North Carolina historical review

              I
The North Carolina
Historical Review
Volume I April, 1924 Number 2
CONTENTS
RICHARD DOBBS SPAIGHT 95
Alexander B. Andrews
THE LURE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH 121
Adelaide L. Fries
THE NORTH CAROLINA FUEL ADMINISTRATION 138
[Documents]
BOOK REVIEWS 176
Henderson^s Washington s Southern Tour—By E. M. Carroll; Mc-
Ilwain's The American Revolution—By Henry Thomas Shanks;
Shaw's Davidson College—By Thomas P. Harrison; Bickett's
Letters and Papers—^By 0. J. Coffin; Raymond's Lloyd George—
By Chester P. Higby; Priestly's The Mexican Nation—By W.
W. Pierson; Wertenbaker's The Planters of Colonial Virginia—
By F. W. Clonts.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS ON NORTH CAROLINA 197
HISTORICAL NEWS 199
WAR DIARY OF COLONEL PRATT 210
Issued quarterly by the North Carolina Historical Conunission, Raleigh, N. C.
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at Raleigh, N. C, pending.
The North Carolina Historical Review
Published by The North Carolina Historical Commission, Raleigh, N. C.
THE NORTH CAROLINA HISTORICAL COMMISSION
Thomas M. Pittman, Chairman
M. C. S. Noble Heriot Clakkson
Frank Wood W. N. Everett
D. H. Hill, Secretary
R. B. House, ArcHvist
This review was established in January, 1924, as a medium of publi-cation
and discussion of history in North Carolina. It is issued to other
institutions by exchange, but to the general public by subscription only.
The regular price is $2.00 a year. To members of the State Literary and
Historical Association there is a special price of $1 .00 a year.
CONTENTS OF THE LAST NUMBER
January, 1924
Walter Henes Page—Memorial Address Albert Shaw
The War Savings Campaign in 1918 Gilbert T. Stephenson
Diary of Colonel Joseph Hyde Pratt
Historical News
Book Review
Recent Articles on North Carouna
The North Carolina
Historical Review
Volume I April, 1924 Number 2
RICHARD DOBBS SPAIGHT
By Alexander B. Andrews
Richard Dobbs Spaight was born in the city of 'New Bern, l!^. C,
on March 25th, 1758.^ His father was Richard Spaight,^ a grand
nephew of Governor Arthur Dobbs, who accompanied that illustrious
Irishman when he came to North Carolina in October, 1754,^ to
become Governor of the Royal Colony, while his mother was a Miss
Elizabeth Wilson, then the widow Moore, of Craven County.*
His father, Richard Spaight,^ was successively acting clerk of the
Upper House in December, 1754, in 1755 Pay Master to the North
Carolina Regiment commanded by Col. James Innis,^ which was
a part of the ill-fated expedition against the French and Indians
on the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, which terminated so dis-astrously
in the battle near the present site of Pittsburgh. That
same year he was commissioned Secretary of the Colony,"^ which ex
officio made him clerk to the Upper House,^ and sometime during
1756 he was married, as we learn from the letter of Governor Robert
Dinwiddie of Virginia,* written on November 10th of that year, con-gratulating
Secretary Spaight upon his marriage. He resided
"three miles from New Bern on the other side of the Trent River,"
and was a parishioner of the Rev. James Reid, a missionary sent out
by the Society for the propagation for the Church of England.^ In
1757 he had a dispute with Mr. Joseph Leach about the entry of a
tract of land of Batchelor's Creek, which transaction was criticized
1 Wheeler's Reminiscences, p. 5 ; 4 North Carolina Biographical Sketches 397. (Sketches
-of Richard Dobbs Spaight by Marshall DeLancey Haywood.)
«Ibid. Life of Gov. Wm. Tryon. (Haywood), 46, 47.
3 N. C. Col. Rec. VI. 978, Life of Tryon, 10.
• N. C. Col. Rec. V, 646 ; VI, 276.
" N. 0. Col. Rec. V, 213,
• N. 0. Col. Rec. VI, 273.
' N. C. Col. Rec. V, 442.
" N. C. Col. Rec. V, 515.
• N. C. Col. Rec. VI, 273, 264.
96 The North Carolina Historical Review
in the Colonial Assembly.^^ On February 4, 1757, lie was com-missioned
as a member of the Council of the Eoyal Governor and was
inducted into office on November 18tli at 'New Bem.^^ He also bad
the power of attorney from George Augustus Selwyn/^ who owned
a large tract of land in the vicinity of the present city of Charlotte,
including the site of that city. In 1759 we find him still partici-pating
in the deliberations of the Council/^ and also he was one of
the committee of seven on the building of the Court House at New
Bem;^* also acting as Associate Judge of the Court.^^ In 1760 he
whips Thomas Core for slandering his wife, for which he was
brought before the Assembly and excused/^ In 1761 he with Joseph
Leech and John Fonville was commissioned to complete the Court
House at New Bern,^^ originally authorized by Acts 1759, Ch. IS.^"^
On April 26, 1762, he was allowed 60 pounds, the value of a slave
Cato, who was outlawed and died of wounds inflicted in being ap-prehended.^^
On December llth^^ we find his last appearance in
Council, and from a later date, February 23, 1763,^^ we learn by
Governor Arthur Dobbs that Eichard Spaight died prior to that date.
Of him Kev. Mr. McDowell, of the Church of England, Missionary at
Brunswick, writes to the Secretary of the Society for the Propaga-tion
of the Gospel in London under date of March 26, 1763 : "Mr.
Spaight, one of the King's Council and your late secretary, is lately
dead, he came over with his excellency and was a very sprightly gay
young man."^^
Richard Spaight must have left considerable property, for on
April 25, 1764,^^ Governor Arthur Dobbs and Frederick Gregg
(with Richard Lyon and John Davis, Jr. as sureties) qualified as
guardian of Richard Dobbs Spaight, giving bond for the sum of
10,000 pounds sterling money on Great Britain.
Little is known of the life of Richard Dobbs Spaight for the next
fifteen years, his biographical sketches^^ stating that he was sent
i" N. C. Col. Rec. VI, 274.
" N. O. Col. Rec. V, 817; XI, 126-7; V, 989. ^ N. C. Col. Rec. VI, 797; VII, 17; V, 773-4-5.
" N. C. Col. Rec. VI, 75, 84, 115.
" N. C. Col. Rec. XXV, 401, 462.
« N. C. Col. Rec. VI, 275.
" N. C. Col. Rec. XXV, 462.
" N. O. Col. Rec. XXV, 401.
" N. C. Col. Rec. XXII, 837.
" N. C. Col. Rec. VI, 758-762.
20 N. C. Col. Rec. VI, 967.
« N. C. Col. Rec. VI, 978.
23 N. O. Col. Rec. VI, 1042 ; XXIV, 848-849.
"3 See note above.
Richard Dobbs Spaight 97
abroad to be educated and completed his education at the University
of Glasgow,^* the natural deduction being that he was in the care
of his Dobbs relatives, his great great uncle and guardian having left
two sons,^^ Mr. Conway Dobbs of Antrim, and Captain Edward
Brice Dobbs of the English Army, the latter having served as a
member of the Council in North Carolina.^® About 1778 he re-turned
to the Colony, and during the stirring times of 1778 and 1779
his personality must have impressed the people of his country^ for
on October 18, 1779,^'^ he presented a certificate of election to the
House of Commons from the town of l^ew Bern in the place of
Richard Cogdell who had been elected Treasurer of the District of
'New Bern. On October 19th, William Blount, afterwards, nine
years later, his colleague in the Convention at Philadelphia and
later United States Senator from Tennessee, filed a protest which
the Committee on Elections on October 21st^^ sustained, the reasons
given being as follows
:
University of Glasgow.
21 November, 1912.
24Me. a. B. Andrews, Esq., Jb.
Attorney and Counsellor At Law,
230 Fayetteville St.
Raleigh, N. 0.
Dear Sir: Your letter, addressed to the Principal, has been handed to me. The name
of "Spaight" does not occur in our records at or near the period you mention. Our records,
however, of those days are somewhat incomplete and not altogether satisfactory and Richard
Dobbs Spaight may have been a student here although we have no record of him.
There is presently going through the press a book entitled "Matriculation Albums of the
University of Glasgow, 1728-1858," annotated by W. Innes Addison (late Registrar) and
from the proof sheets I cull the following regarding the Dobbs family, as it may be of
interest to you:
—
A. D. 1743.
"Nomina discipulorum in quacunque facultate qui prius in Academiae album inscripti
non fuerunt, quique nunc demum inscribuntur ut suffragium ferendi in Rectore Hagnifico
eligendo, juxta Academise Statuta, jure gaudeant."
(1038) "Conway Dobbs filius Arthuri Dobbs Armigeri in urbe Lisburne
in Com: de Antrim."
"Otherwise Conway Richard Dobbs. Of Castle Dobbs. M. P. for Carrickfergus and
High Sheriff of County Antrim, 1752. Died 11th April, 1811. Father of Richard Dobbs,
matriculated in 1773—see No. 3023."
A. D. 1771,
"Nomina Discipulorum qui hoc Anno intrarunt sub Presidio
D. Thomaa Reid Ethices Professoris."
(3028) "Richardus Dobbs Filius natu maximus Conway Richardi, Armigeri de Castle
Dobbs in Comitatu de Antrim Hyberniae."
"Of Castle Dobbs. Died 24th January, 1840, aged 87. Son of Conway Dobbs, matric-ulated
in 1742—See No. 1038.
Yours faithfully,
J. C. Ballantyne.
25 3 N. C. Biographical History (Sketch of Gov. Arthur Dobbs),
2« N. C. Col. Rec. VI, 75.
27 N. C. Col. Rec. XIII, 914.
28 Ibid. 928.
80-83.
98 The North Carolina Historical Review
Mr. Haywood, from the Committee of Privileges and Elections^
reported as follows:
Your Committee, to whom was referred the Petition of Mr. William:
Blount, beg leave to report: That upon examination of Depositions, pro-duced
by said Blount & Mr. Richard Spaight, they find that an election
was held at New Bern on the 25th and 26th of June, last, for Electing a
Member to represent the said Town of New Bern in General Assembly, that
the Poll was opened about 10 o'clock in the forenoon, that the Tickets were
received and put in a Tin Cannister without a Top, and that the said Can-nister
at neither of the adjournments was sealed. That a certain David
Thompson, a Soldier in the State Regiment, and a certain Richard O'Dowdy,
offered their Tickets, which were refused by the Sheriff; the Ticket of the
former because he was a Soldier, and that of the latter, because he had
removed from New Bern to avoid the smallpox.
Your Committee further beg leave to report that it appears, by the Con-fession
of the said Blount & Spaight, that many persons voted who had no
right to do so.
Upon the whole, your Committee are of the opinion that the Election was
illegal and ought to be set aside.
All which is Humbly submitted.
W. Haywood, Chairman.
The House taking the said Keport into consideration, concurred
therewith.
On July 31, 1780, when he was an aide upon the staff of Major
General Richard Caswell, then in command of the ISTorth Carolina
Militia in camp four miles above Cheraw, we find him writing to
Governor Ahner I^ash, his townsman and neighbor,^^ giving informa-tion
as to military affairs, and we note that he was present at the
Battle of Camden Court House. In 1781 at the session of the As-sembly
held at Wake Court House, he was again present as a mem-ber
from the town of 'New Bern,^^ and on behalf of the House was
appointed a committee with Colonel Williams of the Senate to notify
Governor Thomas Burke of his election.^^ He was also a member of
the committee on the Governor's message delivered two weeks later
on July 9th to that same Assembly,^^ and three days later was elected
"First Major of Militia.^^ On April 16, 1782, he again represented
the town of New Bern in the House of Commons in the Assembly
which met at Hillsboro,^* and at which session he was placed in
29 Ibid. XV, 9 and 10.
30 N. C. Col. Rec. XVII, 878.
^ N. C. Col. Rec. XVII, 811, 896.
32 N. C. Col. Rec. XVII, 852.
38 N. 0. Col. Rec. XVII, 952, 954.
3^ N. 0. Ool. Rec. XVI, 2,29; XIX, 18.
Richard Dobbs Spaight 99
nomination as a delegate to Congress,^^ the successful candidates
being Abner 'Nsish, William Blount, Dr. Hugb Williamson and Ben-jamin
Hawkins, while he, with Thomas Person, Joseph Jones,
Archibald Macline and Adlai Osbom, were also voted for. Again
on April 18, 1Y83, the Assembly meets at Hillsboro and we find him
the repi^esentative of the town of ISTew Bern,^^ during the session of
which Assembly he was appointed by Governor Alexander Martin
as a delegate to the Continental Congress to succeed Colonel William
Blount, resigned, which appointment he accepted on May 9th. He
was re-elected by the Assembly in 1783 and 1784, the Congress sit-ting
at Philadelphia. In 1784 we find him selected as one of the
trustees of the 'New Bern Academy.^"^ On November 19, 1785, the
Assembly met at !N'ew Bern, when he with Abner locale repre-sented
Craven County,^^ at which session he was elected speaker of
the House of Commons.^^ He was named as one of the original
trustees of the Kinston Academy,^^ and that year resigned his seat
in the Continental Congress.*^
In 1786 he was a member of the House of Commons from Craven
County in the assembly which met at Fayetteville on l^ovember
18th,^^ where his and his colleague's seat were contested by John
Allen and Albert E^ixon, which contest the committee dismissed,
affirming Spaight's title to his seat.^^ In this as in other Assemblies,
we find him serving on many committees considering governor's
messages and other financial matters relating to the State.^^ He
opposed the bill to charter the Dismal Swamp Company and urged its
delay until the succeeding year;*^ by Chapter 35 of that year he and
John Wright Stanly, John Hawkes, Spyers Singleton and Abner
IN'eale were the managers of a lottery, the proceeds of which were
to complete a Poor House in IsTew Bern.^^
At the session of the Assembly held at Fayetteville commencing
November 18, 1786, there was a foreshadowing of the bitter debate
which was to come two years later at Hillsboro when the Conven-tion
of 1788 met to consider the Constitution of the United States^
s« N. 0. Col. Rec. XVI, 90.
«> N. 0. Col. Rec. XIX, 234, 235.
»' N, C. Col. Rec. XXIV, 607.
so N. C. Col. Rec. XVII, 264.
88 N. C. Col. Rec. XVII, 166.
*o N. C. Col. Rec. XXIV, 754, Acts. 1785, Ch. 32.
« N. 0. Col. Rec. XVII, 338.
« N. C. Col. Rec. XVIII, 226.
« N. 0. Col. Rec. XVIII, 247, 269.
** N. C. Col. Rec. XVIII, 127, 230, 250, 290, 309, 348.
« N, 0. Col. Rec. XVIII, 350.
« N. C. Col. Rec. XXIV, 821; XVIII, 341.
100 The North Carolina Historical Review
which had been framed at Philadelphia in 1787, which was then re-jected
and afterwards adopted by a large vote by the Convention
of 1789 at Fayetteville.
In the closing day of 1786 a resolution was offered to investi-gate
the conduct of the judges.*'^ On Monday, November 27, 1786,
Governor Kichard Caswell sent to the House of Commons the pe-tions
of Donald Shaw and Alexander Mclver asking the House to
take such orders on them as they should think proper. ^^ This was
sent over to the Senate, and the Committee of which John Kuther-ford
was Chairman reported as follows : ''That the inquiry into the
present state of the administration of justice in the Superior Court
is absolutely necessary, and they beg leave to recommend that the
speakers of both Houses be requested to notify the Honorable, the
Judges of the Superior Court of Law and Equity, that this inquiry
will take place, in order that they may give their attendance if
they think proper. Your committee also recommend that the Su-perior
Court of the Wilmington District be requested to attend this
committee to give such information as may come to his knowledge
respecting the special abuses said to have been committed by the
Honorable, the Judges of the Superior Courts, in the case of fines
and forfeitures, all of which is submitted." At the same time John
Eutherford made a recommendation on the memorial of Mclver
recomm.ending mercy towards Mclver and also a refunding of the
moneys alleged to have been erroneously collected by him. Under
date of December 14th, at Wilmington, Judge Samuel Ashe ad-dressed
a letter to the Honorable, the Speaker of the General As-sembly,
defending the action of the judges, which was spread upon
the minutes of the Senate of Saturday, December 23, 1786, defend-ing
the action of the judges, demanding a strict inquiry into the
charges made. It is impracticable in an article like the present to
review his letter, occupying as it does five and one-half pages in the
Colonial Records. However, the extract referring to the case of
Bayard against Singleton, which had been argued at the May Term,
1786 in 'New Bern, is of interest, from which we quote
:
As to the affair at New Bern (if it is in charge) the Houses may probably
have a fuller information of it than I can give, but they will pardon and
bear a short recital of it; as far as it respects myself it was thus: A suit
in Ejectment had been commenced in the Superior Court at New Bern prior
*T N. C. Col. Rec. XVIII, 479, 80.
« N. C. Col. Rec. XVIII, 255.
Richard Dobbs Spaight 101
to the passing of the act entitled an act, &c., and at the Court in May term
last the hasty defendant filed his affidavit (without producing his titles)
setting forth that the property in dispute had been confiscated and sold by
the Commissioner of the District, and prayed a dismission of the suit, this
brought on long arguments from the Council on each side on constitutional
points; and then the pleadings were finished, the Court made a few observa-tions
on our Constitution and System of Government. I on my part (as
far as I now recollect) observed that at the time of our separation from
Great Britain we were thrown into a similar situation with a set of people
ship-wrecked and cast on a maroon'd island, without laws, without magis-trates,
without Government or any legal authority. That being thus cir-cumstanced,
the People of this Country, with a general union of sentiment
by their Delegates, met in Congress and formed that system or those funda-mental
principles comprised in the Constitution, dividing the powers of
Government into separate and distinct branches, to wit: the Legislative, the
Judicial and the Executive, and assigning to each several and distinct pow-ers,
and prescribing their several limits and boundaries. This I said with-out
disclosing a single sentiment upon the cause, or the proceeding, or the
law introduced in support of it. The other Judges proposed to take an ad-visari
thereon, to which I readily agreed, as the printer had never furnished
me with the law, and I had then only read it cursorily, and as I had reason
to believe the next Assembly meant to revise the law, and in respect to them
wished to decline an opinion, and lastly from a strange malady with which
I was then attacked, having not slept three hours in as many days and nights
next preceding the trial, though I had taken repeated doses of laudanum, I
iwas afraid to give my opinion in that situation in any matter, especially
in one of importance. I therefore immediately after the rising of the Court,
fearing my malady would increase, left New Bern; the matter (I have told)
wa^ stirred again, but the result I know only from report. If my opinion
of our Constitution is an error, I fear it is an incurable one, for I had the
honor to assist in the forming it and confess I so designed it, and I believe
every other gentleman concerned did also.49
From Judge Ashe's letter it would seem that the courts of that
day were then accused of delay in business, which he mentions as
follows
:
As to the charge of delay of business whispered against the Judges, I
candidly admit to be in part true; for tho' the delay has arisen from the
Bar, the Bench are blamable; they have been to blame in not constraining
the bar to a more punctual and close attention to the business of the Court;
for often while the Court have been waiting they have been scouring and
hunting after fees; the Bench have been to blame also for indulging the Bar
in unnecessary long and rambling harangues, calculated only to amuse the
client and pay him in empty words for the extravagance of the fee. But
Sirs, for these blamable indulgences at the first, I had (and I believe my
brothers in office also) laudable motives. I wished to convince the people
at large (for the minds of many, though they acquiesced under, were not
« N. C. Col. Rec. XVIII, 137.
102 The North Carolina Historical Review
reconciled to, our Government) that the suitors would receive as much
justice from the Courts of the present Government as from those in the
former—that the present Judges were as easy of access, as patient in hear-ing
and as desirous of redressing wrongs and doing equal justice as those
under the Crown. These motives (with me) first gave rise to those in-dulgences
which the lawyers (an encroaching tribe) have carried into a
mischief.so
This letter was sent to a committee composed of MacLaine, Wil-liam
E. Davie, William Hooper, Richard Dobbs Spaigbt, J. G.
Blomit, John Stokes and John Sitgraves, who investigated the mat-iQY^
i Qj. Monday, January 1, 1787.^^ The committee presented
their report to the two Houses sitting as a Committee of the whole,
Richard Dobbs Spaight being chosen as Chairman^^ and the Com-mittee's
report being of some four pages and calling by name Judges
Spencer, Williams and Ashe, stating among other things
:
That the delay of the judges was greatly increased by tedious disputes
between Judge Spencer and Judge Williams, and ail of the Judges, as it
combined to waste their time and delay the business by long and frequent
unnecessary charges to the jury, even in cases where they have been all
agreed, seldom trying more than six or eight cases during the term.52
Also they referred to the decided case of Bayard against Single-ton
(1 N. C, 42, May term, 1787) :
That at New Bern Court in May Term, 1786, in several Suits brought,
against Mr. Singleton and others, the Defendants under the Act for quieting
in their possessions the purchasers of confiscated property, produced such Af-fidavits
as the Act appears to require, and prayed that their suits might
be dismissed, but the Judges declined to decide either for or against the
Defendants, though another Term has elapsed since the Arguments were
heard, whereas if any insuperable Doubts arose on that Subject your Com-mittee
submit whether they should not have stated them to the General
Assembly, that the Act in question might have undergone a Revisal. See
the New Bern Petition marked No. 12.52
The House sitting as a committee of the whole took the matter un-der
consideration and brought in a report adjudging in (1) that
the suspension of Peter Mallett did not amount to a misdemeanor
in office, (2) that the judges were not guilty of any malpractice in the
banishment of Francis Brice and Daniel Mc^eale, and (3) that the-judges
have not been guilty of any malpractice in office.^*
eo N. C. Col. Rec. XVIII, 137.
61 N. C. Col. Rec. XVIII, 194, 348, 400.
^ N. 0. Col. Rec. XVIII, 213, 428.
« N. C. Col. Rec. XVIII, 194, 425.
^ N. C. Col. Rec. XVIII, 428.
Richard Dobbs Spaight 103
Upon the roll call this report was rejected by a vote of forty-nine
to twenty-two, every one of the seven members of the committee
voting ISTo excepting Stokes whose name was not recorded.
In view of the interest evoked by the late decision of Bayard
against Singleton the criticising of the court for delay is of interest.
On the concluding day of the session there was entered the protest
of William Hooper, William Pool, Eichard Dobbs Spaight, John
Sitgraves and John Hay against the action of the House in excusing
the judges.
Constitutional Convention of 1787
On January 4, 1787, the General Assembly on joint ballot elected
as delegates to the Convention to form a Constitution, to be held
at Philadelphia on the second Monday in May, Governor Richard
Caswell, General Alexander Martin, General William E. Davie,
Colonel Richard Dobbs Spaight, and General Willie Jones.* Gov-ernor
Caswell declined the position, and William Blount, after-wards
United States Senator from Tennessee was appointed April
23d.^^ Also on April 3d Dr. Hugh Williamson was appointed in
place of General Willie Jones.^^ The session of Congress met on
Monday, May 14th, but not until Friday, May 25th, when the ma-jority
of the 'New Jersey delegates appeared, making the number of
States then represented seven, did the Convention open for busi-
*N. 0. Col. Rec. XVIII, 462. Samuel Johnston and Dr. Hugh Williamson were also
placed in nomination. 1 Elliott's Debates (2d Edition, 1836) 169-170-176.
THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
To THE Honorable Richard Dobbs Spaight, Esq.
Greeting.
Whereas, our general assembly at their late session, holden at Fayetteville, by adjourn-ment,
in the month of January last, did by joint ballot of the senate and house of com-mons,
elect Richard Caswell, Alexander Martin, WilHam Richardson Davie, Richard Dobbs
Spaight and Willie Jones, Esqurs. deputies to attend a convention of delegates from several
United States of America, proposed to be held in the city of Philadelphia, in May next, for
the purpose of revising the federal Constitution.
We do therefore by these presents, nominate, commissionate and appoint you the said
Richard Dobbs Spaight, one of the deputies for an in behalf of us, to meet with our other
deputies at Philadelphia, on the first day of May next, and with them, or any two of them,
to confer with such deputies as may have been, or shall be appointed by other states, for
the purpose aforesaid; To hold, exercise and enjoy the said appoinment, with all powers,
authorities and emoluments, to the same weident and belonging, or in any wise appertaining,
you conforming, in every instance, to the act of our said assembly under which you are
appointed.
Witness, Richard Caswell, Esq. our Governor, Captain General and Commander in Chief,
under his hand and our great seal, at Kinston, the 14th day of April, in the eleventh year
of our independence. Anno Dom. 1787.
Richard CASWELii.
By His Excellency's command:
Winston Caswell,
P. Sect'ry. {L. S.)
«1 Elliotts Debates, 171.
Ml Elliotts Debates, 171.
<i
104 The North Carolina Historical Review
ness.^^ The States represented at that time were E'ew York, Penn-sylvania,
Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina,^^
with JSTew Jersey made seven. Three days later Massachusetts
and Maryland appeared, and on the 30th Connecticut and Georgia
were represented, and not until July 23d was the State of I^ew
Hampshire represented, this being after the majority of the 'New
York delegates had withdrawn. The State of Rhode Island was
not represented.^^
We presume Colonel Spaight arrived in Philadelphia on May 20th
and we find a letter from Governor Caswell to John Gray Blount,
Esq., dated April 24th, 1787,^^ enclosing the commission of William
Blount as Deputy to the Convention, and a warrant in favor of Mr.
Spaight which he suggests may be forwarded to Mr. William Blount
from Washington by such conveyance as he may think proper or
else that Mr. Winston Caswell may take it to Spaight at New Bern.
Under date of May 28th, 1787,^^ from New York Hon. William
Blount writes to Governor Caswell acknowledging that he had been
advised by Mr. Spaight soon after his arrival in Philadelphia of the
commission for him (Colonel Blount) as a delegate to attend the
Convention, and advises Governor Caswell that he had been sick and
at that time was too indisposed to take a journey as far as Philadel-phia,
but as soon as recovered he would leave in a few days to attend
the appointment. He further advises that on the 24th inst. only
six States had appeared, among them North Carolina, which had four
members, and that on the 25th there are seven, and at that period the
delegates from Massachusetts had passed through the city.^^
An interesting side light on the Convention is shown by several
letters published in Volume 20 of the Colonial Records. Under date
of June 12, 1787, Governor Spaight writes to Governor Caswell
:
I should have done myself the pleasure of writing to your Excellency
oftener than I have done, but not being at liberty to communicate anything
57 1 Elliotts Debates.
58 1 Elliotts Debates, 176-177-178.
Mon. May 28. "Also a motion was made by Mr. Spaight, one of the deputies of North
Carolina, to provide that, on the one hand, the house may not be precluded, by a vote
upon any question, from revising the subject matter of it, when they see cause: Nor,
on the other hand, be led too hastily to rescind a decision, which was the result of mature
deliberation."
"» One Hundredth Anniversary of the Constitution of the United States by Hampton
L. Carson. Volume 1, 33.
^ Was present Friday, May 25, as were Gen. Alexander Martin, Gen. Wm. R. Davie
and Dr. Hugh Williamson.
«i N. C. Col. Rec. XX, 682, 706.
«2 N. C. Col. Rec. XX, 707.
Richard Dobbs Spaight 105
that passed the Convention I have nothing to write about.63 He then ad-vises
that it will probably take at least two months before the Convention
will finish their work. Two days later General Martin, Colonel Spaight,
General Davie, and Dr. Williamson join in a letter to Governor Caswell as
follows:
By the date of this you will observe that we are near the middle of June
and though we sit from day to day, Saturdays included, it is not possible
for us to determine when the business before us can be finished, a very
large field presents to our view without a single straight or eligible road
that has been trodden by the feet of nations. An union of sovereign states
preserving their civil liberties and connected together by such ties as to
preserve permanent and effective government is a system not described, it
is a circumstance that has not occurred in the history of man; if we shall
be so fortunate as to find this in descript our time will have been well
spent.64
Under date of July Tth these four Deputies again write Governor
Caswell :
The Convention having on the 26th of last month finished the out-line
of the amendments proposed to the Federal system, the business was of
course committed for detail and we have the pleasure to inform your
Excellency that the report was received on yesterday. From the progress,
which has already taken up near three months, we are induced to believe
the result of our deliberation will shortly be presented to the United States
in Congress, and as they are only to consider whether the system shall or
shall not be recommended to the States, the business cannot remain long
before them.65
Under date of July 26tli we find Governor Caswell at Kinston
writing Colonel Spaight at Philadelphia a letter from which we
quote
:
I have been very much indisposed a great part of the time since you left
the State is the reason I have not before this done myself the honor of
acknowledging your receipt of the 20th of May and 12th of June, which
came to hand some weeks past. However, I am now able to be about and
hope to get restored to health.
The Convention in my judgment have done wisely in enjoining secrecy in
their members; was the case otherwise it would give more room to Babblers
and Scribblers to exercise their powers than they can be at liberty to take
in their present case.
From the hint you throw out in your first letter I am induced to think
that the plan of a National Parliament and Supreme Executive with ade-quate
powers to the government of the Union will be more suitable to our
situation and circumstances than any other, but I should wish also an in-dependent
Judicial Department to decide any contest that may happen he-
«B N. C. Col. Rec. XX, 723.
«4 N. C. Col. Rec. XX, 723, 724.
«5 N. C. Col. Rec. XX, 733.
106 The North Carolina Historical Review
tween the United States and individual States, and between one State and
another; this however is only a hint, you may not see the necessity of it as
forcibly as I do and I presume now it is too late to offer any reasons for the
establishment, as that matter I flatter myself is before this got over; all I
can say respecting the Convention is to recommend a perseverance to the
end, to the Deputies from this State.66
It i^ to be regretted that the debates of the Convention of 1787
have not been preserved. An examination of the minutes of that
body, as well at Yates' Minutes of the Secret Sessions, show only
the proceedings. As it was a representation of States the votes were
taken entirely by States and never by individuals. It is interesting
to note that while Colonel William Blount, the fifth member, did
not appear until June 20th,^^ yet the entire time from May 25th to
June 20th the l^orth Carolina delegation never divided evenly, but al-ways
the delegation appeared unanimous, certainly it acted as the
majority did. Towards the end of the proceedings the Convention
seemed to refer everything to a Committee of States, selected by bal-lot,
and North Carolina seems generally to have been represented by
Dr. Hugh Williamson. Dr. Williamson was then a man of sixty
years of age, considerably the senior of the other delegates, a Profes-sor
in the University of Pennsylvania, and probably his varied experi-ence
as a physician, a merchant^ college professor, and a public of-ficiaP^
doubtless gave him the tact to deal with the men he met in the
diplomatic way that is so productive of achievement in legislative
work.
Of the North Carolina delegation Mr. Hampton L. Carson in his
One Hundredth Anniversary of the Constitution of the United
States thus describes the several delegates
:
RICHARD DOBBS SPAIGHT 69
He proposed the election of United States Senators by the Legislatures of
the States, and suggested seven years as the Presidential term of office.
He was in favor of reconsidering the decision once arrived at, to choose the
President by electors appointed by the State Legislatures, and objected to
requiring more than a majority to pass a navigation act.
HUGH WILLIAMSON
In the Convention he was the most active member from his State. He
proposed impeachment of the President for malpractice or neglect; preferred
«8 N. 0. Col. Rec. XX, 752.
«^ 1 Elliotts Debates, 216.
«8 Wheeler's History of North Carolina pp. 91-93. 5 North Carolina Biographical His-tory,
(Sketch of Hugh Williamson, by Stephen B. Weeks).
•9 One Hundredth Anniversary of the Constitution of the U. S. by Hampton L. Cavson,
Vol. 1, page 194.
Richard Dobbs Spaight 107
the consent of an executive council to appointments instead of either branch
of the legislature; suggested the appointment by Congress of a provisional
successor of the President; thought that the Presidential term should be
six years. On the whole, he preferred an executive of three persons to a
single one, and strongly disapproved of the seat of government being at a
State Capital. He wished the Senate to be a small select body, with its
members chosen for a term of six years, and thought that representatives
should be paid by the State legislatures. He urged a compromise between
the large and small States as to representation, and the protection of
Southern interests in apportioning representation. He approved of the
exclusive right of representatives to originate money bills, the prohibition
of a tax on exports, and contended for a provision for trial by jury. He
doubted whether controversies between the States should in all cases be
decided by the judiciary.
ALEXANDER MAETIN
In the Convention he desired that the ineligibility of representatives should
be limited to offices created or augmented during their term. In this he
warmly supported Mr. Madison, When it was moved by Mr. King "that
the States at the first meeting of the general legislature should be repre-sented
by sixty-five members," in which five representatives were allotted
to North Carolina, Mr. Martin contended that his State was entitled to six
members, but his views did not prevail. He supported Mason of Virginia in
his views that it was highly improper that the seat of the general govern-ment
should be at any State capital, first because it tended to produce dis-putes
concerning jurisdiction, and next because of the intermixture of the
legislatures tended to give a provincial tincture to the national delibera-tions.
WILLIAM R. DAVIE
He proposed an impeachment of the President for malpractice or neglect,
a matter which he deemed of vital importance to secure the good behavior
of the executive, "for," said he, "if he be not impeached whilst in office,
he will spare no effort or means whatever to get himself re-elected." He
proposed eight years as the executive term, but subsequently supported Mason
in his motion "that the executive be appointed for seven years, and be in-eligible
for a second time." He insisted that slaves be included in the
ratio of representation.
WILLIAM BLOUNT
So far as the records show, he took no active part in the debates.
The Assembly which met at Tarboro on ISTovember 19, 1787, found
Hichard Dobbs Spaight as a member of the House of Commons from
Craven County.^^ He appeared on I^ovember 19th,^^ and upon his
qualification was immediately added to the Committees on Finance
and directed to prepare bills of a public nature."^^ Later in Decem-ber
he was made a member of the Committee to prepare a bill of
™ N. 0. Col. Rec. XX, 119.
71 N. C. Col. Rec. XX, 151.
" N. C. Col. Rec. XX, 152, 339, 157.
108 The North Carolina Historical Review
TmpeaclinientSj which was introduced/^ and also introduced a bill
to change the time of the meeting of the General Assembly. ''^^ On
December 15, 1787/^ names were placed in nomination for a dele-gate
to Congress, Spaight's name not being among them.
As Chairman of the Committee he introduced the bill to define
treason by reason of the action of the people of the western country."^^
At this same session (1787) he is named upon a Committee on the
resolution about the navigation of the Mississippi River/"^ and his
acquaintance with matters of taxation and the attempted equal dis-tribution
of those burdens is shown by his voting E'o on taxing the
lands west of the Cumberland Mountains one shilling for each 100
acres, and voting Aye for taxing the lands east of the Cumberland
Mountains two shillings for each 100 acres."^* At that same session
by Acts, Chapter 35, he frees a mulatto slave by the name of Mary
Long."^^
Convention of 1788
On July 25, 1788, the Convention called by the General Assembly
to consider the ratification of the Constitution of the United States
met at Hillsboro in the Presbyterian Church. It was composed of
284 delegates, each county being represented in proportion to the
number of senators and representatives of that county and the bor-ough
towns within its boundaries, and those present representing
Craven County were Richard Dobbs Spaight, Joseph Leech, Abner
J^eale, Benjamin Williams, and Richard Nixon *^ For able men
no other body ever assembled in J^orth Carolina has equaled the
personnel of the Hillsboro Convention, including as it did Governor
Samuel Johnston, Ex-Governors, Judges, Legislators, soldiers, and
men of property and prominence. Present in the Convention were
William R. Davie and Richard Dobbs Spaight, who had sat in the
Convention that formed the Constitution of the United States.
Also Richard Caswell and Willie Jones, who had been elected to that
body and declined. Upon its assembling they unanimously elected
Governor Samuel Johnston as President of the Convention, his well
known fairness being apparent to every one. Leading the fight for
" N. C. Col. Rec. XX, 205, 387.
« N. C. Ool. Rec. XX, 211.
'6 N. C. Col. Rec. XX, 244.
'« N. C. Col. Rec. XV, 248, 433.
" N. 0. Col. Rec. XX, 274.
™ N. C. Col. Rec. XX, 287.
'« N. C. Col. Rec. XXIV, 930.
80 N. C. Col. Rec. XXII, 1.
4 Elliotts Debates, 33.
Richard Dobbs Spaight 109
the adoption of the Constitution was James Iredell, a clear-headed
lawyer of Edenton, known by reputation to all the members of that
Convention by his work as Attorney-General for four years and fol-lowing
that service Judge of the Superior Court for that same length
of time he then being thirty-seven years of age and in the practice of
law. At that time the Superior Court sat only at eight places in the
State, namely Edenton, Halifax, 'New Bern, Wilmington, Fayette-ville,
Hillsboro, Salisbury and Morganton,^^ and it was the custom
of the lawyers to ride the circuit of courts with the judges.
One is now led to ask why it was that General Davie or Colonel
Spaight, each of whom had sat in the Constitutional Convention of
178Y, were not selected to lead the fight for the adoption of the
Federal Constitution. Of their eminent abilities as leaders there can
be no doubt, as future events and the honors upon each of them show.
The reason for the choice of Judge Iredell must have been because of
his preeminent ability and qualifications and not by any discredit to
the others. Colonel Spaight was not a lawyer and was seven years
younger than Judge Iredell. General Davie was a lawyer, and like
every lawyer testified to Judge Iredell's able scholarship, distin-guished
learning, and clear-headed legal ability, and besides Judge
Iredell was probably the only man among those advocating the adop-tion
of the Constitution who was known to the larger number of
people. It is true they knew Governor Samuel Johnston, but his
position as chief executive for the entire State precluded selecting
him, and likewise Ex-Governor Kichard Caswell, while known to
many, would probably not be in touch with the younger element of
the Convention as would a young man leading such a fight.
Fortunately for the country the debates in this Convention which
sat from July 21st to August 2d, 1788, inclusive, were taken and
preserved and ordered printed for distribution among the people as
information.^^ There is a world of information and learning in
the 200 pages of Elliott's Debates comprising the proceedings of
this Convention. Judge James Iredell, as before stated, led the
fight, being most ably seconded by General William R. Davie, after-wards
Governor of ^North Carolina, and General Eichard Dobbs
Spaight, each of whom had sat in the Convention, also Governor
81 Wheelers History of N. C. 100, 104.
Iredell was Justice of U. S. Supreme Court, 1790-1799.
82 2 McRee's Life of Iredell, 231.
110 The North Carolina Historical Review
Samuel Johnston and Mr. Archibald Maclaine, a lawyer of Wilming-ton.^^
The result of their efforts was that the opposition, headed by-
General Willie Jones of Halifax though he did not take the lead in
the debate, defeated the advocates of the Constitution by an over-whelming
vote of 184 to 84 votes,^* and delayed its adoption until
next year when this overwhelming vote was reversed when the Con-vention
met at Fayetteville on I^ovember 16, 1789, and on November
21, 1789, adopted the Constitution by a vote of 195 to 77, adjourning
on the 22d day of JSTovember.^^ Why was this seeming revolution-ary
change in sentiment of the people of IN'orth Carolina in the space
of fifteen months ? The one answer is that the thinking people read
the debates of the Convention and to them the speeches of Iredell,
Spaight, Davie, Johnston, and McAline read like essays upon polit-ical
government, and they fully answered every argument raised
against the adoption of the Constitution, and to the larger number of
the open-minded people they carried conviction and decision of the
justness and timeliness of the Constitution of 1787.
In the proceedings eleven times does Mr. Spaight address the
Convention,^^ sometimes almost as though answering an inquiry, at
other times making an extended speech, always clear and trying to
remove any doubts as to the advantages of the Constitution, never
beclouding its meaning. Through his address can be traced his ideas
of government, such as the fact that the Constitution was intended
for the building of the nation, and that it was not to destroy indi-vidual
States. The central government was to be one in fact and
not in name, yet that central government should not interfere with
the affairs of the individual States. The most interesting speech
that he made in this Convention was on Wednesday, July 30, 1788,
when in defending the Constitution he said :^^
"Mr. Chairman, I am one of those who formed this Constitution.
The gentleman says we exceeded our powers. I deny the charge.
We were sent with full power to amend the existing system. This
involved every power to make every alteration necessary to ameliorate
and render it perfect. It cannot be said that we arrogated powers
altogether inconsistent with the objections of our delegation. There
is a clause which expressly provides for future amendments, and it
83 2 McRee's Life of Iredell, 231.
84 N. 0. Ool. Rec. XXII, 28.
85N. C. Col. Rec.
8«4 Elliotts Debates, 39, 43, 73, 82, 100, 101, 108, 109, 127, 181 and 209. «M Elliotts Debates, 207-210.
Richard Dobbs Spaight 111
is still in your power. What the Convention has done is a mere
proposal. It was found impossible to improve the old system, with-out
changing its very form. For by that the system of three great
branches of government are blended together. All will agree that
the concession of powers to a government so constructed is dangerous.
The proposing of a new system to be established by the assent and
ratification of nine States arose from the necessity of the case. It
was thought extremely hard that one State, or even three or four
States, should be able to prevent necessary alterations
It was therefore thought by the Convention that if so great a majority
as nine States should adopt it, it would be right to establish it. It
was recommended by Congress to the State Legislatures to refer it
to people of different States. Our Assembly has confirmed what they
have done by proposing it to the consideration of the people. It was
there not here that the objections should have been made. This Con-vention
is, therefore, to consider the Constitution, and whether it
is proper for the government of the people of America, and had it
been proposed by any one individual, under these circumstances
it would be right to consider whether it be good or bad. The gentle-man
has insinuated that this Constitution, instead of securing our
liberties, is a scheme to enslave us. He has produced no proof, but
rests on his bare assertion—an assertion which I am astonished to
hear, after the ability with which every objection has been fully and
clearly refuted in the course of our debates. I am, for my part,
conscious of having had nothing in view but the liberty and happi-ness
of my country, and I believe every member of that Convention
was actuated by motives equally sincere and patrioticc" (Pages
207, 208.)
His reply to Judge Spencer attacking that section of the Consti-tution
providing for the Federal Judiciary^^ reads so much like a
884 Elliotts Debates, 150.
Mr. Spaight—Mr. Chairman, the gentleman (Judge Spencer) insinuates that differences
existed in the federal convention, respecting the clauses which he objects to. Whoever told
him so was wrong, for I declare that, in that convention, the unanimous desire of all was
to keep separate and distinct the objects of the jurisdiction of the federal from that of
the state judiciary. They wished to separate them as judiciously as possible, and to con-sult
the ease and convenience of the people. The gentleman objects to the cognizance of all
cases in law and equity arising under the laws of the United States. This objection is
very astonishing. When any government is established, it ought to have power to enforce
its laws or else it might as well have no power. What but that is the use of a judiciary?
The gentleman from his profession; must know that no government can exist without a
judiciary to enforce its laws, by distinguishing the disobedient from the rest of the people,
and imposing sanctions for securing the execution of the laws. As to the inconvenience of
distant attendance, congress has the power of establishing inferior tribunals in each state,
so as to accommodate every citizen. As congress have it in their power will they not do it?
Are we to elect men who will wantonly and unnecessarily betray us?
112 The North Carolina Historical Review
lawyer that one hearing Colonel Spaight was not a lawyer would at
once realize the study he had given to this question, when on July
28th he spoke as follows:
The gentleman insinuates that differences existed in the Federal Con-vention
respecting the clauses which he objects to. Whoever told him so
was wrong, for I declare that in that Convetion the unanimous desire of all
was to keep separate and distinct the objects of the jurisdiction of the Fed-eral
from that of the State judiciary. They wished to separate them as
judiciously as possible, and to consult the ease and convenience of the
people. The gentleman objects to the cognizance of all cases in law and
equity arising under the Constitution and the Laws of the United States.
This objection is very astonishing. When any government is established it
ought to have power to enforce its laws, or else it might as well have no
power. But what is the use of the Judiciary? The gentleman from his
profession, must know that no government can exist without a judiciary to
enforce its laws. By distinguishing the disobedient from the rest of the
people and imposing sanctions for securing the execution of the laws.
As to the inconvenience of distant attendance, Congress has power of estab-lishing
inferior tribunals in each State so as to accommodate every citizen.
This defense of the Federal Judiciary hy Colonel Spaight is all
the more remarkahle as an evidence of his strength of mind in being
able to have a fixed opinion, and then have that opinion entirely re-versed
and declare for a contrary state of affairs when the error of his
former position is shown. As stated above, in this address Colonel
Spaight had originally held very strong grounds against the Judici-ary,
and especially against the Judiciary nullifying an act of the
Legislature.
The E'orth Carolina Historical Commission has found the fol-lowing
notice of the marriage of Governor Spaight in the Columbian
Magazine for October, 1788
:
NORTH CAROLINA.—At New Bern, The Hon. Richard Dobbs Spaight,
Esq. late member of the Federal Convention, to Miss Mary Leech, daughter
of Col. Joseph Leech, of that town; a young lady whose amiable character
and beautiful person, added to an extensive fortune, promise much felicity
to this worthy pair.—Page 614.
The magazine being printed in October in Philadelphia, it is
impracticable to state whether his marriage occurred prior to the
Hillsboro Convention or subsequent thereto. Also it is impossible
to state whether Colonel Joseph Leech was the identical Leech who
with Governor Spaight and three others was the representative of
Craven County in that Convention, but as propinquity is a valuable
adjunct to matrimony, that conclusion can be drawn. Similarly it
Richard Dobbs Spaight 113
is impossible to state whether this is the same Colonel Joseph Leech
who in 1Y57 had a dispute with Kichard Spaight, the father of
the subject of this sketch, about the entry of the tract of land on
Batchelor's Creek, yet it is a reasonable conclusion to believe that
he was the same person. Here we have one generation engaged in
contentions and strife about business matters, and the next generation
uniting their lives. Truly "Man proposes but God disposes."
Of this union there were born several children, three of whom sur-vived
him,*® namely (1) Richard Dobbs Spaight, Jr., born 1Y96,
and in 1834 elected Governor of the State, this being the one instance
in the history of I^orth Carolina where father and son had each held
the gubernatorial chair, (2) Charles B. Spaight, born in 1800, and
(3) Miss Margaret Spaight, who married Hon. John R. Donnell,
afterwards a Judge of the Superior Court. Neither of Governor
Spaight's sons were ever married, so the only descendants of his now
living are those of his daughter, Mrs. Donnell, several of whom live
in 'New Bern.
Richard Dobbs Spaight was graduated in 1815 from the Uni-versity
of North Carolina, and like his illustrious father early entered
public life, serving continuously in the State Senate from Craven
County from 1820 to 1834, when he was elected Governor, with the
exception of 1823 and 1824, when he was a member of the United
States Congress. In 1831 he was elected Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge of Masons and served two terms. Charles B. Spaight was a
member of the House of Commons from the borough of New Bern
in 1829 and 1830.
In 1789 the Assembly met at Fayetteville at which time we find
Chapter 22 chartering the University of North Carolina names
Colonel Spaight as one of its Board of Trustees,®^ likewise by Chap-ter
32 he and eight others are named as Wardens for the Episcopal
Church at New Bern to hold property for that body.®^ On Novem-ber
24th Colonel Spaight was one of the eleven placed in nomination
to be named for United States Senator, the others being the two
successful candidates. Governor Samuel Johnston and Colonel Ben-jamin
Hawkins, the other eight being Colonel Joseph McDowell,
Hon. Timothy Bloodworth, Thomas Person, William Blount, John
8» Richard Dobbs Spaight, by John H. Wheeler (1880), page 21 and 22,
«> N. C. Col. Rec. XXV, 22.
»i N. C. Col. Rec. XXV, 35.
114 The North Carolina Historical Review
Williams, William Lenoir, William Pope, and James White.^^
Later the names of Colonel Spaight and James White were with-drawn.^^
In February of that same year he resigned as Colonel of
Artillery. ^^ It is stated that at this time he was enfeebled from
disease and hence his enforced inactivity for the years 1789, 1790,
and 1791.^^
In 1792 he again entered the General Assembly, being returned
as the member of the House of Commons for the town of 'New Bern,
which Assembly met in that city on November 15th.^^ On I^ovem-ber
20th we find placed in nomination for Governor, William Lenoir,
General Williams, Kichard Dobbs Spaight, Judge Samuel Spencer,
and John Macon,^^ while later the names of Judge Samuel Ashe and
General Benjamin Smith were added. (Before the balloting Judge
Spencer's, Judge Ashe's, and General Smith's names were with-drawn.)
The Assembly balloted for four days without an election,
and on Wednesday, December the 12th, General Spaight was
elected,^^ and accepted the following day, and on Friday, December
14th, he was inaugurated Governor.^^ His first message was deliv-ered
December 5, 1793, when the Assembly met at Fayetteville,-^^^
and contains little of interest to the present time. He refers to the
violation of the neutral dry law by a sloop at Wilmington which had
seized a Spanish brig. Also the correspondence with Governor Moul-trie
of South Carolina on the subject of the dividing line between
the two States. Mentions the pestilential fever existing in Philadel-phia,
and recommends the proper person vested by law to take proper
steps to prevent the introduction into this State. The special mes-sage
on December 9th deals with the troubles had with the Indians
in the western part of the State. On December 14, 1793, he
was re-elected Governor ^^^ and inaugurated on December 26,
1793.^^2
On Tuesday, December 30, 1794, the Assembly met for the first
time in the city of Raleigh. ^^^ On the following day Governor
»2 N. 0. Col. Rec. XXI. 253.
83 N. C. Col. Rec. XXI, 529.
»* Funeral sermon of Rev. Thos. P. Irvine. 4 N. C. Biographical History (Richard:
Dobbs Spaight, by Haywood), 401.
» House Journal, 1792.
»8 House Journal, 1792.
^ House Journal, 1792.
«8 House Journal, 1792.
»9 House Journal, 1792.
100 Senate Journal, 1793.
"1 Senate Journal, 1793.
102 Senate Journal, 1793.
103 Senate Journal, 1794.
Richard Dobbs Spaight 115
Spaight was placed in nomination for re-election as Governor, tlie
other names mentioned being General William Lenoir, and Judge
Samuel Ashe, both of which names were withdrawn, and he was
elected January, 1795, for this third term.^^* His second message on
January 6th deals largely with local matters, the principal one being
the withdrawal of the patrol in the Indian country as the Indians were
friendly. On January 27th he sends a special message about the
Great Seal of the State, which had been ordered in the fall of 1793,
but the sickness prevailing in Philadelphia had prevented the order
being executed until the summer of 1794, and that the seal when
completed and sent to J^ew Bern lacked a screw and hence was use-less.^^^
In E'ovember 1795, the Assembly again met in Raleigh,^^^ and in
the Governor's Message that year ^^^ he refers to the navigation propo-sition
to deepen the Catawba River and for the construction of the
Club Foot and Harlow Canal; also refers to the late storms and
freshets destroying the crops of Indian corn and suggests an embargo
on the shipping of corn out of the State. On November 15th Judge
Samuel Ashe, General Allen Jones and General Leigh were placed
in nomination for Governor, and Judge Ashe was elected and in-augurated
on November 19, 1795,-^^^ Governor Spaight giving up the
office after three years of service satisfactory to the people.
In 1796 he was chosen one of the electors to cast the vote of the
State for President and Vice-President, as he had been in 1793 when
a member of the General Assembly.
Of interest in connection with General Spaight's holding the high
office of Governor and at the same time being one of the electors to
cast the vote for President, it is of interest that he was the first native
born E'orth Carolinian to be chosen Governor, as all of his predeces-sors
who so honored that office had been born abroad, or in a few in-stances
in other colonies, and had moved to ^NTorth Carolina to make
their life work.
The years 1796 and 1797 he seems to have spent quietly at 'New
Bern. These seem to have been the only years that he was not active
104 Senate Journal, 1794.
105 Senate Journal, 1794.
io« House Journal, 1795, p. 1.
10^ House Journal, 1795, p. 16.
108 House Journal, 1795, p. 22.
Resolved unanimously, that the thanks of this Gen. Assembly are due to Richard Dobbs
Spaight for his able, faithful and disinterested services as Chief Magistrate of the state;
and that a joint committee of both houses be appointed to communicate when this ex-pression
of the confidence and gratitude of his country.
116 The North Carolina Historical Review
in a representative capacity in public work, excepting the years 1789,
1790, land 1791, and the Spring of 1792, when he was a young man
then only thirty-one years of age, his health broke down from the
arduous duties of public life. This enforced idleness must have
chafed on a man of activity. It is remarkable when we consider
the honors held by him, namely a member of the House of Commons
at twenty-one, an Aide to Governor Tryon at twenty-two, a member
of the Federal Congress at twenty-five, a member of the Convention
to frame the Constitution of the United States at twenty-nine, a
delegate to the North Carolina Constitutional Convention at thirty,
and its Governor at the age of thirty-four, and dying at the early
age of forty-four. In this time, when honors come to men only in
middle age, it is all the more surprising when we realize how early
honors came to Governor Spaight.
On Monday, June 4, 1798, William Bryan, the member of Con-gress
from his district, died, and General Spaight was selected to
succeed him, taking his seat on December lOth,^^^ Congress then sit-ting
at Philadelphia. At that Congress came up the question of the
impeachment of Hon. William Blount, United States Senator from
Tennessee, who had served with Governor Spaight in the Constitu-tional
Convention of 1787. The managers at a previous session of-fered
a report that they be instructed to compel the personal appear-ance
of Senator Blount. This report was rejected by the House
of Representatives by the decisive vote of 69 to 11, Governor Spaight
voting against compelling the appearance. -^^^ In passing it may be
stated that the offense for which Senator Blount was charged was
that of inciting the Indians to make war against the French and
English, which would result to the advantage of the American States
in their colonizing. Today such a man would be hailed as a benefactor
to his country, but at that time it was thought otherwise, and while
the Senate expelled Senator Blount, the people of Tennessee rallied
to his support, chose him Speaker of their Senate, and would have
elected him Governor of the State except for his death. ^^^
109 Annals 5th Congress 2425 (Dec. 10, 1798).
A new member, to wit: Richard Dobbs Spaight returned to serve in this House as a
member for North Carolina, in the room of Nathan Bryan, appeared, produced his creden-tials,
and took his seat in the House; the oath to support the Constitution of the United
States having been first administered to him by the Speaker.
110 Annals 5th Congress 2485. Impeachment of William Blount, Annals 5th Congress
2245-2416. m Wheeler's History, 3 N. C. Biographical History (William Blount, by Haywood), 27.
Richard Dobbs Spaight 117
The Sixth Congress of the United States met at Philadelphia on
December 2, 1799/^- and on January 2, 1800, Governor Spaight
appeared and took oath of office. ^^^ We find frequent roll calls
which attest his presence at that session, lasting continuously through
until May 14th.
Again he was present at the session of that Congress which met at
Washington on ISTovember 17, 1800. -^-^^ He appeared on November
18th, and remained until the adjournment of the Congress on March
4th.
This was the House of Representatives which had to decide the
tie vote between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, the leading
candidates for the presidency, no one having received a majority of
the electoral votes. From the Annals of Congress of that time we
learn that Governor Spaight, together with Hon. Willis Alston,
N'athaniel Macon, Richard Stanford, David Stone and R. Williams,
invariably voted for President Jeiferson, who was finally elected. -"^^^
The other representatives from ISTorth Carolina, Messrs. Archibald
Henderson, William H. Hill, Joseph Dixon, and William Barry
Grove voted principally for Mr. Burr, three of them voting on the
first ballot for Mr. Jefferson. He voted to reject the Sedition
Act,-^^^ also voted against the act to provide a uniform system of bank-ruptcy,^^*^
while favoring the appropriation to General Washington
for $50,000.00, voted against increasing that appropriation to
$100,000.00.^1^
In 1802 Governor Spaight was a candidate for the State Senate
from Craven County, and was elected at the election held on August
13th, and at the same time William Bryan and Lewis Fonville were
elected to the House, while Edward Harris was elected from the town
of E'ew Bern. 11^ That campaign grew very bitter, and out of inci-dents
connected with it came the circumstances that led up to his
unfortunate duel with Mr. John Stanly. The Raleigh Register of
Tuesday, September 14, 1802, contains the notice of the tragic event
including the correspondence,^^^ which is too long here to note, stating
that the challenge passed on Sunday, September 15th.
112 Annals 6th Congress, 185.
1" Annals 6th Congress, 230.
n* Annals 6th Congress, 780.
us Annals 6th Congress, 1032, R. D. Spaight by John H. Wheeler, 18.
ii« Annals of 6th Congress, 1032.
nT Annals of 6th Congress, 1061.
'^ Annals 6th Congress, 1071.
119 Raleigh Register, Aug. 24, 1802. (2d page).
120 Wheeler's History, 112-114.
118 The North Carolina Historical Review
The parties, with their seconds, met near this town (New Bern) at
about half past five o'clock on the afternoon of the 5th inst. and upon the
exchange of the fourth shot Mr. Spaight received a wound in his right
side, of which he expired in twenty-three hours. On Tuesday the 7th his
remains were deposited in the family vault at his principal country seat
near New Bern with expressions of universal sorrow and of those testi-monials
of respect which were due to his acknowledged merit.
At the session of the Legislature which met on ITovember 15th,
Mr. Stanly petitioned the Legislature asking that they memoralize
the Governor to grant him a pardon/^^ the petition being presented
by Felix Walker, representative from Rutherford, which was re-ported
to a General Committee of three from the Senate and three
from the House. This Committee recommended a pardon, which
report was rejected on the grounds "that the memorial at first blush
carried a strong and direct distrust of the relations of the deceased,
that they would not rest contented, but that they would carry on
a legal prosecution. It was believed that there was not the least
well-founded apprehension that such a prosecution would be at-tempted;
that on the contrary, sufficient assurance had been given
the memorialists that nothing of this sort would be done." And that
this was a matter in which the Governor ought to act, and that while
the Legislature had the right to act they would not recommend to
the Governor.^^^
The Rev. Thomas P. Irvine, Rector of Christ Church, ISTew Bern,
Governor Spaight being a communicant of that church and having
been one of its vestrymen, was to have preached the memorial ser-mon
on September 12th, as we learn from the Raleigh Register of
Tuesday, October 5, 1802, which states : '^On Sunday the 12th ulto.
the public would have been favored by the Rev. Mr. Irvine with a
funeral discourse on the death of the unfortunate Mr. Spaight had
not indisposition prevented, and since his recovery he had had the
following extract to be made, which though concise will give some
idea of the character of that worthy man." His address in part
reads as follows:
The worthy personage to whom this tribute of respect was paid, was
descended of respectable parentage. His mother was a woman whose
amiable virtues had so endeared her to society that her name is to this
day repeated with veneration, and the respectability of his father may be
estimated from the offices which he filled, and the marks of royal confidence
1^ Raleigh Register, Nov. 23, 1802. (3d page, 1st column.)
122 Raleigh Register, Nov. 30, 1802. (2(i page, 1st column.)
Richard Dobbs Spaight 119
with which he was frequently honored, but he was not destined to know
the adyantages of birth or to reap the fruits of parental attention, for
before the age of nine he was unfortunately bereaved of both his parents
and consigned to the care of a guardian. In him, however, he found a friend,
as far as compliance with the injunctions of his father, relative to his
education, can merit the name of friendship. At this early age he was
sent to Ireland, where he continued until he had finished the usual course
of academic studies, when he was removed to the University of Glasgow.
There he completed his education, and about the year 1778 returned home
to his native soil an ornament to his friends and a blessing to his country.
On his arrival he found his Alma Mater engaged in a bloody war with that
very government under which his youth had been spent, and calling on
her true-born sons to aid her in her struggle for liberty. His sentiments
and his conduct evidenced him to be of the number, and confidence in his
talents and integrity was soon manifested by his being called into active
service as Aide-de-camp to Major-General Richard Caswell.
After referring to his service in the Legislature, he thus refers
to the Constitutional Convention:
In 1787 when United America thought proper to amend her government
by the fabrication of a new Constitution, he was deputed as one of the
representatives of North Carolina, to assist in the accomplishment of that
arduous work. This he did with cheerfulness and so much to the satis-faction
of his constituents that we find him in the succeeding year nom-inated
as a member of the State Convention for discussing its merits and
deliberating on the propriety of its adoption.
Here a chasm of about four years interrupts his political career, occa-sioned,
however, by no loss of the confidence of the people or miscarriage
in his public demeanor. He was afilicted by the hand of Providence. A
malady of very uncommon severity, and not much inferior perhaps to that
which exercised the patience of the Patriarch of Uz, called him from the
period of political life and consigned him to the chamber of affliction.
The West Indies and various parts of the United States were visited by him
in search of relief. At last, after enduring almost as much as the firmness
of manhood could bear, he was blessed if not with entire recovery, at least
with such a restoration of health as enabled him to return home and
witness once more the congratulations of his friends.
No sooner had he returned than his fellow citizens again elected him
a representative for the town of New Bern, and as if anxious to omit no
opportunity of testifying their affection, the next session of the General
Assembly appointed him Governor of the State, which office for three
years successively he administered with dignity, fidelity and moderation.
In describing his Legislative services, including those in the Fifth
and Sixth Congresses, he says
:
Such was the firmness and independence of his conduct through the most
tumultuous sessions which we have ever witnessed since the organization of
our government, that I am authorized to say that he not only experienced
the equitable approbation of his constituents but conciliated and received
120 The North Carolina Historical Review
the respect and esteem of many wise men to whom before this test of
opinion he was but little known. Afflicted with a constitutional disease
and worn out in the service of the public, though not old, he felt some of the
infirmities of age, and having withstood this conflict of parties and serving
two long campaigns of warfare with honor and applause, he now anxiously-hoped,
as I have heard him frequently declare, to spend the residue of his
days in domestic retirement, but domestic retirement was not for him.
He was destined for a political career, and his friends omitted no oppor-tunity
of availing themselves of his usefulness. In 1801 they found em-ployment
for him in the Senate of the State Legislature, and had again
re-elected him to the same office but a few weeks before his unfortunate
and tragical end.
On this short history I shall make but a single comment. When a man
without art or intrigue has so entwined himself in the affection of a people
as to preserve their unshaken confidence for the space of four and twenty
years, he must have merit—he must have worth.
As a private citizen General Spaight was upright in his intentions and
sincere in his declarations, methodical and even mercantile in his business,
no errors of ignorance or blunders of negligence involved him in litigation
with his neighbors.
We regret that this article is too long to be reproduced in full, but
it closes with this language
:
His domestic character may be comprised in a few words. He was a
tender, affectionate and attentive husband, he was a loving and indulgent
father, and a compassionate and lenient master. He was consistent in his
hours of study, of business, and of recreation. No irregularities disturbed
the repose of his family—no improper indulgences created in him remorse.
The day commenced and closed with uniformity—but alas! he is gone
and snatched from us too at an hour when we least expected it. Yes, he
has gone, and let the living lay it to heart. He is gone lamented by the
good and revered by the brave—he is gone loaded with honors of his
country and the benediction of his friends.
So sleeps the brave—he sinks to rest
In all his country's wishes blessed.
When Spring with dewey fingers cold
Returns to deck his hallowed mold.
She there shall deck a sweeter sod
Than fancy's feet have ever trod.
By fairy hands his knell is rung.
By forms unseen his dirge is sung.
There honor comes a pilgrim gray.
To bless the turf that wraps his clay.
And freedom shall awhile repair
And dwell a weakened hermit there.
THE LURE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH
By Adelaide L. Fries.i
Some time ago a friend asked me on what I was going to speak
this evening, and when I said '^Jig-Saw Puzzles" he looked both
mystified and shocked! But really, is there a better three-word
description of the lure of historical research? To many persons
history is dry, as dry as the dust of ages, and they feel much as did
a little lad of our town, who was fretting over his history lesson.
His mother, trying to interest him, asked: ^^Son, don't you like to
learn about what people did a long time ago ?" In real surprise he
looked at her and queried: "Do you mean these things really hap-pened
?" "Why, yes," she said, "what did you think ?" and with a
sigh the little fellow answered: "I thought somebody just wrote it
to make little boys study!" Whether the historian or the teacher
was at fault in this particular instance I cannot say, but I do know
that the writer of history has a much more thrilling experience than
the person who reads it. None of you would go into a store and buy
a cheap print showing a family of cats, in a basket, in a barn, and yet
there are probably not a few of you who have spent hours fitting
together the hundred or more irregularly shaped pieces of wood or
cardboard which, properly placed, made a picture no more thrilling
than that. It was not the picture you cared for but the sense of
achievement, the pleasure of bringing order out of apparent chaos.
And therein lies the real charm of historical research. Most of us
must buy our historical pictures ready-made, framed in paper or
cloth or leather according to the taste of the publisher and the size
of our purse, but when it is possible to make even one little picture
for ourselves it is more exciting than the purchase of a dozen made by
others, and the people in it are real people to us, and the things that
happened actually did happen.
Sometimes in the making of a Jig-Saw Puzzle there is a place
where nothing seems to fit, and as piece after piece goes elsewhere,
avoiding that spot, you almost come to the conclusion that a piece
is hopelessly lost,—then suddenly you find it. If your Puzzle hap-
1 Presidential address at twenty-third annual session of the State Literary and Historial
Association, Raleigh, Dec. 6, 1923.—Editor's Note.
[121]
122 The North Carolina Historical Review
pens to be a Family Tree the finding of the missing piece may be
both novel and exciting, as well as satisfactory. It may even be a
bit dramatic! You stand in an abandoned graveyard, surrounded
by trees and underbrush, with no trace of a mound or stone, and
turn helplessly and hopelessly away. Just then a neighbor
comes up, and tells you that the stones lay flat, and are probably
covered with leaves; you seize a stick and scratch here and there,
you locate one stone, then a second, then a third, and when from the
top of the fourth stone you remove four inches of leaf-mold, and
reveal the name, and the date of birth, and the date of death, which
prove your theory of descent correct, family tradition to the con-trary
notwithstanding, you care not one whit that this link has noth-ing
in the world to do with your own Tree, and you feel like Colum-bus
and Lord Carnarvon combined, though with no fear of having
raised a ghost!
Perhaps your Jigg-Saw Puzzle is a historical incident,' and the
missing piece seems the most important in the picture. Then the
temptation is to force into the place a piece that nearly fits, but
really is a misfit, and throws the whole picture out of drawing. If
you have ever dealt with one of these misfits you know how easily
some one else forced them in, and how very hard it is for you to force
them out, and perhaps, if you yourself placed them in the wrong
position, you know how every atom of pride in your nature urges
you to assert they are right, rather than admit you guessed wrong.
It is tempting Providence to even mention the Mecklenburg Declara-tion
of Independence in this connection, but to one who has watched
the progress of the controversy without participating in it that is a
most curious case of Pros and Antis continuing to say " 'Tis so,"
" 'Taint so," in spite of the fact that newly-discovered bits of evi-dence
have forced both sides to change their ground more than once
within the last decade. When I first became interested in history the
advocates of May 20th were insisting on the verbal accuracy of the
Mecklenburg Declaration, and almost staking their whole case on the
'^lost Ca'pe Fear Mercury" ; while the opponents were vehemently ex-plaining
that "the news of the Battle of Lexington could not possibly
have reached Mecklenburg by the twentieth of May, and besides no-body
ever heard of a Declaration until 1800." ^NTow it is admitted that
the text of the Mecklenburg Declaration as given today was "rewrit-ten
from memory" ; it has been proved beyond a peradventure that
The Lure of Historical Research 123
rumors of what happened in Lexington were current in North Caro-lina
as early as May 8th, that confirmation of these rumors reached
Wachovia on May 16th, not by courier but through a citizen re-turning
from Pennsylvania, and while Mecklenburg was not then
on a national highway it certainly must have reached there by the
twentieth. History is but the story of human nature in action,
and can you imagine a group of hot-headed, high-strung men, irri-tated
for years by the English discrimination against their Church,
indignant over Stamp Act and Taxes on imports, inflamed by rumors
of blood shed by English soldiery, receiving definite news that Amer-icans
have been attacked and killed, and then—doing absolutely
nothing for ten full days, at the end of which time they produced
a calm, orderly, and well-written set of "Eesolves" ? Is there not a
strange misfit in that Jig-Saw Puzzle ? Possibly I too am partisan,
in that I pin my faith to the contemporary Moravian Records, but
were I teaching history to a class of young [N'orth Carolinians I
should say something like this:—^^Tradition is not always correct,
but the burden of proof lies with those who disbelieve a tradition,
not with those who accept it. In this case Tradition and the Mo-ravian
Records fit, and show that reports of trouble in I^ew England
reached Mecklenburg about May twentieth, on which day an angry
company passed some sort of a fiery Declaration of Independence,
and followed it with the appointment of a committee which drew
up the Resolves of May 31st ; and they made their Declaration ef-fective
by displacing all their local, English-appointed, officials, re-placing
them with men of their own selection." By the way,—did
you ever hear any one stress the point that Mecklenburgers really did
make themselves '^free and independent" immediately, so far as their
local government was concerned? A decade ago I was told, confi-dentially,
that the Mecklenburgers had nothing to boast of, for they
talked about Independence but continued to act as British subjects.
But in a letter written in June, 1775, Bishop Graff, the Salem
diarist, refers to Mecklenburg County, "where they have unseated all
Magistrates and put Select Men in their places." If you, knowing
all this, had had Captain elack as your guest on his return from
Philadelphia wouldn't you have asked him most particularly about
what had happened in Mecklenburg, and wouldn't you expect to be
believed in what you wrote down about it for use in an official his-
124 The North Carolina Historical Review
torical sketch at the close of the War ? I hold no brief for Mecklen-burg,
but I trust Bishop Graff and Traugott Bagge!
If an historical Jig-Saw Puzzle is too controversial suppose you
try to reproduce the city plan of a forgotten town. On the hill above
Donnaha, in Forsyth County, there is a hole in the ground, pointed
out as the site of the old Richmond Court House. The Moravian
Diary says that the second Court House for Surry was built there in
1774, and that the ''town plan" was drawn by Col. Martin Armstrong.
Forsyth has always been in the part cut off and re^named when a
new County was erected, so the records are at Dobson, fifty miles
from your study in one direction, at Danbury, thirty miles in an-other
direction, while Donnaha itself is twenty miles distant. Ten
or more days of country travel; six hundred miles by automobile;
parts of numerous days in the Forsyth Court-House; uncounted
hours spent in piecing together the information found in fifty deeds,
dating from 1762 to the present ;—is it worth while ? Perhaps not,
if judged solely by the map, but surely yes, if the joy of the chase
and the pleasure of achievement be considered.
Biography is another form of eTig-Saw Puzzle, different, but no
less fascinating, and I am going to take the liberty of giving you
one recently completed picture, instead of talking about it. It has
nothing directly to do with l^orth Carolina, except that it was foimd
here, but it may interest at least some of you as showing a woman
who stood shoulder to shoulder with the men a hundred and fifty
years before the term ''woman suffrage" was coined. It is the story
of a little shepherdess of Moravia, who rose to high rank in the
Unity of Brethren; of a woman making possible the building of a
city in Pennsylvania. The details have been gathered bit by bit
from a seven-foot stack of manuscript in the Salem Archives, a Diary
sent out in weekly installments and containing the account of the
daily doings of the governing Boards of the Unitas Fratrum, or Mo-ravian
Church, together with sermons, Mission reports, birthday
poems, personal news, and a host of other things. (I might add that
there is no Index!) Hardly two consecutive sentences of the story
come from the same page, wherefore I do not hesitate to call it a
Jig-Saw Puzzle; nor do I apologize for its religious tone, for it
was the men and women of stalwart faith who laid the best stones in
the foundation of our E'ation. Moreover, the door opened by a wom-an's
hand in Pennsylvania not only led to congregations there but also
The Lure of Historical Research 125
to the settlement of Wachovia, in North Carolina, so that indirectly
her story is ours as much as theirs.
This, then, is a picture of
Anna Nitschmann, 'Hhe Handmaid of the Lord/'
She was bom Nov. 24, 1715, at Kunewalde, Moravia, (now a part
of Czecho-Slovakia), the daughter of David Nitschmann, farmer,
carpenter, wagon-maker, and Anna, maiden name Schneider. The
family was nominally Roman Catholic, as they needs must be in order
to live in peace under the despotic Catholic government, but by in-heritance
they were Protestant, being descendants of members of
the Unitas Fratrum, that earliest of Protestant Churches, which in
the middle of the Fifteenth Century was founded by followers of the
Bohemian Reformer and Martyr, John Hus, in the Sixteenth rose to
a position of commanding influence in Bohemia, Moravia and Poland,
and in the Seventeenth was crushed by the Jesuits. For one hun-dred
years the Unity seemed lost to earth, its doctrines and discipline
buried in the hearts of the "Hidden Seed," but almost coincidentally
with the birth of Anna Nitschmann this Seed began to quicken
with new life. She was two years old when the possibility of emi-gration
to some Protestant country began to be discussed; she was
six when the first party went out from Moravia, was received on
the estate of the young Lutheran nobleman. Count Zinzendorf, in
Saxony, and there founded Herrnhut.
When Anna was seven a Catholic priest, as was customary, pre-pared
her for her first communion, she was deeply impressed by the
sacred ceremony, and with this act her child life seems to have ended.
Her father and his friends began to hold meetings, to read the Bible
and such other religious books as they could secure, to discuss the doc-trines
of Hus, and the possibility of reviving the Ancient Unitas
Fratrum. So soon as this was known the Catholic oppression was
renewed. Their books were seized and burned,—they clubbed to-gether
and bought new ones; they were imprisoned and tortured,
and continued to meet and encourage each other in their desire for
godly lives ; their homes were destroyed, their property confiscated,
—
and they bore it and refused to yield. It was a time calculated to
make a child old far beyond her years, for not only was she permitted
to attend the meetings and listen to the matters there discussed, but
3
126 The North Carolina Historical Review
she was often sent to the prison to give such comfort as she could to
her father and brother and their friends, and her chief thought
seems to have been pride that they were brave enough to bear all
this for the sake of Christ.
When summer came she was sent into the fields to tend her father^s
sheep, but she held aloof from other children and their light-hearted
ways, and spent her time dreaming of the days of Hus and the early
Brethren, mourning over the evils of her own time, rejoicing in the
hope that God would yet give them freedom of worship, and singing
the hymns of the old Bohemian-Moravian Church, which she dearly
loved.
By the time Anna was nine the limit of endurance was reached,
and her brother Melchior,—a young man of twenty years, who had
endured awful torture, but was momentarily free,—slipped away
and went to Hermhut. His father escaped from prison soon after,
and the story rivals that of Peter and his deliverance from the
soldiers of Herod. David l^itschmann and his friends sat together,
bound two and two, in irons. Suddenly David said: "Tonight I
shall bid you farewell," and his friend Schneider answered : "I will
go with you.'^ With a knife in his right hand ^tsTitschmann put his
left hand on the door, intending to try to force the lock, and be-hold,
it was already open ! Greatly cheered, he turned to the
shackles on his feet, and succeeded in taking them off, and also in
freeing Schneider. Then quietly telling the others good-bye, the two
men slipped across the court-yard, to look for a ladder with which
to scale the wall, but first l^itschmann went to the entrance, which
was secured by two gates, and behold, the inner one was open and
so was the outer ! Once outside the castle they removed the rest of
their irons and laid them on the wall ; they paused at E"itschmann's
home long enough to tell his wife what had happened and arrange a
plan for the rest of the family, then going some miles to the home
of a friendly count they lay hidden there for three days before finally
escaping from Moravia.
From l^eundorff, ITitschmann sent back for his family. At one
o'clock in the morning of February 5th, 1725, Mrs. Mtschmann and
her family left the town, the watchman, "smitte?i with blindness,"
failing to notice their departure. Through cold and snow they
made their way across the country, and it is small wonder that
Anna's courage faltered, and she thought of home and friends.
The Lure of Historical Research 127
and was half minded to turn back; but she remembered the many-times
in the fields when she had prayed that God would take them
out of this land, and so she went on, content.
Three weeks of travel brought them to Hermhut, and after a short
stay there David l^itschmann entered the service of Count Zinzen-dorf,
whose residence was at Berthelsdorf, a mile away.
It was a great change for the little Moravian maid, and its first
effect was none too good. She lost all interest in religion, and be-came
intent on simply having a good time, and as the months wore
on her parents and brother became so worried over her conduct that
they moved back to Herrnhut, which suited her not at all, for now
she could not do as she pleased. Various residents of Herrnhut at-tempted
to remonstrate with her, and recommended that she become
converted, and her retort was : ^Tirst get converted yourself, and then
talk to me!" But if she distrusted others she could not doubt the
reality of the faith of her brother, Melchior, and when at midnight
she time and again heard him praying for his little sister her heart
was touched, and she was among the children who prayed much
between the Thirteenth and Seventeeth of August, of that memorable
year of 172Y, when the Unitas Fratrum was reborn.
Having received ^'the seal upon her heart that she was the Lord's
own, and would so remain forever," the young girl was filled with zeal
for service. She longed to do great things, but had the good sense
to begin with what was close at hand, and quietly dedicated herself
to work among the girls of Herrnhut, who were nine in number.
Under her leadership they organized a club, a miniature congrega-tion,
with officers copied from those of the Herrnhut Congregation.
They had an Eldress, an Assistant, a Superintendent, an Admon-isher,
a Sick-Nurse, and so on, (one wonders who was left to be the
plain members!) and Anna, modestly refusing to be Eldress, acted
as Assistant and Admonisher. The congregation at large paid little
attention to what the children were doing, but a few were watching,
and when she was thirteen Anna E'itschmann was made a member of
a small inner circle, which met from time to time in special services.
She was by far the youngest of the group, and her admission caused
much comment and some jealousy on the part of those not so honored,
i^aturally, therefore, when something said in a meeting became a
matter of outside gossip the critics opined: "Of course,
—
that
128 The North Carolina Historical Review
child has tattled". This was soon proved to be untrue, but the
resentment against her remained in some quarters.
During these early years of the renewal of the Unity at Herrn-hut
there was no Moravian ministry, Herrnhut being technically a
part of the Lutheran congregation of Berthelsdorf. But the need of
better spiritual supervision was felt, and in 1727 twelve Elders were
elected, "men of good repute," with Count Zinzendorf and Baron
Friedrich von Watteville at their head, l^o definite term of service
was specified, but in 1730 Count Zinzendorf, preparing for a some-what
extended trip, resigned his office, and the entire Board followed
his example, thus making a new election necessary. Some were re-elected,
some changes were made, and Martin Linner, a baker, 27
years of age, became Chief Elder. It was expected that the Elders
should be active in the spiritual concerns of the Congregation.
"They were called to bear upon their hearts the Congregation in gen-eral
and each individual in particular, and to support the other of-ficials
with their prayers and blessing; it was theirs to advise, ta
pray, and to decide important questions" after assistants had fully
considered them and prepared them for final decision.
The day after the Elders were installed a committee of women
waited on Count Zinzendorf. They came, they said, to ask for the
appointment of a Chief Eldress among the women, as had been done
in the Ancient Unitas Fratrum; they were sure that if a man like
Martin Linner sufficed for Chief Elder, a woman could be found
who would do as well ! The Count was much disturbed, not liking
the spirit in which they came, but he yielded to their desire, and bade
the women of Herrnhut to prepare their votes for four candidates,
from whom the Chief Eldress would be chosen by lot. Much to his
surprise Anna Nitschmann's name was given in the four, not, he more
than suspected, because they wanted her, but because they felt sure
the Lord would never order the lot so that a child would be chosen,
and to have another put in over her head would rebuke her supposed
pride ! The Count felt confident the use of her name was a scheme
to hurt her feelings ; he also strongly disapproved of giving her the of-fice,
for she was only fourteen and a half years old and he thought
such untimely elevation to high position would turn her head and
spoil the sweet spirituality of her nature, so he did his best to per-suade
the women to withdraw her nomination, and when they refused
he left the room in disgust. It fell therefore to Countess Zinzendorf
The Lure of Historical Research 129
to draw the lot, and when the chosen slip was opened there stood the
name, Anna Caritas Nitschmannf The consternation of the schem-ers
may be imagined ; not one was willing to tell the child what had
happened; so the next day Count Zinzendorf had to send her the
official notification. He says that he wrote her a "sharp letter,"
hoping that she would refuse the office; but that she accepted it in
"a truly Moravian fashion," quietly and humbly, believing that since
the Lord had spoken, through the lot, it was her duty simply to
obey.
Count Zinzendorf was a man who wrote verses for all occasions,
personal and congregational, and on one anniversary of Anna's elec-tion
as Chief Eldress he told the story and gave the result :
—
With simple faith she heard the call,
Though her surprise was seen by all;
And, ere man dreamt it, she was known
As "the good child" by every one.
It was a most unexpected result, and it speaks eloquently of her
modesty, sweetness, tact and good judgment, that she was able so to
fill her office among women who began with a prejudice against her,
many of them much, much older than she was, for as Chief Eldress
she was charged with the spiritual oversight of all the women, old
and young. For two years she "was and remained a child," ac-cording
to her own statement, but she must have been the most re-markable
child the Moravian Church ever possessed, and it was said
of her that "when she spoke or prayed or sang all hearts stood open
to her."
Six weeks after her election as Eldress, Anna Nitschmann led in
an organization of the unmarried women and older girls of Herrn-hut,
which eventuated in the entire "Choir system" of the Moravian
Church, a system of which remnants remain to this day in the "Cove-nant
Days" of various divisions of the older Moravian congregations,
and the arrangement of graves in their graveyards. Oddly enough
it is because of this organization that Anna !N"itschmann has been
known throughout the years, rather than through her far more note-worthy
office.
There was no salary attached to the position of Elder or Eldress,
so at first Anna continued to live at home, supporting herself by the
spinning of wool. When she was seventeen she moved into a separate
house, with thirteen other young women, where they began by hav-
130 The North Carolina Historical Review
ing all things in common, with much prayer and burning zeal, then
they fell out with each other in truly human fashion, then with a
better mutual understanding went on again. There is a tendency
to paint the early Church fathers and mothers with halos around their
heads, but in reality they were intensely human, and in her auto-biography
Anna E'itschmann speaks frankly of one period when she
felt uplifted by the dignity of her position, and her brothers and
sisters ''spoke sharply" to her until she recovered her poise, and of
other months when she felt keen spiritual unrest, which she later
recognized as the not unusual experience of youthful years, though
at the time she worried herself pale and thin.
In addition to the difficulty of adjusting herself to the house-life
with the other young women, this year in which she was seventeen
was memorable for several other occurrences. In May she was crit-ically
ill. In June one of her best friends suddenly died. It was
being considered whether she or this friend should be asked to become
the bride of John E'itschmann, Sr., and now the proposal came to
her, but having no desire for matrimony she promptly refused.
When she was eighteen there came the most unique experience of
her life, the one in which no other woman has followed her. Martin
linner. Chief Elder, had been in poor health for two years, and she
had been obliged to relieve him from time to time in his official
duties. In February he died, and Leonard Dober was elected to
take his place, but Dober was a missionary in the West Indies, and
with the slow communication of those days twelve months passed
until the letter of notification could reach him and he could return
to Herrnhut. Meanwhile eighten-year-old Anna I^itschmann was
acting Chief Elder of the Moravian Church ! Zinzendorf is author-ity
for the statement that ''during this time a wom^an ruled the Con-gregation
as Deborah ruled Israel." "She looked after the spiritual
affairs of the Brethren as well as of the Sisters; she concerned her-self
with questions of doctrine which were under consideration ; cast
the deciding vote in Conferences ; and gave clear instructions to those
taking office ; and no one thought, much less said, a word against it."
'Not only must she do personal work among the members, but she
must confirm candidates for the Communion, and give the parting
blessing to the dying; she must, in short, do most of the things
covered by the phrase "the pastoral work" of a minister. The Epis-copate
of the Ancient Unitas Eratrum had not yet been transferred
b
The Lure of Historical Research 131
•
to the Renewed Unity, so her induction into office had been presby-terial
rather than episcopal, and she seems not to have been baptized,
or consecrated the elements for the Holy Communion, but apart
from this she was the spiritual head of the Moravian Church in name,
and in fact was second only to Count Zinzendorf, who found in her
a most satisfactory co-worker. There were a very few other General
Eldresses of the women during the early years of the Renewed
Unity, but no other had jurisdiction over the Brethren also, and no
other shared her unique position in the esteem of the members.
Countess Zinzendorf was a more able woman, in many ways, and
highly honored, as befitted her rank and her character; but from a
little shepherd lass of Moravia to Chief Eldress of the Renewed
Unitas Fratrum was a change without parallel.
Leonard Dober reached Herrnhut in February, 1735. On the
12th he was installed as Chief Elder, and three days later he and
Anna Nitschmann each received a letter, in the name of the Con-gregation,
suggesting that it might be for the good of the Congrega-tion,
especially the married people, if they two would wed. The
Eldress was greatly perplexed, she did not want to marry, but she
did not want to be discourteous to the Chief Elder, and she did not
want to act contrary to the will of the Lord, if she knew what that
was. While she hesitated she received a letter from Dober, who
was apparently no more enthusiastic over the proposal than she,
though he politely left the matter to her judgment and decision; and
greatly relieved she declined to follow the suggestion of the Congre-gation,
but promised to look after all the women, married and single,
while Dober undertook the care of all the men.
In 1736 Count and Countess Zinzendorf went to Holland, and
during their absence word came to Herrnhut that by order of Gov-ernment
the Count was forbidden to return to his estates. The
cause of this need not bo considered, except to state that it was thework
of political and sectarian enemies. The Count's household included
many of the leading members of the Unity, men and women, and
wherever they happened to be there was the seat of government of
the Church ; and as they tarried in the ruinous castle of Ronneberg,
in Holland, Marienborn, or England, there new Congregations
sprang up,—which was not at all the intention of the Count's oppon-ents.
Anna ^Nitschmann was with the rest, attending on the Coun-tess
and her daughter, sharing in all the privations, making friends
132 The North Carolina Historical Review
with the girls and young women wherever they happened to be,
always the Eldress who sought to win souls for Christ, and always
successful, no matter how unpromising the place.
In 1739 Zinzendorf and several others made a voyage to the West
Indies, where Moravian Missions had been begun among the negro
slaves in 1732. He intended to go from there to Pennsylvania, but
the only vessel scheduled to sail for that Province was in such bad
repair that it had to winter in the Islands, so Zinzendorf returned
to Europe. He regretted this the less because of the reports which
Spangenberg gave of conditions in Pennsylvania. '^Among the re-ligiously-
minded inhabitants of that Colony there was great ani-mosity
; the men, especially, were so self-sufficient that if a stranger
came they united in opposing him, though when they had gotten rid
of him they again opposed each other. As for eighty years the
Government of the Province had been in the hands of Quakers that
denomination had achieved a certain credit among them, and because
of that influence the word of a Phebe was given more weight than the
message of an Ephroditus. The proud men would not listen to
the teaching of a man, for they felt certain he could not tell them
anything they had not already known for a long time; but they
would at least hear what a woman had to say before they judged her,
provided conditions pleased them,—that is, she must be plainly
clad, must work with her hands, etc. Circumstances therefore de-manded
the presence of a Sister, for it appeared that congregations
in Pennsylvania could be begun only through the influence of a
woman, and the only one fitted for the task was the Eldress, Anna
I^itschmann." Both Zinzendorf and Spangenberg were sorry to
reach this conclusion, for they did not see how she could be spared at
home, but they decided to lay the matter before the Synod when it
met at Gotha. Synod decided that the hoped-for benefits out-weighed
the dangers, and gave her the call for service in America.
Printed histories speak of the party now sent to Pennsylvania as
having been led by Bishop David I^itschmann, accompanied by
"Father'' David Nitschmann, his daughter Anna, and others, but
this is not correct,—they should say that in 1740 Anna Nitschmann
went to Pennsylvania, accompanied by the Bishop, her father, and
others! Zinzendorf, and others who wrote at the time, give her
full credit for having started the work there. While the men bought
land and made arrangements for building, she and a companion were
The Lure of Historical Research 133
out on the farms, making friends. They shared in the farm work,
they softened many hearts as they talked with the families, and to
the winning personality of the Eldress was due the breaking down
of the barrier, which gave others the chance to gather in the thou-sands
that ultimately formed the Pennsylvania congregations. If
others reaped the harvest it was she that sowed the seed, and her
name should be written in capitals in the church history of Penn-sylvania,
instead of being only casually mentioned!
One year after the arrival of the first company Zinzendorf and a
second party reached Pennsylvania. The Count keenly felt his
position, for as a stranger, without sufficient funds, and unable to
speak the language, he was at a disadvantage to which he was not
accustomed. Then Anna took command of the situation. She had
not spent the money given her for her own expenses, but had sup-ported
herself by the work of her hands, and now she cared for all
the group, as though she were mother of them all, not only superin-tending
the finances but accompanying the Count and his party on
various preaching tours. ^^During 1742 we went three times among
the heathen," she says, '^and the last time we camped for 49 days
in the Indian country, under open sky, among poisonous snakes
and other wild beasts. . . . The preaching of the Gospel spread
through all the land, and I had part in it. I liked it in America."
The ability to rejoice in hardships seems to have been a family
characteristic:—Anna's brother Melchior had found a grave be-neath
the gallows in Bohemia whither he had gone to preach the
Gospel; her mother lay in a mission grave in the West Indies; and
many others had wrought well for the cause of Christ, so well indeed,
that on one occasion Zinzendorf summed it all up in this wise:
—
The New World, and the frozen north,
The Islands of the sea,
They know how you Moravians
True, unto death, will be.
Then turning to the woman who had for so long been his co-worker
he become reminiscent, recalling the days when she came to Herrn-hut,
a child, looking up to him with awe and reverence ; then the
young Eldress, calling him "Brother" as together they labored for
the welfare of the congregation. He knew her not only brave in
danger, and patient under privation, but tenderly sympathetic in
sorrow, when
134 The North Carolina Historical Review
She wept, but from another's cheek
She wiped the tears away.
and it is no wonder that he sang:
The Martyr Seed she represents,
God's Church, below, above;
"The Lord's Handmaid," by God's good grace.
Who lives in Jesus' love.
After her return from America Anna labored in many places, for
Count Zinzendorf was still an exile from Herrnhut, and his house-hold
shared his wanderings, the Countess returning home at inter-vals
to keep things going there. While claimed particularly by the
Single Sisters, that is the unmarried women of the Unity, Anna
gave her services just as willingly to the married or widowed; and
she wrote a number of hymns, which were published in the earlier
editions of the Moravian Hymnbook.
Soon after the edict of banishment against Count Zinzendorf was
revoked, his wife. Countess Erdmuth Dorothea, died in Herrnhut.
She was a noble woman, able, generous, self-sacrificing, the com-rade,
friend, and helper of the Count, and her death almost pros-trated
him. So unlike himself did he become that when a year had
passed his friends decided to interfere, and begged him to marry
again, and again take up his accustomed work in the church. He
agreed, but would consider no one except Anna l^itschmann as the
companion of his remaining years. Since their return from America
she had been his chief assistant among the women, she knew more
of the general affairs of the Unity than any other, and he felt that
he would be doing the will of the Lord, and acting for the best inter-ests
of the Church, if she, and she only, was considered. He was
of noble birth, and she of humble, but he plainly stated that she
was of so remarkable a character and so highly honored by every
one, that no one could doubt the suitability of his choice; and his
rank did not need to be considered, for he had long ago withdrawn
from the public life of a nobleman, preferring to serve the cause of
the Lord through the church. The wedding took place in the draw-ing
room of the Count's home in Berthelsdorf, the ceremony being
performed by Bishop Leonard Dober, in the presence of members
of the family and such leaders of the Unity as were within reach.
The Lure of Historical Research 13S
That there were those who criticised the step goes without saying,
certain of the Single Sisters thought Anna should have remained
a Single Sister to the end of her days, while certain relatives thought
the Count should not have married out of his social rank, hut while
the two winced a little they quietly went their way, and soon the
objections were forgotten, at least it is recorded that on the first
anniversary of their marriage they had a family dinner-party for
twenty-four of their relatives, and the last official act of their lives
was a Lovefeast for 70 leaders of the Single Sisters Choir.
Between their marriage and this Lovefeast there were three busy
years. They made an extended trip into Switzerland, and paid a
number of shorter visits to the congregations which had been estab-lished
here and there. Perhaps the most striking event recorded
is a Lovefeast held on March 17, 1760, the thirtieth anniversary of
Anna's election as Chief Eldress, for on this occasion there were
present forty out of the fifty men and women who had been living
in Herrnhut in 1730 when the little maid was so suddenly and
unexpectedly elevated to the high position which she had filled so
worthily for thirty years. Her title, indeed, had changed from time
to time. The office of Chief Eldress she had laid down before
she went to America, so that another might assume her duties, and
she might go to the women of Pennsylvania without the barrier
of title, "exchanging the throne of a priest for the position of a
servant,'' as Zinzendorf said; but "Eldress," "Sister," "Mother,"
they had called her, to Deborah, Miram, Phebe, Esther, they had
likened her, and now all titles and characteristics were summed
up in the one phrase "the Handmaid of the Lord."
Every life story must have its end, and some are sad, and some
are tragic, but hers was dramatically appropriate. She was quite
ill when the Count was taken sick, and on May 9, 1760, he passed
away "as a prince of God." So soon as his son-in-law. Bishop John
von Watteville, could control his tears he took the news to Anna,
who wept with him, but gently said : "I have the best prospect of
you all, for I shall soon go to him." 'Next day she had herself
carried to the Count's room and left with him for a while; then
he was borne to the drawing room and placed in a violet-colored
casket, and lay in state until the 16th, when he was borne to the
place of burial by his Brethren and was laid into his final resting
place.
136 The North Carolina Historical Review
Anna watched the funeral procession from the window of the
Sisters House, to which she had asked to be carried, and she saw
the thousands of sorrowing friends and respectful acquaintances
gathered to do him honor; and then she quietly lay down to wait,
but not for long. On May 21st, between six and seven in the even-ing,
the Lord answered her prayers and released her from all pain.
The trombones announced her home-going with the usual melodies;
the congregation gathered, and Bishop von Wattoville spoke of her
as "an ideal Handmaid of the Lord, who had served and led the
Unity of Brethren for thirty years, and with Count Zinzendorf had
been used of God to shape its constitution and develop its activities.''
All the honors which had attended the obsequies of the Count were
now accorded to her. Sorrowing friends bore her to the drawing
room of the Zinzendorf home. They dressed her in the white sur-plice
and crimson girdle which she had worn when serving in Com-munion
and on other solemn church occasions. They laid her in
a voilet-colored casket; they kept watch and ward around her for
seven days; and on May 28th she was borne to the graveyard by
twenty-eight Presbyters and Deacons, and was solemnly laid to rest
beside her husband, in the presence of the entire congregation
of Hermhut, and some two hundred other friends.
Bishop von Watteville, who twelve days before, "with tear-filled
eyes," had written the official announcement of the death of Count
Zinzendorf, now sent out the account of the "Lord's taking of His
Handmaid to join the Congregation which is around Him." He
calls her "a mother in Israel," a true handmaid of Jesus, whose
like we shall never see again." "She was Count Zinzendorf's helper
and best co-worker through this entire period of our church's his-tory.
The Saviour gave them success; and as they worked to-gether
faithfully and untiringly, so now He has permitted them
together to close their labors and enter into His joy." "Her bless-ing,"
added the Bishop, "will rest upon her people, and she will
never be forgotten by us until we, one by one, are called home by
our Lord."
The Lure of Historical Research 137
Upon her tombstone there is this simple inscription
Here
rests the body
of a true handmaid of Jesus Christ,
Anna
maiden name Nitschmann.
She was born
Nov. 24, 1715,
at Kunewalde, in Moravia.
Married
to the
Ordinarius
of the Unity of Brethren
June 27, 1757,
and fell asleep
May 21, 1760.
Her work
in the house of the Lord
remains a blessing.
THE NORTH CAROLINA FUEL ADMINISTRATION
[The following account and the documents forming the appendix are part of the records
of the State Fuel Administration, all of which are deposited with the North Carolina His-torical
Commission.—Editor's Note.]
The Fuel Administration was created by an act of the 65th
Congress approved August 10, 1916, entitled "An act to provide
further for the national security and defense by encouraging the
production, conserving the supply, and controlling the distribution
of food products and fuel." Pursuant to the authority conferred
upon him by this act the President of the United States, on August
23, 1917, appointed H. A. Garfield, United States Fuel Adminis-trator.
The Fuel Administration began its activities in North Carolina
on the 28th day of September 1917, when A. W. McAlister, Presi-dent
of the Southern Life and Trust Company of Greensboro, was
appointed Federal Fuel Administrator for this State. Mr.
McAlister was a man well fitted for the place and assumed his
duties at once with much zeal and enthusiasm. He never failed to
place the work of his country before his own personal affairs. The
only compensation received by Mr. McAlister was $1.00 a year,
thus making his a patriotic service.
His first official act was the selection and appointment of C. Leroy
Shuping, a prominent young attorney of Greensboro, as Executive
Secretary of the State Administration. Thus the work of organ-izing
the State and supplying I^orth Carolina with coal was begun
by Mr. McAlister and Mr. Shuping. The Southern Life and Trust
Company of Greensboro donated the offices and equipment for
carrying on the work. The offices were opened with only one
stenographer, but as the time passed and the work increased, addi-tional
stenographers were added until the force consisted of four
stenographers and one clerk.
An Advisory Committee was also appointed by Mr. McAlister,
composed of the following: E. K. Graham, Chapel Hill; Clarence
Poe, Raleigh; A. M. Scales, Greensboro; B. W. Kilgore, Raleigh,
and J. S. Holmes, Chapel Hill.
The field organization of the State Fuel Administration consisted
of a local Fuel Committee in each county, composed of three mem-bers,
one of which served as chairman. In several of the larger
[1381
The North Carolina Fuel Administration 139
cities separate committees were named in order to better facilitate
the handling of the fuel conditions in such cities. The members of
all of these committees were voluntary employees. The entire state
organization consisted of more than three hundred and fifty mem-bers.
Thus the organization of the State Administration was made
complete/ viz:
1. Mr. McAlister, Administrator.
2. State Advisory Committee.
3. Mr. Shuping, Executive Secretary.
4. County Committees (three members).
From an industrial standpoint the coal year is generally known
to begin on the first day of April, and it is a custom with industries
and retail coal dealers to arrange for their coal supply during the
surmner months. In spite of this question, however, investigation
by the Fuel Administration developed the fact that many consum-ers
took no active steps with respect to their coal supply until the
fall of the year and in many cases coal was bought as it was needed.
The consumers "lived from hand to mouth,'' so to speak; and al-though
the Fuel Administration was not created and thoroughly
organized until very late in the season, it found itself confronted
with a wide field for necessary immediate action. During the winter
of 1917-1918 the E'orth Carolina Fuel Administration, besides aid-ing
two hundred and seventy-eight dealers and industries in securing
coal, and in many instances aiding them continuously throughout the
season, secured directly for individuals, industries and communities
1,511 carloads of coal which they were not able to secure through any
other agency, and no doubt was instrumental in securing at least this
many cars again. The value of this will be appreciated when it is
considered that all of this was emergency coal and that the Fuel Ad-ministration
was appealed to as a last resort, and that without the
relief afforded there would have been serious suffering, as well as the
closing down of many industries.
A survey of the coal needs of the State was made during the first
of October, 19 IT, in order to ascertain a fair idea of the State's re-quirements.
The supply of coal being inadequate to meet the demands, it was
necessary to find a substitute, and wood was naturally decided upon.
A vigorous campaign was decided upon, and days and nights were
spent in working out plans and giving publicity to it. Both house-
^ See appendix.
140 The North Carolina Historical Review
holders and industries were compelled to use wood at home and to
keep the wheels of industry turning. The public manifested unusual
interest, and municipalities aided in the enterprise by establishing
municipal wood yards. Mr. McAlister led ISTorth Carolina as the
pioneer state in advocating the use of wood generally as a substi-tute
for coal wherever possible. The following is a summary of
replies from the Local Fuel Committees of the State in response to
a questionaire sent them about the close of the season of 1917-1918,
relating to the price of coal and wood, to municipal wood yards, and
to the wood supply for the following winter:
(a) Average price of Bituminous run of mine coal.. $7.47 per ton.
Bituminous lump coal 8.43 "
(b) Estimate average price, estimated by Local Fuel Chairmen, without
government regulations, Bituminous run of mine coal, $10.56 per ton.
lump coal 12.25 " "
If the above estimates are even approximately correct, the fixing
of the price of coal by the Government saved consumers in ITorth
Carolina $4,500,000.
(c) About two-third of the counties reporting, reported that on
February 14, 1918, they had enough coal on hand, enroute, and in
prospect to carry them through the cold weather of this season.
(d) Sixty out of sixty-five counties reported that there had been
no actual suffering for lack of fuel, and ^Ye reported that while
there had been some suffering, it was not serious.
(e) Thirty-three counties reported that a maximum price for
wood had been fixed, twenty-nine reporting that no price had been
fixed. The average fixed price for four or eight foot wood was
$4.98 per cord; for sawed or split wood, $6.93 per cord.
(f) Thirty counties out of thirty-three reported that the price of
wood was advancing when the price was fixed, and twenty-nine out
of thirty-one reported that the fixing of the price stopped the ad-vance.
The average price, estimated by Local Fuel Chairmen, if
price had not been fixed, of four and eight foot wood was $7.29 per
cord, of sawed and split wood, $10.10 per cord. These estimates are
well supported by prices prevailing in Virginia and South Carolina
where the price was not fixed, and represent a saving to consum-ers
of $379,650 in those thirty counties in which the price was
fixed by the State Fuel Administration.
The North Carolina Fuel Administration 141
(g) Thirty counties out of thirty-three reported that wood came
on the market more freely after the price was fixed, and twenty-four
out of thirty reported that there had been no shortage in the supply of
wood since the price was fixed. Those few reporting that there had
been a decreased supply or shortage usually explained that this was
due to condition of roads and weather.
(h) All without exception reported that the system of buying
and selling wood by the cord or fraction thereof instead of by the
load had proved satisfactory.
(i) Thirty-one out of thirty-two reported that the fixing of the
price of wood had been satisfactory to the consumer, and twenty-three
out of twenty-nine reported that it had been satisfactory to
the producer also.
(j) Seventeen cities and towns were reported as operating
municipal wood yards ; fourteen of these reported that the municipal
wood yard had been successful in contributing to the supply of
wood, and two to the contrary; thirteen reported that the municipal
wood yard had been successful in contributing to the regulation of
the price, and two to the contrary.
(k) All without exception reported that the municipal wood yard
had not interfered unjustly with the legitimate business of the local
wood dealer.
(1) Ten replied that municipal authorities were having w^ood cut
;
fifty-four replied in the negative. Four replied that municipal au-thorities
had contracted for wood, sixty-three replied in the negative.
Seven towns replied that they had in prospect for next winter an
average of 1,165 cords; five answered "plenty in prospect"; forty-nine
answered "not any." Thirty-eight replied that the farmers
in their respective counties were cutting wood for next winter's
market, and twenty-eight answered in the negative. Many counties
reported that little if any wood was being cut because all available
labor was being used in preparation for the spring crops, especially
in the trucking sections in the eastern part of the State.
On the 9th day of November, 1917, the National Administration
issued an order to take effect on the 15th day of November, 1917,
restricting the consumption of coal for generating electricity for
illuminated advertisements, notices, signs, etc. Under this order
display signs could not be illuminated before the hour of 7 :45 p.m.
4
142 The North Carolina Historical Review
or after the hour of 11 p.m., and on Thursday and Sunday nights
display signs were eliminated entirely. This order was known as
the Lightless Height Order, and was issued in line with the conserva-tion
policy of the Administration. The order was universally ob-served
throughout the state of I^orth Carolina, and both as a State
and IN^ational measure resulted in the conservation of a tremendous
amount of power and fuel. One of the principal benefits derived
from this order was the diversion of electric pov;er heretofore used
for advertising to the useful purpose of operating electric driven
industries. The order of ITovember 9, 1917, remained in effect until
vacated on N'ovember 18, 1918.
It was soon learned that the coal supply was materially affected
by delay in unloading and the slow return of cars to the mines. The
Administration at once took active steps to facilitate the unloading
of cars and to hasten their return to the mines for reloading. It's
action met with ready response by consignees and the railways, and
the movement of coal to ITorth Carolina was thereby increased.
The shortage of coal in E'orth Carolina was very acute. By the
early fall of 1917 the railway companies had so little on h'lnd they
were forced to confiscate coal that was in transit to industries and
domestic consumers. It was with reluctance that they confiscated
this coal, but they were compelled to do so in order to operate troop
and munition trains essential to the prosecution of the war. When-ever
possible the railway companies replaced the coal. However,
the confiscation sometimes caused factories to shut down until they
could get relief through the Fuel Administration, and, but for wood,
domestic consumers would have suffered.
It was evident that there would soon be suffering if something
was not done to relieve the dire domestic situation. After repeated
appeals by the State Administration, the National Administration
at Washington agreed to divert, and did divert on or about January
5, 1918, two hundred and fifty-five cars of coal consigned to tide-water
for use of the J^avy and for shipment to New England. This
coal was distributed throughout the State and relieved what prom-ised
to be one of the most critical periods in the history of the State,
the winter being one of the most severe in the recollection of the
present generation.
January 3, 1918, was set aside as National ^'Tag-your-shovel day"
by the United States Fuel Administration. On that day school
The North Carolina Fuel Administration 143
children tied to every coal shovel in the country tags bearing in-structions
for coal saving. Their purpose was to remind each man,
woman, and child who used a coal shovel that every shovel full of
coal saved meant just so much additional power, nealth, and sup-port
for the American soldier and sailor on the firing line. The
miners did their part to aid the Fuel Administration in ^'ts task.
They mined more coal than ever before. The over-burdened rail-roads
grappled with the problem of transporting this unusual quan-tity
of coal, in addition to the great amount of war freight which
was congesting their lines. As a result of all these efforts an extra
million carloads of coal were mined. This was fifty million tons
more coal than had even been mined before in any year in the his-tory
of the United States. We needed another million carloads.
It was a physical impossibility to produce this additional amount
^t once. It had to be saved from the coal already available. The
American people were asked to do their part in this emergency by
saving shovelful by shovelful in factory and home, and this was the
reason for ^^Tag-your-shovel day."
Another important conservation measure adopted by the Fuel
Administration was under an order issued by the N'ational Fuel
Administration under date of January IT, 1918, prohibiting manu-facturers
or manufacturing plants from burning fuel or using power
derived from fuel for any purpose on the following days: January
18, 19, 20, 21 and 22, 1918, and continuing up to and including
March 25, 1918. Several different classes of plants were excepted
from this order:
(a) Plants which necessarily must be continuously operated
seven days each week to avoid serious injury to the plant itself or
its contents. These plants were allowed to use such quantity of fuel
as was necessary to prevent injury to the plant or its contents,
(b) Manufacturers, or plants manufacturing perishable foods
or foods for necessary immediate consumption.
(c) Printing establishments.
This order was known as the Closing Order, and not only required
the closing of plants as above enumerated, but also required the
closing of all business or professional offices, except offices used by
the United States, county, or municipal governments, transportation
companies, public utilities, telegraph and telephone companies, banks,
trust companies, physicians, or dentists. It also required wholesale
144 The North Carolina Historical Review
and retail stores, other business houses, theaters, moving picture
houses, private or public dance halls, and all