State

This shot should liavo boon hoard around the world. By TRUMAN FI RING Unsung Hero of Moore's Creek In Ihc Colwell family graveyard, lo¬ cated approximately five miles south of Turkey, in Sampson County, lie the remains of John Colwell, private. North Carolina Militia, Revolutionary War. Many cemeteries in the area provide the final resting places of soldiers of the Revolution. But this one man is credited tradi¬ tionally with firing the shot that routed the British sympathizers and won the battle at Moore's Creek Bridge, thereby altering the course of the war. Recorded history eulogizes neither the man nor his deed, but talcs handed down from those who were there extol his accomplishment. The most generally accepted version is this: Early in 1776 a part of the North Carolina Militia was rushed to the bridge on the Widow' Moore’s farm, a few miles northeast of Wilmington, to cut off the Loyalists of the Upper Cape Fear region from a proposed rendez¬ vous with General Clinton near the mouth of the river. Advance by a hostile force had caused excitement throughout the countryside, and ci¬ vilians armed themselves and joined the militia at the bridge. Among the latter was John Colwell. The Patriots at First prepared to make their stand on the west side of the bridge. After looking over the situation, however, some of their lead¬ ers began to doubt that it was best to fight with their backs to a stream. So they abandoned this position, re¬ crossed the creek and took up another. Planking was removed from the bridge and its sleepers greased; cannon were trained down the narrow road open¬ ing; and riflemen threw up breast¬ works. Then they waited. At daybreak on the morning of February 27 a signal gun announced the approach of the Highlanders, in their kilts and plaids, proudly high- stepping the last few miles to Wilming¬ ton. The defenders scrambled, half asleep, to their posts. The advancing Tories, seeing the empty rifle pits west of the run, ap¬ parently believed there would be no resistance and attempted to cross the dismantled span, using their swords as walking canes to help them retain their footing on the slippery sleepers. The dug-in Patriots held their fire till the last possible moment. Then they turned loose a barrage from their as¬ sorted hand weapons that cleared the bridge. But before they could reload, the Scots, with remarkable stamina for raw troops, reformed and again charged across the stream. The militia's cannon had not yet been put into action — one, in particu¬ lar. because it refused to fire, very probably because of the early-morning dampness. All efforts to set off the priming in its touchholc had failed. It seemed that the Colonial lines must be overrun before the riflemen could re¬ load, and the artillery still was silent. It was at this critical moment that John Colwell did his bit. Grabbing a blazing brand from a near-by camp fire, he ran to the troublesome gun and thrust the torch into its primings. The shot that followed swept clean everything in its path — even into the woods across the creek. As one old- timer put it, "When John put the fire to that cannon, she Fared back on her hind legs and spit half a wagon load o' plow bolts amongst them Britishers." Pandemonium broke loose in the attacking ranks, and they fled in com¬ plete rout; their leaders, most of them, were either killed or captured among the latter the husband of the illustrious Flora Macdonald: and still others were killed in their frantic efforts to reach a safer and more friendly territory. But it was not a shot heard 'round the world. History gives little space to the battle. The duration of the fight is estimated by various authorities from three to thirty minutes, some referring to it as a skirmish. But the victory at Moore's Creek Bridge did have marked effect on the war, in general, and on North Caro¬ lina’s part in it. in particular: never again were the Loyalists organized as a serious threat to the new America; the war became a personal one to North Carolina people: and it united the citizenry in a common cause. And as for John Colwell — he later served an enlistment in the militia, after which he lived out a normal but rather unexciting life in the community where he now sleeps. THE STATE. APRIL 20. t957 И