North Carolina booklet : great events in North Carolina history

              cu.
Vol. xvn JULY, 1917 No. 1
North Carolina Booklet
GREAT EVENTS
IN
NORTH CAROLINA
HISTORY
PUBLISHED QUARTERLY
BY *
.
THE NORTH CAROLINA SOCIETY
DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION'*'.
RALEIGH, N. C.
CONTENTS
A Federalist of the Old School
By Aechibald Hendebson.
PAGE.
._ 3
Our North Carolina Indians 39
By Colonel Fred A. Olds.
^ The State Navy of North Carolina in the War of the
Revolution 48
By Maeshall DeLancey Haywood.
Review of the Prince of Parthia 57
By Nina Holland Covington.
SINGLE NUMBERS 35 CENTS $1.00 THE YEAR
Entered at the Postoffice at Raleigh, N. C, July 15, 1905, under the Act of
Congress of March 3, 1879
>/ J?
\
The North CaroUna Booklet
Great Events in North Carolina History
Volume XVII of The Booklet will be issued quarterly by the
North Carolina Society, Daughters of the Revolution, beginning July,
1917. The Booklet will be published in July, October, January, and
April. Price $1.00 per year, 35 cents for single copy.
Editor :
Miss Maby Hllliabd Hinton.
Biographical Editor :
Mrs. E. E. Moffitt.
VOLUME XVII.
Isaac Shelby : Revolutionary Patriot and Border Hero—Part II
—
Dr. Archibald Henderson.
Revolutionary Heroines of Mecklenburg—Miss Violet Alexander.
Glimpses of Plantation Life in the Old South—By an Eye Witness.
History of Rowan County—Dr. Archibald Henderson.
History of Agriculture in North Carolina
—
Hospital Service in the War Between the States
—
Historic Homes; Part VIII : "Bookwood"—Mr. William C. Ervin.
Historic Homes, Part IX : "Creek-Side"—Mr. William 0. Ervin.
Shqcco and Jones' Springs : Old-fashion Resorts in Warren County —Judge Walter A. Montgomery.
History of the Continental Line of North Carolina—Mr. Frank
Nash.
Historical Book Reviews will be contributed by Mrs. Nina Holland
Covington. These will be reviews of the latest historical works
written by North Carolinians.
The Genealogical Department will be continued, with a page de-voted
to Genealogical Queries and Answers as an aid to genealogical
research in the State.
The North Carolina Society Colonial Dames of America wUl fur-nish
copies of unpublished records for publication The Booklet.
Biographical Sketches will be continued under Mrs. E. E. Moffitt.
Old letters, heretofore unpublished, bearing on the Social Life of
the different periods of North Carolina History, will appear here-after
in The Booklet.
This list of subjects may be changed, as circumstances sometimes
prevent the writers from keeping their engagements.
The histories of the separate counties will in the future be a
special feature of The Booklet. When necessary, an entire issue
will be devoted to a paper on one county.
Parties who wish to renew their subscriptions to The Booklet
for Vol. XVI are requested to give notice at once.
Many numbers of Volumes I to XVI for sale.
For particulars address
Miss Mary Hilliaed Hinton,
Editor North Carolina BooTclet,
"Midway Plantation," Raleigh, N. C.
Vol. XVII JULY, 1917 No. 1
North Carolina Booklet
'Carolina i Carolina I Hewven's blessings attend her I
While zve live zve will cherish, protect and defend her'
Published by
THE NORTH CAROLINA SOCIETY
DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION
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NoT'th Carolina History. The proceeds arising from its publication
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editoe :
Miss Maey Hilliabd Hinton.
biographical editor :
Mrs. E. E. Moffitt.
OFFICERS OF THE NORTH CAROLINA SOCIETY
DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION
1914-1916
regent :
Miss MARY BILLIARD HINTON.
vice-regent :
Mrs. MARSHALL WILLIAMS.
honorary regents :
Mrs. E. E. MOFFITT.
Mrs. T. K. BRUNER.
recording secretary :
Mrs. GEORGE PELL.
corresponding secretary :
Mrs. PAUL H. LEE.
treasurer :
Mrs. CHAS. LEE SMITH.
registrar :
Miss SARAH W. ASHE.
custodian of relics :
Mrs. JOHN E. RAT.
CHAPTER REGENTS
Bloomsbury Chapter Mrs. Hubeet Haywood, Regent.
Penelope Barker Chapter Mes. Patrick Matthew, Regent.
Sir Walter Raleigh Chapter Mes. I. M. Meekins, Regent.
General Francis Nash Chapter Miss Rebecca Camebon, Regent.
Roanoke Chapter Mrs. F. M. Allen, Regent.
Mary Sloeumb Chapter Miss Georgie Hicks, Regent.
Colonel Thomas Robeson Chapter Mrs. Annie Buie, Regent.
Tuscarora Chapter Miss Annie Montague. Regent.
Founder of the North Carolina Society and Regent 1896-1902
Mrs. SPIER WHITAKER.*
Regent 1902:
Mes. D. H. HILL, Ss-t
Regent 1902-1906:
Mbs. THOMAS K. BRUNER.
Regent 1906-1910:
Mes. E. E. MOFFITT.
*Died November 25, 1911.
tDied December 12, 1904.
Monument to Archibald Henderson at Salisbury, Erected by the
Bar of North Carolina.
The North Carolina Booklet
Vol. XVII JULY, 1917 No. 1
A Federalist of the Old School
By Abchibald Hendekson.
"The most perfect model of a lawyer that our bar has produced."
Abchibald DeBow Murphey.
Some years ago, Colonel Eichard Benbury Creecy in a fas-cinating
article entitled, "Our Old Lawyers/' expressed the
wish that some writer might "place his State and its coming
sons under a debt of gratitude to him" by preparing "an
elaborate memorial of the great lawyer, Archibald Hender-son,
who for many years led a profession in ISTorth Carolina,
which has always been foremost in its annals and its patriotic
work." The obituary which was published by his friend,
Judge Archibald D. Murphey^ presents in classic form and
high relief his character as publicist. "I venture to think,"
says a distingaiished jurist,^ "that we have had no finer set-ting
forth of the qualities of a gTeat lawyer and citizen, his
relations to his profession, the court and the public, than the
essay of Judge Murphey on Mr. Henderson." Diligent re-search
has demonstrated, nevertheless, that no consecutive or
detailed biography of Archibald Henderson has ever appeared
in print. Memorials of him linger only in that dim region of
tradition, where lies obscure so much of North Carolina's
past.
The present monograph, slight though it be, has been under-taken
in the attempt to supply in some measure an answer to
*Henry GroA'es Connor.
4 THE ]SrOKTH CAEOLINA BOOKLET
the wish expressed by the late Colonel Creecy. Nothing more
is attempted than to enable the reader to see this man as he
was viewed by his contemporaries. Authentic biography
alone can achieve the miracle of illuminating the past with
the search light of truth and throwing into just perspective
the temperament, character and genius of those who have lived
memorably. Perhaps no one, save he were prompted by
sentiments of filial respect, would have attempted a task which
offered so many difficulties, especially to one not of the legal
profession, and promised so little in tangible results after the
lapse of a centurj^ While this brief biography falls far short
of the ^'elaborate memorial," of which Colonel Creecy spoke,
it at least sets forth in ordered form and truthful narrative
the story, in so far as that story may at this late da}'' be rescued
from the past, of the life of a man whose name was once
known in ISTorth Carolina.
II.
That daring spirit of adventure and the passion for explo-ration
which drove the early settlers of America to plunge
into the wilderness and to press resolutely westward across the
continent, was but the natural expression of the inquisitive
and acquisitive instincts which brought Captain John Smith
to Jamestown in 1607, and ultimately ga.ve to this continent
the inestimable blessings of civilization, freedom, and reli-gious
liberty. One of these early adventurers in trying a dar-ing
hazard of new fortunes upon the American continent bore
the name of Thomas Henderson. He emigrated to James-town
from the neighborhood of Dumfries, Scotland, and set-tied
near Williamsburg, Virginia, in the early years of the
seventeenth century. Somewhat later he removed to a settle-ment
known as Yellow Springs near Jamesto^vn. Here he
fixed his residence, was married, and became in time the
father of a family of children. One of his sons, Richard,
was married to Margaret Washer, believed to have been the
daughter of Ensign Washer, who, together with Captain
A FEDEEALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 5
Cliristopher Lawne^ represented in the Virginia House of
Burgesses in 1619 Captain Lawne's Plantation, afterwards
kno^WTi as "Isle of Wight Plantation."* Richard Henderson
subsequently removed to Hanover County, Virginia, where he
and his wife reared a family of children : one daughter, who
was married to a Mr. Trevelyan and emigrated to South
Carolina; and four sons, Edward, Samuel, l^athaniel^ and
Leonard.
One of these sons, Samuel, who was born in Hanover
County on March 17, 1700, passed the first period of his life
in this section made famous in later years through the per-fervid
oratory of Patrick Henry and the devoted ministra-tions
of the Rev. Samuel Davies. Among his neighbors was
the demure young girl, Elizabeth Williams, whose father,
John Williams, born on January 26, 1679, was a prosperous
emigTant from Wales. Mary, Elizabeth's mother, who was
born on September 26, 1684, reared a family of eight chil-dren
of whom Elizabeth was the sixth. 'No recollections of the
courtship of Elizabeth Williams by Samuel Henderson are
preserved ; yet the sentiment of the bride is expressed in the
pretty incident that she insisted that the day of her coming
of age, her eighteenth birthday, ISTovember 14, 1732, should
be her wedding day. At their home, simple as the times, the
young couple lived the sane and frugal life characteristic of
the period in Virginia.
About the year 1740, Samuel Henderson with his family
emigrated to Edgecombe County, jSTorth Carolina. They were
among the very earliest settlers in that region. This section,
known as IsTutbush, from the creek of that name which ran
through it, was so called, says William Byrd, "from the many
hazle trees growing upon it." Some idea of the beauty of the
country is conveyed by Byrd's description of the site of their
camp four miles from IsTutbush Creek, where the isTorth Caro-lina-
Virginia dividing line crossed Great Creek. "The Tent
^Annual Report, American Historical Association, 1S93 : W. W.
Henry's "The First Legislative Assembl3' in America." p. SOS.
D THE NORTH CAEOLINA BOOKLET
was pitched upon an Eminence, which overlooked a wide
Piece of low Grounds, cover'd with Reeds and watered by a
Crystal Stream gliding thro' the Middle of it. On the Other
Side of this delightful Valley, which was about a half a Mile
wide, rose a Hill that terminated the View, and in the figure
of a Semicircle closed in upon the opposite Side of the Val-ley.
This had a most agreeable Effect upon the Eye, and
wanted nothing but Cattle grazing in the Meadow, and Sheep
and Goats feeding on the Hill, to make it a Compleat Rural
LAISTDSCAPE." Little more than a decade after the vision
of this "compleat rural landscape" dawned upon Byrd's lively
imagination, the fancy became a reality with the coming to
this beautiful country of the Hendersons, the Williamses, and
the Bullocks from Virginia. When Byrd penned these words,
the buffalo still roamed at will through the canebrakes of
Craven; skilful hunters, like "Epaphroditus Bainton, the
famous Woodsman," spent all their time in ranging the woods
and making "great Havock among the Deer, and other in-habitants
of the Forest, not much wilder than themselves"
;
and the Virginia and Carolina traders, following the course
of the Great Trading Path and crossing the Yadkin at the
Trading Ford, finally reached the towns of the Catawba
Indians, whom they supplied with "Guns, Powder, Shot,
Hatchets, (which the Indians call Tomahawks,) Kettles, red
& blue Planes, Dufiields, Stroudwater blankets, and some Cut-lary
Wares, Brass Rings and other Trinkets."*
In 1733, Edgecombe County was erected out of Craven
County by Governor Burrington and Council. So rapid,
however, was the emigration from Virginia into this section
during the period after lY-iO that in 1746 a new county,
named Granville in honor of John Carteret, Earl Granville,
and a new parish, named St. John's Parish, were erected out
of Edgecombe. The reason assigned in the act is : "Edgecomb
being a frontier county, is now so extensively settled, that the
public business of the said County and Parish becomes very
*J. S. Bassett: The Writings of WiUiam Bprd.
A FEDERALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 7
difficult to be transacted."* In the South Carolina Gazette,
of March 8^ 1768, it is stated: ''A letter from Williamsburgh,
Virginia, dated October 18, 1767, says: There is scarce a
history, ancient or modern, which affords such a rapid and
sudden increase of inhabitants in a back frontier country as
that of ]*^orth Carolina." Within a decade, Granville's popu-lation
rose from nothing to some three thousand ; and in
1746 the courts were organized. One of the very first in the
county convened at the house of Mr. William Eaton, at which
were present Doctor James Payne, John Martin, Grideon
Macon, Samuel Henderson, Justices, March 3, 1746 (O. S.).
For many years Samuel Henderson served as Justice of the
County Court; and on March 6, 1754, he received his com-mission
from the Governor of the Province, Arthur Dobbs, as
High Sheriif of Granville County. His assistant in the office
in the capacity of sous-sheriff was his eldest son, Richard, who
was born in Hanover County, Virginia, on April 20, 1735.
III.
Richard Henderson's son, Archibald, whose life and career
here especially engage our interest, was born in Granville
County, ]S[orth Carolina, on August 7, 1768. From his
father, the pioneer and expansionist. President of the Colony
of Transylvania, founder of Boonesborough and ISTashville,
he doubtless directly inherited the legal acumen and forensic
brilliance which elevated Richard Henderson at the age of
thirty-three to the highest court in the colony, and won for
him the title of the "Patrick Henry of ISTorth Carolina," An
English contemporary and acquaintance, in speaking of Rich-ard
Henderson's practice and advocacy as a lawyer in the
JSTorth Carolina Superior Court, pays him this elevated trib-ute
: "Even there, where oratory and eloquence are as brilliant
and powerful as in Westminster Hall, he soon became distin-guished
and eminent, and his superior genius shone forth with
great splendor and universal applause." From his mother.
*State Records of North Carolina, XXIII, 249.
Q THE K'OETH CAROLINA BOOKLET
Elizabeth, the daughter of an Irish nobleman, Lord George
Kelynge, Archibald derived that refreshing simplicity of
manner and dignity of demeanor which were signal traits of
his personality.
On January 1, 1780, the admirable boarding school in
Warren (old Bute ) County, known as Springer College, threw
open its doors. The number of pupils was thirty ; the terms
were £100 a year, Virginia money, for tuition, £200 a year
for board, and £14-6s-0d paid ''towards the schoolhouse, fire-wood,
&c."* This famous academy, situated in an ideal spot
and healthy locality, drew jDiipils from points as distant as
Edenton. In this select school Archibald Henderson received
his early training; and among his schoolmates were John
Haj^wood, afterwards famous as lawyer, jurist, and historian
of Tennessee, and Robert Goodloe Harper, afterwards the
distinguished Federalist, Henderson's colleague in Congress,
and one of the ablest political leaders of his day. With a
touch of quiet humor, Judge W. H. Battle in his Memoir of
Leonard Henderson, Archibald's brother, makes the following-observation
upon the conditions of rural life in iSTorth Caro-lina
in that early day : ''It may not be amiss to mention here,
as an evidence of the simplicity and frugality of the times,
as well as of the prudence and industry of the matrons of that
day that his mother, though the wife of one of the highest
officers of the province, taught her eldest sons, as well as her
daughters, to card and spin. Why Leonard v/as not instructed
in the same housewifely accomplishment we are not informed.
The splendid professional career of one of his elder brothers,
Archibald, shows that though it might not have advanced, it
certainly would not have obstructed his upward course to
fame and fortune, "f
Following the example, and no doubt the coimsel of his
father, Archibald Henderson studied law under his close rela-tive.
Judge John Williams. In the unusually fine library
*G. J. McRee : Life aud Correspondence of James Iredell, I, 433-4.
•fNorth Carolina University Magazine, IX, 4 : November. 1S59.
A FEDERALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 9
for that day of Judge Williams, a library especially rich in
legal literature, he acquired a love of biography, history, and
general literature. His preceptor \vas j)ronounced by the
courtly James Iredell "one of the most agreeable men in the
world" ; and Elkanah Watson, after speaking of "the elegant
seat of Judge Williams, at JSTutbush," which he visited in
1Y86, describes Judge Williams as "an accomplished gentle-man,
possessing high talents, and genuine Southern hospi-tality."*
IV.
The distinguished jurist, Spruce Macay, remembered con-spicuously
as the legal preceptor of two of ISTorth Carolina's
greatest men, William Richardson Davie and Andrew Jack-son,
was married to Archibald Henderson's sister, Fanny, in
Granville County on May 27, 1785. It was through his in-fluence
that Archibald Henderson was induced to remove to
Rowan and begin there the practice of the law. As a youth
iu Salisbury, whither he removed from Granville about 1790,
he has been described by his acquaintance of that period, the
singular genius, Dr. Charles Caldwell. In the matured
opinion of Caldwell, recorded in later life, Archibald Hender-son
was "possessed of splendid talents and commanding elo-quence."
He has left the following interesting and graphic
jjen-picture of Henderson as a young man
"Classically and carefully educated from his boyhood, he
was a man of fine literary taste, an excellent Shakespeare
scholar, and well versed in English poetry in general; espe-cially
in that of the highest order.
"Instead of joining clubs, to eat, drink, joke, and frolic, as
most of the other men of Salisbury did, he and myself met
on stated evenings in our studies, to read, converse on, and
criticise specified w^orks in polite literature, and sometimes
manuscript articles of our own production. And, from that
*Men and Times of the Revolution, 252.
10 THE :n^orth caeolina booklet
source, we derived not only rational and higli gratification,
but also valuable improvement in letters."*
The town of Salisbury in 1786, as described by Elkanab
Watson, was "a pleasant village^ containing fifty dwelling
houses. , . . The road to Charlotte, in Mecklenburg
County, was equal to any English turnpike and traversed a
beautiful level." The population shortly after the time of
Archibald Henderson's removal thither is given by George
Washington in his Diary (1791) as "about three hundred
souls . . . and tradesmen of different kinds" ; and an
indication of its gracious social culture is given in Washing-ton's
words : ''Dined at a public dinner (May 30, 1791) givn.
by the Citizens of Salisbury; & in the afternoon drank Tea
at the same place with about 20 ladies, who had been assem-bled
for the occasion." DistingTiished figTires in the social
circle in Salisbury, in which Archibald Henderson moved,
were General John Steele, sometime Representative in Con-gress
and later Comptroller General of the Currency under
Washington, Adams, and Jefferson ; General Matthew Locke,
of titled ancestry, who represented the district in the third,
fourth, and fifth CongTesses ; Judge Spruce Macay, who pre-sided
over the Western Circuit, determined and fearless in
discharging the difiicult duties of his ofiice ; Dr. Samuel Euse-bins
McCorkle, graduate of Princeton, eminent Presbyterian
divine and famous teacher; Maxwell Chambers, Commis-sioner
of the Borough ; William Lee Alexander, student at
ISTassau Hall and veteran of the Revolution; Captain John
Beard and Lewis Beard, prominent citizens who had been
Revolutionary soldiers ; the able Adlai Osborne, and Dr.
Charles Caldwell, afterwards eminent as physician and
teacher.
Archibald Henderson displayed the most genial interest in
the development of the ambitious young men of his acquaint-ance
in Rowan. In particular, he freely extended to them
the benefits of the admirable and carefully selected library
^Autobiography of Charles Caldivell, '7S-9.
A FEDERALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 11
which he began early to collect. In an authoritative account
of his own career, prepared under his immediate supervision,
John Hardy Steele, who was born in Salisbury and in mid-dle
life became Governor of jSTew Hampshire, pays him the
following graceful tribute of gTatitude
:
^'Young Steele's mother being a widow, and in straightened
circumstances, he had no time for the amusements common to
childhood, and but little for study and reading. He is greatly
indebted to Archibald Henderson, Esq., at this time and for
years after a successful and highly esteemed lawyer, for a
taste for reading and a thirst for practical knowledge, which
has been not less remarkable in after life than his thorough
devotion to the sterner labors, which he was never known to
neglect. The Governor has been often heard to say that there
are no more pleasant and gTateful recollections connected with
the trying years of his early life, than those which cluster
around the oifice and ample library of Mr. Henderson, where
a benevolent smile and word of encouragement were always
sure to gTeet him."*
V.
During the closing decade of the eighteenth century, while
he was forging to the forefront of the legal profession in
I^orth Carolina, Archibald Henderson was rapidly developing
those mental powers which caused him to be described by the
late Col. E. B. Creecy as ''the foremost advocate and orator
at our bar." After his first removal to Salisbury and a
sojourn of a few years there until 1795, he returned to Gran-ville,
where he served as Clerk and Master in Equity of the
County Court in 1795-6-7-8. In 1798 he once more removed
to Rowan and made Salisbury his permanent home.
There is no record of any likeness of him having ever been
made. He would doubtless have regarded such a thing as a
weak concession to personal vanity. From the personal
reminiscences of his acquaintances, we know that he was a
*For this sketch of Governor Steele I am indebted to Judge Benja-min
Smith, of Clinton, Mass.
12 THE JSTOKTH CAEOLIITA BOOKLET
large man physieally, with noble forehead, aqniline nose,
compressed lips, firm-set jaws, somewhat elongated chin, and
an open countenance kindly and benignant in expression.
"Rhetorical,'' "winning," "ready," eloquent," and "effectiye"
are the precise adjectiyes which his acquaintances haye em-ployed
to describe his qualities as an adyocate. Endowed with
the temperamental geniality which distinguished his father,
he readily won the good-yv'ill as well as the admiration of his
acquaintances. His wide popularity was in no small measure
due to his firm belief, frequently expressed and habitually
put into practice, in the wisdom of "forming an intimate
acquaintance with mankind, and particularly with the middle
and lower classes of people, their passions, feelings, preju-dices,
modes of thinking and motives of action."
Before the age of thirty, he came to be widely kno^m, not
only in the Salislbury District, but throughout the State, as
an ardent Federalist, For Washington he cherished bound-less
reyerence ; the brilliant qualities of Burr excited his pro-found
admiration ; and Adams found in him a staunch ad-herent.
With strong and outspoken convictions, he quickly
became a marked man ; and he was urgently petitioned by his
friends to present himself as a candidate for Congress—
a
step not a little contrary to his natural inclination. Pitted
against an able opponent, the Hon. Matthew Locke, who had
served as Representative in Congress since 1792, he was
elected to Congress at the age of thirty in the summer of
1798. The followin.o; letter from President Adams to General
John Steele furnis
political situation
^6
furnishes an interestino-, if brief, comment on the
Quincy Sept 4 179S
Sir
I have reed your favour of Aug. 29 inclosing tlae Resolutions and
Address of Bladen County in N. Carolina. A more excellent address
lias not appeared. A few words in answer I return to you witli the
Address that you may publish them in the Papers, if you please.
A FEDERALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 13
The Election of Mr. Henderson is very honourable to him and his
Constituents. If the inveterate Phalanx should be broken our Coun-try
will triumph.
With sincere Esteem I have the honor
to be Sir your obliged servant
John Adams.
John Steele Esqr.
Comptroller of the
Treasury at Trenton.
At this election nve other men were elected as Federalists
from Xorth Carolina : William Barrj Grove, Joseph Dickson,
William 11. Hill, Richard Dobbs Spaight, and David Stone.
The Hon. Charles Lee, Member of Congress from Virginia,
writing to James Iredell in September, 1798, observes: "The
change in jSTorth Carolina is most pleasing, and with so good
an example before Virginia, I trust this State will amend her
representation also." The jSTorth Carolina Federalists won a
signal success in electing as Governor of the State the dis-ting-
uished William E. Davie, who was inaugurated on Janu-ary
1, 1799. This triumph of Federalism in JSTorth Carolina
was to j)rove but short-lived ; the star of Jefferson and Demo-cracy
was steadily rising. On this account, it is especially
deserving of remark that the strong Federalist rally in West-ern
!Morth Carolina was principally due to the powerful per-sonal
influence of Archibald Henderson. A cooperative in-fluence
was the recrudescence of the historic antagonism of
the whole western portion of the State to the political domina-tion
of the "East."
VI.
On December 2, 1799, Mr. Henderson appeared at Phila-delphia,
presented his credentials, and took his seat at this,
the flrst session of the sixth Congress of the United States.
He carried to Philadelphia with him his attractive little
niece, who afterwards became the wife of the Hon. William
C. Love, of Salisbury. In token of his solicitude for the
little Elizabeth Macay, his sister Fanny's daughter, these
words from a letter to Spruce Macay, her father, of March
14 THE NOETH CAEOLINA BOOKLET
23, 1800, are deserving of quotation: "I am now sitting in
my chamber with Betsy at my side. She is very well and has
made handsome progress in her studies. I have frequently
taken her to the theatre, and it would astonish you to see how
she is pleased with the performances. I had anticipated your
wishes in placing her to a dancing school before the receipt of
your letter. I propose to set off with her to Bethlehem next
Saturday week." Doubtless Betsy was placed in some noted
school, perhaps under Moravian control, at Bethlehem.
From the very beginning of his term in CongTess, Mr.
Henderson exhibited a lively interest in public questions and
busied himself actively in the duties of his office. On Decem-ber
5, 1799, he was appointed a member of the important
Committee of Elections; and on January 13, 1800, he was
designated a member of the committee instructed to examine
into the political system by which the Mississippi territory
was governed. The subject which especially engaged his at-tention
was the reform of the judiciary system then under
consideration. This matter had been forcibly brought to his
attention when President Adams, in addressing the Congress
upon its opening (December 3), had impressively said: ''To
give due effect to the civil administration of government, and
to ensure a just execution of the laws, a revision and amend-ment
of the judiciary system is indispensibly necessary. In
this extensive country it cannot but happen that numerous
questions respecting the interpretation of the laws of the
rights and duties of officers and citizens must arise. On the
one hand, the laws should be executed; on the other, indi-viduals
should be guarded from oppression. ISTeither of these
objects is sufficiently assured, under the present organiza-tion
of the judicial department." On December 9, the ques-tion
of "a revision and amendment of the judiciary system"
was referred to a committee with leave to report by bill ; and
the general problem of the better establishment and regaila-tion
of the courts of the United States assumed gTeat impor-tance
at this and the next session of Confess. The commit-
A FEDERALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 15
tee consisted of Mr, Robert Goodloe Harper, of South Caro-lina;
Mr. Chaimcey Goodrich, of Connecticut; Mr. James A.
Bayard, of Delaware; Mr. John Marshall, of Virginia; and
Mr. Samuel Sewall, of Massachusetts.
In speaking of the discussion set for March 24, 1800—at
which time the House resolved itself into a committee of the
whole House on the bill—Henderson writes to Macay:
"We shall enter upon the consideration of the Judiciary
Bill tomorrow. Those persons who are best informed are of
opinion it will not pass at this session of Congress. I am
fearful it will not, but I think the chance by no means des-perate.
We have a number of gentlemen here who do not make
the expediency and propriety of a measure proposed the rule
of their political conduct, but are calculating what effect the
plan proposed will have on the people. They will acknowl-edge
that the thing itself is wholesome and necessary for the
publick good but they are apprehensive that the sovereign
people will not be pleased. I confess for my own part that I
am tired of this dismal clamor about the people. I respect
them as much as any man but I am not for sacrificing my own
judgment and opinion together with their essential interest to
the intemperate bowlings of a few demagogues. I believe
that the dearest Interests of our Country require that a radi-cal
change be made in the mode of administering Justice.
That change will no doubt create some additional expense at
which the popular leaders of the day will eagerly lay hold
of to render the measure odious. I conceive myself legislat-ing
on this important occasion not for the pursuit of only
bare popularity. It is of the utmost importance to the interest
of America that it should establish a system of administering
Justice which will secure a speedy and impartial determina-tion
of causes brought into the courts and which will make
the expense incident to litigation as small as possible. I am
of the opinion that the plan proposed is the result of deep
reflection and much labor, and is admirably calculated to pro-mote
these desirable objects."
16 THE ]N"ORTH CAEOLIJN^A BOOKLET
On Friday, March 28, after several sessions of the com-mittee
of the whole House, the bill was re-committed to the
original committee. The bill which was reported by this
committee became the foundation of the act that was adopted
in 1801.
VII.
It was Mr. Henderson's fixed intention to return to the
practice of the law, to which his genius was best suited, at the
expiration of his first term in CongTess, In pursuance of this
intention, he published the following notice in The North
Carolina Mercury and Salisbury Advertiser, issue of June 5,
1800, and several succeeding issues:
To the Citizens of the counties of Rowan, Iredell, Meck-lenburg,
Cabarrus and Montgomery.
Gentlemen,
A period is fast approaching when j'ou will be called upon to elect
from among yourselves, a person to represent you in the next Con-gress
of the United States. And as it may be supposed that I shall
again offer my services unless a declaration to the contrary is made,
I feel mj^self bound thus early to inform yovi that I shall not be a
Candidate at the ensuing Congressional Election. It is not neces-sary
that I should detail the reasons which have led to this determi-nation
; I assure you Gentlemen, that they have not originated in a
want of a due appreciation of the distinguished honor you have con-ferred
on me in a measure so flattering, nor from disinclination to
devote my time to the service of a people whose peace and happiness
are the first wish of my heart.
I have the honor to be,
Gentlemen,
with great respect.
Your most obedient,
humble servant,
A. Hendekso::^.
Philadelphia, 15th April, ISOO.
The candidates for the seat were Mr. Henderson's com-petitor
in 1798, the Hon. Matthew Locke, and a Mr. Mussen-dine
Matthews, who for ten years had represented Iredell
County in the lower house of the General Assembly. In the
A EEDEKALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL, 17
above-mentioned newspaper, issue of June 12, appeared a
letter signed "A Country Farmer's Son," urging tlie election
of Locke
"At a time as critical as the present, my fellow-citizens, we ought
to be extreamly cautious who we elect to fill that important trust.
We ought to send the man prone to virtue, the man of experience,
and the man of sense. Let us state a question with regard to Mr.
Locke. Is not he the Gentleman possessed of these charming quali-fications?
Yes certainly he is. Has he not served his country in
the General Assembly of this state almost ever since the American
war until the year '93? Since that until Aug. 4, 1799, he has served
in a higher capacity, viz. a member of Congress six (?) successive
elections he was the choice of the people, and by his goodness and
wisdom conducted so, as not to merit a frown from a single indi-vidual.
At the election of '98. when Archibald Henderson, Esq., op-posed
Mr. Locke, and for sentiments, and policy, which ought to have
done our representative immortal honour, he was ousted from an
ofiice which he had served with dignity and unfeigned goodness. But
such is human nature—not long contented with the same, as fond to
elect him in. and as apt to elect him out. A number of the ignorant
were under a gross mistake with regard to Mr. Locke's politics.
They supposed him a friend to the French and its government in
defiance to his own."
This unknown champion highly praised the "wisdom, ex-perience
and virtue" of Mr. Locke, and vehemently repelled
the insinuation that he had been a "traitor to his country,"
In explanation of the grounds for his candidacy^ Mr. Locke
issued an "Address to the freemen of the Counties of Kowan,
Iredell, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg and Montgomery," saying
among other things:
"I declare myself a real friend to the Federal government,
and a zealous defender of the Constitution, which I have often
sworn to support, but do not implicitly rely upon a belief that
all the present measures of Government have been wisely
adopted, and impartially administered; but do believe that
millions of dollars have been expended that ought to have been
saved."
He declared his consistent opposition to all measures which
have "a tendency, unnecessarily to oppress the citizens or
—2
18 THE NOETH CAEOLUSTA BOOKLET
enslave posterity," and expressed the belief that "on a fair
investigation of my political conduct, whilst in your service,
I shall stand acquitted from the calumny raised against me
in my absence, to which I impute the result of my last unsuc-cessful
attempt."
The reasons which actuated Mr. Henderson to reconsider
his original decision not to be a candidate are set forth by
him in a letter to Mr. Walter Alves of Hillsborough (July
28, 1800), recently discovered. Clearly the desire to
strengthen the Federalist party was the controlling motive in
his final decision. For in the perfervid language expressive
of the vehement political feeling of the time, he says to
Alves : "Let us, my dear Sir, exert ourselves not only to save
our common Country from impending ruin but to raise our
own state from that low point of depression to which she has
been sunk by the acts of factious and designing men. Every
vote which Jefferson will get in this state is a blot upon our
reputation." More explicitly concerning his own candidacy
he says
:
"Since my return I have been prevailed upon by ttie solicitations
of a number of respected men in this district to suffer my name to
be held up as a candidate for a seat in the next Congress. I am
opposed by Matthews and Locke. It is supposed by my friends that
I shall be elected ; for my own part, I think it doubtful. The dis-trict
is Federal and would have elected me by a large majority had
It not been for the public declaration which I made, expressive of
my intention to decline to hold a poll. This circumstance, together
with that of General Smith* having offered his service and then
withdrawing in my favor, are taken hold of by my opponents and
managed with much dexterity to my disadvantage."
The return of the poll, as published in Francis Coupee's
newspaper of August 21, was as follows:
*Presumably General John Smith, whose son Robert had repre-sented
Cabarrus County in the lower house of the General Assembly
in 1794, 1795, 1796, and 1799.
Henderson. Matthews. Lock
867 341 265
211 498 58
346 126 294
94 125 214
404 41 14
A FEDERALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 19
Rowan
Iredell
Mecklenburg
Cabarrus
Montgomery
1922 1131 845
Majority for Henderson, 791.
VIII.
During the closing months of John Adams' administration
there was passed (Febrnary 13, 1801) the act known as the
Circuit Court Act or the Judiciary Act of 1801. The neces-sity-
for relieving the justices of the Supreme Court from the
arduous duties incurred in riding the circuit had been urged
for a decade. It was vigorously maintained by the Republi-cans
that the amount of business before the courts of the
United States had actually begun to decline ; and it was there-fore
urged by them that the increased expenditure provided
for was not warranted by existent conditions. The charge
was forcibly made that the enlargement of the judiciary "was
only effected for the purpose of keeping the Federalists in
control of the judiciary for a long time to come." Adams
came in for severe censure, both for the character of the ap-pointments
and the making of "midnight appointments" dur-ing
the closing hours of his term of office. While the number
of districts having a court presided over by a district judge
was increased from seventeen to twenty-two, no provision was
made for the appointment of new judges. Sixteen additional
judgeships were provided for under this act—three each in
five of the six circuits into which the twenty-two districts were
classed, and one in the remaining district. Instead of in-volving
an additional cost of $137,000, as assumed in the
later debates on the judiciary act, the sixteen new judgeships
represented an increase of less than $50,000.* The Repub-
*For a succinct contemporary account of the measure and the
reasons advanced by the leading Federalists for its adoption, compare
"Robert Goodloe Harper to his Constituents," February 26, 1801:
20 THE WORTH CAEOLINA BOOKLET
licans certainly had some groiiiid for the feeling that the in-creased
expenditure was unnecessary; and factional feeling
ran high over the uniformly partisan character of the ap-pointments.
Mr. Henderson, who fully endorsed the measure,
says in a printed '^Letter to his Constituents," issued from
Washing-ton, February 28, 1801
:
"By the late judiciary system, the judges of the supreme court
were required to hold, in every year, two courts at the seat of govern-ment,
and tvpo courts in each of the states. To perform this duty,
it was necessary for them to be almost continually traveling ; they
had no time for study and reflection, and the fatigue was so great,
that it is impossible for men advanced in life, to continue long equal
to the task. It was found that we must either drive from our ser-vice
the most able and experienced men in the nation, or so modify
our judicial system as to make it less burdensome to the judges.
When we reflect that all which is dear to man, his liberty, his prop-erty,
his reputation, are placed in the hands of the judges—when we
reflect that the character of the nation is intimately connected with
the prudence and ability of its courts, it is confidently believed, that
few men can be found who will hesitate to say that it is of the first
importance that this high trust should be confided to men pre-emi-nent
for talents and virtue. It is moreover to be observed, that
under the former system, some of the districts were so large as to
render it very inconvenient and expensive for suitors, jurors, &c., to
attend the courts. This evil has, in some measure, been remedied by
dividing the large districts. The law divides the United States into
six circuits ; in each of those circuits three judges are to be ap-pointed,
who are called circuit judges, and are to hold courts twice
a year in each district in their respective circuits. In all cases above
the sum of 2,000 dollars, an appeal lies to the supreme court, which
is to set twice a year at the seat of government. This court is to be
composed of the present judges of the supreme court, who are not
to perform any circuit duties, but are to try all cases where, by the
constitution of the United States, the supreme court has original
jurisdiction, and appeals which may be brought up from the inferior
courts. Courts of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction are established
in the several districts. In the district of North Carolina they are to
be holden at three different places, three times a year, to wit : at
Annual Report American Historical Association, 1913. II, 137-140.
Writing to Walter Alves of Hillsborough on March 30, 1801. Hender-son
says: "I have put into the hands of Mr. (Duncan) Cameron for
your use a Letter from Mr. Harper to his constituents. It certainly
merits the attention of every American Patnot." See also Mas
Farrand : "The Judiciary Act of 1801," American Historical Review,
V, 682-6.
A FEDERALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 21
Wilmington, Newbern, and Edenton. Tliis duty, in most cases, is to
be performed by the district judges, tliougli in some instances the
circuit judges will hold admiralty and circuit courts. This is an
outline of this important law—and I am sure that the additional
expense will be cheerfully paid by the people of the United States,
when they consider the immense advantage of having an able, pure
and impartial administration of justice, and that to attain this great
object throughout our extensive country, a considerable expense must
necessarily result."
IX.
The first great national issue in Congress which Hender-son
was called upon to meet arose in connection with the
famous conjuncture over the tie between Jefferson and Burr,
which was announced to both Houses on February 11, 1801.
Whereas both men were professed Democrats, Burr was be-lieved
by the Federalists to be far nearer in spirit to them
than his political designation would indicate. Moreover, they
believed him to be possessed of sufficient ambition to prompt
him to accept with complacency the office of the presidency at
the hands of his political opponents. Writing from Washing-ton
to Walter Alves of Hillsborough on January 2, 1801,
Henderson interestingly sets forth the views of the Federal-ists
at this critical juncture
:
"You have learned that Jefferson and Burr have an equal number
of votes. The great business of making a President devolves upon
the house of Representatives. The Federalists view the election of
Jefferson as the most serious evil which can happen to America. In
fact I am every day more and more convinced that he is altogether
unqualified to be at the head of a great nation. I assure you Sir
that it is impossible to give you a correct idea of the serious and
alarming state of things. The friends of order, religion, and gov-ernment
fear that all is lost and that America is to see another
proof of the fallibility of Republican governments. We mean to
make a stand and endeavor to elect Burr. He is not our choice, but
we think him infinitely preferable to Jefferson. He is a bold, prac-tical,
energetic politician of great talents and unbounded ambition
—
and is at heart no democrat.'"
Considerable excitement prevailed throughout the country
during the course of the long intrigaie and the series of suc-cessive
ballots that were taken. In the event, there was a
22 THE NOKTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
general feeling of satisfaction—the conviction that substan-tial
justice had been done—when Jefferson was finally elected,
by ten States, on the thirty-sixth ballot. On the first ballot,
the vote of ISTorth Carolina was cast for Jefferson ; and three
of the Federalists from N'orth Carolina voted for Jefferson.
After the first ballot, the ISTorth Carolina Federalists gener-ally
voted for Burr. It has been stated, in authoritative pub-lications,
that Henderson, although elected as a Federalist,
supported Jefferson for President,* J^othing could be fur-ther
from the truth. After describing in detail the progTess
of the balloting, Henderson says in a letter to his constituents :
"The federalists supported col. Burr, and the democrats Mr. Jeffer-son
; it is known that neither of those gentlemen are acceptable to the
federalists ; but of the two they prefer col. Burr.
"The supporters of Jefferson declared they would continue to
vote for him until the 4th of March, and risque the consequence of
having no President, or in other words, that they would dissolve the
government if theman of their choice were not chosen. The federal-ists
think that a weak and inefficient government is better than no
government at all, and preferred having Mr. Jefferson President,
exceptionable as he is, to anarchy and confusion. It is certainly my
duty to inform you. and from it I shall not shrink, that through the
whole of this transaction, I uniformly voted for col. Burr. I did so
under a conviction that he was the best qualified of the two candi-dates
to promote the honor, peace and happiness of the nation. I
shall forbear to say what I think of Mr. Jefferson ; he is now on the
eve of being chief magistrate of the nation ; respect for the office he
is to fill, and not for the man, forbids me to make any comments on
his character. It is possible that I may have formed a false estimate
of his worth. A few years will convince the American people,
whether those who have heretofore conducted their national affairs
merit their confidence and esteem, or not."
X.
Archibald Henderson's most conspicuous achievement dur-ing
the period of his congressional service, which came in his
second term, was his speech on the repeal of the Federal
Judiciary Act, delivered in the House of Representatives on
February 16, 1802. The indignation of the Republicans over
'^National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, VII, 215.
A FEDERALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 23
the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1801 found vigorous ex-pression
at the very beginning of Jefferson's administration.
As early as March 16, 1801, William Branch Giles, of Vir-ginia,
advised Jefferson that "the only check upon the judici-ary
system as it is now organized and filled, is the removal of
all its executive officers indiscriminately." Again, on June
1, he informed Jefferson that, in his judgment, "no remedy"
was "competent to redress the evil, but an absolute repeal of
the whole judiciary system, terminating the present offices,
and creating an entire new system defining the common law
doctrine, and restraining to the proper Constitutional extent
the jurisdiction of the courts."* The most powerful demand
for the repeal of the act came from Kentucky; and John
Breckinridge, who then represented Kentucky in the United
States Senate, was deluged with letters from his constituents,
urging a change in the judiciary system. Upon his solicita-tion,
the brilliant John Taylor of Caroline, set forth at
length, in a private letter recently published, the arguments
which became the basis of the repeal of the act of ISOl.f
Because of his signal ability as an advocate, his gTeat elo-quence,
and his reputation as a student of constitutional law,
Archibald Henderson was chosen to lead the debate for the
Federalists, among whom were such distinguished figTires as
James A. Bayard, of Delaware, and Roger Griswold, of Con-necticut.
The argument foreshadowing the outlines of Hen-derson's
speech are tersely expressed in his letter to Samuel
Johnston, a leading North Carolina Federalist, of January
24, 1802:
"The Indepenclence of our Judges is about to be destroyed and the
Constitution of our Country trampled under foot. The Law passed
at the last session of Congress for the better organization of the
Courts will be repealed and the Judges stript of their office. If any
*Jefferson MSS., Library of Congress. Cited in D. R. Anderson :
William Branch Giles.
fBreckinridge MSS., Library of Congress, Dec. 22, 1801. Cited in
W. S. Carpenter : Repeal of the Judiciary Act of 1801. ''American
Political Science Review," IX, 3. Aug., 1915.
24 THE NORTH CAEOLINA BOOKLET
one political truth has been established by experience it is that life
and property can only be safe under a system of Government, in
which the Judges are placed above the influence, which results from
a dependence on the will of others for their continuance in oiEce.
No part of the Constitution is expressed in more simple, plain and
appropriate language than that which establishes this independence.
How daring then, how criminally daring must that hand be which
to gratify the spirit of Party and to satiate revenge can pollute the
sacred Charter containing this principle so replete with human hap-piness
and so admired by the wise and virtuous of all nations?"
Mr. Henderson's speecli on the repeal of the Judiciary Act
of 1801 was one of the '^selections" in the Readers used by
school children in the South in ante-bellum days ; and it was
often chosen as a subject for declamation in the school exer-cises.
This speech has been described by the biographer of
IsTathaniel Macon as ''the ablest speech that had ever been
offered by a North Carolinian on the floor of Congress."* So
powerful was tlie impression produced in Congress by this
speech that it drew from ISTathaniel Macon, a ISTorth Caro-linian
of the opposite party, the longest and most represen-tative
speech ever delivered by him in the course of his ex-tended
political career. In regard to the action of the JSTorth
Carolina Assemblv, in instructing its Senators and recom-mending
to its Representatives to have the Judiciary Act of
1801 repealed, Henderson resolutely proclaimed his refusal
to be instructed, averring that he did not pray "thy will, not
mine, be done" to the IS'orth Carolina Assembly. Professor
Dodd describes the closing remarks of his speech as "worthy
of Fisher Ames." In speaking of Henderson's public career,
Dr. Charles Caldwell says : '"He once allowed himself to be
elected a representative to Congress, where he gTeatly dis-tinguished
himself, especially by his speech on the judiciary
question.'' The position taken by Henderson, as exponent of
the Federalist view, possesses exceptional interest in view of
the extraordinary fact that down to the present time, no
judicial review of the repealing act has even been had; and
*William E. Dodd : 'Nathaniel Macon, 402.
A FEDERALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 25
indeed, the constitutionality of the act has been challenged by
SO eminent an authority as Justice Story.*
The situation, as viewed by the Republicans, was most
effectively stated by Jefferson himself: '"^They (the Federal-ists)
have retired into the judiciary as a stronghold. There
the remains of federalism are to be preserved and fed from
the Treasury ; and from that battery all the works of republi-canism
are to be beaten down and destroyed." Actuated by
such a belief, the Republicans passed the repeal bill by a
majority of one in the Senate and by a vote of fifty-nine to
thirty-two in the House. The dejection of the Federalists is
expressed in the letter of James A. Bayard, the Federalist
leader, to Andrew Bayard, January 21, 1802: "This de-cision
(repeal of the judiciary law) I consider as an event
which cannot be too much lamented. It establishes a princi-ple
fraught with the worst consequences under such govern-ments
as exist in the United States. The independence of the
judiciary power is prostrated. A judge instead of holding
his office for life will hold it during the good pleasure of the
dominant Party. The Judges will of course become Parti-zans,
and the shadow of Justice alone will remain in our
Courts."'!' Archibald Henderson was profoundly shocked by
this "work of destruction," as he termed it. He found a
congressional career little congenial to his tastes; and, also
influenced by the fact that his wife preferred Salisbury to
Washington as a place of residence, he followed his original
intention expressed at the expiration of his first term, and
declined to stand for Congress again as the representative of
the Salisbury district at the next election. His feelings at this
time, voiced in the effusive langTiage of the period, are be-trayed
in a letter to Samuel Johnston of April 2Y, 1802 : "I
hope their sitting (Congress), will long be remembered by the
American People. The work of Virtue, the toil of Wis-dom—
the American Government—has fallen into ruin. The
*8t07-y on the Constitution, II, 401.
fCorrespondence of James A. Bayard : Annual Report American
Historical Association, 1913, II, 146.
26 THE NOETH CAEOLHSTA BOOKLET
fatal blow is struck. I fear it is now impossible to arrest the
arm of power. It is probable that I view the acts of the
Majority with a prejudicial eye; perhaps the conflict of party
and irritation of debate may have disqualified me from taking
a calm survey of their measures. But my impressions are
that nothing but ruin and misery await the deluded people of
this once happy Country."
XI.
Another important issue arose during the period of Hen-derson's
service in Congress, in connection with the continu-ing
in force of the Sedition Act. Ever since 1798, when the
Alien and Sedition Acts were passed, the Republicans led by
Jefl^erson had vehemently protested against them as instru-mentalities
designed by the Federalists to centralize the gov-ernment,
if not to establish a monarchy. Protests came from
many parts of the country, notably from the Middle States
and the South, in behalf of '^freedom of speech" and "liberty
of the press." On February 21, 1801, in anticipation of the
expiration of the Sedition Act on March 3, an attempt was
made to renew and continue the most effective portion of the
act. Men of the stamp of Henderson and his boyhood school-mate
in Granville, Robert Goodloe Harper, regarded the Act
as "the one barrier that stood between Democratic fury and
public liberty."* In an "Address to his Constituents" of
February 28, 1801, which is a model in political exposition
and forthright candor, Henderson lucidly sets forth his views
concerning the subject
:
"A bill to continue in force that part of the act commonly called
the Sedition Law. which declares, 'that if any person shall write,
print, utter or publish, or shall cause or procure to be written,
*"I wish." said Harper, on January 21, ISOl. in one of his last
speeches in Congress, "to interpose this law between the freedom of
discussion and the overbearing sway of that tyrannical spirit by
which a certain political party in this country is actuated, which
arrogates to itself to speak in the name of the people, knows neither
moderation, mercy, nor justice, regards neither feeling, principle, nor
right, and sweeps down with relentless fury all that dares detect its
follies, oppose its progress or resist its domination." The party re-ferred
to is, of course, the Republican party. Compare C. W. Sum-meiwille
: Robert Goodloe Harper.
A FEDEEALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 27
printed, uttered or published, or shall knowingly and willingly assist
or aid in writing, printing, uttering or publishing, any false, scanda-lous
and malicious writing or writings against the government of the
United States, or either house of the Congress of the United States,
or the President of the United States, with intent to defame the said
government, or either house of the said Congress, or the said Presi-dent,
or to bring them or either of them into contempt or disrepute,
shall be liable to punishment,' has been rejected by the House of
Representatives. As I am one of those who voted for a continuance
of this law, I shall take the liberty of offering my reasons for this
conduct. The law punishes only those who write or print malicious
falsehoods against the government, or its officers. It is said that this
law is a violation of that part of the constitution which says, 'That
Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech or of the press.' Gentlemen opposed to the law contend, that
any restraint upon the press is an abridgement of its freedom. The
words freedom of the press mean, in their true technical import, an
exemption from any controul previous to its publication ; or in other
words, that every person may be at liberty to publish anything he
pleases, without consulting the will of any person. In this manner
the phrase has been understood for ages ; its meaning is as . well
ascertained as that of any word in our language ; but it was never
contended until lately, that the person who was thus at liberty to
write and publish, was not answerable for the abuse of this liberty.
As well might a man complain that the LIBERTY of speech was
abridged, because he could not be at LIBERTY to tell scandalous
and malicious falsehoods of his neighbor ; or that the freedom of
action was restrained, because he could not be permitted to beat,
wound, and abuse every man he meets on the highway. No man can
be punished under this law who does not publish a wicked, malicious
and scandalous falsehood, with intent to bring the government of the
United States into disrepute, and knowing it to be false at the time
of its publication. Is there an honest man in the nation who wishes
for this privilege?
"I am sensible there is not.
"It is then said, by gentlemen inimical to the law, that though it
may be true that Congress have the power of passing such an act, it
is inexpedient and improper to exercise this power ; that the govern-ment
cannot be injured if its acts are just and proper, by any misrep-resentations
or falsehoods. This doctrine would be true were all the
people placed in a situation to judge correctly for themselves. But
you know Sir, this is impossible ; the people must be informed
through the medium of the public prints, and if those prints teem
with falsehoods and malicious abuse, they will be deceived ; and
instead of forming just opinions they will be constantly led astray.
Will it be said that they can tell what is false and what is not?
28 THE NORTH CAROLHSTA BOOKLET
How, I beseech you, are they to distinguish ; facts are stated in the
papers as true, and we are gravely told, that citizens five hundred
miles distant from the seat of government are able to know that
they are false. I am convinced that no government can exist for any
length of time if it is continually abused by malicious slanderers,
without having the power of punishing them. I believe it is as essen-tial
to its existence to have this power, as it is to have the power of
suppressing insurrection or repelling invasion ; under this impres-sion,
I voted for making the law perpetual. You, sir, and my con-stituents
will judge of the propriety of this vote."*
XII.
The author of ''The Defence of ISTorth Carolina," in the
introduction to that work, vigorously maintains that Thomas
Jefferson ruthlessly smothered the highest public spirit in
North Carolina. "Mark the history of his influence among
us. In 1801, the period of his boasted victory, what was the
condition of our State ? Who were her great men ?—who her
political leaders t Governor Johnston, General Davie, James
Iredell, Alfred Moore, Archibald Henderson, were among the
signs of our political zodiac, whose lustre was obscured by the
ascent of this most 'maligTL influence.' The virtue and ability
of the State, which had opposed the elevation of Mr. Jeffer-son,
were overlooked and thrust aside, to make way, let his-tory
say for whom." Somewhat more than a modicum of
truth lurks in the exaggerated statement of Jo. Seawell Jones.
The movement set on foot by General Davie, in correspond-ence
with General John Steele, in 1801, was designed to
establish a firm basis for Federalism in I^orth Carolina. As
*Iu this connection should be read a similar "Letter to his Con-stituents"
of February 26. 1801, written by Henderson's childhood
friend and schoolmate. Robert Goodloe Harper, in which he says
:
"I voted for this continuation (of the Sedition Act) and supported
it with all my might ; because I considered the law as highly proper
and beneficial, in respect both to the government and the people ; for
while, on the one hand, it provides for the punishment of those who
publish false, scandalous and malicious libels against the govern-ment,
on the other, it enables persons who are indicted for libels, to
give the truth of the matter in evidence for their justification, which
the common law forbids, and limits the fine and imprisonment, which
by the common law is wholly in the discretion of the court." For the
full text of this and many similar letters by Harper, compare Annual
Report American Historical Association, 1913, II.
A FEDERALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 29
the result of Federalist activities, the Raleigh Minerva be-came
the party organ in 1802; and a fund was to be raised
for its maintenance through the efforts of such Federalist lead-ers
and supporters as Archibald Henderson, Duncan Cam-eron,
William R, Davie, William Barry Grove, John Moore,
and others. This plan, as stated by Cameron, had "for its
end the noble objects of suppressing falsehood and disseiui-nating
truth, of subverting the wild and visionary projects
and opinions of Democracy and advocating in their place
sound, substantial, practical principles of Federalism."* The
four Federalists in Congress, Archibald Henderson, William
Barry Grove, John Stanly, and William H. Hill, in accord-ance
with a position which had been that of the ISForth Caro-lina
Federalists since the adoption of the Constitution, re-fused
to be instructed by the Republican legislature to sup-port
the plan for the repeal of the Judiciary Act of 1801
;
and this refusal was voiced in Congress by Henderson.
f
General John Steele, IsTorth Carolina's leading Federalist at
Washington not in Congress, who had held the position of
Comptroller General of the United States Treasury under
Washington and Adams, and was retained in office by Jeffer-son,
withdrew from his post late in the autumn of 1802,
against the protests of both Jefferson and ISTathaniel Macon.
In the summer of 1803, General Davie "stood for Congress"
against Willis Alston, a pronounced Democrat ; and a vigor-ous
contest ensued. And yet, as Professor Dodd • observes,
"the newspaper plans of Duncan Cameron and others, the
'hue and cry,' as Macon says, raised in defense of the Con-stitution,
which was so endangered ; the retirement from tacit
support of Jefferson of Gen. John Steele, and the violent
campaign in favor of so prominent a man as General Davie,
all came to nought in 1803.":}: Davie was defeated and
retired from politics; while Grove, Stanly and Hill, who had
Nathaniel Macon Correspondence. John P. Branch Historical
Papers, III, No. 1.
fAnnals of Congress; 7th. Congress, 1st Session, 530.
JW. E. Dodd : Life of Nathaniel Macon,
30 THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
voted against the repeal of the Judiciary Act in 1802, were
all defeated, each being superseded by a Republican. This
overwhelming defeat dealt Federalism in North Carolina a
blow from which it never recovered.*
' 'During his two terms in Congress," says Judge W. H.
Battle in speaking of Archibald Henderson, ''he attained a
distinction scarcely inferior to that which he had at the bar."
rirmly grounded in the principles of Federalism, he remained
in the faith to the day of his death. After his service in
Congress, where he was succeeded in 1803 by his brother-in-law,
IsTathaniel Alexander, of Mecklenburg, he never again
held high public office, State or national, although his name
was put forward on more than one occasion. Being of the
"prescribed sect of Federalists," to employ William Gaston's
apt phrase, he could not aspire, with any expectation of suc-cess,
even had he been animated by political ambition, to the
office of Governor or United States Senator, no matter how
conspicuous or eminent his talents and merits might be. "In
1814," for example, as pointed out by Mr. William Henry
Hoyt, "probably no Republican in the State except Macon
was so well fitted for public office as Henderson, Grove,
Stanly, Steele, Pearson, and Gaston, yet none of these men
could hope" for high political preferment—"except Gaston,
who had recently gone to Congress from a Federalist strong-hold
after meeting defeat in the elections of 1810. "f
In truth, Archibald Henderson cared little for public
office, a fact well kno^m to his friends and contemporaries.
The legal profession, that severe and exacting mistress, re-ceived
the full measure of his devotion ; and the best years of
his life were zealously dedicated to the service of the law.
In spite of his indifference to public position, he was again
and again called upon to represent the town of Salisbury and
the county of Rowan in the General Assembly of North Caro-lina.
With conscientious fidelity, he served in the legislatures
*See n. M. Wagstaft" : Federalism in North Carolina. "James
Spruut Historical Publicatious," IX, No. 2.
\The papers of Archibald D. Murphey, I, 76, foot uote.
A FEDERALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 31
of 1807, 1808, 1809, 1814, 1819, and 1820. No record of
that service need be set forth here. Suffice it to say that,
during his various terms in the legislature, questions relating
to the reform of the judiciary were constantly referred to him
as an established authority.
XIII.
Memorable among the intimacies between public men in
ISTorth Carolina during the early years of the last century was
the friendship which existed between Archibald Henderson
and William Gaston. The principles of Federalism, in which
both were firmly grounded, was a close bond of intellectual
sjTupathy. Each cherished an unbounded admiration for
Washington as the ideal statesman, and an ineradicable dis-trust
of Jefferson as a philosophic dilettante in politics who
was subservient to French influence. Acting with him in
the Legislature and in important suits before the Supreme
Court, Henderson came to recognize in Gaston qualities which
he revered—transparent purity of purpose, nobility of spirit,
profound legal learning, and a mastery in eloquent exposition.
In his turn, Gaston found in his friend attributes which he
equally revered—innate modesty of disposition, a lofty con-ception
of his duty as a citizen, habitual deference to the law
and its votaries, and genius in the art of advocacy.
The personal and political association of these two com-manding
figures, warm friends and leading Federalists, finds
striking exemplification in the memorable speeches which
they delivered in the j^orth Carolina General Assembly, on
December 11, 1807. These speeches, which are memorable
as discussions of the principle of States' Rights and criticisms
of Jeft'erson's administrations, were made in opposition to the
Address to the President of the United States, proposed by
John Hamilton, of Pasquotank County. The Address, crassly
partisan in its politics, expressed extravagant approbation of
Jeft'erson's administration, in particular with reference to
the stand he had taken in the impressment controversy with
32 THE NORTH CAEOLHSTA BOOKLET
Great Britain; and, in an almost servile manner, requested
Jefferson to be a candidate for re-election. The original
resolution, which had been introduced three weeks earlier,
contained the sentence: ''The General Assembly beg leave to
solicit you to permit your name to be held up as a candidate
at the next presidential election" ; and the bitter animus
against the Federalists was expressed in an amendment, in
which it was declared "that the safety of the nation was en-dangered
by the machinations of a party who seek to subvert
because they cannot direct the government."
In his speech Gaston, who did not flinch from arousing the
clamors of some, described himself as belonging to "the pro-scribed
sect of Federalists." In the course of a spirited debate,
he vehemently opposed the address on the ground that the
legislature of N'orth Carolina was "not authorized to sit in
judgment on the conduct of the national executive" ; and he
further maintained that, even were it authorized to do so, the
right should be exercised only in cases of great emergency.
The speech delivered by Henderson traverses the position of
the Federalists and embodies searching criticism of Jefferson
and his administration. As the result of the speeches of
Gaston and Henderson, the Address to the President of the
United States, after being considerably improved by the
omission of offensive political allusions and the abandonment
of its servile tone, was finally passed by a vote of eighty-three
to thirty-five, both Gaston and Henderson voting in the
negative.
The speech delivered by Henderson on this occasion is
reproduced in part below:
"I regret extremely that the resolution which is the subject of
debate, was introduced to the consideration of this House. . . .
It speaks a language which in my conscience I cannot approve, be-cause
I believe it is not true. It in the most unqualified manner ap-probates
the whole of Mr. Jefferson's administration; and every man
in this House who votes for its adoption, declares to his constituents
and the world, that no single act of the President meets his disap-probation.
"I do not feel disposed thus far. I do not believe that liis con-duct
merits this unbounded applause. Those gentlemen who really
A FEDERALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 33
believe that the whole of the President's administration has been
founded in the most enlightened policy, and has guarded the honor
and promoted the interest of tlie nation, will vote for the adoption of
the resolution ; those gentlemen, on the contrary, who think that there
are objections to some part of his conduct, and though they may
approve of other parts, will, I apprehend, be compelled to give their
negative to the measure proposed. We are therefore forced. Mr.
Speaker, by the very nature of the question, to examine the general
features of Mr. Jefferson's administration. It will be recollected that
this necessity has been imposed upon us much against our wishes
:
every mode in our power has been attempted to avoid this unpleasant
discussion. If the motion of my friend from Newbern (Mr. Gaston)
to postpone tlie further consideration of the whole of the resolutions
had have prevailed, the House would have been relieved from much
trouble, and the debate we are now engaged in, avoided. ... I
know, full well I know, that what I am about to observe, will not be
pleasing to a number of gentlemen on this floor. But when imperious
duty points the way which I should tread, and timid policy directs
another, I hope I shall always have firmness enough not to hesitate
for a moment what course to pursue ; regardless of the frowns of the
majority here, or the tumultuous cries of a deluded populace out of
doors.
"One of the greatest blessings which a nation can enjoy is an able,
upright and independent judiciary. This judiciary. Sir. we had in its
utmost purity when Mr. Jefferson was called on by the voice of his
country to fill the presidential chair. Scarcely had he taken the
reins of government into his hands ; scarcely had the members of
Congress taken their seats at their first session after his election,
when the chief magistrate of the nation, in terms too unequivocal to
be mistaken, recommends a repeal of a law under which judges had
been appointed, and had actually performed judicial duties. The
doctrine was new in America. Before this period it was believed
that a judge, once appointed, was secure in his office as long as he
hehaved icell, and that no power on earth could deprive him of it.
I will not now enter into an argument to show the gross absurdity of
construing the words during good hehaviour to mean at the will of
the legislature. Enough on this subject has already been said ; and
to that understanding which can yield assent to the miserable argu-ments
which have been used to prove the power of Congress to dis-place
their judges by the repeal of a law I am sure it is useless at
this day to say a single word. But I must be permitted to say, that
the time will come, of necessity, it must come, when the bitter effects
of this passionate act of the President and of Congress, will be
severely felt and deeply lamented by the American people. Their
judiciary is now prostrated at the feet of the legislature : The inde-pendence
of their judges is gone I fear forever : A great department
—3
64: THE ISrORTH CAEOLINA BOOKLET
of government is destroyed ; a department which engaged the anxious
attention of the convention which framed our constitution, and
which ought to be more dear to the people than any other ; because in
times of faction and tumult, it is the only one on which they can
rely with confidence and safety. I thinli it unnecessary to press this
subject farther on the House, for I conscientiously believe this legis-lature
could not be induced by any consideration, to pass a law
which should deprive their judges of their offices. ... So deeply
rooted is the opinion that our judges are independent of the legisla-ture
so long as they behave well. I ask gentlemen if they approve of
this act of the chief magistrate? I implore them calmly and dispas-sionately
to give their opinion. Is It their wish that their rights
should be tried by men perfectly free from bias? Can that man be
supposed to be free from bias who holds his seat at the will of
another? We know it is natural for man to be indisposed to thwart
the views of those on whom he is dependent. Whatever may be the
conduct of others, I for one will never give my confidence or express
my attachment to a man who has been the great cause of producing
an evil more extensively mischievous to the American people, and
which is to entail upon them more lasting misery than any act of the
bitterest enemy, of this nation.
"When Mr. Jefferson came into power, we had a flourishing navy,
and the means were provided for making it respectable. What has
become of our vessels? Either sold for a sum far less than they
cost, or suffered to rot in their harbors. It is confidently believed at
this day. few men can be found, possessing tlie smallest share of
political information, and not blinded by party spirit, who do not see
the necessity of keeping up a navy, sufficient at least to protect our
coast. It is childish to suppose that our rights will be respected by
foreign nations, unless we are prepared to protect them by other
means than proclamations.* Is it believed that we should be insulted
in our ports and harbors by almost every nation with whom we have
connections, if we were prepared to repel force by force? Let every
candid man in this House answer the question, and if he will suffer
his understanding, unclouded by passion or prejudice, to make the
answer, I do not fear the result.
"Mr. Speaker, I have other objections to Mr. Jefferson's administra-tion,
which it is difficult to delineate, because they do not arise from
any particular act of his, but from the general cast and complexion
of his whole conduct. I have ever held it to be the first duty of a
great magistrate, to instil into the people a pride of character, a
dignity of sentiment, an inviolable attachment to the honor as well
as the interest of the nation. It ought to be impressed on them that
a wholesome, energetic government is the greatest blessing which
Providence in his mercy lias given to man ; but that it ought to com-
*This observation has been made innumerable times during the
past two to three years (1914-1917).
A FEDEEALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 35
mand their reverence and excite tlieir attachment. They ought to be
told in a bold, manly and open language, that taxes are indispensably
necessary to support their government and to secure them the inesti-mable
blessings flowing from order and legitimate power. I appeal
to the wise and dispassionate of this House, and ask them if the
general character of the President's administration has not been to
corrupt and demoralize the public mind. By corruption I do not
mean that he has made them thieves or robbers ; I mean to say that
he has suffered to evaporate that manly pride and spirit of inde-pendence
which conducted us through the revolutionary war, and at
last gave us rank among the nations of the earth. The people have
become impatient of governmental restraint, and have lost all rever-ence
for established usages and the settled order of things. Honor,
virtue and talents give no claim to public confidence. Few men can
get into power who do not devote themselves to the caprice of the
people : and, Mr. Speaker, there is a laxity in government which is
truly alarming, and threatens, if not corrected, to destroy the political
fabrick. There is also a wretched thirst for gain, which has absorbed
every other passion, and bids fair to make us what foreigners have
said we are
—
a nation of shopkeepers* Go into any company, the
enquiry is not. Has our honor and character b^en protected? Has
reparation been made for insult and injury? Are our ports and har-bors
protected? But the question is. Has our national debt been
diminished? These symptoms, Sir, are the sure presages of impend-ing
ruin : they evidence a general debility, which if not soon cor-rected,
must end in a premature death. I am not disposed to assert
that all these have been produced by Mr. Jefferson, but I do say his
general conduct has had a tendency to produce them.
"I am of opinion, Mr. Speaker, that the President has been highly
blameable in not endeavoring to discover the true interest of the
country, and pursuing that with inflexible perseverance. But we
know he has almost invariably waited to discover the temper and
disposition of the people, and then shape his measures according to
their wishes. So that instead of being guided by wisdom and en-lightened
policy, he has been governed by totvn meetings and popular
assemhlies.f
"It has been said by a gentleman whom I do not see in his seat,
(Mr. Hamilton) that the President has purchased Louisiana, to
obtain which the Federalists were anxious to go to war. Permit me,
Sir, to correct that gentleman. When the king of Spain withheld the
right of deposit at New Orleans, which had been solemnly granted to
us by treaty, the Federalists were willing to seize by force that island
*This is the term applied by Napoleon to the English. A. H.,
June, 1917.
fThis characterization of Jefferson, by a political opponent, serves
as justification of the title accorded Jefferson to-day : the founder of
American democracy. A. H., 1917.
36 THE XOETH CAEOLIXA BOOKLET
and compel a performance of that stipulation which had been guar-anteed
by contract ; they saw in the conduct of the Spanish Court, a
determined hostility to this country ; and if justice could not be
obtained by friendly means, they thought the character and interest
of the nation so deeply concerned that they were anxious to enforce
it by an appeal to arms. But, Sir, it was the right of deposit alone
that they claimed. We then had no right to Louisiana, nor do I
believe it was their wish to obtain it on any terms. I have ever
viewed the purchase of that immense territory highly pernicious to
this country, and a damning evidence of the disposition of Mr. Jef-ferson
to please the multitude, though he should sacrifice the perma-nent
interest of the nation. . . . When this territory shall be
added, disunion must be the consequence. . . . The consequence
of a separation of these United States is big with calamities, easily
foreseen, but difficult and perhaps improper to describe.
"It will be recollected. Mr. Speaker, that Aaron Burr has recently
been tried in the Circuit Court of the District of Virginia, for high
treason, and after the most able and patient Investigation, which was
ever made in this, or perhaps any other country, acquitted under the
direction of the Chief Justice. . . . What, Sir, has been the con-duct
of the Chief Magistrate? Congress has been called on to review
this decision, and to ascertain whether there is a defect in the evi-dence,
in the law, or the administration of the law. Is it possible to
suppose that Mr. Jefferson really believed that Congi'ess has a power
to correct the decisions of the courts of the United States? No sir,
he knows they have no such power, and that they cannot interfere
except there is ground to impeach the judge. The papers which he
has laid before Congress, cannot furnish matter even to institute an
inquiry. I have understood that these papers contain nothing more
than the documents and evidence which were offered to the court
and jury on the trial of Burr. It is impossible to collect from them
anything which might justify a criminal prosecution ; at most they
could only prove that the Chief Justice had mistaken the force of the
evidence, or had drawn from it incorrect legal deductions ; and we
all know that this furnishes no just cause of impeachment. Then I
ask, W^hat was the object in making this communication? Was it to
impair the confidence which the nation had in the integrity of this
distinguished man? . . . Whatever was the object, I will venture
to say it strikes a deadly blow at the independence of your courts.
If every judicial opinion which is not pleasing to the President, is to
be brought under the revision of Congress, and the judge in effect
denounced who gives this opinion, we may bid a long farewell to an
independent judiciary."*
*T)ie Minerva, Raleigh, N. C. No. 612. Dec. 24, 1807.
A FEDERALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL 37
As a brief memento' of the friendship between Gaston and
Henderson, the following extract, affording an interesting
sidelight on the feelings of the hour, is quoted from a letter
of Henderson to Gaston, March 7, ISIO:
My dear Gaston :
—
. . . I am tired, seriously tired, of attending tliese County Su-perior
Courts. Nothing but noise, confusion and ignorance. The
profit is nothing, the honor nothing. I find I am in a fair way to get
rid of what legal learning I possessed and in a few years expect to
be as well qualified for a Judge as any Democrat in the State. . . .
What can I say on the head of Politicks—will not the doings of this
Congress be remembered, long remembered, with horror and astonish-ment.
The dismissal of Jackson will and must lead to war. . . .
Is it not strange, passing strange, that the administration should for
a moment have believed that the wise of the nation could be imposed
on by the miserable tale of British insult. I boldly say there was
no insult offered by Jackson, at least the documents published do not
show it.
. . . I am gloomy—pray write to me and tell something that
will rouse my spirits. If you can tell me nothing new let me know
that you are well and expect better times.
God bless you, my dear Gaston, and be assured that I am yours, etc.
Sincere regards, A. Hexdeeson.*
One incident, bearing upon Henderson's life as a public
character, is deserving of mention, as an illustration of his
self-effacing modesty. In 1818, the Supreme Court Bill
became a law; and on December 9, when the nominations for
judges were made, the names of both Archibald Henderson
and Leonard Henderson, his brother, were presented, along
with the names of Judges Taylor, Hall, and Seawell, and
Messrs. Bartlett Yancey and Archibald D. Murphey. Al-though
assured of election, Archibald Henderson withdrew
his name in favor of his brother. He is quoted by the Hon.
Hugh Waddell as saying that "one of the family on the
Supreme Bench was quite enough."f An interesting and
*For a copy of this letter I am indebted to Judge H. G. Connor.
fin a letter from Raleigh, Dec. 9, to Judge Thomas Rufiin, describ-ing
the details of the contest, Archibald D. Murphey says : "One of
the Hendersons (it is not settled which) is to be withdrawn. The
other will be elected . . ." W. H. Hoyt : The Papers of Archibald
D. Murphey, I, 122.
38 THE XOETH CAKOLIjVA BOOKLET
authentic anecdote is told of Archibald Henderson in this
connection. With all his great powers of reflection, Leonard
Henderson was not very practical in matters of business, and
made no especial financial success out of the rough hurly-burly
of law practice. His brother, Archibald, on the other
hand, was conspicuous for practical wisdom and business
sagacity. Furthermore he enjoyed a very lucrative practice
as a lawyer. When the two brothers were nominated for the
Supreme Court Bench, Archibald laughingly remarked : "I
am going to withdraw in Leonard's favor—because I can
make a living at the law, and Leonard can't."
OUR ]?J"ORTH CAROLIJTA INDIANS 39
Our North Carolina Indians
By Colonel Fred A. Olds.
Few subjects are more fascinating than the Indians of
North Carolina, yet it has required three hundred years and
more of study by noted experts to develop their true story,
so that one does not have to depend upon tradition, which is
all too often mere misinformation.
There were many tribes of Indians in IS^orth Carolina, but
only two large ones^ the Cherokee (really Tsalagi, or Cave-people),
and the Tuscarora (really Skaruren, or Hemp-gath-erers,
because they gathered the Cannabis Indica, or wild
hemp, for various uses) ; the Cherokee taking their name
from the caves in their high mountain country. Both of these
have a written language and considerable literature, books,
newspapers, etc.
There have been strong arguments by certain persons to the
effect that the Indians of America are the descendants of the
"Ten Lost Tribes" of Israel. The Indians were called by the
Spaniards Indies, because they thought this country was part
of India. The Indians had no term or name for all of their
people. Their names for individuals^ for tribes and for
towns, for streams and other things, were all taken from
something they observed or which affected the person or local-ity.
Take the word "hominy," for example: it comes from
two Indian words, aham (he beats), and min (grain). The
coast Indians in 1586 called those in the interior of ISTorth
Carolina Renapoak, meaning "true men."
It has been proposed by some scientists to call the Indians
of this country "Amerind," a contraction of "American
Indian," but this is not yet agTeed on.
There were more than a score of Indian tribes worth men-tioning
in ISTorth Carolina, the gToatest being the Cherokee
and the Tuscarora, already referred to, and perhaps the first
tribe to be mentioned in history has a curious record. This
4:0 THE JN'OETH CAROLINA BOOKLET
was the Roanok^ which means, "K'orthern people," who were
found on the island of Wococan (which means cun^ed or
bent) by Amadas and Barlowe in 1584. These explorers
thought Roanok was the name of the island and Wingandacoa
that of the country, but their mistake is now known. The
meaning of Roanok, which by custom of speech has become
Roanoke, is wampum, peak, or money, made of bored shells
strung on strings. The village of Roanok, or Roanoke, was
one of those of the Secotan tribe, which in 1584 was found
in the peninsula between Albemarle Sound and the lower
Pamlico River and its adjacent islands. The word Secotan
means "burned place." Later this territory was occupied by
the Machapunga, Pamlico and Hatteras tribes, possil)ly de-scendants
of the Secotans. It is interesting to know that the
Secotans had complete belief in the iizimortality of the soul.
The Tuscarora lived on the Roanoke, Taw (or Torhunta,
or IsTarhontes),' and Pamlico rivers. They were much set
upon by the whites, and under their chief, Hencock, joined
forces with the Coree, Pamlico and others, and tried in 1711,
in two wars, to destroy the whites, but were overcome. They
went back north, whence they had come, and were adopted
politically by the great tribes in northern ISTew York, known
as the Five Nations. They were thus given asylum on motion
of the Oneida tribe, in the federal council, and it is strange
how this was done. First, the Tuscarora were made a baby,
next a young man, then a man, then an assistant to the official
woman-cooks, then a warrior, and last a peer or chief in the
great council, all of these successive stages being passed, each
with impressive ceremonies.
And this brings up the point that it was the woman who
was, and is in most tribes today, the head of the household
and the real head of aifairs generally. To her the children
belong, and not to the father, and she has all the rights in
most tribes that the women of the United States are striving
for—in some tribes even more.
The iirst story told about the Indians in I^orth Carolina
OUE NORTH CAEOLINA INDIANS 41
was of course, by Amadas and Barlowe, and from that time
until a very recent period there has been no end of misinfor-mation
in many ways. The writer will undertake to call the
roll of the tribes, and give a word about each
:
Moratoc; lived near the Virginia line, about 160 miles
from the mouth of the Moratoc or Roanoke River ; an impor-tant
tribe in 1586, but would hold no communication of any
sort with the Englishmen.
Cape Fear ; lived up that stream, near its mouth, in Bruns-wick
County, of it very little being known except the location.
Choanoc (They of the South, the Southerners) ; a small
tribe in Chowan County, which took its name from them.
Machapunga (bad dust) ; an affiliated tribe of the Algon-quian
family, which lived in Hyde County, and which in
1701 had thirty warriors, it and the Coree living together at
one village, named Mattamuskeet, lying on the north shore of
the lake of that name.
Pamlico ; a small tribe, of the Algonquian family, living on
the sounds.
Bear River; a tribe which in 1701 had fifty warriors and
only one village, Raudauquaquank, this being in Craven
County, on the banlv of the ISTeuse River.
Coree ; possibly Algonquian, living on the peninsula of the
jSTeuse River in Carteret and Craven counties. In 1686 this
tribe had been reduced greatly by bloody wars, its barbarity
being noted among the other Indians. The Coree were also
called Coranine and Connemoc, and they had one town in
1701, Raruta, with a population of 125. They went into the
war of 1711 with the Tuscarora, and in 1715 they and the
Machapunga were given a tract of land on Lake Mattamus-keet
in Hyde County, where they lived until they became
extinct.
Catawba; these were South Carolina Indians, but in 1841
many of them removed to the country of the Cherokee in
western l^orth Carolina, but all except two became dissatis-fied
and returned.
42 THE JSTOETH CAROLINA BOOKLET
jSTeuse; lived where New Bern now is, their town being
named Chattooka, and removed, after Baron DeGraffenreid
burned it, to the Tuscarora, with whom they were specially
intimate.
Hatteras ; an Algonqiiian tribe, living on the sand banks
about Cape Hatteras in 1701, and frequenting Roanoke
Island, their only town being known as Sand Banks, and hav-ing
80 inhabitants. These Indians were mixed white and
Indian, and claimed that some of their ancestors were white.
Secotan; an Algonquian tribe in 1584, on the peninsula be-tween
Albemarle Sound and the lower Pamlico River.
Cape Fear ; a little tribe, possibly Siouan, near the mouth
of the Cape Fear River in 1661. A ISTew England colony
settled there and sent away a number of the Indian children,
claiming these were to be educated. The Indians drove off
the colonists, but others came and bought lands of the Indian
chief, Watcoosa'. There were several villages, Xecoes being
the principal one. In 1665 a second colony of whites set-tled
at Oldtown, in Brunswick County. In 1715 the Cape
Fear had 206 people, living in five villages, and that year
they took part in the war with the Yamasi Indians, from
south of Charleston, and suffered terribly. In 1751 South
Carolina asked the Iroquois Indians to be at peace with the
Cape Fear, which were then spoken of as a "small friendly
tribe."
Keyauwee ; a small tribe, near the center of North Caro-lina,
affiliated with the Saponi, Tutelo and one or two others,
and found in 1701 near where High Point now is. These
Indians had a very strange habit of wearing whiskers and
mustaches, and their chief was Keyauwee Jack, This tribe
and their affiliates, seven tribes in all, mustering 750 souls,
went just over the line into South Carolina and settled on the
Pee Dee River.
Neusioc ; unclassified tribe, perhaps of Iroquoian stock,
found in 1584 in Craven and Carteret counties, which in
1701 had only 15 warriors and two villages, Chattooka and
Rouconk.
OUE NORTH CAROLINA INDIANS 43
Eno ; a tribe different in physique from their neighbors, all
their alliances being with Siouan tribes. They had well-built
houses and barns, in which they stored grain and other sup-plies,
and they were quite thrifty. They became incorporated
with the Shakori, these two tribes being confederated in
1701. Their chief town was Adshusheer. They also became
incorporated with the Saponi and their confederates to the
northward, disappearing as a tribe in 1Y20, but in 1743 still
retained the Eno dialect. They lived about the headwaters
of the Tar and the ISTeuse rivers. The names Eno and
Shocco, now remaining, tell the story of these Indians, who
traded much with the Tuscarora. In 1714 the Eno, Tutelo,
Saponi, Occaneechi and Keyauwee, numbering about 750 in
all, moved toward the English settlements in the eastern
section of I^Torth Carolina. Finally most of the Eno went to
South Carolina^ a few going with the Sapelo to Virginia.
Occaneechi ; a rather small tribe found on islands on Roa-noke
River and later on the Eno River, and who were joined
by the Saponi and Tutelo and by the Conestoga, the latter
having come from Pennsylvania and taken shelter in ISTorth
Carolina from the Iroquois. The Occaneechi had two chiefs,
one in charge of war and the other of hunting and agri-culture.
Cotechney ; a small tribe, which has already been described
in connection with the extreme eastern Indian septs.
Adshusheer; a tribe associated with the Eno and Shakori
in 1711, with its chief town near where Durham now is, its
ruler claiming territory and authority as far as the Haw and
Reatkin (now called the Yadkin) rivers. It is doubtful that
they were of Siouan stock. There is onlj-- one mention of
them in history; this by John Lawson in 1701, Shakori, or
Shocorri, their principal village, was near Hillsboro, its chief
being Eno Will, who was a guide for John Lawson, the sur-veyor-
general for the Lords Proprietors.
Saponi ; one of the eastern Siouan tribes, now entirely
extinct; its language being the same as that of the Tutelo,
44 THE jSTOETH CAKOLIISrA BOOKLET
and the words Siouan. The Saponi moved eastward, toward
the coast country, to get away from Indian raids, and their
town in this new location was near where Windsor, Bertie
County, now is. In 1715 Governor Spottswood, of Virginia,
took them, and other little tribes who had joined with them, to
that colony, and from it in 1753 they went to Xew York and
joined the Six jSTations, but in 1779 fled to Canada, and so
pass out from all knowledge.
Tutelo ; almost the same as the Saponi in characteristics.
The Iroquois called all the Indians in central j^STorth Carolina
Tutels.
Cherokee; the best knovvai of all the tribes^ and the only
one now remaining in the State ; a powerful detached tribe
of the Iroquoian family, which occupied the whole mountain
region in the southern Alleghanies in southwest Virginia,
JSTorth Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Ala-bama,
and claimed the territory all the way to the Ohio Eiver.
The Cherokee had three dialects—the upper, middle and
lower. They originally came to this part of the country from
the north, and their language is undeniably Iroquoian. They
were first met by DeSoto in 1540. They came here to escape
attacks from the Iroquois and Delaware. They held their
mountains against all comers. In 1838 the greater part of
them were removed to the Indian I^ation, but 2,000 remained,
and the Eastern Band, as it is oificially known, of the Chero-kee
ISTation occupies 60,000 acres of land, held in common, in
Swain and Jackson counties, numbering there 2,285, about
300 more being in Graham County. The Cherokee in IsTorth
Carolina are given education by the United States in a most
thorough manner, from primary school to college. They have
served in nearly all of the wars on the side of the whites,
having several hundred men in the ]!^orth Carolina Confed-erate
troops, their chief having been the colonel of the 69th
]^orth Carolina Regiment. They have men now in the 1st
Regiment of the North Carolina ]S[ational Guard. Their
chief town is Yellow ITill^ l.Y^^S o^ *^® Oconalufty (Ag-\\^a-
OUK NORTH CAKOLINA INDIANS 4o
nulta, properly meaning ''by the river"), and here their fine
school is located, which will in a few years be turned over to
North Carolina. The Cherokee are the most widely dis-tributed
throughout the United States, the best educated and
the most influential of all Indians. There are seven "clans" ;
wolf, deer, hawk, owl, and three not translatable. The Cher-okee
in the United States are now probably as numerous as
at any time in their history.
Weapomeioc ; a small tribe, found by Governor John White
in 1586, its village being Chapanoc, on Albemarle Sound;
this and the other little tribes referred to in those earliest
days having later become known by other names and so passed
out of existence.
Croatau ; a so-called group of Indians, living mainly in
Eobeson County. James Mooney, the noted expert, who is
regarded as the finest authority on Indian history, says the
theory that the Croatan are descended from the "Lost Colony"
of Koanoke Island is baseless. Mr. Mooney has spent much
of his life in IsTorth Carolina, studying these matters, and
was here in 1916. He says the Croatan "embrace the blood
of the wasted native tribes, the early colonists or forest rovers,
]'unaway slaves and other negroes, and that of a steady stream
of the Latin races from coasting vessels in the West India
and Brazilian trade." The Croatan applied for recognition
by the United States as Cherokee, but it was denied and the
Cherokee acknowledge no relationship, having visited the
Croatan country on a tour of inspection. There is a queer
offshoot of the Croatan known as "Malungeons," in South
Carolina, who went there from this state ; another the "Red-bones,"
of Tennessee. Mr. Mooney has made a careful study
of both of these branches also.
One thing should be remembered in regard to the Indians
of Xorth Carolina, always excepting the Cherokee: In all
the South, up to the time of the Revolution, Indian slaves
were bought and sold and worked in the fields with the
46 THE ISrOETH CAKOLHSTA BOOKLET
negroes, and thus amalgamation to a gTeater or less degree was
brought about, the negroes gaining more from the Indians
than the latter did from the negroes.
So complete has been the annihilation or absorption of the
Indians along the eastern coast that the assertion is made
officially that there is now not a native full-blood all the way
anywhere between Delaware and Pamlico Sound.
The Indians usually lived in houses made of mat or bark,
and within the past seventy-five years the Cherokee had bark
houses in their mountain territory. The chiefs of the various
tribes had varying authority, and some of them used a baton
as the emblem of it ; such a baton, of hardwood, beautifully
carved, being now in the JSTorth Carolina Hall of History,
It should be borne in mind that the Indians were not
nomads, for each tribe claimed and lived in a certain tract or
region, with well understood boundaries, handed down by
tradition and not ordinarily relinquished save to superior
force. The land was always held in common, never indi-vidually
or by family. The fact that the early white settlers
did not understand this fact caused trouble and bloodshed
and war, again and again.
Many people have an idea that what we call corn, Indian
corn or maize, was native here in North Carolina, while in
fact it was brought here from Mexico, and its name came
from the Arawak word "marish." The ISTorth Carolina
Indians planted its grains four to the hill, it being thought
bad luck for them to touch each other.
There are two other queer beliefs besides those about our
Indians, and in conclusion one may be exposed which has
prevailed a long, long time, this being that the scuppernong
grape was first found on Roanoke Island by Amadas and Bar-lowe,
and that the Indians there esteemed it gTeatly. As a
matter of fact, this grape originated on what is now called the
Scuppernong River, the Indian name of which was Askupo-nong,
which means "at the place of the bay tree,"' this tree,
OUR NORTH CAROLINA INDIANS 47
the ]!^ortli Carolina magnolia, being very abundant there. So
on that river, near Columbia, Tyrrell County, this white
variety of the dark muscadine or bullace grape, was found
about 150 years ago by two men named Alexander, and the
river gave the name. It was taken to Roanoke Island and
everywhere else where this splendid grape will flourish.
48 THE JSTOETH CAKOLINA BOOKLET
The State Navy of North Carolina in the
War of the Revolution
An Address delivered before the Summer School of the State
College, at West Raleigh, N. C, July 2, 1917
By Maeshall DeLancey Haywood.
Ladies and Ge^sttlemeiv^ :
In all the range of North Carolina history I donbt whether
a single topic can be found about which so little is known,
even by close students of our State's past, as the part borne
by her sailors in furthering the cause of American Inde-pendence,
and so I have decided to speak for a short while
this evening on The State Navy of jSTokth Caeolixa iif
THE War of the REvoLrTiow.
At a meeting of the Provincial Council of jSTorth Carolina,
held in the court-house of Johnston County during the month
of December, 1775, it was resolved (on the 21st of that
month) that a necessity existed for the fitting out of armed
vessels for the protection of the trade of the province. The
number of ships first provided for was three, and commis-sioners
were appointed to carry into effect this resolution.
One at Cape Fear (the ports of Wilming-ton and Brunswick),
one at New Bern, and one at Edenton, were ordered to be
"fitted out with all dispatch." Provision was also made for
chartering other vessels at New Bern, Wilming-ton, and
Edenton—and so the Navy of North Carolina had its begin-ning
some months before the Thirteen American Colonies
had declared themselves free and independent States. The
aforementioned orders of the Provincial Council were
promptly carried out, and it may be added that the local
Committees of Safety, in the various sea-coast counties,
sometimes had a more economical mode of acquiring ships
than by purchase; for, when the Defiance, under the com-mand
of Captain John Cooper, and the BelviUe., under the
command of Captain Vance, violated the maritime regula-
STATE NAVY OF NORTH CAROLINA 49
tions of ISTortli Carolina, while anchored at ISTew Bern, the
vessels were promptly seized. A similar fate was narrowly
escaped by the sloop King Fisher, of which John Strange
was owner and Lott Strange master. Another instance, some-what
similar, arose when it was made to appear to the Pro-vincial
Congress at Halifax that the brigantine William, then
anchored in Beaufort Harbor, and of which Philip Westcott
was master, was British property, for a resolution was passed
by that body on April 10, 1776, directing her seizure and de-tention
till further orders.
On May 9, 1776, the ISTorth Carolina Provincial Congress
at Halifax opened up negotiations with Virginia for the pur-pose
of securing the construction of two armed ships by that
province to co-operate with the JSTorth Carolina vessels already
on duty guarding Ocracoke Inlet, which could be used as a
gateway by British ships in attacking either colony. The
same State Congress at Halifax authorized the ISTorth Caro-lina
Council of Safety to establish Courts of Admiralty at the
ports of Edenton, Bath, jSTew Bern, and Wilmington, and
this was accordingly done on June 22, 1776. Admiralty
Judges were duly appointed by the same authority and vested
with power to commission marshals, registrars, and such other
officers as might be necessary for the enforcement of the
maritime laws of the province.
In the Summer and Fall of the year 1776 there were
marked activities in ISTorth Carolina in constructing vessels of
a variety of types—some being well-armed ships built by the
State, some others being privateers sailing under commis-sions
known as "letters of marque and reprisal," a third
class being fast-sailing small boats used for slipping through
the British blockade and importing articles needed by the
colonists (their cargoes ranging from cannon and gunpowder
to French finery and West Indian rum), and still another
type of craft being "row-galleys," used for river fights and
for unloading American ships which were too large to come
into the inland waterways. Among the North Carolina ships
50 THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
of that period were the King Tanuriany, commanded by Cap-tain
Sylvanus Pendleton (who later commanded the eighteen-gun
ship Bellona) ; the Pennsylvania Farmer, commanded by
Captain Joshua Hempstead ; the King Fisher, commanded
by Captain James Ducaine ; the General Washington, com-manded
by Captain John Forster ; the Joseph, commanded
by Captain Emperor Moseley ; and the Polly, commanded by
Captain John Chase. Then there were the Lilly, whose
name was later changed to the Casivell (Captain Willis Wil-son),
and the Johnston (Captain Edward Tinker)—these
ships being namesakes of the Revolutionary leaders Richard
Caswell and Samuel Johnston. A similar compliment was
paid Thomas Burke in 1782 by naming a Xew Bern priva-teer
the Governor Burke, Peter Raingenoire being her cap-tain
and William Savage owner. In thanking Mr. Savage
for this token of friendship, Governor Burke wrote : ''I am
sorry you have determined to give your vessel a name so
unfortunate as that you mentioned, and should be much con-cerned
if her fate should in any way resemble his after whom
you intend to call her-—which is to have laboured much for
the public, to his own irretrievable disadvantage."
Among the vessels owned by Henry Montfort, of Edenton
(formerly of Halifax), was one called the Willing Maid, and
another with a name somewhat less sentimental—the Savage.
The aforementioned Captain Hempstead seems to have had
command of quite a flotilla of ISTorth Carolina ships, as we
find an order of the State Committee of Safety directing him
"immediately to proceed to sea with the armed vessels under
his command" for operations in the West Indies, whence the
"Jamaica Fleet" was about to sail for some of the neutral
ports of Europe, with one twenty-gun ship as its only convoy.
In speaking of the Pennsylvania Fanner, it is worthy of
note that on it was a detachment of marines, commanded by
Captain Robert Turner, When this officer asked to be trans-ferred
to the land forces, Colonel Joseph Leech and Captain
Hempstead, under date of June 3, 1777, wi'ote of him: "He
STATE NAVY OF NORTH CAROLINA 51
hath been out in the service of his country as a Captain of
Marines on board the brig Pennsylvania Farmer, and always
behaved well in his station." Captain Hance Bond succeeded
to the command of the Marines on board the Pennsylvania
Farmer after the transfer of Captain Turner. Another officer
in the Marine service of E^orth Carolina was Captain Samuel
Gardner.
iSTaval activities in ]^orth Carolina increased still more as
the war wore on. On May 16, 1777, Joseph Hewes wrote
from Edenton to Governor Caswell, at ISTew Bern, asking him
to send some commissions signed in blank for the use of the
ships being fitted out in that place. Hewes said : "There are
several persons now here who wish to get commissions for
armed vessels that they are fitting out. They can get good
security here ; but, being strangers at JSTew Bern, might meet
with some difficulty there." To the same effect, wrote Michael
Payne, of Edenton, on that date: "Several merchants of this
place are at this time fitting out armed vessels, and are desir-ous
to have for them letters of marque."
Joseph Hewes, mentioned above (one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence), was for some years a member
of the Continental CongTess at Philadelphia, and his thorough
knowledge of nautical matters gained for him a position of
commanding influence in that body on committees considering
subjects connected with sea-faring operations. I shall have
more to say of him later on.
One noted North Carolina privateer bore the ludicrous
name Sturdy Beggar. She was fitted out in l!^ew Bern and
commanded by Captain James Campbell. She mounted
fourteen carriage guns, and was manned by one hundred
seamen and marines. That this ship was considered "beg-garly"
only in name we may infer from an advertisement in
the North Carolina Gazette, on AugTist 8, 1777, which de-clared
that she "was allowed to be the handsomest vessel ever
built in America." The Pennsylvania Farmer, already men-tioned,
was not a privateer, but one of the ships belonging to
52 THE XOETH CAEOLHSTA BOOKLET
the State !N^avy. She carried sixteen giins and eighty men.
Among the ships in j!*s^orth Carolina, not already enumerated,
were the Heart of Oah^ commanded by Captain George Den-nison;
the Resolution, commanded by Captain Joseph Mere-dith
; the Lydia', commanded by Captain Appleton ; the Lord
Chatham J, commanded by Captain John Cheshire; the Rain-houj,
commanded by Captain Martin Ferns ; the Fanny, com-manded
by Captain Thomas Alderson; the Betsey, com-manded
by Captain Ishol Tinker; the General Nash, com-manded
by Captain Deshon ; the General Gates, commanded
by Captain Cunningham; the New Bern, commanded by
Caj^tain Cochran Amit (Amyett?), and the Eclipse, com-manded
by Captain Charles Biddle. These vessels brought a
tremendous amount of needed supplies to the State, besides
making themselves useful to the American cause by preying on
the commerce of the enemy. Occasionally one had the misfor-tune
to be captured or suffer shipwreck. Describing a calamity
of the latter nature, in a letter to Governor Caswell, under date
of December 10, 1778, Robert Smith, of Edenton, said: "I
am sorry to inform you that the brig General Gates, Captain
Cunningham, in the lattitude of Bermuda, had the misfor-tune
to be overset and totally lost. Whether captain and crew
were saved or not we know not, but are anxious about their
safety, as there were on board six young gentlemen of the first
families and best expectations in this part of the country,
who went volunteers to try their fortune."
The ships fitted out in North Carolina cruised over a much
greater area than might be expected. They were continually
going to the West Indies, and sometimes crossed the Atlantic
to the neutral countries of Europe. In December, 1778, the
North Carolina ship Caswell formed part of an American
fleet raised for an attack on East Florida.
In July, 1778, a ship called the Holy Heart of Jesus, com-manded
by Captain William Boritz, came from some Euro-pean
country to North Carolina with a cargo of cannon.
Twenty-three of these were purchased by North Carolina,
STATE NAVY OF NORTH CAROLINA 53
and twenty-two bv Virginia. Some of these may still be seen
in Edenton. Two were presented by that town to the State,
and these interesting relics are now mounted on stone bases
on the south side of the Capitol in Raleigh. A touch of Civil
AVar history attaches to them from the fact that the United
States forces broke off the trunnions for fear the Confederate
troops might make use of them—an operation which would
have been about as dana,erous to the ''man behind the o-un"
as the ones in front of it.
It is greatly to be regretted that so little record remains of
the enterprise and prowess displayed by ISTorth Carolina sea-men
during the course of the war. Their operations were
both on the high seas and in home w^aters. Josiah Martin,
who still claimed to be Royal Governor of North Carolina,
though he had been driven out of the colony, wrote to the
home government, from his place of refuge in ISTew York, that
while British warships were watching the approaches to large
sea-coast cities in America, "the contemptible port of Ocra-coke"
had become a great channel of supply to the rebels.
This warning did not go unheeded, and the blockade around
]^orth Carolina was drawn tighter. The ISTorth Carolinians,
however—who were familiar with the devious channels of
the various sounds, rivers, and inlets of their State—were
more than equal to the new difficulties by which they were
beset. Sometimes they slipped by the British fleet, under the
cover of night ; sometimes outran their pursuers in an ocean
race ; and, when odds against them were not too large, would
fight to a finish with the "pirates," as they called the British
sea forces. American victories were by no means uncommon
occurrences, and occasioned great rejoicing. The naval forces,
too, vied with the landsmen in annually celebrating the birth-day
of American Independence in a manner by no means
"safe and sane." On the Fourth of July, 1778, John Wright
Stanly and Richard Ellis (large ship-owners of 'New Bern)
had cannon placed on their wharves and fired all day, with
the usual addition of "liquor given to the populace." Colonel
54 THE KOETH CAKOLIJs'A BOOKLET
Richard Cogdell, in referring to the celebration, wi'ote
:
"Stanly and Ellis seemed to vie with each other in a contest
as to who should do the most honor to the day, but Mr. Ellis
had the most artillery."
Of the individual acts of enterprise and heroism displayed
by ISTorth Carolina seamen, the records tell but little. One
marvelous case of spirit and fortitude, however, has been
recorded and is well worthy of mention. John Davis—son
of the old public printer, James Davis, of ISTew Bern-—was in
the naval service of Korth Carolina and was captured in
1780 by the British, who held him captive on a ship off the
coast of South Carolina. The captain attempted to compel
the American prisoners to do duty on shipboard, and Davis
peremptorily refused to obey his orders. Thereupon he was
severely beaten, and then was told that the punishment would
be renewed unless he would signify his obedience to the cap-tain's
orders by drawing a bucket of water from the ship's
side. To this he defiantly replied: "If His Majesty's whole
JSTavy was on fire, and one bucket of water, drawn by me,
would extinguish the flames, I would not draw it." This
answer so enraged the captain that he directed Davis again to
be flogged, and declared that the beating should not cease until
the prisoner agreed to obey the orders which had been given
him. This command was carried out with such inhuman bru-tality
that the body of Davis was almost torn asunder, but his
Spartan fortitude never gave way under the prolonged tor-ture,
and he died from its effects in a short while. More than
half a century after his death, some of the friends of Davis
had a record of the circumstances of his heroic conduct en-tered
on the minutes of Craven County, at ISTew Bern.
Of Joseph Hewes, of ISTorth Carolina, member of the Con-tinental
Congress at Philadelphia, I have already spoken
;
and it may not be altogether amiss to add a few more words
concerning him. He entered the Continental Congress as
early as 1774, and (with one year's exception) served until
his death in 1779. As member of the jSTaval Committee and
STATE NAVY OF NORTH CAROLIiSrA 55
Marine Committee in that body, he had more to do with
organizing those departments of the new government than any
other man. The Philadelphia historian Judson, in his well-known
work entitled Sages and Heroes of the American Revo-
Jutioiij, refers to the Congressional services of Mr. Hewes as
follows: ''He was upon several of the most important com-mittees.
Upon the one for fitting out a naval armament he
stood in the front rank. He was virtually the first Secretary
of the Navy. With scanty funds he speedily fitted out eight
armed vessels. He was very active in raising supplies in his
own State to strengthen the sinews of war and oil the wheels
of the general government." The severe labors of Mr. Hewes
finally imdermined his health and ultimately caused his death.
When he obtained a temporary leave from the Continental
Congress in September, 1776, his colleagTies Hooper and
Penn wrote of him : '"After a long and diligent attendance in
Congress and the different committees of which he has been a
member, he is now upon his return home. From the large
share of naval and mercantile business which has been allot-ted
to his attention by Congress, his health has been much
injured." It was Hewes who secured for the great naval
hero, John Paul Jones, his first commission as an officer of
the American ISTavy. Among the official letter-books of the
Governors of !N^orth Carolina, now preserved in Raleigh, is
one letter to Governor Samuel Johnston from Congressman
Pobert Burton, of date January 28, 1789 (during the lifetime
of Jones), wherein the writer said: "As those men who have
fought and bled for us in the late contest cannot be held in too
high esteem, and as the Chevalier John Paul Jones is among
the foremost who derived their appointment from this State,
* * * I take the liberty of offering to the State as a
present, through you, its Chief Magistrate, the bust of that
great man." Governor Johnston replied : "I will readily
accept it on behalf of the State, and will communicate your
letter to the next Assembly." What became of this bust, if
Colonel Burton ever carried out his intention of sending it, is
56 THE NORTH CAEOLIKA BOOKLET
not known. It may have been destroyed when the old Capitol,
at Raleigh, was burned in 1831. In the above connection it
may be added that several most interesting autogTaph letters
from John Paul Jones to Hewes are now preserved in the
files of the iN^orth Carolina Historical Commission.
This closes the all too brief record I have been able to make
of the hardy seamen whose enterprise, daring, and devotion,
contributed so much to the important part ]!»[orth Carolina
was able to play in the great War for American Independence.
These old rangers of the ocean have long since been called
from the labors and hardships of this life—some perishing
by sea, amid the raging elements or crash of battle, and some
resting in neglected and unmarked graves on the bosom of
mother earth. It is true that they had their faults, as sailors
are but human ; yet, in view of all their patriotic services we,
Vi^ho are still permitted to enjoy the blessings of the liberty
they helped to win, should let charitable oblivion cover their
shortcomings (whatever they may have been), and wish for
each brave voyager a safe and hapjDy haven hereafter:
"At the piping of all hands,
When the judgment-signal's spread
—
When the islands and the lands
And the seas give up their dead."
EEVIEW OF THE PKIiS:CE OF PAETHIA 5Y
Review of The Prince of Parthia
By Nina Holland Covington.
The reputation of Dr. Archibald Henderson as one of the
most brilliant of our modern literary critics extends into
other countries than our own, and ISTorth Carolina is very
proud of her distinguished son, but the most pleasing part to
us about Dr. Henderson's literary work and researches is
that he takes the greatest pleasure in writing about people
and events of his own native State, and is never so happy as
when he has brought out from obscurity and semi-oblivion
some ]SForth Carolinian who has achieved something worth
w^hile.
We confess to a complete ignorance on the subject of The
Prince of Parthia, and its author Thomas Godfrey, until we
picked up that delightfully ''gotten-up" edition of the play
with its introductory monograph. With painstaking care the
history of the life of the young author—Godfrey was only
twenty-three when The Prince of Parthia was written—has
been brought out by Dr. Henderson, and as we read the
interesting narrative of this youthful genius we realize, for
the first time, that Wilmington and JSTorth Carolina deserve
prominent place on the literary map of America, for in
Wilmington, the first American tragedy was written, and in
Wilmington also its author, the young Godfrey, is buried.
Following the monogTaph—a model of clear style and
interesting biography—is the test of the play itself and even
a hurried reading of the production will show how important
the play is. The work of a boy hardly out of his teens, it
shows merit of no mean order, and causes us to regret the
death of Godfrey at the age of twenty-six as a distinct loss to
American drama, for The Prince of Parthia—his first pro-duction—
would possibly have been followed by other plays,
had not death ended the young poet's career.
58 THE NOKTH CAEOLIK"A BOOKLET
Aside from the merit of the play and the interest of the
narrative of Godfrey's life, the 1917 edition of The Prince of
Parthia bears clear evidence to the statement made by the
publishers in their announcement of the work
:
The original and only edition of Godfrey's play ever published,
which likewise includes his poems, was brought out by his fellow-poet,
the Reverend Nathaniel Evans, in 1765. This edition is exces-sively
rare and virtually unprocurable. The present edition is pri-marily
due to the loving interest and elaborate researches of Dr.
Archibald Henderson, one of the most distinguished of living dra-matic
critics. In an extended introduction, which is itself a mono-graph,
he for the first time narrates the fascinating story of young
Godfrey's life, and with deft strokes paints the artistic and literary
background of society, in the cultured circles of Philadelphia and
Wilmington, against which the figure of the young poet and dra-matist
stands forth radiant and distinct.
At this time when a concerted effort is being made by the Drama
League of America and other forces, to project the American drama
into the focus of national consciousness, the publication of the play
is an event of importance.
IsTot only on the map of early American literature does
JSTorth Carolina deserve place. With an O. Henry, a Dr.
Henderson, a Margaret Busbee Shipp to boast of, besides
many others whose excellent work in literature, the old ISTorth
State is taking prominent part in the literary history of the
ISTation.
Not until recent years did ISTorth Carolina realize the rich-ness
of her agricultural resources. May the time soon come
when she will estimate at full value the importance of liter-ary
achievements. The Patterson Cup—given by one of our
public spirited women—is a step in the right direction.
It seems to us that there would be no better investment for
some of our millionaires than for them to donate a few
thousands (if no more) for the substantial aid of young
writers struggling to gain foothold on the very treacherous
and slippery Hill of Fame.