Wilmington journal., 1876-03-03
INCIDENTS OF THE FIGHT
SGelGS After the Fight
MIS-. eL0CUMB'3 III G.
NIGHT RIDE 70 (HE
BATTLEFIELD.

The battle of MOore's Creek was b '
no means Que of those hupllazard fravI
that seem to occur by chance III the
the earlier days of every great war. 1t
was the crOwnIng act in the Grea. d:a-
ma known AS the British Invasion Of
Nor Il Carolina in 1776 1t Was the
supremr moment III the overthrow Of Il
GREAT movement that If succesSfn!
mid have resulted III the cOmpietr
snhiacatlou of this entire =1cJlou OF
thr country, a movement devised with
care and cunrjpg. ma'iir'd with pt-
tiance and deiibaratiOn, and that 4
seemed lacked nothing III men or M taiI6
for successful, accomplishment and yt-f
a movement that vanished before the
yaIor Of North Ca,Olina troops guided
by the. genius of North Carolina officers
ik.. the must before the mornings stIn-
On the 18th of July, l775, Colonel
John Aehe with an armed force had
driven Josiah Martin. tin last of the
RpyuI Governors of the STATE, from
SmlthviIIr t. tn" .slooP uf war Cruiser
and had burned the fort there 10 jhe
ground. Bat for all this Gov,.rr.or
Martin was by 40 means Idle, for Ii
va then that the camPtI2n Of lI16
WIS planned and p'Tt~c*sd Toward
the close OF the year l713 tw" Scotch
officers amri Mcdonald and Mcleod
pass, tin Ough New bcrne Suspect, Il If
81 istrr designs aud CLOSELY On STONED
they prct uded to be officers who bad
been wounded at Bunker Hi ana ilad
left tie army to settle among th-ir
friends III North Caroii::a Of whom
th.1e vas |. rge numh,r rn the upper
Cape Fear.
On the 10th of January. 177G. from on
board the Cruiser Governor Martin
issued proclamation deuouncing the
rebellion then existing and deciurlng
his intention "tO erect his MaJestys
royaI standard aud to collect and unite
his Majes.y's people under the same,
otT-sing IT the same time pardon to all
VIII" won q 20 y join III the effort to re-
store the government, no n ttler Wat
offence they bad committed. CCmmi~-
sions were issued to various persons
reaching -Ola Cumberland ls far mp as
Rowan county, authorizing them To
raise troops from his Majesty's faithful
subjects in that section of country. They
wer, directed to form the forces So
raised into comp Mes of fifty men
each. Cross Creek, now called F.y
and there the K DYai standard Was set
up. The proclamation further dl-
rected the troops to meet the Gov
ernor at Brunswick on the 18th
of February. At that tim" Lord
ern border Sir Henry Clinton, des-
tined to the chief command with tn
Mercury King Fisher, two or three
tenders and four companies of troops,
was on bis way from New York Lord
William Campbell, III the Syren. was
expected from South Carolina and Sir
Peter Parker bad sailed frnIl 10 lto-
mouth with a squadron of two frigat3s,
eight slOops, a bchooner aud il bomb
ketch, with seven rHgl ner:ts on board
Under command Of LORD CpIuWalliS.
The train was we'll laid aud ali CtIat was
needed was to apply the match and
KlbdIe civil. II savage and Il servile
war from Virginia to -Onth Carolina
lrom the Atlantic to the Alle3hanies.
But all these threatening clouds were
soon to pass away, an event to which
nothing contributed so much as the
Battle Of MOore's Creek do viii appear
from the following brief recital
,On the lst IF February, I7.G tic iiovaI
otandard was s t up at Cfoss Greeks
oy General Donald McDuuald and
Colonel Donald Mcleod the Two ufli
gefs SEs who had passed thruug,. Nrwbern
tHere Were also several O,herA i'll the
scotch region who had been officers in
.ne British amy and Were then on
Asf pay. So that there was no lack
VI military experience to prev at the
WIN u organizing the troop, into AZ
SSrrmy from being pushed on. On the
S.n Colonel James Moore, the ranking
TUoionel III North Carolina, then at
huntingdon. received the fl st intelli-
eF1ce that the Tories were collecting
anu embodying at Cross Cree k
ne marched at once with his own
Tsiment, the first regiment of North
SSaroiina troops In the COutinenta Line,
u'e pieces of artillery and a part of
bladen militia and took possessit n
~ ~ tne 10Th of February Rockfsh
GCteeK bridge about seven miles from
osS Greek. On the 18Th he was
ttoued by Colonel Alexander Lilling-
n.l roH With $50 of the Wilmington min
900 men, Colonel James Kenan with
IoIoi oi the Duplin militia and Colonel
nn4 uu Ashe with abolt 100 of the vol
b;a her independent Rangers, making
lofce amount in all to about l 100
AM On the 2Oth the Tory army
mauhtlng mao to between ], 400 and l 500
of and under the command
Will, General Mcdonald marched
and nln io1r miles of Rockfish Bridge
Govsent sent in, by flag of truce, the Royal
nihor noo1l s proclamation, a manifesto.
'''er with letter from himself