Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-05-04
THE OLD NORTH A 7
Tennessee's Heritage of Centen-
NAL Glory.

Tennessee's Heritage Of Centen-
NAL Glory.
North Carolina the First TO be Dis
cOvered-The First British settle
ment-Rirth of the First British
ChiId-The Land OF the Potato and
Tobacco Leaf.
Correspondence New York Times.
North Carolina has just claims to be first
in many other things besides the Deciara-
ton Of independence. 1t is no recent pre-
tence that the coast Of what is now North
Carolina was the first portion of the main
land Of America ever discovered, as Tar as
we have any trustworthy account. In Viii
liamson's old history Of the State the claim
is squarely put forward and is well support
ed by citations from the records OF the voy-
AGES Of the ancient NOrsemen. Erlck, OF
Norway, over 1,0O0years ago, has lefLrecord
of having sailed southwark and westward
across the great ocean until - came to a
land whose description, as be gives it, tai
lies more with the coast Of North Carolina
than with any other part Of America. HIS
story tells Of grapes Astounding even TO the
waves, insomuch that he called the country
vineIand an account almost precisely re-
produced by Sr. Walter Raleigh's command
ers in their pictures Of WOhOck0n and RO-
anoke Islands, which they discovered on
the 9Th of JuIg, 1854. The following year, on
the 10Th Of July, the first British colony in
America was planted on Roanoke Island by
Raleigh, and although this colony after
ward either abandoned that island or per
ished on 1t, it existed there long enough
for Roanoke to be the scene of the birth Of
Virginia Dare-the first child Of British
p~arentage born in America-On b 18Th OF
August, 1857. When one considers that
North Carolina thus was in fact the first
British colony, giving birth to the first
British child in America, there seemsto be
a peculiar fitness in the fact that she was
first 10 assert British freedom through
American Independence. There are other
things the State isproud of. Mount Mitch
ell, in the western portion Of the State, is
the highest mountain east Of the Missis-
sippi. From North Carolina Raleigh got
his first tobacco and his first potatoes for
Ireland-altbough some, rather too hastily,
no doubt, claim that Sir Francis Drake
brought the potato from another portion Of
America. But there is still the lOng-leafed
pine-dtmd mater Of tar, pitch, ~tnrpentine,
and other naval stores; there is the native
home of the Isabella and Scuppernong, if
not also Of the Catawba; and last, but not
least, there Andy johnson drew his natal
breath!
When it was thought worthy of a gov
eminent, no less man than John Locke, the
philosopher, wrote her first constitution.
From that moment rebellion began in
North Carolina, and from that day to this
her people have shown themselves exceed
ingly Jealous Of their liberties. # it be a
fault, it is one that leans TO virtues side.
There was continual contest between the
Governor and the Assembly, or between
the Governor and the people, or between
the Assembly or courts and the people.
These contests were not only frequent, bat
they were stubborn, costly, and always Vi
olent. Sometimes, indeed, the legal gov
eminent was wholly subverted-the insur-
gents at one time holding control for over
two yeaH.
THE writer proceeds to describe the
rising Of 1869 against the stamp act, the
Battle of the Alamance and the Mecklen-
burg Declaration Of Independence, and
after noting how the Continental Congress
pigeon-holed this document as being ahead
Of the time, he says:l
However, q the 18th Of April, 17T6, the
Provincial Congress Of North Carolina did
adopt unanimously the first resolution in
favor Of independence ever adopted by a
similar provincial body, as follows:
aResOlved, That the delegates for this
colony in the Continental Congress be EN-
powered to concur with the delegates Of
the other colonies in declaring independ-
ence and forming foreign alliances, re-
serving to this colony the sole and exclu-
sive right Of forming a Constitution and
laws for this colony, and Of appointing
delegates from time 70 time (under the d.
rectiOn Of a general representative thereby
10 meet the delegates Of the other colonies"
The Romance OF the Revolution.
Gen. Bradley 7. johnson, of Virginia, in the
New York Tribune.
Such is the simple story of the
Regulators and the first DeclaratiOn-Of In
dependence by the mountain men Of North
Carolina. l have only Swallowed family
those stirring scenes, and have not even
named the patriot leaders who fired the
peoples hearts aud directed their arms in
those days-for IN the war which swiftly
followed, every crOss-road became a battle
ground and every river ford a pass, held at
arms. The romance of the Revolution was
in North Carolina. Tue homogeneous
democratic population of New England al
lowed little difference of opinion, for there
the germs Of an aristOcratic society had
never existed. But the foundation % SOuth
Carolina was based on the landed nobility
and gentry, and John Locke's Institutes Of
Government for North Carolina attempted
to organize hereditary rank as the fOun-
datiOn of society there. Again, after the
rebellion Of IT'S and 1745, many Of the
Highland adherents of the house Of Stuart
found refuge near Cape Fear. Neal Mac
Neal purchased lands near Cross Creek,
now Fayetteville, and settled i've or six
hundred colOnists there. Flora Mcdonald,
who saved the ChevalieJ Charles Edward,
after Culloden, settled here, and between
the Highlanders Of the Cumberland and
the COvenanters of MeckenbUrg there was
sure to be bad blood. The Highland stock
appears to have been the backbone Of 10y
atty, as the other was of rebellion, and their
feud waged hot and bloody during the en-
suing years. The hardest fighting, the
most destructive encounters, the bitterest,
most fatal contests Of the Revolution were
between the Wings and Tories Of North
Carolina. 1t was a cruel and ruthless war,
as civil war always is, and evennOW loyalty
has no very fine SAVIOR nor any very refresh
ing associations in TIE Old North State.
l have written this sketch in the hopes that
it may excite some inquiry and interest in
our revolutionary traditions outside Of the
immediate locality in which we preserve
| and cherish them.
BRADLEY 7. JOHNSON.
Richmond, Va, April p, 1915.
MRS. H. &. FORD nee Blanche Chapman,
is the way in which an exchange falls into