Senator Alexander Martin
lie was a Colonel «luring Ilie Revolution.
Speaker of the Senate, tlirice Governor off
the state and held numerous other positi«>ns
off consi«leral»le importance.
SOME of the State's most dis¬
tinguished sons have been fa¬
mous as soldiers as well as
statesmen, such as General Wil¬
liam R. Davie, General Richard
Caswell. General William Lenoir,
General John Ashe, General Mat¬
thew W. Ransom, Colonel Zebulon
B. Vance, General Alfred M. Scales,
Captain Thomas J. Jarvis, and a
number of others whose names fig¬
ure prominently in our history.
Alexander Martin was of Irish
parentage, his father having emi¬
grated from county Tyronne to
New Jersey, where his son Alex¬
ander was born and where he was
educated at Princeton, although he
does not appear to have graduated.
Prior to the Revolution the family
moved to North Carolina and set¬
tled in what was then Guilford
County. As Guilford itself was not
established until 1770, and as Mar¬
tin became a resident in 1772, he
may quite properly be termed one
of its pioneer citizens.
Three Brothers
There were three of the Martin
brothers and the other two also
took some part in the public life
of their day. James Martin was
named as Colonel of Guilford Mili¬
tia in 1776 and took part in the
campaign of General Rutherford
against the Cherokee Indians. He
commanded a regiment at Guil¬
ford Court House, and his force
constituted a part of the American
troops sent to the relief of Wil¬
mington when that city was cap¬
tured by the British in 1781. An¬
other brother, Samuel, settled in
Charlotte. He served as a Captain
during the Revolution and was
with the army of Greene when it
advanced into South Carolina and
won the victory at the battle of
Eutaw Springs.
Alexander Martin was evidently
a man of outstanding ability, as
within two years of his becoming
a resident of the county he was
named to represent Guilford at the
meeting held at New Bern in 1774
under the presidency of John Har¬
vey, the first meeting of the peo¬
ple ever held in North Carolina in¬
dependent of the royal authority.
By R. C. LAWRENCE
He was also a member of the next
Assembly held at New Bern in
April 1775, and of the one called
by Samuel Johnston and held at
Hillsboro in August of that year.
At this meeting the first steps were
taken to put the Colony in a con¬
dition for defense, and two regi¬
ments were authorized to be organ¬
ized. The Colonel of the Second
regiment was Robert Howe, and
Martin was elected as Lieutenant
Colonel. Upon Howe’s promotion
to be Brigadier, Martin was ap¬
pointed as Colonel, and his regi¬
ment was one of those which
formed the North Carolina brigade
under General Francis Nash when
it marched north to the relief of
Washington’s hard pressed army
which was then retreating across
New Jersey. This brigade arrived
in time to participate in the battle
of Brandywine, where General La-
Fayette was wounded. It chanced
that Martin was sitting on his horse
only a short distance away when
this occurred. His regiment also
participated and lost heavily in the
battle of Germantown where Gen¬
eral Nash was killed, and again it
happened that Colonel Martin was
an eye witness to the wounding of
the General who was struck by a
cannon shot.
In 1780 Martin with John Penn
•a signer of the Declaration of In¬
dependence) and Oroondates Davis,
were appointed as a Commission by
the Provincial Congress to have
entire charge and control of the
militia of the State, together with
authority for the purchase and dis¬
tribution of arms and ammunition
for all the troops — a most respon¬
sible position.
Seven Times a Senator
In 1779 he resumed his legisla¬
tive service, being seven times a
member of the State Senate, of
which body he was elected Speaker.
He was serving in that capacity
when the bandit David Fanning
captured Governor Thomas Burke
at Hillsboro and delivered him over
to the British authorities at Wil¬
mington. At that time there was
no such office as that of Lieutenant
Governor, but the Speaker of the
Senate was the second officer of the
State and therefore the Governor¬
ship devolved upon Martin until
Governor Burke finally effected
his escape and resumed his execu¬
tive duties.
At the end of his term as Speaker
of the Senate, Martin was elected
Governor in his own right in 1782
and was reelected the following
year, as at that time the term of
the Governor was only for one
year. Again in 1789 he was elected
Governor and reelected for three
years, this being the full term that
could be filled by one man succes¬
sively under the Constitution as
then existing. Martin is the only
man in our history who served as
Governor at three different stages
in his career.
Delegate to Philadelphia
In 1787, when a Convention was
to be held at Philadelphia to frame
the new Federal Constitution, Mar¬
tin was one of the five delegates
from North Carolina to that body;
and it is most unfortunate that
some public exigency required both
Martin and General William R.
Davie to leave Philadelphia before
that document could be engrossed
and prepared for the final signature
of the delegates. The other three
delegates from North Carolina —
Governor Richard Dobbs Spaight,
Dr. Hugh Williamson and William
Blount — remained to the end and
signed that famous instrument.
In 1793 the term of Governor
Samuel Johnston expired as United
States Senator, and Governor Mar¬
tin was elected as his successor. He
served one full term of six years,
his colleague during most of that
period being Col. Benjamin Haw¬
kins of Warren.
Governor Martin was a man of
literary attainments as well as a
soldier and statesman. Princeton
College conferred upon him a
Doctorate of Laws, and he left nu¬
merous manuscripts in prose and
poetry. His Ode upon the death of
( Continued on page 24)
THE STATE. April 6. 1946
11
