regiment commanded by Colonel Adam Alexander. He was also a member of the Provincial Congress which met at Halifax in November, 1776, which formed our first Constitution, associated with Hezekiah Alexander, Waightstill Avery, Robert Irwin and Zaccheus Wilson, as colleagues. He married Catharine Barringer, which latter name was originally spelled _Behringer_.
It was on the plantation of John Phifer, three mile west of Concord, that the gallant band of “Black Boys,” headed by Captain ‘Black Bill Alexander’ of Sugar Creek, aided by the Whites and others from the neighboring congregation of Rocky River, effected their memorable achievement in 1771, of destroying the king’s powder, which was on its way from Charleston to Hillsboro to be used by a tyrannical Governor. The reader should bear in mind this _blackening of faces_, to prevent detection, was in the spring of 1771, when the patriotic sentiment of this country had not ripened into that state of almost entire unanimity which characterized it, and the State generally, four years later. John Phifer filled an early grave, and lies buried at the “Red Hill,” on the Salisbury road, where a decaying headstone, scarcely legible, marks the last resting-place of this true patriot.
Thomas Polk is a name of historic distinction in North Carolina, as well as in our nation. He was the early, constant, and enduring friend of liberty, and the unfaltering opponent of arbitrary power and oppression. He was a member of the Colonial Assembly in 1771 and 1775, associated with Abraham Alexander from Mecklenburg. In 1775, he was appointed Colonel of the second battalion of “Minute Men,” with Adam Alexander as Colonel, and Charles McLean as Major.
As Colonel of the Mecklenburg militia, he issued orders to the Captains of the several _beats_, or districts, to send two delegates each to the Convention in Charlotte on the 19th of May, 1775. This act alone, proceeding from patriotic motives, entitles him to our gratitude. In accordance with orders, and the anticipated discussion of political measures affecting the welfare of the country, a vast concourse of delegates, and of the citizens generally, from all parts of the country, as well as from the adjoining counties of Anson, Rowan and Tryon (afterward Lincoln) assembled on the appointed day–such a gathering as had never before met in Charlotte, preceding, or during the Revolution. It was not a small assemblage, like that of the 31st of the same month, composed entirely of the Committee of Safety, met for the purpose of passing such rules and regulations as the internal government of the county demanded.
At the Provincial Congress which met at Halifax on the 4th of April, 1776, he was appointed Colonel of the fourth regiment of Continental troops, with James Thackson as Lieutenant-Colonel, and William Davidson as Major. The last named officer was afterward appointed a Brigadier General, and was killed while disputing the passage of Cornwallis at Cowan’s Ford, on the 1st of February, 1781. After the death of General Davidson, he was appointed Brigadier General in his stead. When General Greene took command of the Southern army in Charlotte on the 3rd of December, 1780, the commissary department was left vacant by the resignation of Colonel Polk. At the earnest solicitation of General Greene, Colonel Davie was induced to accept the position, an ungracious and troublesome office at any time, but then attended with peculiar difficulties, as the country had been lately devastated and stripped of its usual resources by a large invading army.
Colonel Thomas Polk married Susan Spratt, and left several children. He died in 1793, full of years and full of honors, and his mortal remains repose in the graveyard of the Presbyterian Church in Charlotte.
William Polk, son of Colonel Thomas Polk, was born in 1759, and was present at the Mecklenburg Convention of the 19th and 20th of May, 1775. He commenced his military career with his father in the expedition against the Scovillite Tories, in upper South Carolina, in the autumn of 1775. He was with General Nash when he fell at Germantown; with General Davidson, at Cowan’s Ford; with General Greene, at Guilford Court House; and with the same officer at Eutaw Springs. In the last named battle he was severely wounded, the effects of which he carried with him to his grave. When the war closed, he held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He settled in Charlotte, his place of nativity, and represented Mecklenburg county in the Commons in 1787-’90, and ’91. Soon thereafter he removed to Raleigh, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was the last surviving field officer of the North Carolina line. He died on the 14th of January, 1835, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He was the father of Bishop Leonidas Polk, a brave and meritorious officer, killed in the late civil war, while holding the position of Major General; of the late Thomas G. Polk, of Tennessee, and of Mrs. Rayner, wife of the Hon. Kenneth Rayner, of Washington City.
Ezekiel Polk, one of the older brothers of Colonel Thomas Polk, was the first clerk of the county court of Lincoln, after its separation from Mecklenburg in 1768; a Magistrate of Mecklenburg county at a later period; and was a man of considerable wealth and influence, owning much of the valuable lands around “Morrow’s Turnout,” now the flourishing village of “Pineville.” He was the grandfather of James K. Polk, President of the United States in 1845, some of whose noblest traits of character were illustrated in _refusing to serve a second term_ and in being _never absent from his post of duty_. Well would it be for the best interests of our Republic if other occupants of the “White House” would imitate his noble example.
_Zaccheus Wilson_, was one of three brothers who moved from Pennsylvania and settled in Mecklenburg county about 1760. At the time of the Mecklenburg Convention on the 19th and 20th of May, 1775, he signed that instrument, pledging himself and his extensive family connections to its support and maintenance. He was said to be a man of liberal education, and very popular in the county in which he resided. He was a member of the Convention which met at Halifax on the 12th of November, 1776, to form a State Constitution, associated with Waightstill Avery, John Phifer, Robert Irwin and Hezekiah Alexander.
The Wilsons were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, and were arrayed by early education, civil and religious, against tyranny in any form. The eldest brother, Robert Wilson, who lived for many years in Steele Creek congregation, was the father of eleven sons, seven of whom were at one time (all who were old enough) in the Revolutionary army. Shortly after the Revolution, Zaccheus Wilson moved to Sumner county, Tennessee, and there died at an advanced age.
_Ezra Alexander_ was a son of Abraham Alexander, the President of the Mecklenburg Convention of the 20th of May, 1775. He and William Alexander each commanded a company in Colonel William Davidson’s battalion, under General Rutherford, against the Tories assembled at Ramsour’s Mill, near the present town of Lincolnton. He was also engaged in other military expeditions during the war, whenever the defence of the country demanded his services.
_Charles Alexander_ and _John Foard_, two of the signers, served as privates in Captain Charles Polk’s company of “Light Horse” in 1776, in the Wilmington campaign, and in other service during the war. John Foard was, for many years, one of the magistrates of Mecklenburg county, and both have descendants living among us.
_David Reese_ was a son of William Reese, a worthy citizen of Western Rowan (now Iredell county), who died in April, 1808, aged _ninety-nine years_, and brother of the Rev. Thomas Reese, whose ministerial labors were chiefly performed in Pendleton District, S.C., where he ended his days, and is buried in the Stone Church graveyard.
_James Harris_ was from Eastern Mecklenburg (now Cabarrus county), a neighborhood universally holding Whig principles. He was the Major in Colonel Robert Irwin’s regiment at the battle of the Hanging Rock, and elsewhere performed important services during the war. Next to the Alexanders the name Harris was most prevalent in Mecklenburg county preceding the Revolution, and both still have numerous worthy descendants among us to perpetuate the fair name and fame of their distinguished ancestors.
_Matthew McLure_, one of the signers, was an early and devoted friend of liberty. Some of his worthy descendants are still living among us. Other descendants of the same patriotic family reside in Chester county, S.C. One of his daughters married George Houston, who, with a Spartan band of twelve or thirteen brave spirits, under Captain James Thompson, beat back a British foraging party of over four hundred soldiers, at McIntyre’s Branch, on the Beattie’s Ford road, seven miles north-west of Charlotte. His son, Hugh Houston, served throughout the Revolutionary war. The rifle used on that occasion by George Houston is still in possession of the family. His son, M.M. Houston, Esq., of Hopewell congregation, is one of the few grandsons now living of the original signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration.
_William Graham_, an Irishman by birth, was one of the early advocates of liberty in Mecklenburg county. He was intelligent and highly respected by all who knew him. He lived on the plantation now owned by Mrs. Potts, about four miles south-east of Beattie’s Ford, on the public road leading to Charlotte, where he died at a good old age.
It is hoped others will prosecute this branch of historical research, here imperfectly sketched, supply omissions, and favor the public with the result of their investigations. In this Centennial year it is pleasant and profitable to revert to the deeds of noble daring and lofty patriotism of our forefathers, and strive to emulate their illustrious examples.
ORIGIN OF THE ALEXANDER FAMILIES OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
The name, Alexander, is of frequent mention among the nobility of Scotland. About the year 1735 John Alexander married Margaret Gleason, a “bonnie lassie” of Glasgow, and shortly afterward emigrated to the town of Armagh, in Ireland. About 1740, wishing to improve more rapidly his worldly condition, he emigrated with his rising family, two nephews, James and Hugh Alexander, and their sister, who was married to a Mr Polk, to America, and settled in Nottingham, Chester county, Pa. These two nephews, and their brother-in-law, Polk, soon afterward emigrated to Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, then holding forth flattering inducements for settlement. These families, of Scotch-Irish descent, there prospered in their several callings, and early imbibed those principles of civil and religious liberty which stamped their impress on themselves and their descendants, and shone forth conspicuously preceding and during the American Revolution.
About the time of this emigration of the Alexanders to North Carolina, John Alexander moved to Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pa. While he resided there his son James (James the first) married “Rosa Reed,” of that place. Soon after his marriage he left Carlisle, and settled on “Spring Run,” having purchased a tract of land which covered “Logan’s Springs,” where the celebrated Mingo chief, Logan, then lived. After Logan’s death he moved to the Springs, which valuable property is still owned by the Alexander heirs.
John Alexander, partaking of the roving spirit of the age, left Carlisle, and finally settled in Berkeley county, Va., where he purchased a large farm, and spent the remainder of his days. His son James had twelve children, seven sons and five daughters. One of his daughters, Rachel, married Joseph Vance, of Virginia, the ancestor of ex-Governor Vance, of Ohio, and other descendants. He gave Vance a farm of three hundred acres as an inducement to settle near him. Vance accepted the gift, and soon afterward removed to the farm; but Indian troubles breaking out at that time, he sold his possession and returned to Virginia, selecting a location near Martinsburg.
James Alexander (James the second) had four sons and six daughters. The eldest son (James the third) married his cousin Celia, youngest daughter of Robert Alexander, of whom was a descendant, Robert Alexander (perhaps a son), a captain in the Revolution, who married Mary Jack, third daughter of Patrick Jack, of Charlotte, and settled in Lincoln county, where he died in 1813.
James Porterfield Alexander (James the fourth), and son of James the third, married Annie Augusta Halsey, grand-daughter of the Hon. Jeremiah Morton, and resides, in this centennial year, on the St. Cloud plantation, Rapidan Station, Culpeper county, Va.
Hugh Alexander, son of James the first, married Martha Edmundson, settled in Sherman’s Valley, Pa., and had a large family. He died at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, while sitting as a member to form a State Constitution.
Another prolific source of the Alexanders in America is traceable to the descendants of seven brothers, who fled from Scotland, on account of political troubles, to the north of Ireland, and passing through the Emerald Isle, sailed for America, and landed in New York in 1716. One of their descendants was William Alexander, born in New York in 1720, a son of James Alexander, of Scotland. He became a distinguished officer in the Revolutionary war, known as “Lord Stirling.” He married a daughter of Philip Livingston (the second lord of the manor), a sister of Governor Livingston, of New Jersey.
From these prolific sources (Scotch and Scotch-Irish) North Carolina, and other States of the American Union, have received their original supplies of Alexanders, embracing, in their expansion, many distinguished names.
In the list of the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of the 20th of May, 1775, six bear the name of Alexander, and a _host_ of others, officers and privates, honored the name in their heroic achievements during the Revolutionary war. Two of the distinguished teachers in Rowan county, preceding the Revolution, were James Alexander and Robert Brevard.
It is also worthy of mention that one of the _twenty-six_ persons who met in Charleston, in the fall of 1766, after the repeal of the Stamp Act, under the leadership of that early patriot, General Christopher Gadsden, rejoiced under the duplicated name of _Alexander Alexander_. He had strayed off from the paternal roof in North Carolina, and was employed there in the honorable calling of schoolmaster. Johnson, in his “Traditions and Reminiscences,” thus speaks favorably of his eminent worth:
“Alexander Alexander was a school-master of high character and popularity. He was a native of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, and educated in the Whig principles of that distinguished district.”
JACK FAMILY.
At the commencement of the Revolutionary War, one of the worthy and patriotic citizens of the little town of Charlotte, in Mecklenburg county, N.C., was Patrick Jack. He was a native of Ireland, and emigrated to America, with several brothers, about 1730. He married Lillis McAdoo, of the same race, who is represented to have been, by all who knew her, as “one of the best of women,” having an amiable disposition, frequently dispensing charities to the poor, and truly pious. Her Christian name, _Lillis_, in subsequent years, was softened into _Lillie_, by many of her descendants in adopting it. The descent of Patrick Jack is traceable to noble ancestors, one of whom was a ministerial sufferer in the reign of Charles II, in 1661. In that year, that despotic monarch, who, according to one of his own satirists, “Never said a foolish thing, nor ever did a wise one,” ejected from their benefices or livings, under Jeremy Taylor, thirteen ministers of the Presbytery of Lagan, in the northern part of Ireland, for their non-conformity to the Church of England. The Puritans of England were called to the same trial, in August, 1662, and in the following October, the same scene of heroic suffering was exhibited in Scotland.
Among the honored names of these thirteen ejected ministers, were Robert Wilson, ancestor of the Rev. Francis McKemie, who, twenty years later, was the first Presbyterian preacher that had ever visited the Western Continent, and near relative of George McKemie, of the Waxhaw settlement, and a brother-in-law of Mrs. Elizabeth Jackson, the mother of General Andrew Jackson; Robert Craighead, ancestor of the Rev. Alexander Craighead, the first settled pastor of Sugar Creek congregation, the early apostle of civil and religious liberty in Mecklenburg county, and who ended his days there in 1766; Thomas Drummond, a near relative of William Drummond, the first royal Governor of North Carolina; Adam White, ancestor of Hon. Hugh Lawson White, a native of Iredell county, and William Jack, ancestor of Patrick Jack, of Charlotte, Charles Jack, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and others whose descendants are now found in ten or twelve States of the American Union.
In the list of tax-payers for Chambersburg, Pa, during the latter half of the last century, the “Chief Burgess,” or Mayor of that place, informs the author the name of Jack (especially John, James, Charles, and William) is of frequent occurrence; but, at the present time, not one of the name is to be found there. One of these, (James) probably a nephew of Patrick and Charles Jack, served five years with distinction in the Revolutionary army, and others are traditionally spoken of as actively engaged in the same patriotic duty. Several of the elder members of the family are buried in the graveyard of Chambersburg, others in Williamsport, Md., and elsewhere in western Pennsylvania.
Several years previous to the Revolution, there also came over from the north of Ireland to America, at least two brothers of the name of Jack, distant relatives of Patrick and Charles Jack, and settled in western Pennsylvania. When the county town of Westmoreland (Hannastown) was burned by the Indians in 1783, one of this family distinguished himself by saving the lives of the women and children. After the burning of that place, the name of the town was changed to Greensburg, and a new location selected on land donated by William Jack, who had become quite wealthy, and one of the Associate Judges of Westmoreland county. He had five sons, four of whom died bachelors; the elder married, but none of his descendants are now (1876) living, except a grand-son, (William Jack,) who resides near Greensburg, Pa. The only daughter of Judge William Jack, married _John Cust_, who fled from Ireland soon after the rebellion in 1798.
About 1760, animated with the hope of more rapidly improving his worldly condition, Patrick Jack joined the great tide of emigration to the Southern colonies, and shortly after his arrival in North Carolina purchased a tract of land between Grant and Second Creeks, in the Cathey settlement (now Thyatira) in Rowan county. After remaining there for about two years, he sold his land and moved to the adjoining county of Mecklenburg. Here, by strict economy and industry, he was “blest in his basket and his store,” and enabled to make more enlarged possessions. This improvement in his pecuniary condition and prosperity may be inferred from the fact that in 1775, and a few years subsequently, he and his eldest son, Capt. James Jack, who, about this time united in business with his father, became the owners of some of the finest lots, or rather blocks, in Charlotte. Among the valuable lots they are recorded as owning, may be briefly named: No. 25, the present Irwin corner; No. 26, the Parks lot; No. 27, the whole space, or double block, from the Irwin corner to the Court House lot; No. 29, the space from the Parks lot to the corner embracing the Brown property; and several lots on Trade street, opposite the First Presbyterian Church. On one of these last named lots (the old Elms property, on the corner next to the Court House) Patrick Jack and his son Capt. James Jack, resided when the delegates from the militia districts of the county assembled, on the 19th and 20th of May, 1775, and kept a public house of entertainment. Here Patrick Jack, on suitable occasions, was accustomed to “crack” many an Irish joke, to the infinite delight of his numerous visitors; and by his ready wit, genial good humor and pleasantry, greatly contributed to the reputation of his house, and inculcated his own patriotic principles. The house soon became the favorite place of resort for the students of the collegiate institute known as “Queen’s Museum,” and of other ardent spirits of the town and country, to discuss the political issues of that exciting period, all foreboding the approach of a mighty revolution.
Patrick Jack had four sons, James, John, Samuel and Robert, and five daughters, Charity, Jane, Mary, Margaret and Lillis, named in the order of their ages. Capt. James Jack, the eldest son, married Margaret Houston, on the 20th of November, 1766. The Houston family came South nearly at the same time with the Alexanders, Polks, Pattons, Caldwells, Wallaces, Wilsons, Clarkes, Rosses, Pattersons, Browns, and many others, and settled mostly in the eastern part of Mecklenburg county (now Cabarrus), and in neighborhoods convenient to the old established Presbyterian churches of the country, under whose guidance civil and religious freedom have ever found ardent and unwavering defenders. The late Archibald Houston, who served Cabarrus county faithfully in several important positions, and died in 1843, was one of this worthy family.
On the 2nd of October, 1768, Captain James Jack, as stated in his own family register, moved to his own place, on the head of the Catawba river, then receiving a considerable emigration. He had five children: 1. Cynthia, born on the 20th of September, 1767. 2. Patrick, born on the 27th of September, 1769. 3. William Houston, bom on the 6th of June, 1771. 4. Archibald, born on the 20th of April, 1773 (died young); and 5. James, born on the 20th of September, 1775.
On the 4th of August, 1772, Captain Jack left his mountain home and moved to the residence of his father, Patrick Jack, in Mecklenburg county. On the 16th of February, 1773, he and his father moved from the country, where they had been temporarily sojourning, into “Charlotte town,” prospered in business, and soon became useful and influential citizens.
On the 26th of Sept., 1780, Lord Cornwallis, elated with his victory at Camden, entered Charlotte, with the confident expectation of soon restoring North Carolina to the British Crown. Patrick Jack was then an old and infirm man, having given up the chief control of his public house to his son, Captain James Jack; but neither age nor infirmity could enlist the sympathies of the British soldiery. The patriotic character of the house had become extensively known through Tory information, and its destruction was consequently a “foregone conclusion.” The British soldiers removed its aged owner from the feather bed upon which he was lying, emptied its contents into the street, aid then set the house on fire! The reason assigned for this incendiary act was, “all of old Jack’s sons were in the rebel army,” and he himself had been an active promoter of American independence.
The loss to Patrick Jack of his dwelling-house and much furniture, accumulated through many years of patient toil and industry, was a severe one. The excitement of the burning scene, consequent exposure, and great nervous shock to a system already debilitated with disease, a few months afterward brought to the grave this veteran patriot. His aged partner survived him a few years. Both were worthy and consistent members of the Presbyterian Church, and their mortal remains now repose in the old graveyard in Charlotte.
By the last will and testament of Patrick Jack, made on the 19th of May, 1780, he devised the whole of his personal estate and the “undivided benefit of his house and lots to his beloved wife during her life-time.” After her death they were directed to be sold, and the proceeds divided among his five married daughters, viz.: Charity Dysart, Jane Barnett, Mary Alexander, Margaret Wilson and Lillie Nicholson. James Jack and Joseph Nicholson were appointed executors. It is related of Dr. Thomas Henderson, a former venerable citizen of Charlotte, that, on his death-bed, he requested to be buried by the side of Patrick Jack, “one of the best men he had ever known.”
At the Convention of Delegates in Charlotte on the 19th and 20th of May, 1775, Capt. James Jack was one of the deeply interested spectators, and shared in the patriotic feelings of that ever memorable occasion. He was then about forty-three years of age–brave, energetic and ready to engage in any duty having for its object the welfare and independence of his country. After the passage of the patriotic resolutions, elsewhere given in this volume, constituting the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, Capt. Jack, for his well-known energy, bravery and determination of character, was selected to be the bearer of them to Congress, then in session in Philadelphia. Accordingly, as soon as the necessary preparations for traveling could be made, he set out from Charlotte on that long, lonesome and perilous journey, _on horseback_. There were then nowhere in the American colonies, _stages_ or _hacks_ to facilitate and expedite the weary traveler. Express messengers were alone employed for the rapid transmission of all important intelligence. On the evening of the first day he reached Salisbury, forty miles from Charlotte, before the General Court, then in session, had adjourned. Upon his arrival, Colonel Kennon, an influential member of the Court, who knew the object of Captain Jack’s mission, procured from him the copy of the Mecklenburg resolutions of independence he had in charge, and read them aloud in open court. All was silence, and all apparent approval (_intentique ora tenebant_) as these earliest key-notes of freedom resounded through the hall of the old court house in Salisbury. There sat around, in sympathizing composure, those sterling patriots, Moses Winslow, Waightstill Avery, John Brevard, William Sharpe, Griffith Rutherford, Matthew Locke, Samuel Young, Adlai Osborne, James Brandon, and many others, either members of the court, or of the county “Committee of Safety.” The only marked opposition proceeded from two lawyers, _John Dunn_ and _Benjamin Booth Boote_, who pronounced the resolutions _treasonable_, and said Captain Jack ought to be detained. These individuals had previously expressed sentiments “inimical to the American cause.” As soon as knowledge of their avowed sentiments and proposed detention of Captain Jack reached Charlotte, the patriotic vigilance of the friends of liberty was actively aroused, and a party of ten or twelve armed horsemen promptly volunteered to proceed to Salisbury, arrest said Dunn and Boote, and bring them before the Committee of Safety of Mecklenburg for trial. This was accordingly done (George Graham, living near Charlotte, being one of the number), and both being found guilty of conduct inimical to the cause of American freedom, were transported, first to Camden, and afterward, to Charleston, S.C. They never returned to North Carolina, but after the war, it is reported, settled in Florida, and died there, it is hoped not only repentant of their sins, as all should be, but with chastened notions of the reality and benefits of American independence.
On the next morning, Captain Jack resumed his journey from Salisbury, occasionally passing through neighborhoods, in and beyond the limits of North Carolina, infested with enraged Tories, but, intent on his appointed mission, he faced all dangers, and finally reached Philadelphia in safety.
Upon his arrival he immediately obtained an interview with the North Carolina delegates (Caswell, Hooper and Hewes), and, after a little conversation on the state of the country, then agitating all minds, Captain Jack drew from his pocket the Mecklenburg resolutions of the 20th of May, 1775, with the remark:
“Here, gentlemen, is a paper that I have been instructed to deliver to you, with the request that you should lay the same before Congress.”
After the North Carolina delegates had carefully read the Mecklenburg resolutions, and approved of their patriotic sentiments so forcibly expressed, they informed Captain Jack they would keep the paper, and show it to several of their friends, remarking, at the same time, they did not think Congress was then prepared to act upon so important a measure as _absolute independence_.
On the next day, Captain Jack had another interview with the North Carolina delegates. They informed him that they had consulted with several members of Congress, (including Hancock, Jay and Jefferson,) and that all agreed, while they approved of the patriotic spirit of the Mecklenburg resolutions, it would be premature to lay them officially before the House, as they still entertained some hopes of reconciliation with England. It was clearly perceived by the North Carolina delegates and other members whom they consulted, that the citizens of Mecklenburg county were _in advance_ of the general sentiment of Congress on the subject of independence; the phantasy of “reconciliation” still held forth its seductive allurements in 1775, and even during a portion of 1776; and hence, no record was made, or vote taken on the patriotic resolutions of Mecklenburg, and they became concealed from view in the blaze of the National Declaration bursting forth on the 4th of July, 1776, which only re-echoed and reaffirmed the truth and potency of sentiments proclaimed in Charlotte on the 20th of May, 1775.
Captain Jack finding the darling object of his long and toilsome journey could not be then accomplished, and that Congress was not prepared to vote on so bold a measure as _absolute independence_, just before leaving Philadelphia for home, somewhat excited, addressed the North Carolina delegates, and several other members of Congress, in the following patriotic words:
“_Gentlemen, you may debate here about ‘reconciliation,’ and memorialize your king, but, bear it in mind, Mecklenburg owes no allegiance to, and is separated from the crown of Great Britain forever_.”
On the breaking out of hostilities with the mother country, no portion of the Confederacy was more forward in fulfilling the pledge of “life, fortune and sacred honor,” in the achievement of liberty, previously made, than Mecklenburg and several adjacent counties. Upon the first call for troops, Captain Jack entered the service in command of a company, and acted in that capacity, with distinguished bravery, throughout the war under Colonels Polk, Alexander, and other officers. He uniformly declined promotion when tendered, there being a strong reciprocal attachment between himself and his command, which he highly appreciated, and did not wish to sunder. At the commencement of the war he was in “easy” and rather affluent circumstances–at its close, comparatively a poor man. Prompted by patriotic feelings for the final prosperity of his county, still struggling for independence, he loaned to the Slate of North Carolina, in her great pecuniary need, L4,000, for which, unfortunately, he has never received a cent in return. As a partial compensation for his services the State paid him a land warrant, which he placed in the hands of a Mr. Martin, a particular friend, to be laid at his discretion. Martin moved to Tennessee, and died there, but no account of the warrant could be afterward obtained.
Soon after the war he sold his house and lots in Charlotte, and moved with his family to Wilkes county, Ga. Here he is represented, by those who knew him, as being a “model farmer,” with barns well filled, and surrounded with all the evidences of great industry, order and abundance. Here, too, he was blest in enjoying for many years the ministerial instructions of the Rev. Francis Cummins, a distinguished Presbyterian clergyman, who, at the youthful age of eighteen, joined his command in Mecklenburg county, and had followed him to his new home in Georgia–formerly a gallant soldier for his country’s rights, but now transformed into a “soldier of the cross” on Christian duty in his Heavenly Master’s service.
The latter years of Captain Jack’s life were spent under the care of his second son, William H. Jack, long a successful and most worthy merchant of Augusta, Ga. In 1813 or 1814, Captain Jack moved from Wilkes to Elbert county, of the same State. There being no Presbyterian church in reach, of which he had been for many years a devout and consistent member, he joined the Methodist church, with which his children had previously united. He was extremely fond of meeting with old friends, and of narrating incidents of the Revolution in which he had actively participated, and for its success freely contributed of his substance. In the serenity of a good old age, protracted beyond the usual boundaries of life, he cared but little for things of this world, and took great delight in reading his Bible, and deriving from its sacred pages those Christian consolations which alone can yield true comfort and happiness, and cheer the pathway of our earthly pilgrimage to the tomb. He met his approaching end with calm resignation, and died on the 18th of December, 1822, in the ninety-first year of his age. His wife, the partner of his joys and his sorrows through a long and eventful life, survived him about two years, and then passed away in peace.
Cynthia Jack, eldest child and only daughter of Capt. James Jack, married A.S. Cosby, and settled in Mississippi. After his death the widow and family settled in Louisiana, about 1814. Their descendants were: 1. Margaret. 2. Cynthia. 3. James; and 4. Dr. Charles Cosby. Patrick Jack, eldest son of Captain James Jack, was Colonel of the 8th Regiment U.S. Infantry, in the war of 1812, stationed at Savannah. He sustained an elevated position in society, frequently represented Elbert county in the State Senate, and died in 1820. His children were: 1. Patrick. 2. William II.; and 3. James W. Jack. Patrick Jack, the eldest son, married Miss Spencer, and, in turn, had two daughters, Harriet and Margaret, and six sons: 1. James. 2. William II. 3. Patrick C. 4. Spencer II. 5. Abner; and G. Churchill Jack. Abner died several years ago in Mississippi–a planter by occupation, and a man of wealth.
James Jack, eldest son of Col. Patrick Jack, married, in 1822, Ann Scott Gray, who died in 1838. In 1847, he married Mary Jane Witherspoon, having by the first wife ten, and by the second, eleven children, of whom at present (1876) twelve are living. In 1823, he moved to Jefferson county, Ala., and one year afterward to Hale county, in the same State, where he ended his days. During the fall of the last year (1875) the author received from him two interesting letters respecting the history of his ever-memorable grandfather, Capt. James Jack, after his removal from North Carolina to Georgia. But alas! the uncertainty of human life! Before the year closed this venerable, intelligent, and truly Christian man was numbered with the dead! He was a successful farmer, the prudent counsellor of his neighborhood, good to the poor, dispensing his charities with a liberal hand, and was universally beloved by all who knew him. On the 27th of November he had a severe stroke of paralysis, from which he never recovered. On the 27th of December, 1875, like a sheaf, ripe in its season, he was cut down, and gathered to his fathers, quietly passing away in the seventy-sixth year of his age, with the fond hope of a blissful immortality beyond the grave.
Churchill Jack, youngest son of Col. Patrick Jack, is a farmer in Arkansas, and the only one of this family now (1876) living. William H., Patrick C. and Spencer H. Jack, all young and adventurous spirits, emigrated from Alabama to Texas in 1831, and cast their lots with the little American colony which was then just beginning to establish itself. They were all three lawyers by profession, and took an active interest and part in the difficulties with Mexico, which were sure to result in open hostilities and the independence of Texas. Spencer H. Jack died young and without issue.
Patrick C. Jack played a prominent part in one of the earliest acts “rebellion” against the Mexican authorities. He, Travis and Edward, at Anahuac, smarting under the tyranny of the Mexican General, Bradburn, then commanding the post, denounced and rebelled against his usurpations and oppression. For this they were seized and imprisoned by Bradburn, and held as _captive traitors_, until released by a company of armed Texans, who demanded their _immediate surrender or a fight_. Bradburn, not having a particular fondness for _leaden arguments_, and well knowing the message _meant business_, reluctantly yielded to the stern demand. But this chivalric rescue, as might be expected, was regarded by Mexico _as treason_, and war soon afterward followed.
After the close of the Mexican war Patrick C. Jack returned to his profession, which he pursued successfully. At the time of his death, in 1844, though still a young man, he was one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas. His brother, William H. Jack, also participated prominently in council, and in the field in the Revolution of Texas, and served as a private in the battle of San Jacinto, which sealed the independence of the “Lone Star” Republic. He achieved distinction in his profession as a lawyer and advocate, and served repeatedly as Representative and Senator in the Congress of the young Republic. Under President Burnet’s administration he became Secretary of State. He, too, died in 1844, not having attained his fortieth year. He left a widow and three children, two of the latter being daughters. His elder daughter is the wife of Hon. W.P. Ballinger, of the city of Galveston, lately appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Texas, which position he declined. His second daughter (now deceased) married the Hon. Grey M. Bryan, of Galveston, who represented his district in Congress before the war, and was Speaker of the House of Representatives of Texas in 1875.
Colonel Thomas M. Jack, only son of William H. Jack, and great-grandson of Captain James Jack, of Mecklenburg memory, is an eminent lawyer and advocate, also of Galveston (of the firm of Ballinger, Jack and Mott), to whom the author acknowledges his indebtedness for many particulars respecting the Texan members of the Jack family.
William Houston Jack, second son of Captain James Jack, was one of the first settlers, and successful merchants of Augusta, Ga. After his withdrawal from the mercantile business, he settled in Wilkes county, taking care of his aged father and mother until their death. He married Frances Cummins, a daughter of the Rev. Francis Cummins, one of the witnesses of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. He was universally beloved by all who knew him, and sustained through life a character of unsullied integrity. He left one son, William Cummins Jack, a teacher by profession, a fine classical scholar, and a gentleman of culture and great moral worth. He is now (1876) residing with his second son, William H. Jack, a distinguished lawyer (of the firm of “Jack and Pierson”) of Natchitoches, La. His eldest son, Dr. Samuel Jack, is an eminent physician, of extensive practice, residing in Columbia county, Arkansas. Two other sons are industrious farmers, and all are pursuing successfully their several vocations of life. For the patriotic services, civil and military, performed by different members of the Jack family, Texas, in her formation stage, honored one of her counties with their name.
James W. Jack, third son of Captain James Jack, married Annie Barnett, a daughter of John Barnett and Ann Spratt. He was a farmer by profession, of unblemished character, and extensive influence, residing and ending his days in Wilkes county, Ga. He had the following children: 1. Samuel T.; 2. Jane; 3. James, (killed at the massacre of the Alamo, under Col. Faonin) 4. Lillis; 5. Patrick, and 6. Cynthia Jack. Samuel T. Jack married Martha Webster, of Mississippi; Jane Jack married Dr. James Jarratt; Lillis Jack married Osborne Edward, Esq., and Patrick Jack married Emily Hanson, of Texas.
John Jack, second son of Patrick Jack, of Charlotte, preceding and during the Revolutionary War, lived on McAlpine’s Creek, in Mecklenburg county. He performed a soldier’s duty during the war, and soon after its termination, moved to Wilkes county, Ga. Of his further history and descendants, little is now known.
Samuel Jack, third son of Patrick Jack, of Charlotte, was also a soldier of the Revolution, and commanded an artillery company. He lived in the Sugar Creek neighborhood, and married, 1st. Miss Knight, of Mecklenburg county, by whom he had two children, 1. Eliza D. Jack, who married the Rev. Mr. Hodge, a Presbyterian minister, and settled in Athens, Ga., and 2. James Jack, who died when a young man. A few years after her death, he married Margaret Stewart, of Philadelphia, Pa., by whom he had five children: 1. Samuel Stewart; 2. John McCormick; 3. William D.; 4. Mary E., and 5. Amanda M. Jack. Samuel S. Jack married Elizabeth Meredith, of Walton county, Ga., in 1831. None of the other children ever married. He had five children: 1. William Howard; 2. Amanda E.; 3. James Mortimer; 4. Joseph Henry, and 5. Sarah M. Jack. Of these, William Howard Jack, in 1860, married Mary Lunsdale, by whom he had five children. He was a printer and editor, and highly respected by all who knew him. He died in April, 1876, in Rome, Ga., aged forty-two years. His son, James Mortimer Jack, was killed in the late war. Amanda E. Jack a worthy lady, is now (1876) living in the country with her brother, Joseph Henry Jack.
Robert Jack, the fourth and youngest son of Patrick Jack, of Charlotte, remained in Chambersburg, Pa., where his father had resided many years previous to his removal to North Carolina. He had the following children: 1. James; 2. John; 3. Cynthia, and 4. Margaret Jack. John Jack was the only one of this family who married. He was born in Chambersburg, on the 29th of December, 1763. At the age of sixteen, he went to Baltimore, engaged as a clerk in a mercantile house, and there acquired those correct business habits and educational training which qualified him for future usefulness. Near the close of the last, century, when quite a young man, he settled in Romney, Hampshire county, Va. He there became a successful merchant, and sustained, through a long and busy life, an unblemished reputation for honesty, integrity and general uprightness of character. He married Rebecca Singleton, an estimable lady who survived him a few years.
In 1823, he was appointed Cashier of the Romney Branch of the Valley Bank of Virginia, which position he held until his death, with distinguished ability. The former intelligent Mayor of Romney, (A.P. White, Esq.,) in writing to the author, says:
“John Jack, when young, was of a gay and festive disposition. After he joined the church, he sobered down to great calmness and evenness. He was always exceedingly neat in his person, courteous in his manners, and kind and charitable to the poor. He bore through life, the character of an earnest, honest, and upright man of business, was an Elder of the Presbyterian Church, and a good Christian.”
He died on the 28th of September, 1837, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. He had the following children: 1. Robert Y.; 2. Carlton T.; 3. James R.; 4. John; 5. Margaret; 6. Juliette M.; 7. John G., and 8. Edward W. Jack. The last named son is now (1876) the only one of the family living. Robert Y. Jack settled in Winchester, Va., and engaged in merchandising. In the war of 1812, he raised a company which was stationed at Craney Island, and participated in the battle at that place.
Robert Y. Jack died near Charleston, Jefferson county, Va., in 1834, leaving an only child, Frances Rebecca, who married Thomas J. Manning, of the U.S. Navy. They both died previous to the late Confederate war, leaving three sons: 1. Charles J.; 2. George Upshur, and 3. Frank Jack Manning. Each one of these brave youths joined the Confederate army, all under the age of eighteen years. George Upshur was killed in the cavalry charge under General Stewart at Brandy Station. Frank Jack was shot through the body, but recovered of his severe wound and continued in the army. They all three served under General (Stonewall) Jackson, through his campaigns, and after his death, under General Early.
John G. Jack settled in Louisville, Ky., and died there, leaving three daughters and one son, Robert Bruce Jack.
Edward W. Jack, youngest son of John Jack, of Romney, now lives near Salem, Roanoke county, Va., in the quiet fruition of all that pertains to an honorable _bachelor’s_ life. All the members of this family have sustained exemplary characters, and now occupy fair and eminent positions in society.
Charity Jack, eldest daughter of Patrick Jack, of Charlotte, married Dr. Cornelius Dysart, a distinguished physician and surgeon of the Revolutionary army. The Dysart family, at that time, resided in Mecklenburg county. Dr. Dysart is said to have built the first house on the “Irwin corner,” assisted by his brother-in-law, Captain Jack, who owned the lot until his removal to Georgia, shortly after the war. Dr. Dysart died comparatively young, leaving a widow and two children, James and Robert Dysart, who settled in Georgia. Of their subsequent history little is known. Jane (or “Jean,”) Jack, second daughter of Patrick Jack, married William Barnett, son of John Barnett and Ann Spratt, of Scotch-Irish descent. The name Spratt is generally spelled “Sprot,” or “Sproat,” in the old records. Thomas Spratt is said to have been the _first person_ who crossed the Yadkin river, _with wheels_; and his daughter Ann the _first child_ born in the beautiful champaign country between the Yadkin and Catawba rivers. He first intended to settle on Rocky River (now in Cabarrus county), but Indian disturbances occurring there near the time of his arrival, induced him to select a home in the vicinity of the place which afterward became the “town of Charlotte.” At his humble dwelling, one mile and a half south of Charlotte, was held the _first Court_ of Mecklenburg county. Abraham Alexander, the Chairman of the Mecklenburg Convention of the 20th of May, 1775, and Colonel Thomas Polk, its “herald of freedom” on the same occasion, were then prominent and influential members of this primitive body of county magistrates. Near the residence of Thomas Spratt is one of the oldest private burial grounds in the county, in which his mortal remains repose. Here are found the grave-stones of several members of the Spratt, Barnett and Jack families, who intermarried; also those of the Binghams, McKnights, and a few others. On the head-stone of Mary Barnett, wife of William Barnett, it is recorded, she died on the 4th of October, 1764, aged forty-five years. A hickory tree, ten or twelve inches in diameter, is now growing on this grave, casting around its beneficent shade. The primitive forest growth, once partially cut down, is here fast assuming its original sway, and peacefully overshadowing the mortal remains of these early sleepers in this ancient graveyard.
The descendants of William Barnett and Jane Jack were: 1. Annie Barnett, married James Jack, third son of Captain James Jack, of Mecklenburg memory, whose genealogy has been previously given. 2. Samuel Barnett, married, 1st, Eliza Joyner; descendants: 1. Jane Barnett, married A.S. Wingfield. 2. Sarah J. Barnett, married Alexander Pope, Sen. Descendants of Samuel Barnett (second marriage) and Elizabeth Worsham were: 1. Samuel Barnett (Washington, Ga.), married Elizabeth A. Stone. Descendants: 1. Annie Barnett, married Rev. William S. Bean. 2. Frank W. 3. Samuel (Davidson College.) 4. Osborne S. 5. Edward A. 6. Hattie A.; and 7. Susan Barnett.
The descendants of John Jack and Mary Barnett were: 1. Ann Jack, married Moses Wiley. 2. Mary A. Jack, married John J. Barnett. 3. Dr. Thomas Jack. 4. John Jack. 5. Samuel Jack, married Annie Leslie. 6. Susan Jack, married Alexander Bowie, formerly Chancellor of Alabama.
The descendants of Moses Wiley and Ann Jack were: 1. Leroy M. Wiley. 2. Mary Wiley, married Thomas Baxter. 3. Thomas Wiley. 4. Eliza Wiley, married Mr. Carnes. 5. Sarah Ann, married John R. Hays. 6. Laird Wiley; and 7. Jack Wiley.
The descendants of Susan Barnett and George W. Smart were five children, of whom only two arrived at the years of maturity, Albert W. and Thomas B. Smart.
George W. Smart represented Mecklenburg county in the House of Commons in 1805, and again in 1808. He died in May, 1810. Mrs. Smart survived her husband many years, and was one of the _remarkable women_ of her age. She was long known and highly esteemed in Mecklenburg and surrounding country for her general intelligence, ardent piety, and retentive memories of Revolutionary events. At the great gathering of delegates and people in Charlotte, on the 20th of May, 1775, she was present (then thirteen years old), and still retained a distinct recollection of some of the thrilling scenes of that memorable occasion, not the least of which was “the throwing up of hats,” in the universal outburst of applause, when the resolutions of independence were read by Colonel Thomas Polk, from the Court-house steps.
She died on the 28th of November, 1851, aged ninety years, and is buried, with other members of the family, in a private cemetery on her own farm, nine miles from Charlotte, on the Camden road. It should be stated, the grandfather of L.M. Wiley and others, (John Jack) was _a cousin_ and not a brother, as some have supposed, of Capt. James Jack, of Charlotte.
Our prescribed limits forbid a more extended genealogical, notice of the Barnett family and their collateral connections, many of whom performed a conspicuous part in the Revolutionary War. Capt. William Barnett was a bold, energetic officer, and was frequently engaged, with his brothers, and other ardent spirits of Mecklenburg, in that species of partisan warfare which struck terror into the Tory ranks, checked their atrocities, and gave celebrity to the dashing exploits of Col. Sumpter and his brave associates.
Mary Jack, third daughter of Patrick Jack, of Charlotte, married Captain Robert Alexander, of Lincoln county, who emigrated from Pennsylvania to North Carolina about 1760. He commanded a company during the Revolution, in the Cherokee expedition, under General Rutherford; acted for several years as Commissary, and performed other minor, but important trusts for the county. He was one of the early band of patriots who met at Newbern on the 25th of August, 1774, and again attended the Convention at Hillsboro, on the 21st of August, 1775. After the war, he settled on his farm, one mile northwest of Tuckasege Ford, on the Catawba River. His residence was long a general stopping-place for travelers, and painted red–hence, it was widely known as the “Red House Place.”
He was elected to the State Legislature consecutively from 1781 to 1787; and acted, for many years, as one of the magistrates of the county, showing the general acceptance with which his services were held. He died in 1813, aged about seventy years, and is buried in Goshen graveyard, Gaston county, N.C. His descendants by the first wife, Mary Jack, were: 1. Margaret, married Judge Samuel Lowrie; 2. Lillis, married Capt. James Martin; 3. Robert W., married Louisa Moore; 4. Mary, married, 1st. James J. Scott, and 2nd. General John Moore; 5. Annie, married John Sumter, (nephew of Gen. Sumter.) His descendants by the second wife, Margaret Reily, were: 1. Eliza 2. Evaline; 3. Amanda, married Dr. J.C. Rudisill, of Lincolnton.
Descendants of Judge Lowrie and Margaret Alexander were: 1. Mary, married Dr. David R. Dunlap, of Charlotte; 2. Eliza, died unmarried; 3. Margaret, do.; 4. Lillis, married B. Oates; 5. Robert B., married Ann Sloan; 6. Samuel, married Mary Johnson.
Margaret Jack, fourth daughter of Patrick Jack, married Samuel Wilson, of Mecklenburg. (For his descendants, see “Genealogy of Samuel Wilson, Sr.”)
Lillis Jack, the fifth and youngest daughter of Patrick Jack, married Joseph Nicholson. He left the State, and is reported as having a family of six children, but of their subsequent history little is known.
Colonel Patrick Jack, a brave and meritorious officer under the Colonial Government, and during the Revolutionary war, was the son of Charles Jack, who lived on the Conococheague river, near Chambersburg, Pa., and was probably the brother of Patrick Jack, of Charlotte, N.C., whose family history has just been given.
Colonel Jack lived an active and adventurous life, and was born about 1730. He was much engaged, when a young man, in assisting to subdue the Indians in Pennsylvania, and commanded a company of Rangers, under Generals Braddock and Washington, in the Indian and French war of 1755. He also commanded a regiment, and participated actively in the Revolutionary War. He was in the Cherokee country many years anterior to the Revolution.
He was at the massacre of the garrison in Fort London, on the Tennessee River in 1760, and was one of three persons who survived, his life having been saved through the influence of the Indian chief, _Atta-kulla-kulla_, the “Little Carpenter.” He had three children; Mary, Jane, and John Finley Jack. John was educated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. He studied law, and emigrated to Knoxville, then the capital of Tennessee, where he soon acquired eminence, and a lucrative practice in his profession. He afterward removed to Rutledge, in Grainger county, East Tennessee, where he associated himself in the same profession with his brother-in-law, the late General John Cocke, a son of General William Cocke, one of the distinguished characters in the early history of Tennessee. He took a prominent part in the politics of the country, filled the offices of Circuit Clerk, State’s Attorney, served several times in both branches of the Legislature, and was finally elected Circuit Judge, which position he held for many years. When the infirmities of old age impeded his activity and usefulness, he retired from public life to his plantation near Bean’s Station, East Tennessee, where he ended his days.
He was a profound lawyer, a Judge of great purity of character, of remarkable discrimination and integrity of purpose, evinced through a long, useful, and honorable life. He was a hard student, possessed fine colloquial powers, and was a man of eminent learning and research.
Judge John F. Jack married Elizabeth, next to the youngest daughter of General William Cocke, previously mentioned, who was a Captain in the Revolutionary War, a companion of Daniel Boon from western North Carolina across the Alleghany mountains to the “wilderness of Kentucky,” a prominent actor in the establishment of the “Frankland Government,” one of the first Senators to Congress from the new State of Tennessee, and afterward, one of the Circuit Judges of that State. He served in the Legislatures of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Mississippi. At the advanced age of sixty-five years, he volunteered in the war of 1812, and distinguished himself for his personal courage. He died on the 8th of August, 1828, in the eighty-seventh year of his age, universally lamented, and is buried in Columbus, Mississippi.
It has been previously stated that Col. Patrick Jack, the father of Judge John F. Jack, led an active and adventurous life. One of these adventures will be now narrated.
In Dr. Ramsey’s “Annals of Tennessee,” page 68, we have this record:
“A grant, signed Arthur Dobbs, Governor of North Carolina; William Beamer, Sen., Superintendent and Deputy Adjutant in and for the Cherokee Nation; and William Beamer, Jun., Interpreter; and the ‘Little Carpenter,’ half king of the Cherokee Nation of the over-hill towns; and Matthew Toole, Interpreter, made to Captain Patrick Jack, of the province of Pennsylvania, is recorded in the Register’s office of Knox county, Tennessee. It purports to have been made at a council held at Tennessee River, on the 1st of March, 1757. The consideration is four hundred dollars, and conveys to Capt. Jack _fifteen miles square_ south of the Tennessee river. The grant itself, confirmatory of the purchase by Jack, is dated at a general council, met at the Catawba River, on the 7th of May, 1762, and is witnessed by Nathaniel Alexander.”
Upon this speculative transaction it is proper to make a few explanatory remarks. About 1750, East Tennessee was beginning to be settled by adventurous individuals, principally from western North Carolina, south-western Virginia, and occasionally from more northern colonies. The Indians were still regarded as the rightful owners and proper “lords of the soil.” At the date of the council held at the Tennessee River in 1757, only that portion of the country north of that stream had become sparsely settled, but soon thereafter purchases of land were sometimes made directly from the Indian chiefs themselves, as in the above instance, and settlements of whites speedily followed. Matthew Toole, one of the parties named, had lived among the Cherokee Indians, and taken to “bed and board,” as a wife, one of the swarthy damsels of that tribe–hence his qualification as interpreter. He lived on the eastern bank of the Catawba river, in Mecklenburg county, giving origin to the name of the ford which still bears his name. Nathaniel Alexander, the subscribing witness, was then an acting magistrate of the county, and a man of extensive influence.
Colonel Patrick Jack, the father of Judge John F. Jack, died in Chambersburg, Pa., on the 25th of January, 1821, aged ninety-one years. His daughter, Jane Stewart, died in 1853, also aged ninety-one years. His daughter Mary (never married) died on the 29th of May, 1862, aged eighty-five years.
The family of Judge John F. Jack consisted of eight children, of whom, at the present time (1876) only four are living, viz.: Martha Mariah (Mrs. Dr. Rhoton), of Morristown, East Tennessee; William Pinkney Jack, of Russelville, Ala.; John F. Jack, of West Point Mississippi, both worthy and eminent lawyers in their respective locations; and Sarah Anne (Mrs. Dr. Carriger), of Morristown, Tenn. Few persons, in the early history of East Tennessee, were held in as great estimation, and filled with universal acceptance as many important positions of public trust as Judge John F. Jack. The county seat of justice of Campbell county, Jacksboro, was named in his honor, and his descendants should hold in cherished remembrance his purity of life and unsullied integrity of character.
GENEALOGY OF SAMUEL WILSON, SEN.
Samuel Wilson, Sr., was one of the earliest settlers of Mecklenburg county, and the patriarchal ancestor of numerous descendants, who performed important civil and military services in the Revolutionary war. He emigrated from Pennsylvania about 1745, and purchased a large body of valuable lands in the bounds of Hopewell church, in Mecklenburg county. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and inherited the peculiar traits of that liberty-loving, people. He was married three times, and was the father of thirteen children. His first wife was Mary Winslow, a sister of Moses Winslow, one of the early and leading patriots of Rowan county, who died on the 1st of October, 1813, in the eighty-third year of his age, and is buried in the graveyard of Center Church.
Samuel Wilson, Sr., died on the 13th of March, 1778, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. His children, by the first wife, were: 1. Mary; 2. Violet; 3. Samuel; 4. John. 5. Benjamin Wilson. Mary, the eldest daughter, married Ezekiel Polk, the father of Samuel Polk, and grandfather of James K. Polk, President of the United States in 1845. Ezekiel Polk was a man of wealth and influence in Mecklenburg county preceding the Revolution, and owned a large body of the valuable lands in and around the present flourishing village of Pineville. Samuel Polk inherited a portion of this land, lying in the “horse shoe bend” of Little Sugar Creek, and immediately on the Camden road, over which Cornwallis marched with his army on his celebrated visit (the first and the last) to the “Hornet Nest” of America.
2. Violet Wilson married Major John Davidson, one of the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.
3. Samuel Wilson, a soldier of the Revolution, married Hannah Knox, a daughter of Captain Patrick Knox, killed at the battle of Ramsour’s Mill. He raised a large family, all of whom have passed away, falling mostly as victims of consumption. His daughter Mary (or “Polly”) married her cousin Benjamin Wilson, (son of David Wilson) who was killed by Nixon Curry, because he was to appear in court as a witness against him.
4. _Major David Wilson_, an ardent patriot, and one of the heroes under Colonel Locke at Ramsour’s Mill, married Sallie McConnell, a sister of Mrs. General James White, the father of the Hon. Hugh Lawson White. (See sketch of his life, under “Iredell County.”)
5. Mrs. Adaline McCoy, of Lincolnton, is a daughter, and worthy descendant of Moses Winslow Wilson, a son of Major David Wilson. John and Benjamin Wilson, the remaining sons of Samuel Wilson, Sr., by the first wife, never married.
6. After General Davidson was killed at Cowan’s Ford, on the morning of the 1st of February, 1781, Major David Wilson, and Richard Barry, Esq, both of whom participated in the skirmish at that place, secured the body of their beloved commander, and carried it to the residence of Samuel Wilson, Sr., to receive the usual preparatory attentions for burial. Mrs. Davidson, who resided about ten miles distant, in the vicinity of Center Church was immediately sent for; she came as hastily as possible in the afternoon, under the charge of George Templeton one of her neighbors, and received, on that solemn occasion, the heart-felt condolence and sympathy of numerous sorrowing friends and relatives. In consequence of this necessary delay, those true patriots and friends of the deceased (Wilson and Barry) moved with the body late in the evening of the same day, and committed it to the silent tomb, _by torchlight_, in Hopewell graveyard.
7. _Rebecca Wilson_, the youngest daughter by the first wife, married John Henderson. After the birth of two children, they set out from Mecklenburg, with the intention of moving to Tennessee, accompanied by a brother and sister of Henderson. On the way, while they were stopping for dinner, they were suddenly attacked by Indians. Henderson and his wife were killed. The brother and sister each seized a child and made their escape. The children were brought back to Mecklenburg county, and properly cared for by their relatives; but, after they grew up, and Indian outrages having subsided, they returned to Tennessee.
The second wife of Samuel Wilson, Sr., was a widow Potts. Having a feeble constitution, she lived but a short time, leaving a daughter, named Margaret, who married John Davidson, an uncle of the late William Davidson, Esq., of Charlotte. After she was left a widow, she moved with her three children, Samuel Wilson, John (or “Jackey”) and Mary Davidson, to Alabama, where a large number of her descendants may be now found in Bibb and adjoining counties of that State.
The children of Major John Davidson and Violet Wilson were:
1. Isabella Davidson married Gen. Joseph Graham, of Lincoln county, the father of the late Hon. William A. Graham and others.
2. Rebecca Davidson married Capt. Alexander Brevard, a brother of Dr. Ephraim Brevard, the reputed author of the Mecklenburg Declaration of the 20th of May, 1775, and one of the “seven brothers in the rebel army,” at one time.
3. Violet Davidson married William Bain Alexander, a son of John McKnitt Alexander, one of the secretaries of the Mecklenburg Convention.
4. Elizabeth Davidson married William Lee Davidson, a son of General Davidson, who fell at Cowan’s Ford.
5. Mary Davidson married Dr. William McLean, a distinguished physician during and after the Revolution.
6. Sarah Davidson married Alexander Caldwell, a son of Dr. David Caldwell, an eminent Presbyterian minister of Guilford county.
7. Margaret Davidson married Major James Harris, of Cabarrus county.
8. John (or “Jackey”) Davidson, married Sallie Brevard, a daughter of Adam Brevard, a brother of Dr. Ephraim Brevard.
9. Robert Davidson married Margaret Osborne, a daughter of Adlai Osborne, the grandfather of the late Jas. W. Osborne, of Charlotte.
10. Benjamin Wilson Davidson married Elizabeth Latta, a daughter of James Latta, Esq.
The third wife of Samuel Wilson, Sr., was Margaret Jack, a sister of Captain Jack, the bearer of the Mecklenburg Declaration to Congress. By this marriage there were five children:
1. _Sarah Wilson_, married Ben McConnell, who had three children, Charity, Latta and Wilson McConnell. Charity McConnell married Reese Davidson, a nephew of General Ephraim Davidson. This family, and also that of Wilson McConnell, moved to Tennessee.
2. _Charity Wilson_, died at the age of sixteen years.
3. _Robert Wilson_, married Margaret Alexander, a daughter of Major Thomas Alexander, and grand-daughter of Neil Morrison, one of the Mecklenburg signers. He left five daughters, and one son, who lost his life in the Confederate cause.
4. _Lillis Wilson_, (frequently written “Lillie,”) married James Connor, who emigrated from Ireland when about twenty-one years of age; volunteered his services at the commencement of the Revolutionary War, and fought through the struggle to its close. He died in April, 1835, aged eighty-four years, and is buried in Baker’s graveyard. He left two children, Henry Workman and Margaret Jack Conner. H. Workman Conner was a worthy and influential citizen of Charleston, S.C., where he spent about fifty years of his life, and died in January, 1861. Margaret J. Connor married J. Franklin Brevard, a son of Capt. Alexander Brevard, of Lincoln county. She was an estimable Christian lady, survived her husband many years, was beloved by all who knew her, and died with peaceful resignation, on the 25th of October, 1866, in the sixty-eighth year of her age. Her only child, Rebecca, married Robert I. McDowell, Esq., of Mecklenburg county.
5. _William Jack Wilson_, youngest child of Samuel Wilson, Sr., by the third wife, married Rocinda Winslow, the youngest daughter of Moses Winslow. The house in which this old patriot then resided, has long since disappeared. It stood on the public road, about three miles southwest of Center church. A large Honey Locust tree now (1876) nearly points out its original location.
William J. Wilson left four children: 1. Dovey A., (Mrs. Dougherty); 2 Robert; 3. La Fayette, and 4. James C. Wilson.
The house in which Samuel Wilson, Sr., resided, and to which the body of General Davidson was borne by David Wilson and Richard Barry, before sepulture, was a two-story frame building. No portion of it now remains and the plow runs smoothly over its site. Robert and William J. Wilson built on the old homestead property. These two brothers were closely united in filial affection during their lives, and now lie, side by side, in Hopewell graveyard.
Mrs. Margaret Jack Wilson, third wife of Samuel Wilson, Sr., is described by all who knew her, as a woman of uncommon energy, of an amiable disposition, charitable to the poor, and a truly humble Christian. She died at the age of fifty-eight years, was never sick during her life, until a few days before her death, and is buried in Baker’s graveyard. When drawing near to the close of her earthly existence, she was asked if she had a desire to live longer; she replied, “No; she was like a ship long tossed at sea and about to land at a port of rest.”
In this same spot of ground, (Baker’s graveyard,) five miles northeast of Beattie’s Foard, on the Catawba, consecrated as the last resting-place of some of the earliest settlers of Mecklenburg county, repose the mortal remains of the Rev. John Thompson, one of the first Presbyterian missionaries in this section of the State, and who died in September, 1753. No monumental slab or head-stone is placed at his grave. Tradition says he built a cabin (or study-house) in the northwestern angle of the graveyard, and was buried beneath its floor, being the first subject of interment. John Baker, who lived in the immediate vicinity, married his daughter, and dying a few years later, gave the permanent name to the burial-ground. Here also repose the remains of _Hugh Lawson_, the grandfather of the Hon. Hugh Lawson White, a native of Iredell county. The only tablet to the memory of this early settler, is a rough slate rock, about one foot high and nine inches broad, on which are rudely chiseled the initial letters of his name, thus combined, HL. In subsequent years, after the erection of Hopewell Church, the most of the Wilson family and relatives were buried in the graveyard at that place.
CAPTAIN CHARLES POLK’S “MUSTER ROLL.”
Among the interesting Revolutionary records of Mecklenburg county, which have been preserved, is the “Muster Roll” of Captain Charles Polk’s Company of “Light Horse,” with the time of service and pay of each member thereof, as follows:
“Dr. The Public of North Carolina,
“To Captain Charles Polk, for services done by him and his Company of Light Horse, who entered the 12th of March, 1776.
“Captain, Charles Polk.
1st Lieut, William Ramsey.
2nd Lieut., John Lemmond.
1st Sergt, John Montgomery
2nd Sergt., William Galbraith (erased). Drummer, Hugh Lindsay.
John Smith.
John Polk, Sen. (erased).
John Wylie.
John Findley.
John Galbraith.
James Hall.
John Stansill.
William —- (illegible).
John Miller.
Humphrey Hunter.
Henry Carter.
James Maxwell.
John Maxwell.
Robert Galbraith.
John McCandlis.
Nicholas Siler.
Samuel Linton.
Thomas Shelby.
James Alexander.
Robert Harris, Jun.
John Foard.
Jonathan Buckaloe.
Charles Alexander, Sen.
Henry Powell.
William Rea.
Samuel Hughes.
Charles Alexander, Jun.
William Shields.
Charles Polk, Jun.
John Purser.
William Lemmond, ‘Clerk to the said company, and Shurgeon to y’e same.'”
Remarks.–The whole expense of Captain Polk’s company in this campaign for sixty-five days, including the hire of three wagons at 16s. each per day, and two thousand and five rations, at 8d. each, amounted to L683 9s. 8d. The account was proven, according to law, before Colonel Adam Alexander, one of the magistrates of the county, and audited and countersigned by Ephraim Alexander, George Mitchell and James Jack, the bearer of the Mecklenburg Declaration to Congress. The pay of a Captain was then 10s. per day; of a 1st and 2nd Lieutenant, 7s. each; of a first Sergeant, 6s. 6d.; of a 2nd Sergeant, 5s. 6d.; of the Clerk and “Shurgeon,” 6s. 6d.; and of each private, 5s.
James Hall, one of the privates in this expedition, afterward became a distinguished Presbyterian minister of the gospel, and was elected on two occasions by his own congregation, in pressing emergencies, to the captaincy of a company, and acted as chaplain of the forces with which he was associated. The late Rev. John Robinson, of Poplar Tent Church, in Cabarrus county, in speaking of him, said, “when a boy at school in Charlotte (Queen’s Museum), I saw James Hall pass through the town, with his three-cornered hat, the captain of a company and chaplain of the regiment.” In Captain Polk’s manuscript journal of his march, under Gen. Rutherford, through the mountains of North Carolina, then the unconquered haunts of wild beasts and savage Indians, he says: “On September 15th, 1776, Mr. Hall preached a sermon,” prompted, as it appears, by the death of one of Captain Irwin’s men on the day before.
This was probably the first sermon ever heard in these secluded mountainous valleys, now busy with the hum of civilized life. (See sketch of his services under “Iredell County.”)
Humphrey Hunter, first a private and afterward lieutenant in Captain Robert Mebane’s company in this expedition, also became an eminent minister of the gospel, and presided at the _semi-centennial_ celebration of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, on the 20th of May, 1825. (See sketch of his services under Gaston county.)
William Shields was the gallant soldier of General Sumter’s command, who discovered a bag of gold in the camp of the routed enemy after the battle of Hanging Rock. Not less generous than brave, steady on the march, and true on the field, he voluntarily carried the gold to his commanding general, and requested him to use it in the purchase of clothing and shoes for his ragged and suffering fellow-soldiers. It is needless to say that this brave and meritorious officer faithfully applied it according to the request of the honest and generous soldier.
Thomas Shelby, a relative of Colonel Isaac Shelby, of King’s Mountain fame, James Alexander, Charles Polk, Jun., Robert Harris, William Ramsey, John Foard (one of the Mecklenburg signers), John Lemmond, John Montgomery, William Rea, and others on the list, will awaken in the minds of their descendants emotions of veneration for their patriotic ancestors, who, one hundred years ago–at the very dawn of the Revolution, and before a _hesitating_ Congress, proclaimed our National declaration, pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor in the cause of American freedom.
PRESIDENT JAMES K. POLK.
James Knox Polk, son of Samuel Polk, and grandson of Ezekiel Polk, was born on the 2nd of November, 1793 about eleven miles south of Charlotte, on the Camden road, on a plantation which, at his father’s removal to Tennessee in 1806, became the property of Nathan Orr, and finally that of the late James Hennigan, Esq. The house in which James K. Polk was born, stood about two hundred yards south of the present crossing place of Little Sugar Creek, and about one hundred yards to the right of the public road in passing from Charlotte. The lingering signs of the old family mansion are still visible; and the plow, in this _centennial year_, runs smoothly over its site, presenting a more vigorous growth of the great Southern staple, _cotton_, than the adjoining lands. The plantation was a part of the valuable lands owned by Ezekiel Polk in the “Providence” settlement, and near the present flourishing village of “Pineville.” The family mansion, around which “Jimmy Polk” sported with his younger brothers and sisters, and wended their way in frolicsome mood to a neighboring school, was an humble building, made by joining two hewn log houses together, with a passage between, in the common style of the first settlers. In 1851 Mr. Hennigan, the last owner of the property, moved one half of the building, apparently the better portion; but with a badly decayed roof, to his barn-yard, and near his handsome residence on the rising ground south-east of its original location, and re-covered it, where it may be seen at the present time.
Samuel Polk, the father of James K. Polk, married Jane, a daughter of James Knox, a soldier of the Revolution, who lived at a place about midway between the residences of the late Rev. John Williamson and Benjamin Wilson Davidson, Esq., youngest son of Major John Davidson. He had ten children, of whom James K. was the eldest, and who early displayed quick, intuitive powers, He received the principal part of his education in North Carolina, and graduated in 1818 at the State University, with the highest honors of his class. While at college, he laid the foundations of his future fame and usefulness.
It is said he never missed a single recitation, or avoided a single duty during the whole course of his collegiate term. After graduating, he returned to Tennessee, his father’s adopted state, commenced the study of law in the office of the Hon. Felix Grundy, and was admitted to the bar in 1820. In 1823, he entered the stormy sea of politics, in which he was destined to achieve a brilliant career. In 1825, he was elected to Congress, and in 1835, was made Speaker of the House of Representatives, which honorable position he held for five sessions. After serving fourteen years, with distinguished ability and impartiality, he declined a re-election. During this long and laborious service, he was never known to be absent, for a single day, from the House. In 1839, after an animated contest, he was elected Governor of Tennessee. In May, 1844, he was nominated as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. His majority in the Electoral College over Henry Clay for this high office was sixty-five votes. The great labor he performed at a period of unexampled danger to the republic, and of difficulties with foreign nations, operated seriously upon his debilitated system, and hastened his end.
In May, 1844, in accepting the nomination, he declared in advance, that, if elected, he would only serve _one term_. And in a letter addressed to the Convention, through Dr. J.G.M. Ramsey, of Knoxville, he re-iterated his determination, and voluntarily declined, when many of his friends deemed his name the only available means of success. His precarious and constantly declining state of health, forcibly admonished him of his early departure from the scenes of earth. He calmly met his approaching end, and died at Nashville, on the 15th of June, 1849, in the forty-fourth year of his age.
When the mists of party and prejudice shall have subsided, and the dispassionate verdict of posterity be given, the services of James K. Polk will be acknowledged as unsurpassed in the annals of our nation; and his noble and disinterested example of only serving _one term_, will be regarded by all pure-minded occupants of the Presidential Chair, as worthy of imitation.
Mecklenburg county is proud of her son!
In the old “Polk Graveyard,” nine miles from Charlotte, is the tombstone of Mrs. Maria Polk, a grand-aunt of President Polk, containing a lengthy eulogy, in poetry and prose, of this good woman. The first sentence, “_Virtus non exemptio a morte_”[H] is neatly executed on a semicircle, extending over the prostrate figure of a departed female saint, sculptured with considerable skill on the soapstone slab, but now scarcely visible on account of the over-spreading moss and lichen. Immediately beneath the _sainted figure_ is the expression, _Formosa etsi mortua_.[I] From the lengthy eulogy, the following extracts are taken:
“Here, unalarmed at death’s last stroke, Lies in this tomb, Maria Polk;
A tender mother, virtuous wife.
Resigned in every scene of life.
* * * * *
“To heavenly courts she did repair; May those she loved all meet her there.
“Supported by the hope of a happy death, and a glorious resurrection to eternal life, she bore a tedious and painful illness with a truly Christian fortitude. The last exercise of her feeble mind was employed in singing the 63rd of the second book of Dr. Watt’s Hymns, in which, anticipating the blessed society above, she exchanged the earthly for the heavenly melody.”
She died on the 29th of November, 1791, in the forty-fifth year of her age.
GENERAL WILLIAM DAVIDSON.
General William Davidson was the youngest son of George Davidson, and born in 1746. His father moved from Lancaster county, in Pennsylvania, in 1750, to North Carolina, and settled in the western part of Rowan county (now Iredell.) Here General Davidson received his earliest mental training, and subsequently his principal and final education at Queen’s Museum College in Charlotte, where many of the patriots of Mecklenburg and surrounding counties were educated.
At the Provincial Congress which met at Halifax, on on the 4th of April, 1776, four additional regiments to the two already in service, were ordered to be raised, over one of which (the 4th) Thomas Polk was appointed Colonel, James Thackston Lieutenant Colonel, and William Davidson Major. With this regiment, under General Francis Nash, he marched to join the army of the North, under General Washington, where he served until November 1779, when the North Carolina line was ordered south to reinforce General Lincoln, at Charleston. Previous to this time he had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the line. As the troops passed through North Carolina, Colonel Davidson obtained a furlough for a few days to visit his family, whom he had not seen for three years. This saved him from the fate which befell Gen. Lincoln and his army at Charleston; for, when he approached that city, he found it so closely invested by the British Army that he was prevented from joining his regiment. When Lincoln surrendered, Davidson returned to Mecklenburg, and rendered important services in subduing the Tories, who, encouraged by the success of the British arms, became numerous, daring and oppressive.
A strong force of Tories having assembled at Coulson’s Mill, General Davidson raised a troop of volunteers and marched against them. A fierce skirmish took place, in which he was severely wounded by a ball passing through his body near the kidneys. This wound nearly proved fatal, and detained him from the service about two months. After his recovery, he again took the field, having been promoted for his bravery to the rank of Brigadier-General in the place of General Rutherford, made a prisoner at the battle of Camden. He was active, with General Sumner and Colonel Davie, in checking the advance of the British, and throughout this darkest period of the Revolution gave ample evidence of his untiring zeal in the cause of his country.
After the battle of the Cowpens, on the 17th of January, 1781, in which General Morgan, with an inferior force, chastised the temerity and insolence of Tarleton, General Davidson was actively engaged in assembling the militia of his district to aid General Greene in impeding the advance of the British army in pursuit of General Morgan, encumbered with more than five hundred prisoners, on his way to Virginia. General Greene, accompanied by two or three attendants, left his camp near the Cheraws, rode rapidly through the country, and met General Morgan at Sherrill’s Ford, on the eastern bank of the Catawba river, and directed his future movements.
General Davidson had placed guards at Tuckasege, Toole’s, Cowan’s and Beattie’s Fords. When Cornwallis approached the Catawba, on the evening of the 28th of January, he found it considerably swollen and impassable for his infantry.
This Providential obstacle caused him to fall back five miles from the river to Jacob Forney’s plantation, a thrifty farmer of that neighborhood. General Davidson had assembled a force of about three hundred and fifty men at Cowan’s Ford. At half past two o’clock on the morning of the 1st of February, 1781, Cornwallis broke up his encampment at Forney’s and reached Cowan’s Ford at daybreak. It was a dark morning, accompanied with slight drizzling rain. The light infantry, under Colonel Hall, entered first, followed by the grenadiers and the battalions.
The picquet of the Americans challenged the enemy; receiving no reply, the guard fired at the advancing enemy. This immediately called into action that portion of Davidson’s forces placed near the river, who kept up a galling fire from the bank. According to Stedman, the English historian, who accompanied Cornwallis, the Tory guide, becoming alarmed at the firing, when the British army reached the middle of the river, turned about and left them. This caused Colonel Hall to lead them directly across to an unexpected landing-place. Colonel Hall was killed as he ascended the bank; the horse of Lord Cornwallis was shot in the river, and fell dead as he reached the bank; three privates were killed and thirty-six wounded. The diversion of the British army from the proper landing caused the Americans to fire angularly and not directly upon their enemy, and hence was less effective in its results. General Davidson, who was about half a mile in the rear with the larger portion of his forces, arrived at the scene of action just as the Americans were fleeing before the fire of the well-organized and greatly superior British forces.
In attempting to rally the Americans, and venturing too near the British army, he received a fatal shot in his breast, and fell dead almost instantly from his horse. The loss of the Americans in privates was only two killed and about twenty wounded.
The British infantry waded the river in platoons, and reserved their fire until they ascended the eastern bank, and thus effected their passage. Cornwallis remained only about three hours after the skirmish, for the purpose of burying his dead, and then proceeded in the direction of Salisbury. Soon after his departure David Wilson and Richard Barry, both of whom were in the skirmish, secured the body of their beloved commander, conveyed it to the house of Samuel Wilson, Sen., and buried it that night by _torch-light_ in the graveyard of Hopewell Church.
Thus fell in the prime of life, and at a moment of great usefulness to his country, this noble and patriotic soldier. Right worthily is his name bestowed upon one of the most fertile counties of our State, and upon a seat of learning, located near the scene of his death, which will perpetuate his fame as long as liberty has a votary throughout all succeeding time.
GENERAL GEORGE GRAHAM.
General George Graham was born in Pennsylvania in 1758, and came with his widowed mother and four others to North Carolina, when about six years old. He was chiefly educated at “Queen’s Museum,” in Charlotte, and was distinguished for his assiduity, manly behaviour and kindliness of disposition. He was early devoted to the cause of liberty, and was ever its untiring defender. There was no duty too perilous, no service too dangerous, that he was not ready to undertake for the welfare and independence of his country.
In 1775, when it was reported in Charlotte that two Tory lawyers, Dunn and Boothe, had proposed the detention of Capt. Jack on his way to Philadelphia, and had pronounced the patriotic resolutions with which he was entrusted, as “treasonable,” George Graham was one of the gallant spirits who rode all night to Salisbury, seized said offending lawyers, and brought them to Mecklenburg for trial. Here, after being found guilty of conduct “inimical to the cause of American freedom,” they were transported to Camden, S.C., and afterward to Charleston, and imprisoned.
Such were the open manifestations of liberty and independence in different portions of North Carolina in 1775!
When Cornwallis lay at Charlotte in 1780, Graham took an active part in attacking his foraging parties, making it extremely difficult and hazardous for them to procure their necessary supplies. He was one of the thirteen brave spirits, under Capt. James Thompson, who dared to attack a foraging party of four hundred British troops at McIntire’s Branch, seven miles northwest of Charlotte, on the Beattie’s Ford road, compelling them to retreat, with a considerable loss of men and a small amount of forage, fearing, as they said, an ambuscade was prepared for their capture.
After the war, he was elected Major General of the North Carolina militia. For many years, he was clerk of the court of Mecklenburg county, and frequently a member of the State Legislature. He was the people’s friend, not their flatterer, and uniformly enjoyed the confidence and high esteem of his fellow-citizens. He lived more than half a century on his farm, two miles from Charlotte. He died on the 29th of March, 1826, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, and is buried in the graveyard of the Presbyterian Church at Charlotte.
WILLIAM RICHARDSON DAVIE.
General William R. Davie was born in Egremont, near White Haven, in England, on the 20th of June, 1756. When he was only five years of age, he emigrated, with his father, Archibald Davie, to America, and was adopted by his maternal uncle, Rev. William Richardson, who resided on the Catawba river, in South Carolina. After due preparation at “Queen’s Museum” in Charlotte, he entered Princeton College, where, by his close application, he soon acquired the reputation of an excellent student. But the din of arms disturbed his collegiate studies, so auspiciously commenced, and he forthwith exchanged the gown for the sword. The studies of the College were closed, and Davie volunteered his services in the army of the north in 1776. The campaign being ended, he returned to College, and graduated in the Fall of that year with the first honors of the Institution.
He returned to North Carolina, and commenced the study of the law in Salisbury, but the struggle for life and liberty then going on, did not allow his chivalric spirit to repose in quietude while his country was in danger. Actuated by urgent patriotic motives, he induced William Barnett, of Mecklenburg county, to raise, with as little delay as possible, a troop of horsemen. Over this company, William Barnett was elected Captain, and Davie, Lieutenant. The commission of the latter is signed by Governor Caswell, and is dated the 5th of April, 1779. This company joined the southern army, and became attached to Pulaski’s Legion. Davie’s gallantry and activity were so conspicuous, that he soon rose to the rank of Major.
At the battle of Stono, near Charleston, he experienced his first serious conflict in arms, and was severely wounded in the thigh, which laid him up for some time in the hospital in that city. In this engagement, Major Davie also received a wound from a heavy cavalry charge of the enemy, which caused him to fall from his horse. He still held the bridle, but was so severely wounded that, after repeated efforts, he could not remount. The enemy was now close upon him and in a moment more he would have been made a prisoner. Just at this time, a private, whose horse had been killed, and who was retreating, saw the imminent danger of his gallant officer, and returned at the risk of his life to save him. With great composure he raised Major Davie on his horse, and safely led him from the bloody field. “An action of courage worthy of Rome in her palmiest days.” In the haste and confusion of the retreat, this brave soldier disappeared. Major Davie made frequent inquiries for his preserver, to evince his gratitude to him and his family, for his timely and heroic aid; but in vain.
At the siege of Ninety-Six, when Davie was acting as Commissary-General of the Southern army, on the morning of the attack, a soldier came to his tent, and made himself known as the man who had assisted him in mounting his horse at Stono. The soldier promised to call again, but, alas! he fell soon after in battle, which deprived Major Davie of the pleasure of bestowing upon him substantial tokens of his lasting gratitude.
After his recovery, Major Davie returned to Salisbury, and resumed the study of law. In 1780, he obtained his license to practice, and soon became distinguished in his profession. But the camp rather than the Court-house, still demanded his services. In the winter of 1780, he obtained authority from the General Assembly of North Carolina to raise a troop of cavalry, and two companies of mounted infantry. But the authority only was granted. The State being too poor to provide the means, Major Davie, with a patriotism worthy of perpetual remembrance, disposed of the estate acquired from his uncle, and thus raised funds to equip the troops. With this force, he proceeded to the southwestern portion of the State and protected it from the predatory incursions of the British and Tories. Charleston having surrendered on the 12th of May, 1780, and Tarleton’s butchery of Colonel Buford’s regiment, in the Waxhaws, on the 29th, induced General Rutherford to order out the militia in mass, to oppose the advance of the conquerors. On the 3rd of June, nine hundred men assembled at Charlotte, ready to defend their country. The militia were reviewed by General Rutherford, and, after being addressed in strong, patriotic language by Dr. Whorter, President of the College in Charlotte, were dismissed, with directions to hold themselves in readiness at a moment’s warning.
Lord Rawdon having advanced with the British army to Waxhaw Creek, General Rutherford issued, on the 10th of June, his orders for the militia to rendezvous at McKee’s plantation, eighteen miles north-east of Charlotte. The orders were obeyed, and on the 12th eight hundred men were in arms on the ground. On the 14th the troops were organized. The cavalry, under Major Davie, was formed into two troops under Captains Lemmonds and Martin; a battalion of three hundred light infantry was placed under Colonel William Davidson, a regular officer, and the remainder under the immediate command of General Rutherford.
On the 15th of June General Rutherford marched within two miles of Charlotte. Here he learned that Lord Rawdon had retrograded from the Waxhaws to Camden. He then resolved to advance on the Tories, who, it was well known, had assembled in strong force at Ramsour’s Mill, near the present town of Lincolnton. Having issued orders on the 14th to Colonel Francis Locke, Captains Falls and Brandon, of Rowan, and to Major David Wilson, of Mecklenburg, and to other officers, to raise men and attack this body of Tories, he marched on the 18th eleven miles, to Tuckasege Ford, on the Catawba River. He sent an express on the same day to Colonel Locke to meet him with his forces three miles north-west of the river, at Colonel Dickson’s plantation. The express, for some unknown reason, never reached Colonel Locke. This officer, failing to secure the co-operative aid of General Rutherford, marched from Mountain Creek late on the evening of the 19th of June, and early on the morning of the 20th attacked and routed the Tories before the arrival of General Rutherford’s forces. (For further particulars, see the “Battle of Ramsour’s Mill,” under the head of Lincoln County.)
After the battle of Ramsour’s Mill, General Rutherford marched against the Tories assembled under Colonel Bryan in the forks of Yadkin River, while Major Davie was ordered to move with his mounted force and take position near the South Carolina line, to protect this exposed frontier from the incursions of the British and the Tories. He accordingly took position on the north side of Waxhaw Creek, where he was joined by Major Crawford, with a few South Carolina troops and thirty-five Indian warriors of the Catawba tribe, under their chief, New River, and the Mecklenburg militia under Colonel Hagins.
On the 20th of July Major Davie surprised and captured at Flat Rock, a convoy of provisions, spirits and clothing, guarded by some dragoons and volunteers, on their way to the post at Hanging Rock, about four and a half miles distant. The capture was effected without loss; the spirits, provisions and wagons were destroyed, and the prisoners, mounted on the captured horses and guarded by dragoons under Captain William Polk, at dark commenced their retreat. On Beaver Creek, about midnight, they were attacked by the enemy in ambuscade, concealed under the fence in a field of standing corn. The rear guard had entered the lane when Captain Petit, the officer in advance, hailed the British in their place of concealment. A second challenge was answered by a volley of musketry from the enemy, which commenced on the right, and passed by a running fire to the rear of the detachment. Major Davie rode rapidly forward and ordered the men to push through the lane; but, under surprise, his troops turned back, and upon the loaded arms of the enemy. He was thus compelled to repass the ambuscade under a heavy fire, and overtook his men retreating by the same road they had advanced. The detachment was finally rallied and halted upon a hill, but so discomfited at this unexpected attack that no effort could induce them to charge upon the enemy.
A judicious retreat was the only course left to avoid a similar disaster, which was effected; and Major Davie, having passed the enemy’s patrols, regained his camp early on the next day without further accident. In this attack, the fire of the enemy fell chiefly upon those in the lane, who were prisoners (confined two on a horse with the guard). These were nearly all killed, or severely wounded. Of the Whigs, Lieutenant Elliott was killed, and Captain Petit, who had been sent in advance by Major Davie to examine the lane, the ford of the creek and the houses, and failing to do so, as carefully as was proper, paid the penalty of neglect of duty by being wounded with two of his men. Major Davie, who was noted for his vigilance, anticipated some attempt by the British and Tories to recover the prisoners, and had taken, as he believed, all necessary precautions to prevent a surprise or ambuscade.
Major Davie, in a manuscript account of this affair, now on file in the archives of the Historical Society at Chapel Hill, leaves this judicious advice:
“It furnishes a lesson to officers of partisan corps, that every officer of a detachment may, at some time, have its safety and reputation committed to him, and that the slightest neglect of duty is generally severely punished by an enemy.”
Rocky Mount is on the west bank of the Wateree River (as the Catawba is called after its junction with Wateree Creek), thirty miles from Camden, and was garrisoned by Colonel Turnbull with one hundred and fifty New York volunteers and some militia. Its defences consisted of two log-houses, a loop-holed building and an _abattis_.[J]
On the 30th of July, 1780, General Sumter and Colonel Neal, from South Carolina, and Colonel Irwin, with three hundred Mecklenburg militia, joined Major Davie. A council was held, and it was determined that simultaneous attacks should be made upon the British posts at Rocky Mount and Hanging Rock. General Sumter was accompanied by Colonels Neal, Irwin and Lacy, and Captain McLure, and some of his kinsmen, the Gastons. Having; crossed the Catawba at Blair’s Ford, he arrived early on the next day, and made vigorous attacks against the fort, but failed in capturing it, mainly for the want of artillery. The attack elicited the praise of even the enemy. Early in the action, the gallant Colonel Neal was killed, with five whites and one Catawba Indian, and many were severely wounded. The British loss was ten killed, and the same number wounded. General Sumter ordered a retreat, which was effected without further annoyance or loss.
Major Davie, with about forty mounted riflemen, and the same number of dragoons, and some Mecklenburg militia, under Colonel Hagins, approached Hanging Rock on the same day. While he was reconnoitering the ground, previous to making the attack, he was informed that three companies of Bryan’s Tory regiment, returning from a foraging expedition, were encamped at a farmhouse near the post.
Major Davie, with his brave associates, immediately fell upon them with vigor, both in front and rear, and all but a few of them were either killed or wounded. No time could be spared to take prisoners, as the engagement at the farm-house was in full view of the British post at Hanging Rock. The fruits of this victory were sixty valuable horses, and one hundred muskets and rifles. The whole camp of the enemy instantly beat to arms, but this brilliant affair was ended, and Davie out of reach before the enemy’s forces were in motion, or their consternation subsided from this daring and successful attack. Major Davie reached his camp safely without the loss of a single man.
General Sumter was thoroughly convinced that the ardent patriots of which his command consisted must be kept constantly employed, and that the minds of such men are greatly influenced by dashing exploits. He, therefore, resolved to unite with Major Davie and other officers, and make a vigorous attack against the post of Hanging Rock. This post derives its name from a huge conglomerate bowlder of granite, twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter, lying upon the eastern bank of Hanging Rock Creek, with a concavity sufficiently large to shelter fifty men from the rain, Near this natural curiosity Lord Rawdon, then commanding the British and Tories in that section, had established a post, garrisoned by Tarleton’s Legion of infantry, a part of Brown’s Corps of South Carolina and Georgia Provincials, and Colonel Bryan’s North Carolina Loyalists, the whole under the command of Major Carden.
BATTLE OF THE HANGING ROCK.
“Catawba’s waters smiled again
To see her Sumter’s soul in arms! And issuing from each glade and glen, Rekindled by war’s fierce alarms,
Thronged hundreds through the solitude Of the wild forests, to the call
Of him whose spirit, unsubdued,
Fresh impulse gave to each, to all.”
On the 5th of August, 1780, the detachments of the patriots met again at Land’s Ford, on the Catawba. Major Davie had not lost a single man in his last dashing exploit. The North Carolina militia, under Colonel Irwin and Major Davie, numbered about five hundred men, officers and privates; and about three hundred South Carolinians under Colonels Sumter, Lacey and Hill. The chief command was conferred upon Colonel Sumter, as being the senior officer. Early in the morning, Colonel Sumter marched cautiously, and approached the British camp in three divisions, with the intention of falling upon the main body stationed at Cole’s Old Field. The right was composed of Major Davie’s corps, and some volunteers, under Major Bryan; the center, of the Mecklenburg militia, under Colonel Irwin; and the left, of South Carolina refugees, under Colonel Hill. General Sumter proposed that the detachments should approach in their divisions, march directly to the centre encampments, then dismount, and each division attack its camp. This plan was approved by all except Major Davie, who insisted on leaving their horses at their present position, and march to the attack on foot. He urged, as an objection against the former plan, the confusion always consequent upon dismounting under fire, and the certainty of losing the effect of a sudden and vigorous attack. He was, however, over-ruled, but the sequel proved he was right in his opinion. Through the error of his guides, Sumter came first upon Bryan’s corps, on the western bank of the creek, half a mile from the British camp. Colonel Irwin’s Mecklenburg militia, commenced the attack. The Tories soon yielded, and fled toward the main body, many of them throwing away their arms without discharging them. These the patriots secured; and, pursuing this advantage, Sumter next fell upon Brown’s corps, which, by being concealed in a wood, poured in a heavy fire upon the Americans. The latter also quickly availed themselves of the trees and bushes, and returned the British fire with deadly effect. The American riflemen, taking deliberate aim, soon cut off all of Brown’s officers and many of his soldiers; and at length, after a fierce conflict, his corps yielded, and dispersed in confusion. The arms and ammunition procured from the enemy were of great service, for when the action commenced, Sumter’s men had not two rounds each.
Now was the moment to strike for decisive victory; it was lost by the criminal indulgence of Sumter’s men in plundering the portion of the British camp already secured, and drinking too freely of the liquor found there. Sumter’s ranks became disordered, and while endeavoring to bring order out of confusion, the enemy rallied. Of his six hundred men only about two hundred, with Major Davie’s cavalry, could be brought into immediate action. Colonel Sumter, however, was not to be foiled. With his small number of patriots he rushed forward, with a shout, to the attack. The enemy had formed a hollow square, with the field pieces in front, and in this position received the charge. The Americans attacked them on three sides, and for a while the contest was severe. At length, just as the British line was yielding, a reinforcement under Captains Stewart and McDonald, of Tarleton’s Legion, made their appearance, and their number being magnified, Colonel Sumter deemed it prudent to retreat.
All this was done about mid-day, but the enemy had been so severely handled that they did not attempt a pursuit. A small party appeared upon the Camden road, but were soon dispersed by Davie’s cavalry. Could Sumter have brought all of his forces into action in this last attack, the rout of the British would have been complete. As it was,
“He beat them back! beneath the flame Of valor quailing, or the shock!
He carved, at last, a heroe’s name, Upon the glorious Hanging Rock!”
This engagement lasted about four hours, and was one of the best-fought battles between militia and British regulars during the war. Sumter’s loss was twelve killed and forty-one wounded. Among the killed were the brave Colonel McLure (lately promoted to that rank), of South Carolina, and Captain Reid, of North Carolina; Colonel Hill, Captain Craighead, Major Winn, Lieutenants Crawford and Fletcher, and Ensign McLure were wounded.
Colonel McLure, being mortally wounded, was conveyed under the charge of Davie’s cavalry to Charlotte. He lingered until the 18th of August, on which day he died in Liberty Hall Academy. “Of the many brave men,” said General Davie, “with whom it was my fortune to become acquainted in the army, he was one of the bravest; and when he fell we looked upon his loss as incalculable.”
The British loss was much greater than that of the Americans, sixty-two of Tarleton’s Legion were killed and wounded. Bryan’s regiment of Loyalists also suffered severely.
Major Davie’s corps suffered much while tying their horses and forming into line under a heavy fire from the enemy, a measure which he had reprobated in the council when deciding on the mode of attack.
Having conveyed his wounded to a hospital in Charlotte, which his foresight had provided, Major Davie hastened to the general rendezvous at Rugely’s Mill, under General Gates. On the 16th of August, while on his way to unite his forces with those of General Gates, he met a soldier in great speed, about ten miles from Camden. He arrested him as a deserter, but soon learned from him that Gates was signally defeated by the British on that day.
Major Davie then retraced his steps and took post at Charlotte. On the 5th of September, he was appointed by Governor Nash, Colonel Commandant of Cavalry, with instructions to raise a regiment. He succeeded in raising only a part, and with two small companies, commanded by Major George Davidson, he took post at Providence.
On the 21st day of September, Colonel Davie attacked a body of Tories at the plantation of Captain Wahab (now written Walkup), in the southwestern corner of Union county (then a part of Mecklenburg), killed fifteen or twenty of their men, wounded about forty, and retreated in good order without any loss. In this dashing exploit, Davie brought off ninety-six horses, one hundred and twenty stands of arms, and reached his camp the same evening, after riding sixty miles in less than twenty-four hours.
Generals Sumner and Davidson, with their brigades of militia, reached his camp in Providence on the same evening. On the advance of the British army these officers retreated by way of Phifer’s to Salisbury, ordering Colonel Davie, with about one hundred and fifty men, and some volunteers under Major Joseph Graham, to hover around the approaching enemy, annoy his foraging parties, and skirmish with his light troops.
On the night of the 25th of September, Colonel Davie entered the town of Charlotte, determined to give the British army, which lay a few miles from that place, a _hornets-like reception_. The brilliancy and patriotic spirit of that skirmish was appropriately displayed on the very ground which, in May, 1775, was the birth-place American independence. (See “Skirmish at Charlotte.”)
On the next day, Colonel Davie joined the army at Salisbury, where the men and officers to raise new recruits had assembled. Generals Davidson and Sumner continued their retreat beyond the Yadkin River, while Colonel Davie returned to Charlotte, around which place the activity of his movements, dashing adventures, and perfect knowledge of the country, rendered him extremely useful in checking the incursions of the enemy, repressing the Tories and encouraging the friends of liberty.
Lord Cornwallis sorely felt the difficulties with which his position at Charlotte was surrounded, and, on hearing of the defeat and death of Colonel Ferguson, one of his favorite officers, he left that town late on the evening of the 14th of October, in great precipitation, recrossed the Catawba at Land’s Ford, and took position, for a few months, at Winnsboro, S.C.
The signal defeat of the British and Tories at King’s Mountain–the conspicuous turning point of success in the American Revolution, and the retreat of Cornwallis, after his previous boast of soon having North Carolina under royal subjection, greatly revived the hopes of the patriots throughout the entire South.
General Smallwood, of Maryland, who had accompanied General Gates to the South, had his headquarters at Providence, and, in a short time, several thousand militia, under Generals Davidson, Sumner, and Jones, joined his camp. Colonel Davie, with three hundred mounted infantry, occupied an advanced post at Land’s Ford.
When General Greene took command of the Southern Army in December, 1780, he and Colonel Davie met for the first time. The Commissary Department having become vacant by the resignation of Colonel Thomas Polk, General Greene prevailed upon Colonel Davie to accept this troublesome and important office. Although the duties of the office would prevent him from displaying that dashing patriotism so congenial to his chivalric spirit, yet he agreed to enter upon its arduous and unthankful responsibilities.
Colonel Davie accompanied General Greene in his rapid retreat from the Catawba to the Dan River. He was present at the battle of Guilford, in March, 1781; at Hobkirk’s Hill, in April; at the evacuation of Camden, in May; and at the siege of Ninety-six, in June.
The war, having ended, Colonel Davie retired to private life and his professional pursuits. He took his first circuit in February, 1783, and near this time he married Sarah, eldest daughter of General Allen Jones, of Northampton county, and located himself at Halifax Courthouse, where he soon rose to the highest eminence in his profession.
Colonel Davie was a member of the Convention which met at Philadelphia, in May, 1787, to form the Federal Constitution. The late Judge Murphy, in speaking of Colonel Davie, bears this honorable testimony to his abilities:
“I was present in the House of Commons, when Davie addressed that body (in 1789,) for a loan of money to erect the buildings of the University, and, although more than thirty years have elapsed, I have the most vivid recollections of the greatness of his manner and the power of his eloquence upon that occasion. In the House of Commons he had no rival, and on all questions before that body his eloquence was irresistible.”
In December, 1798, he was elected Governor of the State. After fulfilling other important National and State trusts, and losing his estimable wife in 1803, Colonel Davie, under the increasing infirmities of old age, sought retirement. In 1805 he removed to Tivoli, his country seat, near Land’s Ford, in South Carolina, where he died, in 1820, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. He had six children: 1. Hyder Ali, who married Elizabeth Jones, of Northampton county, N.C.; 2. Sarah Jones, who married William F. Desaussure, of Columbia, S.C.; 3. Mary Haynes; 4. Martha; 5. Rebecca; 6. Frederick William.
GENERAL MICHAEL MCLEARY.
General Michael McLeary was born in 1762. He first entered the service as a private in Captain William Alexander’s company, in the regiment commanded by Colonel Robert Irwin, William Hagins, Lieutenant Colonel, and James Harris, Major. The regiment was encamped on Coddle Creek, near which time Colonel William Davidson, a Continental officer, was appointed to the command of a battalion. In a short time afterward, his command marched to Ramsour’s Mill, to disperse a large body of