BRITISH INVASION OF NORTH CAROLINA, IN 1776
A Lecture, delivered before the Historical Society of the University of North Carolina, April 1st, 1853, by Hon. David L. Swain.
Daily Register [Raleigh, North Carolina] 21 May 1853
Contact Myrtle Bridges 

	The lecture delivered before the Historical Society of New York, by the Rev. Francis L. Hawks, D.D., on the 18th December last, 
on the early history of North Carolina, is devoted mainly to an examination of the questions connected with the Mecklenburg Declaration 
of Independence. The lecture of Gov. Graham, on the 20th Jan., after an interesting preliminary dissertation, is confined to a single 
topic, the British Invasion of North Carolina in 1780, 1781. I propose to direct attention to the intermediate period-the invasion of 1776, 
and especially to the incidents connected with the battle of Moore's Creek, and the subsequent career of Gov. Martin.
	Josiah Martin, the last of the royal Governors of North Carolina, entered upon the duties of his office on the 11th of August, 1771. 
He is said to have been an Englishman by birth. His brother Samuel was a member of the British Parliament, who, taking offence at personal 
allusions, in one of the numbers of the North Briton, challenged John Wilkes, the famous author of that paper, in 1763. A duel ensued, in 
which the former was wound-ed. The Governor was himself, probably, a North Briton in feelings, and associations; and this fact may have 
aided him to some extent in acquiring the commanding influence which he subsequently exercised over the highland clans in North Carolina.
He was a man of talent, tact and energy, and these qualities were improved by military experience and skill. He had attained the rank of 
Major in the British service, and his military bearing was rendered more impressive by bland and conciliatory manners. Fort Johnston was 
burned by the militia under the command of Col. John Ashe, on the 18th July, 1775, and on the following day, Gov. Martin is supposed to 
have taken refuge on board the Cruiser, sloop of war. From the periond of his abdication, all our historians seem to lose sight of him. 
Williamson, Martin and Jones relate with sufficient fulness and accuracy, the leading incidents in his previous history, but neither seems 
to have suspected that he had any considerable connection with subsequent events.
	It is my purpose to show that the plan of the campaign of 1776 was not merely suggested by him; but the entire system of operations 
for the reduction of North Carolina, until the retirement of Cornwallis, in May 1781, was prosecuted to some extent under his immediate 
supervision. The entire omission on the part of all historians of the revolution, who have fallen within the range of my observation, to 
present even an outline, of the most important events which occurred within our limits, in the early part of the contest, imposes upon me 
the necessity, before entering further upon my narrative, of explaining the causes of this seeming neglect, and intimitating the sources 
from which I derive the evidence by which I expect to sustain the position I have assumed.
    On the 30th April 1819, the Raleigh Register, at the instance of the late Col. Wm. Polk, first directed public attention to the 
Mecklenburg Declaraion. On the 9th July there-after, Thomas Jefferson, in a published letter to John Adams, called in question the 
authenticity of this paper. In 1831, the Governor of North Carolina (Montfort Stokes,) in obedience to a resolution of the General Assembly, 
reaffirmed the authenticity of the controverted document, and published all the evidence that could then be obtained in support of it. 
The leading objection of Mr. Jefferson, however, was not answered. "This gigantic step of the county of Mecklenburg" was proved by no 
contemporaneous record, was noticed by no historian of North Carolina, or the adjacent States, and had never until then found its way 
even into the newspapers. "When Mr. Henry's resolutions, (said Mr. Jefferson,) far short of independence, flew like lightening 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." The living, positive, witnesses who avouched the fact of the declaration, were numerous and respectable; 
but in the absence of written contemporaneous evidence, had there been no subsequent developments, then issue, out of North Carolina, would 
probably have been decided against us. Shortly after the appearance of the State pamphlet, however, Peter Force discovered in an English 
periodical, a proclamation issued by Gov. Martin on board his Majesty's ship Cruiser, in Cape Fear, on the 8th August, 1775, from which he 
copied and published the following extract: "And whereas, I have also seen a most infamous publication in the Cape Fear Mercury, importing 
to be resolves of a set of people, styling themselves a committee for the county of Mecklenburg, most traitorously declaring the entire 
dissolution of the laws, government and constitution of this country, and setting up a system of rule and rebulation, repugnant to the laws, 
and subersive of his Majesty's government, etc." This publication was followed in a very few months by the discovery in the Town of New Berne, 
of the proclamation book of Gov. Martin, the original record, not only of this, but of all the proclamations issued during his administration. 
This book was delivered by the discoverer, the Rev. Dr. Hawks, to the Governor of the State, and is now among the public archives, in the 
office of the Secretary of State. 
	Shortly subsequent to the discovery of the record referred to, Jared Parks, while engaged in historical investigations in London, found 
in the State paper office, an original letter from Governor Martin to Lord Dartmouth, dated "North Carolina, Fort Johnson, 30th June, 1775," 
from which he copied the following paragraph: "The resolves of the committee of Mecklenburg, which your Lordship will find in the enclosed 
newspaper, surpass all the horried and treasonable publications, that the inflamatory spirits of this continent have yet produced: and your 
Lordship may depend, its authors and abettors will not escape my notice, whenever my hands are sufficiently strengthened to attempt the 
recovery of the lost authority of government. A copy of these resolves, I am informed, was sent off by express to the Congress at Philadelphia, 
as soon as they were passed in the committee." Mr. Parks states that the newspaper alluded to, unfortunately, could not be found in the office.
	Governor Martin, on his hasty abdication, probably carried with him all the records that were immediately accessible. There were at that 
time but two newspapers published in the province-The North Carolina Gazette, at New Berne, and the Cape Fear Mercury, at Wilmington. On 
the 30th Jan., 1775, Adam Boyd entered into a contract with the Wilmington committee to resume the publication of the latter, ("some time 
ago laid aside,") and continue it for a year. The precise period at which James Davis discontinued the Gazette, has not be ascertained, but 
the prospectus of the North Carolina Gazette or Impartial Intelligencer and Weekly General Advertiser, the first number of which was published 
at New Berne on the 29th August, 1783, disclosed the fact that "no newspaper had been published in North Carolina for several years last 
past." -There were four printing presses in operation at different times during the revolution, one at New-Berne, another at Halifax, and 
a third attached to the army of Lord Cornwallis, and a fourth designed to disseminate the counter proclamations and manifestoes of Gen. 
Greene. We have in our archives the first volume of news-papers published in North Carolina, (in 1764,) and the first political pamphlet 
which is known to have issued from our press, but there is not a single revolutionary paper, pamphlet or hand bill in our files, with the 
exception of the laws and journals of the General Assembly. There is probably none in existence and the copy of the Cape Fear Mercury 
transmitted by Governor Martin to Lord Dartmouth and lost from the file in the State paper office, is probably the only revolutionary 
North Carolina newspaper, any portion of the contents of which it is not possible to ascertain.
	We possess copies in a pretty good state of preservation, of all the acts of the General Assembly, passed and printed during the 
revolution. The pamphlet containing the enactments of October session, 1779, consists of 34 pages, 16 small folio, the remainder in quarto. 
The continued scarcity of paper in 1781 and 1782, compelled the public printer to adopt a similar arrangement. Even writing paper was not 
always at the command of men in high official station. In 1776, General Rutherford entreated the council of safety to hasten a supply of 
powder to Rowan to enable him to march against the Cherokees, and with it a quire of paper, on which he might write his dispatches. In 1782, 
General Butler, of Orange, urges a similar request upon Governor Burke.
	With these facts before us, the absence of contemporaneous evidence, either written or printed, in relation to the Mecklenburg Declaration 
of Independence, ceases to be matter of surprise. I have entered into these minute details, however, not merely for the purpose of explaining 
the causes of the mystery and obsecurity in which this remarkable event in our history has hitherto been involved, but to prepare you for the 
tedious and pains-taking investigation, upon which we are about to enter.
	Whilst the war was in progress, the tory leaders of course communicated only with Governor Martin or his confidential agents, and when 
it was over, and life no longer depended upon secrecy, the fear of disgrace was a sufficient motive for silence.
	For facts and illustrations, then, in relation to this portion of our history, we must turn to unpublished records and manuscripts, here 
and elsewhere, to contemporaneous publications in the sister States and especially to the records, magazines and newspapers of the mother 
country. Many of these sources of information will in due time be opened to us, in the immense and invaluable repository of facts, in relation 
to the whole range of American history, now in the course of publication under the patronage of the general government by Peter Force.
	Whether the design in removing Gov. Tryon to New York, was to reward him for the vigor and ability with which he had maintained the royal 
cause during the commotion occasioned by the stamp act, and the subsequent war with the Regulators, or to make room for a successor better 
suited to the peculiar condition of things in North Carolina, the measure was evidently a wise one. Gov. Tryon was not a favorite with any 
considerable portion of the population. He was disliked by the leading men upon the Cape Fear, and was the great object of aversion and dread 
to the Regulators. Gov. Martin on the other hand was able to adopt measures of conciliation, especially by a judicious exercise of the pardoning 
power, and of this advantage it will be seen he availed himself promptly and dexterously.
	The bond of union between the Regulators and the Highlanders and the con-sequent almost universal support yielded by both parties, the 
royal government, are subjects of interesting enquiry, but not we think of very difficult explanation. There was the sympathy produced by the 
sense of common oppression and suffering, and a common apprehension of future punishment for past offences. There was the additional tie of 
deep seated devotion to Prince Edward upon the part of the Highlanders, and a decided preference for him, to the reigning monarch, on the part 
of the Regulators. This is shown with respect to the Regulators by the most prominent fact set forth in Gov. Tryon's proclamation of the 18th 
Oct., 1770. The series of outrages perpetrated at Hillsborough on the preceding 25th September in audaciously attacking his Majesty's associate 
justice in the execution of his office and barbarously beating and wounding several other persons, concludes with an averment of the crowning 
enormity of "drinking damnation to their lawful sovereign King George and success to the Pretender"
    The Regulators, though now arrayed on the side of the King, were nevertheless in opposition to Ashe, Caswell, Waddell and the other popular 
leaders whom they encountered at Alamance. A portion, too, of the Highlanders were probably themselves Regulators, and others may have 
sumpathized with them. A much wider range of country seems to have been under the influence of this political party, than is ordinarily 
supposed. The spirit which animated it may be traced in events which occurred about this time in Halifax, Bute and Granville, while it 
maintained a decided ascendency in Orange, Randolph, Guilford, Surry and the contiguous portion of Rowan. In Anson, from which the present 
county of Richmond had not then been separated, the manifestations were about as early and nearly as violent as in Orange. Waightstill Avery, 
the first Attorney General after the revolution, having just obtained a license to practice law from Governor Tryon, was sworn as an attorney 
at the April term, 1769, of Anson Superior Court. Here he became acquainted with Maj. John Dunn, Col. Samuel Spencer and Capt. Alexander Martin, 
the first named a prominent tory, and the two latter leading whigs in subsequent times. His diary records the fact that these two gentlemen 
informed him that on the evening previous to his arrival, (11th April,) "a set of banditti who styled themselves Regulators brought a large 
quantity of hickory switches to menace the clerk of the court-Col. Spencer; and flogged his writer." This occurrence was nearly 18 months 
previous to the great Hillsborough riot which called forth the proclomation of Gov. Tryon. How much further the spirit of the party may have 
been disseminated in the direction of the Scotch settlements, and to what extent the Highlanders had passed the boundaries of Anson, it may 
not be very easy at the present day to determine. That a very intimate union existed between these clans and the Regulators, from the Cape 
Fear to the extreme western settlements bordering on the Blue Ridge, within a short time thereafter is clearly ascertained. Governor Martin's 
ascendency over both parties is every where mani-fest. A letter from the Earl of Dartmouth to the Governor, dated White Hall, May 3, 1775, 
reveals the spell which bound the Regulators to the throne. "Your letters of the 26th January and 10th March, numbers 27 and 28, the latter 
of which I received only yesterday, contain matters of very great importance. The addresses from the four counties of Guilford, Dobbs, Rowan 
and Surry breath a spirit of loyalty to the King and attachment to the authority of Great Britain which cannot be too much encouraged, and it 
will be necessary that you lose no time in acquainting the inhabitants of these counties, that these testimonies of their duty and affection 
have been most graciously received by his Majesty that his Majesty will not fail to afford them those marks of his royal favor, which such a 
meritorious course of conduct appears to deserve, and that as soon as the necessary forms will admit his Majesty's clemency towards the 
insurgents in 1770 will be extended by a proclamation of general pardon, to all except Herman Husbands." He directs him to proceed immediately, 
through the agency of respectable persons to organize associations in each of these counties for the support of government. He hopes it will 
be possible to avoid the fatal necessity of drawing the sword, but nevertheless deems it proper to prepare for every emergency. To this end he 
authorizes him to hold out to gentlemen in these counties, the prospect of a commission suitable to their rank and station. He states further-
more that he has his Majesty's comnmand to direct General Gage, upon the Governor's application, "to send some able and discreet officer, to 
lead the people forth against any rebelious attempts to disturb the public peace."
	We have in this dispatch the earliest intimation of the first measure adopted in the plan of the campaign of 1776, the history of which 
we now begin to trace, and to develop, step by step.
	Governor Martin was able and indefatigable, but evidently credulous & sanguine. He had persuaded himself, and in due time succeeded in 
convincing the home govern-ment, that the authors of these addresses spoke the sentiment of a decided majority of the people of the province. 
He travelled extensibely and mingled freely with the inhabitants of the more populous counties, and especially in the Highland settlements. 
A very large portion of the monied capital, a much more potent instrument then than at the present day, was weilded by Scotch merchants, who 
had establishments in all of the more im-portant counties. At the head of this interest was John Hamilton, of Halifax who is in due time to 
claim our attention in more imposing position.
	In May, 1774, Governor Martin spent ten days in that town on his way to select a summer residence in the county of Bute, and is supposed 
to have passed a considerable part of the summer there on his return. He had secret adherents moreover, in the ranks of the professedly most 
ardent of the Whigs. Among these may be particularized Farquard Campbell and Thomas Rutherford, men of wealth, character and influence in the 
county of Cumberland. They were members of the first provincial convention which met at New Berne, on the 25th of Aug. 1774, and appointed 
William Hooper, Joseph Hews & Richard Caswell delegates to the first Continental Congress. They were members of the second Provincial Covention 
which met at the same place.
	On the 3rd of April, 1775, they both signed the articles of American Association and united in the vote denouncing the "equivocal conduct" 
of Thomas Macknight, a member from Currituck, in witholding his signature, and in holding him up "as the proper object of contempt to their 
continent." They were members of the first Provincial Congress in August, 1775, at Hillsborough, and of the second which met at New Berne, 4th 
April 1, 776. On the 12th of that month they voted for the resolution instructing our delegates in the Continental Congress, to declare 
independence. Before the meeting the third Provincial Congress, they were both in confinement at Halifax, as prisoners of war.
	Royal governors, like their royal masters, are frequently, in perilous times, in situations not the most favorable for the ascertainment 
of truth, and it is not very surprizing that a gentlemen of Governor Martin's temperment should, from the evidence before him, and the 
influences by which he was surrounded, have greatly over estimated the strength of the loyalists. With the exception of Georgia, all the 
English writers of the day concur in the opinion that the adherents of the crown were more numerous in North Carolina, than in any other 
province, and there is ample evidence, that the opinion was confidently entertained by the government in the autumn of 1775, that a respectable 
naval and military armament sent to the aid of Governor Martin would not merely restore him to his lost authority, but insure the speedy 
subjugation of all the southern provinces. The selection of an "able and discreet officer," to unite and lead the Highland clans and the 
Regulators, became an object of momentuous importance and concern.
	Among the emigrants to the Cape Fear, about the close of 1773, was Allan McDonald, of Kingsborough, the husband of the chivalous Flora. 
She was no longer young, but independently of the historic fame which she had even then achieved, was eminently fascinating and attrractive. 
The great giant of English literature, Dr. Johnson, was her guest in September of that year, occupied the room and slept in the bed which 
had given shelter and repose to the fugitive Stuart, and there is obviously no incident in his personal history, to which he referred more 
frequently, or with greater pride and pleasure. We have his assurance that her name will be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity 
be virtues, mentioned with honor. He describes her as a woman of middle stature, soft features and elegant presence, and in a subsequent 
letter to Mrs. Thrale, as of "pleasing person and elegant behaviour." He adds, that she and her husband are poor and going to try their 
fortune in America. She is understood to have married at twenty-four, and must then have been about forty-five years of age. Her husband 
was probably something older.
	Boswell represents him to have been the very ideal of a highland chieftain, exhibiting "the graceful mein and manly looks which the 
popular Scotch song has attributed to that character. He had his tartan plaid thrown about him, a large blue bonnet with a knot of blue 
ribbons like a cockade, and brown coat, of a sort of duffil, and tartan waistcoat with gold buttons and gold buttonholds, a bluish philibeg 
and tartan hose. He had jet black hair, tied behind, and was a large stately man with a steady, sensible, coun-tenance. An only son, born 
in 1759, accompanied them on their emigration to North Carolina-a son in all respects worthy of his lineage and destined to attain celebrity, 
in arms, letters, and science.  
	High as his pretensions seem to have been however, Allan McDonald was not "the prudent and discreet officer," selected by General Gage 
to lead the united bands of Regulators and Highlanders.
	Toward the close of the year 1775, as we learn from the account of the proceed-ings of the American Colonists in the Gentleman's magazine 
for June 1776, two Scotch officers, Messers. McDonald & McLeod, passed through New Berne. "They were suspected of some sinister designs and 
questioned by the provincials concerning their business. They pretended they were officers who were wounded at Bunker's Hill, and left the 
army with a design to settle among their friends."
	On the 10th day of January, 1776, Governor Martin, from on board his Majesty's ship Cruiser, in Cape Fear river, issued a proclamation, 
denouncing the unnatural re-bellion then existing, declaring his determination "to erect his Majesty's royal standard, and to collect and 
unite his Majesty's people under the same," tendering forgiveness of all past offences, "even admitting they have taken up arms," to all 
those who now join heart and hand to restore the Government. 
	On the same day he issued a commission to Allan McDonald, Donald McDonald, Alexander Mcleod, Donald McLeod, Alexander McLean, Allen Steward, 
William Campbell, Alexander McDonald, & Neill McArthur, Esqs., of the county of Cumberland and Anson; John Pile, Esq, of the county of Chatham; 
William Fields, James Hunter, Robert Fields, Jeremiah Fields and Layman York, Esq., of the county of Guilford; Michael Holt and James Monroe, 
Esq., of the county of Orange; Paul Barringer, of the county of Mecklenburg, William Spurgian, William Byrd, Samuel Byrd, & Mathias Sappingfield, 
Esqs. of the county of Rowan; Gideon Wright and James Glynn, Esqs., of the county of Surry, and Philemon Hawkins, Senior, and Philemon Hawkins, 
Junior, Esqs., of the county of Bute, authorizing them to erect the Kings Standard, and to raise, levy, muster, and array in arms all his 
Majesty's loyal and faithful subjects whithin their respective counties." They were directed to form the forces so raised into companies of 
50 men each, and to appoint one captain, one lieutenant and one ensign to each company.
	Precicely when, where, and to what extent copies of the proclamation and com-mission were disseminated, it is of course impossible now to 
ascertain. On the 10th February, 1776 however, John Reynolds of the county of Rowan, made oath that he had heard these papers read in the 
camp of William Fields, "and that he heard from the officers and men, declared free plunder whever they went." Rowan was then a frontier 
county, and the union, it seems between the Highlanders and the Regulators was already perfect from the sea-coast to the mountains.
	Allen McDonald was the first named in the commission, but the manifestoes is-sued by Donald McDonald, the first without date, the second
on the 5th February, reveal the fact that his Excellency, Brigadier General Donald McDonald, is commander of his Majesty's force for the time 
being in North Carolina. These papers, like the former, are shown by the same witness to have been read on Tuesday, the 5th of February, in 
Field's camp at Dillos, (Dillon??) by William Spurgian.
	As early as the 24th June of the last year, in a letter from Fort Johnston, to Lewis Henry DeRossett, a member of his council, Governor 
Martin had admitted that "nothing but the actual and declared rebellion of the King's government would justify the giving encouragement to 
slaves to revolt against their masters." This actual and declared re-bellion now existed, and on the 2nd of December, John Hancock, the 
president of the Continental Congress, notified General Washington that Lord Dunmore had erected the royal standard at Norfolk, proclaimed 
martial law, offered freedom to the negroes, and invited them to join him. To one hundred and twenty regular troops, Lord Dunmore joined a 
number of tories and negroes with his force; he marched to the Great Bridge in the county of Nansemond, where he entrenched himself, waiting 
the success of the em-missairies whom he had sent into the district of Edenton, to tempt the slaves in the north-ern counties to seek refuge 
under the royal standard, with the hope of freedom.
	The Blue Ridge was at this time the dividing line between North Carolina and the Cherokees. The tribe was represented by Colonel Drayton 
as numbering more than 2000 warriors; John Stuart was the royal agent and Alexander Cameron his prinicpal deputy. A letter from the latter 
to General Gage, intercepted in June, 1775, states that Stuart's interest with the Indians was much greater, and that he was more beloved by 
them, than any other man. The writer remarks, nevertheless, that he had the vanity to suppose that he could himself head any number he thought 
proper, whenever called upon to support of his Majesty's government. Both these persons were Scotchmen, and their names are found among some 
of the most influential Highlanders upon the Cape Fear. Before the middle of August, substantial evidence was afforded that Cameron's was no 
empty boast, though the storm did not burst upon the frontiers until the 5th June in the following year.
	At the time then that Governor Martin issued his Proclamation declaring the exis-tence of an unnatural rebellion within the province, and 
dispatched his commission to leading men, in a continuous chain of counties, from Cumberland to Rowan, urging them to erect the royal standard, and meet him at Brunswick, on the 15th February, Lord Dunmore was in force upon our northern border;--Sir Henry Clinton destined to the chief command with the Mercury, King Fisher, two or three tenders and four companies of troops, was on his way from New York; Lord William Campbell in the Syren was ex-pected from South Carolina, and Sir Peter Parker had sailed from Portsmouth with a squadron of 2 frigates, eight sloops, a schooner, and a bomb-ketch, with seven regiments of troops on board, under the command of Lord Cornwallis. The train was laid, and it would seem that Governor Martin had merely to apply the match and kindle a civil, a savage, a servile war from Va. to South Carolina, from the Atlantic to the Alleganies.
	Had no unforseen causes occurred to defeat the operation of this well planned campaign, the early subjugation of North Carolina, and of 
all the Southern States, would, humanly speaking, seem to have been inevitable. But there is a God that ruleth in the affairs of men, Sir Henry 
Clinton, Commander-in-chief, did not clear the capes of Virginia until the 26th February.-A six weeks voyage would have placed Lord Cornwallis 
upon our shores, by the day appointed for the rendezvous of the Regulators and the Highlanders at Brunswick. But the season was stormy, the 
voyage a long one, and Admiral Parker did not arrive at the mouth of the Cape Fear until the beginning of May. Five years thereafter, in the 
month of February, 1781, a sudden rise of the waters, first in the Yadkin and next in the Dan, twice saved the retreating army of Greene from 
the same Cornwallis. He led from Ireland on this occasion, a more powerful army than that with which he won the fatal triumph, the victorious 
defeat at Guilford.
	But in the meantime the battle of Moore's creek had been fought. It is not my purpose to present even a sketch of that action. The pen of 
English history has never been guided by an abler or more impartial hand than that of Edmund Burke, and his brief account, evidently framed 
from materials, at that time inaccessible to any one on this side of the Atlantic, is the most comprehensive, accurate that has fallen under 
my observation.
	The consequences of this victory have from causes rendered, I trust sufficiently obvious by the preceeding narrative, never been duly 
appreciated. The State and the nation owe a debt of gratitude to the victorious leaders, Caswell, Lillington, and Moore, which will be more 
clearly comprehended and deeply felt in subsequent times than at present. Strange to say, even the official accounts, though on file in the 
Secretary's office, have to this day never been printed in the State of North Carolina. The brief despatch of Caswell, and a consdiderable 
extract from the report of Moore, may be found in the fifth volume of the American Archives. But there is no other work, to which I am able 
to di-rect the attention of the enquirer, for the official report of this brilliant achievement. Indeed, it is supposed that an entire copy 
of General Moore's letter has never been printed.
	That our troops should have gained a victory at all under the circumstances, in which the parties were placed, was upon all ordinary 
principles of calculation most extraordinary. The entire force under the command of Caswell and Lillington did not exceed a thousand militia 
and minute men. Burke states that the royal force was esti-mated at from 3000 to 1500, and that the latter number was admitted by the commanding 
general after his defeat. Stedman, the commissary of Lord Cornwallis, who accompanied him in the campaigns of 1780 and '81, estimates McDonald's 
force at 1800. Neither Caswell nor Lillington had seen previous service. McDonald and McLeod were veteran soldiers, had fought with reputation 
at Culloden and must from this cause have had strong claims upon the admiration and affection of their countrymen. The dreaded claymore of the 
highlander and the unerring rifle of the mountaineer were in the hands of men thirsting for renown and for vengeance. Flora McDonald, her 
husband at the head of a regiment, and her only son, a lad of seventeen, a captain, is understood to have urged her countrymen to the field. 
Stedman attributes the fortunes of the day to the extraordinary energy and skill exhibited by the provincial commander and 'great division 
in the councils of the loyalists.'
	Allan McDonald, it will be remembered, was the first named in the commission to erect the royal standard, while not only Donald McDonald, 
but Col. McLeod took precedence in the field. Can it be that the preference of the new comers, over the old settlers, the immediate friends 
of the pretender, and the husband of Flora, gave rise to this fatal dissension? General McDonald was not in the action but confined to his 
bed with dangerous illness at a house 8 miles distant. McLeod, the actual commander, fell while rushing impetuously at the head of the column, 
at the first fire.
	The victory was not only decisive but overwhelming; 1500 rifles, all of them ex-cellent pieces, 350 guns & shot bags, 150 swords & dirks, 
2 medicine chests immediately from England, one valued at 300 (pounds) sterling, 13 wagons with complete sets of horses, a box of half 
Johannes and English guineas amounting to 15000 pounds, and 850 common soldiers, were among the trophies of the field.
	In addition to the highland chieftains, Col. Thomas Rutherford of Cumberland, Capt. John Piles, the unfortunate victim of Lee and Pickens, 
in 1781, and four persons of the name of Fields of the county of Guilford, all ot them familiar as persons authorized to erect the royal 
standard in their respective counties, were among the prisoners.
	The victory was won on the 27th February. On the 5th March the provincial council communicated Colonel Caswell's letter, written the day 
after the battle, to the president of the continental congress. The council, after stating the measures which had been adopted to secure the 
persons and estates of the ringleaders among the Highlanders and the Regulators, take occasion to assure the continental congress that they 
have everything to hope from the vigilance, skill and activity of the officers and the patriotism and courage exhibited by the men upon this 
occasion, that a noble ardor pervaded all classes, insomuch, that, in less that a fortnight, 9,400 men and upwards were embodied and on their 
march to meet the enemy, that more might have been raised if it had been necessary.
	The following extract of a letter from a gentleman in North Carolina, dated April 17th, 1776, (probably a misprint for the 7th) may be 
found in the 5th vol. 4th series of the American Archives, p. 959.
	"I have arrived here after a tedious journey. As I came through Virginia, I found the inhabitants desirous to be independent from Britain. 
However they were willing to submit their opinion on the subject to whatever the general Congress should determine. North Carolina by far 
exceed them, occasioned by the great fatigue, trouble and danger the people here have undergone from some time past. Gentlemen of the first 
fortune in the province have marched as common soldiers; and to encourage and give spirit to the men, have footed it the whole time. Lord 
Cornwallis with seven regiments is expected to visit us every day. Clinton is now in Cape Fear and Gov. Martin, who has about forty said of 
vessels, armed and unarmed, waiting his arrival. The Highlanders and Regulators are not to be trusted. Gov. Martin has coaxed a number of 
slaves to leave their masters, in the lower parts; every thing base and wicked is practiced by him. These things have wholly changed the 
temper and disposition of the inhabitants, that are friends to liberty; all regard or fondness for the King or nation of Britain is gone; 
a total separation is what they want. Independence is the word most used. They ask if it is possible, that any colony after what has passed 
can wish for a reconciliation? The convention have tried to get the opinion of the people at large. I am told that in many counties there 
was not one dissenting voice. Four more battallions are directed to be raised which will make six in the province."
	Within five days from the expression of these opinions, viz: on the 12th April, the provincial congress resolved unaimously, "that the 
delegates for this county in the conti-nental congress be empowered to concur with the delegates of the other colonies in declaring independency 
and forming foreigh alliances. On the following day it was "resolved that the thanks of this congress be given to Col. Richard Caswell and 
the brave officers and soldiers under his command, for the very essential service by them rendered this country at the battle of Moore Creek."
	Admiral Parker arrived about the 1st of May. On the 5th Sir Henry Clinton issued his proclamation, from on board the Pallas, declaring that 
a rebellion existed, denouncing all committees, and congresses, but offering free pardon to all who would lay down their arms and submit to 
the laws, excepting only Cornelius Harnett and Robert Howe.
	On the following Sunday, between two and three o'clock in the morning, 900 troops under the command of Lord Cornwallis landed upon the 
plantation of General Howe, in the county of Brunswick, and were foiled in an attempt to surprise Major Davis stationed at the mill at Orton, 
with about 150 militia. They burned the mill, ravaged General howe's plantation, carried off a few bullocks and returned to their transports 
with the loss of two men killed, a prisoner and several wounded. Gov. Martin was received on board the flag ship of the squadron, and this 
poweful armament, from which so much had been expected, was by the close of the month under way to experience further disappointments and more 
signal disaster in South Carolina.
     That the plan of this campaign in all its details had been prepared and suggested by Gov. Martin may be fairly inferred from the evidence 
before us. The extent to which he may justly be considered responsible for its failure, it is not in the present state of our historical 
information so easy to determine. Why were the Regulators required to traverse the State from the mountains to the Seaboard and rendezvous 
with the Highlanders at Brunswick? With a strong naval force at the mouth of the Cape Fear, the great central river of the State, Sir Henry 
Clinton might have advanced into the interior, with an ab-olute certainty of receiving large accessions to his numbers at every stage of his 
progress. The Whigs were comparatively numerous on the Roanoke, the Tar and the Neuse, and the counties between the Catawba and the Yadkin 
were the most rebellious in America, but there is no doubt that from this time down to the close of the Revolution a decided majority of the 
population between the Pedee & Cape Fear, in North and South Carolina, from the sea-board to the mountains, was disaffected the intimation of 
Gov. Martin of a willingness in any extremity to arm the slaves against their masters, excited a storm of indignation which drove him from the 
Palace to seek shelter under the guns of Fort Johnston. The allegation of a similar threat, by Capt. Collet, the commander of the garrison, 
reduced both of them to the necessity of hastening to an armed vessel in the river, and they were scarcely on board when the dismantled fortress 
was redused to ashes. The Governor may have supposed that some imposing demonstration of power was necessary to redeem him from the obloquy 
incident to ignominious flight. A triumphant restoration to his authority upon the part of the citizens of the province, with a squadron of 
fifty vessels on the coast, in the presence of the numerous and well appointed army commenced by Sir Henry Clinton, he may well have supposed,
would exert a great moral influence, not merely in North Carolina, but throughout the continent. The defeat of McDonald dispelled this 
glorious illusion. The astounding fact, asserted by the provincial congress and admitted by Burke, that the province, previously considered 
so weak and so divided, was able in less than a fortnight to bring 10,000 men into the field, may have lost Gov. Martin's confidence of Sir 
Henry Clinton, and Lord Cornwallis induced them to yield to the importuntities of Lord William Campbell and direct their energies to the 
sister province of South Carolina, a more promising field for adventure. (Concluded in our next.) For much additional information on this 
subject see "British Invasion of North Carolina, in 1776." Daily Register [Raleigh, North Carolina] 21 May 1853

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