The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-19

This town laid out by Maurice
Moore, son Of Governor james
Moore Of South Carolina, in 1725
and named Brunswick in honor OF
the reigning family. was located on
the western banks Of the Cape
Fear River a little more than mid
way to the sea from the present
city of Wilmington. All that re-
mains of Brunswick today are the
ruins of old st. Phillips church and
a few c~hurchyard graves, but I'M
derneath the tall pines and amid
the dense underground which have
grown UP on the site of the old
town still walk the ghosts of Amer
lean patriots whose deeds for free
dom were no less great than others
which are more celebrated in his
tory but 20 less stirring in fact.
BrunsWick's claim to fame was
not its size-it never reached larg-
er proportions than those of a
small town with a white popula-
ton of rot more than 400. But
there was not then, and there has
not been since, a town of the same
size which contained within its pop
ulation SO many men who were to
distinguish themselves in both the
civil and the military life of the
colonies.
1t was the home of three gen.
erals of the Revolutionary War,
three Royal governors, three act.
ing governors, two judges and
three chief justices of the Supreme
Court, an attorney general and 8
justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States. In the cemetery Of
old St. Phillips, once His Majesty's
chapel, are the graves of Benjamin
Smith. one time governor of NORTH
Carolina, and Alfred Moore. the
United States Supreme Court jus
tice.
1t is a fact not generally known
that the first armed resistance tx
the British was not in Massachu
sets in ITS, but 10 years earlier
or the banks Of the Cape Fear a
Brunswick. 1t was November 176s
after the enactment of the StamE
Act, and the 29-gun sloop of wal
Diligence had dropped anchor a
the Port oft Brunswick. Aboard hel
was a cargo of stamped paper, bu
ashore were excited and aroused
citizens who were determined tina
the stamps would not be unloaded
Armed militia of Brunswick ane
New Hanover counties under the
command of Colonel Hugh Waddel
and Colonel John Ashe had assem-
bled at Brunswick, and Captain
Phipps of the Diligence was mott
fled that unloading the stamp!
would be resisted with armed
forced if necessary. Prudently
Captain Pnipps let the stamps re
main aboard.
Brunswick was said to be thi
first port on the continent where
the British seized vessels for fail
ure to comply with Stamp Act reg
ulations, and Brunswick was thu
last place on the continent where
the people would submit without
fight.
This gallant episode in American
colonial history is largely overlook
ed by the historians in favor O
events in New England, but Nortf
Carol:aians can claim with justice
and pride that the cradle of Ameri
can independence was on the sci
Of old Brunswick on the Cape Fear
Nor was that the only time
Brunswick was the scene Of me
morable events. For four days dur
ing 1747, the town vas held BY
Spaniards while residents OF the
Cape Fear fought f%uriously to re
cover it. On the fourth day one Of
the Spanish vessels in the harbo,
was blown up and the others we're
driven off. Spells from the wreckes
snip e appropriated for the use
Of ST. Phillips church in Brunswick
ano st. James il Wilmington.
Brunswick was laid out in 1725
on 800 acres OF land given by
Maurlce Moore. Associated with
| Maurice in .Astab Iishino II. e.+41.