North Carolina.
First, he would have seen cows and hogs and sheep trotting
along toward him ; then he would have noticed that red-faced
men and boys in the workday clothes of a farmer were driv-ing
them. Close behind he would have seen a covered wagon,
stuffed with household goods and feather beds and farm tools,
drawn by four or perhaps six horses, rumbling over roots and
rocks and into holes and gullies. In front he would have
noticed a stout woman holding the reins. He would have
observed that the bed of the wagon was low, but that it ran up
high behind, where feed troughs, pots, kettles and water buck-ets
dangled outside. From behind the cover of the wagon
bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked children would have popped out
1 Smyth: Tour in America, London, 1784. Vol. I, 236.
12
their frowsy heads to stare at the stranger and at the sights of
the new country. From under the wagon the dogs, whose
business it was to guard the camp at night, would have growled
at him. Had he stopped this procession and asked the way,
he would have received an answer in the same strange lan-guage
that he heard in 1773. 1
These patient movers were German settlers coming to North
Carolina in search of good lands on the banks of the Yadkin
and Catawba rivers. They had come to America from Eu-rope.
A few came in search of adventure, and became hunt-ers
and trappers. In the forests of America they found
thousands of animals whose skins and furs were valuable.
Here they chased the fox and the deer, hunted the buffalo and
the bear, shot the wolf and the panther, and trapped the
beaver and the otter, and sold their furs and skins for good
prices.
Others came to improve their fortunes. In Germany
wealthy nobles held the best lands ; in America any industri-ous
man could own a good farm. In Germany good land was
scarce and dear ; in America, plentiful and cheap. In Ger-many
a man needed money to acquire a home ; in America,
only industry and honesty were necessary. Many thousands
of industrious Germans, therefore, came to America to seek
cheaper lands and better homes than they could ever have in
the Old World.
But the greater part of these Germans came to America for
religious reasons. They were a very religious people, and
loved their Bibles and their churches. In Europe they were
often disturbed, sometimes persecuted, on account of their
religion. Their homes were often destroyed and their farms
laid waste during the terrible wars waged by their rulers.
In America they could worship God as they pleased, and
would have no king or noble to trouble them. To America,
therefore, they turned as a place of refuge, and willingly
braved the clangers of the sea and the hardships of the wilder-ness
in their search for religious freedom. Some of them
were also inspired by a desire to preach the gospel to the colo-nists
and by a hope of converting the Indians to Christianity.
These Germans were members of the Lutheran Church, the
German Reformed Church and the Moravian Church.
1 Hill: Young People's History of North Carolina, 119.
13
Their first American homes were in Pennsylvania; then
they gradually moved southward. From Pennsylvania family
after family and colony after colony swarmed into western
North Carolina between the years 1740 and 1775. Piling
their furniture in great covered wagons, with their women
and children sitting on top and the men either walking or
riding horseback, driving their hogs and cattle before them,
they followed the rivers and valleys until they found fertile
lands and genial climate. Then they pitched their tents,
cleared their fields and built their cabins. Side by side with
their cabins went up their churches and schoolhouses. Be-fore
many years had passed, the settlements of these thrifty,
hard-working and intelligent people covered the territory then
known as Anson and Granville counties, but now included in
the counties of Orange, Rowan, Guilford, Burke, Lincoln,
Randolph, Iredell, Stokes, Cabarrus, Davidson, Davie, Stanly,
Catawba, Gaston, Alamance and Forsyth. In these counties
they became the neighbors of the Scotch-Irish, who had already
begun to plant settlements in that part of North Carolina.
WHERE THE GERMANS SETTLED.
When the Germans first came into North Carolina that
section where they settled was known as Granville and Anson
counties. Since then other counties have been formed from
them.
ORANGE COUNTY.
The first of these new counties was cut off from Granville
in the year 1752. Part of it also came from Johnston and
Bladen counties. It was named Orange in honor of William
of Orange, a famous Dutch soldier and statesman. In 1689
William of Orange became King of England. In English
history he is known as King William III. He was one of
England's best and greatest rulers, and did so much to secure
liberty for the people of England that his name is honored
wherever English liberty is enjoyed.
Orange County was settled by the Germans and the Scotch-
Irish. Most of that part of the county settled by the Ger-mans
has since been formed into the counties of Guilford,
Randolph and Alamance.
Hillsboro, the county seat of Orange, was one of the most
important towns in North Carolina for many years before the
Revolution. A traveler1 who visited the town three years
before the Revolution wrote the following about "Hills-borough"
: "This is the third appellation this town has al-ready
been honoured with since it was erected, being first
named Corbintown, next Childsburg, now Hillsborough; all
in less than thirty years. * * * Hillsborough is a
healthy spot, enjoying a good share of commerce for an in-land
town, and is in a very promising state of improvement.
* * * In the vicinity of Hillsborough, and to the west-ward
of it, there are a great many very fine farms and a num-ber
of excellent mills. The inhabitants are chiefly natives of
Ireland and Germany, * * * who export large quanti-ties
of exceeding good butter and flour, in wagons, to Halifax,
Petersburg, etc., besides multitudes of fat cattle, beeves and
hogs. * * * Almost every man in this country has been
the fabricator of his own fortune, and many of them are very
opulent. Some have attained their riches by commerce,
1 J. F. D. Smyth: His account was published in London, 1784, under the title "A Tour
in the United States of America," 2 vols.
15
others by the practice of the law, but most of them have ac-quired
their possessions by cropping, farming and industry."
Another traveler who visited Hillsboro three years after
the Revolution wrote, many years later: "I reached Hills-borough,
upon the Little Eno. It contained forty dwelling
houses, a church, courthouse and academy—a feeble lamp,
but it was earnestly fostered. * * * A cultivated and
refined posterity now [1821] occupies that charming terri-tory.
* * * The vicinity of Hillsborough was in an ad-vanced
state of agricultural improvement, and embraced a
very genteel society. 7 ' 1
ROWAN COUNTY.
Rowan County was cut off from Anson in 1753. It is,
therefore, just one year younger than Orange County. We
must not think that Rowan County in 1753 was the same as
Rowan County in 1908. Rowan County in 1753 included
the territory that to-day is found in thirty counties, and it
ran so far beyond the mountains that perhaps no white man in
North Carolina had ever been as far west as its boundary
line.
This immense county was named Rowan in honor of Mat-thew
Rowan, a prominent leader in North Carolina before the
Revolution. In 1753, when the new county was formed, he
was acting as Governor.
Perhaps one-half of the present county of Rowan was set-tled
by Germans from Pennsylvania. They first began to
come into Rowan about the year 1745. From that time until
after the close of the Revolution the stream from Pennsylva-nia
continued to flow. They came side by side with their
Scotch-Irish neighbors, sometimes settling in the same com-munity
with them, and at other times occupying adjoining
sections of country.
These German settlers were remarkable for industry, econ-omy
and the habit of living within their means and avoiding
debt. They took but little part in the public affairs of the
county and province. This was due chiefly to the fact that
they could not speak the English language. So they let poli-tics
alone and attended to their home affairs. They built
plain but comfortable houses, had well-tilled farms and sub-stantial
farmhouses. They had immense double barns, with
1Elkanah Watson: Men and Times of the Revolution, 290.
16
great doors, wide enough to admit a four-horse wagon with
its towering load of hay, or straw, or wheat ! There, too, was
the threshing floor, where the horses tramped out the wheat
and the "windmill" blew the chaff into the chaff house. In
the same building were the long stables, where the cows were
yoked to the troughs, each one knowing her place, while the
calves were tied to a trough at the other wall. To the culti-vation
of their farms, the raising of cattle and the building
of homes the Germans applied their chief thought and atten-tion.
They were a peaceable, law-abiding, industrious peo-ple,
who had come from the Fatherland to America to make
homes for themselves and their children, and they made home-making
their principal business. 1
"Salisbury is the capital of a district, and is the county
town of Rowan." So wrote the English traveler in 1773.
"It is situated on a small creek that runs into the Yadkin on
the southwest side. The town is larger than Hillsborough
and less than Halifax, but does not share an equal degree of
commerce with the least of these. The trade of Salisbury is
pretty exactly divided between the towns on James River, in
Virginia, and Charles Town, in South Carolina.
"There is a beautiful, romantic mountain a few miles due
south from Salisbury, which, being seen from the town, pro-duces
a very fine effect. * * *
"I went to the summit of this delightful mountain, on the
brow nearest to the town, and from thence beheld a perspec-tive
beautiful, extensive and grand, * * * with supe-rior
pleasure."
The other traveler, who visited Salisbury in 1786, wrote
:
"Salisbury was a pleasant village, containing fifty dwelling
houses and a large stone prison. The road to Charlotte, in
Mecklenburg County, was equal to any English turnpike and
traversed a beautiful level."
GUILFORD COUNTY.
A part of Granville was formed in 1752 into Orange, and
a part of Anson in 1753 into Rowan. So many people came
into Orange and Rowan counties that in 1770 it became neces-sary
to take a part of each and make a new county. This
county was called Guilford. It was named in honor of an
English nobleman, Francis, Earl of Guilford. He was the
^ethro Rumple: History of Rowan County, 28, 29.
17
father of Lord North, the chief adviser of King George III.
during the Revolution. After his father's death Lord North
became the Earl of Guilford.
A large number of Germans from Pennsylvania settled in
this county. In their covered wagons they followed the great
road from Pennsylvania through Maryland and Virginia,
and selected fertile lands along the banks of rivers and creeks
in what is now Guilford County.
Greensboro, the county seat, was named in honor of the
famous American general, Nathanael Greene. General
Greene fought the great battle of Guilford Courthouse against
Lord Cornwallis, not far from Greensboro. "Greensborough,"
wrote a traveler in 1849, is
a
a thriving, compact village.
* * * It is the capital of Guilford County. * * *
Very few of the villages in the interior of the state appeared
to me more like a Northern town -than Greensborough. The
houses are generally good, and the stores give evidence of
active trade."1
BURKE COUNTY.
As settlers continued to pour into western North Carolina
it became necessary to form new counties. In 1777 a part
of Rowan County was taken to form a county called Burke.
Burke County, like Rowan, was settled in part by Germans
from Pennsylvania.
Rowan County, as you have been told, was named in honor
of one of the King's officers ; Guilford in honor of one of the
King's noblemen, and Orange in honor of a king himself.
But Burke County was formed during the Revolution, when
the people had no more use for kings. So the new county
was named in honor of a distinguished patriot of North Caro-lina.
This was Dr. Thomas Burke, of Orange County. Dr.
Burke was one of the first to resist the tyranny of Great
Britain and to stand up for the rights of America. In 1777,
when the new county was formed, he was at Philadelphia, in
the Continental Congress, where North Carolina had sent him
to look after her interests. Afterwards he was elected Gov-ernor
of North Carolina. He was the third Governor of the
state after the Declaration of Independence.
Lossing: Field Book of the Revolution, II, 389.
18
LINCOLN COUNTY.
Lincoln County was once a part of Mecklenburg County.
The first German settlements were made in Lincoln County
between the years 1745 and 1750, while it was still a part of
Mecklenburg. Mecklenburg was cut off from Anson in 1762,
and afterwards a part of Mecklenburg was made into a new
county, called Tryon, in honor of William Tryon, who was
Governor of North Carolina. But when the Revolution
broke out Governor Tryon was for the King; so the people
decided to erase his name from the map. In 1779, therefore,
Tryon County was divided into two counties, called Lincoln
and Rutherford.
Lincoln County and the county seat, Lincolnton, were both
named in honor of Benjamin Lincoln, an American general
who fought under Washington. When Lincoln County was
formed Gen. Benjamin Lincoln was the general in command
of the American army at Charleston, South Carolina. There
were several thousand North Carolina soldiers in his army.
So the new county was named in honor of their general.
RANDOLPH COUNTY.
When you read about Orange County you were told that
the greater part of the German settlements in that county was
afterwards cut off into Guilford, Randolph and Alamance
counties. Guilford County, as you have seen, was taken from
Rowan and Orange in 1770. Randolph County was taken
from Guilford in 1779. The northeastern part of the county
was settled largely by Germans who came directly from Penn-sylvania.
The county was named in honor of Peyton Randolph, an
eminent patriot of Virginia. In 1779, when Randolph
County was formed, Peyton Randolph was President of the
great Continental Congress at Philadelphia, in which all the
states were represented.
IREDELL COUNTY.
Iredell County, like Burke, was once a part of Rowan. It
was made into a county in the year 1788, and named in honor
of James Iredell, of Edenton.
James Iredell was one of the foremost lawyers of North
Carolina. During the Revolution he was one of our first
19
judges. After the Revolution he was one of the leaders in
the state in persuading the people to adopt the Constitution
of the United States. His speeches in favor of the Constitu-tion
were so able that President Washington appointed him a
judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was
a judge of the Supreme Court when he died.
Iredell County was settled largely by Germans, but the
German settlers in Iredell did not as a rule come directly
from Pennsylvania. They came from Rowan County and
that part of Mecklenburg County which was afterwards made
into Cabarrus County.
STOKES COUNTY.
The other counties that we have been reading about were
settled by Germans who were members of the Lutheran and
German Reformed churches. Stokes County was also set-tled
by Germans, but they were members of the Moravian
Church. At that time the territory on which they settled
was called Anson. Then Rowan County was cut off in 1753,
and from Rowan Surry County was cut off in 1771, and
from Surry Stokes County was cut off in 1789. Sixty years
later a county was cut off from Stokes and called Forsyth.
You will be told more about the Moravian settlements when
you read about Forsyth County.
Stokes County was named in honor of John Stokes, a brave
American colonel of the Revolution. He was in a number of
bloody battles, and in one of them had his arm cut off by a
sword. After the war President Washington appointed him
a judge of one of the United States courts.
CABARRUS COUNTY.
Cabarrus County Avas formed from Mecklenburg. An
amusing story is told about the origin of this new county.
John Paul Barringer, a German settler, was captain of the
county militia. He could not speak English very well, and
when he drilled his company at Charlotte, the county seat of
Mecklenburg, the people laughed good-naturedly at him for
giving his commands in the German, which sounded odd to
them. But he did not think it amusing, and became so angry
that he declared he would not live in the same county with
such people ; so he began to work to get his part of Mecklen-burg
County cut off into a new county, and in 1792 he suc-ceeded.
20
The Speaker of the House of Commons in the Legislature
then was Stephen Cabarrus, of Chowan County. He helped
John Paul Barringer get his new county; so the Legislature
named it in his honor. He was a native of France, but came
to America early in life and settled at Edenton. The people
of Chowan County elected him to the Legislature seventeen
times, and the Legislature elected him Speaker eight times.
Germans began to come into what is now Cabarrus County
from Pennsylvania about 1745. The church at Mount Gilead
is said to be the oldest German Reformed Church in that part
of the state. The eastern part of the county was settled al-most
entirely by Germans, most of whom came from Penn-sylvania.
During the Revolutionary War, when the British
army was at Savannah, Georgia, a number of German sol-diers,
called Hessians, who had been forced to fight for the
British against their will, deserted and settled in Cabarrus
County. J DAVIDSON COUNTY.
Davidson County is a daughter of Rowan. While it was
still a part of Rowan County, German settlers found their
way to the fertile lands on Abbott's Creek, Leonard's Creek
and Muddy Fork. The churches they built there are among
the oldest in that part of the state. The county was formed
in 1822 and bears the name of one of North Carolina's most
distinguished soldiers of the Revolution.
William L. Davidson was a general in the American army.
He entered the army at the beginning of the Revolution and
fought in a number of important battles. When Lord Corn-wallis
led the British army into North Carolina General
Davidson took a stand at Cowan's Ford, over the Catawba
River, to stop his march. A battle was fought there, and
General Davidson was killed while bravely leading his troops.
The United States Government has erected a monument to
his memory at Guilford Battle Ground.
DAVIE COUNTY.
Davie County, settled in part by the Germans, was, like
Davidson, formed from Rowan. This was in 1836.
Davie County bears the name of William R. Davie. Wil-liam
R. Davie was a native of England and came to North
Carolina when he was a boy. During the Revolution he
entered the American army. On many a battlefield in North
21
Carolina and South Carolina he proved his devotion to lib-erty.
It was his brave fighting which gave the British so
much trouble at Charlotte that Cornwallis called the place
"The Hornets' Nest." After the war Davie served the state
and the United States in many ways. He was Governor of
JSTorth Carolina, but his proudest title is "Father of the Uni-versity
of North Carolina." He is called this because he did
so much to found the University.
STANLY COUNTY.
Anson County had five daughters. Two of these, Rowan
and Mecklenburg, you have already read about. A third
county, in which a few Germans settled, was cut off from
Rowan and called Montgomery. In 1841 part of Mont-gomery
was cut off into a county and called Stanly.
Stanly County bears the name of John Stanly. John
Stanly lived in Craven County. He was elected a member
of the Legislature eleven times, and was also a member of
Congress.
CATAWBA COUNTY.
Catawba County was formed, in the year 1842, from Lin-coln.
The name is derived from a tribe of Indians who dwelt
in that section of North Carolina.
The county was settled largely by Germans from Pennsyl-vania.
The pioneer of these immigrants was Henry Weid-ner,
a hunter and trapper, who came into that region about
the year 1745. He lived at peace with the Indians. Once a
year, in the spring, he would return to the settlements to sell
his furs and skins. On his return from one of these trips he
brought as companions a young wife, Mary Mull, and a friend
by the name of Conrad Yoder. They sent back good reports
to their friends in Pennsylvania, many of whom followed
them to this new country.
GASTON COUNTY.
Gaston County was also formed from Lincoln, in 1846.
While still a part of Lincoln, this region was settled by Ger-mans.
The county was named in honor of William Gaston, of
New Bern. William Gaston was a learned lawyer, a distin-guished
statesman and an eminent judge. He was several
22
times a member of Congress and was frequently elected to the
Legislature. In 1834 he was elected to the Supreme Court
of North Carolina, and proved himself to be one of our great-est
-judges. J ° ALAMANCE COUNTY.
Alamance County is a daughter of Orange. The name of
the county is derived from Alamance Creek, on the banks of
which Governor Tryon and the Regulators fought the battle
of Alamance, May 16, 1771. It is the name of an Indian
tribe that once dwelt in that region.
The German settlers of Alamance came from Pennsylvania,
between 1745 and 1769, and settled on the rich lands along
Haiv River and Alamance Creek.
FORSYTH COUNTY.
Forsyth County was formed from Stokes in 1849. It was
named in honor of Capt. Benjamin Forsyth, of Stokes
County. Captain Forsyth raised a company of riflemen dur-ing
the second war between Great Britain and the United
States, and marched with them against the British in Canada.
There he was killed in battle while leading his men against
the enemy. His only son entered the United States Navy
during the same war and perished at sea. It was well, there-fore,
for the state to honor the memory of these patriots by
giving one of her counties their name.
Forsyth County was settled by Moravians from Pennsyl-vania
in 1753. They were Germans who had settled in
Pennsylvania in 1738. They came to America to preach the
gospel to the settlers and to convert the Indians to Chris-tianity.
In 1751 Lord Granville, an English nobleman who
owned an immense tract of land in North Carolina, offered
to sell the Moravians 100,000 acres at a small price. They
decided to accept his offer, and the next year sent August
Gottlieb Spangenburg, one of their bishops, with a small
party, to survey the land and select a place for their settle-ment.
Bishop Spangenburg reached North Carolina in Sep-tember
and spent several months in his work. He selected a
tract of land in what are now Stokes and Forsyth counties,
and called it Wachovia, from two German words, "wach," a
stream, and "aue," a meadow. In the fall of 1753 the first
settlers came—twelve unmarried men—and laid off their first
town. This they called Bethabara. Other settlers followed,
23
and in 1759 a second town was begun, called Bethania.
Seven years later, 1766, a third town was begun, which was
named Salem.
Salem grew more rapidly than the other Moravian towns,
and is to-day one of the prettiest and busiest little cities in
North Carolina. Many years after it was founded a second
town was begun so near it that they are separated only by a
single street. This town was named Winston, and the two
together are often spoken of as "The Twin-City."
These are the counties in which the largest German settle-ments
were made. But many of them also settled in other
counties ; so that perhaps their descendants are now found in
everv countv in North Carolina.
HOW THE COUNTIES GREW.
BATH
I
I
Edgecombe
(1732)
I
Granville
(1746)
I
Orange
(1752)
I
V
Guilford
Alamance (1770)
(1849) I
Randolph
(1779)
Bladen
(1734)
I
Anson
(1749)
I
-Rowan
(1753)
Surry
(1771)
I
Stokes
(1789)
Forsyth
(1849)
Burke
(1777)
Iredell
(1788)
Davidson
(1822)
Davie
(1836)
Tryon
I
V
Rutherford
(1779)
Montgomery
(1779)
I
Stanly
(1841)
Mecklenburg
(1762)
I
Cabarrus
(1792)
Lincoln
(1779)
Catawba
(1842)
I
Gaston
(1846)
SADDLE-BAGS OF GOLD.
BY JOHN HENRY BONER.
In bridle-path days, when steam was unknown,
A horseman rode into a forest alone.
Through the wonderful Land of the Sky rode he,
From North Carolina to Tennessee.
He bestrode a strong horse, and he went withal
Well armed with pistols and powder and ball,
For bloody highwaymen were none too few
In the laurel dells of the. mountains blue.
Through the gloom of the forest this traveler rode
Each day, from the dawn till the sunset glowed,
When, seeking for rest from his journey sore,
He drank from the gourd at some cabin door.
Again he would travel far into the night,
In vain keeping watch for some settler's light,
And doubly alert, though weary and cold,
For he rode with his saddle-bags full of gold.
And day after day his journey he kept,
And night after night he uneasily slept,
For his treasure was great, and the charge that lay
Upon him he honored in ancient way
—
The charge he honored, though not from a sense
Of punishment or of recompense
By One who watches, for heaven and hell
Were myths to this honest Infidel.
It was autumn. Who knows what a splendid domain is
The realm of the Blue Kidge and great Alleghanies
—
How wildly romantic—what lights and what shades
Play over the scene—how the green summer fades
Like a veil blown aside to reveal magic things
Unspeakably grand—how the waterfall sings
To the cliff, and the cliff to the far sky of blue
—
He may know what enchantment this horseman rode through.
In the morning the valleys were lakelets of mist
;
The tree tops were isles in a haze amethyst
;
At noon the bright woodpecker shot like a flash
25
To tlie green of the pine from the crimson red ash
;
In the afternoon sunshine the bronze lizard played
On the vine of the moonseed ; the bear unafraid
Loped over the trail ; and as evening drew nigh
The horseman heard often the panther's sharp cry.
One evening at sunset, just when the last gleam
Was gilding the mountain tops, at a swift stream
His horse with an eagerly impatient lip
Was flirting the brink, when all suddenly—zip
!
A bullet half parted the rein. At a leap
The streamlet wTas cleared, for the spur was sunk deep.
And fast over pebbles that clattering rolled
The horseman went flying for life with his gold.
He rode till his beast made a staggering pace,
When he paused, with no hope of discerning a place
Of refuge—no sign of man's home was in sight,
And cold grew the north wind and black grew the night.
Then slowly ascended a great gibbous moon
Up the east, like a luminous wind-blown balloon,
Which was caught in an ocean of cloud, and whose glow
Was drowned in the deepening turbulent flow.
He hopelessly peered in the fathomless dark
Below him. His eyes caught a scintillant spark,
And he gazed and it shone, and he gazed and he knew
That a cabin was there ; and he gave a halloo,
Which was answered in time, but so faintly he feared
'Twas reverberant echo. The horse, surer-eared,
Loudly whickered, and soon — through what peril Heaven
knows
—
They stood at a door, where a tall figure rose
And returned his salute ; but the welcome was rough.
?Twas permission to rest, though, and that was enough.
So, by light of a torch the poor beast was made snug.
"You are kind, very kind." The reply was a shrug.
A grim old colossus, with shadow gigantic
That leaped here and there like a great specter frantic,
The traveler followed. On entering the cabin
He shudderingly thought—what a fit place to stab in
!
An old hag of ninety was crouched by a fire,
Resenting encroachment with evident ire,
Till her eyes, with that furtive glint solely a hag's,
Grew agleam at the sight of the guest's saddle-bags
!
26
The man, with shock hair and piratical beard,
Had but one eye—a fierce one, that fiendishly leered
—
And that eye seemed to glare with the gleam of the hag's
When he covertly glanced at the full saddle-bags.
"We was 'bout eatin' supper," the host grumly said,
And with this invitation to table he led.
A tallow-dip dripping the crone brought and sat
With tremulous fingers, and mumbled thereat.
"Why this," said the guest, feigning ease, "is good cheer."
"Yes, if you can eat 'possum and drink simmon beer,"
The cyclops replied, as he kicked at a hound
—
One clog of a score that went skulking around.
That night, having talked till the fire had burned low,
The stranger, all weary, was anxious to go
To the bed which the crone in a corner had spread,
But he felt of his dubious companions a dread.
Many a throat had been slit for a fortune of gold.
Should these know what was his, would that giant withhold ?
He cautiously felt of his weapons, and thought
If his life were at stake it should dearly be bought.
Deep silence ensued, and the owl's cry was heard
—
He felt strangely thrilled by the ominous bird.
A dog howled. He wondered if ever indeed
Wise men had to such simple things given heed.
And he doubtless had sat there till morning light shone
;
But the grim giant, speaking in most solemn tone,
Said: ((Stranger, men mother afore gwine to bed
Has prar. Will ye jine us?" The stranger's fear fled.
He knelt in confusion. When called on to lead,
He stammered—"too weary, too tired, indeed"
—
And he secretly smiled at his ludicrous care
When he heard that old Methodist wrestling with prayer.
He slept e'en to snoring that night, and next day
Through the falling leaves peacefully went on his way.
But he questioned philosophy vainly to say
Why it was he felt safe with a man that would pray.
A GERMAN PIONEER.1
JOHN PAUL BAREINGER.
The first Germans known to have settled in what is now
Cabarrus County were three young pioneer farmers who came
there from Pennsylvania. One of them was Paulus Behrin-ger,
which in English has become Paul Barringer. He was
born in Germany, June 4, 1721. When he was twenty-two
years old he sailed from the city of Rotterdam in the ship
Phoenix to seek his fortune in America, and arrived at Phila-delphia
September 30, 1743.
A voyage across the Atlantic in those days was a very dis-agreeable
and dangerous undertaking, and none but the bold-est
were willing to try it. Young Paulus Behringer there-fore
must have been a young man of much pluck and energy.
As he had no money, he agreed that after reaching America
he would work for three years to pay for his passage, but he
proved himself so energetic and industrious that he paid the
whole debt in one year.
He was now his own master and ready to begin work for
himself. Ann Eliza Eisman, a young German woman, was
willing to share his fortune; so the two were married, and
settled in the Wyoming Valley, in Pennsylvania. A few
years later, with their two children, Catherine and John, they
turned their faces southward to seek a new home in the fertile
valley of the Catawba, in North Carolina. One of their de-scendants,
a distinguished general in the Confederate army,
afterwards wrote the following about their journey:
aWhen this trio of enterprising Germans started on their
perilous march, the buffalo, the bear and the wolf still roamed
in our forests. The savage Indian and the frontier Erench
often marked the camping grounds of the lonely immigrant
with the blood of slaughtered innocents. They crossed the
mountain ridges and the flooded streams by following the old
buffalo trail, then known as the 'Indian Trading Path.' At
last they reached the end of their wanderings, and they safely
forded the broad and beautiful Yadkin at the 'Trading Ford/
1 Adapted from a sketch by Dr. Paul B. Barringer, Jr., and Mr. D. M. Barringer, Jr.,
in the "Biographical History of North Carolina," Vol. I, edited by S. A. Ashe and pub-lished
by Charles L. Van Noppen, Greensboro.
28
the sole memorial amongst us of this once famous 'Indian
Trading Path.' * * * When our German friends crossed
the Yadkin and began to cast their wistful eyes over the wide
plains and spreading prairies of this lonely region, they were
surprised to find the Scotch-Irish just ahead of them. The
latter had occasional squatters here and there on the choicest
spots, especially on the western borders, up and down the
Catawba River. Our German pilgrims * * * accord-ingly
abandoned the 'Trading Path' just east of the present
site of Salisbury and turned square to the left and followed
the right bank of the Yadkin, * * * and finally set their
stakes on the high ground between the present Coldwater and
Buffalo creeks. * * *
"Soon the news of a goodly land flew back—first to Penn-sylvania
and then on to the far-off, struggling, toiling, teem-ing
millions of the war-racked * * * Fatherland. And
now they poured in from all directions, mainly still from
Pennsylvania, but often through Charleston and occasionally
through Wilmington, following the routes along the high
ridges dividing the principal rivers. And it was thus that
this particular section, embracing parts of the present coun-ties
of Cabarrus, Rowan and Stanly, came to be so rapidly
settled, * * * almost exclusively by Germans. By the
time of the Revolution the 'Dutch side' of old Mecklenburg
was its most densely peopled portion."
Paulus Behringer, or John Paul Barringer, as he must now
be called, settled on Dutch Buffalo Creek. He had already
sent to Germany for his parents to come to this great New
World, and for his younger brothers and sisters. During
their long voyage both his parents died at sea.
A few years later John Paul Barringer's wife died, and he
afterwards married Catherine Blackwelder, or, as the name
was called in German, Schwartzwalder. He then moved
across Dutch Buffalo Creek and built a new home, "half resi-dence,
half castle," on his famous plantation, which he called
"Poplar Grove." Like most of the Germans of that section,
he was a member of the Lutheran Church. The Lutheran
and German Reformed churches often used the same church
buildings. About the year 1771 John Paul Barringer ad-vised
the Lutherans to build their own church. He directed
the work himself and paid most of the cost out of his private
fortune.
29
John Paul Earringer was a man of great energy and intel-ligence.
His fine plantation soon became famous throughout
all that region for skillful cultivation, and his home for its
hospitality. In 1768, when Governor Tryon marched through
Mecklenburg County, he visited Captain Earringer. The
Governor appeared in full uniform, with a cocked hat and
sword. He is said to have done full justice to Captain Bar-ringer's
fine wine. He was so delighted with his beautiful
meadow that he went out into the field to try his hand at
mowing. Afterwards he wrote in his journal:
''Wednesday, August 31 [1768]. The Governor waited
on Captain Barringer ; a beautiful plantation and skillfully
managed, particularly the meadow land, which produced
excellent hay/'
John Paul Barringer soon became one of the leading men
among the German settlers. Governor Tryon, as we have
seen, called him "Captain Barringer." He was a captain in
the militia. When the Revolution began the royal Governor
offered to appoint Captain Barringer an officer in the British
army if he would take the King's side, but Captain Barrin-ger
refused. The Tories captured him and carried him to
South Carolina, where he was thrown into prison.
After the Revolution, while drilling his company at Char-lotte,
people laughed at him for giving his commands in the
German language. He then determined to have the settle-ments
of the Germans cut off from Mecklenburg County and
formed into a new county. He succeeded in getting this done
in 1792, and the new county was named Cabarrus. The next
year Captain Barringer was elected to represent the new
county in the Legislature. He died January 1, 1807, eighty-six
years of age.
His will directed that his children should be educated in
the best schools of the country. He was the first of a large
family in North Carolina, many of whom have been distin-guished
in the history of North Carolina and of the United
States.
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE CAROLINA WILDERNESS
IN 1752.1
In the year 1751 a company of Moravians decided to buy
100,000 acres of land in North Carolina. The next year they
sent a party to explore the country and select the place for the
settlement. The leader of this party was the good Bishop
Augustus Gottlieb Spangenburg. The party made a long,
hard journey from Edenton, in North Carolina, across swamps
and rivers, plains and hills, mountains and valleys. They met
with many dangers and had many adventures. They suf-fered
from sickness, from cold and from hunger. But they
did not give up until they had found the very place they
wanted and surveyed it. Bishop Spangenburg kept an ac-count
of this journey, that tells all about what the party did
and saw. It is too long to be printed fully here, but I am
going to let you read some parts of the story as he told it. It
was in September, 1752, when these Moravians left Edenton
to travel westward. Bishop Spangenburg says
:
"September 25, 1752.— * * * Edenton is one of the
oldest towns in America. * * * It has a beautiful situa-tion.
* * *
"Granville County, September 26, 1752.—We have passed
through several counties in North Carolina, viz., Chowan,
Bertie, Northampton, Edgecombe and Granville, as far as
Mr. Sales', 153 miles from Edenton. Our way lies through
Orange and Anson, which is the last county towards the west.
•& * *
"John Sales', Granville County, 153 miles from Edenton.—
The Lord has here arrested our progress for a time, and four
of our company are suffering from remittent fever. * * *
We propose to remain here until our people are recovered, and
then to continue our journey. We are at present staying
with a man who spent a year and a half in Guinea [Africa].
The captain with whom he sailed deserted him. The negroes
captured and bound him, with the intention of killing him,
but set him free and treated him with kindness, -and would
gladly have kept him with them, but he sighed for his native
land and availed himself of the first opportunity of returning
1 Extracts from the Diary of Bishop Spangenburg, printed in Vol. V, 1-14, Colonial
Records of North Carolina.
31
thither. He and his wife treat us with great kindness and
consideration, and we pray that he may be abundantly recom-pensed.
"North Carolina, Catawba River, October 28, 1752.—Here
I must remark on some of the difficulties incidental to the
colonizing of this country. * * * They [the settlers] will
require salt and other necessaries, which they can neither
manufacture nor raise. Either they must go to Charleston
[South Carolina], which is 300 miles distant (the distance
is not the only objection—on the road they have mostly stink-ing
water to drink and are in danger on account of rob-bers),
or else they must go to Boling's Point, in Virginia, on
a branch of the James, and also 300 miles from here. * * *
The roads are bad and there are many streams and bad hills
to cross. * * *
"From the Camp at Little River, * * * Anson County,
North Carolina.—This is the first piece of land which we
have taken up. * * * This piece contains 1,000 acres. 1
* * * This land is all very rich and is at times overflowed
by Little River. * * * There is a fine site for an overshot
mill. * * * Upon the whole, the bottom has an abundance
of water courses, not only from the creek, which has such
steep banks as to render it too steep for fording, except where
buffaloes have made a ford, but it abounds in springs also.
There are also stones here for building purposes, but no lime-stone.
Indeed, it is said there is no limestone this side of the
Alleghanies. That is the reason there are nothing but very
indifferent houses of wood to be met with about here. About
fourteen miles from here lives a family of Scotch-Irish.
There is said to be a mill there, but there is neither road nor
way leading to it.
"November 12, 1752—In Camp on the Catawba River.—
We are here in the neighborhood of what may be called 'In-dian
Pass.' As we believe it is the Lord's purpose to confer
a blessing on the Catawba and Cherokee Indians by means of
the Brethren, we resolved to take up some land here.
Here we have taken up a piece of over 1,000 acres. * * *
'Tis a pleasant locality and is peculiarly attractive.2 * * *
There are many hunters about here, who live like Indians.
They kill many deer, selling their hides, and thus live without
much work. * * *
lrThey proposed to call this piece "Gruenan" fGreen Meadow).
2 Called "Schoenthal" (Beautiful Valley).
32
"November 19, 1752.— * * * We are now in the for-est,
fifty miles from all the settlements. * * * We crossed
high and steep hills in coming here. * * * The road lies
in a northwest direction (but why do I speak of road where
there is none but what the buffaloes have made?). * * *
Our surveyor and his company were stopped here by six
Cherokees. They were out on a hunt and were coming
through the woods.' However, they soon became very friendly.
The whole woods are full of Cherokee Indians. We come
upon their traces very often wherever we go. They are now
engaged in hunting.
"November 24, 1752—From the Camp in the fork of the
Third River, which empties into the Catawba near Quaker
Meadows.— * * * The land is in several places very rich,
and up to this time has been a buffalo pasture, whose tracks
and paths may yet be ascertained and found to be useful.
Frequently, however, their tracks cannot be followed, for they
go through 'thick and thin' and through the deepest morasses
and rivers, and often they are so steep that a man may roll
down or fall down, but he can neither ride nor go down
them. * * *
"The wolves, which are not like those in Germany, Poland
and Lin1 and, because they fear man and do not easily come
near, give us such music of six different cornets, the like of
which I have never heard in my life. Several brethren skilled
in hunting will be required to exterminate panthers, wolves,
etc., not only here, but in the other places also. They will
thus not only obtain the hide of the animal, but there is a
bounty1 of ten shillings for every panther and wolf that is
killed. Besides, such men will be needed to furnish game
from the woods to help the larder. * * *
"November 28, 1752—Old Indian Field, Northeast Branch
of Middle Little River.—We arrived here on the 25th. * * *
That Indians once lived here is very evident (possibly before
the war which they waged with the whites in North Carolina)
from the remains of an Indian fort, as also from the tame
grass which is still growing about the old residences, and
from the trees. It may have been fifty years since they left
this locality. * * *
"November 29, 1752—From the Camp at the Upper Fork
of the Second or Middle River, which flows into the Catawba
1 A reward offered by the government.
33
not far from Quaker Meadows.—We arc now in a locality
that has probably been but seldom trodden by the foot of man
since the creation of the world. For seventy or eighty miles
we have been traveling over terrible mountains and along very
dangerous places, where there was no way at all. * * *
"December 3, 1752—From the Camp on a river in an old
Indian field, which is either the head or a branch of New
River, which flows through North Carolina to Virginia and
into the Mississippi River.—Here we have at length arrived,
after a very toilsome journey over fearful mountains and dan-gerous
cliffs. A hunter whom Ave had taken along to show
us the way to the Yadkin missed the right path, and we came
into a region from which there is no outlet, except by climb-ing
up an indescribably steep mountain. Part of the way we
had to crawl on hands and feet. * * * Sometimes we had
to pull the horses up, while they trembled and shivered, like
leaves.
''"'Arrived on the top at last, Ave saAV hundreds of mountain
peaks all around us, presenting a spectacle like ocean waves
in a storm. * * * Then began the descent, * * * and
then we came to a stream of water. Oh ! how refreshing this
water was to us ! We sought pasture for our horses, and rode
a long distance, until in the night, but found none but dry
leaves. We could have wept with sympathy for the poor
beasts. The night had already come over us ; so Ave could
not put up our tent. We camped under the trees and had a
very quiet night. The next day Ave journeyed on, got into
laurel bushes and beaver dams, and had to cut our way
through bushes, which fatigued our company very much.
"Then Ave changed our course, left the river and went up
the mountains, where the Lord brought us to a delicious
spring and good pasture on a chestnut ridge. He sent us also
at this juncture two deer, which were most acceptable addi-tions
to our larder. The next day Ave came to a creek so full
of rocks that Ave could not possibly cross it. On both sides
were such precipitous banks that scarcely a man and certainly
no horse could climb them. Here Ave took some refreshments,
for we were weary. But our horses had nothing, absolutely
nothing; this pained us inexpressibly. Directly came a
hunter Avho had climbed a mountain and seen a large meadoAv.
Thereupon Ave scrambled down to the Avater, dragged our-selves
along the mountain and came before night into a large
plain.
34
"This caused rejoicing for man and beasts. We pitched
our tent, hut scarcely had we finished when such a fierce wind
burst upon us that we could scarcely protect ourselves against
it. I could not remember that I have ever in winter any-where
encountered so hard or so cold a wind. The ground
was soon covered with snow ankle deep, and the water froze
for us aside the fire. Our people became thoroughly dis-heartened.
Our horses would certainly perish, and we with
them. The next day we had fine sunshine, and then warmer
days, though the nights were horribly cold.
"Then we went to examine the land. A large part of it is
already cleared, and there long grass abounds. * * *
There are almost countless springs and little runs of water.
* * * There is a magnificent chestnut and pine forest near
here. * * * Many hundred—yes, many thousand—crab-apple
trees grow here, which may be useful for vinegar. * * *
"December 11/., 1752—Camp on headwaters of Yadkin,
ivhere West and South Branches make a fork.—Here we
arrived safely at last, after a bitter journey among the moun-tains.
We virtually lost ourselves in the mountains, and
whichever way we turned we were literally walled in on all
sides. IsTone of us had ever been in that region, and path
and road were unknown to us. But why speak of roads and
paths where there were none ? * * * One mountain rose
up beyond the others, and thus we pursued our way, between
fear on one side and hope on the other. * * *
"December 20, 1752—From the Camp on the Yadkin, near
the mulberry fields at Mr. Owens house.—Here, by the grace
of God, we have all arrived safely. * * *
"January 8, 1 753—From the Camp on the Three Forks of
Muddy Creek. 1—It is the middle of winter, and we have a
'smart' snow. We still camp out in the woods—sound, well
and contented, in the. care of our Heavenly Father. Towards
the close of the year we came here and found a body of land
which, perhaps better than any other, answers the desired
purpose. * * * As regards this land upon which we
have camped, I regard it as a corner which the Lord has re-served
for the Brethren. From here *' * * Edenton is
350 [miles]. The nearest mill is nineteen miles distant.
The situation of this land is quite peculiar. It has countless
springs and many creeks ; so that as many mills can be built
1Galled " Wachovia," from wach, a stream, and aue, a meadow.
35
as may be desirable. These streams make many and fine
meadow lands.
"x" * * The stock would have excellent
pasturage and might be kept for a number of winters among
the reeds on the creeks. * * *
'"The most of this land is level and plain; the air fresh and
healthy, and the water good, especially the springs, which are
said not to fail in summer. * * * In the beginning a
good forester and hunter will be indispensable. The wolves
and bears must be extirpated as soon as possible, or stock
raising will be pursued under difficulties. The game in this
region may also be very useful to the Brethren in the first
years of the colony. The whole piece as surveyed comprises
from 72,000 to 73,000 acres. This we divide into fourteen
pieces. * * * Each tract has wood, water, meadow and
arable land. Every one who knows the land says it is the
only piece where so much good land may be found together,
and among all the still vacant lands it is the best. And we
rather believe that way also."
THE CLIFF.
(Pilot Mountain, Surry County, North Carolina.)
BY JOHN HENRY BONER.
See yonder cliff—how ghastly bare.
Lightning has torn its rugged face.
It looks like one whom cursed care
Has robbed of every peaceful grace.
Yet how sublime ! How proudly still
!
Barren and thunder-beat and drear.
Behold the unconquerable will,
Dead to emotion—love or fear
—
Unchanging when the rising sun
Gilds its high head with heavenly light,
Or when the red moon breaks upon
Its broAv across the gulf of night.
THE BEGINNING OF WACHOVIA.
Bishop Spangenburg called the place selected for the Mora-vian
settlement in North Carolina "Wachovia," from two
German words, "wach," meaning meadow, and "aue," mean-ing
a stream. His survey was approved by Lord Granville
in August, 1753. By October the plans for the settlement of
Wachovia were all ready. On the 8th clay of October, 1753,
twelve unmarried men set out from the Moravian settlement
at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on their journey to Wachovia,
in North Carolina. The company included a minister, a war-den,
a physician, a tailor, a baker, a shoemaker and tanner,
a gardener, three farmers and two carpenters. Three others
came with them, but they returned to Pennsylvania after a
brief visit.
These settlers traveled in a great covered wagon drawn by
six horses. Their route lay through deep rivers that had to
be forded, with banks so steep that they must be cut down
before the wagon could enter the streams, over mountains
wild and rugged, and through forests dense and dark. They
were on their journey nearly six weeks. When they left
Pennsylvania the heat was oppressive ; when they reached
North Carolina the ground was white with snow. At 3
o'clock Saturday afternoon, November 17, they reached the
spot where now stands the town of Bethabara, better known
as -Old Town."
They took shelter in a deserted log cabin that had been
built by a German named Hans Wagoner. It was an humble
abode, without a floor and with a roof full of cracks and holes.
Here they held their first service and had their first love feast. 1
Sunday was kept as a real day of rest. Then followed weeks
of earnest, manly toil—cutting trees and clearing the land.
In December they sowed their first wheat. Their rifles sup-plied
them with plenty of game. Salt was secured from Vir-ginia,
flour and corn from the Yadkin Piver settlements, and
beeves from the Dan. They collected supplies, enlarged their
cabin and prepared to pass the winter as comfortably as pos-sible.
XA love feast is a simple song service, during- which coffee and buns are served to the
congregation, and a short address is made on some appropriate subject.
What an impressive service was the celebration of their
first Christmas Eve in the wild backwoods of Carolina! For
the first time in their new home they gathered to hear the
wonderful Story of Bethlehem. "We had a little love feast,"
says their journal; "then near the Christ Child we had our
first Christmas Eve in North Carolina, and rested in peace in
this hope and faith." "All this while the wolves and pan-thers
howled and screamed in the forests near by."
During their first year the Moravian Brethren were very
busy. Before the year had gone they had in operation a car-penter
shop, a tailoring establishment, a pottery, a blacksmith
shop, a shoe shop, a tannery and a cooper shop. They har-vested
during this first year wheat, corn, tobacco, flax, millet,
barley, oats, buckwheat, turnips, cotton, besides many garden
vegetables. They cleared and cultivated fields, cut roads
through the forests, built a mill and erected cabins. They
made many long journeys, even going as far as Wilmington.
The physician, Dr. Lash, made trips twenty, fifty and even a
hundred miles through the forests to visit the sick and relieve
suffering.
Many visitors came to Wachovia. People rode long dis-tances
to consult the physician or to secure the services of the
shoemaker and the tailor. There was but little money in the
backwoods, and sometimes people paid for their purchases in
ways that seem odd and amusing. A stranger passing through
Wachovia wanted to buy a pair of shoes, but he had no money.
In payment for them he agreed to cut down and trim one hun-dred
trees ! WTithin three months, during the year 1754, 103
visitors came to Wachovia. The next year the number was
426. There were so many visitors that it was decided to
build a "strangers' house." This was the second building in
Wachovia. Four days after it was finished a man arrived,
bringing his invalid wife to consult the physician. They were
the first to occupy the "strangers' house."
People often went between Wachovia and Pennsylvania,
and the little colony continued to grow. More unmarried
men and a few married couples came from Pennsylvania. By
1756 the Bethabara colony numbered sixty-five souls.
About this time the French and Indian War broke out in
America. The Moravians had until now been on friendly
terms with the Indians. One of their purposes in coming to
North Carolina was to preach the gospel to them. They
38
always treated the Indians kindly and gave them food, and
the Indians spoke of the fort at Bethabara as "the Dutch fort,
where there are good people and much bread." But now they
became hostile, and their enmity gave the Moravian Brethren
much trouble. The Brethren took every precaution against
attack. They built a fort, armed every man with a gun and
placed sentinels around the settlement.
Many thrilling incidents occurred during the war, and the
Moravian Brethren saved many lives from the savages. One
incident will show the kind of service they were frequently
called on to render to their neighbors. Among those who had
found a refuge at their fort were a Mr. Fish and his son, who
had been driven from their home on the Yadkin. On the
9th of March, 1759, a stranger, fleeing from the Indians,
arrived at Bethabara. Mr. Fish and his son persuaded this
stranger to go with them to see if their home had escaped the
red men's torch. On the way they were attacked by Indians
hiding in ambush. The arrows flew thick and fast. Father
and son fell dead. The stranger was wounded in two places.
One arrow passed clear through his body. Without drawing-it
out (as that would have been certain death) he made his
way towards Bethabara, hoping to reach it while he might
still be able to get spiritual advice before he must die.
Through the woods he made his way. It began to rain, and,
still worse, he came upon a band of Indians. Plunging into
the river, he again escaped. All night, through the forest, in
darkness and rain, he made his way, until he reached Betha-bara.
There the good doctor extracted the arrow and saved
his life. Thus runs the story of Indian cruelty and treachery
during eight long years of the early history of the Wachovia
settlement. From thirty and forty miles around families
sought refuge at Bethabara. All learned to love and respect
the Moravian Brethren, and some applied for membership in
the Moravian Church.
After the close of the war the settlement grew rapidly.
Two towns, Bethabara and Bethania, were founded before
1760. From the first the Brethren intended that the chief
town should be in the center of Wachovia. With the closing
of the Indian War they thought the time had come to begin it.
The new town was to be called Salem.
The first act in the founding of Salem took place January 6,
1766. During the singing of a hymn the work was begun by
39
clearing a site for the first house. This was soon finished,
and on February 19th eight young men moved into it. On
their way from Bethabara they killed two deer, part of which
they prepared for dinner. After this, other houses were
erected in quick succession, and during the next year many of
the Bethabara community moved to Salem, where they were
joined by more Brethren from Bethlehem, and even by a
goodly number from Germany.
Salem soon became the principal settlement of the Mora-vians
in North Carolina. The same men who described Ilills-boro
and Salisbury in 1773 and 1786 also visited and de-scribed
Salem. Let us see what they said about these interest-ing
people and their pretty town. The first traveler left
Salisbury and went first to Bethania and then to Bethabara.
"This town," he said, "is ten miles from the other; but,
being informed that Salem was the principal, I immediately
proceeded on after breakfast, and arrived there about noon.
-* * * This society, sect or fraternity of Moravians have
everything in common, and are possessed of a very large and
extensive property. * * * From their infancy they are
instructed in every branch of useful and common literature,
as well as in mechanical knowledge and labour. * * *
The Moravians have many excellent and very valuable farms,
on which they make large quantities of butter, flour and pro-visions
for exportation. They also possess a number of use-ful
and lucrative manufactures, particularly a very extensive
one of earthenware, which they have brought to great perfec-tion,
and supply the whole country with it for some hundred
miles around. In short, they certainly are valuable subjects,
and by their unremitting industry and labour have brought a
large extent of wild, rugged country into a high state of popu-lation
and improvement. * * * Salem, their principal
town and settlement, is seven miles from Bethabara, seventeen
from Bethania, about forty-five from Salisbury, and near
ninety miles from Hillsborough. It stands on Bellew's
Creek, a branch of the River Dan."
The second traveler visited Salem in 1786. After visiting
the Guilford Battle Ground, he says
:
"I pursued the route of Cornwallis in his advance, and
entered the possessions of the happy Moravians, so justly dis-tinguished
for their piety, industry and admirable police.
40
The road from Guilford to Salem was good and the country
pleasant. * * * In general, the face of the country
* * * closely resembles the south of France.
"The moment I touched the boundaries of the Moravians
I noticed a marked and most favorable change in the appear-ance
of buildings and farms, and even the cattle seemed larger
and in better condition. Here, in combined and well-directed
effort, all put shoulders to the wheel, which apparently moves
on oily springs. We passed in our ride New Garden, a settle-ment
of Quakers from Nantucket. They, too, were exem-plary
and industrious. The generality of the planters in this
state depend upon negro labor and live scantily in a region of
affluence. In the possessions of the Moravians and Quakers
all labor is performed by the whites. Every farm looks neat
and cheerful; the dwellings are tidy and well furnished,
abounding in plenty.
"In the evening I attended service at the Moravian chapel.
This was a spacious room in a large edifice, adorned with neat
and simple elegance, which was a peculiar trait of these Breth-ren
and their Quaker neighbors. On our first entrance only
two or three persons were visible, but the moment the organ
sounded several doors were simultaneously opened. The men
were ushered in on one side and the women on the other ; and
in one minute the seats were filled and the devotees arranged
for worship. The devotions on that occasion were merely
chanting a melodious German anthem, accompanied by the
organ.
"In the morning I was introduced to Mr. Bargee, their
principal. He conducted me through all their manufactories,
and communicated to me with much intelligence many facts
in relation to the tenets and habits of this devout and labori-ous
sect. Salem comprehended about forty dwellings and
occupies a pleasant situation. * * * Every house in
Salem was supplied with water, brought in conduits a mile
and a half. 77
A few years later a very distinguished man visited the
Moravian Brethren at Salem. This was none other than
George Washington, President of the United States. He
reached Salem May 31, 1791. As he approached the village
a large gathering was present to welcome him with patriotic
music.
41
In front of the hotel he descended from his coach and
greeted the company in a friendly manner. The great man
was especially happy to see the bright faces of the children.
During the evening he was entertained with music. The
next day he visited the places of business and the manufac-turing
establishments. But what pleased him most was the
system of water-works for the town.
At 2 o'clock the company assembled to present to him an
address of welcome. The address was read by Frederick
William Marshall, and was as follows
:
"To the President of the United States:
"Happy in sharing the honour of a visit from the illustrious
President of the Union to the Southern States, the Brethren
of Wachovia humbly beg leave, upon this joyful occasion, to
express their highest esteem, duty and affection for the great
patriot of this country.
"Deeply impressed as we are with gratitude to the great
Author of our being for His unbounded mercies, we cannot
but particularly acknowledge His gracious providence over
the temporal and political prosperity of the country, in the
peace whereof we do find peace, and wherein none can take a
warmer interest than ourselves, in particular when we con-sider
that the same Lord who preserved your precious person
in so many imminent dangers has made you in a conspicuous
manner an instrument in His hands to forward that happy
Constitution, together with these improvements whereby our
United States begin to flourish, over which you preside with
the applause of a thankful nation.
"Whenever, therefore, we solicit the protection of the Father
of Mercies over this favoured country, we cannot but fervently
implore His kindness for your preservation, which is so inti-mately
connected therewith.
"May this gracious Lord vouchsafe to prolong your valu-able
life as a further blessing and an ornament of the Consti-tution,
that by your worthy example the regard for religion be
increased and the improvements of civil society encouraged. .
"The settlements of the United Brethren, though small,
will always make it their duty to contribute as much as in
them lies to the peace and improvement of the United States
and all the particular parts they live in; joining their ardent
prayers to the best wishes of this whole continent that your
42
personal as well as domestic happiness may abound and a
series of successes may crown your labours for the prosperity
of our times and an example to future ages, until the glorious
reward of a faithful servant shall be your portion.
"Signed, in behalf of the United Brethren in Wachovia,
"Frederick William Marshall,
"John Daniel Kcehler,
"Christian Lewis Benzien.
"Salem, the 1st of June, 1791."
To this address Washington made the following answer
:
"To the United Brethren of Wachovia:
"Gentlemen :—I am greatly indebted to your respectful
and affectionate expression of personal regard, and I am not
less obliged by the patriotic sentiment contained in your
address.
"From a society whose governing principles are industry
and love of order much may be expected toward the improve-ment
and prosperity of the country in which their settlements
are formed, and experience authorizes the belief that much
will be obtained.
"Thanking you with grateful sincerity for your prayers in
my behalf, I desire to assure you of my best wishes for your
social and individual happiness. Gr. Washington."
Many people came from the surrounding country to greet
the great man. Among them was Alexander Martin, Gov-ernor
of North Carolina. In the evening President Wash-ington
and Governor Martin attended the services at the
church and joined the congregation in singing the sweet Mora-vian
hymns. After the church services were over the two dis-tinguished
visitors were serenaded by a number of Moravian
musicians.
Washington remained at Salem until June 2d, and then set
out at 4 o'clock in the morning on his return home. He ex-pressed
himself as much delighted with the town, and the peo-ple
still point with pride to the building in which their hon-ored
guest was entertained.
THE GUARDIAN ANGEL
A LEGEND OF BETHABARA.
BY W. S. PFOHL.
On a bright December clay, more than a hundred years ago,
a little company of children ran merrily across the meadow
towards the thickly wooded hills beyond old Bethabara. It
was almost Christmas, and they were on their way to gather
evergreens to decorate their homes and the church for the
happy season.
Right merrily they worked, until the lengthening shadows
reminded them that the clay would soon be gone. With
loaded sleds of laurel and trailing cedar trees the boys came
from the hill and, followed by the girls, hurried homeward.
One little girl, however—the pet of her home and the pride
of the whole village—attracted by the ferns and vines, which
seemed to grow more and more beautiful the farther she went,
had wandered a long way from the path, and when she turned
to retrace her steps she found that her companions were be-yond
sight and hearing.
She wandered on in the direction of home, she thought;
but no familiar landmark came in sight. She was about to
call, but a gentle touch upon her shoulder, as if a cedar bough
had brushed against her, kept her from it, and she sat down
upon a log and prayed that she might get home safely. After
that she felt no fear, and on and on she went, hoping soon to
see the meadow and the light of home. The soft touch upon
her shoulder seemed to guide her; and when a long, wailing
cry broke the stillness of the night, and she would have an-swered,
thinking it was one of her companions calling, a sud-den
pressure kept her quiet, and a firm but gentle power urged
her forward, and at last into a circular cedar brake, like a
little arbor. Quite tired out, the little girl lay down to rest
and soon fell asleep. Once she heard the same long cry, and
awoke, to find herself surrounded by a soft, beautiful light;
the same gentle touch soothed her, and she fell asleep again.
In the village all was confusion and distress when they
missed the child. Wild with grief the children told their
±4:
story. They thought the little girl had come home with the
boys who brought the laurel, as her brother was among them
;
but hot being found, the men started out, headed by her father,
and scattered through the forest with lighted torches.
The father and three other men went to the mill, thinking
perhaps she had gone there, as she had friends living near by
but, not finding her, they turned towards the cedar brakes
upon the hill-side. They had gone but a little way when they
heard a fearful cry, and as they neared the forest a treacherous
panther came stealing across the edge of the wood. The men
carried their rifles, and fired; the next moment the panther
dropped dead in his tracks. The poor father sank upon a
fallen log and prayed that he might find his little child safe
from harm, and, strangely comforted, he arose to renew the
search. As if guided by an unseen presence, they went on
until they reached a clump of cedars which attracted their
attention. The father pulled the boughs aside, and there
upon the ground he found his little girl, fast asleep. He
caught her in his arms and pressed her to his heart ; then, call-ing
his companions, they knelt together and gave thanks to the
Father in Heaven for His loving care.
The little girl told her story as they carried her home, and
her father told her that it was her Guardian Angel who had
kept her quiet and led her on to the shelter of the cedar grove.
The men sang hymns of thanksgiving as they came in sight
of the village ; and the mother and friends, watching and
waiting with strained eyes turned towards the hill-side, heard
the tune and knew that the little girl was found, unharmed
and well.
HO! FOR CAROLINA!
BY WILLIAM B. HARKELL.
Let no heart in sorrow weep for other clays
;
Let no idle dreamer tell in melting lays
Of the merry meetings in the rosy bowers
;
For there is no land on earth like this fair land of ours I
CHORUS.
LIo ! for Carolina ! that's the land for me ;
In her happy borders roam the brave and free
And her bright-eyed daughters none can fairer be
;
Oh ! it is a land of love and sweet liberty
!
Down in Carolina grows the lofty pine,
And her groves and forests bear the scented vine
;
Here are peaceful homes, too, nestling 'mid the flowers.
Oh ! there is no land on earth like this fair land of ours
Ho ! for Carolina, etc.
Come to Carolina in the summer-time,
When the luscious fruits are hanging in their prime,
And the maidens singing in the leafy bowers.
Oh ! there is no land on earth like this fair land of ours
!
Ho ! for Carolina, etc.
Then, for Carolina, brave and free, and strong,
Sound the meed of praises "in story and in song"
From her fertile vales and lofty granite towers,
For there is no land on earth like this fair land of ours I
CHOEUS.
Ho ! for Carolina ! that's the land for me
;
In her happy borders roam the brave and free
:
And her bright-eyed daughters none can fairer be
Oh ! it is a land of love and sweet liberty
A CAROLINA BACKWOODSMAN IN COLONIAL DAYS.
The English traveler who described Hillsboro, Salisbury
and Salem in 1773 also gives us a good description of the
Carolina backwoodsman on the frontier of the German settle-ments.
Here is what he says i
1
"Throughout all this country and in every back settlement
in America the roads and paths are first marked out by blazes
on the trees, cut alternately on each side of the way, every
thirty or forty yards. These are renewed every time the'
roads are repaired.
"A blaze is a large chip sliced off the side of a tree with an
axe ; it is above twelve inches in length, cut through the bark
and some of the sap wood, and by its white appearance and
brightness, when fresh made, serves to direct the way in the
night as well as in the day.
"The miles are chiefly computed and are ascertained by
notches chopped in the nearest tree—a notch for every mile.
"The first blazed paths originated in this manner : When
any person went from one place to another through the woods,
where it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to return
upon his track, he fell upon this method of blazing each side
of the trees at certain distances as he passed on, and thereby
retraced his way in returning without the least trouble.
"The convenience and simplicity of this mode has rendered
it universal throughout the whole back country.
"It became the more readily adopted as all who travel be-yond
the roads and beaten tracks always have tomahawks in
their belts, which, in such situations and circumstances, are
more useful than anything except the rifle-barreled firelocks,
both of which all the male inhabitants habituate themselves
constantly to carry along with them everywhere.
"Their whole dress is also very singular and not very ma-terially
different from that of Indians, being a hunting shirt
somewhat resembling a wagoner's frock, ornamented with a
great many fringes, tied round the middle with a broad belt,
much decorated also, in which is fastened a tomahawk, an
instrument that serves every purpose of defense and conve-nience,
being a hammer at one side and a sharp hatchet at the
Chapter 23, Volume I, Smyth's Tour in America.
47
other. The shot hag and powder horn, carved with a variety
of whimsical figures and devices, hang from their necks over
one shoulder, and on their heads a flapped hat of a reddish hue,
protecting from the intensely hot beams of the sun. Some-times
they wear leather breeches, made of Indian-dressed elk
or deer skins, hut more frequently thin trousers. On their
legs they have Indian hoots or leggins, made of coarse woolen
cloth, that either are wrapped round loosely and tied with
garters or are laced upon the outside, and always come better
than half-way up the thigh; these are a great defense and
preservation, not only against the bite of serpents and poison-ous
insects, but likewise against the scratches of thorns, briars,
scrubby bushes and underwood, with which this whole country
is infested and overspread. On their feet they sometimes
wear pumps of their own manufacture, but generally Indian
moccasins, of their own construction also, which are made of
strong elk's or buck's skin, dressed soft as for gloves or
breeches, drawn together in regular plaits over the toe, and
lacing from thence round to the fore part of the middle of the
ankle, without a seam in them, yet fitting close to the feet, and
are indeed perfectly easy and pliant.
"Thus habited and accoutered, with his rifle upon his shoul-der
or in his hand, a backwoodsman is completely equipped
for visiting, courtship, travel, hunting or war.
"And according to the number and variety of the fringes on
his hunting shirt, and the decorations on his powder horn, belt
and rifle, he estimates his finery, and absolutely conceives him-self
of equal consequence, more civilized, polite and more
elegantly dressed than the most brilliant peer at St. James'
in a splendid and expensive birthday suit of the first fashion
and taste and most costly materials.
"Their hunting or rifle shirts they have also dyed in variety
of colours—some yellow, others red, some brown, and many
wear them quite white.
"Such sentiments as those I have just exposed to notice are
neither so ridiculous nor surprising, when the circumstances
are considered with due attention that prompt the backwoods
American to such a train of thinking, and in which light it is
that he feels his own consequence, for he finds all his resources
in himself.
"Thus attired and accoutered, as already described, set him
48
in the midst of a boundless forest, a thousand miles from an
inhabitant; he is by no means at a loss nor in the smallest
degree dismayed.
"With his rifle he procures his subsistence ; with his toma-hawk
he erects his shelter, his wigwam, his house, or what-ever
habitation he may choose to reside in ; he drinks at the
crystal spring or the nearest brook ; his wants are all easily
supplied ; he is contented ; lie is happy. For felicity, beyond
a doubt, consists in a great measure in the attainment and
gratification of our desires and the accomplishment of the
utmost bounds of our wishes."
THE BATTLE OF RAMSAUER'S MILL
During the Revolution some of the German settlers took the
King's side, some the side of the colonies. The former were
called Tories or Loyalists, the latter Whigs or Patriots. Dur-ing
the first years of the war there was no fighting in their
section except against the Indians. The first battle of the
Eevolution fought in North Carolina was Avon by the Whigs
at Moore's Creek Bridge, February 27, 1776. After that the
British armies left North Carolina. The North Carolina
troops followed them and took part in the battles in Pennsyl-vania,
Georgia, South Carolina and other states. But no
more battles were fought in North Carolina until the summer
of 17S0.
The British had defeated the Americans in South Carolina
and Georgia, and were now ready, under the command of
Lord Cornwallis, to conquer North Carolina. In 1776 Sir
Henry Clinton, who then commanded the British, attempted
to invade North Carolina in the eastern counties ; but now
Lord Cornwallis thought it best to strike a blow at the west.
He regarded the eastern counties as "by far the most hostile in
that province," while in the west he expected to find a great
many Tories. He heard "that the Loyalists of the back parts
of North Carolina are arming/' and expected that his "pres-ence
on that frontier" would "call back the inhabitants from
their state of error and disobedience."
He had good cause to be hopeful. When the British cap-tured
Charleston North Carolina's army became prisoners.
The AVhigs were in despair, for there seemed no way to pre-vent
the conquest of the state. Many people went to Lord
Cornwallis and told him that as soon as his army appeared in
North Carolina "a great body of the inhabitants" would join
it. So he sent word to the Tories in the west that as soon as
the harvests were gathered he would march to their aid and
bring North Carolina to the King's feet.
Early in June, 1780, two Tories who had been with Lord
Cornwallis arrived at their homes, near Ramsauer's Mill, in
Lincoln County. They called a meeting of the Tories at
Kamsauer's Mill, June 13th. On that day 200 appeared.
When they heard the great news from Lord Cornwallis they
50
were overjoyed. Their blood tingled in their veins ; their
eyes gleamed with delight. They spread the good news far
and wide, and called on their friends to join them in their
great preparations to receive the King's army. By the 20th
of June their number at Ramsauer's Mill had reached 1,300,
about 800 of whom were armed.
But the Whigs, too, had been busy. They knew of Lord
Cornwallis' plans, and they went to work to defend the state.
Their commander, Gen. Griffith Rutherford, hurriedly col-lected
900 men at Charlotte. His cavalry was under the com-mand
of Maj. William R. Davie. On June 10th General
Rutherford, with 800 men, was at Reese's plantation, about
eighteen miles from ' Charlotte, where he went to watch the
British general, Lord Rawdon. Four days later he learned
of the gathering of Tories at Ramsauer's Mill, and he thought
they ought to be dispersed. While Lord Rawdon was near
Charlotte, General Rutherford could not march to Ramsauer's
Mill; so he sent word to Col. Francis Locke, of Rowan
County, to raise a troop and attack the Tories.
Colonel Locke raised about 400 men, and on June 19th
encamped on Mountain Creek, sixteen miles from Ramsauer's
Mill. His force was so small that he called his officers to-gether
to decide what had better be done. Some wanted to
retreat and join General Rutherford; the others said no, for
that would leave their homes and families at the mercy of
their enemies. But Colonel Locke knew they must either
retreat or attack the Tories suddenly before they found out
how few Whigs there were. So they decided to attack the
next morning.
The soldiers on both sides were without uniforms ; all wore
their ordinary everyday clothes. The Tories pinned to the
front of their caps small sprigs of green pine; the Whigs a
bit of white paper.
Early in the morning of June 20th 400 Whigs advanced to
attack the 1,300 Tories, about 800 of whom were armed. The
Whigs marched quietly and rapidly, and were upon the Tories
before the latter knew of their presence. Taken by surprise,
and ignorant of the number of their enemy, the Tories were
thrown into confusion. But they fought desperately, recov-ered,
and charged the Whigs. Hand to hand they fought,
using the butts of the rifles as clubs. Back and forth they
fought, first one side retreating, then the other. Finally the
51
Tories were driven back. Many of them snatched the green
pine from their caps and mingled with the Whigs. The
others lost heart, retreated across Clarke's Creek, on which
Ramsauer's Mill stood, and left the Whigs victorious. A few
hours later General Rutherford arrived with the main AVhig
force, and the Tories scattered, thoroughly beaten.
In this battle neighbor fought against neighbor, friend
against friend, and even brother against brother. So close
were the lines of battle that men could see their old playmates
and school fellows fall before their rifles, and the dying often
knew that they had fallen under a blow dealt by a near kins-man.
The next day, when friends and relatives came to seek
the dead and missing, many sad scenes were witnessed. Sev-enty
lay dead and 200 wounded. A large number of officers
were killed. One hundred Tories, 300 horses and a large
quantity of arms, ammunition and baggage fell into the hands
of the victors.
Though the numbers engaged in this battle were small, the
battle was important nevertheless. It revived the hopes of
the Whigs ; it discouraged the Tories. Lord Cornwallis spoke
of the victory as "this unlucky business. 7
' Many of the de-feated
Tories after the battle fled to South Carolina, "where,"
as Lord Cornwallis wrote, "their reports tended much to
terrify our friends and encourage our enemies." When Corn-wallis
finally marched into North Carolina he found his
friends so depressed and frightened by their defeat at Ram-sauer's
Mill that they would not join his army at all. "The
severity of the rebel government," he wrote, "has so terrified
and totally subdued the minds of the people that it is very
difficult to rouse them to any exertions."
Before June 20th the British had had an unbroken series
of victories in the South for nearly two years. They had cap-tured
the city of Savannah ; they had defeated the Americans
at Briar Creek ; they had compelled the surrender of Charles-ton
; they cut an American regiment to pieces at Waxhaws,
and they held Georgia and South Carolina in their grip. The
first break in their success came at Ramsauer's Mill, June
20th. The fight there was but a skirmish; it was not a great
battle nor a brilliant victory, but it aroused the zeal of the
Whigs, it stirred them up to renewed effort, it terrified the
Tories, and so led to the final ruin of the King's army in the
South.
THE BRITISH INVASION OF THE GERMAN
SETTLEMENTS.
The rejoicing of the Americans after the victory at Bam-sauer's
Mill did not continue long. Only a few weeks later
the American army, under the command of Gen. Horatio
Gates, was badly beaten at a place in South Carolina called
Camden. It was the worst defeat that an American army
ever suffered. General Gates himself fled headlong from the
field, and did not stop even to catch his breath until he reached
Charlotte, seventy-five miles away. Even at Charlotte he
made only a very brief stop, and then rushed on to Hillsboro.
The American army was scattered, and there seemed to be
nothing to prevent the British from making an easy conquest
of North Carolina.
So, in September Lord Cornwallis marched toward Char-lotte.
But the people of North Carolina were not so glad to
see him as he had expected. Hundreds of bold patriots, under
such active leaders as Gen. William L. Davidson, Col. Wil-liam
R. Davie and Maj. Joseph Graham, followed the British
army, shooting down the soldiers at every chance. It seemed
to the British commander that an American soldier was
hiding behind every bush and rock and fence. If a party
left the main army to secure food for the troops they were
at once attacked on every side by men whom they could not
see. If Lord Cornwallis sent a messenger on an errand he
was sure to be shot down. When the army reached Charlotte
Colonel Davie's little band made a bold attack on it and killed
a number of the British soldiers. The British officers swore
that Mecklenburg was the most rebellious county in America,
and that Whigs swarmed around them like hornets, with their
long rifles for stings. So Lord Cornwallis called Charlotte
the""Hornets' Nest."
Lord Cornwallis had not been, at the "Hornets' Nest" long
before he heard news that sent him flying back to South Caro-lina.
He had sent Maj. Patrick Ferguson, one of his best
officers, on a trip to the western parts of North Carolina and
South Carolina with 1,200 men. Major Ferguson wanted to
raise another army of Tories and to frighten the patriots in
the west so that they would not attack Lord Cornwallis at
53
Charlotte. He sent a message to the men over the mountains
that if any of them marched against the British in North
Carolina he would cross the mountains and destroy their
homes and crops. But the men who had not been afraid to
build their log cabins in the wild woods among the bears, the
wolves, the panthers and the Indians were not the kind of
men to be frightened by a foolish threat from a British major.
So they raised an army, in which were a number of German
patriots, and went after Ferguson.
What a strange-looking army they made ! They had no
bright uniforms, no flying flags, no beating drums. Their
only uniforms were coon-skin caps, buck-skin shirts and
fringed leather leggins. They had no tents nor baggage.
Their only cover at night was the leafy trees and the starry
skies ; their only food was a pocketful of parched corn. Only
a few of the officers wore swords. But every man rode a
good horse, carried a sharp knife, a deadly tomahawk and a
rifle that never missed. There was many a hunter in that
little army who could send a rifle ball through a squirrel's
head as far as he could see his bright eyes. They were as
fleet as the deer in the forest, as bold as bears on the moun-tain
sides, as keen as Indians on a trail. And they were going
after the man who had threatened to burn their cabins over
the heads of their wives and children
!
And they caught him, too ! At first Ferguson laughed at
this strange army—made fun of the backwoodsmen and called
them a "crowd of dirty mongrels." Still he decided that
these "dirty mongrels" might bite ; so he hurried to get on top
of King's Mountain, where he thought they could not follow.
But they were men ivho were used to climbing mountains, and
they rushed up the mountain side after their enemy. Fergu-son
and 400 of his men fell before the aim of their deadly
rifles, and the rest surrendered.
This was the news that sent Cornwallis flying back in dis-order
to South Carolina. Not long after this Gen. Daniel
Morgan, with a small force of AVhigs, beat the famous British
officer, Col. Banister Tarleton, called "Bloody Tarleton," at
Cowpens, in South Carolina. Then Cornwallis, with his
whole army, started after General Morgan. But Morgan was
not the kind of man to be caught. He knew that if he could
only reach and cross the Catawba River before the British
army caught up with him he would be safe ; if not, his little
54
army might be destroyed. Beyond the Catawba he could join
the rest of the American army in North Carolina, which Wash-ington's
famous general, Nathanael Greene, had collected.
So Morgan and Cornwallis started on a race for the Catawba
River. Morgan won the race, and crossed the river in safety.
When Cornwallis reached it he found Cowan's Ford, where
he intended to cross, guarded by a small American force com-manded
by Gen. William L. Davidson. A sharp fight fol-lowed
; General Davidson was killed, and the British crossed.
But Morgan had escaped.
When General Greene heard about Morgan's victory and
retreat he saw a chance to strike Cornwallis a hard blow. If
he could only get the British general far away from South
Carolina, where his supplies and the rest of his soldiers were,
he thought he could beat him. Sending his own army north
to Guilford Courthouse, in North Carolina, Greene sprang on
his horse and rode one hundred and fifty miles to tell Morgan
his plan. The two generals then started on one of the most
famous retreats in the history of the world. They were try-ing
to join Greene's other army at Guilford Courthouse be-fore
Cornwallis caught up with them. Cornwallis was anx-ious
to catch them before the two armies could unite. He was
so eager that he made his soldiers destroy all their baggage
and wagons and throw away everything that kept them from
marching fast. The farther away from South Carolina they
got, the better it was for the Americans and the worse for the
British. But it was now too late for Cornwallis to turn back.
What a long, hard march the two armies had ! The roads
were bad, there were great rivers to cross, the weather was
cold and wet, and the soldiers on both sides suffered much.
But it was worse with the patriots than with the British.
They had no tents, no blankets, no money, and often no food.
They were half-naked and were barefooted. In many places
their march could be traced by the bloody tracks they left be-hind
them. But they were brave, and bore it all that their
country might be free. General Greene managed the march
so well that he reached Guilford Courthouse before Corn-wallis
did, and united his two armies. After a little more
marching and a little rest for his men, he was ready for the
battle.
Near the present city of Greensboro General Greene drew
up his men ready for a battle. It began in the afternoon of
55
March 15, 1781, and lasted till nearly night. Both sides did
some of the hardest fighting of any during the war. After
losing about 400 men, General Greene gave up the field. But
he was not badly beaten, for he drew up his men in line ready
to fight again the next day.
The British claimed the victory, but they had lost 600 men
and were too badly worn out to fight again. Cornwallis was
so afraid that Greene would now attack him that he retreated
from the battlefield and marched in all haste to Wilmington.
General Greene then marched into South Carolina again,
where he fought two or three battles and drove the British to
Charleston. There he kept them shut up for the rest of the
war.
It was too late now for Cornwallis to return to South Caro-lina
; so he marched into Virginia, where he was captured by
Washington at Yorktown. After this the British gave up the
war, and the United States were free and independent.
Let us not forget that the battles at King's Mountain, Cow-pens
and Guilford Courthouse drove Lord Cornwallis to York-town,
where Washington caught him and made him surrender.
AMERICA.
REV. DR. S. F. SMITH.
My country, 'tis of thee.
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every monntain side
Let freedom ring.
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love ;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills
; My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake,
Let all that breathe partake,
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
Our fathers' God, to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light
;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!
INSCRIPTION BY GENERAL NATHANAEL GREENE ON THE BACK OF
THE PORTRAIT OF KING GEORGE III.
QUEEN CHARLOTTE.
GEORGE III.
HOW A SCHOOL BOY PRESERVED AN HISTORIC
PICTURE.
Here is a story of how an American school boy preserved
an historic picture of a famous British king.
The story begins far back during the days of the American
Revolution, with a famous American general and a patriotic
American woman. The general you have already read about
—
Gen. Nathanael Greene, the commander of the American
army in the South. The woman was Mrs. Elizabeth Steele,
wife of William Steele, of Salisbury, North Carolina. She
was a patriotic woman, devoted to the cause of American free-dom.
One of her sons was a captain in the American army.
She was a tender mother, and much loved in the little village
for her kindness and charity.
One day, during the darkest period of the Revolution, Gen-eral
Greene rode up to her door in Salisbury. He was then
on his famous retreat before the British army under the com-mand
of Lord Cornwallis. Everything looked gloomy for the
American cause. General Greene's army was divided and
the two sections were far apart. Lord Cornwallis, with an
army larger than either of General Greene's, was close on his
heels. General Greene had just heard the gloomy news of
the death of General Davidson and the defeat of the Ameri-cans
at Cowan's Eord. He had been riding all day alone,
through rain and mud. When he dismounted from his horse
at Mrs. Steele's door his clothes were soaked and soiled, his
horse was jaded, and he was thoroughly worn out. Nobody
would have dreamed that this soiled, wet and tired horseman
was, except Washington, the most famous general in the
American army.
Dr. Read, an American army surgeon, was at Mrs. Steele's
house when General Greene arrived. When he saAV the Gen-eral,
Dr. Read was astonished at his appearance, and ex-claimed
:
"Why, General, are you alone ?"
"Yes," was the weary soldier's reply; "alone, tired, hun-gry,
friendless and penniless."
This melancholy reply was fortunately heard by Mrs.
Steele. This patriotic woman determined that General
Greene should know before he left her house that at least he
58
was not friendless. She hastened to prepare a good dinner
for him, and in a little while invited the General to a well-spread
table. While he was eating, Mrs. Steele entered the
room, carefully closed the door, and cautiously looked around
to make sure that none but Dr. Bead and General Greene saw
or heard her. Then, going up to the famous soldier, she drew
from under her apron two heavy bags and placed them before
him. They were filled with gold and silver coins, her savings
for years.
"Take these, General," she said ; "you need them ; I can do
without them."
Never did relief come at a better time, and never was a
generous gift more deeply appreciated. General Greene was
deeply moved by her liberality and patriotism. Of course he
would not have taken the money for his own use ; but his army
needed it, and he accepted it for the sake of American free-dom.
On the wall in front of him hung two portraits. One was
a portrait of George III., the King of England who was then
waging the war against the Americans ; the other was of the
queen—Queen Charlotte. They had been sent to Mrs. Steele
before the war by a kinsman in England. When General
Greene looked at the portrait of the king he thought of all the
suffering and misery that he had brought on the Americans,
of the blood that had been shed and the lives that had been
lost, and his heart swelled with indignation. Crossing the
room, he took the picture from the wall, turned it over, and
wrote on the back, "O, George, hide thy face and mourn !" and
then turned the king's face to the wall.
Then, cheered by Mrs. Steele's generosity and patriotism,
he mounted his horse and rode away to victory over the king's
troops.
In this pamphlet you will see copies of these pictures and
of General Greene's writing on the back of the king's portrait.
It has been one hundred and twenty-seven years since General
Greene wrote those words, yet the pictures are as fresh now,
with the writing plainly visible, as they were then. I am now
going to tell you how they were preserved by an American
school boy.
After Mrs. Steele's death the pictures passed to her grand-daughter,
and then to Governor David L. Swain, who had been
Governor of North Carolina and was then president of the
59
University of North Carolina. When Governor Swain died
his widow moved from Chapel Hill to Raleigh, and carried
the pictures with her.
One day a school boy in Raleigh, William J. Andrews, read
in his school history this story of Mrs. Steele, General Greene
and the king's portrait. When he heard that the pictures were
in Raleigh he went to see them, hut Mrs. Swain was ill at the
time, and he could not see the pictures. Not long after that
Mrs. Swain died, and William read in the newspapers that all
her property was to he sold on July 6, 1883, at a public sale.
He wondered if anybody would be there to buy those pictures.
Perhaps nobody would be there who knew anything about
them. Perhaps he could buy them himself ! Pilled with this
idea, he went to the sale and waited patiently while all the
other things were being sold.
Finally the pictures were offered. Would somebody buy
them before he could make an offer to do so % But nobody
seemed to know or care anything about them. Pie was only
a boy, and was almost afraid to speak out in that great crowd
;
but finally he mustered up courage and said that he wanted
the pictures. Perhaps everybody was surprised at this small
boy's offering to buy anything, but they let him have them,
and he tucked them under his arm and ran home as fast as
he could—the happiest boy in Raleigh.
Twenty-five years have passed since then. The school boy
is now a man, but he is still as proud of his pictures as he was
on the day that he bought them for a few cents. And he
ought to be proud of them ; for if this school boy had not been
interested in the history of his state, these historic pictures,
so full of interest for all patriotic North Carolinians, would
probably have been lost or thrown away.
So, when I told Mr. Andrews that I was going to tell you
this fine story of Mrs. Steele and General Greene, he said he
wanted me to put these pictures in this pamphlet, so every
boy and girl in North Carolina who reads this story will
remember the brave general who did so much to win our inde-pendence,
and the patriotic woman who did so much to en-courage
and cheer him in the hour of gloom.
Note.—If any boy or girl or teacher who reads this story would
like to have a copy of each of these pictures to frame and hang in
the schoolroom, where they may inspire a love of country and a ven-eration
for her heroes, let him or her write to Mr. R. D. W. Connor,
Raleigh, N. C, and he will send copies free of cost. This liberal
offer is made by the permission of the owner of the originals, Mr.
William J. Andrews, of Raleigh.
THE PEACE JUBILEE AT SALEM, JULY 4, 1783.
After the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to Washington, at
Yorktown, in October, 1781, fighting between the British and
American armies ceased. But nearly two years passed be-fore
peace was declared between England and the United
States. When it Avas announced in the United States that
peace had been made, the people received the glad tidings
with great joy. July 4, 1783, was selected as a day of special
rejoicing and thanksgiving. The Governor of North Caro-lina
issued a proclamation calling on the people to observe the
day with appropriate ceremonies.
jNTowhere was the event more fittingly observed than at
Salem, by the Moravians. The coming of peace to them "was
like the bright awakening of the morning after a night of
darkness and storm.' 7 Early on the morning of July 4th the
people of the little town were awakened by strains of appro-priate
music. Then a large congregation gathered at the
church and chanted the "Te Deum Laudamus." The minis-ter
selected for his text the verse, "The Lord of Hosts is with
us ; the God of Jacob is our Refuge," and preached a beauti-ful
sermon on the blessings of peace. Then the choir sang
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will
toward men."
At 2 o'clock on the same day a love feast was held, and then
the congregation sang the following psalm, prepared especially
for the occasion
:
61
Psalm of Joy1 of the Congregation in Salem for the Peace Jubilee,
July 4, 17S3.
GREGOR'S 56TH METRE.
Ich will's ivayen. 4,5, 4,5, 7, 7, 4,5, Iambic.) Moravian.
I
1 1 Pi , t4
*-^ Wt Zil O a * L7^r-LtL
£u
sil *—
^
** 4 V *>
56, A.
mlttte *—W &--. 4r^
1
Peace is with us! Peace is with us! (56 A)
People of the Lord.
Peace is with us ! Peace is with us
!
Hear the joyful word !
Let it sound from shore to shore
!
Let it echo evermore
!
Peace is with us
!
Peace is with us !
Peace, the gift of God
!
This is the day which the Lord hath made ; let us rejoice and be
glad in it.
Exult in the Lord, all the earth ; sing, extol, and praise Him ; shout
for joy before the Lord, the King ; rejoice in Llis name, all ye His
hosts ; rejoice in your mighty champions, who have performed His
command ; praise and extol the Lord, yea, praise ye the Lord. Let
the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad ; let the sea roar, and all
that is therein ; let the field be glad, and all that is upon it, and let
all the trees of the woods extol Him. Let all the land pray to Him.
and sing praises to His name ; for he hath done glorious deeds ; He
hath done mightv deeds ! Selah !
Translated from the German by Miss Adelaide Fries, Salem, N. C.
62
SLEEPERS, WAKE. [HERRNHT7T.] \ (8, 9, 8. 8, 9, 8, 6, 6, 4, 4, 4, 8, (Anonymous ; Nikolai's
Wachet avf, ruft uns die Stimme. j" Mixed.) \ Freudenspiegel, 1599.
m i~4 hhi# -*- ^ U 33^ i
230, 4. y
«..-•- i #- p- -•-
£££ *-*-+- ^^t
i—t^t^r r r S =n=t
3* t=qF 1
I
1
-*-\ L_|
1 .(9 M 1
1_
^3 ^-«
rt
J *
i
Full of joy our hearts are singing, (230 A)
And to God thank offerings bringing,
For His great miracle of Peace
!
Far and wide the war was spreading,
And terror by its side was treading,
To daunt us, and our woe increase.
And little else was heard
Than foe and fire and sword,
Need and sorrow.
How often I cried, anxiously:
"Look down, oh God ! and pity me !"
The Lord is a mighty warrior; Jehovah is His name. He causeth
war to cease in all the earth; He breaketh the bow, the sword, and
shield, and burneth the chariots with fire. The land is everywhere
laid desolate, and the houses are destroyed. Because the miserable
are distressed, and the poor cry, I will arise, saith the Lord : all sol-diers
must drop their hands. For I will arise, saith the Lord ; they
must put down their hands.
GREGOR'S 119TH METRE
Fahrefort! ZioffiSt1 < 3
- 7' 8 - 7> 8 ' 9 > 3 - Trochaic.) Joh. Eusebiu8 Schmidt.
J-4—f-^f. ^^
=g=Fip *=t=t& ^£? Ppi t—"i
^HSft^atlli ^iU^i^g^
Thou art God (119 A) : Thou art God !
Jesus, for us crucified
!
Lamb of God, for us once wounded,
Lord of Lords be magnified
!
Once with mockery surrounded,
Thou hast triumphed by Thy mighty word
;
Thou art God ! Thou art God !
Shout for joy, our Friend is King
!
All to Him submission bring.
All shall humbly bow before Him,
Pay Him homage and adore Him
;
Him alone will we own as our God and Lord
;
Be His name adored.
The land shall have rest, for the Lord giveth peace unto our borders.
64
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Sing, oh soul of mine, thanksgivings (214 A)
To the blessed Prince of Peace!
Fearful was the toil and struggle.
But my faith did not decrease
!
Countless troubles came upon us,
Many a blow on us did fall,
That we terrible might call.
But when trials overwhelmed us,
Said I : "He who comfort gives,
Jesus, my Redeemer, lives."
He shutteth on every side the gates of woe ; our land also shall be
refreshed, for it has sighed until it is weary.
65
EDEN. (7,6,7, 6,7, 7, 6,6, Iambic.) Christian Gregor, 1763.
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Oh, Rest that softly cometh,
So gracious and so blest
!
We hail it with rejoicing,
For we in Peace may rest
!
Redeemed from present sorrow,
And trusting for to-morrow,
Secure trom every foe,
Thy flock may come and go.
(597 B)
(For Music see Tune 230 A, page 62).
Glory be to God most glorious
!
And peace on earth, o'er war victorious
!
For lo ! our Prince of Peace is come!
God, the Lord of every nation,
Protector of this congregation,
Jehovah is His holy name.
The scepter and the throne
Are His, and His alone.
He blesseth us
;
He blesseth all,
And great and small
For His protecting care may call.
(230 A)
Lord, grant the Unity,1
Which for this" blessing
Has offered prayer to Thee
—
Prayer without ceasing
—
May share our joy of peace
;
Thy favor showing,
That through Thy might and power
Thy work from hour to hour
May still be growing.
l Unitas Fratrum, or Moravian Church.
GREGOR'S 169TH METRE. l'/owoi»oai»»T k^ Ermuntre dich, mein schwacher Geist. / C8' '• 8' 7» 8- 8' 7> 7> Iambic.) Johann bchop, 1641.
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Pour out Thy richest blessings now (169 A)
Wide as the clouds of heaven
;
From churches, homes and governments
Be every evil driven ;
Give blessed peace in Christendom,
Let godly fear and concord come
To reign in every nation,
Oh God of all creation
!
God giveth peace unto this land, health and happiness unto its
people
:
That honor may dwell in our land, that goodness and truth may
meet together, that righteousness and peace may kiss each other, that
truth may increase on the earth, and righteousness may shine from
heaven; that plants may grow in our land, and that all who dwell
therein may be filled and satisfied; that all may seek and find Him,
and that His congregation may be established.
This is the work of our God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost.
Praise the Lord, oh Jerusalem ; sing praises to thy God, oh Zion
;
young men and maidens, old men and children, praise ye the name of
the Lord. The congregation of the saints shall praise Him. They
shall praise His name in chorus, with tymbal and harp shall they play
unto Him. Praise Him for His mighty acts, praise Him for His great
excellence; praise Him with trumpet and psaltery and dancing;
praise Him with stringed instruments and pipes ; praise Him with
clear cymbals, praise Him with high-sounding cymbals. All that hath
breath praise ye the Lord : Hallelujah !
67
(For Music see TVne 230 A, page 62).
Hallelujah! Never ending, (230 A)
With all our hearts and voices blending,
The Father, Son, and Spirit praise!
Sweet the hymns of praise terrestrial,
But sweeter far the strains celestial
Which to our Saviour we shall raise.
There, there, in halls of peace,
Communion ne'er shall cease;
Hallelujah
!
Holy is God
!
Holy is God !
Holy, holy, holy is God
!
A VISIT TO THE GERMANS ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
Let us suppose that we are English travelers visiting North
Carolina one hundred years ago. We have been to the Eng-lish
towns of Edenton, New Bern and Wilmington; to the
settlements of the Scotch Highlanders at Fayetteville, and to
a little Scotch-Irish village called Charlotte. At Charlotte
we have heard so many interesting things about the German
settlers around the little town of Lincolnton that we set out
to visit them.
But we have not gone far before we meet with a difficulty
that we had not thought about. As we come near to Lincoln-ton
we pass a number of people who speak to each other in a
strange language, and when we ask them questions they do not
seem to understand. At all other places where we have been
in North Carolina all the people speak English just as we do.
But here we cannot understand a word they say. We reach
Lincolnton on Sunday and go at once to church. The minis-ter
seems to be reading from the Bible, but the words we hear
are not the familiar words of the sacred text. And the hymns,
too ! The tunes sound familiar enough, but when we try to
join in the singing we find that the words we use are different
from those everybody else is singing. Then we look at the
title of the hymn-book. No wonder the words are strange!
We cannot even pronounce the name of the book—"Gemains-haftliches
Gesanbuch"
!
After the services are over we are delighted to find a person
who says that he can speak English. But how odd his words
sound ! He tells us that most of "de beobles" at the church
came many miles to hear a
de breaching." He asks us about
our "gorney," wants to know where we "cot preckfast," and
invites us to his house for "tinner." We ride with him be-hind
a horse which he tells us he "paught" with money for
which he "sort" his wheat. We are struck, too, with the odd
names of the people whom we meet. Here we meet one whom
our friend calls "Herr Lingerfeldt" ; another is "Herr Solo-mon
Middlekauff." Others are Johannes Siegel, Ereidrick
Weckesser, Heinrich Scheidel, Paulus Wetzenstein, Petour
Gottlieb Behringer, Christopher Rintelmann and Marcus
Kuhn. Our friend's name is Jacob Schwartzwalder. We
cannot help laughing at his funny pronunciation, but he is
good-natured and does not take offense.
69
He tells us that the langua