The New York herald., 1876-02-29
Celebration Of the First Victory Of the RevOIn-
tiOn on the Battle Ground.
INTERESTING HISTORICAL "REMINISCENCES.
Sketch of the Monument Which
Marks the Spot.
Speeches, Salutes, Patriotism and
Bunting.
WILMINGTON. Feb. 2s, 1870.

WILMINGTON, Feb 2s 1870
The action at Moore's Creek Bridge no plebean
skirmish, such most of the socaed battles of
the Regulators which had preceded it, Tho combatants
upon either sdc were chvalrous and brave men, some
OF whom had achieved high prestige upon former
folds. They were not rustic native Doors immigrant
banditti inspired by mercenary motives and seeking
plundcr or promotion Macdonald and Mcleod. chief
tains of the Highanders veteran soldiers and
had reputation at Culloden from the cannon's
mouth The dreaded claymoors OF their clansmen had
in their native land flashed always at the right of the
whole Scottish clans After the unhappy de-
feat of Charles Stuart they had honestly
transferred their loyalty to the house OF Han
over When their chief was made COM
mander OF His Maesty's forces in North Carolina
and summoned them rally by his side when, too,
the loyal and beautiful Lady Flora, whose mingled
charms OF person and historic fame gave a resist
less mastery men, added her appeal to that OF her
gallant husband, is 1t any wonder that
They came as the winds come when forests are rended
They the waves come when nnvies stranded
On the other hand rises Ellington Caswell, Moore
and Others equally horolcnt OF that
proud and high crested race OF cavaliers which
largely sctcd in the Southern colonies. 1t a
nict of tho two pivotal principles which permeae all
hisory-loyalty against liberty obedience confronting
freedom. Nor tho
EVERLASTING QUESTION
absent, in those early American days. Lord Dun
more at Norfolk, and Governor Martin at Fort John
ston, had sought excite and the against
their masters, and had actually succeeded in ensting
many of them. 1t was this perhaps than any
thing else that made tho estrangement of the patriots
complete and irrcconcilabe and added largely to their
ranks. The colonsts menaccd with q scrve war.
A letter written in North Carolina at this time and
xThi ich NAV ha foun in rd aerip NJ tha
American Archives, at page o59, remarks concerning
their Vaccinations among the negroes:-
Governor Martin has coaxcd number Of slaves
Se IN s "n be h
friends Of liberty. All regard ondness for tho King
want
Up to this period decided majority of the popua-
tion between the Pedee and Cape Fear from the sea-
board to the mountains, tories either open or
secret But the bare intmation of Governor Martin
of willingness, in any extremity, to the slaves
against their masters, aroused furious and wide
spread storm of Indignation. Thus potent the
negro as in tho political problem OF 100 years
ago
Tho late Governor Swain, OF South Carolina, pro-
the account Of tho battle of Moore's Creek,
written by tho able and impartial hand of Edmund
Burke and printed in the annual Register" for 1776
TO be the most accurate and comprehensive he had
seen. In this account Burke does entire Justice
TO the colonsts and fully recognizes the importance of
the action a turning point in American destiny
Interviews with many prominent citizens of Whining
ton, of antiquarian taste, supplemented by cxhaus
tive overhaung of the dntebeum nles OF the dcfunct
Wilmington Herald and of the old, but very lively
Wilmington journal, reveal
THE STRANGE FACT
that with the exception OF a small gathering at
Moores Creek Bridge in 1885, so Insignificant as to
n he daily
papers of this city, there has been only formal
celebration OF this important Initial Southern battle of
the Revolution within the last hundred years. This cee-
bration took place Friday, February %, 1S57-the
eighty-1rst anniversary of the engagement very
eloquent oraon pronounced by Joshua G. Wright
OF Wilmington, and the corner stone of intended
monument was laid with the customary ceremonies
The NEW YORK HERALD was represented by special
correspondent then, as now. By recommendation Of
the Mayor business generally suspended shops
aud closed and large crowd congrogatcd
on the historic spot Colonel Alexander Lillington's
silver crescent inscribed with tho legend Libery or
Death, which fastened his plume 10 his Continental
cooked hat those old days OF war; exhibited the
patriotic spectators along with the pistol that ira
dtiou says he used TO touch oil the refractory
which commanded the bridge and moved down Mcleod
aud the scotch oyass in thor brave but disastrous
charge.
however, not erected until February. 1859 Con-
tributons toward 1t had come in sparingly and slowly,
nearly the whole expense was borne by patri-
otic ladies, Mrs. Dr. f. a. Anderson and Mrs Marga-
ret H. Harding, hncal descendants OF Colonel Alexan-
der Ellington, and by Mr.. Donald McRac, Of Whining
The monument stands near the yet visible traces
the old entrcnchments OF the patriots upon slight
elevation about 100 yards from the memorable bridge
IL is OF drab sandstone, purchased in philadelphia,
where, in fact II was constructed Owing probably,
the effects OF the weather, 1t has singuary ancient
look. One could hardly suppose II had been
erected within n Of years. Its hognt
Is fifteen feet clear OF the foundation, or
PEDESTAL The base three feet inches square, the
plinth feet inches the die twenty inches
the cap twentv-sx inches. The obcsk shaft is six
teen inches in diameter at the bottom and twelve in
chcs at the top The inscriptions elegantly de-
signed Gothic letters On the front, facing the bridge
the following words:-
INSCRIPTIONS
GIN Commemoraton OF the Battle OF Noore's Creek
Bridge,
Fought here 27th February, 1776
SThe First Victory Gained by the American Arms in
the War Of the Revolution.
On the these words