In January, 1776,
Sir Henry Clinton sailed from
Boston on a secret mission.
Suspecting his destination to be New York,
Washington sent
General Lee thither.
His presence probably deterred
Clinton from landing, after a conference with
Governor Tryon, and he proceeded to the coast of
North Carolina to assist
Governor Martin in the recovery of his power in that province.
Martin, aware of his approach, and anticipating an armament from
Ireland, kept up a continual intercourse from his “floating palace” on the
Cape Fear with the
Scotch Highlanders (who had settled in large numbers in that province) and other Tories.
He commissioned
Donald McDonald brigadier-general.
He was a veteran who had fought for the
Young Pretender at the battle of
Culloden (1746). Under him, as captain, was
Allan McDonald.
These two men had great influence over the
Scotch Highlanders.
They enlisted for the royal cause about 1,500 men, and marched from the vicinity of
Fayetteville for the coast to join the governor and his friends on the
Cape Fear.
Col. James Moore, on hearing of this movement, marched with more than 1,000 men to intercept
McDonald.
At the same time minute-men of the
Neuse region, under
Colonels Caswell and
Lillington, were gathering to oppose the loyalists, and on the evening of Feb. 26 were encamped at a bridge near the mouth of
Moore's Creek, in
Hanover county.
There
McDonald, chased by
Colonel Moore, came upon the minute-men.
He was sick, and the force was commanded by
Lieutenant-
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Colonel McLeod.
A sharp battle ensued the next morning, when
McLeod was killed.
The
Scotchmen were routed and dispersed, and about 850 of them were made prisoners, among them the two McDonalds.
The loyalists lost seventy men, killed and wounded.
The republicans had only two wounded, one mortally.