1
1»
iii I lie fool hills. Yad¬
kin Valley, they are
trying lo acquire and
preserve Fori llefiance.
home of I he Lenoirs.
House of History
By MARGARET HARPER
Pbotoi by Dove Rufty.
Dining room fircploce, Fort Defionee
Foil Defiance viewed from the fomily buriol plot.
Fort Defiance has defied time for
almost 200 years — an old house on
the Yadkin, ten miles from Lenoir,
the site has belonged to six counties,
from the time when Bladen stretched
to the indefinite "west." thro the for¬
mations of Anson. Rowan. Surry.
Wilkes and finally of Caldwell.
In 1775. two years before the crea¬
tion of Wilkes County, a young man
with his wife, small son and a sur¬
veyor's certificate, made his way over
wilderness roads to the Yadkin Valley.
Indians, only lately driven from their
ancient camping grounds in the Valley,
still raided the sparcc settlements, and
the young man wrote. "I slept with
my wife on one side and my gun on
the other, for one must ever be watch¬
ful of the wild beast as well as the
savage."
This young surveyor was General
William Lenoir, then Captain of Mili¬
tia. having before he left Halifax, N. C..
signed the paper known as the "As¬
sociation" of the section, a statement
of patriotic principals and means of
redress against the British. His house
still stands, still in possession of his
descendants, still named Fort Defiance
from the name of the old fort at the
site, built as defense against the In¬
dians.
He left his mark on North Caro¬
lina. witness: the town of Lenoir, for
the founding of which he gave land;
Lenoir County; Lenoir Hall at the Uni¬
versity; Lenoir College (now Lcnoir-
Rhyne) in Hickory, on land given by
his grandson; and Lenoir City, Ten¬
nessee. settled by his brother.
What time William Lenoir found
for surveying is problematical for al¬
most at once he accompanied Gen.
Rutherford on a campaign against the
Indians, leaving to us a moving record
of the cost of bringing civilization to
the wilderness: "We had no govern¬
ment to provide for us, it being before
our state constitution was formed. We
drove a few beeves but had no way of
carrying any bread stuffs, except on a
few pack horses along the mountains.
On a rainy day some of our horses
were killed by slipping from the path
down a steep precipice. I believe the
General himself was without a tent. A
few officers had something like a wagon
cover stretched to shelter them from
the rain. Our sole means of procuring
clothing were hemp, flax and tow. Our
blankets generally were made of the
same material. My brave wife, and
women like her, literally fed and
clothed the soldiers by putting their
hands to the plow by day and by
weaving, sewing and spinning by tallow
candles. The troops served without any
12
THE STATE, MAY 1. 1965