State

The Culpepper Rebellion Tlii.s liisioric fracas, which look place near Elizaheili City. left Aorth Carolina without any state government at all for more than two years. NO great distance down the Pasquotank River from Eliza¬ beth City is "Enfield Farm." now the prosperous riverside farm of the George Winslows, a quiet and peaceful enough place nowadays but 273 years ago the scene of exciting historic happen¬ ings when John Culpepper sparked a rebellion that left North Caro¬ lina lawless for over two years. Although historians left few de¬ tails of "Culpepper’s Rebellion" and the debonair young royal gov¬ ernor. Thomas Eastchurch. who was deprived of his office because of it. or about the dusky creole belle who also played a prominent part in the Albemarle's first re¬ bellion against British tyranny, the few facts that are known would make a thrilling movie. John Culpepper, who was re¬ sponsible for lighting the fires of insurrection in the Albemarle, had been a surveyor in South Carolina until 1677 when he is said to have had to flee from Charleston to escape the hangman's noose for trying to start a similar rebellion there. Land was the basis of all wealth in those days, and a good surveyor could usually find work wherever he went. Tax Conscious When Culpepper reached Pas¬ quotank County he found the 3,000 or so inhabitants living on pros¬ perous farms unwilling to be taxed or otherwise disturbed by distant Englishmen while they pursued life, liberty and prosperity in the new world. So Culpepper joined the Quakers and Yankee traders in resisting the enforcement of Eng¬ lish laws designed to make the lords proprietors rich. In those days many sailing ves¬ sels from Boston and Salem brought all kinds of things to the settlements on the Albemarle Sound and its tributaries, taking their pay in pork, cotton, corn, to¬ bacco and lumber, which they carried down to the British West Indies and exchanged for sugar. By С. E. DEAN rum. molasses and mahogany. On the return trip they stopped again in Carolina waters with this cargo, exchanging much of it for tobacco which they took home to New Eng¬ land ports and exported to Great Britain at a great profit to them¬ selves. Thus the Albemarle sec¬ tion of North Carolina for a good many years was making the Yankee traders richer far faster than the lord proprietors, who de¬ manded a tax of a penny a pound on all tobacco shipped from Caro¬ lina ports. Appointment of Eastchurch Meanwhile in England Thomas Eastchurch had been appointed governor of the colony of Carolina and early in 1677 sailed for Ameri¬ ca with orders from the lords pro¬ prietors to enforce the trade and navigation laws in the somewhat rebellious colony. On his way across the Atlantic he stopped at the island of Nevis, in the British West Indies, later famous as the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, where he fell in love with a Creole girl. For nearly a year Governor Eastchurch remained in the West Indies courting this dusky belle, whose mother was a French woman and whose father was a Spaniard. Finally she consented to become his bride and accompany him to the colony of Carolina. In the meantime, however, the love-sick over nor had sent on his secretary, ohn Miller, as his deputy, with instructions to act as president of the council and collector of the king's revenue until such time as the Creole beauty would agree to come to America. Arriving in the Albemarle in July, 1677. Miller assumed his duties as acting governor and in six months time had collected something like $5,000 in cash and 33 hogsheads of tobacco by levying a tax of a penny a pound on all to¬ bacco shipped out of the colony. As the king’s collector of customs he tried to enforce the navigation laws and was determined to exclude all Yankee traders from the Albe¬ marle. However, he met with little success, and had to reckon with George Durant, a wealthy and in¬ fluential Quaker >ettler of Per¬ quimans County, who had his own ideas on the subject. Then the fun began. A new Eng¬ land skipper by the name of Gillam sailed up the Pasquotank River one day in December, 1677, in a schooner loaded to the hatches with West India rum and molasses, two commodities of which early settlers in Carolina were in¬ ordinately fond. When he dropped anchor in the river just off "En¬ field Farm" he was arrested as soon as he set foot on shore. Acting Governor Miller, pistol in hand, then boarded the vessel, and ar¬ rested George Durant, who was also on board. This was a pre-arranged signal for Culpepper and his confederates ashore to go into action. They seized Miller and his seven tax- collectors and pul them all in jail. All of the money Miller had col¬ lected in taxes was confiscated and for something like two years Cul¬ pepper and his cohorts ruled the Albemarle section, appointing and dismissing judges at will, holding courts and in other ways exercis¬ ing the rights of government in the colony of Carolina much to the consternation of the lords pro¬ prietors in London. Eastchurch’s Arrival When Governor Eastchurch finally arrived after his amorous delays in the West Indies, bring¬ ing along his dusky first lady, he found Culpepper and his followers in charge of the governor's office So Eastchurch was compelled to continue on to Williamsburg. Va.. where he tried to got the governor of the Virginia colony to help him claim his office. But he died of fever before enough troops could be raised to invade North Carolina and restore the governor's office to him. Culpepper then sailed for Lon- ( Continued on page IS) THE STATE. 8IVTEMBEQ 9. 1950