William Polk ( colonel ) Colonel William Polk ( 9 July 1758 – 14 January 1834 ) was a North Carolina banker , educational administrator , political leader , renowned Continental officer in the War for American Independence , and survivor of the 1777 / 1778 encampment at Valley Forge . Early life and background . William Polk was born in Mecklenburg County , North Carolina , on July 9 , 1758 , the eldest child of Thomas Polk and his wife , Sussana Spratt . From the earliest days of rebellion against British authority , Mecklenburg had been a hotbed of revolutionary fervor , and the Polk family was very active in this cause . William ' s father was commander of the local militia , a rumored key player in adoption of the Mecklenburg Resolves of May 31 , 1775 , and later colonel of the 4th North Carolina Regiment , Continental Line . Following their father ' s example , three of Thomas Polk ' s sons served as officers in the war against the British . One , Thomas , was killed in action serving alongside his brother William at the Battle of Eutaw Springs . American Revolutionary War . Lieutenant - Colonels Polk and Middleton were no less conspicuous for their good conduct than their intrepidity , and the troops under their command gave a specimen of what may be expected from men naturally brave when improved by proper discipline . Life After the Revolution . Politician , Public Servant , and Prominent Citizen . In 1783 the North Carolina General Assembly appointed Polk Surveyor General of the Middle District , now a part of Tennessee . In this capacity Polk acquired large tracts of land in the area . Twice he was elected to the House of Commons before returning in 1786 to his native Mecklenburg County , where he was re - elected to the House of Commons in 1787 , served a one - year term and was re - elected in 1790 . He was a candidate for Speaker of the House in 1791 , but was defeated by Stephen Cabarrus . That March President Washington appointed him Supervisor of Internal Revenue for the District of North Carolina , a position he held for seventeen years , or until the Internal Revenue Laws were repealed . Polk was among the Continental Army officers who founded the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati on October 23 , 1783 . After the death of his first wife in 1799 , he moved to property on Blount Street in Raleigh . In December of that year he was elected Grand Master of Masons of North Carolina and served in that office until December 1802 . Federalists in the state legislature nominated him for governor in 1802 , but by a two - to - one margin he lost to John Baptista Ashe , a fellow officer in the Revolution . Ashe died before taking office . Polk became the first president of the State Bank of North Carolina in 1811 and held that office for eight years . In March 1812 , as war with Britain seemed imminent , President Madison offered Polk a commission as brigadier in the U . S . Army . A Federalist and opponent of the war , he declined the offer . Not until August 1814 when the British sacked Washington did he recant his opposition to the war . Writing his brother - in - law William Hawkins , governor of North Carolina , he offered his services to the state in whatever capacity the governor saw fit . Inasmuch as North Carolina was not seriously threatened , he was not called upon . In June 1818 Polk became one of the first vice presidents of Raleigh Auxiliary of the American Colonization Society and remained active in the group for many years . The Federalists again nominated him for governor in 1814 , and again he was defeated . Canova ' s Washington . After the War of 1812 the North Carolina legislature commissioned the celebrated sculptor Antonio Canova of Venice , Italy , to produce a statue of Washington for the Statehouse . On Christmas Eve 1821 it arrived in Raleigh and was met with great fanfare , including a 24 - gun salute , marching bands , and a parade of both houses of the legislature and the governor . In last position , just ahead of the statue , were veterans of the Revolution , with Polk bearing the Stars and Stripes . The Capitol building burned in June 1831 and the statue was destroyed . An accurate copy was produced in recent years from molds of the original , which were preserved in Italy , and stands in the rotunda of the old Capitol building . Lafayette ' s Visit to Raleigh . Lafayette visited Raleigh in March 1825 as part of his Grand Tour and Colonel Polk was appointed to give an address on the occasion . Upon the completion of his speech , Polk and Lafayette embraced and wept at the memory of the dangers and hardships they had shared . Lafayette attended various balls , dinners , and other events , including breakfast at Colonel Polk ' s home on the morning of March 3 . Service to education . Polk was made a trustee of the University of North Carolina in 1790 and served until his death , including a term as president of the trustees from 1802 - 1805 . Among other educational efforts , he founded a school for sixteen pupils in Raleigh in 1827 and assisted his wife Sarah in founding a school for poor children in 1822 . Marriages . In October 1789 Polk married Grizelda Gilchrist , a granddaughter of a former colonial attorney general of North Carolina . She was born in Suffolk , Virginia , on October 24 , 1768 . The couple had two children , Thomas Gilchrist Polk , born February 22 , 1791 , and William Julius Polk , born March 21 , 1793 . Grizelda Polk died in 1799 . Polk remarried on New Year ' s Day 1801 Sarah Hawkins , whose brother William later became governor of North Carolina . Sarah bore thirteen children , two of whom died in infancy . Death . Polk died on January 14 , 1834 , at his home in Raleigh . His obituary in the January 21 , 1834 , issue of the " Raleigh Register " contained the following : Colonel Polk was at his death the sole surviving field officer of the North Carolina Line ; and it will be no disparagement to the illustrious dead to say that no one of his compatriots manifested deeper or more ardent devotion to the cause of his country ; that in her service no officer more gallantly exposed his life or more cheerfully endured privation and suffering , and that no one of his rank in the army contributed more by his personal services to bring that glorious contest to a successful end . Legacy . David Swain , the governor of North Carolina at the time of Polk ’ s death , said : He was a contemporary and personal friend of Andrew Jackson , not less heroic in war , and quite as sagacious , and more successful in private life . It is known that Colonel Polk greatly advanced the interests and enhanced the wealth of the hero of New Orleans by information furnished him from his field notes as a surveyor , and in directing Jackson in his selection of valuable tracts of land in the State of Tennessee ; that to Samuel Polk , the father of the President ( James K . Polk ) , he gave the agency of renting and selling his ( William ’ s ) immense and valuable estate in lands in the most fertile section of that state ; that as President of the Bank of North Carolina , he made Jacob Johnson , the father of President Andrew Johnson , its first porter ; so that of the three native North Carolinians who entered the White House through the gates of Tennessee , all were indebted alike for the benefactions , and for promotion to a more favorable position in life , to the same individual , Colonel William Polk .