112 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee that all
dances, private as well as public, are contrary to the spirit of
the eighth article in the Association of the Continental Con-
gress, and as such they ought to be discouraged, and that all
persons concerned in any dances for the future should be prop-
erly stigmatized.

Mr. Harnett desired the opinion of the Committee respecting
a negro fellow he bought in Rhode Island (a native of that
place) in the month of October last, whom he designed to have
brought with him to this province, but the said negro ran away
at the time of his sailing from Rhode Island. The question was
put whether Mr. Harnett may import said negro from Rhode
Island.

Resolved unanimously, That Mr. Harnett may import the
said negro from Rhode Island.

Tuesday, March 7, 1775.

Resolved, That three members of this committee attend the
meeting of the Committee at Duplin on the 18th instant. Mr.
Samuel Ashe, Mr. Sampson Moseley, and Mr. Timothy Blood-

worth were accordingly nominated to attend the said Com-
mittee.

WHIGS AND TORIES.

On the last day of May, 1775, Josiah Martin, the royal gov-
ernor of North Carolina, locked his palace at New Bern and
fled to Fort Johnston, arriving there on June 2. Two weeks
later he issued his proclamation warning the people to desist
from their revolutionary proceedings. As if in answer, on June
19, the inhabitants of New Hanover, having assembled, united
in an association “to sacrifice our lives and fortunes to secure
the freedom and safety of our country.” The next day, June
20, the committeemen of Duplin, Bladen, Onslow, Brunswick,
and New Hanover met at Wilmington and adopted the New
Hanover Association, which was also signed, later, in Cumber-
land. Three weeks elapsed, and then the people of the Lower
Cape Fear, having determined to dislodge the garrison of the
fort, on the 18th of July seized and burnt the fort, the Governor
and his soldiers taking refuge on the vessels.

Knowing that there was a large number of loyal adherents in
the interior, Governor Martin devised a plan by which a strong

The Revolution 1138

British force was to be sent from England to the Cape Fear,
where they would be joined by the Loyalists from the upper
counties and the province would be subjugated. Accordingly,
when the time approached for the British fleet to arrive, the
Loyalists began to embody, the first movement being on Feb-
ruary 5, with instructions to concentrate at Campbellton. As
quickly as this action was known, the news was hurried to Wil-
mington and other points throughout the province. The mes-
sengers reached Wilmington on the 9th with the startling in-
telligence, and the greatest excitement prevailed.

For eighty hours, night and day, there was severe, unremit-
ting service, making preparation for defense. Companies of
troops rushed in from Onslow, Duplin, and Brunswick, the
whole country being aroused. Colonel Moore with his Conti-
nentals, Colonel Lillington with his corps of minute men, Col-
onel Ashe with his Independents, hurried to the vicinity of
Campbellton to arrest the progress of the Loyalists, while Col-
onel Purviance, in command of the New Hanover Militia, re-
mained at Wilmington, throwing up breastworks, mounting
swivels, and constructing fire-rafts to drive off the British ves-
sels should they attempt to seize the town. The sloop of war
Cruzer did ascend the river, but, avoiding Wilmington, tried
to pass up the Clarendon, or Brunswick, River. She was, how-
ever, driven back by riflemen who lined the banks.

The Battle of Moore’s Creek! followed on February 27, and
the plan of the Governor was defeated. All during March and
April British vessels came into the harbor, but the grand fleet
bearing the troops from England, being detained by storms, did
not arrive until the end of April, when there were more than a
hundred ships in the river. The plan of the Governor having
failed, towards the end of May the fleet sailed, expecting to take
possession of Charleston, leaving only a few ships in the river.
Later, these likewise were withdrawn, and for nearly five years
the people of Wilmington were left undisturbed.

7A monument commemorating this well-known battle was erected by
the citizens of Wilmington and its vicinity in 1857. Falling into decay,
in 1907 it was repaired by the Moore’s Creek Monument Association,
aided by an appropriation of the United States Congress secured by
Representative Charles R. Thomas, then representing the Third Con-
gressional District of North Carolina.

At the same time and at the same place a monument was erected to
the brave women of the Revolution, on one side of which appears the
name of Mary Slocumb, who, it is said, rode sixty-five miles alone at
night to care for her husband and other patriot soldiers engaged in the
Battle of Moore’s Creek. —

8