North Carolina, State of
Was one of the original thirteen States of the
Union.
Its coasts were discovered, it is supposed, by
Cabot (1498) and Verazzani (1524), and later by the people sent out by
Sir Walter Raleigh.
The first attempt at settlement in that region was made by 108 persons under Ralph Lane, who landed on
Roanoke Island in 1585.
It was unsuccessful.
Other colonies were sent out by
Raleigh, and the last one was never heard of afterwards.
No other attempts to settle there were made until after the middle of the seventeenth century.
As early as 1609 some colonists from
Jamestown seated themselves on the
Nansemond, near the
Dismal Swamp; and in 1622
Porey, secretary of the
Virginia colony, penetrated the country with a few friends to the tide-waters of the
Chowan.
Early settlements.
In 1630 Charles I. granted to
Sir Robert Heath, his
attorney-general, a patent for a domain south of
Virginia, 6° of latitude in width, and extending westward to the
Pacific Ocean.
Heath did not meet his engagements, and the patent was vacated.
In March, 1663, Charles II.
granted to eight of his rapacious courtiers a charter for the domain granted to
Heath.
They had begged it from the
King under the pretence of a “pious zeal for the propagation of the Gospel among the heathen.”
These courtiers were the covetous and time-serving premier and historian, the
Earl of
Clarendon;
George Monk, who, for his conspicuous and treacherous services in the restoration of the monarch to the throne of
England, had been created
Duke of
Albemarle; Lord Craven, the supposed dissolute husband of the
Queen of Bohemia;
Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, afterwards
Earl of
Shaftesbury;
Sir John Colleton, a corrupt loyalist, who had played
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false to
Cromwell;
Lord John Berkeley and his brother, then governor of
Virginia (see
Berkeley, Sir William), and
Sir George Carteret (q. v.), a proprietor of
New Jersey—a man “passionate, ignorant, and not too honest.”
When the petitioners presented their memorial to King Charles, in the garden at
Hampton Court, the “merrie monarch,” after looking each
in the face a moment, burst into loud laughter, in which his audience joined heartily.
Then, taking up a little shaggy spaniel with large, meek eyes, and holding it at arm's-length before them, he said, “Good friends, here is a model of piety and sincerity which it might be wholesome for you to copy.”
Then, tossing it to
Clarendon, he said, “There,
Hyde, is a worthy prelate; make him archbishop of the domain which I shall give you.”
With grim satire, Charles introduced into the preamble of the charter a statement that the petitioners, “excited with a laudable and pious zeal for the propagation of the Gospel, have begged a certain country in the parts of
America not yet cultivated and planted, and only inhabited by some barbarous people who have no knowledge of God.”
The grantees were made absolute lords and proprietors of the country, the
King reserving to himself and his successors sovereign dominion.
They were empowered to enact and publish laws, with the advice and consent of the freemen; to erect courts of judicature, and appoint civil judges, magistrates, and other officers; to erect forts, castles, cities, and towns; to make war, and, in cases of necessity, to exercise martial law; to construct harbors, make ports, and enjoy custodies and subsidies on goods loaded and unloaded, by consent of the freemen.
The charter
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granted freedom in religious worship, and so made Carolina an asylum for the persecuted.
Ten years before, a few Presbyterians from
Jamestown, under
Roger Green, suffering persecution there, settled on the
Chowan, near the site of
Edenton.
Other
non-Conformists (q. v.) followed.
The
New England hive of colonists had begun to swarm, and some Puritans appeared in a vessel in the
Cape Fear River (1661) and bought lands of the Indians.
They were planting the seeds of a colony, when news reached them that Charles II.
had given the whole region to eight of his courtiers, and called it “Carolina.”
Nearly all of the New-Englanders left.
Governor Berkeley, of
Virginia, was authorized to extend his authority over the few settlers on the
Chowan.
He organized a separate government instead, calling it “
Albemarle county” colony, in compliment to one of the proprietors, and appointed
William Drummond, a Presbyterian from
Scotland (settled in
Virginia), governor.
Two years later some emigrants came from
Barbadoes, bought land of the Indians on the borders of the
Cape Fear River, and, near the site of
Wilmington, founded a settlement, with
Sir John Yeamans as governor.
This settlement was also organized into a political community, and called the “
Clarendon county” colony, in compliment to one of the proprietors.
Yeamans's jurisdiction extended from the
Cape Fear to the
St. John's River in
Florida.
This settlement became permanent, and so the foundations of the commonwealth of
North Carolina were laid.
In 1674 the population was about 4,000.
Settlements had been begun farther south, and the proprietors had gorgeous visions of a grand empire in
America.
The philosopher
John Locke and the
Earl of
Shaftesbury prepared (1669) a scheme of government for the colony, which contemplated a feudal system wholly at variance with the feelings of the settlers, and it was never put into practical operation.
Refugees from
Virginia, involved in
Bacon's rebellion (see
Bacon, Nathaniel), fostered a spirit of liberty among the inhabitants of
North Carolina, and successful oppression was made difficult, if not impossible.
They carried on a feeble trade in Indian corn, tobacco, and fat cattle with
New England, whose little coasting-vessels brought in exchange those articles of foreign production which the settlers could not otherwise procure.
The English navigation laws interfered with this commerce.
In 1677 agents of the government appeared, who demanded a penny on every pound of tobacco sent to
New England.
The colonists resisted the levy.
The tax-gatherer was rude and had frequent personal collisions with the people.
Finally, the people, led by
John Culpeper, a refugee from
South Carolina, seized the governor and the public funds, imprisoned him and six of his councillors, called a new representative Assembly, and appointed a new chief magistrate and judges.
For two years the colony was thus free from foreign control.
Then was enforced the political idea of
Holland— “Taxation without representation is tyranny.”
In 1683 Seth Sothel appeared in
North Carolina as governor.
He ruled the colony six years, when his rapacity and corruption could no longer be endured, and he was seized and banished.
Perfect quiet was not restored until the
Quaker John Archdale came as governor in 1695, when the colony started on a prosperous career.
In 1705
Thomas Carey was appointed governor, but was afterwards removed, whereupon he incited a rebellion, and, at the head of an armed force, attacked
Edenton, the capital.
The insurrection was suppressed (1711) by regular troops from
Virginia.
In 1709 100 German families, driven from their desolated homes in the palatinates on the
Rhine, penetrated the interior of
North Carolina.
They were led by
Count Graffenreidt, and founded settlements along the head-waters of the
Neuse and upon the
Roanoke, with the count as governor.
They had just begun to gather the fruits of their industry, when suddenly, in the night of Oct. 2, 1711, the
Tuscarora Indians and others fell upon them like lightning, and before the dawn 130 persons perished by the hatchet and knife.
Then along
Albemarle Sound the Indians swept, with a torch in one hand and a deadly weapon in the other, and scourged the white people for three days, leaving blood and cinders in their path, when, from drunkenness and exhaustion, they ceased
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murdering and burning.
On the eve of this murderous raid the Indians had made captive
Count Graffenreidt and
John Lawson,
surveyor-general of the province.
Lawson was tortured to death, but the
count saved his life and gained his liberty by adroitly persuading them that he was the sachem of a tribe of men who had lately come into the country, and were no way connected with the
English, or the deeds of which the Indians complained, and he actually made a treaty of peace with the Tuscaroras and Corees.
Troops and friendly Indians from
South Carolina came to the relief of the white people, and hostilities ceased; but the Indians, badly treated, made war again, and again help came from
South Carolina.
The war was ended when 800 Tuscaroras were captured (March, 1713), and the remainder joined their kindred, the
Iroquois, in New York.
In 1729 Carolina became a royal province, and was divided permanently into two parts, called, respectively,
North and
South Carolina.
Settlements in the north State gradually increased, and when the disputes between
Great Britain and the
English-American colonies began the people were much agitated.
In 1769 the Assembly of North Carolina denied the right of Parliament to tax the colonists without their consent.
In the interior of the colony an insurrectionary movement began, and in 1774
North Carolina sent delegates to the first Continental Congress.
Finally an association was formed in
Mecklenburg county for its defence; and in May, 1775, they virtually declared themselves independent of
Great Britain.
Alarmed at the state of things, the royal governor (
Martin) abdicated, and took refuge on board a man-of-war in the
Cape Fear River.
A provincial convention assumed the government and organized a body of troops.
A State constitution was adopted in a congress at
Halifax, Dec. 18, 1776, and the government was administered by a Provincial Congress and a committee of safety until 1777, when
Richard Caswell was chosen the first governor of the
State.
In the Revolution.
The Tories were numerous in
North Carolina, where there was a large Scotch population.
The Whigs,
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however, were largely in the majority, and in 1780 they treated their Tory neighbors with unendurable severity.
Cornwallis, in command of the
British in
South Carolina, sent emissaries among them, who advised them to keep quiet until they had gathered their crops in autumn, when the
British army would march to their assistance.
They were impatient of the severities to which they were exposed, and flew to arms at once.
Of two considerable parties that assembled, one was attacked and dispersed at Ramsour's Mills, on the south fork of the
Catawba, on June 20, by 500 North Carolina militia, under
General Rutherford.
The other party succeeded in reaching the
British posts.
These amounted to about 800 men. Regarding the subjugation of
South Carolina as complete, Cornwallis commenced a march into
North Carolina early in September, 1780.
The main army was to advance by way of
Charlotte,
Salisbury, and
Hillsboro, through the counties where Whigs most abounded.
Tarleton was to move up the west bank of the
Catawba River with the cavalry and light troops; while
Ferguson, with a body of loyalist militia which he had volunteered to embody and organize, was to take a still more westerly route along the eastern foot of the mountain-ranges.
Ferguson's corps was annihilated (Oct. 7) in an engagement at
King's Mountain (q. v.); and this so discouraged the Tories and the backwoodsmen that they dispersed and returned home.
Cornwallis had then reached
Salisbury, where he found the
Whigs numerous and intensely hostile.
Having relied much on the support of
Ferguson, he was amazed and puzzled when he heard of his death and defeat.
Alarmed by demonstrations on his front and flanks, Cornwallis commenced a retrograde movement, and did not halt until he reached Wainsboro, S. C., Oct. 27, between the
Broad and
Catawba rivers.
Here he remained until called to the pursuit of
Greene a few weeks later.
In Civil War days.
The popular sentiment in
North Carolina was with the
Union at the breaking-out of the
Civil War, and great efforts were made by the enemies of the republic to force the
State into the
Confederacy.
Her governor
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(
Ellis) favored the movement, but the loyal people opposed it. The
South Carolinians taunted them with cowardice; the
Virginia Confederates treated them with coldness; the Alabamians and Mississippians coaxed them by the lips of commissioners.
These efforts were in vain.
Thereupon the disloyal
Secretary of the Interior, acting as commissioner for
Mississippi, went back to
Washington convinced that the
Confederates of
North Carolina were but a handful.
The legislature, in authorizing a convention, directed the people, when they elected
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A tobacco market. |
delegates for it, to vote on the question of “Convention” or “No convention.”
Of 128 members of the convention elected Jan. 28, 1861, eighty-two were
Unionists.
The people, however, had voted against a convention.
The legislature appointed delegates to the
peace conference (q. v.), and also appointed commissioners to represent the
State in the proposed general convention at
Montgomery, Ala., but with instructions to act only as “mediators to endeavor to bring about a reconciliation.”
They declared, by resolution, Feb. 4, that if peace negotiations should fail,
North Carolina would go with the slave-labor States.
They also provided for arming 10,000 volunteers and the reorganization of the militia of that State.
Further than this the legislative branch of the government refused to go; and the people, determined to avoid war if possible, kept on in the usual way until the clash of arms at
Fort Sumter and the call of the
President for 75,000 volunteers filled the people of the
State with excitement and alarm.
Taking advantage of this state of public feeling, the legislature authorized a convention, and ordered the election of delegates on May 13.
At the same time it gave the governor authority to raise 10,000 men, and the
State treasurer the power to issue $500,000 in bills of credit, in denominations as low as 3 cents. It defined the act of treason to be levying war against the
State.
The convention assembled May 20, and issued an ordinance of secession by a unanimous vote.
On the same day the governor issued orders for the enrolment of 30,000 men, and within three weeks not less than 20,000 were under arms.
The forts were
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again seized; also the United States mint at
Charlotte.
The loyal “North State,” placed between
Virginia and
South Carolina, could not withstand the pressure of the untiring Confederates of those two commonwealths.
Satisfied that there was a prevailing Union sentiment in
eastern North Carolina,
Colonel Hawkins, who had been left to garrison the
Hatteras forts, issued a proclamation to the people of that portion of the
State, assuring them that the
National troops made war only on the enemies of the government, and had come to support the loyal people in upholding the law and the
Constitution.
A response to this was a convention of the people in the vicinity of
Cape Hatteras, Oct. 12, 1861, who professed to be loyal.
By resolutions the convention offered the loyalty of its members to the national government.
A committee drew up and reported a list of grievances; also a
declaration of independence of Confederate rule.
A more important convention was held at
Hatteras on Nov. 18, in which representatives from forty-five of the counties of
North Carolina appeared.
That body assumed the functions of a State government, and by a strongly worded ordinance provided for the government of
North Carolina in allegiance to the national Constitution.
The promise of good was so hopeful that
President Lincoln, by proclamation, ordered an election to be held in the 1st Congressional District.
C. H. Foster was elected to Congress, but never took a seat.
This leaven of loyalty in
North Carolina was soon destroyed by the strong arm of Confedrate power.
Operations on the coast.
General Burnside, when called to the Army of the Potomac, Nov. 10, 1862, left
Gen. J. G. Foster in command of the
National troops in
eastern North Carolina.
That region had barely sufficient National troops to hold the territory against the attempts of the
Confederates to repossess it. These attempts were frequently made.
The little garrison at the village of
Washington, on the
Pamlico River, were surprised by Confederate cavalry at early dawn on Sept. 5, who swept through the village almost unopposed.
They were supported by two Confederate gunboats on the river.
The garrison, after a sharp street-fight for nearly three hours, expelled the assailants, killing 33 and wounding 100.
The
Nationals lost 8 killed and 36 wounded.
Foster was reinforced later, and determined to strike some aggressive blows that might intimidate his antagonists.
Early in November he made an incursion in the interior and liberated several hundred slaves.
With a larger force he set out from
Newbern, Dec. 11, to strike and break up the railway at
Goldsboro that connected
Richmond with the Carolinas, and form a junction with the
National forces at
Suffolk and
Norfolk.
His passage of a large creek was disputed by
General Evans and 2,000 Confederates, with three pieces of artillery.
They were routed, and
Foster passed on, skirmishing heavily.
When near
Kinston he encountered (Dec. 14) about 6,000 Confederates, well posted, and, after a sharp fight, they were driven across the river, firing the bridge behind them.
The flames were put out, and 400 of the fugitives were captured.
Foster pushed on towards
Goldsboro, and near that place was checked by a large Confederate force under
Gen. G. W. Smith.
Foster destroyed the railroad bridge over the
Neuse, 6 miles of the railway, and a half-finished iron-clad gunboat, returning to
Newbern at the end of eight days with a loss of 507 men, of whom 90 were killed.
The Confederate loss was near 900, full one-half of whom were prisoners.
In the winter of 1863
Foster sent out raiding expeditions, liberating many slaves.
The raids aroused
Gen. D. H. Hill, who concentrated a considerable force.
He attacked
Newbern with twenty guns, but was repulsed, when he marched on Little Washington, and on March 30 began a siege of the place.
He planted heavy cannon at commanding points and cut off the supplies of the garrison of 1,200 men.
General Spinola attempted to raise the siege, but failed.
The transport
Escort, bearing one of
Spinola's regiments, accompained by
General Palmer and others, ran the gantlet of batteries and sharp-shooters and carried supplies and troops to the beleaguered garrison.
At the middle of April,
Hill, expecting an expedition against him, abandoned the siege and fled.
In May an expedition, led by
Col. J. R. Jones, attacked the
Confederates 8 miles from
Kinston, capturing
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their intrenchments, with 165 prisoners. They were afterwards attacked (May 23) by the
Confederates, but repulsed their assailants.
Colonel Jones was killed.
Near the end of the month
Gen. E. A. Potter led a cavalry expedition, which destroyed
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Discussing the terms of the surrender of Johnston's army. |
much property at
Tarboro and other places.
The country was aroused by this raid, and
Potter was compelled to fight very frequently with Confederates sent against him. Yet his loss during his entire raid did not exceed twenty-five men. Soon afterwards (July)
Foster's department was enlarged, including
lower Virginia, and, leaving
General Palmer in command at
Newbern, he made his headquarters at
Fort Monroe.
Early in 1865
Fort Fisher was captured, and
General Sherman made his victorious march through the
State, which ended in the surrender of
Johnston's army in May.
W. W. Holden was appointed provisional governor of the
State, May 29, 1865, and a convention of delegates, assembled at
Raleigh, adopted resolutions (Oct. 2) declaring the ordinance of secession null, abolishing slavery, and repudiating the
State debt created in aid of the
Confederate cause.
A new legislature was elected, which ratified the amendment to the national Constitution abolishing slavery.
The new government of
North Carolina did not meet the approval of Congress; nor were the representatives of the
State admitted to that body.
In 1867 a military government for the
State was instituted, and measures were taken for a reorganization of the civil government.
In the election that followed colored people voted for the first time, when 60,000 of their votes were cast.
In January, 1868, a convention adopted a new constitution which was ratified by the people in April.
It was approved by Congress, and
North Carolina was declared, in June, to be entitled to representation in that body.
On July 11 the
President proclaimed that
North Carolina had resumed its place in the
Union.
The Fifteenth Amendment to the national Constitution was ratified
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March 4, 1869, by a large majority.
During that year and the next the
State was much disturbed by the outrages committed by the
Ku-Klux Klan (q. v.).
Governor Holden declared martial law in two counties; and for this articles of impeachment were preferred against him, and he was removed from office.
Population in 1890, 1,617,947; in 1900, 1,893,810.
See
Amidas, Philip;
United States, North Carolina, in vol.
IX.
proprietary governors.
37th, 38th, and 39th Congresses vacant.
