The North-Carolina standard., 1845-09-17
REPORT

REPORT
OF the Secretary of the Historical Society Of the
University of North Carolina prepared for
the Anniversary Meeting, June 4th, l845.
The Secretary, in the performance of " hat he
has deemed to be of the duties attached to his
Office, bcgs leave to submit the following Report ::
A distribution of the matter under the two heads
of what has as yet been accomplished by the So
ciety, and, what it may reasonably calculate upon
as its prospects for the future it has been thought
will give proper method to its arrangement.
For the purpcse of comparing what has been
done by the Historical Society with that which
was anticipated in its formation, 1t will be neces-
sary to revert to the professed objects of the nst
tution as they were succinctly stated in the hrst
publication which appeared under It's auspices. 1t
was there said that +" this society has been eStG6-
Iished, frst for Ahe purpose Of ende00orang to en-
Gle such interest in the public mind ii" regard 10
the history of the State, as mag 1duce the Le91s-
lature to adopt early and Efficient measures to
obtain from England the most interesting dOc"-
nrents In relation to The Regal .Gorernme1t to-
gethcr qciEk such papers as may be tound 10 re-
fleet light up0n the obscure history OF the Pro-
Drietarv Gorernnrcnt of Carolina and secondly,
TO collect, arrange and preserre at the Unirersi-
ty, AS NEARLY AS MAY BE POSSIBLE, one or more
copies of ecery book, pamphlet, and newspaper
published In this State since The introduction OF
the Press among us in 1749; all books published
acithouE the State, IN our or foreign conn-
tries, on the history of Carolina, and especially,
all Tie records, documents and papers TO be to~'.d
aoithin the State that may tend to eLpc,dGte the
history of the American Revolution"
To any one who bestows thought upon the sub
jrct, it must appear singular, and indeed almost
unaccountabe, that down TO the present day, when
seventy years have elapsed since North Carolina
took her stand as independent State, no institu-
ton, having in view an object similar to this has
fourishrd within her borders. The antiquities
and remnants of our Revolutionary story, 10 which
may we'll be applied the "tanqmdm tGbuIG nou
fraeii" Of Lord Bacon, lie conf1scdly scattered
every direction the scene of the late storm
Owing to this fact, many manuscripts, OF great
importance to the illustration of the War, have
been irrecoverabIy lost. To prevent the progress
Of an evil, which far as it has yet gone, is lr-
rcparablc, is principal object Of this Society. Ii
can scarcely be ex pccted that our Diligence, so
dIIatoriIy awakened, shall be rewarded by an
elucidation of our Revolutionary annals equal to
what has taken place among the more active,
Northern members Of the Confrderacy; yet it is
hoped that by bringing together and reducing to
some more indrsructible form the materials of
generation whose place now knows them again
no more forever, shall in some degree acqnit
ourselves of debt to the past and to posterity.
the records of our own State it must be evident,
that history of the American Revolutionary war,
whose merits are commensurate with the impor-
tance of that great struggle, is yet to be written
Narratives have appeared without doubt, ranking
high as literary productions or, for the most part
as authentic accounts Of whatever facts they may
pretend 10 relate; but as general histories of the
several campaigns. it will be found that they are
essentially, although perhaps, not unaccountably
T.. Io rgal . hot
curae collection of the journals and other memo
randl, of war which extended over the three
hundred and sixty thousand square miles compre-
hendrd by the limits Of the thirteen original States
could be made by gentlemen residing, as most OF
our historians do, in one part of the Union This
fact has impressed itself strongly upon onr Revo-
lutionary annals Whilst the events of the war,
as carried on in the Northern and Middle por-
tons of the Confederacy have been fully record
ed, that part of the same contest which extended
through Carolina and Georgia is strikingly i'm
perfect No history has yet appeared, which does
not discover similarity TO the figure which dis
turbed the rest of the ancient King Of Chaldea
although its head and breast are composed OF gold
and silver, its lower extremties degenerate into
an unmngling compound of iron and clay. The
duty Of pointing out and remedying these deh-
cencies must necessarily devolve upon gentlemen
at the South. In approprialing this task, the His
toricaI Society has determined. that although it
cannot consider itself at all committed 10 the labor
of preparing such stable record of Revolutiona-
ry events as is understood by the term history, yet
the simplest form of its duty will be to render ac-
ccssible 10 the historian whoever he may be, as
far as possible, all the facts which may be con-
nected with the war in North Carolina
In attempting to make collection of these
facts it clearly necessary to success, that the
general attention of the State should be aroused to
an appreciation of our important undertaking
The degrec of curiosity and interest already ex-
cited among distinguished portions of our fellow
citizens, is held to be pleasing proof that this en-
terprize is by no means premature or unseasona-
Bile; and the amount of material already contribu-
ted, may well be assumed rs fair precursor of
greater degree of snccess than had been antcipat-
ed in the organization of the Society. In the
opening Message Of Gov MoREHEAD to the Le-
glsature, at the commencement of its late Session.
the subject of the " History of the Stat" was
urged on the attention Of that body in very de-
eIded manner; and SO strongly was he impressed