The Ride of Captain Jack
.Sonic additional information conrorniug
sonic of Ihc details of his famous ride from
Charlotte to Philadelphia with copies of
Ihc Mecklenburg Declaration of lndt»pcbnd-
cnce.
By WII I IAM A. AMJIWHS
PRACTICALLY everyone is
familiar with the stories con¬
cerning Paul Revere and other
famous message bearers of early
days, but the story of Captain
James Jack and the service that
he rendered for the cause of Ameri¬
can freedom is not so well known.
When a group of prominent and
patriotic citizens met in Charlotte
in 1775 and drew up a declaration
of independence, declaring them¬
selves and the county of Mecklen¬
burg free from British rule, the
necessity of getting copies of their
declaration through to Congress,
then in session in Philadelphia,
was considered of prime impor¬
tance. In order to be, reasonably,
sure that these copies of the origi¬
nal document would reach Phila¬
delphia safely, and without undue
delay, it was quite logical that
they should decide upon a man to
dispatch them who was well lilted
for such an important mission. The
man selected was Captain James
Jack, who was made a special ex¬
press messenger for this purpose.
Being then about 45 years of age.
he was selected because of his
energy, bravery and determination
of character.
Soldier of High Merit
Captain Jack was a soldier of
high merit, and a patriotic citizen
of Mecklenburg. His father, Pat¬
rick Jack, had immigrated to Amer¬
ica from Ireland in 1730 and set¬
tled in North Carolina. During the
period preceding the Revolutionary
War the elder Jack was a promi¬
nent resident of Charlotte. He was
the owner of a public house, or
tavern where leading citizens of
Mecklenburg held frequent meet¬
ings to discuss the political issues
then exciting the minds of the
people.
At a later period, in 1780. Lord
Cornwallis, confident of restoring
North Carolina to the British
Crown after the victory at Camden,
entered Charlotte on the 26th of
September. Through Tory infor-
6
«nation channels, the patriotic char¬
acter of Patrick Jack’s house had
became known to the British and
they were intent upon destroying it.
Property Destruction
By this time Patrick Jack was
an aged and somewhat infirm old
man. but he had lost none of his
love for the cause of American
freedom. When the British soldiers
arrived on the scene, they removed
Jack from the house, threw its
contents into the street and burned
the structure to the ground, as¬
serting that they were doing so
because, "all of his sons were in
the rebel army, and he himself
was a promoter of American inde¬
pendence.”
So. Captain James Jack, being
a son of one of Mecklenburg's
staunchest supporters of the move¬
ment for American independence,
shared in the patriotic feeling
which prompted the citizens of
Mecklenburg to meet and draw up
a declaration denouncing British
rule.
At the memorable convention
held in Charlotte May 19 and 20
of 1775, Captain James Jack was
present as a spectator and was fired
by the same patriotic feeling, pos¬
sessed by the delegates. News of
the Battle of Lexington had ar¬
rived in Charlotte on the first day
the convention was in session, and
it had served to further strengthen
the determination of these early
patriotic^ to carry out the design
for which they had assembled.
Original Records Lost
Unfortunately, the original rec¬
ords of the Mecklenburg Conven¬
tion were lost when the home of
the secretary was destroyed by
fire in 1800, but a later historian.
Dr. George W. Graham, described
the meeting in the following words:
"On May 19. 1775. delegates
chosen by the people of Mecklen¬
burg County. North Carolina, met
in ‘general committee' ut Charlotte.
and after sitting in the courthouse
all night, neither sleepy, hungry
nor fatigued,’ and after discussing
e v e
г у
paragraph, unanimously
adopted a Declaration of Inde-
l>cndence about 2 o'clock on the
morning of May 20. A copy of the
proceedings was sent to the con¬
tinental congress, then assembled
in Philadelphia, for ratification."
Captain Jack with several copies
of the proceedings, which he car¬
ried in a leather pouch, or saddle
bag, set out on horseback, pre¬
sumably. soon after the close of the
convention to deliver them to the
Continental Congress in Phila¬
delphia. In those days a horse¬
back trip of that distance was said
to have required from eighteen to
twenty days, but it is likely that
he made the trip in less time than
this, owning to the nature of his
mission. There were few trails and
practically no roads to accommo¬
date the long distance traveler of
that period and the ride of Captain
Jack was described in early rec¬
ords as, “a long and perilous
journey."
Ahead of the Times
Upon his arrival in Philadelphia,
the message bearer presented
copies of the declaration to the
North Carolina delegates and. after
consulting other members, “they
decided that Mecklenburg County
was in advance of the general senti¬
ment of Congress on the subject
of Independence.” Though the men
of Mecklenburg were commended
for the stand they had taken, Con¬
gress was not. at that time, pre¬
pared to vote on the question of
American independence.
Guy Jack, a great-grandson of
Captain Jack, in an account of the
historic occurrences relating to the
Charlotte declaration, said:
"Captain James Jack finding the
daring object of his long and toil¬
some journey could not then be
accomplished, and that Congress
was not prepared to vote on so bold
/
a measure as absolute independ- j
THE STATE. January 4. 1®47 7
