THE LIBRARY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF
NORTH CAROLINA
AT CHAPEL HILL
THE COLLECTION OF NORTH CAROLINIANA
C971.60 T66m v. 2 c.2
UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL
00015565808
This book is due on the last date stamped below unless recalled sooner. It may be renewed only once and must be brought to the North Carolina Collection for renewal.
— H 1979
<M*f 0 a 2288
*»
0
1->
.._
' < Jo J
Form No. A- 369
BRITISH MAP OF MECKLENBURG IN 1780.
History of Mecklenburg County
AND
The City of Charlotte
From 1740 to 1903.
BY D. A. TOMPKINS,
Author of Cotton and Cotton Oil; Cotton Mill, Commercial Features ; Cotton Values in Tex- tile Fabrics ; Cotton Mill, Processes and Calculations ; and American Commerce, Its Expansion.
Charlotte, N. C, 1903.
VOLUME TWO— APPENDIX.
CHARLOTTE, N. C: Observer Printing House.
1903.
COPYRIGHT, 1904. BY
I). \. TOMPKINS.
EXPLANATION.
This history is published in two volumes. The first volume contains the simple narrative, and the second is in the nature of an appendix, containing- ample discussions of important events, a collection of biographies and many official docu- ments justifying and verifying- the statements in this volume. At the end of each chapter is given the sources of the in- formation therein contained, and at the end of each volume is an index.
PREFACE.
One of the rarest exceptions in literature is a production devoid of personal feeling. Few indeed are the men, who, realizing that the responsibility for their writings will be for them alone to bear, will not utilize the advantage for the promulgation of things as they would like them to be. Many of the works of the Ancients fail to stand the test of modern historical criticism because the advancing conception of his- torical labors is getting farther and farther from discursive analysis and closer and closer to the presentation of plain, unvarnished facts.
"History is philosophy teaching by example," says Diony- sins, and it is obvious that if we are to "judge the future by the past," that the main requisite is a complete record. "To study history," says Wilmot, "is to study literature. The biography of a nation contains all its works. No trifle is to be neglected. A mouldering medal is a letter of twenty cen- turies. Antiquities which have been beautifully called his- tory defaced, composed its fullest commentary."
Parton, in the preface to his Life of Jackson, gives an apt illustration of the true historian's duty. A young clergy- man, fresh from the university, became rector of one of the oldest of English parishes. Examining his church, he found that a crust was falling from the walls. The wardens sug- gested whitewash, but the new rector discovered that white- wash had been applied too many times already, and that it was these surplus coats which were falling.
Thereupon, he resolved that instead O'f applying more, he would remove that already on the walls. When this was done, the beautiful frescoes which had been obscured for many years were exposed to the view. These paintings, some of them by the world's greatest artists, had been hidden in order that the cracks might be filled. The true beauty of the structure had been sacrificed to hide the natural results
IV HISTORY Ob M£CK&ENBURG COUNTY.
of man's imperfect work. After the restoration, the defi marred die glory of the decorations, yet it left a subject for study even if not for unqualified admiration. And above all, those viewing it could be p t" the consciousness
that they were beholding the truth — displeasing though it might be — yet unquestionably and plainly the truth.
It is not for the writer of history to decide what shall and what shall not l>e recorded, any more than it is justifiable for a church-member to accept certain articles of his religi and repudiate the others; each must he all-inclusive or of no importance. As a consequence, it i> not within the pr< per bounds of historical endeavor to he argumentative. Th< person who investigates and accumulate :or lie pur-
pose of strengthening his pre-conceived opinions is not a historian. I Iist< ry's worst enemy is the writer who < list' rts fact- to bolster prejudice, lli-i. ries sh uld not he intended to convince, hut to enlighten. The true historian's duty is to uncover the naked truth, rind though this be a disagreea- ble task, it is duty nevertheless. In the words of Lord Bacon, the reader should "Reade not to Contradict, and" Con- fute; Nor to Beleeve and Take for granter; Nor to Finde Talke and Discourse; But to Weigh and Consider."
Jn this History of Mecklenburg County, the author has endeavored to present an historical record, not an historical discussion. "Facts are stubborn." and when they are all in hand, it is well to let them speak for themselves.
D. A. Tompkins.
December i, 1903.
CONTENTS.
Page. CHAPTER I •• ..i
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. Brief Outline of the Discussion — Extract from Wheeler's History. — Charlotte Democrat of July 8, 1873 — Preface to Martin's His- tory of North Carolina — Correspondence Between Adams and Jefferson — Extracts from the Raleigh Register — Certificates of Men who Knew of the Convention — Instructions to Mecklen- burg Delegates — Three Copies of the Declaration and the Re- solves of May 31 — Hitherto Unpublished Correspondence Be- tween John Vaughn, Hon. Peter Force, Gov. D. L. Swain and Hon. George Bancroft — References and List of Publications on the Subject.
CHAPTER II 57
MECKLENBURG INDEPENDENCE MONUMENT. Unveiling in Charlotte in 1898 Attended with Impressive Ceremo- nies.— Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson was Orator of the Occasion. — First Monument Association Incorporated in 1842. — Declaration Poem by Rev. W. W. Moore, of Virginia.
CHAPTER III 6o
"BLACK BOYS" OF CABARRUS. Young Men Destroyed Ammunition and Supplies Intended for Use Against the Regulators. — Gov. Tryon's Proclamation of Pardon Excepted Them. — Leading Citizens Later Petitioned in Their Behalf and Secured the Pardon. — Col. Moses Alexander Pre- sented the Petition.
CHAPTER IV 64
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Condensed Items of Interest in the Lives of Persons Prominent in Mecklenburg History. — Brief Biographies Alphabetically Ar- ranged.
CHAPTER V .v 84
ANDREW JACKSON'S BIRTHPLACE. Born in that Part of Mecklenburg Which was Made Into Union in 1842. — Moved Over Into South C. rolina When a Few Weeks Old. —Evidence of Those Who Were Present at His Birth.— Col. E. H. Walkup's Publication.
VI HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
CHAPTER VI 87
CUSTOMS OF THE PIONEERS.
Amusements of the Settlers of Mecklenburg. — County Muster and Assemblies. — Horse Racing and Betting. — Liquor Used Freely at Home and at Public Places. — The Old Taverns and Their Uses.
CHAPTER VII 92
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MONEY. (1762 to 1800.) First Settlers Used Pennsylvania and Virginia Currency. — Paper Money Discounted Nearly One-third. — Many Kinds of Coins Used. — Federal Currency Established in 1792.
CHAPTER VIII 96
NOTES ON THE REGULATION.
Miscellaneous Information Summarized in Paragraphs. — The March of Mecklenburg Troops to Hillsboro. — Governor Tryon's Visit in the County. — Sentiment Pertaining to the Regulators and the Governor.
CHAPTER IX 100
NOTES ON CHAPTER II. (The Indians.)
Items Regarding Important Events. — Very Few Relics Found in Mecklenburg. — Correspondence Between Governors of North Carolina and South Carolina Respecting the Catawba.
CHAPTER X 104
NOTES ON CHAPTER XV. (Religion.)
Coming of Rev. Hugh McAden. — Rev. Alexander Craighead With- draws from the Presbyterian Synod and Comes to North Caro- lina.— Established Church of England Met With Much Discour- agement in Mecklenburg.
CHAPTER XI 109
HISTORY OF MINING IN MECKLENBURG.
Historic Anticipations — Discoveries in Florida — First Find in the County — Geology of Mecklenburg — Development of Mining — Sta- tistics of the Branch Mint in Charlotte.
CONTENTS. VII
CHAPTER XII 132
MECKLENBURG COUNTY REPRESENTATIVES.
Complete List of the Members of the General Assembly Prom This County From 1764 to 1903. — Martin Phifer and Richard Barry Were the First.
CHAPTER XIII 135
MECKLENBURG TROOPS IN THE WAR OF 1812.
Five Companies Sent From This County to the War with England Caused by the Searching of American Vessels for British Sail- ors.— A Total of Four Hundred and Thirty-Three Enlisted Men.*
CHAPTER XIV 142
CIVIL WAR TROOPS.
Roster of Officers and Men of the Twenty-one Companies Sent From This County.— 2,735 Soldiers and Only 2,021 Voters.— Number Killed, Wounded or Died.* — List of Promotions.
CHAPTER XV 180
MECKLENBURG'S PART IN THE MEXICAN WAR.
Roster of the Troops in the Company Organized in Charlotte in April of 1847.* — Green W. Caldwell was Captain and He and the Lieutenants Were Honored by Seats in the General Assembly After the End of the War.— The Total Number of the Soldiers was Seventy-nine, and Eleven of Them Died in the Service.
CHAPTER XVI 183
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
Account of the Service Rendered uy Mecklenburg Troops. — Rosters of the Three White Companies and the Colored Company.* — Charlotte Soldiers Among the First Americans to Land in Havana.
XVII HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
CHAPTER XVII 192
LIST OF MINISTERS.
Names of the Preachers who have Served the Leading Churches of Charlotte, With the Number of Years of Service of Bach.
CHAPTER -Will [95
DAVIDSON.
A Brief Sketch of the Progressive Town Which lit- drown up Around the College. — Has Macadam Streets and Factories, and a Large Business is Done. — The Corporation Dates From 1879.
CHAPTER XIX 198
PINEVILLE.
Brief Sketch of the Growth of the Town Which was Built WheTe President Polk was Born.— In Fifty Years it has Developed' Into a Prosperous Community With Factories and a Population of Seven Hundred. — Creditable Churches and Schools, and Names of Some Prominent Families.
CHAPTER XX 200
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS.
Characteristics of the Mecklenburg Negro.— Comparative Effects of Slavery and Freedom on the Increase of Population. — Tribute to the Memory of Major Ross. — Important Dates in Mecklen- burg History. — List of Mayors of Charlotte. — Acts of the Gen- eral Assembly Creating Mecklenburg, Establishing Charlotte and Permanently Locating the Court House. — County Road Legislation.
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.
British Map of Mecklenburg- in 1780 Frontispiece
Claremont Academy 1
Sugar Creek Church 1
Signatures of Prominent Characters in Mecklenburg History. .16-33
Coat of Arms of the Phifer family, 1760 44
Proclamation Money . . 44
Receipt, 1773 .... 56
Receipt Signed by Thos. Polk in 1773 56
Monument Commemorating the Mclntyre Skirmish, Oct. 3, 1780 60
Mrs. Rachel Holton 64
Thos. J. Holton, Editor of the Charlotte Journal 64
James W. Osborne 67
William Davidson 69
Henry Bartlett Williams 71
W. K. Phifer 72
General Hugh Waddell 74
General Joseph Graham 76
David Parks 78
Lieutenant F. C. Davidson 81
W. F. Davidson 82
Map of Vicinity of Jackson's Birthplace 84
Old Wilson Place 86
Alexander Rock House 86
Extracts from Copy Books in use in Mecklenburg County
Schools in 1850 88
Note Given in 1767 90
Bill for Teaching, 1822 90
Sale Notice, 1838 92
Contract, 1767 94
Confederate Currency, 1864 96
North Carolina Currency, 1866 100
Itemized Bill for "Learning," 1798 102
United States Bank Note 104
Revolutionary Currency 112
Revolutionary State Money 132
Tomb of Thomas Polk 136
Receipt, 1783 136
Bill of Account, 1767 140
XIX INDKX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.
Bill for Subscription. 1792 144
Stage Line Way-Hill. 1*46 160
United States Currency 180
State Currency 184
Contract Dated in 17J>7 192
Revolutionary Currency 196
Contract, 17<>5 1(,7
Xi'^'m l',i^> 199
Bill of Sale, 1747 204
Arab-African 208
Saracen-African 208
Dinka-Ntrgro 209
Guinea-Negro 209
CLAREMONT ACADEMY. (Volume I., Page 166.)
SUGAR CREEK CHURCH. (See Index to Volume I.)
CHAPTER I.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY.
Brief Outline of the Discussion — Extract from Wheeler's History. — Charlotte Democrat of July 8, 1873 — Preface to Martin's His- tory of North Carolina — Correspondence Between Adams and Jefferson — Extracts from the Raleigh Register — Certificates of Men who Knew of the Convention — Instructions to Mecklen- burg Delegates — Three Copies of the Declaration and the Re- solves of May 31 — Hitherto Unpublished Correspondence Be- tween John Vaughn, Hon. Peter Force, Gov. D. L. Swain and Hon. George Bancroft — References ana List of Publications on the Subject.
The controversy regarding the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence has occupied the time and attention of many of America's most profound thinkers and writers. Some of them contend that the evidence is sufficient, while others maintain that it is not sufficient and that the actual Declaration of Independence was not made as is claimed.
Conclusive proof of a historical proposition depends upon contemporaneous records, personal testimony of reliable persons acquainted with the facts, and traditions. Now, suppose at this late date, some one should question the au- thenticity of the National Declaration of Independence, made in Philadelphia, July 4, 1776. First would be shown a verbatim copy of the real original which was signed July 4, 1776, and in the days following as new dele- gates arrived. Then there would be the contemporaneous periodicals, personal correspondence and the known trend of public sentiment toward independence. In proof of the Mecklenburg Declaration, we have all this and in addition, the specific statements of a dozen men who* were present and participated in the proceedings. Why is it, then, that there was ever any doubt regarding the action of the people of Mecklenburg ?
In the first place, at the time the Mecklenburg Dec-
2 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
laration was made, each part of the country was too busy with home affairs to pay much attention to outside matters. There were but few newspapers in this section, vet the Cape Fear Mercury and the Charleston Gazette and Country Jour- nal mentioned the proceedings. The men of the county were busy with preparations for war, and as every one concerned knew of the action, there was naturally no reason to make superfluous records. The official papers were burned in the fire which destroyed John McKnitt Alexander's house in 1800. The National Declaration was made fourteen months after the Mecklenburg Declaration and. of course, overshad- owed the action of the latter until long after the smoke of battle had cleared away. Consequently, there was but little contemporaneous evidence, and when the Mecklenburg Dec- laration became of national interest in 1819, most of the an- tagonism to it was based on the false belief that the trend of sentiment in North Carolina was not so strong in 1775 as to render probable a declaration of independence, and not until the publication of the Colonial Records, in recent years, was the falsity of that belief established. These records show, by correspondence and other official documents, that Thomas Jefferson was conservative in his statement to John Adams that "No State was more fixed or forward than North Carolina."* The people of the State, acting independ- ently, convened a congress at New Bern in August, 1774. Gov. Martin left the State and royal authority ended in North Carolina in June, 1775. The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge was fought February 2j, 1776, and the Fourth Pro- vincial Congress, held at Halifax in April, 1776, declared for independence. So it appears not only natural that Meck- lenburg should declare her independence, but that she icas independent and with a government of her own from May 20, 1775. It is to be remembered also, that Mecklenburg then was about five times the present size, and that the pro- ceedings of the convention were participated in by represen-
*Correspondence, July 9, 1819.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 3
tative men from other sections, so that while the Declara- tion could not be construed as a State document, yet it un- questionably represented the attitude of the entire State. All North Carolina was independent, but only Mecklenburg made an official declaration of the fact.
In the latter part of the year 1818, the subject was under discussion among the North Carolina representatives in Congress, and Nathaniel Macon, William Davidson and others corresponded with representative men of this section, the correspondence being published in the Raleigh Register in 1819, and in the Essex (Mass.) Register of June 5, 1819, and in other papers. The Essex Register fell into the hands of John Adams and resulted in the letters regarding the sub- ject between Adams and Jefferson. Jefferson's Writings and Martin's History of North Carolina were published in 1829, and the discussion was reopened. In 1831, the State issued a pamphlet under direction of a legislative committee, which was designed to forever settle all dispute regarding the declaration.
With the people of Mecklenburg, there had never been any doubt, as the old traditions were firmly and generally established. In 1809, nearly ten years before the contro- versy began, the Raleigh Minerva published the declama- tion of a school boy, William Wallace, at Sugar Creek Academy, delivered June 1, 1809. The teacher was Rev. Samuel C. Caldwell, a son-in-law of John McKnitt Alexan- der. The declamation began: "On the 19th of May, a day sacredly exulting to every Mecklenburg bosom, two- dele- gates duly authorized from each militia company met in Charlotte. After a cool and deliberate investigation of the causes and extent of our differences with Great Britain, and taking a review of probable results, pledging their all in sup- port of its rights and liberties, they solemnly entered into and published a full and determined Declaration of Inde- pendence, renouncing forever all allegiance, dependence, or connection with Great Britain, dissolved all judicial and military establishments emanating from the British Crown,
4 HISTORY OF Ml'.CKI.KMH RG COUNTY.
and established other.- on principles c< rresp aiding with their (leclarati.ii. which went into immediate operation, all of which was transmitted to Congress by express, and proba- bly expedited the general I declaration of Independence. May we ever act worthy of such predecessors'"
On December i8, [838, Colonel Peter Force, a distin- guished antiquarian, found in the New York Journal of June 29, 1775. a portion of certain resolves by the peopli Mecklenburg, made in May. 1775. He found a second copy in the Massachusetts Spy of July u. 1775. William Kelby, assistant librarian of the New Vork Historical Society, found that the New York Journal had copied the resolves from a Charleston paper. The Northern papers had copied the first four resolves, with the preamble, and had summar- ized the others. At the instance of Gov. Swain. Dr. Joseph Johnston found in the Charleston library a copy of the South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal of Tuesday. June 13, 1775. About the same time, Mr. Bancroft, then American minister to Great Britain, discovered the same number of the South Carolina Gazette, which had been forwarded to the British government by the Governor of Georgia, accom- panied by the following letter : "By the enclosed paper, your Lordship will see the extraordinary resolves of the people of ■Charlotte-town, in Mecklenburg county, and I should not be .surprised if the same should be done everywhere else."
The original copy was destroyed in the fire which burned the house of John McKnitt Alexander. A copy of the orig- inal was sent before the burning of the house to the histo- rian, Williamson, in New York, and it, together with the other sources of his history, were destroyed by a fire in that city. John McKnitt Alexander wrote the Declaration from memorv. and with the exception of some superfluous adjec- tives, it is presumed to be a fairly accurate copy. This was sent to Gen. William R. Davie and recovered after his death, and is now in the library at Chapel Hill. It is known as the Davie copy. The Martin copy is so called from its pub- lication in Martin's History of North Carolina. This book
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 5
was published in 1829, but it was prepared, in final form, be- fore 1809. A third copy, called the Garden copy, was pub- lished in 1828 by Alexander Garden'* of Lee's Legion, and this is almost exactly identical with the Martin copy, which is regarded as the authentic copy. Garden could not have gotten it from Martin's History, which was published a year later, and Martin testifies to Dr. Hawkes that he did not get his copy from Garden, and did not know that Garden had a copy. Garden was an intimate friend and associate of Dr. William Read, of Charleston, who was a surgeon-general of Greene's army, and was stationed in Charlotte during the Revolution, and who attended Dr. Ephraim Brevard in his last sickness at the house of John McKnitt Alexander. Garden had, therefore, ample opportunity for obtaining at first hand the sources of information for his chapter on the Mecklenburg Declaration, in which Dr. Read is mentioned as the source of his information.
While Martin's history was published in 1829, the author testifies in the preface that he had gathered the materials for this history before 1809, when he was sent to the Mississippi Territory by President Madison. And that being warned by an attack of sickness, that he might not live to publish the history, he determined "to put the work immediately to press in the condition it was in when it reached New Orleans." The references he makes are to> "Records, Magazines, Ga- zettes." No one can read the Colonial Records, lately pub- lished, and then read the digest of them in Martin's History, without being struck with the accuracy and impartiality of his story. As to this particular document of the Mecklen- burg Declaration, Martin testified in a conversation with Rev. F. L. Hawkes, D. D., that he had obtained it "in the western part of the State prior to the year 1800."** Judge Francis Xavier Martin, LL. D., was an eminent jurist and
♦Garden's Anecdotes of the Revolution.
**"The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence," an Address by Dr. Hawks in New York, December 16, 1852. Published in "Rev- olutionary History of North Carolina," 1853.
6 HISTORY OK MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
scholar who emigrated from France to America in 1782, and settled in New Bern. By a resolution of the Assembly, he was employed to compile and edit the ''British Statutes" of North Carolina, and devoted the years 1791-92 to that work. He was engaged by the Legislature, in 1794, and again in 1803, to edit the private acts of the Assembly. All this time he was gathering materials for his history of North Carolina, and must have known those members of the As- sembly from Mecklenburg who were participants in the scenes of the 19th and 20th of May, such as Robert Irwin. James Harris, William Polk, George Graham, and Joseph Graham. In 1806-7, ne was a member of the Legislature and again associated with George Graham, and Nathaniel Alexander, Mecklenburg's first occupant of the Governor's seat, who was a son-in-law of Col. Thomas Polk. Martin had the opportunity for securing original documents, the habit of historical investigation, the tastes and judgment of a scholar, and the judicial temperament which weighs evi- dence and rejects that which is false. His testimony alone would be sufficient to establish the fact that the committee of Mecklenburg citizens passed the resolutions which he prints in full, on the 20th day of May, 1776.
In the year 1793, Dr. Hugh Williamson, who had an- nounced his purpose to write a history of North Carolina, secured a copy of the Declaration from Mr. Alexander, which copy was seen by Gov. Stokes in Fayetteville in 1793, in the well-known handwriting of John McKnitt Alexan- der, as Gov. Stokes testifies.* In the year 1800, the Alexan- der residence, with the original copy of the Declaration and all the other proceedings of the Mecklenburg committee, were destroyed by fire.
The following was affixed to the Davie copy in the hand- writing of John McKnitt Alexander: "It may be worthy of notice here to observe that the foregoing statement, though fundamentally correct, may not literally correspond
*Dr. Hawks' Address. (See Page 8.)
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. J
with the original record of the transactions of said delega- tion and court of enquiry, as all those records and papers were burnt with the house on April 6, 1800; but previous to that time of 1800, a full copy of said records, at the re- quest of Dr. Hugh Williamson, then of New York, but for- merly a representative in Congress from this State, was for- warded to him by Col. William Polk, in order that those early transactions might fill their proper place in a history of this State then writing by said Dr. Williamson, in New York.
"Certified to the best of my .recollection and belief, this 3d day of September, 1800."
The Davie copy is a free version of the Martin copy. It begins with the past tense, "Whosoever abetted," showing the act of memory involved. There is a superfluity of ad- jectives, "unchartered and dangerous," "inherent and inalienable," which may be an echo of the National Declara- tion, though "rights inalienably ours" is an expression found in the articles of association adopted by Congress in 1774. "Americans" becomes "American patriots" in the old man's memory. A preamble is put to the fourth resolution, "as we now acknowledge the existence and control of no law or legal officer, civil or military" — "all and each" becomes "all, each and every." Instead of "be entitled to exercise the same powers and authorities as heretofore," Mr. Alexander gives as the substance of it, "is hereby reinstated in his former command an authority." "According to law" is changed to "according to said adopted laws," and "the love of liberty and of country" is recalled as "the love of country and the fire of freedom." The resolution about carrying the copy to Philadelphia is omitted in Mr. Alexander's account. Otherwise the copies agree.
It is impossible to believe that in writing down his recol- lection of the resolutions adopted, Mr. Alexander should have certified that the copy was fundamentally correct, and at the same time have appealed to an exact copy for proof of the fundamental correctness, the exact copy to be published,
8 HISTORY 01- MI.CKI. i:\BURG COUNTY.
as he thought, to the world, unless he was confident that his recollection was reliable. When the fire destroyed the origi- nal, he remarked that the declaration was safe, as Dr. Wil- liamson had a copy.
Dr. Williamson did not complete his history as projected, stopping- with the year 1771. When the missing copy was sought for, it was found that his papers also had been de- stroyed by a fire in New York. The papers from which Martin compiled his history were sent to France and have disappeared. The data collected for Garden's Anecdotes has also been lost, and no copy* of the Cape Fear Mercury of June, 1775, has ever come to light except the copy which Gov. Martin sent to London and which Mr. Stevenson, of Virginia, borrowed and did not return.*
They who undertook the task of proving that the Meck- lenburg Declaration was not made, chose as their ground for argument that some "Resolves" were adopted May 31, and that these "Resolves" did not go so far as the Declara- tion. They proved beyond all doubt that the Resolves were made, while their opponents in the discussion proved that the Declaration was made. Hence, we were given conclu- sive evidence of two meetings, one of which completed the work of the other. Some writers have lost the whole ques- tion in a hazy attempt to merge the two sets of resolutions and the two conventions into one, and hence have not noted the fact that the Declaration of May 20 declared the inde- pendence of Mecklenburg county, and that the Resolves of May 31 proclaimed the independence of the United Colonies.
{Rev. Francis L. Hawks, D. D., LL. D.)**
No less than seven witnesses of most unexceptionable character swear positively that there was a meeting of the people of Mecklen- burg at Charlotte, on the 19th and 20th days of May, 1775; that cer- tain declarations distinctly declaring independence of Great Britain were then and there prepared by a committee, read publicly to the
♦Record in the British Museum. **In an Address. (See Note, Page 5.)
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 9
people by Col. Thomas Polk, and adopted by acclamation; that they Were present and took part in the proceedings themselves, and that John McKnitt Alexander was a Secretary of the meeting. These seven swear positively to the date, the 19th and 20th days of May, 1775. * * * Now as to the paper sent to Williamson, Hon. Mont- fort Stokes was Governor of North Carolina in the year 1831; while he occupied that high position, he testified that in the year 1793, (mark the date), he saw in the possession of Dr. Williamson a copy of the documents of the 20th of May, 1775, in the handwriting of John McKnitt Alexander, together with a letter to Williamson from Alexander, and that he conversed with Williamson on the subject.
{Wheeler's History of North Carolina, Page 258.) The first American manifesto against the encroachments of power, the elective franchise, and the unwise interference of trade, was made in North Carolina as early as 1678, and nearly two hundred years before our independence was declared. Thus were sown, deep and broad, the seeds of liberty among her people with a liberal hand. * * * That the people of North Carolina should always have been.
"Men who knew their rights, and knowing dared maintain," is evident from every page of her history. But, that her sons should, on the 20th day of May, 1775, assemble at Charlotte, at a period of doubt, of darkness, and of danger, without concert with other States, without assurance of support from any quarter, and there "dissolve the political bands which connected them with the mother country," and there "declare themselves a free and independent people, and of right, ought to be soverign and self governing," is a subject full of moral sublimity, and a source of elevating State pride.
(Charlotte Democrat, July 8, 1873.)* A highly intelligent gentleman, who has lived in Charlotte over fifty years, told us the other day that at a celebration in Charlotte on the 20th of May, 1835, he saw in procession seventy-five persons who were present when the Declaration was made on the 20th of May, 1775; and who testified that the meeting of the 31st of May was an adjourned one from the 20th.
(Preface to Martin's History of North Carolina.) The writer imagined he had collected sufficient materials to justify the hope of producing a history of North Carolina worth
♦Carnegie Free Library, of Charlotte.
IO HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
the attention of his fellow citizens, and he had arranged all those that related to transactions, anterior to the Declaration of Inde- pendence, when, in 1809, Mr. Madison thought his services were wanted, first in the Mississippi territory and afterwards in that of New Orleans; and when the latter territory became a State, the new government thought proper to retain him.
He had entertained the hope that the time would arrive when disengaged from public duties, he might resume the work he had commenced in Carolina; but years have rolled away without bring- ing on this period; and a shock his health lately received during the year of his great climacteric, has warned him that the moment is arrived when his intended work must engage his immediate attention, or be absolutely abandoned.
A circumstance, for some time, recommended the latter alter- native. The public prints stated, that a gentleman of known industry and great talents, who has filled a very high office in North Carolina, was engaged in a similar work; but several years have elapsed since, and nothing favors the belief, that the hopes which he had excited will soon be realized.
This gentleman had made application for the materials not published and they would have been forwarded to him, if they had been in a condition of being useful to any but him who had col- lected them. In their circuitous way from Newbern to New York and New Orleans, the sea water found its way to them: since their arrival, the mice, worms and the variety of insects of a humid and warm climate, have made great ravages among them. The ink of several very ancient documents has grown so pale as to render them nearly illegible, and notes hastily taken on a journey are in so cramped a hand that they are not to be deciphered by any person but him who made them.
The determination has been taken to put the work immediately to the press, in the condition it was when it reached New Orleans: this has prevented any use being made of Williamson's History of North Carolina, a copy of which did not reach the writer's hands till after his arrival in Louisiana.
The expectation is cherished, that the people of North Carolina will receive with indulgence a work ushered to light under circum- stances so untoward.
Very ample notes and materials are ready for a volume, relating to the events of the Revolutionary War, and another, detailing sub- sequent transactions, till the writer's departure from Newbern, in 1809. If God yield him life and health, and his fellow citizens in
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 1 1
North Carolina appear desirous these should follow the two vol- umes now presented to them, it is not improbable they will appear.
Francis Xavier Martin. Gentilly, near New Orleans, July 20, 1829.
{John Adams to Thomas Jefferson.)*
"Quincy, 22d June, 1819. "Dear Sir,
"May I enclose you one of the greatest curiosities, and one of the deepest mysteries that ever occurred to me; it is in the Esssex Register of June the 5th, 1819. It is entitled, from the Raleigh Register, 'Declaration of Independence.' How is it possible that this paper should have been concealed from me to this day. Had it been communicated to me in the time of it, I know, if you do not know, that it would have been printed in every Whig newspaper upon the continent. You know, that if I had possessed it, I would have made the Hall of Congress echo and re-echo with it fifteen months before your Declaration of Independence. What a poor ignorant, malicious, short-sighted, crapulous mass is Tom Paine's Common Sense in comparison with this paper. Had I known it I would have commented upon it from the day you entered Con- gress till the fourth of July, 1776.
"The genuine sense of America at that moment was never so well expressed before nor since. Richard Caswell, William Hooper, and Joseph Hewes, the then Representatives of North Carolina in Congress, you know as well as I; and you know that the unanimity of the States finally depended on the vote of Joseph Hewes, and was finally determined by him; and yet history is to ascribe the Ameri- can Revolution to Thomas Paine. Sat Verbum sapienti. "I am, dear sir, your invariable friend,
"John Adams.
"President Jefferson."
(Thomas Jefferson to John Adams.)**
This letter is published in the furtherance of the author's desire to give all the evidence. Mr. Jefferson's misinforma- tion and mistakes are numerous. He expresses doubt as to the publication in the Raleigh Register and to the exist-
*Jones' Defence of the Revolutionary History of North Carolina. Page 296.
**State Pamphlet, 1831.
12 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
ence of J. McKnitt (Alexander). He mentions "a copy sent to the dead Caswell." when in truth the copy was sent to William K. Davie who was living at the time Jeffer- n was writing. He refers to "historians of the adjacent States" and to his own and Patrick Henry's biographers as though he did not km w they would be the last of all to acknowledge that the Revolution began in North Carolina.
He speaks of "Williamson, whose memory did not recol- lect in the history he has written of North Carolina, this gigantic step of its county of Mecklenburg;" and William- son's history reached only to the year 1771. And worst of all, he speaks disparagingly of Hooper and Hewes, who ad- vocated independence long before he did. (See Volume I.,
page 44. )
"Month t.i.i.o. July 9, 1819.
"Dear Sir, — I am in debt to you for your letters of May the 21st, 27th, and June the 22nd. The first, delivered me by Mr. Greenwood, gave me the gratification of his acquaintance; and a gratification it always is, to be made acquainted with gentlemen of candor, worth, and information, as I found Mr. Greenwood to be. That on the subject of Mr. Samuel Adams Wells, shall not be forgotten in time and place, when it can be used to his advantage.
"But what has attracted my peculiar notice, is the paper from Mecklenburg county, of North Carolina, published in the Essex Register, which you were so kind as to enclose in your last, of June the 22nd. And you seem to think it genuine. I believe it spurious. I deem it to be a very unjustifiable quiz, like that of the volcano, so minutely related to us having broken out in North Carolina, some half dozen years ago, in that part of the country, and perhaps in that very county of Mecklenburg, for I do not remember its precise locality.** If this paper be really taken from the Raleigh Register, as quoted, I wonder it should have escaped Ritchie, who culls what is good from every paper, as the bee from every flower; and the National Intelligencer, too, which is edited by a North Carolinian; and that the fire should blaze out all at once in Essex, one thou- sand miles from where the spark is said to have fallen. But if really taken from the Raleigh Register, who is the narrator, and is the name subscribed real, or is it as fictitious as the paper itself? It appeals, too, to an original book, which is burnt, to Mr. Alexander, who is dead, to a joint letter from Caswell, Hewes, and Hooper, all
**The story was of a volcano in Buncombe county. — D. A. T.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. I 3
dead, to a copy sent to the dead Caswell, and another sent to Doctor Williamson, now probably dead, whose memory did not recollect, in the history he has written of North Carolina, this gigantic step of its county of Mecklenburg. Horry, too, is silent in his history of Marion, whose scene of action was the country bordering on Mecklenburg. Ramsay, Marshall, Jones, Girardin, Wirt, historians of the adjacent States, all silent. When Mr. Henry's resolutions, far short of independence, flew like lightning through every paper and kindled both sides of the Atlantic, this flaming declaration of the same date, of the independence of Mecklenburg county, of North Carolina, absolving it from the British allegiance, and abjuring all political connection with that nation, although sent to Congress, too, is never heard of. It is not known even a twelve-month after, when a similar proposition is first made in that body. Armed with this bold example, would not you have addressed our timid brethren in peals of thunder, on their tardy fears? Would not every advo- cate of independence have rung the glories of Mecklenburg county, in North Carolina, in the ears of the doubting Dickinson and others, who hung so heavily on us? Yet the example of independent Meck- lenburg county, in North Carolina, was never once quoted. The paper speaks, too, of the continued exertions of their delegation (Caswell, Hooper, Hewes,) 'in the cause of liberty and independence.' Now, you remember as well as I do, that we had not a greater tory in Congress than Hooper;* that Hewes was very wavering, some- times firm, sometimes feeble, according as the day was clear or cloudy; that Caswell, indeed, was a good Whig, and kept these gen- tlemen to the notch, while he was present; but that he left us soon, and their line of conduct became then uncertain until Penn came, who fixed Hewes, and the vote of the State. I must not be understood as suggesting any doubtfulness in the State of North Carolina. No State was more fixed or forward. Nor do I affirm, positively, that this paper is a fabrication, because the proof of a negative can only be presumptive. But I shall believe it such until positive and solemn proof of its authenticity shall be produced. And if the name of McKnitt be real, and not a part of the fabrication, it needs a vindication by the production of such proof. For the present, I must be an unbeliever in the apocryphal gospel.
"I am glad to learn that Mr. Ticknor has safely returned to his friends; but should have been much more pleased had he accepted the Professorship in our University, which we should have offered him in form. Mr. Bowditch, too, refuses us; so fascinating is the
*These Reflections on Hooper and Hewes are Disproven by Jones' Defence of the Revolutionary History of North Carolina.— D. A. T.
14 HISTORY OF MECKUvNBURG COUNTY.
vinculum of the dulve natalc solum. Our wish is to procure natives, where they cau be found, like these gentlemen, of the first order of acquirement in their respective lines; but preferring foreigners of the first order to natives of the second, we shall certainly have to go, for several of our Professors, to countries more advanced in science than we are.
'•I set out within three or four days for my other home, the distance of which, and its cross mails, are great impediments to epistolary communications. I shall remain there about two months; and there, here, and everywhere, I am and shall always be affection- ately and respectfully yours,
"Th: Jefferson."
(Raleigh Register, April 30, 1819.)* It is not, probably, known to many of our readers, that the citi- zens of Mecklenburg county, in this State, made a Declaration of Independence more than a year before Congress made theirs. The following document on the subject has lately come to the hands of the Editor from unquestionable authority, and is published that it may go down to posterity.
North Carolina, Mecklenburg County,
May 20, 1775. In the spring of 1775, the leading characters of Mecklenburg county, stimulated by that enthusiastic patriotism which elevates the mind above considerations of individual aggrandizement, and scorning to shelter themselves from the impending storm by sub- mission to lawless power, etc., etc., held several detached meetings, in each of which the individual sentiments were, "that the cause of Boston was the cause of all; that their destinies were indissolubly connected with those of their Eastern fellow citizens — and that they must either submit to all the impositions which an unprin- cipled, and to them an unrepresented, Parliament might impose — or support their brethren who were doomed to sustain the first shock of that power, which, if successful there, would ultimately over- whelm all in the common calamity." Conformably to these prin- ciples, Colonel T. Polk, through solicitation, issued an order to each Captain's company in the county of Mecklenburg, (then compris- ing the present county of Cabarrus,) directing each militia company to elect two persons, and delegate to them ample power to devise ways and means to aid and assist their suffering brethren in Boston, and also generally to adopt measures to extricate them- selves from the impending storm, and to secure unimpaired their
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 1 5
inalienable rights, privileges and liberties, from the dominant grasp of British imposition and tyranny.
In conformity to said order, on the 19th of May, 1775, the said delegation met in Charlotte, vested with unlimited powers; at which time official news, by express, arrived of the battle of Lexington on that day of the preceding month. Every delegate felt the value and importance of the prize, and the awful and solemn crisis which had arrived— every bosom swelled with indignation at the malice, invet- eracy, and insatiable revenge, developed in the late attack at Lex- ington. The universal sentiment was: let us not flatter ourselves that popular harangues, or resolves; that popular vapour will avert the storm, or vanquish our common enemy — let us deliberate — let us calculate the issue— the probable result; and then let us act with energy, as brethren leagued to preserve our property— our lives— and what is still more endearing, the liberties of America. Abra- ham Alexander was then elected Chairman, and John M'Knitt Alex- ander, Clerk. After a free and full discussion of the various objects for which the delegation had been convened, it was unanimously ordained.
(Here follows the Declaration.)
A number of by-laws were also added, merely to protect the asso- ciation from confusion, and to regulate their general conduct as citi- zens. After sitting in the Court House all night, neither sleepy, hungry, nor fatigued, and after discussing every paragraph, they were all passed, sanctioned, and decreed, unanimously, about 2 o'clock a. m., May 20, In a few days, a deputation of said delegation convened, when Capt. James Jack, of Charlotte, was deputed as ex- press to the Congress at Philadelphia, with a copy of said Resolves and Proceedings, together with a letter addressed to our three repre- sentatives there, viz., Richard Caswell, William Hooper and Joseph Hewes— under express injunction, personally, and through the State representation, to use all possible means to have said proceedings sanctioned and approved by the General Congress. On the return of Captain Jack, the delegation learned that their proceedings were individually approved by the members of Congress, but that it was deemed premature to lay them before the House. A joint letter from said three Members of Congress was also received, compli- mentary of the zeal in the common cause, and recommending per- severance, order and energy.*
The subsequent harmony, unanimity, and exertion in the cause of liberty and independence, evidently resulting from these regula-
•
*This letter was burned with the original Copy of the Declara- tion.— D. A. T.
l6 HISTORV '»!•' MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
tions and the continued exertion of said delegation, apparently tranqullized this section of the State, and met with the concur* rence and high approbation of the Council of Safety, who held their
sessions at Newbern and Wilmington, alternately, and who con- firmed the nomination and acts of the delegation in their official capacity.
From this delegation originated the Court of Enquiry of this county, who constituted and held their first session in Charlotte — they then held their meetings regularly at Charlotte, at Col. Janus Harris's, and at Col. Phifer's. alternately, one week at each place. It was a Civil Court founded on military process. Before this Judi- cature, all suspicious persons were made to appear, who were for- mally tried and banished, or continued under guard. Its Jurisdic- tion was as unlimited as toryism, and i 5 decrees as final ss the con- fidence and patriotism of the country. Several were arrested and brought before them from Lincoln, Rowan and the adjacent coun- ties.
[The foregoing is a true copy of the papers on the above subject, left in my hands by John McKnitt Alexander, deceased. I find it mentioned on file that the original book was burned April, 1800. That a copy of the proceedings was sent to Hugh Williamson, in New York, then writing a History of North Carolina, and that a copy was sent to Gen. W. R. Davie. J. McKnitt.]*
(Raleigh Register, February 18, 1820.;**
MECKLENBUBG DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
When this Declaration was first published in April last, some doubts were expressed in the Eastern papers as to its authenticity, (none of the Histories of the Revolution having noticed the circum- stance.) Col. William Polk, of this city, (who, though a mere youth at the time, was present at the meeting which made the Declaration, and whose father, being Colonel of the county, appears to have acted a conspicuous part on the occasion,) observing this, assured us of the correctness of the facts generally, though he thought there were errors as to the name of the Secretary, etc., and said that he should probably be able to correct these, and throw some further light on the subject, by inquiries amongst some of his old friends in Mecklenburg county. He has accordingly made inquiries, and communicated to us the following Documents as the result, which, we presume, will do away all doubts on the subject.
*Dr. Joseph McKnitt .Alexander, son of John McKnitt Alexan- der.—D. A. T.
**State Pamphlet, 1831.
QS* w sf^/co
Sc^hZ_ -s
OfU.
■SIGNATURES OF PROMINENT CHARACTERS IN MECKLEN- BURG HISTORY.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. I J
(Certificate of Samuel Henderson.)*
State of North Carolina,
Mecklenburg County. I, Samuel Henderson, do hereby certify, that the paper annexed was obtained by me from Maj. William Davie in its present situa- tion, soon after the death of his father, Gen. William R. Davie, and given to Doct. Joseph McKnitt by me. In searching for some par- ticular paper, I came across this, and, knowing the handwriting of John McKnitt Alexander, took it up, and examined it. Maj. Davie said to me (when asked how it became torn) his sisters had torn it, not knowing what it was.
Given under my hand, this 25th November, 1830.
Sam. Henderson.
[Note. — To this certificate of Doct. Henderson is annexed the copy of the paper A, originally deposited by John McKnitt Alexan- der in the hands of Gen. Davie; whose name seems to have been mistaken by Mr. Jefferson for that of Gov. Caswell. See preface, pages 5 and 6. This paper is somewhat torn, but is entirely legible, and constitutes the "solemn and positive proof of authenticity" which Mr. Jefferson required, and which would doubtless have been satisfactory, had it been submitted to him.]
(Captain Jack's Certificate.)*
Having seen in the newspapers some pieces respecting the Declar- ation of Independence by the people of Mecklenburg county, in the State of North Carolina, in May, 1775, and being solicited to state what I know of that transaction; I would observe, that for some time previous to, and at the time those resolutions were agreed upon, I resided in the town of Charlotte, Mecklenburg county; was privy to a number of meetings of some of the most influential and leading characters of that county on the subject, before the final adoption of the resolutions — and at the time they were adopted; among those who appeared to take the lead, may be mentioned Hezekiah Alexan- der, who generally acted as chairman; John McKnitt Alexander, as secretary; Abraham Alexander, Adam Alexander, Maj. John Da- vidson, Maj. (afterwards Gen.) Wm. Davidson, Col. Thomas Polk, Ezekiel Polk, Dr. Ephraim Brevard, Samuel Martin, Duncan Ochle- tree, William Willson, Robert Irvin.
When the resolutions were finally agreed on, they were publicly proclaimed from the Court-house door in the town of Charlotte, and received with every demonstration of joy by the inhabitants.
I was then solicited to be the bearer of the proceedings to Con-
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
l8 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
gress. I set out the following month, say June, and in passing through Salisbury, the General Court was sitting — at the request of the court I handed a copy of the resolutions to Col. Kennon, an At- torney, and they were read aloud in open court. Major William Davidson, and Mr. Avery, an attorney, called on me at my lodgings the evening after, and observed, they had heard of but one person, (a Mr. Beard) but approved of them.
I then proceeded on to Philadelphia, and delivered the Mecklen- burg Declaration of Independence of May, 1775, to Richard Caswell and William Hooper, the delegates to Congress from the State of North Carolina.
I am now in the eighty-eighth year of my age, residing in the county of Elbert, in the State of Georgia. I was in the Revolution- ary War, from the commencement to the close. I would further observe, that the Rev. Francis Cummins, a Presbyterian clergyman, of Greene county, in this State, w^s a student in the town of Char- lotte at the time of the adoption of the resolutions, and is as well, or perhaps better acquainted with the proceedings at that time, than any man now living.
Col. William Polk, of Raleigh, in North Carolina, was living with his father Thomas, in Charlotte, at the time I have been speaking of, and although then too young to be forward in the business, yet the leading circumstances I have related cannot have escaped his recollection.
James Jack.
Signed this 7th Dec, 1819, in presence of Job Weston. C. C. 0. James Olives, Atto. at Law.
(The Alexander Certificate.)*
North Carolina. Cabarrus County, Nov. 29, 1830. We. the undersigned, do hereby certify that we have frequently heard William S. Alexander, deceased, say that he, the said Wm. S. Alexander, was at Philadelphia, on mercantile business, in the early part of the summer of 1775, say in June; and that on the day that Gen. Washington left Philadelphia to take command of the North- ern army,** he, the said Wm. S. Alexander, met with Capt. James Jack, who informed him, the said Wm. S. Alexander, that he, the said James Jack, was there as the agent or bearer of the Declaration of Independence made in Charlotte, on the twentieth day of May, sev-
*State Pamphlet, 1831. **June 23.— D. A. T.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 1 9
enteen hundred and seventy-five, by the citizens of Mecklenburg, then including Cabarrus, with instructions to present the same to the Delegates from North Carolina, and by them to be laid before Congress, and which he said he had done; in which Declaration the aforesaid citizens of Mecklenburg renounced their allegiance to the crown of Great Britain, and set up a government for themselves, un- der the title of The Committee of Safety.
Given under our hands the date above written.
Alphonso Alexander, Amos Alexander, J. McKnitt.
(Francis Cummins' Certificate.)*
Lexington, Ga., November 10, 1819.
Dear Sir: — The bearer, the Hon. Thomas W. Cobb, has suggested to me that you had a desire to know something particularly of the proceedings of the citizens of Mecklenburg county, in North Carolina, about the beginning of our Revolutionary War.
Previous to my becoming more particular, I will suppose you re- member the Regulation business, which took its rise in or before the year 1770, and issued and ended in a battle between the Regu- lators and Governor Tryon, in the spring of 1771. Some of the Reg- ulators were killed, and the whole dispersed. The Regulators' con- duct "was a rudis indigestaque moles,'1 as Ovid says, about the be- ginning of creation; but the embryotic principles of the Revolution were in their temper and views. They wanted strength, consist- ency, a Congress and a Washington at their head. Tryon sent his officers and minions through the State, and imposed the oath of allegiance upon the people, even as far up as Mecklenburg county. In the year 1775, after our Revolution began, the principal char- acters of Mecklenburg county met on two sundry days, in Queen's Museum in Charlotte, to digest Articles for a State Constitution, in anticipation that the Province would proceed to do so. In this busi- ness the leading characters were, the Rev. Hezekiah James Balch, a graduate of Princeton College, an elegant scholar; Waightstill Avery, Esq., Attorney at Law; Hezekiah and John McKnitt Alexan- der, Esq's., Col. Thomas Polk, etc., etc.
Many men, and young men, (myself one,) before magistrates, ab- jured allegiance to George III., or any other foreign power. At length, in the same year, 1775, I think, at least positively before July 4, 1776, the males generally of that county met on a certain day in Charlotte, and from the head of the Court-house stairs pro-
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
20 HISTORY OK MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
claimed Independence on English Government, by their herald Col. Thomas Polk. I was present, and saw and heard it, and as a young man, and then a student in Queen's Museum, was an agent in these things. I did not then take and keep the dates, and cannot, as to date, be so particular as I could wish. Capt. James Jack, then of Charlotte, but now of Elbert county, In Georgia, was sent with the account of these proceedings to Congress, then in Philadelphia — and brought back to the county, the thanks of Congress for their zeal — and the advice of Congress to be a little more patient, until Congress should take the measures thought to be best.
I would suppose, sir, that some minutes of these things must be found among the records of the first Congress, that would per- fectly settle their dates. I am perfectly sure, being present at the whole of them, they were before our National Declaration of Imlp- pendence.
Hon. Sir, if the above few things can afford you any gratification, it will add to the happiness of your friend and humble servant.
Francis Cummins.
Hon. Nathaniel Macon.
(Joseph Graham's Certificate.)*
Vesuvius Furnace, 4th October, 1830.
Dear Sir: — Agreeably to your request, I will give you the details •of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence on the 20th of May, 1775, as well as I can recollect after a lapse of fifty-five years. I was then a lad about half grown, was present on that occasion (a looker on).
During the Winter and Spring preceding that event, several pop- ular meetings of the people were held in Charlotte; two of which I attended. — Papers were read, grievances stated, and public measures discussed. As printing was not then common in the South, the papers were mostly manuscript; one or more of which was from the pen of the Reverend Doctor Reese, (then of Mecklenburg), which met with general approbation, and copies of it circulated. It is to be regretted that those and other papers published at that period, and the journal of their proceedings, are lost. They would show much of the spirit and tone of thinking which prepared them for the measures they afterwards adopted.
On the 20th of May, 1775, besides the two persons elected from each militia company, (usually called Committee-men), a much larger number of citizens attended in Charlotte than at any former meeting — perhaps half the men in the county. The news of the battle of Lexington, the 19th of April preceding, had arrived. There
♦State Pamphlet, 1831.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 21
appeared among the people much excitement. The committee were organized in the Court-house by appointing Abraham Alexander, Esq., Chairman, and John McKnitt Alexander, Esq., Clerk or Sec- retary to the meeting.
After reading a number of papers as usual, and much animated discussion, the question was taken and they resolved to declare themselves independent. One among other reasons offered, that the King or Ministry had, by proclamation or some edict, declared the Colonies out of the protection of the British Crown; they ought, therefore, to declare themselves out of his protection, and resolve on independence. That their proceedings might be in due form, a sub- committee, consisting of Dr. Ephraim Brevard, a Mr. Kennon, an attorney, and a third person, whom I do not recollect, were ap- pointed to draft their Declaration. They retired from the Court- house for some time; but the committee continued in session in it. One circumstance occurred I distinctly remember: A member of the committee, who had said but little before, addressed the Chair- man as follows: "If you resolve on independence, how shall we all be absolved from the obligations of the oath we took to be true to King George the III. about four years ago, after the Regulation battle, when we were sworn whole militia companies together. I should be glad to know how gentlemen can clear their consciences after taking that oath." This speech produced confusion. The Chairman could scarcely preserve order, so many wished to reply. There appeared great indignation and contempt at the speech of the member. Some said it was nonsense; others that allegiance and protection were reciprocal; when protection was withdrawn, alle- giance ceased; that the oath was only binding while the King pro- tected us in the enjoyment of our rights and liberties as they ex- isted at the time it was taken; which he had not done, but now de- clared us out of his protection; therefore was not binding. Any man who would interpret it otherwise, was a fool. By way of illus- tration, (pointing to a green tree near the Court-house), stated, if he was sworn to do anything as long as the leaves continued on that tree, it was so long binding; but when the leaves fell, he was discharged from its obligation. This was said to be certainly appli- cable in the present case. Out of respect for a worthy citizen, long since deceased, and his respectable connections, I forbear to mention names; for, though he was a friend to the cause, a suspicion rested on him in the public mind for some time after.
The sub-committee appointed to draft the resolutions returned, and Dr. Ephraim Brevard read their report, as near as I can recol- lect, in the very words we have since seen them several times in print. It was unanimously adopted, and shortly after it was moved
22 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
and seconded to have proclamation made and the people collected, that the proceedings he read at the Court-house door, in order that all might hear them. It was done, and they were received with enthusiasm. It was then proposed by some one aloud to give three cheers and throw up their hats. It was immediately adopted, and the hats thrown. Several of them lit on the Court-house roof. The owners had some difficulty to reclaim them.
The foregoing is all from personal knowledge. I understood af- terwards that Captain James Jack, then of Charlotte, undertook, on the request of the committee, to carry a copy of their proceedings to Congress, which then sat in Philadelphia; and on his way, at Salis- bury, the time of court, Mr. Kennon, who was one of the committee who assisted in drawing the Declaration, prevailed on Captain Jack to get his papers, and have them read publicly; which was done, and the proceedings met with general approbation. But two of the lawyers, John Dunn and a Mr. Booth, dissented, and asserted they were treasonable, and endeavored to have Captain Jack detained. He drew his pistols, and threatened to kill the first man who would interrupt him, and passed on. The news of this reached Charlotte in a short time after, and the executive of the committee, whom they had invested with suitable powers, ordered a party of ten or twelve armed horsemen to bring said lawyers from Salisbury; when they were brought, and the case investigated before the committee. Dunn, on giving security and making fair promises, was permitted to return, and Booth was sentenced to go to Camden, in South Caro- lina, out of the sphere of his influence. My brother George Graham and the late Col. John Carruth were of the party that went to Salis- bury; and it is distinctly remembered that when in Charlotte they came home at night, in order to provide for their trip to Camden; and that they and two others of the party took Booth to that place. This was the first military expedition from Mecklenburg in the Rev- olutionary war, and believed to be the first anywhere to the South.
Yours respectfully,
J. Graiiam. Dr. Jos. M'Kt. Alexander, Mecklenburg, N. Carolina.
Certificate (Graham, Hutchison, Clark, Robiiison.)*
State of North Carolixa, Mecklenburg County. At the request of Col. William Polk, of Raleigh, made to Major- General George Graham, soliciting him to procure all the informa- tion that could be obtained at this late period, of the transactions
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 23
which took place in the county of Mecklenburg, in the year 1775, as it respected the people of that county having declared Independence; of the time when the Declaration was made; who were the princi- pal movers and leaders, and the members who composed the body of Patriots who made the Declaration, and signed the same.
We, the undersigned citizens of the said county, and of the several ages set forth opposite to each of our names, do certify, and on our honor declare, that we were present in the town of Charlotte, in the said county of Mecklenburg, on the 19th day of May, 1775, when two persons elected from each Captain's Company in said county, ap- peared as delegates, to take into consideration the state of the coun- try, and to adopt such measures as to them seemed best, to secure their lives, liberty, and property, from the storm which was gather- ing, and had burst upon their fellow-citizens to the Eastward, by a British army, under the authority of the British King and Parlia- ment.
The order for the election of Delegates was given by Col. Thomas Polk, the commanding officer, of the militia of the county, with a re- quest that their powers should be ample, touching any measure that should be proposed.
"We do further certify and declare, that to the best of our recollec- tion and belief, the delegation was complete from every company, and that the meeting took place in the Court-house, about 12 o'clock on the said 19th day of May, 1775, when Abraham Alexander was chosen Chairman, and Dr. Ephraim Brevard Secretary. That the Delegates continued in session until in the night of that day; that on the 20th they again met, when a committee, under the direction of the Delegates, had formed several resolves, which were read, and which went to declare themselves, and the people of Mecklen- burg county, Free and Independent of the King and Parliament of Great Britain — and that, from that day thenceforth, all allegiance and political relation was absolved between the good people of Mecklenburg and the King of Great Britain; which Declaration was signed by every member of the Delegation, under the shouts and huzzas of a very large assembly of the people of the county, who had come to know the issue of the meeting. We further believe, that the Declaration of Independence was drawn up by the Secre- tary, Dr. Ephraim Brevard, and that it was conceived and brought about through the instrumentality and popularity of Col. Thomas Polk, Abraham Alexander, John McKnitt Alexander, Adam Alexan- der, Ephraim Brevard, John Phifer, and Hezekiah Alexander, with some others.
We do further certify and declare, that in a few days after the Delegates adjourned, Captain James Jack, of the town of Char-
24 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
lotte, was engaged to carry the resolves to the President of Con- gress, and to our Representatives — one copy for each; and that his expenses were paid by a voluntary subscription. And we do know that Captain Jack executed the trust, and returned with answers, both from the President and our Delegates in Congress, expressive of their entire approbation of the course that had been adopted, recommending a continuance in the same; and that the time would soon be, when the whole Continent would follow our example.
We further certify and declare, that the measures which were adopted at the time before mentioned, had a general influence on the people of this county to unite them in the cause of liberty and the country, at that time; that the same unanimity and patriotism con- tinued unimpaired to the close of the war; and that the resolutions had considerable effect in harmonizing the people in two or three ad- joining counties.
That a committee of Safety for the county were elected, who were clothed with civil and military power, and under their au- thority several disaffected persons in Rowan, and Tryon (now Lin- coln county), were sent for, examined, and conveyed (after it was satisfactorily proven they were inimical) to Camden, in South Carolina, for safe keeping.
We do further certify, that the acts passed by the committee of Safety, were received as the Civil Law of the land in many cases, and that Courts of Justice for the decision of controversies between the people were held, and we have no recollection that dissatisfac- tion existed in any instance with regard to the judgments of said courts.
We are not, at this late period, able to give the names of all the Delegation who formed the Declaration of Independence; but can safely declare as to the following persons being of the number, viz.: Thomas Polk, Abraham Alexander, John McKnitt Alexander, Adam Alexander, Ephraim Brevard, John Phifer, Hezekiah James Balch, Benjamin Patton, Hezekiah Alexander, Richard Barry, William Graham, Matthew M'Clure, Robert Irwin, Zachias Wilson, Neil Mor- rison, John Flennegen, John Queary, Ezra Alexander.
In testimony of all and every part herein set forth, we have here- unto set our hands.
Geo. Graham, aged 61, near 62. Wm. Hutchison, " 68. Jonas Clark, " 61. Rob't Robinson. " 68.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 25
(John Simeson to Col. William Polk.)*
Providence, January 20, 1820. Dear Sir: — After considerable delay, occasioned partly to obtain what information I could, in addition to my own knowledge of the facts in relation to our Declaration of Independence, and partly by a precarious, feeble old age, I now write to you in answer to yours of the 24th ult.
I have conversed with many of my old friends and others, and all agree in the point, but few can state the particulars; for although our country is renowned for general intelligence, we have still some that don't read the public prints. You know, in the language of the day, every Province had its Congress, and Mecklenburg had its county Congress, as legally chosen as any other, and assumed an attitude until then without a precedent; but, alas those worthies who conceived and executed that bold measure, are no more; and one reason why so little new light can be thrown on an old truth, may be this— and I appeal to yourself for the correctness of the re- mark— we who are now called Revolutionary men, were then thoughtless, precipitate youths; we cared not who conceived the bold act, our business was to adopt and support it. Yourself, sir, in your eighteenth year and on the spot, your worthy father, the most popular and influential character in the county, and yet you cannot state much from recollection. Your father, as commanding officer of the county, issued orders to the captains to appoint two men from each company to represent them in the committee. It was done. Neill Morrison, John Flennegen, from this company; Charles Alexander, John McKnitt Alexander, Hezekiah Alexander, Abraham Alexander, Esq., John Phifer, David Reese, Adam Alexan- der, Dickey Barry, John Queary, with others, whose names I cannot obtain. As to the names of those who drew up the Declaration, I am inclined to think Dr. Brevard was the principal, from his known talents in composition. It was, however, in substance and form, like that great national act agreed on thirteen months after. Ours was towards the close of May, 1775. In addition to what I have said, the same committee appointed three men to secure all the military stores for the country's use — Thomas Polk, John Phifer, and Joseph Kennedy. I was under arms near the head of the line, near Col. Polk, and heard him distinctly read a long string of Grievances, the Declaration and Military Order above. I likewise heard Col. Polk have two warm disputes with two men of the county, who said the measures were rash and unnecessary. He was applauded and they silenced. I was then in my 22d year, an enemy to usurpation and
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
26 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
tyranny of every kind, with a retentive memory, and fond of liberty, that had a doubt arisen in my mind that the act would be contro- verted, proof would not have been wanting; but I comfort myself that none but the self-important peace-party and blue-lights of the East, will have the assurance to oppose it any further. The biogra- pher of Patrick Henry (Mr. Wirt) says he first suggested Independ- ence in the Virginia Convention; but it is known they did not reduce it to action — so that it will pass for nothing. The Courts likewise acted independently. I myself heard a dispute take place on the bench, and an acting magistrate was actually taken and sent to prison by an order of the Chairman.
Thus, sir, have I thrown together all that I can at this time. I am too blind to write fair, and too old to write much sense — but if my deposition before the Supreme Court of the United States would add more weight to a truth so well known here, it would be at the service of my fellow-citizens of the country and State generally.
I am, sir, your friend and humble servant.
John Simeson, Sen.
P. S. — I will give you a short anecdote. An aged man near me, on being asked if he knew anything of this affair, replied, "Och, aye, Tarn Polk declared Independence long before anybody else." This old man is 81.
(Certificate of Isaac Alexander.)*
I hereby certify that I was present in Charlotte on the 19th and 20th days of May, 1775, when a regular deputation from all the Captains' companies of militia in the county of Mecklenburg, to-wit: Col. Thomas Polk, Adam Alexander, Lieut. Col. Abram Alexander, John McKnitt Alexander, Hezekiah Alexander, Ephraim Brevard, and a number of others, who met to consult and take measures for the peace and tranquility of the citizens of said county, and who appointed Abraham Alexander their Chairman, and Doctor Ephraim Brevard Secretary; who, after due consultation, declared themselves absolved from their allegiance to the King of Great Britain, and drew up a Declaration of their Independence, which was unani- mously adopted; and employed Capt. James Jack to carry copies thereof to Congress, who accordingly went. These are a part of the transactions that took place at that time, as far as my recollection serves me.
Isaac Alexander.
October 8, 1830.
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 2~J
(Certificate of Samuel Wilson.)*
State of North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. I do hereby certify, that in May, 1775, a committee or delegation from the different militia companies in this county met in Charlotte; and after consulting together, they publicly declared their independ- ence on Great Britain, and on her Government. This was done be- fore a large collection of people, who highly approved of it. I was then and there present, and heard it read from the Court-house door. Certified by me. Samuel Wilson.
(Certificate of John Davidson.)*
Beaver Dam, October 5, 1830.
Dear Sir: — I received your note of the 25th of last month, requir- ing information relative to the Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde- pendence. As I am, perhaps, the only person living, who was a member of that Convention, and being far advanced in years, and not having my mind frequently directed to that circumstance for some years, I can give you but a very succinct history of that trans- action. There were two men chosen from each captain's company, to meet in Charlotte, to take the subject into consideration. John McKnitt Alexander and myself were chosen from one company; and many other members were there that I now recollect, whose names I deem unnecessary to mention. When the members met, and were perfectly organized for business, a motion was made to de- clare ourselves independent of the Crown of Great Britain, which was carried by a large majority. Dr. Bphraim Brevard was then appointed to give us a sketch of the Declaration of Independence, which he did. James Jack was appointed to take it on to the American Congress, then sitting in Philadelphia, with particular in- structions to deliver it to the North Carolina Delegation in Con- gress, (Hooper and Caswell). When Jack returned, he stated that the Declaration was presented to Congress, and the reply was, that they highly esteemed the patriotism of the citizens of Mecklenburg; but they thought the measure too premature.
I am confident that the Declaration of Independence by the peo- ple of Mecklenburg was made public at least twelve months before that of the Congress of the United States.
I do certify that the foregoing statement, relative to the Meck- lenburg Independence is correct, and which I am willing to be qualified to, should it be required. Yours respectfully,
Doct. J. M. Alexander. John Davidson.
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
28 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Note. — The following is a copy of an original paper furnished by the writer of the foregoing certificate, from which it would seem, that, from the period of the Mecklenburg Declaration, every indi- vidual friendly to the American cause was furnished by the Chair- man of that meeting, Abraham Alexander, with testimonials of the character he had assumed; and in this point of view the paper af- fords strong collateral testimony of the correctness of many of the foregoing certificates.
North Carolina, Mecklenburg County, November 28, 1775. These may certify to all whom may concern, that the bearer hereof, William Henderson, is allowed here to be a true friend to liberty, and signed the Association.
Certified by Abr'm Alexander,
Chairman of the Committee of P. S.
(Letter From J. G. M. Ramsey.)*
Mecklenburg, T. Oct. 1, 1830. Dear Sir: — Yours of 21st ultimo was duly received. In answer I have only to say, that little is in my possession on the subject alluded to which you have not already seen. Subjoined are the cer- tificates of two gentlemen of this county, whose respectability and veracity are attested by their acquaintances here, as well as by the accompanying testimonials of the magistrates in whose neighbor- hood they reside. With this you will also receive extracts from letters on the same subject from gentlemen well known to you, and to the country at large.
I am, very respectfully yours, etc.,
J. G. M. Ramsey.
(Certificate of James Johnson.)* I, James Johnson, now of Knox county, Tennessee, but formerly of Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, do hereby certify, that to the best of my recollection, in the month of May, 1775, there were several meetings in Charlotte concerning the impending war. Being young, I was not called on to take an active part in the same; but one thing I do positively remember, that she (Mecklenburg county) did meet and hold a Convention, declared independence, and sent a man to Philadelphia with the proceedings. And I do further cer- tify, that I am well acquainted with several of the men who formed or constituted said Convention, viz.: John McKnitt Alexander, Hez-
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 29
ekiah Alexander, Abraham Alexander, Adam Alexander, Robert Irwin, Neill Morrison, John Flennegen, John Queary. Certified by me this 11th day of October, 1827.
James Johnson, In my seventy-third year.
(Certificate of Elijah Johnson and James Wilhite.)* We, Elijah Johnson and James Wilhite, acting Justices of the Peace for the county of Knox, do certify, that we have been a long time well acquainted with Samuel Montgomery and James Johnson, both residents of Knox county; and that they are entitled to full credit, and any statement they may make to implicit confidence. Given under our hands and seals this 4th day of October, 1830.
Elijah Johnson, [Seal] James Wilhite, [Seal.] Justices of the Peace for Knox County. Note. — Mr. Montgomery's certificate does not purport to state the facts as having come under his own personal observation. It is therefore omitted in this publication.
Instructions Given to Mecklenburg Representatives to the Provin- cial Congress, September 1, 1776.**
1. You are instructed to vote that the late province of North Car- olina is and of right ought to be, a free and independent State, in- vested with all the power of Legislation, capable of making Laws to regulate all its internal policy, subject only in its external con- nections and foreign commerce, to a negative of a continental Senate.
2. You are instructed to vote for the Execution of a civil Govern- ment under the authority of the People for the future security of all the Rights, Privileges and Prerogatives of the State, and the private, natural and unalienable Rights of the constituting members thereof, either as Men or Christians. If this should not be confirmed in Congress or Convention — protest.
3. You are instructed to vote that an equal Representation be es- tablished, and that the qualifications required to enable any person or persons to have a voice in Legislation, may not be secured too high, but that every Freeman who shall be called upon to support Government either in person or property, may be admitted thereto. If this should not be confirmed, protest and remonstrate.
*State Pamphlet, 1831.
**Wheeler's History, page 260. Date according to Governor Swain.
30 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
4. You are instructed to vote that Legislation be not a divided right, and that no man, or body of men be invested with a negative on the voice of the People duly collected, and that no honors or dig- nities be conferred, for life, or made hereditary, on any person or persons, either legislative or executive. If this should not be con- firmed— protest and remonstrate.
5. You are instructed to vote that all and every person or per- sons, seized or possessed of any estate, real or personal, agreeable to the last establishment, be confirmed in their seizure and pos- session, to all intents and purposes in law, who have not forfeited their right to the protection of the State by their criminal practices towards the same. If this should not be confirmed — protest.
6. You are instructed to vote that Deputies to represent this State in a Continental Congress be appointed in and by the supreme Leg- islative body of the State, the form of nomination to be submitted to, if free, and also that all officers the influence of whose office is equally to extend to every part of the State, be appointed in the same manner and form — likewise give your consent to the establish- ing the old political divisions, if it should be voted in convention, or to new ones if similar. On such establishments taking place you are instructed to vote, in the general, that all officers, who are to exercise their authority in any of the said districts, be recommended to the trust only by the freemen of said division — to be subject, however, to the general laws and regulations of the State. If this should not be substantially confirmed — protest.
7. You are instructed to move and insist that the people you im- mediately represent be acknowledged to be a distinct county of this State as formerly of the late province, with the additional privilege of annually electing in their own officers both civil and military, together with the election of Clerks and Sheriffs, by the freemen of the same. The choice to be confirmed by sovereign authority of the State, and the officers so invested to be under the jurisdiction of the State and liable to its cognizance and inflictions, in case of malpractice. If this should not be confirmed, protest and remon- strate.
8. You are instructed to vote that no chief justice, no secretary of State, no auditor-general, no surveyor-general, no practicing law- yer, no clerk of any court of record, no sheriff, and no person hold- ing a military office in this State, shall be a representative of the people in Congress or Convention. If this should not be confirmed — contend for it.
9. You are instructed to vote that all claims against the public, except such as accrue upon attendance of Congress or Convention, be first submitted to the inspection of a committee of nine or more
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 3 1
men, inhabitants of the county where said claimant is a resident, and without the approbation of said committee, it shall not be ac- cepted by the public, for which purpose you are to move and insist that a law be enacted to impower the freemen of each county to choose a committee of not less than nine men, of whom none are to be military officers. If this should not be confirmed — protest and remonstrate.
10. You are instructed to refuse to enter into any combinations of secrecy as members of Congress or Convention, and also to refuse to subscribe any ensnaring jests binding you to an unlimited sub- jection to the determination of Congress or Convention.
11. You are instructed to move and insist that the public accounts fairly stated shall be regularly kept in proper books, open to the in- spection of all persons whom it may concern. If this should not be confirmed — contend for it.
12. You are instructed to move and insist that the power of Coun- ty Courts be much more extensive than under the former constitu- tion, both with respect to matters of property and breaches of the peace. If not confirmed — contend for it.
13. You are instructed to assent and consent to the establishment of the Christian Religion as contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and more briefly comprised in the 39 Articles of the Church of England, excluding the 37th Article, together with all the Articles excepted and not to be imposed on dissenters by the act of toleration; and clearly held forth in the confession of faith compiled by the assembly of divines at Westminster, to be the Reli- gion of the State, to the utter exclusion forever of all and every other (falsely so called) Religion, whether Pagan or Papal, and that the full, free and peaceable enjoyment thereof be secured to all and every constituent member of the State as their unalienable right as Freemen, without the imposition of rites and ceremonies, whether claiming civil or ecclesiastical power for their source, and that a confession and profession of the Religion so established shall be necessary in qualifying any person for public trust in the State. If this should not be confirmed — protest and remonstrate.
14. You are instructed to oppose to the utmost any particular church or set of clergymen being invested with power to decree rites and ceremonies and to decide in controversies of faith to be submitted to under the influence of penal laws — you are also to op- pose the establishment of any mode of worship to be supported to the opposition of the rights of conscience, together with the de- struction of private property. You are to understand that under modes of worship are comprehended the different forms of swear- ing by law required. You are moreover to oppose the establishing
32 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
an ecclesiastical supremacy in the sovereign authority of the State. You are to oppose the toleration of the popish idolatrous worship. If this should not be confirmed — protest and remonstrate.
15. You are instructed to move and insist that not less than four-fifths of the body of which you are members, shall, in voting, be deemed a majority. If this should not be confirmed — contend for it.
16. You are instructed to give your voices to and for every motion and bill made or brought into the Congress or Convention, where they appear to be for public utility and in no ways repugnant to the above instructions.
17. Gentlemen, the foregoing instructions, you are not only to look on as instructions, but as charges, to which you are desired to take special heed as the general rule of your conduct as our Repre- sentatives, and we expect you will exert yourselves to the utmost of your ability to obtain the purposes given you in charge, and wherein you fail either in obtaining or opposing, you are hereby ordered to enter your protest against the vote of the Congress or Convention as is pointed out to you in the above instructions.
THREE COPIES OF THE DECLARATION.
As some writers were confused by the difference between the Resolves and the Declaration, so they were also by three different alleged copies of the latter. The first, or Martin copy, is given in the ninth chapter of the first volume, and was secured by Judge Martin, as he says, in Western North Carolina prior to 1800. As it would have been virtually im- possible for an incorrect copy to have co-existed with the original, which was destroyed in 1800, this is obviously a genuine reproduction.
Following is the Davie copy, which was written from memory by John McKnitt Alexander soon after the burning of his house and the official papers :
1st. Resolved, That whosoever directly or indirectly abbetted or in any way or form countenanced the unchartered and dangerous invasion of our rights as claimed by Great Britain, is an enemy to this country, to America, and to the inherent and inalienable rights of man.
2d. Resolved, That we, the citizens of Mecklenburg county, do hereby dissolve the political bands which have connected us to the
JtylJfrs&tM
dLY/u^r*^9 tt*< o&4^^ <-^ e^x.
l<£^Z^<&^?7i
^/^TTL, ^ <^<Z^Zf^ ^Zi^
' l^_j*~^trh
^*<».
t^^LSLst^ni^
SIGNATURES OF PROMINENT CHARACTERS IN MECKLEN- BURG HISTORY.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 33
mother country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British Crown, and abjure all political connection, contract or association, with that nation who have wantonly trampled on our rights and liberties, and inhumanly shed the blood of Ameri- can patriots at Lexington.
3d. Resolved, That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and in- pendent people; are and of right ought to be a sovereign and self- governing association, under the control of no other power but that of our God and the general government of the Congress; to the maintenance of which independence, we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual co-operation, our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honour.
4th. Resolved, That as we now acknowledge the existence and control of no law or legal officer, civil or military, within this coun- ty, we do hereby ordain and adopt as a rule of life, all, each and every of our former laws, wherein, nevertheless, the crown of Great Britain never can be considered as holding rights, privileges, immu- nities, or authority therein.
5th. Resolved, That it is further decreed, that all, each and every military officer in this county is hereby reinstated in his former command and authority, he acting conformably to these regulations. And that every member present of this delegation, shall henceforth be a civil officer, viz: a Justice of the Peace, in the character of a "Committeeman," to issue process, hear and determine all matters of controversy according to said adopted laws, and to preserve peace, union and harmony in said county; and to use every exertion to spread the love of country and the fire of freedom throughout Amer- ica, until a more general and organized government be established in this province.
The Garden copy, which is almost exactly similar to the Martin copy, was published in 'Garden's Anecdotes of the Revolution, in 1828, one year before the publication of Mar- tin's history. Alexander Garden acknowledges as his source of information Dr. William Read, who attended Dr. Ephraim Brevard in his last illness in 1777, at the home of John McKnitt Alexander. Both the Garden and Martin copies are undoubtedly genuine reproductions of the origi- nal; the first was published in 1828 and the other in 1829, and Garden and Martin both stated that they did not know of the existence of the other copy until both had appeared in print. The Garden copy is as follows :
34 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Resolved, That whoever directly or indirectly abets, or in any way, form, or manner, countenances the invasion of our rights, as attempted hy the Parliament of Great Britain, is an enemy to his country, to America, and to the Rights of Man.
Resolved, That we, the citizens of Mecklenburg county, do hereby dissolve the political bonds which have connected us with the Mother Country, and absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British Crown, abjuring all political connection with a nation that has wantonly trampled on our right and liberties, and inhumanly shed the blood of Americans at Lexington.
Resolved, That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and inde- pendent people, that we are and of right ought to be a sovereign and self-governing people, under the power of God and the General Con- gress, to the maintenance of which independence we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual co-operation — our lives — our fortunes — and our sacred honours.
Resolved, That we do hereby ordain and adopt, as rules of con- duct, all and each of our former laws, and the Crown of Great Britain cannot be considered, hereafter, as holding any rights, priv- ileges or immunities among us.
Resolved, That all officers, both civil and military, in this County, be entitled to exercise the same powers and authorities as hereto- fore— that every member of this delegation shall henceforth be a civil officer, and exercise the powers of a Justice of the Peace, issue process, hear and determine controversies, according to law, pre- serve peace, union and harmony in the county, and use every exer- tion to spread the love of liberty and of country, until a more gen- eral and better organized system of governmnet be established.
Resolved, That a copy of these Resolutions be transmitted by ex- press to the President of the Continental Congress, assembled at Philadelphia, to be laid before that body.
Resolves of May 31, 1775, Copied from the South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal of June 13, 1775, No. 498 — Printed at Charleston by Charles Crouch, on the Bay, Corner of Elliott Street*
Ciiarlotte-town, Mecklenburg County, May 31, 177.",. This day the Committee of this county met, and passed the fol- lowing Resolves:
Whereas, By an Address presented to His Majesty by both Houses of Parliament, in February last, the American colonies are declared
♦Copies of this paper are now on file in Charleston, S. C, and London. England.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 35
to be in a state of actual rebellion, we conceive, that all laws and commissions confirmed by, or derived from the authority of the King or Parliament, are annulled and vacated, and the former civil constitution of these colonies, for the present, wholly suspended. To provide, in some degree, for the exigencies of this county, in the present alarming period, we deem it proper and necessary to pass the following Resolves, viz.:
I. That all commissions, civil and military, heretofore granted by the Crown, to be exercised in these colonies, are null and void, and the constitution of each particular colony wholly suspended.
II. That the Provincial Congress of each province, under the direction of the great Continental Congress, is invested with all legislative and executive powers within their respective provinces, and that no other legislative or executive power, does, or can exist, at this time, in any of these colonies.
III. As all former laws are now suspended in this province, and the Congress have not yet provided others, we judge it necessary, for the better preservation of good order, to form certain rules and regulations for the internal government of this county, until laws shall be provided for us by the Congress.
IV. That the inhabitants of this county do meet on a certain day appointed by this Committee, and having formed themselves into nine companies (to-wit), eight in the county, and one in the cown of Charlotte, do chuse a Colonel and other military officers, who shall hold and exercise their several powers by virtue of this choice, and independent of the Crown of Great Britain, and former consti- tution of this province.
V. That for the better preservation of the peace and administra- tion of justice, each of those companies do chuse from their own body, two discreet freeholders, who shall be empowered, each by himself and singly, to decide and determine all matters of contro- versy, arising within said company, under the sum of twenty shil- lings; and jointly and together, all controversies under the sum of forty shillings; yet so as that their decisions may admit of appeal to the Convention of the Select-Men of the county; and also that any one of these men shall have power to examine and commit to confinement persons accused of petit larceny.
VI. That those two Select-Men, thus chosen, do jointly and to- gether chuse from the body of their particular company, two persons properly qualified to act as Constables, who may assist them in the execution of their office.
VII. That upon the complaint of any persons to either of these Select-Men, he do issue his warrant, directed to the Constable, com-
36 HISTORY <>!• MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
manding him to bring the aggressor before him or them, to an said complaint.
VIII. That these eighteen Select-Men, thus appointed, do meet every third Thursday in January, April. July, and October, at the Court-House, in Charlotte, to hear and determine all matters of con- troversy, for sums exceeding forty shillings, also appeals; and in cases of felony, to commit the person or persons convicted thereof to close confinement, until the Provincial Congress shall provide and establish laws and modes of proceeding in all such cases.
IX. That these eighteen Select-Men, thus convened, do chuse a Clerk to record the transactions of said Convention, and that said Clerk, upon the application of any person or persons aggrieved, do issue his warrant to one of the Constables of the company to which the offender belongs, directing said Constable to summons and warn said offender to appear before the Convention, at their next meeting, to answer the aforesaid complaint.
X. That any person making complaint upon oath, to the Clerk, or any member of the Convention, that he has reason to suspect, that any person or persons indebted to him, in a sum above forty shillings, intend clandestinely to withdraw from the county, without paying such debt, the Clerk or such member shall issue his warrant to the Constable, commanding him to take said person or persons into safe custody, until the next sitting of the Convention.
XI. That when a debtor for a sum below forty shillings shall abscond and leave the county, the warrant granted as aforesaid, shall extend to any goods or chattels of said debtor, as may he found, and such goods or chattels be seized and held in custody by the Constable, for the space of thirty days; in which time, if the debtor fail to return and discharge the debt, the Constable shall return the warrant to one of the Select-Men of the company, where the goods are found, who shall issue orders to the Constable to sell such a part of said goods as shall amount to the sum due; That when the debt exceeds forty shillings, the return shall be made to the Convention, who shall issue orders for sale.
XII. That all receivers and collectors of quit-rents, public and county taxes, do pay the same into the hands of the chairman of this Committee, to be by them disbursed as the public exigencies may require; and that such receivers and collectors proceed no further in their office, until they be approved of by, and have given to, this Committee, good and sufficient security, for a faithful return of such monies when collected.
XIII. That the Committee be accountable to the county for the application of all monies received from such public officers.
XIV. That all these officers hold their commissions during the pleasure of their several constituents.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 2)7
XV. That this committee will sustain all damages that ever here- after may accrue to all or any of these officers thus appointed, and thus acting, on account of their obedience and conformity to these Resolves.
XVI. That whatever person shall hereafter receive a commis- sion from the Crown, or attempt to exercise any such commission heretofore received, shall be deemed an enemy to his country, and upon information being being made to the Captain of the company in which he resides, the said company shall cause him to be appre- hended, and conveyed before the two Select-Men of the said com- pany, who, upon proof of the fact, shall commit him, the said offender, to safe custody, until the next sitting of the Committee, who shall deal with him as prudence may direct.
XVII. That any person refusing to yield obedience to the above Resolves, shall be considered equally criminal, and liable to the same punishment, as the offenders above last mentioned.
XVIII. That these Resolves be in full force and virtue, until instructions from the Provincial Congress, regulating the jurispru- dence of the province, shall provide otherwise, or the legislative body of Great Britain, resigns its unjust and arbitrary pretentions with respect to America.
XIX. That the eight militia companies in the county, provide themselves with proper arms and accoutrements, and hold them- selves in readiness to execute the commands and directions of the General Congress of this province and this Committee.
XX. That the Committee appoint Colonel Thomas Polk, and Doc- tor Joseph Kenedy, to purchase 300 lb. of powder, 600 lb. of lead, 1,000 flints, for the use of the militia of this county, and deposit the same in such place as the Committee may hereafter direct.
Signed by order of the Committee.
Eph. Brevard, Clerk of the Committee.
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN JOHN VAUGHN AND COLONEL PETER FORCE.
The following letters were secured many years ago through the kindness of William L. Force, of Washington, D. C, and are here published for the first time.* John Vaughn, whose inquiry elicited the valuable reply from Col. Force, was born in England in 1756, was a brother of
♦Preserved in manuscript by Lyman J. Draper.
38 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Benjamin Vaughn, the friend and correspondent « f Frank- lin, came to America in 1 7 7 ' > . and became acquainted with Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams and others; was president of the American Philosophical Society and a man of extensive learning- and strong character, and died in Phil- adelphia in 1 841.
Colonel Peter Force, historian, was born at Passaic Falls, New Jersey, November 26, 1790. His father, William Force, was a soldier in the Revolution, and moved to New York city in 1793, and his son there learned the printer's trade and was president of the Typographical Society in 181 2. In 1815, he moved to Washington City, where he published an annual called the National Calendar, from 1820 to 1836; in 1823, he established the National Journal in support of Adams for the presidency; was councilman and alderman; mayor from 1836 to 1840; rose to the rank of major-general of militia; and was president of the Na- tional Institute. He published several volumes of import- ance, the greatest of them being the American Archives, in nine volumes. Gen. Force died in Washington January 23, 1868, leaving two sons, William L. Force and Manning F. Force, the latter having been a general in the Civil War, and afterwards becoming a judge in Ohio.
In reading these letters, it is to be remembered that they were written in 1841, and it is obvious that neither of the writers had read even all the literature on the subject which was then obtainable. Col. Force recognizes the overwhelm- ing evidence in support of the authenticity of the Mecklen- burg Declaration, and for want of a better explanation of the difference between the Declaration and the Resolves, endeavors as others have done, to account for it on the as- sumption that there was but one meeting of the committee and that one or the other of the two documents was incor- rect. Not until the publication of the Colonial Records, nearly half a century later, was it known that these meetings were frequent not only in Mecklenburg, but in other coun- ties in North Carolina, and then it was made known that
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 39
the Resolves were adopted at a meeting of the Mecklenburg" Committee held eleven days after the convention, and that they were amended and added to at similar meetings con- vened subsequently.
{From John Vaughn to Col. Force.)
Philadelphia, Nov. 26, 1841. Peter Force, Esq., Washington:
Dr. Sir: — Mr. Jefferson has been accused of borrowing from the Mecklenburg, N. C, Declaration sundry expressions which he made use of in his draught of the Declaration of Independence, and the question was discussed at a meeting of our Historical Society, when a paragraph was produced from a newspaper stating that you had found a North Carolina paper in which the Mecklenburg Declara- tion was published soon after the resolutions were adopted, which did not contain the expressions said to be borrowed by Mr. Jeffer- son. Knowing your correctness, they were desirous of learning whether you had authorized such information. Oblige me by in- forming me when the Mecklenburg Declaration was made, and what was the date of the newspaper and its title, and whether the expressions alluded to were not found in the original Declaration, and in the published one, and, if not, when probably they were in- troduced in future publications and at what time.
It is desirable to put this question to rights whilst it can be done, and no evidence can be more conclusive than yours. I remain yours truly,
J>To. Vaughn.
{From Col. Force to John Vaughn.)
Washington, Dec. 11, 1841. Dear Sir: — I avail myself of the earliest opportunity in my power to reply to your letter of the 26th of November. The Mecklenburg Resolutions, commonly called "The Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde- pendence," were adopted in May, 1775. There are two papers which are said to be copies of these Resolutions, one is in manuscript (A), where the Resolutions are dated May 20th; the other is printed (B), where they are dated May 31st* of that year. You ask if certain expressions are not found in the original Declaration, and in the published one. By "the original Declaration" I suppose you mean
*A, was the Declaration; B, was the Resolves. — D. A. T.
40 HISTORY OK MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
the manuscript copy; for of the existence of the original at this time nothing is known. We are told that the original book, that is, the book in which the Resolutions were originally entered, was burned in April, 1800. It is not pretended that the manuscript now in the executive office at Raleigh is the original Declaration — there it pur- ports to be nothing more than a mere copy, and is incorporated into a notice of the transactions of that period, drawn up some time afterwards, apparently for publication. When it was written is not stated, but it bears evidence on the face of it that it was written after the 4th of July, 1776.* It was first published in the Raleigh Register of April 30, 1819. "The expressions Mr. Jefferson has been accused of borrowing for his draft of the Declaration of Independ- ence," are found in this copy.
That the Resolutions were published soon after its date. Governor Martin's Proclamation of the 8th of August, 1775, furnishes evidence. The Governor says: ''And whereas, I have also seen a most infa- mous publication in the Cape Fear Mercury, importing to be the Resolves of a set of people styling themselves a committee for the county of Mecklenburg, most traitoriously declaring the entire dis- solution of the Laws, Government and Constitution of their county, and setting up a system of Rule and Regulation repugnant to the Laws, and subversive of His Majesty's Government." After a care- ful research and extensive inquiry, I have not been so fortunate as to find a copy of this newspaper, and, of course, have never said that I had found a North Carolina newspaper in which the Mecklen- burg Declaration was published soon after the Resolutions were adopted.
But, I have two of the early printed copies of the Mecklenburg Resolutions. One is in the New York Journal of the 29th of June, the other in the Massachusetts Spy of the 12th of July, 1775. The Resolutions, then dated May 31st, do not contain the expressions you refer to. They were printed in New York more than a year be- fore the Declaration of Independence, in less than a month after their date, within a week of the time when the messenger by whom they were transmitted to the Continental Congress was in Philadelphia, and at the very time when the publication of a forged or false copy must have been followed by instant detection and ex- posure. They were then received as genuine, and I believe their authority has not, to this day, been disputed. "With regard to the date, it is possible that in transcribing or printing a figure (3) may have been substituted* for a (2), and then made May 31st instead
*The copy referred to was the Davie copy, made in 1800. — D. A. T.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 41
of May 21st. This is altogether possible;* but it does not change the character or affect the genuineness of the paper. It is proper to call your attention to the fact that though the printed copy con- tains the Resolutions which form the Declaration of Independence, it does not give all the Resolves adopted at the same time by the Committee. This remark applies also to the manuscript copy; but there is this difference between the two copies— the writer of the manuscript takes no notice of any omitted resolutions; he gives five (numbering the Preamble as one of them), as all that were "unani- mously ordained," leaving every one to believe, and such has been the universal belief, that he had given the whole. The printed copy of the 29th of June, after the Preamble and four Resolutions, gives the substance of the succeeding eleven, and then the sixteenth Re- solve at length.* The eleven omitted Resolutions relate exclusively to the county of Mecklenburg, or to the province of North Carolina, and from the "System of Rule and Regulation" for the temporary government of that county or the province mentioned in Gov. Mar- tin's Proclamation. As these eleven Resolutions apply only to the local affairs of the county or province, we can readily account for the omission by a printer in New York; but it is not easy to imag- ine why the same Resolutions (that is, the Resolutions containing the Rules and Regulations), were omitted by the writer of the man- uscript, if they were in his possession when he drew up his narra- tive, unless we suppose he intended to cover the omission by his 5th r"£olution.
The two copies differ very widely in another respect. The manu- script does not "declare the entire dissolution of the Laws, Govern- ment and Constitution of this country." It applies to Mecklenburg county alone; that county only is declared independent — "a sover- eign and self-governing association" by itself, separated alike from the Crown and the province, and leaving North Carolina and all the
*The subsequent discovery of the full series of resolves in the South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal confirmed the correct- ness of the date (May 31), when they were adopted. For reasons unknown, the Declaration of May 20th was not submitted for pub- lication.— D. A. T.
*The entire set of Resolves of the 31st of May had not at this period been discovered, and hence Col. Force was not aware that they really numbered twenty beside the Preamble. It is also to be borne in mind that he was endeavoring to construe the Resolves as the Declaration, when in fact they were merely supplementary. — D. A. T.
42 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
other colonies in subjection to the Crown. The Declaration in the printed copy is of an entirely different character. It does declare "the entire dissolution" in that the whole country is declared inde- pendent* The Declaration is not for one county of one colony; it is for all the colonies.
It is a Declaration of the independence of the United Colonies, and made by men who saw far into the future — whose patriotism was not limited by the boundaries of their own county. At that early day the men of Mecklenburg marked out the true course to be pursued by the whole continent for a redress of grievances; this was afterwards found to be the only course. When they took their ground they stood alone — their own province of North Carolina did not join them. They did not ask their fellow subjects to unite with them in so daring an enterprise without first encountering the peril themselves. They did not wait for others to take the first step — they did not stand at ease until the whole were prepared to advance in line; but thev boldly and fearlessly marched out to the front, inviting by their example all the rest to follow. These men were the first to declare that the authority of the King and Parlia- ment over "their colonies" was annulled and vacated. They were the first to declare "that the Provincial Congress of each province, un- der the direction of the great Continental Congress, is invested with all legislative and executive power, within their respective provinces, and that no other legislative or executive power does, or can at this time exist in any of these colonies." They were the first to incur the responsibility, whatever it might be, of making such a declaration, and publishing it to the worla.
The Resolutoins were immediately forwarded by an express to the Continental Congress. I need not ask which of the two Declara- tions, the "manuscript" or the "printed" would be the most appropri- ate for such a special communication — that which related to the separation of a single county from a province, then represented by three delegates in that body; or that which in substance and in terms was a full and complete Declaration of Independence of all the colonies? With one, the Congress had nothing to do, while North Carolina was firm (and North Carolina was never otherwise than firm) in her support of the Continental measures. The other presented for consideration a question which no other body of men on the continent was competent to decide. What was the result of
*The convention of May 20th declared the independence of "the citizens of Mecklenburg county." while the Resolves of May 31st "conceive" the suspension of "the former civil constitution of these colonies." — D. A. T.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY 43
the mission? The Congress, as will he seen by their Declaration of the 6th of July,* believed it inexpedient at the time to declare in- dependence. The people of Mecklenburg acquiesced in this decision, and fell back into line; their delegates in the next Provincial Con- gress, held at Hillsboro, in August, 1775, united with the other members in all their proceedings, and we find subscribed to the "Test," adopted and signed on the 23d of August, which begins with these words: "We, the subscribers, professing our allegiance to the King, and acknowledging the constitutional executive power of gov- ernment"—the names of Thomas Polk, John McKnitt Alexander, John Phifer, Waightstill Avery, with one hundred and eighty others, members of that Congress.
It has been suggested that there were two sets of Resolves adopted —two separate and distinct Declarations made on two different days — one by a convention, another by a committee of Mecklenburg county, and that the manuscript copy is the record of the proceed- ings of one of these meetings, the printed copy of the other meet- ing. But this is a mere assumption not supported by a particle of evidence. The writer of the manuscript mentions but one. None of the survivors in 1830 of those who were inhabitants of Mecklen- burg county in May, 1775, and present when the resolutions were adopted, speak of two Declarations.** But one messenger was sent by the Committee to the Continental Congress with "The Declara- tion." Gov. Martin alluded to one only, which had then been printed, and we find one printed six weeks before the date of his Proclamation corresponding so exactly with his description of it as to leave no room for doubt that it is the identical paper he de- nounces as "the Resolves of a set of people styling themselves a committee for the county of Mecklenburg, declaring the entire disso- lution of the Laws, Government and Constitution of this country, and setting up a system of Rule and Regulation," etc.
In answering your letter, my dear sir, I have endeavoured to be as brief as possible to notice such points only as were necessary, and to avoid everything that had not a direct bearing upon your questions; yet I am conscious that I have extended mine to an un- reasonable length. But upon looking it over, I see nothing that
*6th of July, 1775— D. A. T.
**They were called upon to certify specifically that the Declara- tion was made and they did so. There was only one Declaration, and there was no occasion for remarks about the Resolves of May 31. Meetings were held at intervals during the entire year, but were not mentioned in a discussion wholly concerned with the Convention of May 20.— D. A. T.
44 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
strikes me as proper to be omitted, so I send it all, trusting to your patience and good nature to find a suitable excuse for me. If I have succeeded in establishing a single truth, or in removing a sin- gle doubt — if I have cleared away one of the many clouds of error, that for twenty years have thrown so much darkness around this brilliant star in our history, I shall be entirely satisfied. For the convenience, I add copies of the two papers marked A and B, I have referred to so often.
Very respectfully, etc.,
[Signed.] l'i n B FOBGE.
John Vaughn, Esq., Philadelphia.
GOV. SWAIN'S LETTERS.
David Lowry Swain, son of George Swain, was born near Asheville,. Buncombe county. North Carolina, January
4, 1801. He was educated in Asheville, attended the State University for a short while, studied law under the direction of Judge John L. Taylor in Raleigh, served as member of the General Assembly, Solicitor of the Edenton district, member of the State Board of Internal Improvements, trustee of the University, Judge of the Superior Court, and was elected Governor in 1832, being then only thirty-one years of age. He was elected president of the University in 1835, and served in that capacity until his death. August 2j, 1868. He organized the historical society of the Uni- versity in 1844, and in 1855. he was appointed State Histori- cal Agent. In this position he did work of great and lasting value in securing and preserving documents of importance. His generosity in assisting Bancroft, Lossing, Hawks, Wheeler, Randall and other historians without reward in any form, attests the sterling character of the man.
Governor Swain probably devoted more time to the study of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and the involved questions than did any other man. He exa nined carefully all the available testimony in a spirit in which even his unswerving patriotism and love for his native State could not influence him in his search for truth. Of the authority of the Declaration, he had no doubts, but he could not satisfy himself as to the details. It matters not to
COAT OF ARMS OF THE PHIFER FAMILY, 1760.
ill.C TiL.t.iZ lj^-'$ Proclamation Mow,
^ ■- & rfOC13fM2tion imww, 'Cfgy$f>£ lo^tm* K? S
;0W Assembly, pj&J i isfjjwd ot" /fpnl,^^
17C1. > I it J/'* 6.14 i
Pfel*
7&C&&T,
I7i\ J?$,,| i
H
PROCLAMATION MONEY.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY 45
us to-day whether the Declaration was made May 20 or May 31, but to Governor Swain, it was a matter of import- ance to accurately and positively determine every item of historical importance. No one has ever disputed the account of the resolves of May 31, which were published at the time, and when the discussion arose, the forthcoming evidence proved the facts of the convention of May 20. Then some writers undertook to reconcile the two or prove there was but one. but there were the two sets of resolutions and all finally came to the same conclusion as did Governor Swain, as is shown in the following correspondence.
(Gov. Sicain to Hon. Benson J. Lossing.)*
Chapel Hill, Dec. 20, 1851.
My Dear Sir: — Your letter of the 14th was received this morning. In reply to your enquiries about the Mecklenburg Declaration, I find myself constrained to say several things which might be much more satisfactorily communicated if I had you before me in the midst of the books and documents to which I must necessarily refer.
The preface to the State Pamphlet, of which you speak, was writ- ten by me for Gov. Stokes. The report of the committee (p. 9) was drawn by Mr. Badger, of the United States Senate, the brother-in- law of Gen. J. G. Polk, Chairman, and the son-in-law of Colonel Wm. Polk. The latter was the only surviving field officer of the North Carolina line, a shrewd observer, and of unquestioned truth- fulness, and it was he who first called attention to the subject by the publication which produced the correspondence between Adams and Jefferson.
Neither Gov. Martin's Proclamation, nor the five Resolutions in the American Archives (Vol. XL, p. 855), had then been disin- terred by Col. Force, and it is not very surprising that in the then state of facts I should have yielded to the force of my own argu- ment. (Gov. Stoke's preface.)
The entire series of Resolutions adopted 31st of May (2d Wheeler, p. 255), was first discovered in the Charleston Library by Dr. Joseph Johnson, after repeated searches made at my instance, was copied
*Benson John Lossing, born in New York, February 12, 1813, au- thor of the Pictoral Field Book of the Revolution, Life of Wash- ington, and other books. Died near Dover Plains, New Jersey, June 3, 1891.— D. A. T.
46 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
and communicated to me, and by me sent to Mr. Bancroft, at Lon- don. He had found it there before my letter reached him, but not until after Dr. Johnson had sent it to me.
All the original papers which were copied in the State Pamphlet are now in my possession. I have examined Dr. Smyth's pamphlet, Mr. Tucker's life of Jefferson, and probably all that has been writ- ten, and worth reading upon the subject. There may have been a meeting of the Committee on the 20th, and resolutions may have been adopted; but there is no evidence satisfactory to my mind if it be so, that the papers purporting to be Mecklenburg Declaration are true copies of the original record. If they be, where were they made and by whom?
The Davie paper, as we call it, (State Pamphlet, pp. 14, 15, 16), shown to be in the handwriting of John McKnitt Alexander, in whose house the original was burned in April, 1800, was written in September, 1800, about five months after the destruction of the record. It was not taken from the record, it is not shown to be the copy of a copy, or that there was a copy extant in September, 1800.* In form it appears to be a narrative of past events, not a record of present proceedings. Compare it with the copy in second Martin's History of North Carolina, page 574, and the discrepancies are numerous and remarkable. The former consists of five, the latter of six resolutions. The former speaks in tne past, the latter in the present time ;and in fine the latter is not merely an enlarged, but an improved edition.* I wrote to Judge Martin in 1842, requesting to be informed when and by whom his copy was furnished, but I did not succeed in extracting a reply.**
Without entering farther into the enquiry than to call attention to the two facts which follow, I feel free to say that I regard the paper of the 31st as the better, supposing both to be genuine.
1. You will perceive from the editorial copied from the Raleigh Register (p. 23), that previous to February, 1820, Col. Polk, who was present at the meeting held, "thought there were errors as to the
♦The ''Davie paper" was written from memory by John McKnitt Alexander, and the fact that its variance from the genuine (Mar- tin's) copy is no greater, is evidence that John McKnitt Alexander was thoroughly acquainted with the original document. See his certificate.— D. A. T.
**Martin testified to Dr. Hawks that he secured the copy before 1800 from some one (not an Alexander) in Western North Caro- lina, but that at that late date, he did not remember the name of the person. — D. A. T.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY 47
names of the secretary, etc." There was but one clerk on the 31st, Eph. Brevard. Is it probable that a committee organized under the articles of the American Association would have had two clerks at any time?*
2. How is it to be accounted for that the Resolutions of the 31st make no reference to the proceedings of the 20th, if the former were not merely more important than but the foundation of the latter?
Dr. Brevard died in a short time, and was no doubt succeeded in his office as clerk of the committee by J. McK. Alexander. Mr. Alex- ander's house was burned in April, 1800, and with it, as was sup- posed, the only written memorial of a most interesting and import- ant historical event. The narrative sent to Gen. Davie was proba- bly the most accurate account of the great transaction which his memory enabled him to furnish. Be this as it may, the evidence that the paper published in the Cape Fear Mercury and denounced by Gov. Martin; that transmitted by Gov. Wright to Lord Dart- mouth, and the official dispatch forwarded by Capt. Jack to the Con- tinental Congress are identical with the copy discovered in Charles- ton, is exceeding strong, if not conclusive.
The evidence of Gen. Graham on the point to which you refer, goes very far towards identifying the Resolutions of the 31st as those discussed in his hearing. The statement of John Simeson (p. 25), which seems not to have attracted your attention, appears to me to strip the enquiry almost of reasonable doubt. At the dis- tance of fifty years the memory of no man can be relied upon as to dates and precise form of expression, while there are substantial facts so remarkable that no man can forget them.
"As to the names of those who drew up the Declaration, I am in- clined to think Dr. Brevard was the principal, from his known talents in composition. * * *
"It was towards the close of May, 1775. In addition to which I have said the same committee appointed three men to secure all the- military stores for the county's use. Thomas Polk, Jonn Phifer and Joseph Kennedy. I was under arms near the head of the line near Col. Polk, and heard him distinctly read a long string of grievances, the Declaration and military order above." Apply this statement of Mr. Simeson to the last of the series of the Resolutions of the 31st of May. "That the Committee appoint Col. Thomas Polk and Dr. Joseph Kennedy to purchase 300 lbs. of powder, 600 pounds of lead, 1,000 flints for the use of the county and deposit the same in such places as the Committee may hereafter direct.
*There was but one Secretary May 20. — D. A. T.
4<s HISTORY OF MECKLENB1 RG COUNTY.
"Signed by order of the Committee, Ephraim Brevard, Clerk of the Committee."
There is something potential in this closing resolution decidedly Cromwellian, and in unison with the character of the sturdy Scotch- Irish Presbyterian from whom it emanated:
"Then put your trust in God, my boys. And keep your powder dry."
Queen's College was the Faneuil Hall of the South. Are you familiar with its history? Previous to its establishment there were but two chartered seminaries of learning in the province — Edenton and New Bern Academies. None but a member of the Established Church was eligible to the office of trustee or instructor, and the latter even appointed by the Governor. The Presbyterians applied to the Colonial Assembly for an unrestricted charter for a college in a county named in compliment to the King and Queen, Meck- lenburg (Strelitz), the native place of the latter, in a town bear- ing the name of his consort, for an institution to be known by the titular distinction. The bill passed the Commons, of course; the Council did not choose to breast the storm of popular indignation, which a rejection would have excited. Gov. Tryon had not the firmness to disallow it;" but the triple compliment to royalty availed little on the other side of the Atlantic, and a year after- wards, 1771, the charter was "repealed by a royal proclamation." It continued to exist nevertheless, and the first Legislature under the State Constitution, in 1777, gave it a charter by the name of Liberty Hall Academy. In accordance with the instruction of the people of Mecklenburg, the Constitution of 1776 made the creation of a University imperative upon the Legislature and declared that no preference should be given to one religious denomina- tion over another. So far as Mecklenburg was concerned, the war of the Revolution was a war waged mainly for religious liberty, and this was the seminal principle which made it, "the most re- bellious county in America." The instructions, etc., ( 2d Wheeler, p. 260) should bear date in September, 1776, instead 1775. I have the original papers before me. You are probably aware that Foote and others, regarding it as dated in 1775, rely upon it as giving collateral support to the Declaration of the 20th.
It is proper that I should apprise you that Dr. Smyth, of Charles- ton; Gov. Graham and Judge Cameron, and many others, concur with Dr. Hawks in the opinion that the authenticity of the latter paper cannot be controverted.
While I have never assumed to speak excathedra upon this sub- ject, I have never concealed my opinion from my friends. Wheeler
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 49
and Wiley were fully apprised of them, and the former persisted in maintaining the authenticity of the paper despite of assurances from me that none of the gentlemen* to whom his book is dedicated would sustain him. If you publish the sketch of Gov. Caswell, sent you sometime since, please strike out the words "in conjunction with Col. Lillington." The statement implying a divided command was first made by Jones and followed by Wheeler, in entire disre- gard or ignorance of all the evidence, traditionary and written on the subject and in the teeth of records of uncontrovertable verity. The very Assembly, which in April, 1776, gave Caswell a vote of thanks and promoted him to the office of Brigadier General of the New Berne District, appointed John Ashe Brigadier General of the Wilmington District, over the head of Lillington. I sat down without any intention of writing so long a letter. The day is very cold and my fingers very numb, and I have written in una- voidable haste. You will read, however, if you succeeded in deci- phering it at all, with unavoidable deliberation. You may show it to Mr. Bancroft if you choose.
Yours very truly,
D. L. Swain.
You must not infer from what I have said that I do not consider Col. Lillington to have been a meritorious officer. Very far from it. I mean simply to say, that at Moore's Creek he acted, and was regarded universally, as a subordinate.
(Governor Swain to Hon. George Bancroft.)**
Chapel Hill, 6th March, 1858. My Dear Sir:— Your note of the 1st was received yesterday. The
*"To George Bancroft, LL. D., whose writings have marked the age in which he lives, and the only historian who has done justice to North Carolina; to Peter Force, of Washington City, whose patient labors and indefatigable research have proved his early patriotism; and to David L. Swain, LL. D., whose native worth, whose services and whose talents are alike her pride and ornament."— Wheeler's Dedication.
**George Bancroft, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, October 3, 1800, graduated at Harvard in 1817, studied in Europe until 1822, Secretary of the Navy in Polk's Cabinet, Minister to England from 1846 to 1849, Minister to Germany from 1867 to 1874. First notable work, "History of the Colonization of the United States," published in 1834. Greatest work, History of the United States in ten volumes. Died in Washington, January 17, 1891. — D. A. T.
50 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
copy of my report, to which you refer, is, as you perceive from the date, a corrected reprint of the one sent you a year ago.* The reply of Lord Shaftebury, a copy of which you were so kind as to send me, was not received until after my report to the General Assembly was published. I wish very much it was in my power to have a personal conference with you in relation to the Mecklenburg Reso- lutions, and other events in our Revolutionary history. I have held very free and full discussion with Dr. Hawks after a minute exami- nation of all the papers at my command, and we understand each other better, and are more nearly together in opinion than we were at the time we appeared before your Historical bociety. I would like very much to go over the same ground with you. He never saw the evidence on which I rely as conclusive until his arrival here in June last, after the delivery of his lecture in Charlotte. At the close of the examination I gave him a paper copied below, and expressed the opinion that every fact set forth might be em- bodied in a special verdict, and established by the evidence before us, if an issue were made up and submitted to a jury.
"The documentary evidence in my possession satisfies me that there was a meeting of the Citizens of Mecklenburg, at Charlotte, on the 19th and 20th of May, 1775, and that resolutions in relation to independence were discussed and adopted. I entertain no doubt that the record of the proceedings of the Mecklenburg Committee was burned in the home of John McKnitt Alexander, in the month of April, 1800, and that the Davie paper contains what Gen. Graham, Col. Wm. Polk, and other gentlemen of high character, whose cer- tificates appear in the State Pamphlet, believed to be a true narra- tive of the transactions of these two days. I have seen no paper purporting to be a copy of the resolutions, which I suppose to be of earlier date than September, 1800.
"I entertain the opinion that the resolutions of the 31st May were the resolutions published in the Cape Fear Mercury, and referred to in the Proclamation of Governor Martin, and that there was no contemporaneous publication of the proceedings of the 19 and 20 of May. That a copy of the record of these events was placed in the hands of Dr. Williamson, with the intent that they should find a place in history of North Carolina, I believe to be incontro- vertable."
I send you by the present mail a copy of the University Magazine for November. The leading article on the battle of Moore's Creek is worthy of your attention. In addition to the authorities relied upon by Prof. Hubbard, the article Caswell, in Roger's Biographical Dictionary, and more especially a note in 2d Williamson, N. C, pp.
♦Refers to his report as State Historical Agent— D. A. T.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 5 1
277-78, which escaped the research of Prof. H., supply direct and positive evidence of the accuracy of Prof H.'s conclusions. Wil- liamson was at the head of the medical staff of our Revolutionary Army, was not merely contemporary with Caswell, but knew him familiarly during the most interesting period of his life, and sur- vived him many years. But for Caswell's resignation he would have been his colleague in the Convention that formed the Federal Constitution in 1787.
Yours very truly,
D. L. Swain. Hon. George Bancroft.
Who was Col. Grey of the Loyal Militia of S. C, whose MS. you placed in the possession of Prof. Riven, of Columbia? Sabine makes no mention of him. May I publish the MS.?*
(Governor Swain to Hon. George Bancroft. J
Chapel Hill, 18th March, 1858.
My Deab Sir: — I avail myself of the earliest opportunity to reply to your note of the 11th, which arrived during my absence of a few days in attendance upon a meeting of the Green Mountain Associa- tion at Greensborough.
There is no document which fixes with certainty the date of the first meeting in Mecklenburg; nor, with the exception of a series of doggerel verses which have recently come into my possession, is there any paper containing a direct reference to the subject, which I suppose to be of earlier date than September, 1800. The conclusion at which I have arrived is founded upon a chain of facts and inferences which I could very readily present to your consid- eration, if we were together with the papers before us, but which I cannot very readily explain in writing.
The inquiry, indeed, seems to be, at present, of little importance, since it is concluded (conceded) on all sides that the resolutions of the 31st May were the resolves published in the Cape Fear Mer- cury, and transmitted by Gov. Martin to the English Government. The last paragraph on p. 12 of the State Pamphlet, states that at the close of the proceedings on 20th May "a select committee was- appointed to draw a more full and definite statement of griev- ances." It is not reasonable to suppose that the committee met on
*Col. Robt. Grey commanded a company in the regiment of South Carolina Loyalists, and his interesting narrative of Whig and Tory warfare in South Carolina in 1780-81 was published in the North Carolina University Magazine for November, 1858. — D. A. T.
52 HISTORY ("I- MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
the 31st without preconcert and preliminary arrangement, adopted a series of resolutions and adjourned. There can be no doubt that independent of the committee there was a numerous meeting of citizens, called by a summons from Col. Polk. This meeting prob- ably agreed upon some general principles which the committee was expected to embody in proper form and present to the Continental Congress. The Davie Paper is simply the narrative of these events, according to the recollection of John McKnitt Alexander, drawn up after the destruction of the original record.
A note on page 5 of the State Pamphlet gives us the assurance of Gov. Stokes that in 1793 he saw in the hands of Dr. Williamson, in Fayetteville, a copy of this record, together with a letter from J. McKnitt Alexander in relation to it. I wrote the note myself under the direction of Gov. Stokes; and though I know he had an exceedingly retentive memory, did not at the time attach much importance to it. I have now before me a letter from Israel Pickens, whom I knew familiarly from my boyhood until the period ■of his death. He represented my native district in Congress •during the War of 1812, and was the first Governor of the State of Alabama. He died in Cuba, after his election to the Senate of the United States. I know no living man whose testimony is entitled to higher consideration than that of Gov. Davie, Judge Cameron and Gov. Pickens. Gov. Picken's letter is addressed to his father- in-law, Gen. William Lewis, and is dated 23d March, 1823.
"Agreeably to your request, I have made from my best recollection a. statement of the proceedings of the Mecklenburg Convention of 1775, as related to me many years ago by John McKnitt Alexander, Esq., formerly and until his death a resident of that county. The relation of that transaction by that remarkable old man made a strong impression on my mind, as well as it formed a curious part of the history of my native county, and because my informant him- self was a member of the Convention and proverbial for his scru- pulous accuracy in recollecting and detailing events. The following is concisely the substance of his narrative:
"Understanding that Davie or Hugh Williamson was about to write a history of N. Carolina some twelve years ago, I apprised him of the circumstances of the Convention of Mecklenburg. He informed me that he had many years previously been informed of it by Gen. Steele and others, but compared their acts of anticipation of the American Independence to that whereby Virginia had claimed the title of the Ancient Dominion on account of having declared in favor of Charles the Second sometime before the restoration took place in England, both events being expected long before.
"Whatever credit this small revolution may reflect on its author for patriotism, or whatever discredit for imprudence, or as a his-
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 53
torical fact, the relation here given is believed to be derived from a correct source and faithfully detailed.
Yours most obt.,
Israel Pickens.
The poem to which I refer above bears date 18th March, 1777, extends thro' 260 lines, and is of unquestionable authenticity. It opens as follows:
"THE MECKLENBURG CENSOR.
"When Mecklenburg's fantastic rabble,
Renowned for censure, scold and gabble,
In Charlotte met in giddy council,
To lay the Constitution's ground sill,
By choosing men both learned and wise,
Who clearly could with half-shut eyes,
See mill-stones through, or spy a plot,
Whether existed such or not;
Who always could at noon define
Whether the sun or moon did shine,
And by philosophy tell whether
It was dark or sunny weather;
And sometimes, when their wits were nice,
Could well distinguish men from mice.
First to withdraw from British trust,
In Congress they, the very first,
They their independence did declare."
I am ashamed to send you this very hasty and almost illegible communication. I must either do so, however, or loose a "mail," and under your induction of haste do not feel at liberty to delay my reply for trivial causes.
Yours very truly,
D. L. Swain. Hon. George Bancroft.
(Governor Swain to Hon. H. S. Randall.)**
Chapel Hill, 6th April, 1858. Dear Sir: — Your letter of the 31st ult. was received by yester-
**Henry S. Randall, born in New York in 1811, graduated at Union College, and studied law, but never practiced, Secretary of the State of New York in 1851; member of the General Assembly in 1871; published several volumes of his writings; author of Life of Thomas Jefferson (1758); died in Cortland, New York, in August, 1876.
54 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COT NT Y.
day's mail. By turning to the 18th page of my Report as Historical Agent to the General Assembly of North Carolina, a copy of which I send you, you will find a letter from Dr. Hawks, in which he assures me that he will put no portion of his forthcoming History to press without submitting it to my examination. That assurance has since been repeated orally and in writing, and I am in daily expecta- tion of his arrival here with the MS. of his second volume** in order to afford the fairest opportunity for joint personal revision. Under these circumstances, I do not feel myself at liberty to anticipate or forestall him by any authorized publication of my views with re- spect to the Mecklenburg Resolutions.
My letters to Mr. Bancroft were hastily written, and in their pres- ent shape, are unworthy of incorporation in such a work as yours. They contain, nevertheless, nothing which I do not believe to be true and susceptible of proof from evidence in my possession. The facts and inferences are entirely at your service and may be used at your discretion, in the composition of your narrative.
You remark that the main question, so far as Mr. Jefferson is concerned, is this: "Is the Alexander copy of the Mecklenburg Resolutions genuine?" The paper is unquestionably genuine. I have it before me, in the well-known hand-writing of John McKnitt Alexander. But what is it? It is not the record of the Mecklenburg Committee that perished in the fire which consumed Mr. Alexander's home in April, 1800; and this paper bears date in the following September. It is not a transcript, therefore, of the original record, If it be the copy of a copy, the inquiry presents itself, of that copy: How authenticated? where, when and by whom taken? Does it purport to be a copy, or is it simply upon the face of it the most accurate narrative which Mr. Alexander's memory could supply of the transactions to which it relates?
Regretting, for the reasons suggested, which I am certain will be satisfactory, that I cannot, with propriety, enter at present upon the preparation of such a paper as you desire, I remain, Very respectfully yours,
D. L. Swain.
H. L. Randall, Esq.
Literature Discussing or Referring to the Mecklenburg Declaration,
in Addition to that Contained in this Book.
Raleigh Minerva, 1809.
North American Review, January. 1821.
**Dr. Hawks' History of North Carolina, in two volumes, pub- lished in 1859, only covered the period from 1584 to 1729.— D. A. T.
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION CONTROVERSY. 55
Nile's Principles and Acts of the Revolution, 1821.
Dr. M. W. Alexander's Address at Hopewell, July 5, 1824.
Catawba Journal (of Charlotte), October 19, 1824.
Garden's Anecdotes of the Revolution, 1828.
Martin's History of North Carolina, 1829.
Memoirs of Thomas Jefferson, by Thomas G. Randall, 1829.
Jones' Defense of North Carolina, 1834.
Life of Jefferson, by George Tucker, 1837.
New York Review, March, 1837, containing an article by Dr. Francis L. Hawks.
Pamphlet, by Prof. George Tucker, replying to Dr. Hawks' article, Feburary, 1838.
Southern Literary Messenger, April, 1838.
Southern Literary Messenger, August, 1838, containing an article by Dr. C. L. Hunter, son of Rev. Humphrey Hunter.
National Intelligencer, December 18, 1838.
Nile's Register, May 25, 1839.
Southern Literary Messenger, November, 1839, containing an arti- cle by Dr. C. L. Hunter. Southern Literary Messenger, June, 1839.
Force's American Archives, 1839.
History of Virginia, by Charles Campbell, 1847.
Raleigh Register, February 14, 1847.
Southern Presbyterian Review, March, 1848.
Wheeler's History of North Carolina, 1851.
Correspondence between Force, Bancroft and Swain, 1841 to 1858.
Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, 1852.
North Carolina University Magazine, May, 1853.
Nassau Literary Magazine (Princeton, N. J.), September, 1853, containing an article by Samuel S. Force.
Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century, 1853, by Dr. J. G. M. Ramsey.
Revolutionary History of North Carolina, 1853; addresses by Hawks, Swain and Graham.
The Virginia Convention of 1776; an address by Hugh Blair Grigsby at William and Mary College, July 3, 1853.
National Intelligencer, September, 1856.
Address by Dr. Francis L. Hawks, in Charlotte, May 20, 1857, pub- lished in the Charlotte Democrat; Carolina Watchman (Salisbury), May 26; North Carolina Whig (of Charlotte), May 26; Raleigh Register, May 27.
National Intelligencer, August 13, 1857.
National Intelligencer, November 6, 1857.
Raleigh Sentinel, Charlotte Democrat and Wilmington Journal,
56 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
June 18 to September 6, 1874, containing articles by Daniel R. Good- loe, Major C. Dowd and Jobn H. Wheeler.
North American Review, April, 1874.
American Historical Record, May, 1874, containing an article by Benjamin J. Lossing, LL. D.
New York Herald, May 14 and 20, 1875, containing letters from Gov. Graham and others.
Southern Home (of Charlotte), May 10, 1875.
Address by Hon. Wm. A. Graham, February 4, 1875.
Sketches of Western North Carolina, by Dr. C. Hunter, 1877.
Wheeler's Reminiscences of North Carolina, 1884.
Bancroft's History, 1884.
Foote's Sketches of North Carolina.
Memoirs and Reminiscences of Rev. Humphrey Hunter.
Pitkin's Political and Civil History of the United States.
RECEIPT, 1773.
"r
is. cu**n %~\ ~, ; — f — vxi<*Jbt,»<*
ProchiBsiion Money, Tor y l^t^c-^ C I
I
-/'7r2 Ml.
u« sum of ^2? /> - 3 - «|
A$BUl.Lanc>.is>tsc
— per HunJico, due to His Msjefty tha j? C~
55* ■
RECEIPT SIGNED BY THOS. POLK IN 1773.
CHAPTER II.
MECKLENBURG INDEPENDENCE MONUMENT.
Unveiling in Charlotte in 1898 Attended with. Impressive Ceremo- nies.— Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson was Orator of the Occasion. — First Monument Association Incorporated in 1842. — Declaration Poem by Rev. W. W. Moore, of Virginia.
May 20, 1898, the one hundred and twenty-third anniver- sary of the Mecklenburg- Declaration of Independence, a monument to the memory of the signers was unveiled in Charlotte. The handsome granite shaft, bearing appropri- ate inscriptions on bronze tablets, stands in front of the Mecklenburg County Court House, which was built on the site 01 the building in which was conducted the school known successively as Queen's College, Queen's Museum and Liberty Hall Academy.
The State Legislature, in 1842, passed an Act incorpo- rating the Mecklenburg Monument Association. May 20, 1844, the first effort to raise money for the purpose was! made, a supper being given in Charlotte in honor of the Revolutionary soldiers. There was a good attendance and a considerable sum was contributed. Judge Osborne, who made the address of the occasion started the subscription with a twenty-dollar gold piece.
During the Centennial celebration in May, 1775, new in- terest was awakened in the projected building of the monu- ment. June 25, 1775, an organization was perfected, with Z. B. Vance, president; Dr. Joseph Graham and J. H. Wil- son, vice-presidents, and T. W. Dewey, secretary and treas- urer. A total of $5,000 was secured but was afterwards lost in the failure of the bank in which it was deposited.
In 1890, the Monument Association was again formed, with Mr. F. B. McDowell as president, and under his man- agement the final and successful effort was made. For some years there was but little progress, and in the Fall of 1897, the leaders of the movement resolved that the work
58 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
should be culminated by the following anniversary. In a short time the amount of money on hand justified them in contracting for the monument and announcing that it would be unveiled May 20, 1898.
The celebration on the day of the unveiling was one of the greatest ever witnessed in Charlotte. Speeches were made by Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson, Mr. F. B. McDowell, Mr. J. P. Caldwell, Governor Atkinson, of Georgia, and Col. Julian S. Carr. Rev. J. R. Howerton, D. D, led in prayer, and the Declaration of Independence was read by Capt. A. F. Brevard. Mr. McDowell stated that the Char- lotte Observer had offered a prize for the best poem on the Mecklenburg Declaration. Col. H. C. Jones then an- nounced that the winner was Rev. Walter S. Moore, D. D., of Hampden Sydney, Va., and he read the poem as follows :
To Piedmont Carolina, where virgin prairie soil Bespoke abundant harvests to reward the tiller's toil, From homes beyond the ocean there came in days of old A band of sturdy heroes, a race of yeomen bold.
On all Catawba's uplands— for there they found their rest. Those woods and wide savannas fulfilled their longing quest — They reared their modest dwellings, they built their kirk and school, For well they knew how danger grew from skeptic and from fool.
Behind the walls of Derry, their father's faith in God Had filled their souls with courage to defy the tyrant's rod; 'Twere folly then to fancy that sons of sires like these Would bear a yoke of bondage, or obey unjust decrees.
Their heirloom was a volume which taught the rights of man. And made the least a king and priest free from despotic ban; The people are the sovereigns, with rights Inalienate. The people make the government, the people are the State.
This truth was taught by Craighead, thus Mecklenburg believed, And when oppressive measures passed, her sons were not deceived; While others talked of redress as subjects of the crown, They boldly broke the tyrant's yoke, and flung the gauntlet down.
MECKLENBURG INDEPENDENCE MONUMENT. 59
From seven congregations in which they preached and prayed, From woodlands and plantations, in homespun garb arrayed, These yeomen rode to Charlotte, these man of mien sedate, While high empires shone in their eyes — they came to found a State.
And there these dauntless statesmen, in ringing words and high, Declared their Independence — "We'll win it or we'll die; With lives and sacred honor, with fortunes great or small, We will serve the cause of freedom, we will break the Briton's thrall."
Next year the Nation followed where Mecklenburg had led, To all the world, with flag unfurled, her high resolve she read: "No more shall sons of freemen endure the tyrant's rod, This land shall be as Freedom, or we forsworn to God."
Through flaming broil of battle where Britain's bravest stood, On field and flood, by blade and blood, they made their pledges good. And now, where'er their banner floats over land and sea, With grateful lays the people praise the men who made us free.
Then up with granite column, inscribed with lofty phrase,
Let Mecklenburg's achievement resound through endless days;
Her sons were first to utter the disenthralling word,
Let men proclaim their deathless name till all the world has heard.
CHAPTER IN.
"BLACK BOYS" OF CABARRUS.
Young Men Destroyed Ammunition and Supplies Intended for Use Against the Regulators. — Gov. Tryon's Proclamation of Pardon Excepted Them. — Leading Citizens Later Petitioned in Their Behalf and Secured the Pardon. — Col. Moses Alexander Pre- sented the Petition.
March, 17. 1 771 , Governor Tryon wrote to Colonel Moses Alexander, of Mecklenburg this letter :
"As I have come to a resolution by consent of my Council to March a Body of Troops from the Regiments of Militia of this Gov- ernment, it will be necessary that several Commissaries should be appointed for the service, and as you acquitted yourself in that De- partment very much to my approbation in the late Hillsborough Expedition, I am induced to make you the offer of being Commissary to the Mecklenburg, Rowan and Tryon Detachments to supply the same with Ammunition, Provisions and about fifty camp kettles, at the same time observing that it would be very agreeable to me could you make it so to yourself that Captain Polk should be equally interested and concerned with you in the undertaking. From Col. Harris you will learn the orders that are to be observed by the Mecklenburg Detachment which I expect to see greatly animated by the zealous and spirited conduct of the several officers of the Corps in so necessary and essential a service."
Colonel Alexander immediately set about to procure the ammunition and supplies needed, at Charleston, South Car- olina. While the supplies of powder and camp kettles were being carried through that part of Mecklenburg, which is now Cabarrus, James Ashmore, James White, John White, Jr., William White. Robert Caruthers. Robert Davis, Ben- jamin Cochran, Joshua Hadley and "William White, son of the Widow White," all disguised as Indians, went to Cap- tain John Phifer's "old muster ground, where they found and stopped the wagons and enquired for the powder that was being carried to General Waddell ; and in the wagon belonging to Colonel Alexander, they found the pow-
MONUMENT COMMEMORATING THE McINTYRE SKIRMISH,, OCTOBER 3, 1780. (See Vol. I., Page 62.)
This monument is seven miles from Charlotte, on the Beatty's Ford road, and near by is the oldest house in Mecklenburg County, and in the house are imbedded some of the bullets fired in the skir- mish. The inscription is: "In Commemoration of the Mclntyre Skirmish, October 3, 1780. Erected by Mecklenburg Chapter Daught- ers of the American Revolution, 1901."
"BLACK BOYS" OF CABARRUS. 6l
■der and took it out of the wagons, broke open the hogsheads and kegs that contained the powder and set the same on fire, and destroyed some blankets, leggins, kettles and other things, and then dispersed soon after." This is the account of the transaction as sworn to by James Ashmore, before Capt. Thomas Polk, June 22, 1771, Ashmore says, in regard to the incipiency, that he with a number of others, were together at Andrew Logan's "old plantation in conse- quence of an advertisement (set up by one James McCaul, as it was said), when and where he was accosted by one James White Jr., to know whether he (Ashmore) thought it any harm to burn the powder," and they forthwith made and carried out the plan.
When Governor Tryon issued his amnestry proclamation, June 11, 1 77 1. he excepted those unknown persons who had blown up the ammunition at Phifer's Hill. Colonel Moses Alexander and the law officers of this county began dili- gently to ascertain who< had perpetrated this offense, and they were soon rewarded with success, Ashmore confessing and disclosing the names, under oath. When the authori- ties ascertained who> the offenders were and under what cir- cumstances the crime had been committed, they relented and began to take measures to secure their pardon at the hands of Governor Tryon, and with success. The representation of the following facts, to the Governor and his Council to secure the pardon of the offenders, was made by "a number of the Distressed Inhabitants of Rocky River and Coddle Creek Settlement," and carried to' Newbern in November, 1 77 1, by Col. Moses Alexander, whose property it was that had been destroyed.
The representation is as follows :
"That whereas a certain number of young men, ignorant of their Duty to our Sovereign Lord the King, riotously Assembled in a wicked manner, Combined against Government, without the least Knowledge, Advice, or Consent of Any Parent, friend, and some of them even Demented by Spirituous Liquors, did, about the first of May last, rashly and inconsiderately Destroy the ammunition of General Waddell and Sundrys, the Property of Colo. Moses Alexan-
62 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
der; for which wicked deed, their parents and Friends are Drowned in Sorrows and the Unhappy Perpetrators truly and Deeply Af- flicted. Permit us, Yr Excellency's most humble petitioners, to as- sure your Excellency that these Miserable persons were, prior to this Fact, esteemed faithful and loyal Subjects. We cannot but most tenderly Compassionate the Desolate and Distressed, and Even take part of their affliction, and Having learned of your exceeding Hu- manity and that benign Temper of mind which you are so Eminently Possessed of, we therefore beg with expectation, Cannot but Solicit and most earnestly and importunately pray, that your Excellency would be Graciously pleased to extend to these unhappy, though un- worthy Subjects, his Majesties most free and gracious Pardon. That Your Excellency may see Loyalty to the best of Sovereigns and Fidelity to our noble Constitution, flourishing among us; and the Reigns of Government easy and Delightfull to yourself, shall be the Sincere Prayer of your Excellency's most humble and Dutifull Pe- titioners."
The petition for pardon, which was granted, was signed by Moses Shelby, Samuel Loftain, Matthew Stewart, John Morrison, David Slough, Samuel Harris, James Morrison, Robert McMurray, William White, John Davis, John Rus- sell, Robert Russell, James Russell, William Scott, Robert Campbell, William Blair, Thomas Hall, Thomas Smith, William Adden, George Davys, Robert McCallan, James Callwall, James Harris, William Sper, John Callwall, Oliver Wiley, James Harris, David Caldwell.
This petition was presented to the Governor in Newbern by Colonel Alexander, in November, 1771. The Council recommended the pardon of the offenders and Governor Tryon issued the pardon. Some of the "black boys" were faithful soldiers in the Revolution.
James Ashmore's Testimony.
June 22, 1771. — James Ashmore swears before Thos. Polk as fol- lows:
"North Carolina, Mecklenburg County,
"The Deposition of James Ashmore, of full age, who being volun- tarily sworn on the holy Evangelists of Almighty God, voluntarily deposeth and saith that he, this deponent, with a number of other persons, was convened at Andrew Logan's old plantation in conse-
"BLACK BOYS" OF CABARRUS. 63
quence of an advertisement (set up by one James McCaul as it was said), when and where this Deponent was accosted by one James White, Junior, to know whether this Deponent thought it any harm to burn the powder then carrying through the County aforesaid, to the army then under the command of General Hugh Waddell, to which this deponent made answer that according to the Reports passing of the Governor and his officers, that he did not think the bare burning of the powder any Harm, and that then this deponent went Home and the Day following, between the Hours of ten and eleven o'clock, in the forenoon, this deponent quit work on his plan- tation and went to look for his Horses. When about three-quarters of a mile from his House this Deponent was met by six men, dis- guised, in the Road, who in appearance resembled Indians, but after some persuasion, consented in part and then went Home with his Horses, and after returned with Joshua Hadley to a place about half a mile from this Deponent's House, where were assembled with himself nine persons, to-wit., James White, Junior, John White, Junior, William White, Robert Caruthers, Robert Davis, Benjamin Cochran, Joshua Hadley and William White, son of the Widow White, who all went thence disguised to Capt. Phifer's old muster Ground where they found and stopped the waggons and enquired for the powder that was carrying to Gen. Waddell. When in the waggon belonging to Col. Alexander they found the powder and took it out of the waggons, broke open the Hogsheads and kegs that contained the powder, and set the same on Fire and destroyed some blankets, leggins, kettles and other things, and then dispersed soon after, having at this Deponent first joining of them sworn him to secrecy as they informed who they all before, and further this De- ponent sayeth not.
James Ashmobe.
Note. — All these papers are verbatim copies from the Colonial Records.
CHAPTER IV.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Condensed Items of Interest in the Lives of Persons Prominent in Mecklenburg History. — Brief Biographies Alphabetically Ar- ranged.
Alexander, Abraham, born in Maryland in 1718, moved to Mecklenburg and settled near the Catawba River, mem- ber and chairman of the County Court for many years; in the Legislature in 1771 ; presided at the Convention of May 20, 1775; died April 23, 1786, leaving a widow and five sons and one daughter. Was buried at Sugar Creek.
Alexander, Adam, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born in Maryland in 1728; moved to the Clear Creek section of Mecklenburg, prominent magis- trate of the county ; became a colonel in the Revolution ; died in 1798. He married Miss Shelby and had four sons — Evan, Isaac, Adam, Charles — and one daughter who mar- ried John Springs.
Alexander, Ezra, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born in 1720; was a Captain in the Revolutionary War, and in 1880 fought the Tories in Lin- coln County. He died in 1790 and is buried in the Sharon church yard.
Alexander, Hezekiah, signer of the Mecklenburg Declara- tion of Independence, was born in Pennsylvania January 13, 1722; was a member of the District Committee of Safety in 1775, of the State Council in 1776; member of Provincial Constitutional Convention in 1777; lived four miles from Charlotte; died in 1801. and is buried in the Sugar Creek church-yard.
Alexander, Isaac, son of Adam Alexander, born in 1756; entered the army in 1775, and served throughout the war; married a daughter of David Reece, elected Clerk of the Court in 1790, and served until his death in 1833.
Alexander, John McKnitt, signer of the Declaration and
1
MRS. RACHEL HOLTON.
First Newspaper Woman in North Carolina; Editor of the Charlotte
Journal in 1861.
THOMAS J. HOLTON, EDITOR OF THE CHARLOTTE JOURNAL,
1829.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 65
secretary of the Convention, was born in Pennsylvania in 1733, and came to North Carolina in 1754. He was elected to the Provincial Assembly in 1772; was a delegate to the Assembly at HillsborO' in August 1775, and to the Halifax Assembly in April, 1776; and was the first member of the State Senate from Mecklenburg, elected under the Consti tution, in 1777. He died July 10, 1817, and is buried at Hopewell. He left two sons — Joseph McKnitt Alexander and William Baine Alexander. The former was born in 1774, and died October i8> 1841; and the latter was born May 3, 1798, and died February 27, 1S45.
Alexander, Governor Nathaniel, born in Mecklenburg in 1756; married Margaret Polk Brevard (a daughter of Dr. Ephraim Brevard and grand-daughter of Thomas Polk) ; was graduated from Princeton University in 1776; studied medicine, and entered the army ; member of the General As- sembly in 1797, 1801 and 1802, elected to Congress in 1802; elected Governor in 1803, and served two years; died in Charlotte November 8, 1808.
Ardrey, Dr. William A., son of William and Mary Ar- drey, who emigrated to this country from Ireland in 1776, was born in York County, S. C, April 19, 1798; studied medicine, and located in the lower part of Mecklenburg; married Mrs. Lydia L. Cureton, daughter of John Potts, by whom he had seven children. Capt. James P. Was killed in the Civil War; Capt. W. E., of Providence township; J. W. of Fort Mill, S. C. ; Dr. J. A., of Pineville; Mrs. Mary J. Bell, of Providence; Mrs. Margaret R. Potts, and Mrs. S. H. Elliott.
Alexander, William Julius, born in Salisbury in March, 1797; educated at Poplar Tent, by Rev. Dr. Robinson; was graduated from the University in 181 6; studied law under Archibald Henderson, and was admitted to the bar in 1818. He married Catherine, daughter of Joseph Wilson ; was elected to the Legislature from Mecklenburg in 1826, and re-elected until 1830, when he succeeded Joseph Wilson as Solicitor; was appointed Superintendent of the Charlotte Mint in 1846.
66 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Avery, Waightstill, signer of the Mecklenburg Declara- tion of Independence, tenth child of Humphrey Avery, was burn in Connecticut. May 3, 1743; was graduated from Princeton in 1766; studied law with Littleton Dennis, of Maryland, and came to North Carolina and was admitted to the bar in 1769. He lived with the family of Hezekiah Alexander; was a member of the Hillsboro Provincial Con- gress of August, 1775, and of the Halifax Congress in April, 1776. In the latter Avery, who was a learned scholar, rendered important service in f< inning the Constitu- tion and Statutes of the State. He was a member of the Legislature in 1777, and was elected Attorney General in 1778. He moved to Burke County in 1781 and died there in 1821.
Balch, Rev. Hezekiah James, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born in Harford County, Maryland in 1748; was graduated from Princeton in 1766, in the same class with Waightstill Avery, He studied for the ministry and was apppointed a missionary to North Car- olina by the Synods of New York and Philadelphia. He was the first pastor of Rocky River and Poplar Tent churches, and served those congregations until his death in 1776, and is buried in the church-yard at the latter place.
Barringer, John Paul, born in Germany in 1721, arrived in Philadelphia, in 1743; married Ann Eliza Iseman in Pennsylvania, in 1750; after the death of his first wife, mar- ried Catherine Blackwelder; Captain of the militia; exerted great influence in having Cabarrus County created; died in 1807. His brother, George, emigrated to this country and settled at Gold Hill ; Matthias, another brother, settled in Lincoln, and was killed by the Indians. Three sisters also came; Catherine married Christian Overstein; Dolly mar- ried Nicholas Cook, and Elizabeth married Christian Barn- hardt.
Barringer. General Paul, son of John Paul and Catherine, was born in 1778 in what is now Cabarrus County; a prom- inent and influential citizen: commissioned Brigadier-General of the North Carolina troops in 1812; member of the Legis-
JAMES W. OSBORNE.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 6?
lature from Cabarrus from 1806 to 181 5, and of the State Senate in 1828; died at Lincolnton June 20, 1844, and was buried at Concord. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Matthew Brandon in 1805, and their children were as fol- lows; D. M., member of Congress, Minister to Spain; Paul, of Mississippi; Rev. William, of Greensboro; Gen. Rufus Barringer, of Charlotte; Major Victor C. Barringer, First North Carolina Cavalry and Judge of International Court of Appeals in Egypt, 1874 to 1894; Margaret married John Boyd, and after his death married Andrew Grier; Mary, married Charles Harris, M. D.; Elizabeth, married Edwin Harris; and Catherine married W. G. Means.
Barringer, General Rufus, born at Poplar Grove, Cabar- rus County, December 2, 1821; educated at Sugar Creek and at the State University, from which he was graduated in 1842; studied law under his brother, D. M. Barringer, and later under Judge Pearson, was a member of the Legis- lature from Cabarrus in 1848, and of the Senate in 1849; was a Bell and Everett elector in i860; commissioned as Captain of Company F of the First Cavalry Regiment in May, 1861 ; Major in August, 1863; Lt. Colonel in October, 1863; Brigadier-General in June, 1864; located in Charlotte after the war; was influential in the establishment of the graded school and the public library; died February 3, 1895. He married, first, Eugenia, daughter of Dr. R. H. Morrison,, and they had two children : Anna, who died young, and Dr. Paul Brandon Barringer, now of the University of Virginia ; second, Rosalie Chunn, of Asheville, who had one son, Rufus ; third, Margaret Long, of Hillsboro, who had one son, Osmond L. Barringer.
Barry, Richard, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born in Pennsylvania in 1726; married Anne Price, of Maryland; moved to- Mecklenburg in 1760, and settled twelve miles northeast of Charlotte; member of the County Court ; served in the militia, and was with Gen. Davidson at Cowan's Ford; died August 21, 1801.
Brevard, Dr. Ephraim, signer of the Mecklenburg Decla-
68 HISTORY ()!• MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
ration of Independence, son of John Brevard, who married Jane McWhirter, was born in Maryland in 1744, and his parents moved with their family to North Carolina in 1747; was graduated from Princeton University in 1768 \ studied
medicine in Maryland, and began practice in Charlotte; was a tutor in Queen's Museum; married a daughter of Thomas Polk, by whom he had one daughter ; was captured at the surrender of Charleston in 1780, while serving as a surgeon ;
was taken sick in prison and was released; returned home, and lived only a few months, dying in 1781. at the age of 2,7 years.
Caldwell. Dr. 1). T., son of Rev. S. C. Caldwell, and grandson of John McKnitt Alexander, was horn in 1796; Educated by his father at Sugar Creek Church and at the State University; studied medicine under McKenzie and in Philadelphia; was a leading physician for many years; mar- ried Harriet, daughter of William Davidson, by whom he had four children; died December 25, 1861.
Caldwell, Green Washington, born in Gaston County, near Tuekaseege Ford, April 13. 181 1; was educated by John Dobson ; studied medicine with Dr. Doherty. near Beattie's Ford, and practiced for sometime, but finally abandoned it for the practice of law; elected to the Legisla- ture from Mecklenburg in 1836 and 1838, and to Congress in T841 ; appointed Superintendent of the Charlotte Mint in 1844; declined the nomination of his party for Governor in 1846; volunteered for the Mexican War and served as a Captain; was elected to the State Senate in 1849. with ms brother officers (J. K. Harrison and E. C. Davidson) as members of the Legislature.
Caldwell. Rev. Samuel Craig, son of Dr. David Caldwell, of Guilford, and grandson of Rev. Alexander Craighead; began preaching in 1792. and continued until the year of his death. 1829; married twice and had eleven children, five of whom became ministers.
Clark, Jonas, born in Pennsylvania, May 16, 1759. came with his parents to Mecklenburg in 177T ; entered the army in 1779. and served in Georgia. South Carolina and North
WILLIAM DAVIDSON.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 69
Carolina, and in the battles at Hanging Rock, Eutaw Springs, Guilford Court House and Cowan's Ford. He lived in Mecklenburg until 1830, when he removed to Madi- son County, Tenn., where he died February, 28, 1846.
Cummings, Rev. Francis, D. D., born in Pennsylvania in 1752; moved to Mecklenburg in 1771 ; was in Charlotte May 20 1775 ; taught school during the Revolution; licensed to preach, and served congregations in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia; was a member of the South Carolina Constitutional Convention in 1788; died February 2, 1832.
Davidson, Adam Brevard, son of Jack Davidson, whose wife was Sally Brevard, was born March 19,1808, and died July 4, 1896. He married a daughter of John Springs of South Carolina. He was a wealthy planter and leading citizen for many years; moved from his farm to Charlotte in 1876 and lived there until his death.
Davidson, John, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, December 15, 1735. His father was Robert Davidson. He was a member of the Colonial Assembly in 1771; was a Major in the army in 1776, and served under General Ruth- erford in the campaign against the Cherokee Indians. He was with General Sumter in 1780 at the battles of Hanging Rock and Rocky Mount; with Joseph Graham and Alex- ander Brevard, he established Vesuvius Furnace, Terza Forge, and other iron works in Lincoln County. He died January 10, 1832, in his 97th year, at the house of his son- in-law, William Lee Davidson, who was a son of Gen. Wil- liam Davidson.
Davidson, William, State Senator from 181 3 to 181 7; Congressman from 181 8 to 1821 ; State Senator from 1827 to 1829; a prominent and influential citizen for many years.
Davidson, General William Lee, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1746. He was the youngest son of George Davidson, who moved to North Carolina and set- tled in Rowan County in 1750. William Lee Davidson was educated in Charlotte, and when the Revolutionary War
JO HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
began, he was commissioned a Major in the Fourth Regi- ment, of which Thomas Polk was Colonel. He rapidly rose to the rank of General and was killed at Cowan's Ford, on the Catawba, February I, 1781. He was active in the defense of Mecklenburg against the British invaders. He is buried at Hopewell, and a monument to his memory has been erected at Guilford Battle Ground. He married Jane Brevard, daughter of John Brevard, and sister of Ephraim Brevard, and left seven children : George, William Lee, John, Ephraim, Jane, Parmela and Margaret.
Davidson, William Lee, Jr., born in 1777; lived near Da- vidson College, which was located on his land; moved to Alabama in 1850; married, but died in 1865, leaving no children.
Davie, William Richardson, son of Archibald Davie, was born at Egremont, England, June 20, 1756; was brought to the Waxhaw settlement (in South Carolina) in 1763; educated in Charlotte and in Princeton University; entered the army in 1776; Lieutenant of Cavalry in 1779; Captain and Major in the same year; participated in the battle of Stono; Commissary-General in 1781 ; commanded in the battle at Hanging Rock ; active in the fighting around Char- lotte; present at the battle at Guilford Court House; began the practice of law in 1783. married Miss Sarah Jones, of Northampton, and settled at Halifax ; member of the Fed- eral Constitutional Convention in 1787; elected Governor in 1798; Special Envoy to France in 1799; moved to near Landsford, S. C, in 1805 ; died November 18, 1820, and was buried in the old Waxhaw cemetery.
Downs, Henry, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born in Pennsylvania in 1728; moved to the Providence section of Mecklenburg in 1746; died Octo- ber 8, 1 798. and was buried at Providence.
Dunlap, Dr. David R., grandson of Rev. Alexander Craighead, whose daughter, Jane, married Mr. Dunlap, of Anson County, was born in Anson in 1781, moved to Char- lotte in 1805, and practiced his profession until 1845; was Clerk of the Court of Equity; died in 1865. He married.
HENRY BARTL3TT WILLIAMS.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 7 1
first Miss Jenkins, of Anson County, by whom he had one son ; and, second, her sister. This being contrary to Presby- terian doctrine, he withdrew from the Church and became one of the pioneer leaders in Methodism in the county. After the death of his second wife, he married Miss Polly Lowrie, a daughter of Judge Lowrie, by whom he had one daughter, who married Dr. Edmund Jones, of Morganton, and after his death, married Col. T. H. Brem, of Charlotte.
Erwin, John Randolph, son of William L. Erwin, born in York County, S. C, August I, 1838; moved to Steele Creek, in Mecklenburg, in 1851; engaged in merchandising until 1859, when he went to Texas, where he remained until 1 86 1 ; enlisted as a private in a Mecklenburg company and was soon elected a Lieutenant ; elected Captain of a Cavalry company in 1862, and served through the war; married Miss Jennie Grier, daughter of Major Z. A. Grier, of Steele Creek, in 1867; lived at Steele Creek from 1868 to 1873; returned to Charlotte; elected chief of police in 1873; Clerk of the Court from 1875 to 1887; went back to Steele Creek; Chairman of the County Finance Committee from 1893 to 1895; chairman of County Commissioners (living in Char- lotte) from 1895 until his death, March 19, 1901. After the death of his first wife, he married Miss Sallie Grier, daughter of Col. Wm. M. Grier.
Flennegin, John, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born in Pennsylvania March 7, 1744; moved to Mecklenburg in 1761, and located near McAl- pin's Creek; member of the County Court for several years; died in 1815. His brother David was born in 1748; served in the war; was wounded at Hanging Rock, and died in 1826. Each of the brothers left several children.
Ford, John, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born in Maryland in 1740; moved to Mecklenburg in 1768; was a magistrate and member of the County Court ; served the county militia during the war, and died in 1800.
Gibbon, Dr. Robert, born in Philadelphia in 1823; was educated at Yale and the Jefferson Medical College ; moved
J2 HISTORY OF M KCKLENBURG COUNTY.
to Charlotte to practice his profession in 1849; served as a surgeon in the Confederate service throughout the war; was a brother of the Federal General. John Gibbon, returned to Charlotte in 1865; married Miss Mary Rodger, of Char- leston, and had two children — Dr. Robert Gibbon, Jr., of Charlotte, and Dr. John Gibbon, of Philadelphia. After the death of his first wife, he married Miss Corrina Harris. Dr. Gibbon died in 1900.
Graham, George, was born in Pennsylvania in 1758, and came to Mecklenburg with his widowed mother in 1769. He was educated in Charlotte, and proved himself a zealous patriot before the beginning of the war. He was leader of the attack on the British at Mclntyre's, October 3, 1780; was for many years Clerk of the Mecklenburg Court, and several times a member of the Legislature; died March 29, 1826, in his 68th year, and is buried in Charlotte.
Graham, Joseph, born in Pennsylvania in 1759, moved to the vicinity of Charlotte in 1769; was educated in Charlotte; present at the Convention of May 20, 1775; enlisted in the Fourth Regiment in 1778; Adjutant in 1780; opposed Corn- wallis* entrance into Charlotte, with General Davidson at Cowan's Ford; died in 1836.
Graham, William, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born in 1746; raised a regiment in Lincoln County in 1776, and inarched against the Scovilites in South Carolina, and later marched to Charleston. His command was at the battle of King's Mountain, under Col- onel Dixon. He died near Hopewell in 181 5.
Grier. Calvin Eli. son of William M. Grier. born in Steele Creek township December 30, 1845; attended the Military Institute in Charlotte; enlisted as a private in i86t ; served through the war and rose to the rank of Captain; studied law. and located in Charlotte in 1868; moved back to Steele Creek in 1872. but returned to Charlotte in T876; married Miss Addie Ramsenr, daughter of General Ramseur. in 1828; died May 1, 1889. and was buried at Steele Creek.
Harris, Charles. M. D. was born in what is now Cabarrus County in 1762; engaged in the fighting around Charlotte;
W. E. PHIFER.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 73
was educated in Charlotte and at Clio Academy, in Iredell : studied Medicine in Camden, S. C, and in Philadelphia; located in Salisbury and later moved to Cabarrus, where he remained. He died September 21, 1825, leaving two sons: William Shakespeare Harris and Charles J. Harris.
Harris, James, born in Pennsylvania in 1739; moved to Mecklenburg in 1750, served in the war and rose to the rank of Colonel; member of the State Senate in 1785; died Sep- tember 27, 1797.
Harris, Robert, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born in Pennsylvania in 1741 ; moved to Mecklenburg in 1750.
Hill, General D. H., was born in York County, S. C. in 1 82 1 ; was graduated from West Point in 1841, served with distinction in the Mexican War, rising to the rank of Major, and receiving a sword as a token of esteem of his native State; professor in Washington College, Va., from 1849 to 1854; professor in Davidson College from 1854 to 1859; Superintendent of the North Carolina Military Institute, in Charlotte, from 1859 to 1861 ; Colonel of the First North Carolina (Bethel) Regiment in 1861 ; rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General by gallant service ; returned to Charlotte in 1865 ; published "The Land We Love," and "The South- ern Home;" went to Arkansas in 1876 to accept the presi- dency of the State University ; President of the Georgia Ag- ricultural College in 1887; returned to Charlotte in poor health in 1889, and died there a few months later. He was buried at Davidson College. He married Miss Isabella, daughter of Dr. R. H. Morrison, who, with several children, survived him.
Holton, Rachel Regina Jones, born in Richmond May 28, 1813; married Thomas J. Holton, of Charlotte, in 1834; edited the North Carolina Whig for two years, from the time of her husband's death, in December of i860.
Holton, Thomas Jefferson, son of Thomas Holton, born in Richmond, Va., August 25, 1802; located in Salisbury to work as a printer in 1823; went from there to Fayette- ville, and moved from Fayetteville to Charlotte in 1828 and
74 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
established the Journal in the same year. The name of the paper was changed to the Whig in 1852, and Holton con- tinued as editor until his death, December 27, i860. He was married to Miss Rachel Regina Jones, of Richmond, June 24, 1834. They had eleven children: Mrs. Sarah Deaton, of Charlotte; Mrs. Alary S. Sprinkle, deceased: Virginia W. Holton, deceased; Harrison Holton, of Char- leston ; Henry C. Holton, deceased ; Leopold Holton, de- ceased; Charles S. Holton, of Charlotte; Harriet C. Holton, of Charlotte; Margaret 0. Holton, deceased; Mrs. J. C. Crisp.
Hunter, Rev. Humphrey, born May 14, 1755, in north of Ireland; landed at Charleston with his widowed mother in 1759, and proceeded at once to Mecklenburg and located in the Poplar Tent neighborhood ; was present at the Con- vention, May, 20, 1775; educated by Rev. James Hall; Lieutenant in General Rutherford's campaign against the Cherokees; licensed to preach in 1789; preached in York County, S. C, and at Steele Creek, where he died in 1827.
Hunter, Rev. John, son of Thomas Hunter, born Novem- ber 13, 1814; educated at Jefferson, Pa.; licensed to preach in 1843; preached in Mecklenburg except from 1855 to 1858, when he was in Alleghany County; died May 16, 1890; married, first, to Miss Isabella Peoples in 1843; sec- ond, to Mrs. Martha Bell, in 1861 ; third, to Miss Mary McDill in 1866.
Hunter. Robert Boston, born in 1818; married Rebecca Wilson Jones in 1845; cned July 17, 1902.
Hunter, Rev. Wm. May, son of R. B. Hunter, born Feb- ruary 1, 1850; educated at Due West, S. C. ; licensed in 1874; preached three years in Charlottte. one in Georgia, ten in Iredell County, ten in Mecklenburg, and then at Lel>- anon, W. Va.
Hutchinson, William, born in Augusta County, Va.. in 1750: removed to Mecklenburg in 1774, served as Commis- sarv in Colonel Polk's Regiment in the Snow campaign, in 1775; was a Lieutenant in Rutherford's Brigade in 1778; Captain in Colonel William Polk's Regiment in 1781 : was a
GENERAL HUGH WADDELL.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 75
good citizen and well known in the county, and died Novem- ber 23, 1833.
Irwin, Robert, son of William Irwin, signer of the Meck- lenburg Declaration of Independence, was born in Pennsyl- vania August 26, 1740; moved to Mecklenburg in 1763, and settled near Steele Creek; married Mary, daughter of Zeb- ulon Alexander; member of the Provincial Congresses in 1776; participated in the Cherokee campaign of the same year; General of the State Militia; member of the General Assembly at intervals from 1778 to 1800; died December 23, 1800, leaving seven children.
Jack, Captain James, born in Pennsylvania in 1739; moved to Charlotte in 1766; participated in the Snow cam- paign and Cherokee campaign and the Hornets' Nest; moved to Georgia in 1783, and settled in Wilkes County, where he died.
Jackson, Andrew, Sr., born in Carrickfergus, Ireland, in 1720; married Miss Elizabeth Hutchison, emigrated to America in 1765; landed at Charleston, and settled on Twelve-Mile Creek, near the present town of Monroe, North Carolina. He died in February, 1767, and was buried in the old Waxhaw cemetery, near Landsford, S. C. He was the father of President Andrew Jackson, and Hugh and Robert Jackson. The two latter died young.
Jackson, President Andrew. See Chapter XXXIX., Volume I.
Johnston, Colonel William, born in Lincoln County, March 5, 1817; educated at the State University; studied law under Judge R. M. Pearson; admitted to the bar and located in Charlotte in 1 842 ; president of the Charlotte and South Carolina Railroad in 1856; was the chief mover in the building of the Atlantic, Tennessee & Ohio Railroad, work on which was interrupted by the war ; an ardent advo- cate of secession; delegate to the Secession Convention; •Commissary General of the State in 1861 ; engaged in rail- road construction after the war; Mayor of Charlotte 1875, 1876, 1877, 1885; married in 1846 to Miss Anna Eliza •Graham, daughter of Dr. George Graham, and to them
?6 HISTORY OF MECKl.KMil KG COUNTY.
were born Julia M., wife of Col. A. B. Andrews; Frank G. ; 0 ra J., wife of Capt. T. R. Robinson; and W. R. Mrs. Johnston died in 1881. and Colonel Johnston in 1896.
Kennon, William, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was chairman of the Rowan Committee Safety in 1774; resided in Salisbury; was a prominent law- yer; member of the first Provincial Congress, and was ap- pointed Commissary to the First Regiment in 1776.
Lowrie, Samuel, son of Robert Lowrie, was born in New- castle County, Delaware, May 12, 1756, and came with his family to Rowan County in 1760. He was educated by Rev. James Hall, at Clio Academy, studied law in Camden. S. C, and was elected to the Legislature from Mecklenburg in 1804. He was elected a judge of the Superior Court in 1806, and held the position until his death, December 22, 1818. He was married twice: First, to Margaret, daughter of Robert Alexander; second, to Mary, daughter of Robert Norfleet, of Bertie County.
Martin, Samuel, son of Hugh Martin, who emigrated from Ireland to New Jersey in 172 land brother of Governor Alexander Martin, of North Carolina, was born in New Jersey in 1746; came to North Carolina with his brother in 1768. and he settled in Mecklenburg, while his brother located in Guilford ; elected Clerk of the Court in 1774; dele- gate to the Provincial Congress in August, 1775; served as a soldier in the war, being a Captain in the battle at Eutaw Springs; served as Clerk until his death in 1789. He mar- ried a widow Caldwell, of South Carolina, and left two children : Samuel A. and Jane C.
McClure. Matthew, signer of the Mecklenburg Declara- tion of Independence, was born in Ireland in 1745; came to Mecklenburg in 1760; settled six miles south of Davidson College, and died in 1808.
Maxwell, William, born seven miles east of Charlotte, September 9, 1809, third son of Guy Maxwell, who emi- grated from Ireland in 1795. He was for many years a member of the County Court, and was apppointed Clerk in 1862, and he continued in the office for six years; Register
GENERAL JOSEPH GRAHAM.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. JJ
of Deeds from 1868 to 1888, and died October 26, 1890. His first wife was Mrs. Mary E. Johnston, who died a year after being married. His second wife was Miss Nancy A. Morris, by whom he had three children; D. G. Maxwell, W. C. Maxwell and Miss Carrie Maxwell.
McLeary, Michael, born in 1762; served through the war; represented Mecklenburg in the General Assembly from 1 81 9 to 1826, and died in 1828.
Morris, Colonel Zebulon, son of William Morris and grandson of John Ford who was one of the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born ten miles east of Charlotte, April 23, 1789; married Martha, daughter of John Rae, in 1814, was a prominent planter and slave owner; died May 1, 1872.
Morrison, Neal, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, son of James Morrison, was born in Phila- delphia in 1728; moved to Mecklenburg in 1770; Captain in the Cherokee campaign of 1776; magistrate and member of the County Court; died in 1784, and was buried at Provi- dence. His son, William, served in the war, became a prominent physician; member of the General Assembly in 1796, and died in 1806. Alexander, another son was a member of the General Assembly in 1801, 1802 and 1803. His daughter married Thomas Alexander.
Morrison, Washington, State Senator in 1833.
Neal, General Wm. H., born in the south-western part of the county in 1799; General of the Militia before the war; County Commissioner; married Miss Hannah Alexander, by whom he had the following children : S. W. Neal, who moved to the Indian Territory and died there; Dr. Z. C. Neal, who practiced medicine in Mecklenburg and died in 1 901 ; Susan Neal, who married Rev. Walter W. Pharr; Mary Neal, who married Capt. N. H. Peoples ; Nancy Neal, who married R. W. McDowell ; W. B. Neal ; Louisa Neal, who married Rev. J. B. Watt, and P. A. Neal, who lives in Rock Hill. S. C. After the death of his first wife, he mar- ried Mrs. Martha D. Williamson. He died in 1889.
Oates. Brawley, born in Cleveland County; moved to
78 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Mecklenburg in 1830; Clerk of the Court from 1836 tc 1842, and fnmi 1845 to J854; married Miss Lillie L«>wrie, daughter of Judge Lowrie, and had three children : Mar- garet married C. H. Spratt; Alary married Mr. Agnew ; and Dr. David Oates, who served through the war and then emigrated to Alabama. He died in 1872.
Osborne, Adlai, was born June 4. 1744; was graduated from Princeton University in 1768; studied law; Clerk of the Rowan Court from 1770 to 1809; member of the first Board of Trustees of the State University; married Mar- garet Lloyd in 1771; lived in Salisbury, and died in 1815, leaving a large family.
Osborne, Alexander, born in 1709; settled in Rowan County in 1755; was a Colonel in the Militia in 1768; mem- ber of the Rowan Committee of Safety in 1775; married Agnes, daughter of Rev. Alexander McWhirter; died in 1776, leaving one son, Adlai, and four daughters: Rebecca married Nathaniel Ewing; Mary married John Xesbit; Jean married Moses Winslow ; and Margaret married John Robinson.
Osborne, James W., son of Edwin J. Osborne, was born in Salisbury December 25, 181 1; was graduated from the State University in 1830; studied law in Salisbury with Hon. Wm. A. Graham ; admitted to the bar in Charlotte in 1833; was active in the public improvements, the establish- ment of the Mint and agitator for railroads; twice elector for the State at large; Superintendent of the Charlotte Mint from 1849 to J853; appointed to a vacant judgeship by Governor Ellis in 1859, and confirmed by the General As- sembly in November, i860; member of the State Senate in
1868, and member-elect at the time of his death, August II,
1869. He married Mrs. Mary A. Moore, daughter of John Irwin, of Charlotte, April 5, 1842, and left three sons and four daughters: R. D. Osborne, a soldier in the Civil War, died young; Frank Irwin Osborne, lawyer, solicitor of the Sixth District, and now Judge of the Court of Private Land Claims, and James W. Osborne, a prominent lawyer of New York City.
DAVID PARKS. Ordained Elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, in
August, 1833.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 79
Patton, Benjamin, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, born in Ireland in 1838; settled in the Pop- lar Tent section of Mecklenburg in 1863; was an active church member and prominent in county affairs ; represented the county in the First Provincial Congress, held at New- bern in August, 1774; member of the Salisbury District Committee of Safety in 1775; collector of taxes for Meck- lenburg in 1782; died and was buried near Concord in 181 7. When he went to Newbern in 1774, he was unable to secure a horse, and walked there and back.
Phifer, Caleb, was born at Cold Water, April 8, 1749; in the Legislature, representing Mecklenburg, from 1778 to 1792; State Senator from Cabarrus 1793 to 1801; Colonel in the Revolution; married Barbara Fulenwider; died July 3, 181 1, leaving eight children.
Phifer, John, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born at Cold Water March 22, 1747; married, in 1768, Catherine, daughter of Paul Barringer; was a member of the Provincial Assembly at Hillsboro in August, 1775, and at Halifax in April, 1776, and of the Constitutional Convention of November, 1776; commis- sioned Lieutenant-Colonel in Colonel Griffith Rutherford's Regiment, December 21, 1776; served in the campaign against the Scovilites and the Cherokee Indians; and died at "Red Hill" in 1778, leaving two children: Paul, who married Jane Alexander, and died in 1801, and Margaret, who married John Simianer, and died in 1806.
Phifer, Martin, born October 18, 1720; was a native of Switzerland, emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1738, and later to North Carolina. He settled in the Rocky River section of Mecklenburg, which was made into Cabarrus in 1792. He was prominent in county affairs before and during the Revolution; was a member of the Legislature in 1777; mar- ried Margaret Blackwelder, and died in 1789, leaving three sons : John, Caleb and Martin.
Phifer, Martin, Jr.. born at Cold Water, March 25, 1756; married Elizabeth Locke; was Colonel of a Regiment of
80 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Cavalry on duty at Philadelphia; was a large land owner; died November i_\ 1837, leaving- five children.
Phifer, William Fullenwider, descendant of Martin Phifer, born in Cabarrus Count} February 15. [809; moved to Charlotte in 1850 and died there.
Polk, Ezekiel, son of William Polk, brother of Thomas Polk, and grandfather of President James Knox Polk, b ra in Pennsylvania December 7, 1747; moved to North Caro- lina in 1754; Clerk of the Court in Try on County in 1769; moved to Mecklenburg in 1778; was active in the Revolution but counseled peace.
Polk, James Knox. See Chapter XXXIX, Volume I.
Polk, Thomas, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, born in Somerset County, Maryland, in 1730. He was a son of William Polk, who was a son of John Polk, who emigrated from Ireland in 1685, and great uncle of James Knox Polk; moved to Mecklenburg in 1754; was prominent in the events of the county in those times, and founded the city of Charlotte; was a surveyor, represented Mecklenburg in the General Assembly in 1770; Colonel of the Militia; issued the call for the Convention of May 20, 1775; mem- ber of the Provincial Assembly during the Revolution, Col- onel of the Fourth Regiment in 1776; Commissary-General for General Greene's Army in 1781 ; owned mills and stores after the war ; died in 1773 and is buried in the old cemetery. He married Susannah Spratt of Charlotte, and had several children: Ezekiel, Charles, William, James, and Margaret who married Dr. Ephaim Brevard.
Polk. William, son of Thomas Polk, born July 8. 1757, educated in Charlotte, was present at the convention of May 20, 1775. served as a lieutenant in Snow Camp campaign in 1775; appointed Major of the Ninth Regiment November 26, 1776, participated in the battles of Brandy wine and Ger- mantown after having served in South Carolina, spent the winter at Valley Forge, served with Sumter at Hanging Rock and as Lieutenant-Colonel in South Carolina in 1781, was with Davie at the fight at Wahab's, represented Meck- lenburg in the General Assembly in 1787.' 1790. and 1791,
LIEUTENANT E. C. DAVIDSON.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 8l
moved to Raleigh and became president of a bank and died there January 14, 1834.
Queary, John, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born in Scotland in 1743; migrated first to Pennsylvania, and to Mecklenburg in 1767, lived and died near Rocky river and was buried in what is now Union county.
Reese, David, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, born in Wales in 17 10, came to America in 1725; married Susan Polk, of Pennsylvania, moved to Mecklenburg in 1750, acted as commissary during the war, lived near Poplar Tent and died in 1787.
Robinson, Rev. John, born near Sugar Creek in 1768. educated in Charlotte, preached in Mecklenburg for more than half a century, and died December 15, 1843.
Robinson, Robert, born in Lancaster county, Pa., in 1751 ; moved to Mecklenburg while very young, served in the army and in the battles at Hanging Rock, Ramsour's Mill, Char- lotte and "Mclntyres." Was well known and highly es- teemed and died August 26, 1839.
Ross, Major E. A. See tribute in Chapter 20, Vol. 2.
Shipp, W. M., was born in Lincoln county November 19, 1819, was graduated from the State University in 1840, ad- mitted to the bar in 1842 and began practice in Lincoln county, served as Captain in the Civil War until he was elected Judge, elected Attorney General of North Carolina in 1870, practiced law in Charlotte from 1872 to 1881, ap- pointed judge by Governor Jarvis in 1881 and elected for a term of eight years in 1882, died in 1890. He was mar- ried twice— first to Miss Catherine Cameron, second to Miss Margaret Iredell. He was a son of Bartlett Shipp.
Strong, John Mason, M. D., son of Rev. Charles Strong, born in Newberry county, S. C, September 1, 181 8; edu- cated at Jefferson College, Pa., studied medicine with Dr. John Harris, of Steele Creek, and in Charleston and in Jef- ferson Medical College, was a surgeon in the Civil War, lived at Steele Creek and died March 22, 1897. He was
82 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
married first to Miss Rachel Harris, by whom he had live children, and second to Miss Nancy Grier.
Walker, John, born in 1801 ; member of the General As- sembly from 1840 to 1848, 1854, 1869, chairman of the County Court, lived eight miles east of Charlotte and died September 8, 1876, leaving one son, Rev. James Walker.
Waring, R. P., born in Virginia, moved to Charlotte in 1850 and began the practice of law. began publishing the Charlotte Democrat in 1852, elected County Attorney in 1855 and 1859, elector in the Buchanan campaign in 1856, appointed Consul to the Danish West Indies in 1859 and served there until the beginning of the Civil War, served throughout the war as Captain, returned after the war and edited the Times, arrested for treason in 1870 because of his denunciation of carpet baggers and military outrages and fined $300; elector in 1876, chairman of the County Court from 1877 to 1884, member of the General Assembly from 1870 to 1875; assayer in charge of the Charlotte mint from 1885 to 1889, and shortly thereafter retired to private life.
Watson, Samuel Brown, M. D. ; born in York county, S. C, December 17, 1805; graduated from the Charleston Medical College in 1828 and located in Charlotte where he practiced until his death, August 24, 1895.
Williams, Henry Bartlett, born July 1, 181 1, for many years a leading citizen, died August 12, 1885.
Wilson, Rev. John McKemey, D. D., son of John Wilson and grand-son of George McKemey, whose wife, Margaret, was a sister of Andrew Jackson's mother; born six miles east of Charlotte in 1769, educated at Liberty Hall, in Char- lotte, and at Hampden Sidney, Va., prepared for the minis- try by Rev. James Hall, licensed in 1793, served as itiner- ant missionary and in Burke county until 1801, in Mecklen- burg from 1801 until his death in 1831 ; married Miss Alary Erwin, of Burke county, taught a classical school for many years; died in 1831, leaving several children.
Wilson, Joseph, educated by Rev. David Caldwell, licens- ed to practice law in 1804, elected to the Legislature from Stokes county in 1810, elected Solicitor of the Mountain
W. F. DAVIDSON.
BIOGRAPHICAL, SKETCHES. 83
Circuit in 1812, and served in that capacity until his death in August, 1829.
Wilson, Zaccheus, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was born in Pennsylvania in 1735, moved to Mecklenburg in 1750, and settled in what is now Cabar- rus county, member of the Provincial Congress in 1776 and of the Constitutional Convention of 1788, moved to Tennes- see in 1796 and died in 1824.
Yates, W. J., born in Fayetteville in 1827, began newspa- per work in his youth, became proprietor of the Fayette- ville North Carolinian, moved to Charlotte in 1856 and bought the Democrat, the Southern Home and Democrat were consolidated as the Home-Democrat in 1881, was pres- ident of the directors of the Morganton Asylum, trustee of the State University, declined all political honors, and died October 28, i<
CHAPTER V.
ANDREW JACKSON'S BIRTHPLACE.
Born in that Part of Mecklenburg Which was Made Into Union in 1842.— Moved Over Into South C. rolina When a Few Weeks Old. —Evidence of Those Who Were Present at His Birth.— Col. E. H. Walkup's Publication.
Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States, was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, March 15, 1767. The ruins of the McKemey cabin, in which he was born, are on the land belonging to Mr. J. L. Rodman, of Waxhaw, and are in Union County, which was cut off from Mecklenburg in 1842. The site is six miles south from Wax- haw, near the Charlotte and Lancaster road, and four hun- dred and eighty yards from the South Carolina line.
In 1858, Colonel S. H. Walkup, of Union County, under- took the task of gathering testimony as to the time and place of Jackson's birth. He spent a great deal of time in the work, and accumulated conclusive evidence that Jackson was born in George McKemey's cabin, in the "Waxhaws," March 15. 1767. The affidavits were published in the North Carolina Argus, of Wadesboro, September 23, 1858, and were later printed in pamphlet form, and in Parton's Biogra- phy of Jackson. The Charlotte and Lancaster papers of 1858 engaged in a controversy over the questions involved, but all finally acquiesced in the completeness of Colonel Walkup's presentation of the facts.
Fourteen affidavits were secured. They were made by persons, in several instances unknown to each other, yet they corroborate with uniformity every important detail. The substance of them is as follows: Six sisters — Misses Hutchison — married and emigrated with their husbands to this country, and settled in the "Waxhaws." Margaret married George McKemey, and settled on Waxhaw Creek, in North Carolina: Jane married James Crawford and settled -on Waxhaw Creek in South Carolina ; Elizabeth married
VICINITY OF JACKSON'S BIRTHPIACE. 1. — Where Andrew Jackson, Sr., Died. 2. — Where President Jackson was Born. 3. — Where President Jackson was Raised. 4. — Where Andrew Jackson, Sr., was Buried.
Andrew jackson's birthplace. 85
Andrew Jackson, Sr., and located near the present site of Pleasant Grove camp-ground, in North Carolina; Sarah married Samuel Leslie and settled near George McKemey's; Grace married James Crow and settled near Landsford, S. C. Andrew Jackson, Sr., built his cabin about nine miles from South Carolina, and the site of it is known to this day. There, in February, 1767, he died, leaving a widow and two sons — Hugh and Robert. His body was interred in the old Waxhaw cemetery, near Landsford. Mrs. Jackson, soon af- ter the death of her husband, started to the home 01 her sister, in South Carolina. On the way she stopped to visit Mrs. George McKemey, another sister, and in her home, in the night of March 15, 1767, Andrew Jackson was born. So soon as Mrs. Jackson recovered sufficient strength, she went, with her three boys, to the home of James Crawford, in South Carolina, and there Andrew lived for thirteen years. The Crawford place was two and one-half miles from the McKemey place.
In the affidavits, Benjamin Massey, John Carnes, John Lathan, James Faulkner and Thomas Faulkner (the three latter being second cousins of Jackson), all declare that Mrs. Sarah Leslie and Mrs. Sarah Lathan (aunt and cousin of Jackson, respectively) often asserted that Jackson was born at George McKemey's and that they were present at his birth; that Mrs. Leslie "was sent for on the night of his birth, and she took her daughter, Mrs. Lathan, and recol- lected well of walking the near way through the fields in the night time." In addition is the testimony of Mrs. Elizabeth McWhirter and her son George, and Mrs. Mary Cousar, who state that they were "near neighbors and present on the night of the birth of General Jackson, at the house of George McKemey, in North Carolina," March 15, 1767, which tes- timony rests upon the statements of Samuel McWhirter, grandson of Mrs. Elizabeth McWhirter, and Thomas Cure- ton and Jeremiah Cureton, who heard the old persons speak often and positively of the facts.
For many years it was not known in which state the Mc- Kemey cabin was located, but the records of land titles in
86 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
the Mecklenburg County court house established the fact that the site of the cabin has always been in North Carolina, In a deed given by McKemey to Crawford in 1792, it is de- scribed as being "north of Waxhaw Creek." The McKemey tract of land was surveyed in 1757, for John McKemey, and was patented in 1761, was sold by John McKemey to Repen- tance Townsend in 1761, and by Townsend to George Mc- Kemey in 1766. McKemey sold it to Thomas Crawford (son of James Crawford) in 1792; Crawford to Jeremiah Cureton in 1796; from him, it passed to his son, William J. Cureton, from whose estate it was purchased by Mr. J. L. Rodman, the present owner. The records of the transac- tions, prior to 1842 are in the Mecklenburg County court house; after that year in Union County.
Thus we have the sworn testimony of fourteen persons, whose irreproachable character will be vouched for by per- sons now living, many of them unknown to each other and all agreeing in reporting the settled family traditions, that Andrew Jackson was born in the McKemey cabin, March 15, 1767; and the incontrovertible testimony of the county records, that the McKemey place is and always has been in North Carolina.
Authority and References: — Governor Swain's Tucker Hall Ad- dress; Parton's Biography of Jackson; Appleton's Encyclopedia; The North Carolina Argus of September 23, 1858; Register's Book XIV, page 202, and Book XI, page 38. The name "McKemey" was spelled in various ways; the spelling here adopted is that on his tombstone and is the version accepted by Farton. George McKemey could not write, and consequently his name was spelled variously in his depositions.
OLD WILSON PLACE. Where Andrew Jackson Lived for a Short Time in 1780, With the Family of John Wilson who Married Margaret McKemey, a Cousin of Jackson, and was the Father of Rev. John McKemey Wilson. This House is Six Miles East of Charlotte.
ALEXANDER ROCK HOUSE, ONE OF THE OLDEST BUILDING3- IN THE COUNTY, FIVE MILES EAST OF CHARLOTTE.
CHAPTER VI. .
CUSTOMS OF THE PIONEERS.
Amusements of the Settlers of Mecklenburg. — County Muster and Assemblies. — Horse Racing and Betting. — Liquor Used Freely at Home and at Public Places. — The Old Taverns and Their
Uses.
The amusements of the first people who lived in this county differed in many respects from those of the present generation. The women and the children were, perhaps, the most destitute part of the population in this respect, The men, at least the great majority of them, would attend the neighborhood musters of their companies and the county musters of their regiment, which assemblies were, during the first years of our history, composed almost wholly of men. In later years, the women and children sometimes attended these assemblies, but the custom developed at a comparatively late date.
The muster of the early days was nominally a military assembly, but it also had its social and political aspects. The small number of churches, as well as the infrequent meet- ings for worship, tended to make the muster days almost the only days the greater part of the population had for social intercourse and the discussion of political questions. During the first years of our history, such questions as the McCulloh land question, the boundary dispute, the vestry and marriage acts, the regulation, and other questions of Colonial politics, were discussed at these meetings.. Besides affording the people a means of social and political discus- sion, from the nature of existing conditions, the musters served to supply the absence of the newspaper, there being no local newspaper in this county for the first fifty years of its history.
County courts and the annual election for members of the Provincial Assembly, all held at the county seat, also served to bring the leading men of the county together for the ex-
88 HISTORY OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
change of ideas and for purposes of social intercourse. The ' several musters, county courts and elections, together with the occasional meetings held in all parts of the county for public worship, afforded our ancestors opportunities for knowing each other which many of this day do not enjoy. Add to all these, too, the frequent visits of many of the people to Charleston, Philadelphia, and other markets, and the bringing back to this section of the best newspapers and other publications of that day, and we find that the people who lived here more than a hundred years ago are not to be pitied so very much on the plea that they were isolated from the rest of the world. Even the older boys occasionally went to Charleston, which was an event long to be remembered. Some of them, too, attended the meetings, while all the chil- dren generally received some months of "schooling" for two or three years of their early youth. But the early times were such that nature and necessity were the school masters that were ever present in this section, to develop the latent powers in every boy and girl.
The diversions of the men partook somewhat of the rude nature of their surroundings. Horse-racing, long bullets, shooting matches, and like sports engaged the attention of the majority. "Long bullets" was a game played with a large iron ball. There were two goals. The work of those near one goal was to prevent the ball rolled in their direction from passing their goal, the winning side being that one which could succeed in rolling the ball with enough force to pass the adversary's line. One of the first ordinances of Charlotte prohibited this game from being played in the streets of the town.
But one of the old customs which has long since passed away here, but which still exists in parts of Scotland, was the custom of having "liquor at the funeral." The life of this custom was prolonged in this section by the fact that the people were settled far apart, and an excuse for refresh- ments at the graveyard, after the funeral, could be made on the ground that the friends had gathered from long dis- tances and should be sent away only after having been re-
\ -s •- X
* 3 'J %
EXTRACTS FROM COPY BOOKS IN USE IN MECKLENBURG COUNTY SCHOOLS IN 1850.
CUSTOMS OE THE PIONEERS. 89
freshed. The prevalence of this custom of having "liquor at the funeral" may be inferred when it is stated that almost every estate settled in this country up to, and for sometime after, 1800, contained an item for funeral whiskey, paid out of the assets of the estate in the same way as other funeral expenses are now paid.
"Liquor at the funeral" was not necessarily the liquor drank by those who kept watch over the dead body before it was buried, but the spirits consumed at a dinner which was spread at the church or graveyard after the funeral ceremo- nies were over, consisting of cakes, bread, cheese, wine, whis- key or rum. The amount of whiskey consumed varied ac- cording to circumstances. As early as 1767, seven gallons and more were consumed on one funeral occasion, costing five shillings per gallon. Wine was more expensive, costing ten shillings per gallon. Sometimes rum instead of whis- key and wine was used, indicating that the dead man was in his lifetime in more comfortable circumstances than one whose funeral dinner was set with only corn whiskey as a beverage.
Another occasion for the consumption of whiskey was the "vendue," or sale of a dead man's estate. "Whiskey for the vendue" was as necessary a part of the expenses of an administrator in settling an