•r 4 -f * -f- A- UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY * Class Book Voima. 4 MrlO-20M 4^ -^ ^ -j^ a... 4.- ^ . ^ ^ ^- > ? r f- 4. ^ .;/_||r:^^:^y^4o-^^|:-^^ + 4 , -f -1^ if- f *- i- * -^ , -t _ + Y ^ -"^ J. -i. i 4- ^ -f f- * f 7' f 4. '4- 4- - '«•- +' -L f . r- # J- * lS- ^ 1*- - f -f. f ^ J- .- -i , - -i- 4- f- ^ > + f- -t- r + -t- If -.^ + 7- > -f" 4 >^ f * 4- -h f i 4 f *^ -<*- ---^ + + -J. 1^ 4 . + ^- -f -f ^ 4 f -t- + f 4 -f ^ -if 4. -V- f f + f -f f * # 4- *!' y- ^_ 4 ^ -i,. >+. 4' ^^-v' -^i^ ^ f ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ LOYALISM IN NORTH CAROLINA DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION BY ARTHUR CHESTER MILLSPAUGH A. B. Albion College, 1908 THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OP THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 1910 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS THE GRADUATE SCHOOL / I HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION BY ENTITLED jOtr-^ a.^^^O&—f-^ /irt^^ BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF In Charge of Major Work Head of Department Recommendation concurred in: Committee on Final Examination 168304 TABLE OF CONTENTS.. I. The Basis of Loyalism in North Carolina. , 1, II. The V;hig Provisional GoverniDent and Loyalist Activity, 1774-1776. 11. III. Anti-Tory fu5easures during the Transitional Period, 1775-1776. .. 24. IV. Loyalist Activity iroir, November, 1776, to the End of the War^ . 36. |l V. Anti-Tcry Measures under the Const ituticn. 1775-1785, 52. VI. Confiscation; Emigration; Compensation. 65. Appenaices. .• . 76. BiDliography. , 82. I Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/loyalisminnorthcOOmill . I. THE BASIS OF LOYALIST IN NORTH CAROLIr^A. Various phases of the American Revolution have been subjected to much readjustment at the hands of historical students. Among these phascsl! Loyalism is prominent. The Loyalists and their cause have been much ne- glected ana sinoh ffiiyunderstocd . Only recently have v<€ gained enough and to to perspective lost enough prejudice begin comprehend their motivee ji and their importance. We can now clearly see that the Revolution was a civil war; and that the weakness of tne losing side in the struggle was a weakness not so much in numbers, wealth, or ability as in that very L conservatism and respect for lav; which mads tnem loyall The tactless metnods oi the British government ana its representatives made the Loyalists' position still more untenable. The Tories possessed both patriotic devotion and courageous adherence tc principle. From tneir point of vies the Whigs were a rebellious faction blindly intent on se- cession ana anarchy. The Loyalists' stand was not illogical and certain- :i ly not to be sweepingly condemned^ They aid not generally acquiesce in all British measures; they believed in peaceable and legal means of resis- tance? Local prejudices, personal animosities and business connections deteriBined in many cases party affiliations; buo tnere is no evidence that mean motives swayed Tories oftener than Whigs. Scoundrels and cowards, no doubt, were on both sides. In i,ae long run, the Tory seems to have been as iaitnful, as consistent, and as willing to sacrifice as was the j Whig. i Loyalists, in general, fall into a more or less obvious and familiar classification. Placemen, from the governors down, were logically loyal. The Anglican clergy were loyal. Tnoss who bad commercial relations with England were not likely to be revolutionists. Tne wealthy, those who had prospered under existing conditions and who bad large material interests | at stake, were naturally conservative and to In opposed any war. most ox j the colonies, the cultured class, many of whom had been educated in jiing- land and had shifted to the English view-point, were inclined to adopt strictly legal means of resistance. The Southern colonies, with tneir peculiar social, economic and geo- ! graphical structure, produced a somsyvhat different party alignment. 1 Van T^'ne, Loyalists, 165; F'ljck, Loyaliem ir. New York, It. 2 See article by Tyler in Am. hist. Bev, , I, , 24f f 3 Flick, Loyalism in Kew York, It, 12, 50, 2 In tho South, as elsewhere, the placemen were generally loyal; thoui^n the[- were rcore exceptions in isorth Carolina tnan in colonies like iviassacnusetts where oitter aeoaxes ana agitations haa aade the opinioes of possible royal appointees well-known. The last royal governor of North Carolina, -Josiah kartin, was as faulty in his jadgEcent as he was in his nandlino of men; but the fact thai, in October, 1772, he offered to name SaiDuel -Jonn- ston for tne Council, that as late as 177S he nominated V.'illie Jones for |' the sa^e placed and that in Apri^ of 1774 he considered L. H. Ce Bosseti a "Whig" and Ricnard Cas^vsll a Tory,' would seem to make it inevitable xnat when tne time of testing cane many office-holders v^=ould acknowledge Whis opinioBS, Trycn, durins his administration, haa fraternized ftitn future Vihi^ _leaaer3 and had besiowed nis oatronage on the ^.'.'ni^^ish eastern coun- ties.- Laier, aany of tiiese of i ice-nolders, manifesting V.hig synptoms, had to De QisiLissed oy '/artin. In ^;orth Carolina, meiEDers of the Episcopal Cnurch vjere in both par- ties. Anglicanisit and non-.Auglioanisrc naa^ apparently, nothing to do with the formation of parties in the colony. A large majority of the merchants of the colony were loyal. On the otcier hand, 'cany of tne -ducateo Ten were Vvhios. iv^ost of this class who were natives or long residents were ardent revolutionisis. Education and wealth, especially in xhe Southern provinces, largely aeter.iiined poliiical leadership; and those who for a decade had been popular leaders were in the Vihig vanguaraT .ercenary rrotivss, or course, played tneir suotle part in in^ alioni^ci or. p-rties; out tnere '//ere ricn :iien on ooth sides '.vitn tne pr-ponaerancc , ;f -.r.y. 'n 'aver of the Anigs. A majority of th. wealthy Tories bad not been In the province long. Eesiaes these J i ve rgsnosy in clacsif ica tion, certain historical 1 C.H. ]X,,34S. 2 C.K. IX., 644. He w a s appointed in 1774. C. S. IX., 625. For his relations witn oohn Harvey, tne <vnig leaaer, see G.R. iX.,96S. 3 G. 3. IX. , 973. 4 G. R. IX. , loet. 5 C.e.VII., Pref. I^otes, 20. 6 t. g. , Samuel .'ohnsbon. 7 Rarnisay, Air.erican «evoltition, II., 313; Johnsor., Greene, I., 257. In 1769, trembers of tne Anslioar. Gnurc;; i r. Sowan Gour.ty petitioned for the. appointriient of IS iren for vqs t ryrren. Only 3 of tne 13 becaire Tories. C. R. Viii., 154-5. 8 Martin to Gerrcain, April 9, 1777. G.R. XI., 715. Also G. B. X.. 4S. Their attitude mas expressed by Andrew Miller, a merchant of Halifax, who wrote in Apn:!, 17vc: "In the Tniant State of the Golonys, while they cannot subsist witnoat tne protection of soire Mariti.Te Power such as Bri- tain," it vsill be well to subuit, and "v';e are not in a Gondition to Comba with Britain..." G.S. IX. , 120<''.. 9 -Jon-ijc" (Gresi-.-. T..2c''/n) £5,v-s l.st cf 27 lending Carolinians who naa b'-;er. •idu.ja.eo an Enaiano. All but one were Whigs. ' In Wecitien- burg County, all but one of the 14 trustees of Saeen's College were Yihige. G.R. vTII.,4c7. "/t^liiar: I-cooer ana Sariuel ^'cn'-atcr. wec-e harvard iren; 'ffai e n 1 3 t :i i 1 Avtsr.v and Aiexa .j-r in. Princeton; Willie Jones, fcton. Weeks, in Ac. Hist. Ass'n Rept.,1895, 206-211. 10 "The Revolutionary 3)oveir.ent there was an affair of the colonial aristocracy." cassett, in As. Eist. Ass'n Pept. , 1S95, 271, 276. 11 E.G., 5ir Natnaniel D\-: cki nf i el d , 7Jho arrived in 1770;: -lazes "riodg. in 1774. 8 events are necessarily introductory to a study of North Carolina Loyalisi^ The two which appear most significant are the iiumigraticn of the Highland Scotch and tne Regulation disturbances. The Highland Scotch were consistent Loyalists.. Martin in his let- ters to Dartrcouth and Germain repeatedly emphasized the dependability of the Hignlanders. The reasons for their loyalty seem reasonably clear. They were recent arrivals in the province. Tne tide of Scotch emigration did not set in toward America till the middle of the eighteenth century. Between 1770 and the outbreak of the Revolution, Highlanders were still 2 coming to North Carolioa in great nuiTibersT They had not had tiane to be- come accustofced to American life and American ways of thinkings Tney settled in distinct corainunities, preserved tneir clan organization, and continued to speak tneir OA-n ilrss dialect,'' They refusea to be sssiirila- ted or cofivertea to colonial views. Naturally undemocratic, they believ-d 4 in tne divine right of kings^ They were in general poor; and in tne secui|i-r ing of homes in the nev>^ worla th'^consiaerea taemselwes under ooliyations to tne King -ana nis Governor.' On their arrival, luariin treated tnem witn the utmost kinaness.' The aulnoL-ity which could give thert land ana pro-j:i- ses of protection ana xo wnicn in return tney naa sworn a solemn oath of allegiance iiaist nave seemea to them xucn more aeserving of support than the turoulent iUiigs v^ho were urging strange tneories and treasonable pur- poses. It is aifficult to estimat-e tne numbers of tne Highlanaers. In June, 1775, iViartin wrote Cart.TOuth that tne "limigrants from the Hignlands of Scotland" could furnisn him £000 solaiers, or one-tenth of the fighting sen of the wnole country^ Toe counties of Giamoerland, Orange, Chathaic, Guilford, and banaolpn, comprising the neart of the .province, were overrun witn hignlanders.