James Innes ( North Carolina ) James Innes ( c . 1700 – September 5 , 1759 ) was a military commander and political figure in the Province of North Carolina who led troops both at home and abroad in the service of the Kingdom of Great Britain . Innes was given command of a company of North Carolina ' s provincial soldiers during the War of Jenkins ' Ear , and served as Commander - in - Chief of all colonial soldiers in the Ohio River Valley in 1754 during the French and Indian War . After resigning his commission in 1756 , Innes retired to his home on the Cape Fear River . A bequest made by Innes upon his death lead to the establishment of Innes Academy in Wilmington , North Carolina . Early life and emigration . Innes was born around 1700 in the Scottish Highlands . In 1732 , Innes purchased on the Cape Fear River in what is now Bladen County , North Carolina . In or about 1733 , he received an additional grant of . Shortly after Innes ' arrival in North Carolina , Governor Gabriel Johnston appointed him as a justice for New Hanover County , and tried unsuccessfully to appoint Innes to his council . Military and political career . War of Jenkins ' Ear . In 1739 , war broke out between Spain and Great Britain over the respective powers ' colonial possessions and spheres of influence . At the outset of that conflict , the British requested that their colonies supply troops for an expedition to South America . Innes was selected by Governor Johnston to lead a company of 100 men from the Cape Fear region to Cartagena in the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Granada , a city which is located in the modern - day country of Colombia . The Cape Fear company was to be joined by three other companies raised in the Albemarle Sound region . Innes was granted a provincial commission as Captain in the British Army on June 7 , 1740 . Upon arriving in South America , Innes and his men , as well as North Carolina ' s three Albemarle companies , were placed under the direct command of Colonel William Gooch , a baronet and the Governor of Virginia . The fever - and disease - ridden campaign , which culminated in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias in the Spring of 1741 , was disastrous for the British . At Cartagena , delays by the British fleet in landing troops to assault a key Spanish fortification , combined with the fact that the ladders used by British scaling parties were shorter than the walls they were intended for , caused the militia and regular soldiers to suffer a 50 percent casualty rate prior to the assault being called off . The Cartagena campaign left only 25 survivors under Innes ' command . The North Carolina contingent returned home in January of 1743 . Innes was placed in command of the New Hanover militia after his return . In 1748 , after the war between the British and Spanish had expanded into a wider war against the French known in the colonies as King George ' s War , a Spanish fleet attacked Brunswick Town , North Carolina , and Innes assisted the local militia under Captain William Dry in repulsing the raiding force . Inter - war career . Between the War of Jenkins ' Ear and the French and Indian War , Innes served as a commissioner for John Carteret , 2nd Earl Granville , charged with the sale of that proprietor ' s lands in the Granville District . Active in the colonial government , Innes was a baron of the Court of Exchequer in Wilmington . There he was associated with Francis Corbin and the Salisbury Land Office ( as a land grant agent ) . After 1750 , Innes served on the Governor ' s Council under both Gabriel Johnston and Arthur Dobbs until his death in 1759 . French and Indian War . After the conclusion of King George ' s War in 1748 , tension increased on the frontier between the French - held North American territory and the British colonies on the coast . With the possibility of the outbreak of war in 1754 , Innes , as an experienced soldier , was nominated as the commander of North Carolina militia , which was to be sent to aid Virginia at the request of Governor Robert Dinwiddie . The government of Virginia in particular feared French incursions , as it claimed much of the territory in the Ohio River Valley . Dinwiddie , a fellow Scot , had become friends with Innes , and considered naming him as Commander - in - Chief of the provincial forces , but instead chose to name Virginian Joshua Fry . Fry ' s death on May 15 , 1754 left the position vacant , and Innes was appointed on June 4 , 1754 , although George Washington had been Fry ' s second - in - command . Washington was given command of the Virginia Regiment upon Fry ' s death , and he led that unit into the Ohio River Valley on Dinwiddie ' s orders before Innes was appointed his superior . On May 28 , 1754 , Washington ' s unit , along with native Mingo allies , surprised a French unit , killing Joseph Coulon de Jumonville , the unit ' s commander . A large force of French soldiers then advanced to trap Washington , and on July 3 , 1754 , assaulted him at Fort Necessity near what is now Farmington , Pennsylvania , and forced the Virginian ' s surrender . Dinwiddie blamed Matthew Rowan , the acting Governor of North Carolina , for the defeat , stating that had Innes ' men been assembled in a timely fashion , they could have accompanied Washington to the frontier . Nevertheless , this engagement signaled the beginning of colonial combat between the French and English , which by 1755 had erupted into open war . Innes ' tenure as commander - in - chief had scarcely begun at the onset of the French and Indian War . Innes was directed to go to Wills Creek in Maryland , and to reinforce a fort there , which was to become Fort Cumberland . The North Carolina soldiers that came to Virginia were unruly and difficult to manage , eventually deserting after being informed that their pay was to be reduced , or returning home after Innes himself disbanded the unit due to its instability . To make matters worse , Virginians under Innes ' command were ill - disposed towards him , particularly because he was not a Virginian himself . Within five months of Innes ' appointment , Horatio Sharpe relieved him of his command , and Innes stayed on at Fort Cumberland as its " campmaster general " . When General Edward Braddock arrived with a force of British regulars in 1755 , Innes was named Governor of Fort Cumberland . Braddock tasked Innes with commanding a reserve force of troops at the fort during the disastrous Braddock expedition , in which Braddock led an army into the Ohio valley where it was ambushed and routed , leaving the general mortally wounded . During that operation , Fort Cumberland was used as a holding area for wounded and sick soldiers . Innes was among the first to hear of Braddock ' s defeat , and one of the first to inform Dinwiddie , by way of Lord Fairfax , of the catastrophe . By the mid - 1756 , Innes was permitted to resign his commission and return to North Carolina . Retirement and death . Innes lived out the remainder of his life as a planter at " Point Pleasant " , his plantation in North Carolina . Innes left behind his wife Jean , with whom he had no children , and who later married his business associate , Francis Corbin . At her death , Jean Innes was buried between her two husbands . Legacy . After his death in 1759 , Innes ' will left a bequest for an academy , to be called the Innes Academy . The Academy constructed what became the Thalian Hall in Wilmington , North Carolina , which exists today . Innes Street , the main east – west thoroughfare in Salisbury , North Carolina , is named after him .