North Carolina booklet : great events in North Carolina history

              Vol. XVI JANUARY, 1917 No. 3
North Carolina Booklet
GREAT EVENTS
IN
NORTH CAROLINA
HISTORY
PUBLISHED OUARTERiY
BY
THE NORTH CAROLINA SOCIETY
DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION
RALEIGH, N. C.
CONTENTS
PAGE.
Portrait—Isaac Shelby Frontispiece
Matthew Haehis Joxjett.
Isaac Shelby 109
By Abchibald Hendeeson.
The Old Cemetery, Charlotte, N. C 145
By Violet G. Alexandeb.
The North Carolina Medical Society of 1799-1804 154
By Marshall DeLancey Haywood.
Proceedings N. C. Society Daughters of the Revolution. _ 159
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The North CaroHna Booklet
Great Events in North Carolina History
Volume XVI of The Booklet will be issued quarterly by the North
Carolina Society, Daughters of the Revolution, beginning July, 1916.
The Booklet will be published in July, October, January, and April.
Price $1.00 per year, 35 cents for single copy.
Editoe :
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Biographical Editor:
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VOLUME XVI.
Isaac Shelby : Revolutionary Patriot and Border Hero—Dr. Archi-bald
Henderson.
An Educational Practice in Colonial North Carolina—Edgar W.
Knight.
George Selvpyn—Miss Violet G. Alexander.
Martha McFarlane Bell, a Revolutionary Heroine—Miss Mary Hil-liard
Hinton.
North Carolinians in the President's Cabinet, Part III : William A.
Graham—Chief Justice Walter Clark.
Historic Homes, Part VII : The Fountain, the Home of Colonel
Davenport—Colonel Edmund Jones.
North Carolinians in the President's Cabinet, Part IV : James
Cochran Dobbin—Dr. Henry Elliot Shepherd.
A History of Rowan County—Dr. Archibald Henderson.
Edgecombe County History and some of her Distinguished Sons
—
Mrs. John A Weddell.
Historical Book Reviews will be contributed by Mrs. Nina Holland
Covington. These will be reviews of the latest historical works
written by North Carolinians.
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Vol. XVI JANUARY, 1917 No. 3
NORTH Carolina Booklet
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DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION
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editor :
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biographical editor :
Mrs. E. E. Moffitt.
OFFICERS OF THE NORTH CAROLINA SOCIETY
DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION
1914-1916
regent :
Miss MARY HILLIARD HINTON.
VICE-REGENT :
Mrs. MARSHALL WILLIAMS.
honorary REGENTS
:
Mrs. E. E. MOFFITT.
Mrs. T. K. BRUNER.
recording secretary :
Mrs. L. E. COVINGTON.
CORRESPONDING SECRETiVBY :
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TREASURER
:
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REGISTRAR :
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CHAPTER REGENTS
Bloomsbury Chapter Mrs. Hubert Haywood, Regent.
Penelope Barker Chapter Mrs. Patrick Matthew, Regent.
Sir Walter Raleigh Chapter Mrs. I. M. Meekins, Regent.
General Francis Nash Chapter Miss Rebecca Cameron, Regent.
Roanoke Chapter Mrs. F. M. Allen, Regent.
Mary Slocumb Chapter Miss Georgie Hicks, Regent.
Colonel Thomas Robeson Chapter Mrs. Annie Buie, Regent.
Founder of tpie North Carolina Society' and Regent 1896-1902
Mrs. spier WHITAKER.*
Regent 1902
:
Mrs. D. H. HILL, SR.f
Regent 1902-1906:
Mrs. THOMAS K. BRUNER.
Regent 1906-1910:
Mrs. E. E. MOFFITT.
'Din(\ November 2^), 1911.
t Died December 12, 1904.
Isaac Suki.hy \TTHEW HARRIS JOUETT
From his most famous portrait, never before reproduced, owned by
William R. Shelby, Esi|., of Grand Rapids, Michigan
The North Carolina Booklet
Vol. XVI JANUARY, 1917 No. 3
Isaac Shelby
Revolutionary Patriot and Border Hero
By Archibald Henderson.
xlmong that group of early pioneers whose intrepid daring
and superior sagacity, tested in the crucible of border warfare
and frontier conflict, were potent agencies in laying the foun-dation
stones of the republic, Isaac Shelby occupies a position
of conspicuous leadership in both martial and civil life. De-ficient
in the vision of a Richard Henderson or the craft of a
Daniel Boone, Shelby possessed much of the glorified common
sense which distinguished James Eobertson, Temperamen-tally
more phlegmatic than his comrade in arms, the impetu-ous
John Sevier, he exhibited in the crucial moments of his
career a headlong bravery and an unwavering self-control
which marked him as a trustworthy leader of men. In per-sonal
bravery the match for his friend, George Rogers Clark,
Shelby was a born fighter ; and although not endowed with
the tactical brilliance of the conqueror of the Northwest, he
exhibited such unerring judgment in battle and such poise in
leadership as to inspire the confident faith which procures
ultimate victory. His contribution to the cause of American
independence is an integral part of the history of the Revolu-tion.
This chapter which to this very day, in any adequate
sense, remains unwritten, the present monogTaph purposes to
supply.
It was from a line of Welsh ancestors that Isaac Shelby
derived the phlegTiiatic temperament and cautious balance
which stood him in such good stead throughout his eventful
and turbulent career. His father, Evan Shelby, was born in
Wales in 1720 ; and with his father and mother, Evan and
Catherine Shelby, he emigrated to Maryland about 1735. The
110 THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
family settled in the ueig'hborhood of Hagerstown, near the
i^orth Monntain, then Frederick County. Strength of charac-ter
and an iron constitution, reinforced by the qualities of
tenacity and approved courage, express the dominant charac-teristics
of this famous border character, Evan Shelby, Isaac's
father. In the French and Indian wars which began in 1754,
he served with distinction, first it is presumed, as a private
soldier; but in 1756 his recognized skill as a hunter and
woodsman, acquired in patrolling the border and guarding
the frontier, as well as his bravery, led to his appointment as
Lieutenant of Maryland troops. It is related that on Forbes'
campaign, ''he gave chase to an Indian spy, in view of many
of the troops, overtaking and tomahawking him.'"^ The fol-lowing
letter is like a ray of light Hashed into the dim ob-scurity
of the mid-period of the eighteenth century. It is a
letter of Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, to General Forbes •?
1st of August. 1758.
To General Forbes:
Sir :—This serves to introduce to you Capt. Slielbj', wtio waits on
your Excellency with his company of volunteers to receive your com-mands.
He has served as a Lieut, more than two years in the Mary-laud
troops & has always behaved well, which encourages me to hope
that he and his company will be found useful on the present occasion.
The expense I have been at in furnisliing his men with blankets, leg-gins,
moccasins & camp kettles is £82-3-2 pens currency, & as Capt.
Shelby & his lieut., who was likewise an officer in our Troops until
the end of May last, found themselves under some Difficulties by not
being paid the arrears that were due them, I have let each of them
have £15 out of the £510 currency, which, with Your Excellency's ap-probation,
Mr. Kilby is to advance towards paying the Maryland
Forces. I most sincerely wash Your Excellency the perfect Recovery
of Your Health & a successful Campaign, & I am &c.
Serving as Captain of Maryland troops, in the provincial
army destined for the reduction of Fort Duquesne, Evan
Shelby was engaged in a number of severe battles in the
course of Braddock's war. In 1758, in pursuance of Governor
Sharpens orders, he reconnoitred and marked out the route
iDraper's King's Mountain and, Its Heroes, 411.
^Maryland Calendar State Papers, ii, 1757-61, 237.
ISAAC SHELBY 111
of a road to Fort Cumberland ; and following his report to
the Governor that "three hundred and fifty men might open
such a road as he proposed in three weeks/' as it was not
more than sixty miles in length, the road was laid out by him
with the assistance of the desired quota of men, by order of
Governor Sharpe.^ As a soldier he was conspicuous for gal-lantry
in the battle fought at Loyal Hanning (now Bedford),
Pennsylvania; and he led the advance guard of General
Forbes, when he took possession of Fort DuQuesne in 1758.
Early in the 'sixties, it is reasonable to suppose, he removed
with his family to Pennsylvania—perhaps as the result of un-certainty
in land titles in consequence of the dispute over
territory between Maryland and Pennsylvania. For some
years thereafter he engaged in trade with the Indians of the
ISTorthwest. During the conferences with the Indians, held in
connection with the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, lasting from
October 24 until jSTovember 6, 1768, an extensive gTant of
land was made by the Six ISTations of Indians to twenty-three
Indian traders, most of them from Pennsylvania, to recom-pense
them for very large losses incurred during the war of
1763. In the list of the twenty-three names is found that of
Evan Shelby, along with such other well known names as
William Trent, David Franks, John Baynton, Samuel Whar-ton,
and George Morgan. This grant included all that part
of the present state of West Virginia lying between the Ohio,
the Little Kanawha, and the Monongahela rivers, the Laurel
Ridge, and the South line of Pennsylvania extended to the
Ohio. Trent and Wharton, two of the traders, went to Eng-land,
to endeavor to obtain a confirmation of the gTant, which
was named Indiana by those who wished to erect it into a
colony ; but while there they were induced to throw in their
interests with Thomas Walpole, Benjamin Franklin, and
others, in securing the gTant of Vandalia, which included the
3Cf. Sharpe to Capt. Evan Shelby, June 15, 1758; Maryland Calen-dar
State Papers. Letter Book III, 206; Sharpe to Calvert, Letter
Book I, 358-9. For Capt. Evan Shelby's report from Frederick, June
25. 1758, cf. also Maryland Calendar State Papers, Letter Book III,
212.
112 THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
grants to the Ohio Company and to William Trent and his
associates, and extended to the mouth of Scioto. Although
the draft of the royal grant had actually been prepared in
the spring of 1775, it ultimately failed of confirmation by
the Crown.'*
During the third quarter of the eighteenth century, ranches,
or "cow-pens" were established at many places in the Pied-mont
region of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Caro-lina.
The more adventurous farmers, taking advantage of
the fertile pastures of the uplands, pressed far beyond the
ordinary farmer's frontier, and herded in large flocks of cat-tle
and stock. Many of these ^vere \vandering wild upon the
country ; as a contemporary observer says, "notwithstanding
every precaution, very great numbers of black cattle, horses
and hogs—run at large, entirely wild, without any other pro-prietors
than those of the ground they happened to l^e found
upon.''"' In 1771, according to the best authorities, Isaac
Shelby, the son of Evan Shelby, was residing in Western Vir-ginia,
living the life of the rancher, and engaged in the bus-iness
of feeding and attending to the herds of cattle over the
extensive ranges of the uplands.*^ And in this same year, as
Draper states, the Shelby connection removed to the Holston
country, in that twilight zone of the debatable ground between
North Carolina and Virginia.^ Evan Shelby settled on the
site of the present Bristol, Tennessee ; and in conjunction
with his friend, Isaac Baker, purchased the Sapling Grove
tract, of 1946 acres, Bobert Preston dividing it equally be-tween
them.
iPlnin Facts, Philadelphia, 1781. 'New Governments West of the
Alleghanics Before n<sO, by G. H. Alden, Madison. Wis., 1897. Cl'.
also, Ilanna's The Wilderness Trail, ii, 59-60.
•'^.T. F. I). Smyth: A Tour in the United t^tates of America, ii. 143-4
CL. C. Draper: Kings Mountain and Its Heroes, 411.
"Summers, in his South vest Virginia, 190.3, 671-2, states that "in
the yenr 1765 or shortly thereafter, Evan Shelby and Isaac Baker left
their homes in Maryland and came to the Holston country." The
facts, as stated above, would indicate that the date, 1765, is incorrect,
with reference to the mijjcration to the Holston country of Evan
Shelby, at least. It may be that Isaac Baker preceded Evan Shelby
to the Holston country, and induced him to remove thither.
ISAAC SHELBY 113
Isaac Shelby was born near the JSTorth Mountain, in the
vicinity of Hagerstown, Maryland, on December 11, 1750,
being the eldest son of Evan Shelby and his first wife, Letitia
Scott, of Frederickstown, Maryland. The intimacy between
Evan Shelby and his friend Isaac Baker is shown by the fact
that Shelby named one of his sons Isaac and Baker named
one of his sons Evan. Endowed, like his father, with an iron
constitntion, and reared in a martial atmosphere, Isaac early
adapted himself to the strenuons life of the pioneer and be-came
expert in the arts of hunting and woodcraft. Even be-fore
he reached man's estate he served as Deputy Sheriff of
Frederick County, Maryland—a tribute to his self-control
and personal prowess. '^
Despite the fact that the country was continually harrassed
with a succession of Indian wars, young Isaac nevertheless
succeeded in obtaining the rudiments of a plain English edu-cation.
After the removal of the Shelbys to Kings Meadows
(near Bristol), Evan Shelby and his four sons, Isaac, Evan,
Moses, and James, continued to herd and graze cattle on an
extensive scale along the Virginia border, about forty miles
north of Watauga.'^
An authentic account of the career of Evan Shelby and his
services to the cause of American independence would con-stitute
an extended chapter in the history of Indian battles
and border warfare. As indicative of the high estimation in
which he was held in his former home, one may cite the fol-lowing
fragment of a letter to Captain Evan Shelby from
General William Thompson, bearing the address, ''Carlyle,
6th July, 1775."
"Had General Washington been sure you could have joined
the army at Boston without first seeing your family (you)
would have been appointed Lieut. Colo, (of the) Rifle Battal-ion
and an express sent by you being so the
STliis statement is made on the authority of Cecil B. Hartley, in
his sketch of Isaac Shelby, published in 1860, along with The Life and
Adventures of Louis Wetzel.
9James R. Gilmore : The Rear Guard of the Revolution, 1903, 64.
1 14 THE jSTORTII CAROLINA BOOKLET
iieiieral conehuled it (would not be—) for you to take the
field before seeinii your family. L leave for Boston on Mon-day
uijilit.''
Upon his Sapling Grove plantation Evan Shelby built a
fort named Shelby's Station, where hundreds were sometimes
forted during- the Revolution. At this fort the Shelbys
kept a store, which supplied the pioneers with ammunition,
dress stuffs, articles of food and drink. Daniel Boone pur-chased
supplies here in preparation for his ill-timed and ill-fated
expedition in 1773. The stout old Welshman, stern
though he may have been, was evidently not averse to con-viviality
; on an old ledger, dated Staunton, Va., Nov. 22,
1773, conspicuous in the account against Evan Shelby are
such entries as: "1 Bowl tody," "1 Mug cider," ''1 Bowl
Bumbo," ''To Club in Wine." His first wife, Letitia Cox,
died in 1777, and is buried at Charlottesville, Va. Late in
life he was married to Isabella Elliott ; and the records show
that this prudent lady required one-third of his estate to be
deeded to her before marriage. In 1794 Evan Shelby died,
at the age of 74, and his widow afterwards was married again
to one Dromgoole. His remains now repose in Bristol, Tenn.,
on the lot now occupied by the Lutheran Church, on the corner
of Fifth and Shelby streets. ^^
It w^as not long after the settlement of the Shelbys at Sap-ling
Grove that they formed the acquaintance of such leading
men of the border as James Robertson, John Sevier, Daniel
Boone, and William Russell. A little incident indicative of
the experience of even the most expert pioneers of the day at
the hands of the treacherous and furtive red men is recorded
in that valuable repository of historical lore, Bradford's Notes
on Kentucky. "In 1772," records Isaac Shelby in one of
these notes, although we know from other sources that he
should have said 1771, "I met Daniel Boone below the Hol-stcin
settlement, alone ; he informed me that he had spent
the two years preceding tliat time in a hunt on Louisa river
iiCf. Oliver Taylor: Tlintoric tSuIIivan, 1909. Also L. P. Summers;
,Soiithivest Virginia, 1903.
ISAAC SHELBY 115
(now Kentucky), so called by all the Long Hunters; that he
had been robbed the day before, by the Cherokee Indians, of
all the proceeds of his hunt."
It was at the instance of the Shelbys that Sevier moved to
the Holston settlements. In 1772 John Sevier attended a
horse race at the Watauga Old Field, and witnessed the theft
of a horse by a burly fellow named Shoate. Sevier was about
to leave, disgusted by the incident—for the thief pretended
that he had won the stolen horse as the result of a wager
—
when Evan Shelby remarked to him : ''Xever mind the rascals ;
they'll soon poplar"—by which he meant, take a canoe and
get out of the country. One of the first measures taken by the
Watauga settlements was the passage of laws to protect them
from horse thieves. The following year the Seviers removed
to Keywood, about six miles from the Shelbys, later settling
in Washington County.-^"
It was not long before Isaac Shelby, young though he was,
came to be regarded as a man of promise in the frontier set-tlement.
In 1774 he was appointed Lieutenant in the militia
by Colonel William Preston, the County Lieutenant of Fin-castle
County. The anecdote is related that, when Isaac
thoughtlessly sat down instead of remaining at attention
while his commission was being written out by Col. Preston,
his father, with characteristically imperious manner, sternly
admonished him
:
''Get up, you young dog, and make your obeisance to the
Colonel!"
Whereupon the young officer, considerably abashed, arose
and made the amende honorable to his superior officer. In
time to come the graceless ''young dog" was to prove himself,
as soldier and statesman, the superior of his bull-dog father,
the grizzled veteran and Indian fighter.
Endowed, like his father, with an herculean frame, though
built on a somewhat larger scale, he presents a formidable
and impressive appearance in the portraits that have come
i2Draper Mss. ; also cf. F. M. Turner : Life of General John Sevier,
1910.
116 THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
down to lis—with firm, compressed lips, heavv oliiii, massive
features, bcetliiiu' brows over fixed, deep-set eyes—a man of
"uncommon intelligence and stern, unbending integrity."
II.
Daniel Boone's attempt, without shadow of title, to make a
settlement in Kentucky, in September, 1773, had met with a
bloody repulse on the part of the Indians. In a letter to
Dartmouth, Dunmore said in regard to the ''Americans,'' the
pioneer settlers : "They acquire no attachment to place : But
wandering about Seems engrafted in their Xature ; and it is
a weakness incident to it that they Should for ever Imagine
the Lands further off, are Still better than those upon which
they are already Settled. "-^'"^ The continued encroachments of
the white settlers upon the Indian hunting grounds fanned to
flame the smouldering animosity of the red man. The Six
Xations, at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768, had sold to
the Crown, through Sir William Johnson, their unwarranted
claim to a vast stretch of territory extending as far to the
southward as the Kentucky River. The Southern Indians,
the aboriginal occupants of the soil, indignantly denied the
right of the Six Xations to this Territory. The Indians along
the border were aroused to a pitch of excessive hostility by the
continued incursions of the whites. A succession of attacks
by the Indians upon outlying and scattered settlements soon
led to bloody reprisals on the part of the whites. The open
letter of Conolly, Governor Dunmore's agent, calling upon
the backwoodsmen to prepare to defend themselves from the
attacks of the Shawnees, was issued on April 21, 1774, and
the barbarous murder of Logan's family at the mouth of Yel-low
Creek on April 30, by one Greathouse and a score of
carousing white companions, rendered the conflict inevitable.
Yet actual hostilities were slow to commence, and it was not
until the summer of 1774 that Daniel Boone and Michael
Stoner were dispatched by Dunmore to Kentucky, to conduct
I31)raper Mss., 1.5.74-48.
ISAAC SHELBY 117
into the settlements the various parties of surveyors scattered
about through the Kentucky area. The war was now begun,
and Lord Dunmore, hoping to reconcile the differences be-tween
the colonists and England by a successful campaign
against the Indians, proceeded vigorously to carry the war
into the enemy's country.
There were two divisions in Lord Dunmore's army, one of
fully twelve hundred men under the command of the earl in
person, the other of about eleven hundred strong, under the
command of General Andrew Lewis, a stalwart backwoods
fighter. For some inexplicable motive, which has been sus-pected,
no doubt, erroneously, as an attempt at treachery to
the Americans, Dunmore decided not to unite his force with
that of Lev/is ; and after a long march he took up his position
at the mouth of the Hockhocking, erected a stockade styled
Fort Gower, and awaited news of Lewis's brigade. The divis-ion
of Lewis reached the mouth of the Great Kanawha River
on October 6 and encamped at Point Pleasant. On the ninth
the order came to Lewis from Dunmore to join him at the
Indian towns near the Pickaway Plains. The sagacious
Cornstalk, the Indian leader, divining the plan of the whites,
resolved to hurl his entire force of one thousand warriors upon
the sleeping army at Point Pleasant.
Of the several commands under Lewis one was composed of
the Fincastle men, from the Holston, Clinch, Watauga, and
New River settlements, under Col. William Christian. The
Holston men were the advance guard of civilization at this
period, the most daring settlers who had pushed farthest out
into the western wilderness. In Col. Christian's command
were five captains, Evan Shelby, Russell, Herbert, Draper,
and Buford ; and under Evan Shelby were his sons, Isaac, a
lieutenant, and James ; and James Robertson and Valentine
Sevier, orderly sergeants.
The battle which ensued has been described in such accurate
and graphic terms in a letter to John Shelby, by Isaac Shelby,
118 THE XOKTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
\vho plavcnl an important part in the fierce engagement, that
his letter is given here in full:^'*
Camp Opposite to the Mouth of Great Caxaway,
October 16th. 1774.
Di!. I'.ncle:—I Gladly imhrace this opportunity to Acquaint You
that we arc all threeis yet alive th(r)o Gods Mercies & I Sinceerly
wish that this may find you & your Famil5^ in the Station of Health
that we left you. I never had anything Worth Notice to quaint you
with since I left you till now, the Express seems to be Hurrying
that I Cant write you with the same Coolness & Deliberation as I
would: we arrived at the mouth (of) Canaway Thursday 6th. Octr.
and incampd on a fine piece of Ground with an intent to wait for the
Governor & his party but hearing tliat he was going another way we
Contented our selves to stay there a few days to rest the troops &c,
when we looked upon our selves to be in safety till Monday morning
the 10th Instant when two of our Compys. went out before day to
hunt. To wit Val. Sevier & Jas Robison & Discovered a party of
Indians ; as I expect you will hear something of our Battle before
you get this I have here stated this aflrair nearly to you.
For the Satisfaction of tlie people in your parts in this they have a
true state of the Memorable Battle faught at the mouth of the Great
Canaway on the 10th. Instant ; ^Monday morning about half an Hour
before Sunrise two of Capt. Kussells Compy. Discovered a large party
of Indians about a mile from Camp one of whicli men was killed the
Other made his Escape »& brought in his iutilligenee ;i6 in two or three
minutes affter two of Capt Shelbys Compy. Came in and Confirmed
the Account. Colo. Andrew Lewis being Informed thereof Immediately
ordered Colo. Charles Lewis to take the Command of 150 men from
Augusta and with him went Capt. Dickison. Capt. Harrison. Capt.
Willson. Capt. Jno. Lewis from Augusta and Capt. Lockridge which
made the first division. Colo. Fleming was also ordered to take the
Command of one hundred & fifty more Consisting of Botetourt Fin-castle
and Bedford Troops Viz. Capt. Buford of Bedford Capt. Love
of Botetourt Capt. Shelbj^ & Capt. Russell of Fincastle which made
tlie second Division. Colo. Lewis marched with his Division to the
i4The copy here used is made directly from the original in the
Draper Mss., 7 ZZ 2. The text used by Roosevelt {Wi)nii>ig of the
Wcf<t) is drawn from a manuscript copy of Shelby's letter, in the
Campliell Mss.
i''('aptain Evan Shelby and his two sons, Isaac and James.
icThese were .loseph Hughey, of Shelby's company, and James
Mooney, of Russell's. The former was killed by a white renegade,
Tavenor Ross, while the latter brought the news to camp. Mooney
was a former neighbor of Daniel Boone, upon the Yadkin in North
Carolina, and had accompanied him upon the disastrous Kentucky
hunting exjiedition of 17(>D. He was killed at Point Pleasant. Cf.
Dunmorc'a War, edited by Thwaites and Kellogg. 271-2.
ISAAC SHELBY 119
Right some Distance up from tlie Ohio. Colo. Fleming with his
Division up the banck of the Ohio to the left : Colo. Lewiss Division
had not marchd. little more than a quarter of a mile from Camp
when about sunrise, an Attact was made on the front of his Division
in a most Vigorous manner by the Uni^ ,d tribes of Indians—Shaw-nees
; Delewares ; Mingoes ; Taways,i7 and of several Other Nations
in Number not less than Eight Hundred and by many thaught to be a
thousand ; in this Heavy Attact Colonel Charles Lewis received a
wound which soon after Caused his Death and several of his men
fell in the Spott in fact the Augusta Division was forced to give way
to the heavy fire of the Enemy. In about a second of a minute after
the Attact on Colo. Lewiss Division the Enemy Engaged the Front of
Colo. Flemings Division on the Ohio ; and in a short time Colo. Flem-ing
reed, two balls thro his left Arm and one thro his breast ; and
after annimating the Captains and soldiers in a Calm manner to the
pursuit of Victory returned to Camp, the loss of the Brave Colonels
was Sensibly felt by the Officers in perticular, But the Augusta
troops being shortly Reinforced from Camp by Colonel Field with his
Company together with Capt. iM'Dowel, Capt. Mathews & Capt.
Stuart from Augusta, Capt. John Lewis, Capt. Paulin Capt. Arbuckle
& Capt. M'Clanahan from Botetourt, the Enemy no longer able to
Maintain their Ground was forced to give way till they were in a
Line with the troops left in action on Bancks of Ohio, by Colo Flem-ing
in this precipitate retreat Colo. Field was killed, after which
Capt. Shelby was ordered to take the Commd. During this time
which was till after twelve of the Clock, the Action continued Ex-treemly
Hott, the Close underwood many steep bancks & Loggs
favoured their retreat, and the Bravest of their men made the use
of themselves, whilst others were throwing their dead into the Ohio,
and Carrying of(f) their wounded, after twelve the Action in a
small degree abated but Continued sharp Enough till after one
oClock Their Long retreat gave them a most advantages spot of
ground ; from whence it Appeared to the Officers so difficult to dis-lodge
them ; that it was thought most adviseable to stand as the line
then was formed which was about a mile and a quarter in length, and
had till then sustained a Constant and Equal weight of fire from wing
to wing, it was till half an Houx* of Sun sett they Continued firing on
us which we returned to their Disadvantage at length Night Coming
on they found a safe retreat. They had not the satisfaction of scalp-ing
any of our men save One or two straglers whom they Killed be-fore
the ingagement many of their dead they scalped rather than
we should have them but our troops scalped upwards of twenty of
those who were first killed ; Its Beyond a Doubt their Loss in
Number farr Exceeds ours, which is Considirable.
Field Officers killed Colo. Charles Lewis, and Colo. Jno. Fields,
Field Officers wounded Colo. Willm. Fleming ; Capts. killed John
i7The Ottawas, a Northwestern tribe.
120 THE NOirnr Carolina booklet
.Murray Capt. Saml. Wilisou C'apt. Kobt. MfClanahan. Capt. Jas.
Ward. Captains WdunikMl Tlios lUiford John Dickison & John Scid-more.
Snlibalti'iiis Kill(>d Lieutenant Hu.!,'li Allen, Ensi.un Matliew
Krakin i:nsi^'n ("undiff. Sul)t>alterns wounded, Lieut. Lard; Lieut.
Vauee Lieut. (Joliiuian Lieut. Jas. Kol)ison aliout 46 killed &
al)out SO wounded from this [Sir you may Judge that we had a
\"ery hard day its reall.v Impossible for me to Express or you to
Coneieve Aeelamations that we were under. sometimes, the Hidious
Cries of the Enemy and the groans of our wound (ed) men lying
around was Enough to shuder the stoutest hart its the general Opin-ion
of the Ottieers that we shall soon have another Ingagemeut as we
have now got Over into the Enemys Country ; we Expect to meet the
Governor about forty or fifty miles from here nothing will save us
from another Battle I'nless they Attact the Governors Party, five
men that Came iu Dadys (daddy's) Company were killed, I dont
know that you were Acquainted with any of them Except Marck Wil-liams
who lived with Roger Top. Acquaint Mr. Carmack that his son
was slightly wounded thro the shoulder and arm & that he is in a
likely way of Recovery we leave him at mouth of Canaway »& one
^'ery Carefull hand to take Care of him ; there is a garrison & three
Hundred men left at that place with a surgeon to Heal the wounded
we Expect to Return to the Garrison in about 16 days from the
.Shawnj- Towns.
I have nothing more Perticular to Acquaint you with Concerning
the Battle, as to the Country I cant now say much in praise of any
that I have yet seen. Dady intended writing to you but did not know
of the Express till the time was too short I have wrote to Mam(m)y
the not so fully as to you as I then expected the Express was Just
going, we seem to be all in a Moving Posture Just going from this
place so that I must Conclude wishing you health and prosperity till
I see you and Your Family in the meantime I am yr truly Effectionate
Friend & Humble Servt Isaac Shelby.
To Mr. John Shelby Holstons River Fincastle County favr. by Mr.
Benja. Gray.
This recital, written by the joung Isaac Shelby, modestly
omits any mention of the very important part which he him-self
played in the battle. Upon the death of Colonel John
Field, Captain Evan vShelby was ordered to the command,
and npon so doing he gave over the command of his own com-pany
to his son, Isaac, who, while only holding the rank of a
lieutenant, acted in the capacity of a captain during about
half the battle. Cornstalk, Logan, Red Eagle, and other
brave chieftains, fighting fiercely, led in the attack ; and above
the terrible din and clangor of the battle could be heard the
ISAAC SHELBY 121
deep, sonorous voice of Cornstalk encouraging his warriors
with the injunction : "Be strong ! Be strong !" The Indians
led by Cornstalk adopted the tactics of making successive
rushes upon the whites by which they expected to drive the
frontiersmen into the two rivers, ''like so many bullocks," as
the chief later explained. So terrific were the onslaughts of the
red men that the lines of the frontiersmen had frequently to
fall back ; but these withdrawals were only temporary, as they
were skillfully reinforced each time and again moved steadily
forward to the conflict. About half an hour before sunset
General Lewis adopted the dangerous expedient of a flank
movement. Captains Shelby, Matthews, Arbuckle, and Stuart
were sent with a detachment up Crooked Creek, which runs
into the Kanawha a little above Point Pleasant, with a view
to securing a ridge in the rear of the enemy, from which their
lines could be enfiladed. Concealed by the undergrowth along
the bank they endeavored to execute this hazardous move-ment
; and John Sawyers, an orderly sergeant, was dispatched
by Isaac Shelby with a few men of the company to dislodge
the Indians from their protected position. This fierce attack
from an unsuspected quarter alarmed the Indians. Cornstalk
leaped to the conclusion that this was the advance guard of
Christian's party, and giving the alarm hurried his forces to
the other side of Old Town Creek. The battle continued in a
desultory way until sunset, and no decisive victory had been
achieved. But Cornstalk and his warriors had had enough,
and withdrew during the night. -"^^
In this remarkable battle, the most stubborn and hotly con-tested
fight ever made by the Indians against the English, it
was the flanking movement of the detachment in which Isaac
Shelby took a leading part that turned the tide and decided
the victory for the whites. This battle, which brought about
isCompare tlie account given by Withers in his Chronicles of Border
Warfare, edited and annotated by R. G. Thwaites ; Cincinnati. 190S.
See also Stuart's Narratlrc, in Virginia Historical Collections, vol. I.
The most exhaustive account of tlie entire campaign is embodied in
Dunmore's War, edited by Thwaites and Kellogg. IMadison, 1905. An
excellent map is found in Avery's History of the United States, vol.
5, p. 1S3.
122 THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
an early conclusion of peace, was from this standpoint com-pletely
decisive in character; and it should not be forgotten
that Isaac Shelby, the twenty-four year old captain, thus
played an important role in this thrilling scene of warfare
preliminary to the great drama of the Revolution. "This
action," comments Isaac Shelby in his Auioljiography, ''is
known to be the hardest ever fought with the Indians and in
its consequences was of the greatest importance as it was
fought Avhile the first Congress w^as sitting at Philadelphia,
and so completely were the savages chastised, particularly the
Shawnees and Delawares (the two most formidable tribes)
that they could not be induced by British agents among them,
neither to the Xorth nor South, to commence hostilities
against the United States before July, 1776, in which time the
frontiers had become considerably stronger and the settle-ment
of Kentucky had commenced."
Indeed it was this victory of the Great Kanawha, with its
temiDorary subjugation of the savages, which made possible
Colonel Kichard Henderson's gallant advance into Kentucky
in March-April, 1775, ultimately eventuating in the acquisi-tion
of Kentucky and the vast trans-Alleghany region to the
territory of the United States. Shelby's comment is signifi-cant
in its emphasis, as he was present at the ''Great Treaty"
at the Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga in March, 1775, and
a little later was serving as surveyor in the employ of the
Transylvania Company. Without the impetus given to the
colonization of the trans-Alleghany region by Richard Hen-derson
and the Transylvania Company, there would have been
no bulwark on the west against the incursions of savages from
that (juarter during the Revolution ; and at the conclusion of
peace in 1783, the western boundary of the Confederation of
States would doubtless have been the Alleghany Mountains
and not the Mississippi River. Isaac Shelby was a hero of the
first l)attle preluding the mighty conflict which was ultimately
to end victoriouslv at Yorktown.-^^
isCf. Hale's Trans-AUpghanji Pioneers, Cincinnati, 1886. ch. XXXII.
Also Todd's Life of tihcJhij, in National Poi'trait Gallery, I, 1835.
ISAAC SHELBY 123
At the close of the campaign, if not immediately following
the battle, a small palisaded rectangle, about eighty yards
long, with block houses at two of its corners, was erected at
Point Pleasant by order of Lord Dunmore. This stockade,
entitled Fort Blair, was strongly garrisoned, and the chief
command was given to that splendid border fighter, Captain
William Pussell. The young Isaac Shelby, in recognition of
his valued services in the recent bloody battle, was made
second in command."'^ It was here, says tradition, that the
Indian chief, Cornstalk, came to shake the hand of the young
paleface brave, Isaac Shelby, who had led the strategic flank
movement which stampeded his army.^-^
The following interesting letter, addressed to "Mr. Isaac
Shelby, Holston," explains the state of affairs which then ex-isted
in that region, and the movements being set on foot. It
is a double letter, for at the end of Col. William Christian's
letter to Isaac Shelby, which Shelby had forwarded to Colo.
William Russell, the latter wrote a supplementary letter, and
returned the whole to Isaac Shelby.
DuNKABD Bottom, February IS, 1775.
Dear Sir :—I have lately been at Williamsburg, aud applied to his
Excellency the Governor to know what was to be done with the garri-son
at point pleasant. His Lordship has been disappointed in getting
the consent of the Assembly for the continuance of the Company, but
he desired me to acquaint Captain Russell that he was to return to
his post and remain there until the treaty with the Indians, which is
to be at Fort Dunmore in may, or until further orders. I think it
will be in June before that treaty is finished & also that his Lordship
wishes that the garrison could be kept(?) up from a desire he has to
serve the Frontiers. I have wrote to Captain Russell to come down in
order to take the charge of one of the Shawnese Hostages who was
sent up with me. The design of sending him is to satisfy the Indians
20isaac Shelby's AutoMography. Cf. also Dtinmorc's War, p. ,310 n;
Chas. S. Todd's Life of SheWy, National Portrait Gallery, vol. I.
Thwaites says that General Lewis, who reached Point Pleasant on
October 28, left there a garrison of fifty men under Captain Russell.
Cf. Withers's Chronicles of Border Warfare, 1908, p. 176n.
^'i^^outhern Heroism in Decisive Battles for American Independ-ence,
by Charles Henrv Todd, in Journal of American History, vol. II,
No. 2.
124 THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
i>f our friendly inteiitioiis, in contradiction to several rejxjrts spread
among them by pensilvania Traders intimating that we designed fall-ing
on them next spring. The reports it was feared might set on foot
a general t-onfederacy among the Shawnese «& their neighbors.
1 expect t'aptain Kussell will contrive to be as far as McGavocks
the Tth. of March on his way to the post and I now write to you
thinking it may reach you much sooner than Captain Kussell could
send to you, thereby to give you more time to prepare for joining
him.
I saw Jno. Douglass this evening & he thinks that near 50 men of
those now on duty will agree to continue & perhaps that will be
enough. If you get this letter quickly would it not be well for you
to ride over and consult with the Captain what is to be done. It is
certain that you or him must set of (off) soon with the Indian, or I
think it may (mutilated) to come the time I have mentioned.
A convention of delegates is to be held at Richmond the 20 of
?ilarch to consist of two members from each county »& corporation,
what is to be the consequence of the present disputes is yet uncer-tain,
but nothing pacifick is expected. The lowland people are gen-erally
arming and preparing themselves.
Please to give my compliments to your Father »& tell him that it is
most probable that the Committee will meet the day of our Election
"A'hich is to be the 7 of March & that if he can make it convenient he
may as well come up.
I am Sir Your friend & servant,
Wm Cheistiax
On the next sheet occurs the following, in the handwriting
of William Russell
:
My Dear Sir :
I just Reed, this letter of yours and one of my own. It seems
Captain Morgan of the Shawanees is sent up for us, to guard out to
the Shawanees Towns upon Business of Importance, therefore re-quest
your goodness to meet me on Sunday next at Mr. Souths about
Night in order to go together to McGavocks against Tuesday next to a
meeting of the Committee either to Proceed from there or to return
by my House, if so, you can return Home (mutilated) I start. I am
Dear Sir.
Your most obedt Humble
Servt W. RussEiLL
Tuesday the 27th, 1775.
To Mr. Isaac Shelbey Holston.
When Daniel Boone and his friend, Captain William Kus-sell,
the leading pioneer in the Clinch Valley, at the head of a
party of emigrants, attempted their settlement of Kentucky in
ISAAC SHELBY 125
1773, they were driven back by the Indians on September 25,
and abandoned the enterprise. For years, in fact since 1764,
Daniel Boone had been making exploring expeditions to the
westward in the interest of the land company known as Eich-ard
Henderson and Company.^^ Another explorer for Kich-ard
Henderson, who later made hunting tours and explora-tions
in Kentucky, was Henry Skaggs, who as early as 1765
examined the lower Cumberland region as the representative
of Richard Henderson and Company and established his sta-tion
near the present site of Goodletsville, in Davidson
County, Tennessee. ^^ With the Western country thoroughly
disturbed and infested with bands of hostile red men, during
1773 and 1774, Col. Henderson recognized the signal unwis-dom
of attempting a western settlement on an extended scale.
It was Daniel Boone's impatience to reach the West and his
determination to settle there, regardless of legal right and
without securing the title by purchase from the Cherokees,
which led to his disastrous setback at Walden's Ridge in
1773. This entire episode exposes Boone's inefficiency as an
executive and his inability to carry through plans made on a
large scale. It was not until the remarkable legal mind of
Judge Henderson and his rare executive ability were applied
to the vast and complex project of western colonization that
it was carried through to a successful termination.
Two momentous circumstances now intervened to make
possible the great western venture, upon which Judge Hen-derson,
during a decade and more, had staked all his hopes.
Correspondence with the highest legal authorities in England
assured Judge Henderson that despite the Royal Proclama-tion
in 1763 he would be entirely within his rights, as a Brit-ish
subject, to purchase the western lands from the Cherokees
and secure authentic title thereto. The victory of the back-woodsmen
over the red men at the Battle of the Great Kana-
22Compare the author's The Creative Forces in Westward Expan-sion:
Henderson and Boone, iu the American Historical Review,
October, 1914.
23Albright's Early History of Middle Tennessee, Nashville, 1909,
p. 23.
120 THE I^ORTH CAROLIiSrA BOOKLET
wha greatly reduced the dangers incident to a visit to the
Kentnrky -wilderness, and in 1775 warranted the bold venture
which, in 1773, Boone, upon his own responsibility alone, had
found so disastrous. Following the Battle of the Great Ka-nawha,
Judge Henderson, accompanied by his friend and
neighbor, Colonel Nathaniel Hart, visited the Indians at their
towns and, upon inquiry, learned that the Cherokees were
disposed to sell their claims to the Kentucky territory. The
agreement was made to meet the entire tribe of the Cherokees
in Treaty Council at the Sycamore Shoals, on Watauga River,
early in the next year. On their return to the settlements
Judge Henderson and Colonel Hart were accompanied by the
Little Carpenter, a wise old Indian Chief, and a young buck
and his squaw, as delegates to see that proper goods were pur-chased
for the proposed barter. These goods were purchased
in December, 1774, at Cross Creek, near Fayetteville, North
Carolina, and forwarded by wagons to Watauga.
Since his repulse at Walden's Ridge, in September, 1773,
when the sons of both Russell and himself had been slaugh-tered
by Indians, Boone, together with his family, had been
residing in a cabin upon the farm of Captain David Gass,
seven or eight miles from Russell's, upon Clinch River. He
was now summoned to Watauga, instructed to collect the en-tire
tribe of Cherokee Indians and bring them in to the treaty
ground. The news of the purposes of the Transylvania Com-pany
became public property when Judge Henderson and his
associates, in January, 1775, issued their '^Proposals for the
Settlement of Western Lands," which, in the form of broad-sides,
were distributed widely along the fringe of settlements
upon the Indian border line. News of the proposed treaty
quickly reached young Isaac Shelby at Fort Blair; and his
pioneering instinct unerringly drew him to the focus of in-terest,
the treaty ground. We are fortunate in having handed
down to us, from that early time, a description of the treaty
on tlie part of the young Isaac Shelby, who was an eye-witness.
Following the confiscation of the Transylvania Company's
claims liv the State of Virc-inia, a series of extended investiffa-
ISAAC SHELBY 127
tions in regard to the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals were made
by order of the Virginia Legislature. The points that were
in great need of being settled were: First, whether the de-ponents
were financially interested in lands under the Tran-sylvania
Company ; second, whether the treaty was conducted
with entire fairness ; and third, whether the deeds taken by
the Transylvania Company were identical, in regard to the
metes and bounds of the territory purchased, with the verbal
statement of the negotiators of the treaty, made to the Chero-kees.
As it was subsequently proven, as a result of the inves-tigations
of the Virginia Commissioners, that the treaty was
conducted with scrupulous fairness by Judge Henderson and
his partners, it is interesting to read the following extract
from the deposition sworn to on December 3, 1777, before
Edmund Randolph and Jo. Prentiss, by Isaac Shelby:
"That in March, 1775, this Deponent was present at a
Treaty held at Wattaugha between the said Henderson and
the Cherokee Indians : that the deponent then heard the said
Henderson call the Indians, when the deed by which the said
Henderson now claims was going to be signed, and declared
that they would attend to what was going to be done : that the
deponent believes the courses in the said Deed contained, to
be the very courses which the said Henderson read therefrom
to the Indians and were interpreted to them. That the said
Henderson took the said Deed from among several others lying
on a table, all of which appeared to the Deponent to be of the
same tenor with that which he read—That at the time of this
Treaty, one Read who was there and suspected that the
said Henderson intended to purchase some lands which he
himself had his Eyes on, desired the said Deed to be read
before it was signed, which was accordingly done, and the
said Read objected not thereto."
It was doubtless at some time during the course of the
treaty—a treaty universally conceded to have been unparal-leled
for honesty and fair dealing with the Indians on the
part of the whites—that Judge Henderson, attracted by the
sterling qualities of the young Shelby and by his manifest
128 TlIK XOKTII CAKOLINA BOOKLET
eag'erness to eonncet liinisolf with Henderson's plans of
colonization, secured the promise of his services in the future,
followinii' the expiration of his term of enlistment, as surveyor
for the Transylvania Company. The garrison of Fort Blair
was not disbanded until July, 1775 ; and immediately Shelby
journeyed to Kentucky and engaged in the business of land
surveyor for the proprietors of the Transylvania Company,
who had established a regular land office as the result of their
purchase of the Kentucky area from the Cherokees. ITere he
renuiined fV»r nearly twelve months, surveying numerous
tracts of land for the Transylvania proprietors, and likewise
making a number of entries of land for himself in Judge Hen-derson's
land office.-'* His health finally became impaired,
owing to continued exposure to wet and cold, combined with
the frequent necessity for going without either bread or salt.
On this account he w^as compelled to return to the settlements
on Holston,
In July, 1776, during his absence in Kentucky, Shelby was
appointed Captain of a minute company by the Committee of
Safety in Virginia. x\s described by Shelby this was "a
species of troops organized for the first emergency of the War
of the Revolution, which, however, was not called into actual
service from the extreme frontier on which he (Shelby)
lived." On December 6th of this year, the General Assembly
of Virginia passed an act dividing the county of Fincastle into
three distinct counties, to-wit : Montgomery, Washington, and
Kentucky. In this act the bounds of Washington County
were defined as follows
:
"That all that part of said county of Fincastle included in
the lines beginning at the Cumberland Mountains where the
line of Kentucky county intersects the North Carolina (now
Tennessee) line; thence to the east along the said Carolina
line to the top of Iron mountain; thence along the same east-
-•iln liis (k'posiUon, referred to above, Isaac Shelby stated : "This
Deponent has made several Entries for lands in Mr. Henderson's
Office, but does not conceive himself to be in any manner interested in
the Event of the dispute, between the Commonwealth of Virginia and
the said Henderson." Cal. Va. Htate Papers, I, 29G-7.
ISAAC SHELBY 129
erly to the source of the South Fork of the Holston river;
thence northwardly along the highest part of the highlands,
ridges, and mountains that divide the waters of the Tennessee
from those of the Great Kanawha to the most easterly source
of Clinch River; thence westvv^ardly along the top of the
mountain that divides the waters of the Clinch river from
those of the Great Kanawha and Sandy Creek to the line of
Kentucky county and thence along the same to the beginning,
shall be one other distinct county and called and known by
the name of Washington."
The eastern boundary of Washington County as thus de-fined
was altered by Act of the General Assembly at its ses-sion
in the month of May, 1777, as follows :
"Beginning at a ford on Holston river, next above Captain
John Campbells, at the Royal Oak, and running from thence
a due south course to the dividing line between the States of
Virginia and JSTorth Carolina ; and from the ford aforesaid
to the westerly end of Morris's Knob, about three miles above
Maiden Spring on Clinch, and from thence, by a line to be
drawn due north, until it shall intersect the waters of the
Great Sandy river."-'^
The officers of the county commissioned by Governor Pat-rick
Henr}' on the 21st day of December, 1776, were as fol-lows:
James Dysart, sheriff; Arthur Campbell, county lieu-tenant
; Evan Shelby, Colonel ; William Campbell, lieutenant-colonel
; and Daniel Smith, Major. Among the names of
those on the same day commissioned justices of the peace was
that of Evan Shelby. The first court assembled at Black's
Fort (now Abingdon) on the last Tuesday in January, 1777.
On the second day of the court, being the 29th of January,
Isaac Shelby was recommended, with others, to be added to
the Commission of Peace for the county, and was accordingly
commissioned. It may be interesting to record that, when, on
February 26, 1777, the court recommended to the Governor
of Virginia the militia officers for Washington County, both
25Hening's Statutes, 1776.
130 THE XORTir CAKOLIXA BOOKLET
John Shelby, Sr., and James Shelby were duly commissioned
witli the rank of Captain. l)urin<i' some portion of this time
Isaac Shelby was busily engaged in acting as commissary of
supplies, a post to which he was appointed l^y Governor Henry,
for a large body of militia posted at several garrisons for the
purpose of giiarding the back settlements. Of his activity we
have evidence in the great distances which he travelled. For
instance, in September of this year, we find him at Harrods-burgh,
in Kentucky, swapping horses with the future brilliant
and meteoric figure, the conqueror of the Northwest. In
Clark's diary one finds the following terse entry
:
"Harrodsburgh, September 29.—Bought a horse, price
£1-2 ; swapped with I. Shelby, boot £10."
I have often wondered w^ho got the ''boot"—the phlegmatic
Welshman or the mercurial Virginian !
During this same year, Isaac Shelby w^as likewise in-structed
to lay in supplies for a grand treaty, to be held at
the Long Island of Holston River, in June and July, wdth the
tribe of Cherokee Indians.
''These supplies could not possibly be obtained nearer than
Staunton, a distance of near three hundred miles," says
Shelby, writing in the third person, "but by the most inde-fatigable
perseverance (one of the most prominent traits in
his character) he accomplished it to the satisfaction of his
country."
It is necessary for us to recall that in 1772 Colonel John
Donelson, of Pittsylvania County, acting as commissioner for
Virginia, had established with the Cherokees the western
boundary line of that colony, viz : a course running in a
direct line from a point six miles east of the Holston River
toward the mouth of the Great Kanawha River, until the line
struck the Kentucky River, and thence along that river to its
junction with the Ohio."^
-•'-A price was nfjrreed upon and promised, but not then paid, for the
l;irj,'(' scftion of Kciituclvy iioi-th and east of the Kentucky river thus
alienated to Vir;j;inia. Considerable doubt still prevails as to whether
the price promised by Donelson was ever paid over to the Cherokees.
ISAAC SHELBY 131
In 1777 Governor Henry, of Virginia, notified Governor
Caswell, of ISTorth Carolina, of a treaty to be had with the
Cherokees. The object of Virginia was to alter the boundary
line as run by Colonel Donelson, and to have the road to and
through the Cumberland Gap, the gateway to Kentucky, in-cluded
in the cession. The commissioners chosen to represent
Virginia were Col. William Preston, Col. Evan Shelby, and
Col. William Christian, or any two of them. The commis-sioners
chosen to represent ISTorth Carolina were Col. Waight-still
Avery, Col. William Sharpe, Col. Robert Lanier, and
Colonel Joseph Winston. The treaty lasted from the 26th of
June until the 20th of July, when it was concluded to the
satisfaction of both Virginia and Xortli Carolina. The line
established by Donelson in 1772 was not materially altered
;
but the alteration involved the lands claimed by the Transyl-vania
Company under their purchase from the Cherokees in
March, 1775. For reasons of policy and because of lack of
instructions from their respective governments the commis-sioners
refused to take account of the memorial presented by
Judge Henderson and his associates. The treacherous and
wily Indian Chiefs characteristically sought to convince the
commissioners that Judge Henderson had treated them hardly
in maintaining the provisions of the ''Great Treaty" of 1775 ;
but the deposition of Isaac Shelby (already quoted from in
part) is conclusive on the point
:
"That being present at the late Treaty at Long Island, this
deponent remembers to have heard Occunostoto or the Tassel
(but which he does not recollect) say that ever since he had
signed the paper to Mr. Henderson, he was afraid to sign
one, and that Mr. Henderson ever since he had signed the
Paper, deprived him of the privilege of catching even Craw
fish on the land. That this deponent was present at the time
of signing the said Deed at Wattaugha, when everything was
conducted fairly on the part of the said Henderson, who after
signing, desired the Indians to go and take the goods which
he designed for them.""^
i^Cal. Va. State Papers, I.
132 TIIK XOETTI CAROLINA BOOKLET
This was a lucniorable gathering of the leading pioneer
tigures of the day. Revolntion was the bnrning topic of dis-enssion.
and the spirit of independence, so long held in leash,
foniid nni\ersal ('X})ression. In the characteristic phraseology
of the patriotic Putnam
:
"Here were Robertson and Sevier, Boone and Bledsoe,
Shelby, Henderson, Hart and others—all men of worth, of
nci-ve, of cnter])rise—'men who feared God, but obeyed no
earthly king.'
'They talked freely of the Declaration of Independence, as
it had been announced at Mecklenburg, in ISTortb Carolina, by
Patrick Henry and the Virginians, and by the Continental
Congress just twelve months before. They did not think of
giving notoriety out there to the Fourth of July ; but they all
heartily concurred in the renunciation of allegiance to the
King of Great Britain, and in the resolution to make 'these
States free and independent.' "-^
In 1778, as we learn from Shelby's account, he was still
engaged in the commissary department to provide supplies
for the Continental Army, and also for a formidable expedi-tion
by the way of Pittsburg against the I*forthwestern In-dians.
This was the expedition of General Mcintosh against
the Ohio Indians. On Dec. 12, 1778, the Virginia Council
issued instructions to John Montgomery ''to put on Foot the
recruiting of men to reinforce Colo. Clarke at the Illinois
and to push it on with all possible expedition."-^
George Rogers Clark was in desperate straits for men and
supplies in view of the fact that General Mcintosh's proposed
expedition from Fort Pitt against Detroit had to be aban-doned.
John ]\rontgomery was given a very free hand in re-cruiting
for Clark ; and the following entry shows to what ex-tent
Isaac Shelby w-as relied upon to fit out with supplies
various expeditions along the frontier
:
As soon as the state of Affairs in the recruiting business wiU per-mit
you are to go to the Ilinois Country and join Colo Clarke. I need
-^Ilixtorii of Middle Tennessee, 617.
-'•>('larks Mss., Va. f^tate Archives.
ISAAC SHELBY 133
not tell you how necessary the greatest possible dispatch is to the
good of the service in which you are engaged Our party at Ilinois
may be lost together with the present favorable disposition of the
French & Indians there unless everj^ moment is improved for their
preservation & no future oppertunity if the present is lost can ever be
expected so favorable to the interest of the Commonwealth. I there-fore
urge it on you to exert yourself to the utmost to lose not a
moment to forward the great work you have in hand & to conquer
every difiiculty in your way arising from inclement season, great
distances, want of many necessaries, opposition from enemies &
others I cant enumerate but must confide in your virtue to guard
against and surmount. Capt Isaac Shelby it is desired may purchase
the boats but if he cant do it you must get some other person
You receive 10000 £ Cash for Col : Clarke's corps which you are to
deliver him except 200 £ for Capt Shelby to build the boats & what
other incidental expeuces happen necessarily on your way which are
to come out of that Sum. I am &c.
A. Blair C C30
In the beginning of the year 1779 Isaae Shelby was ap-pointed
by Governor Henry of Virginia to furnish supplies
for a strong campaigTi against the Chiekamauga Indians.
Owing to the poverty of the treasury, not one cent could be
advanced by the government and the whole expense of the
supplies and the transportation was sustained by his own in-dividual
credit. In the spring of that year he was elected a
member of the Virginia Legislature from Washington
County, for at that time it was supposed his residence was
within the chartered limits of l^orth Carolina.
Following the Treaty of Long Island in 1777, already
spoken of, it was apparent to the Commissioners from North
Carolina that the settlements, having projected so far west-ward
of the point to which the dividing line had been run, it
was highly desirable that the line be extended. In a letter
from Waightstill Avery and William Sharpe, to Governor
Caswell, August 7, 1777, they express the conviction that
'*the extension of the line between the two States is now be-come
an object worthy the immediate attention of govern-ment—
it would be the means of preventing many great dis-sociark
Papers, SS.
134 TIIK XORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
putes."'"^ In 177S the Assenil)l_v of Virginia and, a little
later, the Assembly of oSTorth Carolina, passed similar acts
for extending and marking the boundary. The acting Com-missioners
for Xorth Carolina were Col. Richard Henderson,
his cousin. Col. John Williams, of Granville County, and
Cajitain William Bailey Smith. The Commissioners repre-senting
Virginia were Dr. Thomas Walker, who had made the
remarkable exploration of Kentucky in 1750, and Daniel
Smith, the map maker, who was afterwards promoted for
his services along the Cumberland. The task of running the
boundary line was regarded as a dangerous one, on account
of the hostile intentions of the Indians ; and each state com-missioned
a detachment to guard the Commissioners while
they were engaged in the arduous enterprise. The Virginia
Commission was provided with a military escort of twenty-fi^-
e men, under the command of Isaac Shelby, commissioned
a Major for that purpose by Governor Jefferson. ^^ As the
result of the extension of the boundary line, the county of
Sullivan was erected, and Isaac Shelby, who had recently
served in the Virginia Legislature and received a military
commission from Governor Jefferson, was appointed Colonel
Commandant of this new county of Sullivan.
In 1770 a court of commissioners with plenary powers was
created by the commonwealth of Virginia to adjudicate with-out
appeal upon the incipient land titles of the country. Wil-liam
Fleming, Edmund Lyne, James Barbour, and Stephen
Trigg, citizens of Virginia but not of the county of Ken-tucky,
were appointed as commissioners. This court had
alternate sessions at St. Asaph, Harrodsburg, Boonesborough,
the Kails of the Ohio, and Bryan's Station. The court was
opened at St. Asaph on October 13, 1779 ; and at Harrods-burg
on February 26, 1780, the court announced that its
3i.S7«fe Records of Xorth Carolina, vol. II, pp. 567-S. Cf. also Sum-mers
.S'. W. Virgin'm, pp. 695-6.
32Cf. .Tournal of Daniel Smith, edited by St. George L. Sioussat, Ten-ncHSCc
Ilintoricdl Magaziuc, :March, 1915; Kentucky-Tennessee Bound-ary
Lino, hy J. Stoddart .Johnston, Register Kv. State Hist'l. Soc'y.
Sept., 1!:M).S.
ISAAC SHELBY 135
powers had elapsed and accordingly adjourned sine die.
Thousands of claims, of various kinds, were granted by the
court during its existence. It was quite fitting, and in itself
an event worthy of commemoration, that the first claim pre-sented
for adjudication was that of Isaac Shelby, among the
first on the ground as surveyor under Henderson and Com-pany,
and later to become the first governor of the Common-wealth
of Kentucky. The entry was as follows
:
"Captain John Logan for and in behalf of Isaac Shelby
this day produced a claim, and making a Crop of Corn for
the same in the year 1778 Lying on a branch that heads at the
Knob Lick & about a mile and a half or two Miles from the
said Lick a southeasterly course, proof being made satisfac-tory
to the court they are of Opinion that the said Shelby has a
right to a settlement & Preemption according to law and that
certificates issue for the same."^^
The amount of land thus granted was fourteen hundred
acres ; prior to this time it would seem, Isaac Shelby had per-fected
no claims for western lands. It is worthy of note that
in his deposition before Edmund Eandolph and Jo. Prentiss,
on December 3, 1777, regarding the Transylvania lands,
Isaac Shelby states he had "made several entries for lands in
Mr. Henderson's olfice, but does not consider himself to be in
any manner interested in the Event of the dispute, between
the Commonwealth of Virginia and the said Henderson."^'*
This place. Knob Lick, in what is now Lincoln County, Ken-tucky,
was settled in 1776 by Isaac Shelby while a surveyor
under Henderson and Company. In the early spring of
1783, it may be remarked in passing, Shelby built his house
upon the very spot where he had camped in 1776, on the tract
of land he had preempted, and upon which he planted a crop
of corn, which he left to be cultivated by a tenant, when he
himself went to Williamsburg, then the Capital of Virginia,
for his appointment by Governor Patrick Henry as a Captain
33For this copy I am indebted to Judge Samuel M. Wilson, of Lex-inijton,
Ky.
sWal. Va. State Papers, I, pp. 296-7.
loT* TUK NORTH CAROLIN^A BOOKLET
of the Pr(ivisit)iial Arinv.'*'' Ppon this preemption in August,
ITSCt, Governor IShelby built the first stone house over erected
in Kentucky. This was the famous residence known as
"Traveler's Rest.'' It is recorded that the late Col. Nathaniel
Hart, of Woodford County, used to say that when it was re-ported
that Col. Shelby had found stone suitable for building-purposes,
he received many letters from various portions of
the Tnited States inquiring if it could possibly be there; as
well as many visits to verify the fact, some from as great a
distance as Mason County. The real scarcity of stone then
seems almost incredible now—in view of the unlimited supply
visible on all sides ; but was doubtless due to the luxurious
growth of cane, and to the heavy foliage which so thoroughly
covered the ground when it fell.^^
During the summer of 1780, while he was locating and se-curing
his claims made under the Transylvania Company,
Shelby with his company spent some time among the North-western
Indians—Piankeshaws, Pottawattamies, and Miamis.
In his Memoir, George Rogers Clark makes the following
amusing entry
:
''The ensuing summer (1780), Captain I. Shelby, with
his own company only, lay for a considerable time in the
heart of their (the Indians') country, and was treated in the
most friendly manner by all the natives that he saw, and was
frequently invited by them to join and plunder what was
called 'the King's Pasture at Detroit.' What they meant was
to go and steal horses from that settlement."*^'
What a lark that would have been for the staid and phleg-matic
Shelby
!
While still in Kentucky, in the summer of 1780, Shelby
received intelligence (June 16) of the surrender of Charles-ton
and the loss of the army. lie made haste to return home
(the first part of July), as he himself says, "determined to
enter the service of his country, until her independence was
3ni)ra]M'r's I<in<ix Mountdin, 412; Shelby's Aiitohiography.
3(!C«)llin.s' IliHtorii of Kcntuclcy (1882), i. 514.
3"Eiifi;lisli's VonqufHt of the Northwest, I, 549.
ISAAC SHELBY 137
secured ; for he could not remain a cool spectator of a con-quest
in which his dearest rights and interests were at stake."
The story of the events which immediately succeeded this de-termination
is best told in his own words
:
"On his arrival in Sullivan he joined a requisition from
General Charles McDowell, ordering him to furnish all the
aid in his power, to assist in giving a check to the enemy, who
had overrun the two Southern States and were then on the
border of ISTorth Carolina. Col. Shelby assembled the Militia
of his County, called upon them to volunteer their services
for a short period on that interesting occasion, and marched
in a very few days with near two hundred mounted riflemen
across the Alleghany Mountain.
''Shortly after his arrival at McDowell's camp the army
moved to near the Cherokee Ford of Broad River,, from
whence Col. Shelby and Lieut. Col. Clark of Georgia were
detached with fl.ve hundred mounted men^^ to attack a British
Fort, about twenty miles to the South, which was garrisoned
principally by Loyalists. Col. Shelby left McDowell's camp
late in the evening and arrived at the enemies Post just after
daylight the next morning^^ which he found to be enclosed by
a strong Abbatus (abatis), and everything within, indicating
resistance. He however made a peremptory demand of a sur-render,
when Capt. Patrick Moor, who commanded returned
for answer that he would defend the Post to the last extrem-ity.^^
Our lines were then drawn to within a distance of
about two hundred yards around the Garrison, with a determ-ination
to storm it. He however sent a messenger a second
time to demand a surrender before he would proceed to ex-tremities.
To this the enemy agreed to give up the Post, on
their being Paroled not to serve again during the war; or
until they were regularly exchanged. In it were found ninety-ssshelby's
figures are never conspicuous for accuracy. The detach-ment
in this instance consisted of some six hundred horsemen.
39Sunday, July 30. Cf. Allaire's Diary.
40The person sent in to demand the surrender of the post was
Captain William Cocke, who made the daring ride for Col. Richard
Henderson in April, 1775.
138 THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
Two Loyalists, with one British siibbolten (subaltern) officer
left there to discipline them, also two hnndred and fifty stand
of arms, Avell chariied with ball and Imekshot and well dis-posed
of at the diii'erent port holes. This was a strong post
built for defense in the Cherokee war of '70 and stood on a
branch of a small river called Pacolet.
"Shortly after this atfair and his return to McDowell's
camp Shelby and Clark were again detached with six hun-dred
mounted men to watch the movements of the Enemy,
and if possible to cut up his foraging parties. Ferguson who
commanded the Enemy about two thousand five hundred
strong,'*^ composed of British and Tories, with a small squad-ron
of British Horse, was an officer of great enterprise and
although only a Major in the British line, was a Brigadier
General in the royal militia establishment made by the enemy
after he had overrun South Carolina, and esteemed the most
distinguished partisan ofilcer belonging to the British army.
He made several attempts to surprise Col. Shelby, but his de-signs
were always bafiled. On the firsf*" of August however,
his advance, about six or seven hundred strong, came up with
the American Commander at a place he had chosen to fight
him, called Cedar Spring; when a sharp conflict ensued
which lasted about half an hour ; when Ferguson came up
with his whole force. The Americans then retreated, carry-ing
off the field of battle about twenty prisoners and two
British Subalterns."*'^ Their killed was not ascertained. The
Americans lost eight killed and upwards of thirty wounded,
mostly with the sabre officers. The Enemy made great efforts
for several miles to regain the prisoners, but by forming fre-quently
on advantageous gTound apparently to give them
battle the enemy were retarded in their pursuit, so that the
prisoners were pushed out of their reach. General McDowell
4iSlioll).v's orifriiial stateuu-nt in Haywood's Tennessee is that the
enemy numliered about two thousand ; it may have been as small a
nunilii'i- as eiirhteen hnndred.
•i-Tlie date is correctly ^'iven in Allaire's Diaii/ as Augiist eighth.
43in Todd's Memoir of Shelby the number of prisoners taken is
increased from twenty to liftv.
ISAAC SHELBY 139
having by some means got information that a party from four
to six hundred Loyalists were encamped near Mnsgrove's
Mill, on the South Side of the Enoree River, about forty
miles distant; he again detached Col. Shelby, Williams and
Clark with about seven hundred horsemen,^'* to surprise and
disperse them. Ferguson with his whole force was encamped
at that time on their most direct route. The American com-manders
took up their line of march from Smith's Ford on
Broad river (where McDowell's army was then encamped)
just at sundown on the evening of the ISth*^ August 1780
—
marched through the woods till after dark, and then took a
road leaving Ferguson's camp about three miles to the left.
They rode very hard all night, the greatest part of the way in
a fast travelling gait, and just at the dawn of day, about half
a mile from the Enemy's camp, met a strong patrol party, a
short skirmish ensued, and several of them were killed. At
that juncture a countryman living immediately at the spot,
came up and informed, that the enemy had been reinforced
the evening before, with six hundred regular troops (the
Queens American regiment from New York) under Col.
Ennes, destined to reinforce Ferguson's army ; and the cir-cumstances
attending this information were so minute and
particular, that no doubt was entertained of its truth although
the man was a Tory.'*^ To march on and attack the enemy
then seemed improper. To attempt an escape from the enemy
in the rear appeared improbable, broke down as were the
Americans and their horses ; for it was well known to them
that the enemy could mount six or seven hundred infantry
with horses of the Loyalists. They instantly determined to
44 It is probable that the American forces numbered only from two
hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty. Probably the British
originally numbered approximately six hundred.
45The weight of authority favors the seventeenth, the battle occurr-ing
on the eighteenth.
46it is probable that this statement with respect to the number of
British was a considerable exaggeration. Gov. Abner Nash, writing
Sept. 10. 1780, gives Williams' force as two hundred and the British
as four hundred. The name of the commander of the British re-inforcement
was Inne.s, not Ennes.
—3
140 THE NOKTir CAROLINxV BOOKLET
form a breastwork of old logs and brush near the spot, and
make the best defense in their power; for by this time the
drums and bugle horns of the enemy were distinctly heard in
their camp on the high ground across the river, and soon in-dicated
their movements. Captain Inman was sent with
twenty-five men, to meet the enemy and skirmish with them,
so soon as they crossed the Enoree River Capt. Inman was
ordered to fire on them, and retreat according to his own dis-cretion.
This strategem (which was the suggestion of the
Capt. himself) drew the enemy forward in disorder, believing
they had driven our w4iole party; and when they came up
within seventy yards a most destructive fire commenced from
our Ririemen who lay concealed behind their breastwork of
pine logs and brush, w^iich was near half a mile long.'*" It
was one wdiole hour before the enemy could force our Rifle-men
from their slender breastwork. Just as they began to
give way in some parts. Col. Ennes was badly wounded ; and
all the other British officers except one being previously killed
or wounded ; and Capt. Hawsey a considerable leader among
the Loyalists being shot dow^n; the whole of the enemy's line
began to give way, the Americans pursued them close, and
beat them across the river with slaughter.*^ In this pursuit
Capt. Inman was killed bravely fighting the enemy hand to
hand. In this action Col. Shelby commanded the right
wing, Clark the left and Williams the center. The Americans
returned to their horses and mounted wdth a determination to
be in Ninety-Six (at that time a weak British Post) before
night ; it being less than thirty miles distant according to in-formation
then received. At that moment an express from
Gen'l McDowell (one Francis Jones) came up in great haste
with a short letter in his hand from Governor Caswell, dated
on the battle ground near Camden apprising McDowell of
iTThe Americans had been cautioned to reserve their fire "till they
could see the buttons on the enemies' clothes."
4HWiniam Smith of Watauga, whose bullet had struck down Innes,
exultantly exclaimed : "I've killed their commander." whereupon
Shelby "rallied his men who raised a regular frontier Indian yell and
rushed furiously upon the enemy, who were gradually forced back
before the exasperated riflemen." Cf. Draper's Kings Mountain, 108.
ISAAC SHELBY 141
the defeat of the American grand army under Gen'l Gates, on
the 16th near that place, advising him to get out of the way,
for that army would no doubt endeavor to improve their vic-tory
to the greatest advantage by cutting up all the small corps
of the American armies within their reach. It was fortunate
that Col. Shelby had some knowledge of Governor Caswell's
handwriting and knew what reliance to place upon it ; but how
to avoid the enemy in his rear, broke down with fatigue as his
men and horses were, with upwards of two hundred prisoners
(mostly British) taken in the action—was a difficult task.
The loss in killed of the enemy was not ascertained owing to
the sudden manner in which the Americans were obliged to
leave the battle ground, but must have been very great, from
the incessant fire that was poured upon them by our Riflemen
for considerably more than an hour. Our loss did not exceed
nine or ten, as the enemy generally overshot the breast-work.^^
The prisoners were distributed amongst the com-panies,
so as to make about one to every three men, who car-ried
them alternately on horseback directly towards the moun-tains.
We continued our march all that day, the night follow-ing
and the next day until late in the evening, without ever
stopping to refresh. ^^ This long and rapid retreat saved the
Americans, for it is a fact that, De Peyster second in com-mand
of Ferg-uson's army, pursued them with seven hundred
mounted men to the place where they had foraged and re-freshed
themselves in the evening of the second day after the
action; and having arrived there half an hour after our de-parture,
at dusk, so broke down by excessive fatigue in hot
weather, he gave up the chase. ^^ Having seen the party and
•iSDraper says : "four killed and eight or nine wounded." The
British loss, according to the same authority, was eighty-three killed,
about ninety wounded, and seventy prisoners—a total of two hundred
and twenty-three out of between four hundred to five hundred—an
unusually high percentage of loss.
soThis is an admirable illustration of the indomitable persistence
and strenuous energy of Shelby.
siNote B at end of Shelby's Ms. is as follows : "This information
Col. Shelby received from De Peyster himself after he was captured
at Kings Mountain in October following." Draper pronounces this an
error on the authority of Fanning, the Tory annalist, who asserts that
on the night after the battle De Peyster accompanied him from Mus-grove's
Mill to Ninety Six.
142 THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
the prisoners out of all danger Col. Shelby retreated over the
Western waters with his followers, and left the prisoners w^th
Clark and Williams to carry them on to some place of safety
in Virginia. So great was the panic after Gen'l Gates' de-feat,
and Gen, Sumpter's disaster, that McDowell's whole
army broke. Some retreated west of the mountains, and others
went to the Xortli, This action which lasted one hour and a
half and fought so shortly after the defeat of our grand army,
is scarcely known in the history of the Revolution. '"^^ Fergu-son
too, made a hard push with his main army to intercept
and retake the prisoners before they could reach the moun-tains,
but finding his efforts vain, he took post at a place called
Gilbert Town."
Xews of the disastrous reverse to General Gates and the
American army at Camden, on AugTist 16, 1780, and of the
defeat of General Sumter which followed shortly afterwards,
produced the immediate effect of spreading universal conster-nation
and alarm. The various bodies of Whig Militia were
forced to scatter in all directions. From his post at Gilbert
Town, Ferguson paroled a prisoner, one Samuel Philips, a
distant relation of Isaac Shelby's, and ''instructed him to in-form
the officers on the Western waters, that if they did not
desist from their opposition to the British arms, and take pro-tection
under his standard, he would march his army over the
mountains, and lay their army waste with fire and sword."^*^
Immediately following the affair at MusgTove's Mill, Shelby,
with the approbation of Major Robertson, had proposed that
an army of volunteers be raised on both sides of the moun-tains
for the purpose of resisting Ferguson's advance. At
the time the concensus of opinion heartily favored Shelby's
prriposal. As soon as Shelby received Ferguson's threatening
""'-Shelby elsewhere describes the battle as "the hardest and best
foii^rht action he ever was in"—attributing this valor and persistency
to "the great number of officers who were with him as volunteers."
•'iSGeneral .Joseph Graham's account in General Joseph Graham and
His Revolutionary Papers, by W. A. Graham. 1904. This account
originally ar)peared in the ^Southern Literary Messenger, September,
184.5. Compare, also, Draper's Kings Mountain, p. 169.
ISAAC SHELBY 143
and insulting message, he set in train a course of events
which were the reverse of the result aimed at by Ferguson.
The letter instead of having a deterrent and intimidating
effect upon Shelby, only fired to immediate execution the de-termination
which he had already reached to arouse the fierce
mountain men to action. Without delay, Shelby rode off
about forty miles to see John Sevier, the efiicient commander
of the militia of Washington County, at his home near Jones-borough,
Here, after his ride in feverish haste, he found Se-vier
in the midst of great festivities—a horse race was in
progress, and the people in crowds were in attendance at the
barbecue. Angered by the insolent taunt of Ferguson, Shelby
vehemently declared that this was a time, not for a frolic, but
for a fight. Sevier, the daring and adventurous, eagerly
seconded Shelby's proposal to arouse the mountain men, to
cooperate with other forces that might be raised, and to make
an effort to attack, by surprise, and to defeat Ferguson in his
camp ; if this were not practicable, to unite with any corps of
patriots with which they might meet and wage war against
the enemies of America ; and in the event of failure, with the
consequent desolation of their homes, to take water, float down
the Holston, Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers and find
a home with the Spaniards in Louisiana.^'* For two days
Shelby remained in consultation with Sevier; the Sycamore
Shoals of the Watauga was agreed upon as the rendezvous for
their forces, and the time of meeting the twenty-fifth of Sep-tember.
A small force of one hundred and sixty men, under
Colonel Charles McDowell and Colonel Andrew Hampton,
driven before the enemy, had encamped at Watauga on Sep-tember
18th; and their "doleful tale," as Col. Arthur Camp-bell
expressed it, still further "tended to excite the resentment
of the western militia." Sevier undertook to bring this force
into the movement ; and Isaac Shelby sent his brother Moses,
who held the rank of Captain, with a message to Colonel Wil-liam
Campbell, of the neighboring county of Washing-ton,
54Li/e of General John Sevier, by F. M. Turner ; pp. 108-9. Draper's
Kings Mountain, p. 170.
14-i THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
urgently requesting his cooperation. Campbell had other
plans on foot ; but upon the receipt of a second and more
urgent message from Shelby, he acquiesced in the latter's plan
for the attack on Ferguson, Shelby likewise despatched a
messenger, a Mr. Adair, to the County Lieutenant of Wash-ington
County, Colonel Arthur Campbell, the cousin and
brother-in-law of William Campbell, requesting his coopera-tion.
Arthur Campbell had just returned from a conference
with Governor Jefferson, and was in a mood to act, as the
Governor had pressed upon him the need for a more vigorous
resistance to the enemy. Campbell sent word back that *'if
the western counties of North Carolina could raise a force to
join Col. McDowell's men, that the officers of Washington
County would cooperate." ^^
5nKings Mountain—A Fragment, by Col. Arthur Campbell.
145
The Old Cemetery, Charlotte, N. C.
Some Unusual Notations Concerning this Ancient
Burial Place, which Holds the Dust of Many
Patriots of Fame in North Carolina
By Violet G. Axexakdek.
A complete record of this ancient burial ground is not ex-istant
todaj, but it is known to be one of the oldest graveyards
in North Carolina, guarding in its bosom the dust of many
patriots, men and women, with their little children, once
prominent in the life of the county and the State.
It has been called "the graveyard of the Presbyterian
church" (Hunter's Sketches of Western North Carolina,
pages 50-59) and there is probably a reason for this title, for
in the early days of this community, what is today the First
Presbyterian Church was the only church in Charlotte, and
was built for all denominations ; but at that date the Presby-terian
denomination was the only one in evidence, so after
some years of so-called "general use" the Presb}i;erians paid
a small debt of $1,500 and took over the church and beautiful
oak grove occupying a city square. As was the custom in those
early days, a graveyard was laid oif adjacent to the church
and was used as a common burying ground. This one lies im-mediately
in the rear of the Presbyterian church occupying
almost a city square and as it was laid off in connection with
the church has frequently been called "the graveyard of the
Presbyterian church."
The "Old Cemetery," as it is now more generally called,
was the first graveyard in Charlotte, the "Spratt Burying
Ground" antedating it some years, was a private one outside
the town limits in early days. The "Old Cemetery" was used
as the "town" cemetery until a few years prior to the War
Between the States, about 1854, the date of the first inter-ment
in "Elmwood," the present large city cemetery, when,
140 THE XORTir CAROLINA BOOKLET
on account of its small size and crowded condition, it was
closed for burials, and ''Elmwood" was opened.
Interments ''bv special permit" to allow members of fam-ilies
to be buried bv tbose of tlicir name, liave taken place as
late as during the '70s. One of the last was that of Mrs.
Sophie Graham Witherspoon, widow of Dr. John Wither-spoon
and daughter of General Joseph Graham, a beautiful,
gifted, and beloved woman, worthy of her splendid ancestry,
who today has a host of relatives in Charlotte to "rise up
and call her blessed."
Xo complete list of those who have been buried here is
available, as no record was kept, and the tombs of many have
disappeared from age or neglect, but a partial list has been
gleaned from the tombstones still standing, which contains the
names of the following well-known and honored families
:
Alexander, Davidson, Graham, Witherspoon, Polk, Irwin,
Carson, Orr, Harty, Clayton, Houston, Berryhill, Blair, Cald-well,
Dunlap, Watson, Lowrie, Wilson, Gillespie, Elms,
Trotter, Ray, Woodruff, Britton, McLelland, Howell, Sloan,
]\rorrow, Cook, Lemmuel, Badger, Sterling, Jones, Owens,
Thomas, Mcliee, Tredinick, Kearney, Caruth, Asbury, Hos-kins,
Boyd, Springs, Laurey, Meacham, Dixon, McCombs,
Edwards, Howie, Wheeler, and Dinkins.
This incomplete list is one of the "honor-rolls" of Mecklen-burg
County, recording the fair names of some of her bravest
sons and loveliest daughters, who in their brief day acted well
their part and laid the safe foundation of Church and State
which is today the goodly heritage of Charlotte. Lack of
space prevents individual mention of many whose names and
lives are indelibly linked with North Carolina's history nor
are we permitted to quote the quaint epitaphs and inscrip-tions
found on many of the tombstones.
Three men of considerable fame and who stand large in
Xorth Carolina history arc buried in the "Old Cemetery"
and deserve a more extended notice: Governor Xathaniel
Alexander, Colonel Thomas Polk, and General George Gra-ham.
THE OLD CEMETERY, CKAKLOTTE, X. C. 147
Governor N^athaniel Alexander is the only Governor Meck-lenburg
County has ever had and his last resting place should
be gTiarded with affection and pride, for he was honored and"
beloved by his contemporaries as is attested by the many
positions of trust he filled. Foote, in his History of Western
North Carolina, page 267, has the following:
"l^athaniel Alexander, late Governor of North Carolina,
was a native of Mecklenburg. He was a physician by profes-sion
and was elected a member of the House of Commons
from Mecklenburg in 1797, a member of the Senate in 1801,
and reelected in 1802. In 1803-1805 he was a member of
Congress, and in 1805 elected Governor of the State. He
married a daughter of Colonel Thomas Polk. He left no
children. He was a man of much personal worth and re-spectable
talents. He died and lies buried in Charlotte."
Governor Alexander was a son of Colonel Moses Alexander,
a distinguished Revolutionary patriot, who also rendered
large services to his country. Governor Alexander's wife
(Margaret Polk), was also of patriotic blood, a woman of
many fine traits and splendid characteristics, as is evidenced
by the fact that she was one of that brilliant company of young
ladies of Mecklenburg County who drew up and signed the
famous patriotic Resolutions and sent them to Salisbury to
the Committee in session there representing Rowan and
Mecklenburg counties on May 8, 1776. For a full account of
this patriotic deed read Hunter's Sketches of Western- North
Carolina, pages 144-145. It would appear from this action
of the women of Mecklenburg County in May, 1776—still
some months prior to July 4, 1776—that they were fired with
the same fearless patriotism which prompted the men of
Mecklenburg County to draw up and sign the Mecklenburg
Declaration of Independence on the previous May 20, 1775 !
Governor Alexander and his wife are buried in the "Old
Cemetery" and we find the following inscriptions on their
tombs.
148 THE NORTH CAKOLINA BOOKLET
Sacred
To the Memory of
Doc'r Nathaniel Alexander
Late Governor of No. Carolina
who departed this life on the
7th day of March 1808
in the 52nd year of his age.
By his side lies buried his wife, with this inscription on
her tomb:
Sacred
To the Memory of
Margaret Alexander
Wife of
Doctor Alexander
and daughter of
Thomas and Susannah Polk
who departed this life on the
12th day of Sept. 1806
in the 42nd year of her age.
Turning now to Colonel Thomas Polk, we again quote from
the historian, Foote, pages 5-10, who says : "Col. Thomas
Polk and his wife Susanna Spratt Polk, lie buried in the
graveyard of the village (Charlotte)." Colonel Polk was one
of the ablest and most patriotic men Mecklenburg County
—
famous for her patriots—has ever borne. He was a member
of the Colonial Assembly in 1771 and again in 1775. In
1775 he was Colonel of the Mecklenburg Militia and issued
orders to the Captains of the several ''beats," or districts, to
send two (2) delegates each to the Convention held in Char-lotte
on its regular day of meeting, May 19, 1775. It was on
this day, while the Convention was in session, that the news of
the Battle of Lexington (Mass.) reached Charlotte, and the
citizens, already aggrieved and incensed, became so indignant
that Resolutions were drawn up and signed on May 20, 1775,
declaring independence of Great Britain. Colonel Polk was
a delegate to the Convention and was one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence and had the honor by right of
his official capacity as Colonel of the Militia, of reading the
famous document publicly from the courthouse steps to the
THE OLD CEMETERY, CHARLOTTE, N. C. 149
assembled citizens. Colonel Polk was appointed Colonel of
the Fourth Regiment, Continental Troops by the Provincial
Congress at Halifax, E". C, April 4, 1776. After the death
of General William Lee Davidson at Cowan's Ford, he was
appointed Brigadier- General in his stead. Mrs. Polk was a
daughter of Thomas Spratt, one of the earliest settlers of
western North Carolina, who was the first man to '^cross the
Yadkin River on wheels"—vehicles in those primitive days
being rare ; he was one of the wealthiest and most influential
citizens of Mecklenburg and it was at his home where the
first court was held prior to the building of the first court-house.
Mrs. Polk's sister, Ann Spratt, was the first white
child born in Western North Carolina, and her gTave is in the
old ''Spratt burying ground." Colonel and Mrs. Polk had an
interesting family, many of whose descendents are prominent
in the life of the community today. Himter's Sketches of
Western North Carolina, page 55, tells us that ''he (Colonel
Polk) died in 1793, full of years and full of honors, and his
mortal remains repose in the graveyard of the Presbyterian
Church, in Charlotte."
Their son, William Polk, also a distinguished patriot,
erected a memorial marble over the last resting place of his
parents as a tribute of filial love and esteem. On it we read
this beautiful testimony
:
Here lies inter'd
The Earthly remains of
General Thomas Polk
and his wife
Susanna Polk
who lived many years together
justly beloved and respected
for their many virtues
And universally regretted by all
who had the pleasure of their
acquaintance.
Their Son
William Polk
As a token of his filial regard
hath caused this stone to be
Erected to their Memory.
150 THE XORTII CAROLINA BOOKLET
Some vears ai;o it was the custom on each 20th of May for
a "Special Committee" of citizens to visit the ''Old Cemetery"
and decorate Colonel Polk's iirave with flags and flowers in
loving- niemorv of his patriotism as Siguier and Public Reader
of ^lecklenburg's Declaration. Today this loyal tribute has
fallen into disuse, but the writer hopes to sec it revived and
again become an annual custom.
General George Graham is the third distinguished patriot
buried in the "Old Cemetery" of whom we shall write. He
was one of the most conspicuously brave and daring men
Xorth Carolina has ever produced, a man with a notable
record for heroism as is strikingly recounted in the remarkable
inscription on his tombstone. He was the son of Scotch-Irish
parents, James and Mary Graham, and was born in Pennsyl-vania,
December 5, 1752, moving to Xorth Carolina with his
widowed mother when about ten years of age. His mother
was a woman of strong character and fine patriotism, aiding
her countrymen in their struggle for freedom and giving to
the cause two sons, General Joseph Graham and General
George Graham. She is buried in the ''Old Cemetery," near
the grave of her son, George. He was one of the students of
"Queen's Museum" (afterwards Liberty Hall) and was in
Charlotte and present at the reading of the Mecklenburg
Declaration, on May 20, 1775, as is attested by his affidavit
given when he was 61 years of age. In May, 1775, when it
was rumored that Captain James Jack, bearer of the Meck-lenburg
Declaration to the Continental Congress in Philadel-phia,
was about to be detained in Salisbury by two Tory law^-
yers, Dunn and Booties, young George Graham, then about 23
years of age, "was one of the brave spirits who rode all night
to Salisbury," seized the offenders and brought them both to
Mecklenburg for trial. George Graham took an active part
in the campaign against Cornwallis in 1780, and was one of
the twelve (12) brave men wdio dared attack a foraging party
of four hundred (400) British soldiers at Mclntire's Branch
on the Beattie's Ford road, seven miles from Charlotte, com-pelling
them to retreat with a considerable loss of dead and
THE OLD CEMETEEY, CHARLOTTE, jST. C. 151
wounded. Scarcely has a braver or moie daring deed been
written in the annals of American historj'
!
After the war George Graham was elected Major-General
of the Korth Carolina Militia ; for many years he was Clerk
of the Court of Mecklenburg County and he was a member of
the House of Representatives during 1793-94:-95, and was a
member of the State Senate during 1703-01-05-06-07-08-09-
10-11-12. Again we quote from Hunter's Sketches of West-ern
North Carolina, page 99 :
"He (George Graham) lived more than half a century on
his farm two miles from Charlotte. He died on the 29th of
March, 1826, in the 68th year of his age, and is buried in the
graveyard of the Presbyterian Church in Charlotte."
A more extended and interesting account of George Graham
may be found in that valuable contribution to history, the life
of his brother Joseph, entitled General Joseph Graham and
His Revolutionari) Papers, written by General Joseph Gra-ham's
distinguished grandson, Hon. Wm. A. Graham.
The inscription on George Graham's tombstone is a gTate-ful
recogTiition by his fellow-countrymen of his splendid
bravery in times of war and of his sterling qualities in times
of peace, a most unusual and striking tribute
!
As we stand by his grave we read
:
Sacred
to the
Memory of
Major-General George Graham
who died
on the 29th of March. 1S26
in the 68th year of liis age.
He lived more tlian half a century
in the vicinity of
This place and was a zealous and
active defender of his
Country's Rights
in the
Revolutionary War
and one of the Gallant Twelve who
152 THE NOIJTir CAKOLIXA BOOKLET
dared to attack and actually
drove 4(X> British troops
at Mclutire's
7 miles north of Charlotte
on the 3rd of October, 1780.
George Graham filled many high
and responsible Public Trusts
the duties of wliich he discharged
with fidelity.
He was the people's friend not their
flatterer
and uniformly engaged the
Unlimited Confidence
and respect of his
Fellow Citizens.
The site of the encounter with the British at Mclntire's has
been marked by a boulder and inscription as a memorial to
George Graham and the "Gallant Twelve."
In the north and east corner of the ''Old Cemetery" a
space was set apart for the burial of the slaves who died in
the homes of their masters. Many faithful men and women,
with their little children, found sepulture here, near the last
resting place of those they had loved and faithfully served,
and who in return were held in affection and esteem. No
tombstones mark these graves and most of them have disap-peared
from sight, so today only a rolling greensward greets
the eye of the casual passerby, giving no intimation that be-neath
its turf lie the dust of many of an alien race who had
found home and friends in Charlotte.
Strangers and visitors to Charlotte often visit the ''Old
Cemetery" to search for graves ^f relatives, or to copy inscrip-tions,
or, from a reverent love of studying at first-hand a
people's history, to stroll through its shady walks under its
ancient oak trees and read the quaint epitaphs. Unfortun-ately
this historic burial place has not been put in "Perpetual
Care," and the city gives only a small appropriation for its
upkeep. A fine hedge has been planted around it and a
splendid rock wall built on the front side. At its entrance
on West Fifth Street we find a beautiful old wrought-iron
THE OLD CEMETERY, CHARLOTTE, N. C. 153
gate of historic interest. The iron was mined by John Gra-ham,
a son of General Joseph Graham, at one of the General's
iron furnaces, ''Rehoboth Furnace," in Lincoln County, and
was made ''by hand" by the slaves and is a beautiful specimen
of their work. The gate was owned by various members of
the family in succession and has been donated to the "Old
Cemetery." This sacred "God's Acre" now lies close to the
throbbing heart of the modern "Queen City," and is one of
her priceless heritages from her early patriots, who bestowed
on her her splendid history which is today her greatest
treasure.
154 THE XORTII CAROLINA BOOKLET
The North CaroUna Medical Society
of 1799-1804
By Marshall DeLancey Haywood.
Author of "Governor William Tryon and His Administration in the
I'rovince of North Carolina, 1765-1771," "Lives of
the Bishops of North Carolina," "Ballads
of Courageous Carolinians," etc.
The present splendid organization, known as The Medical
Society of the State of North Carolina, had its origin, as
many know, in the year 1849 ; but the fact is known to very
few that just half a century earlier a society of almost the
same name
—
The North Carolina Medical Society—
was projected in the city of Raleigh by leaders of the medical
profession then residing in the Old North State.
By perusing old files of the Raleigh Register, now pre-served
in the North Carolina State Library, we are able to
catch glimpses of the earlier organization and its promoters.
In the issue of that paper of November 12, 1799, it is stated
that "it is contemplated by several Gentlemen of the Faculty,
in the State, to form themselves into a Medical Society, and
that they intend to convene for that purpose in this city some
time in the month of December." The editor adds: "Such
an association of scientific men must be highly useful to them-selves
and to the community." Commenting still further it
is editorially stated that such a society could be made ex-tremely
useful "by the interchange of sentiments which it
would occasion ; by the discussion of medical subjects, which
would awaken the spirit of inquiry; by directing the pur-suits
of the pupil ; by giving sanction to the medical skill and
ability of candidates for practice; by establishing among the
Faculty a friendly intercourse; by enabling the community
to distinguish the true Physician from the ignorant Pre-tender
; and by discountenancing, and possibly suppressing
the fatal and criminal practices of Quacks and Empyrics."
THE jSr. C, MEDICAL SOCIETY 155
The term "Faculty," above mentioned, we may add in
passing, is not used in the same sense as we now generally
understand that word, but is an obsolete term to denote a
learned profession or occupation.
In the Ealeigh Register of December 10, 1799, Dr. Calvin
Jones, '^Secretary of Correspondence," published notice that
the Medical Society would hold its meeting in Raleigh on the
16th of the same month. It is briefly announced in the afore-mentioned
newspaper of December 17th that the "Medical
Society met this day [probably meaning the preceding day]
when Dr. Hand was appointed to the chair, and the Society
proceeded to business."
The State Legislature convened in Raleigh about this time,
and legally incorporated The ISTorth Carolina Medical So-ciety
by Chapter 38 of the Private Laws of 1799.
The list of officers was announced as follows in the Baleigh
Register of December 24th : Richard Fenuer, President
;
ISTat Loomis and J. Clairborne, Vice-Presidents ; Sterling
Wheaton, James Webb, John J. Pasteur, and Jason Hand,
Censors ; Calvin Jones, Corresponding Secretary ; William B.
Hill, Recording Secretary ; and Cargill Massenburg, Treas-urer.
This meeting adjourned, with a resolution that the
next annual convention should be held in Raleigh on Decem-ber
1, 1800. It met at the appointed time, and elected as new
members Drs. John C. Osborne, Thomas Mitchel, John Sib-ley,
Armistead, and French. A success-ful
examination before the Censors was passed by Charles
Smith. Quite a number of essays was read, and discussions
were participated in by many of those present. The State
was then divided by the Society into medical districts, and
the physicians residing in these districts were urged to hold
periodical meetings. Dr. James Webb, of Hillsborough, read
a paper on the causes and prevention of gout and rheumatism.
Prizes in money were offered by the Society for certain quan-tities
of plants and medicinal articles produced in North
Carolina, as follows: fox-glove, opium, rhubarb, castor oil,
—4
156 THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
and senna. Cholera infantum was fixed upon as the special
subject of study for the succeeding annual meeting, and
Drs. Pasteur, Wheaton, Loomis, and Hand were appointed
essayists for the said forthcoming meeting, to be held in the
year following, with liberty to choose the subjects of their
dissertations. Before this meeting of 1800 adjourned, officers
were elected as follows : John C. Osborne, President ; Thomas
]\ritchcl and Richard Feuner, Vice-Presidents; James Webb
and John Sibley, Censors ; Sterling Wheaton, Recording Sec-retary;
Calvin Jones, Corresponding Secretary; and Cargill
Massenburg, Treasurer.
The next annual meeting duly convened in the city of
Raleigh on Monday, December 1, 1801, and held a three-day
session. The newspaper account says that "a considerable
number of respectable Physicians from various parts of the
State were present." The president, Dr. Osborne, delivered
the opening address which was editorially described in the
Baleigli Begister as *'a cursory narrative of the progress of
the science of Medicine, from the earliest ages." An "in-genious
practical treatise on General Dropsy" was read by
Dr. Wheaton. A committee was appointed to take steps to-wards
establishing a botanical garden, for the cultivation of
medicinal plants, and it was also resolved to found a medical
library. The officers of the preceding year were reelected,
with the exception of the fact that Dr. Clairborne succeeded
Dr. Sibley as a Censor. The subject of infantile diseases
was designated as a special study for the next annual meeting.
In the newspapers of ISTovember, 1802, a call for the Society
to meet on December 1st, was issued by Dr. Calvin Jones,
Corresponding Secretary ; but, if the meeting took place, as it
probably did, the present writer can find no record of its pro-ceedings.
The annual meeting at Raleigh, on December 3, 1803,
brought a new accession of members in the persons of Drs.
Robert Williams (of Pitt), John McFarland, John McAden,
Elias Hawes, Hugh McCullough, and Thomas Henderson.
jSTo change of officers was made except the election of Dr.
THE N. C. MEDICAL SOCIETY 15T
Williams as a Censor, vice Dr. Clairborne. The details of this
meeting are not given in the newspaper report.
The Society met in Raleigh on December 10, 1804, re-elected
all officers of the preceding year, with the exception of
Treasurer—Dr. Hawes succeeding Dr. Massenburg—and re-solved
to hold its next meeting in the town of Chapel Hill,
the seat of the University of North Carolina, on the 5th of
July, 1805. Whether this meeting took place the present
writer is unable to say, nor can he find any further record of
proceedings of this Society in the old newspaper files or else-where.
To illustrate how thoroughly abreast of their time these
physicians in the ISTorth Carolina Medical Society were, it
may be recalled that while Dr. Jenner's experiments, in Eng-land,
on the subject of vaccination against smallpox were still
in progress the ISTorth Carolina practitioners were making a
study of his dissertations and applying the process to their
patients. Jenner's first published treatise on the subject ap-peared
in England in 1798, and his experiments were not
completed till several years later. Yet as early as 1800 Dr.
Calvin Jones published in the Raleigh Register an announce-ment
that soon he hoped to begin the treatment in North
Carolina. A long treatise on this subject, from the pen of
Dr. Jones will be found in the Raleigh Register of April 14,
1801, in which he made reference to an announcement on the
subject, by him, in the preceding year, but stated that he had
decided to postpone the treatment until further experiments
had been perfected in Europe and America. He says
:
"The public have been taught to expect, from my advertise-ments
of last year, that I shall, in the ensuing month, com-mence
inoculation for the Smallpox ; but I am prevented
from doing this by the consideration of what is due from me
to those who would have been my patients, whose ease and
safety my own inclinations and the honor of my profession
bind me to consult."
Further on in this communication Dr. Jones refers to emi-
15S THE XOKTII CAROLINA BOOKLET
iient practitioners in England, Scotland, Austria, and France,
who bad successfully used the treatment, and adds
:
"Dr. ]\Iitcliell, of Xew York, and Dr. Waterhouse, of New
Ilampsliire, have both received the matter of the disease from
England, and propose inoculating early in the present season,
so that we may expect it will soon become common in the
United States."
The practice of vaccination, we may add, came into use in
parts of Xorth Carolina other than the vicinity of Raleigh
about the time the above experiments were being made by Dr.
Jones and his associates. The historical researches of Miss
Adelaide L. Fries have recently brought to light the fact that
in the old Moravian community of Salem, North Carolina,
eighty persons (mostly children) were successfully treated in
the Summer of 1802, by Dr. Samuel Vierling, the town phy-sician,
for whose use the parents in that place ("house-fathers"
and "house-mothers") had obtained, by a special messenger
whom they had sent to "a certain doctor in Raleigh," speci-mens
of the cow-pox virus, with instructions for its proper use.
When Dr. Vierling undertook this work at Salem he refused
to say what compensation he would demand, as he did not
know what trouble and expense the process would entail. He
did state, however, that he would do the work as cheaply as
possible ; and we must credit him wath keeping this promise to
the letter, as the record concludes wath the remark that Dr.
Vierling '^declined to accept any pay for his services."
Returning to the subject of the North Carolina Medical
Society, little remains to be added. xVs already noted, we can
find no record of its meetings after 1804. We may state in
conclusion, however, that as the Society had made a collec-tion
of natural history specimens, etc., and as Dr. Calvin
Jones w^as its secretary ; and furthermore, as Dr. Jones turned
over a '^museiun of artificial and natural curiosities" to the
University of North Carolina, about twenty years later, on
the eve of his removal to Tennessee, this gift to the University
was ill all probability the last remaining possession of the de-funct
North Carolina Medical Societv.
159
Proceedings of the North CaroUna Society
Daughters of the Revolution
Held in Edenton, October 24-26, 1916
At the annual meeting of the State Society D. R., held in
Raleigh in 1915, on motion of the Vice-Regent, Mrs. Mar-shall
Williams, it was voted to hold the annual meeting of
191 G in some of our historic old towns where the Society has
a Chapter. So when Mrs. Patrick Matthew, Regent of the
Penelope Barker Chapter, extended an invitation to the
Daughters to visit Edenton, the invitation was accepted with
delightful anticipation and without deliberation, for Edenton
of all towns in the State is very near to the hearts of the
Daughters of the Revolution. It was in studying the history
of this Revolutionary hot-bed that they were inspired to
commemorate the Edenton Tea Party of 17T4 with a hand-some
bronze tablet, which was placed in the rotunda of the
State Capitol at Raleigh in October, 1908. In order to raise
funds for that purpose the ISTorth Carolina Booklet was
launched in May, 1901, at the suggestion of Miss Martha
Helen Haywood, who, with Mrs. Hubert Haywood, was one
of the first editors ; and the Penelope Barker Chapter was the
first Chapter organized by the ISTorth Carolina Daughters.
The Twentieth Annual Meeting of the ISTorth Carolina So-ciety
Daughters of the Revolution was held in the form of a
pilgrimage to the historic "Borough Towne" of Edenton,
variously called "ye Towne in Queen Anne's Creek," "ye
Towne in Mattermacomock Creek," and "Port of Roanoke" in
the oldest records. The Penelope Barker Chapter filled the
role of hostess most charmingly October 21, 25 and 26.
The delegates arrived at noon Tuesday, October 24, and
were met at the station by members of the Chapter and Mr
Richard D. Dixon, representing his uncle. Dr. Richard Dil-lard
(who was unavoidably absent) and driven to their desti-nations.
That afternoon the gentlemen of the Historical
Society gave a sail in honor of the visiting Daughters. The
ICO THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
weather was ideal and the famous Bay of Edenton, that has
been so often compared to the Bay of Naples, never looked
fairer than it did under the mellow rays of the radiant autumn
sun, while Mattermacomoek Creek was a veritable reproduc-tion
of fairyland with the rich tints of the changing forests,
the waving Spanish moss and the vivid reflections borne on
the smooth surface of its limpid waters. The dying of a
perfect day and the brilliant afterglow amid such surround-ings
were watched intently by the guests, all of whom, save
two, were enjoying the attractions of Edenton for the first
time.
On landing, the party strolled to the home of Mr. Frank
Wood, where they were entertained at tea by Miss Caroline
W. Coke, Vice-Regent of the Penelope Barker Chapter. In
the grounds of Mr. Wood's home, facing the court house green,
stood the residence of Mrs. Elizabeth King, where the Eden-ton
Tea Party was held, October 25, 1774, the site of which
has been marked by Mr. Frank Wood with a pedestal mounted
with a bronze tea pot. China that was owned by the distin-guished
President of the Tea Party, the stately Penelope
Barker, was used, and delicious tea cakes, made from the
recipe she had so frequently found useful, were served. On
departing, each guest was presented with a typewritten recipe,
rolled and tied with bufi^ and blue ribbon, the Society's colors.
The recipe is
:
Pexelope Barker Tea Cakes.—1 quart flour, 3^ cup but-ter
and lard, mixed ; 2 large cups brown sugar, 3 eggs, 1
rounded teaspoonful soda. Beat eggs together well, adding
sugar; next, soda, dissolved in 1 tablespoonful warm water
(not hot). Flavor with vanilla. Lastl}' add quickly the flour,
into which butter and lard have been well worked. Roll out
as soft as possible and cut. Bake in a hot oven.
The parlor was tastefully decorated with trailing vines and
pink roses. Miss Tillie Bond, the nearest living relative of
Penelope Barker, was a guest of honor.
On Tuesday evening the Daughters met in the Colonial
PROCEEDINGS N. C. SO. D. E. 161
court house, which had been appropriately dressed with yellow
flowers and banners, carrying out the colors of the Daughters
of the Revolution, Dr. Dillard presiding. The address of
welcome, was delivered by the Regent of the Penelope Barker
Chapter
:
Mme. Regent, Daughters of the Revolution, Ladies and Gen-tlemen:
The first page of American history was written when
Columbus appealed to the Court of Spain for a fleet with
which to set sail upon that long, perilous voyage which termi-nated
in his planting the Cross upon the Island of San Salva-dor,
1492.
From that time to the establishment of the Sir Walter
Raleigh Colony on Roanoke Island to the settlement of the
Chowan Precinct was but a short chain of events, but perfect
in continuity.
Here, where the giants of the forest stood deep-rooted on
the shores of this grand body of water, which is now known as
the Albemarle Sound, flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, con-necting
the Old World with the New, was "Ye Little Towne
on Queen Anne's Creek." With but a handful of people it
set up its own government with its laws, court, customs,
church, and thus early laid the foundation for an important
centre of trade.
Surrounded by the Red Men, who soon became friends,
they reduced to cultivation fertile fields which afforded the
barter for the vessels which sailed into the harbor.
Without recorded explanation the name was changed to
"Port of Roanoke," and here increased high life of Church
and State, industries grew, wise patriots became known
abroad, the capital of the State was here located, laws made,
and her fame spread like the branches of the grandeur of the
forest primeval.
Her commerce increased, ships multiplied in numbers, and
the Old World wondered at her great possession.
In 1722 Governor Charles Eden died, and from that date
162 THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
the iiaino oi' the tcnvn lias been Edenton, thus eonvincing us
that it was named in nieniorv of that distingiiished statesman.
After years of servitude and discontent, with no represen-tation
in parliament, the cries of resentment grew pitiful, but
the determination of resistance came from the women of
Edenton in that document, The Edenton Tea Party, which
shook the foundation of British rule in America, and sounded
the tirst alarm at the court of St. James. Women have
always been powerful, but the mighty stroke of independence
was wielded by the pens of the immortal fifty-one wdio signed
their names to that document, which w^as the key-note of the
War of the Revolution.
So, Mme. Regent and Daughters of the Revolution, we bid
you welcome to the home of our ancestors, the land of King
Iloyle, the last sovereign ruler of the Choanokes, a man whose
lovely character made the white people live in harmony with
his tribe, and who gave his two sons to be taught to receive
Christianity, for in his savage breast there beat a heart which
knew that a greater God than their Great Spirit was Lord
over the w^orld and he wanted his sons to take up their cross
and follow Him.
With your advent in our midst you receive the freedom of
Edenton, and to one and all w^e bid you come to our houses,
partake of our bounty, welcome you to our firesides, make you
our friends, for be it ever so lowly '^There's no place like
home."
The following response was made by Miss Mary Hilliard
Hinton, the State Regent
:
Officers and DaugJiters of the Revolution:
It is a pleasure inexpressible for the North Carolina So-ciety
Daughters of the Revolution to assemble for the Twen-tieth
Annual Meeting in this historic ''Borough Town,"
variously referred to in the oldest records as the "Towne in
(^ueen Anne's Creek," the "Towne in Mattermacomock
Creek," "Port of Roanoke," and later permanently and so
appropriately named Edenton, though it must be admitted
PROCEEDINGS IST. C. SO. D. R. 163
the serpent is conspicuous through absence. It is a joyous
privilege indeed to acknowledge the gracious words of this
very cordial welcome, and to you, Madam Regent, and the
Penelope Barker Chapter, we extend our warmest expres-sions
of appreciation and gratitude.
Particularly dear to the hearts of the Daughters of the
Revolution are Edenton and the Penelope Barker Chapter,
for it was the noble history of this fair town which first in-spired
this Society to commemorate the ^'Edenton Tea
Party" by placing a handsome bronze tablet in the State
Capitol at Raleigh, the first to adorn that stately edifice, and
as a way to raise the means necessary the ]*^orth Carolina
Booklet was launched. May 10, 1901. In every important
event in our past since then Edenton has been prominently
represented, and some of the Booklet's most valuable con-tributions
have been from the pen of her versatile writers,
even to the youngest generation. The Penelope Barker Chap-ter
has been our heart's pride, because it was the first Chapter
organized, and its record can only arouse interest and stimu-late
ambition in historic research and patriotic achievements.
It is an honor to have such a band of members respond to its
roll call.
As we gather here today, some visitors for the first time to
this Revolutionary hot-bed and centre of culture and refine-ment,
naturally our thoughts revert to those stirring times
that shook a great kingdom and a vast continent to their very
foundations. We feel the sacred presence of the famous
statesmen and the brave, fascinating women who moved in
that long ago, for here they lived, labored and won laurels for
the Patriot Cause that can never fade. These beautiful,
historic buildings of the Colonial period have been rendered
more interesting from the fact that they have resounded with
the echoes of their voices and the fall of their footsteps. They
pass before us in mental review. Foremost in that distant
throng are Judge James Iredell, who, by his letters, has be-queathed
to posterity such vivid delineations of the social life.
Colonial and Revolutionary, of Edenton; Governor Samuel
1G4 THE NORTH CAKOLINA BOOKLET
Johnston, the builder of "Hayes," and his sisters, Hannah and
Isabella ; Joseph Hewes ; James Wilson, of Pennsylvania
;
Thomas Barker, and his fair spouse, the immortal Penelope,
and that beauty and belle, Betsy Barker, whose likeness
present-day iconoclasts wish to confound with that of her
noted step-mother, Imt whose separate portraits exist in
middle Carolina, one of the President of the Tea Party
l(iancJ to the Hall of History at Raleigh and the other in
the home of a descendant at Ridgeway, painted, it seems, by
the same artist, but showing not one trace of resemblance.
Each of the fifty-one signers of the Tea Party stand forth as
clearly as though the mist of intervening years had vanished.
Many, many, many others pass in the distingiiished assemb-lage.
We offer our homage to their hallowed memories and
imbibe inspiration to aspire to higher ideals and the perform-ance
of deeds worth while.
Of all the towns of North Carolina none have preserved
that ideal, restful Colonial atmosphere, all too rare in this age
of perpetual unrest and dangerous commercialism, as has this
sweet haven of rest, and nowhere else can be brewed as delic-ious
a cup of tea, which proves that the fifty-one ladies that
met at Mrs. King's house on the Court House Green one hun-dred
and forty-two years ago tomorrow, understood the full
meaning of self-denial ! To Edenton we come to receive fresh
impetus to proceed with extensive plans for a future of rose-tinted
promise.
Six and a half years have passed since you entrusted to
your Regent the highest office in the gift of the Society. It
has been a pleasure to serve the order that is closest to her
heart, even though in so doing she has been overworked with
the requirements of the office, in addition to the demands of
the Booklet, therefore she fully realizes her shortcomings
and at all times, in glancing over the past, she trusts you will
do so with kind indulgence.
During that space of time five Chapters, the Bloomsbury
at Raleigh, the Roanoke at Windsor, the General Francis
Xash at Hillsboro, the Mary Slocumb at Faison, and the
PROCEEDINGS N. C. SO. D. E. 165
Thomas Robeson at Red Springs, have been organized, and
two Junior Chapters, the Virginia Dare and Ensinore, at
Elizabeth City, have been formed. The set of one hundred
and nine lantern slides, most of which are colored, and the
lecture, '^Stories from North Carolina History," have been
made and presented in Raleigh, Elizabeth City, Washington,
Edenton, Windsor, and Winston-Salem. Eight tablets have
been erected by the Chapters. A room has been furnished by
the Chapters in Elizabeth City, called the ^'Virginia Dare
Room." The chart and key of St. Paul's Churchyard has
been presented this historic church, the painstaking work of
the Penelope Barker Chapter. Twenty gold medals have been
presented in the public schools in towns in North Carolina.
Miss Catherine Albertson's book, "In Ancient Albemarle,"
has been published by the Society. Every annual meeting of
the General Society, save that at Brooklyn in 1915, has been
attended by delegates from North Carolina. The Booklet
has been published and some brilliant social functions are
some of the matters that have engaged the hearts and hands
of the North Carolina Daughters.
Today the North Carolina Society is as loyal to the parent
Society as she was in the pioneer days—aye, more so. We
stand for the things she advocates and we are happy and con-tent
in being under her fold. Loyalty is one of the noblest
traits that has been implanted in the nature of man. Would
we be worthy of the great heroes whose deeds we commem-orate
were we untrue to the cause we have espoused '^ Our
ranks are constantly being strengthened by the best, and we
rejoice that we can face the future with confidence and hope
of greater achievement.
To our beloved founder, Mrs. Fannie DeBerniere Hooper
Whitaker, we turn in loving remembrance, and we feel North
Carolina has been richer for the influence she wielded and
her memory continues to exert.
To the officers and members of the North Carolina Society
your Regent extends her sincerest thanks for this list of good
IGG THE XORTII CAROLIXA BOOKLET
works and for the whole-hearted support you have bestowed in
times of hibor and toil, in times of clouds and sunshine.
Each of you has become dearer for the associations which
shall be cherished always.
An address, giving the historical facts of this building,
around whii-h has centered so much of the past of Edenton,
from Dr. Dillard, was enjoyed by the audience. The interior
is modeled after the ancient basilica, and here the House of
Burgesses assembled and guided the affairs of the Colony of
Xorth Carolina. Mrs. E, E. Moffitt, Honorary Regent of the
Xorth Carolina Society D. R., also talked on subjects of vital
importance for the preservation of our State history.
October 25th—the anniversary of the Tea Party—dawned
bright and clear. In celebration of that event four tablets
were unveiled by the Penelope Barker Chapter. By 10
o'cl