Patriots of New Hanover
<|uilo a number of outstanding citizens in
that section of the state were rebelling
against British tyranny long before the
signing of the Mecklenburg Declaration.
MAY 20, 1775. date of the
Mecklenburg Resolves, is
commemorated on our State
Й5-
and the Boston Tea Party is
famed in song and story, but little
has been done to perpetuate the
memory of the stirring scenes
which took place several years
prior thereto in our counties of
New Hanover and her daughter
Brunswick, between which Cape
Fear flows in grandeur to the sea.
As early as 1725 an attempt was
made to establish a town on the
west bank of Cape Fear, at a point
a few miles above w-hat is now
Southport, but of this town noth¬
ing now remains save the ruins
of ancient St. Phillips church, in
whose ruined walls can still be
seen the scars left by British shells.
In its quiet churchyard rest many
of the great figures of our colonial
history.
A more lasting cfTort was be¬
gun on the east bank of the river
at the junction of Cape Fear and
its Northeast branch, at a town
originally called New Liverpool,
shortly thereafter changed to New¬
ton, and in 1739 incorporated as
Wilmington.
These counties gave to the
Colony, prior to the Revolution,
such illustrious men as William
Hooper, signer of the Declaration
of Independence, Cornelius Har¬
nett, distinguished revolutionary
leader and patriot; Major General
Robert Howe, Judge Maurice
Moore, General John Ashe. Alfred
Moore, Justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States; Gen¬
eral James Moore, Attorney Gen¬
eral Archibald MacLaine. Colonial
Chief Justices Allen. Hassell. Smith
and other notable patriots.
In 1765 the British Parliament
passed the "stamp act." imposing
a tax on all paper and parchment
sold in the Colonies, an act bitterly
resented by the populace. In New
Hanover, they organized the "Sons
of Liberty." hanged the British
statesman Lord Bute in effigy, and
warned the publisher of the
Gazette not to print it on stamped
paper. John Ashe. Speaker of the
Commons and Colonel of militia,
warned the royal Governor Tryon,
20
By 1C.
С.
LAWRENCE
that any attempt at enforcement
would be resisted "to blood and
death."
On November 16. 1765. Dr. Wil¬
liam Houston, member of the
Governor's council and an inmate
of his home, was appointed as
Stamp Master for the Colony,
whose duty it would be to enforce
the act and collect the taxes. The
rebellious people demanded that
he be delivered up to them and
upon the refusal of the Governor
to do so. they started to burn his
house. Houston then came out.
and under the protection of Colonel
Ashe went to the courthouse in
Wilmington, where he was forced
to take an oath not to sell any
stamped paper or exercise any
function of his office.
On November 28, 1765. there ar¬
rived the British sloop of war
Diligence, bringing a supply of the
new stamped paper to be sold to the
colonists. It was met by a large
band of armed citizens, who made
such a demonstration that no at¬
tempt was made to land the
stamped paper. The Diligence was
later joined by another war vessel,
the Viper, and the two vessels
anchored in Cape Fear until Jan¬
uary 14. 1776. when two merchant
vessels, the Dobbs and Patience,
came upstream bound for Wilming¬
ton. These two merchant vessels
were seized by the British, as their
ship’s papers did not bear the
stamps required by the new law.
The people again began demon¬
strations. alarming the British
commander at Fort Johnston into
spiking his guns. The citizens to
the number of six hundred gath¬
ered in arms under the gallant
Colonel Hugh Waddell. They sur¬
rounded the Governor's home,
looking for the commander of the
Viper. On the 21st a large body
of armed men. under the leader¬
ship of Cornelius Harnett, sought
out one Pennington, royal Comp¬
troller. forced him to resign and
then to take the same oath that
Houston had been required to take.
The patriots finally seized the
boats of the contractor who was
furnishing the British warships
with supplies, whereupon under
orders from the Governor the two
merchant vessels were released
and allowed to proceed without
the payment of the stamp tax.
So determined was the resistcnce
of lower Cape Fear to the British
that on May 5, 1776, when the
British fleet lay ofT what is now
Southport, the commander-in-chief
General Clinton, from the security
of the transport Pallas, offered
E»rdon and amnesty to all Caro-
nians who would return to their
allegiance, except Cornelius Har¬
nett of New’ Hanover and General
Robert Howe of Brunswick!
Among many other colorful
figures from these two counties are
five distinguished revolutionary
soldiers of the Ashe family: Gen¬
eral John Ashe; Captain Samuel
Ashe; Colonel John Baptist Ashe;
Lieut. Samuel Ashe, and Cincin-
natus Ashe. Captain of Marines.
John Ashe was the first person to
receive a military commission at
the hands of the Provincial Con¬
gress. and in 1776 w-as named
Brigadier General. Samuel Ashe
was one of the State’s first three
Judges, and w'as elected Governor
in 1795. John Baptist Ashe was
also elected as Governor but died
before his inauguration. James
Moore was Colonel of the 1st regi¬
ment of North Carolina line, in
w’hich his brother Alfred (justice
of the supreme court of the United
States! was a Captain.
And on what was then the soil
of New- Hanover was fought the
first Carolina battle of the Revolu¬
tion — Moore’s Creek Bridge -in
which our troops so distinguished
themselves, and in which they
were so victorious over the forces
of the Tory General MacDonald,
then undertaking to march to Wil¬
mington to effect a junction with
his friends the British.
The events of 1765 did not take
place under cover of night, nor
were the patriots disguised. Can
it be doubted that low’er Cape
Fear is the Carolina cradle of
liberty?
THE STATE. March 16. 1046
