THE STATE
Page Twenty-seven
February 3, 1934
NATHANIEL MACON
THE LAST OF THE ROMANS
BY JOHN B. PALMER
NATHANIEL "MACON
A SOLDIER O!
i;oi-l8l5 AND srrAKfROt?
ONITTD STATES SENATOR: !SV1
Г?0 ТЕМ
OF
ГИГ
SENATE. l8?W
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
O? OCR MODELS OF CENUT
NATHANiri,MACCN,UPON 'X
WRITTEN. ‘UlTINfUS ROMANO 1
NcetM C»*oi!.va
laturo, and through thorn to the |k*o-
ple, my thanks and gratitude for their
kindness and confidence reposed in me.
There arc feelings which words can¬
not express. Mine are of this kind.
1 may, however, he permitted to add
that no person can be under more
obligations to a state than I am to
North Carolina, nor feel them more
strongly, and that duty alone has in¬
duced me to resign.”
On the back of this letter to the leg¬
islature, Macon wrote a short sketch
of his life: "While at Princeton, New
Jersey, in 177G, I served a short tour
of military duty. After the fall of
Charleston, S. C. (12 May, 1780) I
served in the militia till the prelimi¬
nary articles of peace were signal (30
November, 1782), and never received
or charged a cent for militia duty any¬
where. I never solicited any man to
vote for me, or hinted to him that 1
wished him to do so. Nor did I over
solicit any person to make interest for
mo to be elected to any place. When
elected to the United States Senate, I
did not receive double pay for travel¬
ing. Twice offered the office of Post¬
master General, Speaker of the House
of Representatives, throe times suc¬
cessively, 1801-1807."
Macon served in Congress thirty-
seven years. During these years some
of our most important national ques¬
tions arose. He died in retirement
June 29. 1*37. at his home. Buck
Spring, at the age of seventy-nine.
I recall hearing
an old gentleman
describe Macon's
funeral. It is said
that fifteen hun¬
dred people attend¬
ed and all were fur¬
nished “dinner and
grog." Dippers or
gourds were strung
around the barrel
of whiskey fur-
n i sli^l at the fu¬
neral, and the at¬
tendants were ex¬
pected to rejoice
a n d w e
и
p not !
Miicon ordered that
he Ite buried on a
barren knoll and
that his grave he
covered with a large
pile of Hint rock.
These orders were strictly carried out.
1 1 is explanation for such n burial was,
“that no one would desire to use these
stones for building purposes, neither
would anyone consider it worthwhile
to remove them in order to cultivate
such a poor piece of land.”
Kandolph-Macon College, once lo¬
cated at Boydton, Va., was named for
the brilliant John Randolph, of Roa¬
noke, and Nathaniel Macon, who were
bosom friends. This Methodist school,
established primarily to train young
Methodist ministers up and down the
Roanoke in North Carolina and Vir¬
ginia, was thus named after two men
who were never church members,
though Macon admitted that he was
of “Baptist jiersunsion.” Macon’s fam¬
ily belonged to the Kpiscopal church,
hut it is thought his democratic tastes
rebdlod against the Kpiscopal Aristoc¬
racy of that period.
Macon considered the office of Jus¬
tice of the Peace one of dignity. He
held his appointment as Justice of
the Peace during his terms as United
States Senator. Macon severely repri¬
manded Caswell Drake, grandfather of
Matthew Drake, now police officer in
Warronton, when Drake, who was well-
lined for the office, refused an ap¬
pointment ns justice. Drake reconsid¬
ered and accepted the appointment.
Macon in 1782 wooed and won one
of Warren County’s belles. Miss Han¬
nah Plummer. Another suitor whose
name is not known was also in love
with Miss Plummer. One day the rival
R
ECENT ef¬
forts in War¬
ren County
to get the county
commissioners to
buy the home of
Nathaniel Macon
and six acres around
the house have
aroused the interest
of our people in
this distinguished
North Carolinian.
The place is now
owned by negroes.
The plan is to re¬
construct the dilap¬
idated home with
CWA funds.
In 1901 the flint-
rock covered grave
of Macon on a plot
thirty-five
у
a r d s
square was purchased by the county
commissioners, and in 1921 an appro¬
priate marker was erected near his
grave at which exercises the Honor¬
able Josephus Daniels was the chief
speaker.
Nathaniel Macon, the sixth child of
Gideon and Priscilla Macon, was horn
December 17, 1758 at Macon Manor
in what was then Edgecombe County,
later Bute County. In 1779 Warren
and Franklin counties wore formed
from Bute. It is said that Macon
Manor was the first house in this sec¬
tion that had glass windows. As a boy
Macon had good social and education¬
al opportunities. He attended college
at Princeton and read law hut never
(practiced. Dr. Dodd says he never
developed the lawyer viewpoint and
describes him as “Honest Farmer
Macon.”
He served a short while as a private
in the Revolutionary War. After a
long and distinguished career in the
state legislature and in both houses
of Congress, Macon, in December,
1829, wrote to the General Assembly
North Carolina the following letter,
ighlv characteristic of the man : “Age
nd infirmity render it proper for me
retire from public service. I. there-
(foro, resign the appointment of Sena¬
tor to the Senate of the United States,
that of Trustee of the University of
the State, and that of Justice of the
eace for the county of Warren. In
iring from the services of the state,
want words to convey to the logis¬
tic
Pe
