School History of North Carolina Part 9

1695-96.

5. Thomas Harvey ruled next in Albemarle, while John Archdale, a wise and benevolent Quaker, was put in charge of all the settlements in what was North Carolina, and also those on Cooper and Ashley Rivers, in South Carolina. In the year 1696 a severe pestilential fever visited all the tribes of Indians along Pamlico Sound and destroyed nearly all of them. The Colonists, soon after this, feeling somewhat safer from Indian attacks, began to form settlements southward.

1704.

6. Henderson Walker succeeded to the rule by virtue of his place as President of the Council. After him Colonel Robert Daniel, who had made reputation in an expedition against the Spaniards in Florida, became, in 1704, the Governor of the province.

7. Governor Daniel was probably the mistaken and ignorant agent of Lord Carteret, who happened then to be the Palatine, or chief of the Lords Proprietors, in a foolish effort at reform.

Carteret, like James II., was by no means a pattern in morality, but became impressed with his duty to cause the a.s.sembly to pa.s.s a law making the Episcopal Church the State Church in the province, as it was in England.

8. The Baptists and Quakers were numerous, and both of these sects were sternly opposed to any such regulation. The law was pa.s.sed in spite of their votes to the contrary, and provided for building churches, buying glebe lands, and public taxation to pay the rectors' salaries, but did not visit any disqualification or punishment upon nonconformists. The first Episcopal preacher arrived at Albemarle in 1703, and the first church was built in 1705, in Chowan county.

9. These persons, who were not members of the Episcopal Church, said they were already paying for the support of their pastors, and at once declared that they would not submit to the injustice of paying money to men who were the leaders in the persecutions of Baptists and Quakers in England and America.

10. The Presbyterians of South Carolina sent John Ashe, of that section, to London to resist the confirmation of the law, and Edmund Porter was sent, for the same purpose, by the people of Albemarle. Ashe died in London before he knew of his success.

Both Queen Anne and the House of Lords denounced the innovation as unjust and impolitic, and the law was therefore annulled by Her Majesty in her privy council.

11. It was thus, year by year, that the Carolinians kept up their struggle for freedom and equality before the law. The ocean stretched between them and the men who sought their oppression, and large expenditures, both in money and heartwearing efforts, were undergone, as the dangerous and alarming years went by; but these men of the woods never wavered in their determination to be free.

QUESTIONS.

1. Who was sent from England to succeed John Culpepper as Governor of Carolina? Who followed Governor Harvey in office?

What was the condition of affairs in the colony under these Governors?

2. Who became Governor in 1681? Who was Seth Sothel, and why was he selected?

3. What befell Sothel on his way to Carolina? What kind of man was Governor Sothel? What did the people do?

4. Who next took charge of Carolina? What important thing was accomplished under this administration?

5. Who was Governor in 1696? Who had charge of all the settlements?

6. What two Governors are next mentioned?

7. Whose agent was Governor Daniel? What law was pa.s.sed by the a.s.sembly?

8. What two religious sects were strongest opposers of the act?

What was provided for in the statute?

9. What complaint was made by the Baptists and Quakers?

10. Who was sent to London in the interest of the Presbyterians?

What man from Albemarle? What was the success of the mission to London?

11. What was the almost constant struggle of the people of Carolina?

CHAPTER XV.

THOMAS CAREY AND THE TUSCARORA WAR

A. D. 1704 TO 1712.

Thomas Carey, who had already reached the positions of Speaker of the House of a.s.sembly and Lieutenant-Governor, was promoted to be Governor in 1705. He had been a leader in opposition to Governor Daniel's church scheme, and for that reason John Archdale and the Quakers had procured his elevation to the latter position. It may be imagined what was their disgust and surprise when it was found that Carey had changed sides and become the willing tool of Lord Carteret.

1705.

2. In 1705 the town of Bath, in Beaufort county, was settled, and this was the first incorporated town in North Carolina. One of the oldest churches in the State is at Bath. The bricks used in the building were brought from England. The edifice is still in a good condition, and is regularly used for public wors.h.i.+p.

3. When the General a.s.sembly met, Governor Carey announced that, under English laws, none but members of the English or Episcopal Church could be allowed to take the oaths necessary to qualification for a seat in either House. John Porter was thereupon sent to London to make known this fresh outrage and betrayal of the people.

4. He was soon back with orders for Carey's removal; and the General a.s.sembly elected William Glover by the votes of John Porter and the men he influenced. It is sickening to add that Glover also immediately deceived the men who were his supporters, and was found acting and talking exactly as Carey had done. The next thing seen was the pacification of Carey and the Quakers, and their re-election of him as Governor.

5. Two rival governments were thus at open rupture, each claiming to be the local government in Albemarle. They both took up arms, and it seemed that bloodshed must ensue. A General a.s.sembly was called to decide the question of authority.

Members were present with certificates of election signed by Glover, and another set whose certificates were issued by Carey.

Glover and Carey, with their adherents, occupied separate rooms in the same building, and great confusion and bitterness prevailed. Finally the members of Glover's council were compelled to seek refuge in Virginia.

6. In such a state of affairs, Edward Hyde arrived from England with papers directing Edward Tynte, the Governor of both South and North Carolina, to commission him as Governor of North Carolina. In the meantime Carey, having heard of Governor Tynte's death, refused to acknowledge Hyde's claims, and proceeded to arm and equip his followers.

1711.

7. The cruel and crafty Tuscaroras now resolved to avail themselves of the divisions among the white people. They procured the Meherrins, Corees, Mattarnuskeets and other tribes to unite with them in an effort to murder all they could of the settlers. They kept the secret so well that on the night of the 11th of September, 1711, according to the calendar of that day, more than two hundred whites were butchered. The Tuscaroras mustered in their ranks a strong force, which was increased by their allies to sixteen hundred warriors. The Indians continued this terrible slaughter for three days, and only ceased when fatigue and drunkenness rendered them incapable of further continuance.

8. The Baron de Graffenreid, a n.o.bleman from Bern, had just established (in 1710) a flouris.h.i.+ng colony, comprising about six hundred persons, Germans and Swedes, at New Bern, at the confluence of the Neuse and Trent Rivers. De Graffenreid and John Lawson, the surveyor-general, while on an exploring voyage up the Neuse River, a few days before the ma.s.sacre of September 11th, were seized by the Indians. The war council decided that both the men should be put to death. De Graffenreid made claim that he was king of the Swiss settlement just established, and escaped death by promising that no more land should he taken from the Indians without their consent. The unfortunate Lawson and a negro servant were put to death by the most horrible cruelties.

9. Baron de Graffenreid was held a captive for several weeks, and was set at liberty upon application of Governor Spottswood.

On his return to his settlement he found it in a condition of almost desolation. He became so disheartened at the prospect that he soon sold his interest in Carolina and returned to Switzerland.

1712.

10. The South Carolina militia and near a thousand Yema.s.see Indians, under Colonel John Barnwell, came as swiftly as they could to the rescue, and inflicted a stunning blow upon the savages. They were attacked in a fort near New Bern, and more than three hundred of the Indians were killed and a hundred made prisoners. Thinking the league crushed, Colonel Barnwell went home with his forces, after making a treaty with the Indians, which was quickly broken.

11. In this terrible emergency, which threatened the destruction of so many settlers, Governor Spottswood, of Virginia, did nothing to aid the colony except keep the Five Nations and Tom Blount's Tuscaroras neutral in the war. The great danger was in the possible adhesion of the New York Iroquois to the savage league. With Albemarle divided, and consequently in a measure helpless, it was seen that it would be impossible to meet the Five Nations in battle.

12. When the next spring had opened, some hundreds of men in North Carolina were joined by Colonel James Moore, from South Carolina, with another force of a hundred and fifty of his white neighbors and the Yema.s.sees, who again were willing to make war upon their hated enemies, the Tuscaroras.

13. Another b.l.o.o.d.y attack upon a fort made of earthworks and palisades resulted in such slaughter of the Indians that Handc.o.c.k, their chief, who had boldly led them before, was so disheartened at the loss of his braves that, with his tribe, he abandoned Carolina and rejoined his brethren in the lake country of New York, who were from that time known as the Six Nations. They ventured no more among the men who had so fearfully broken their strength and power as belligerents. The fort occupied by Handc.o.c.k and his force was situated where the village of Snow Hill, Greene county, now stands, and was called by the Indians "Nahucke." The siege began March 20th, and in a few days the fort, with eight hundred prisoners, was taken by storm. Colonel Moore's loss was twenty white men and thirty-six Indians killed and about one hundred wounded.

14. In the midst of the danger, in this second year of the war, yellow fever was seen for the first time in Albemarle. Governor Hyde fell a victim to its virulence. He died September 8, 1712, and was succeeded by Thomas Pollock, who had long been known as one of the richest and most influential of the settlers.

Pollock and Edward Moseley, who was the leading lawyer and ablest man in Albemarle, were in deadly enmity concerning the quarrels between the contending Governors.

15. During this turbulent period among their rulers the people of Albemarle were giving their princ.i.p.al attention to growing corn and other farm products. They were improving their settlements and reaping the full reward of industry and perseverance. In 1704 the manufacture of tar began, and it was soon discovered that this native article was destined to become a very valuable commodity, both at home and in foreign countries.

16. During the years just considered North Carolina received large accessions to her population. As early as 1690 French Protestant refugees purchased lands and began to form settlements in Pamlico. In 1707 another body of French emigrants, under the guidance of their clergymen, Phillipe de Richebourg, located in the same section. A good number of French Huguenots, also, had formed thrifty settlements in the Pamlico region and along the banks of the Neuse and Trent Rivers.

QUESTIONS.