Catawbas Pass through Orange

Ruth Herndon Shields’s Abstracts of the Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of Orange County 1752-1766 contains lots of great information. Last night I noticed in it a series of items related to the Catawba people. This is particularly notable because, I believe, the Catawba mostly lived further west than Orange County. Together the entries paint an interesting picture.

First, in March of 1757 a Catawba called Captain Snow appeared and claimed that Michael Synnot possessed a stolen horse. There’s no indication of how the dispute was resolved (if at all), but the presence of a Catawba in Hillsborough Court must have been notable. Also, as we shall see, I think Captain is his military rank, not his name.

Later that same session, the Court made arrangements “to reimburse persons entertaining the Indians traveling to or from Virginia.” This made me curious: Why would Orange County reimburse the cost of Native Americans moving through the area? Presumably Native Americans moved across area farms periodically, but why would the County pay for that?

Over the course of the next year, the minutes show that several claims for reimbursement were entered. In June 1757, William Reed claimed 2 pounds for “dyating 56 Catawba Indians” while they were “on their return trip from Virginia since last March Court.” Some similar claims must have been filed, as the Court in September 1757 appointed a committee “to examine the accounts brought in by sundry persons of this county” related to the Catawba.

In March 1758, William Reed was back, claiming he was owed for “one hog delivered to Cap’t Bull and his Company of Cherokee Indians on their journey to Virginia.” I assume that the Clerk of Court erroneously wrote Cherokee instead of Catawba. Again there is a reference to the rank of Captain. And in the same session of Court, John Dennis reported that Thomas Capper still had the horse that had supposedly been “taken away by the Indians some time ago.”

So, I got out Douglass Rights’ seminal book The American Indian in North Carolina andfound that Rights says: "In 1756 Governor Dobbs stated that no attacks had been made on the frontier, owing principally to the frontier guadsmen and 'the Neighborhood of the Catawba Indians, our friends.' A single mention from the colonial records of the same year, which tells of their aid in pursuit of a roving band of Cherokee marauders, of the recovery of goods stolen from settlers, and of the return of the goods to Salisbury for distribution to rightful owners, indicates the Catawba good will and protection which have made the people of the Carolinas ever indebted to them."

Interesting. It sounds like the alliance between the colonists and the Catawba went a bit further in 1757, with the Catawba being organized into military units and deployed to Virginia for some purpose.

And apparently they passed through Orange County, consuming some forage along the way. That’s why the Court refers to their military ranks, and that is why the Court was reimbursing farmers who had provided the forage.

Booklets on Revolutionary Battles and the Regulation

I have a little collection of books on battles that happened in this area. I only have a small percentage of the ones listed below, but these are all the ones I know of:

The Battle of Alamance

Alamance Day, Burlington, N.C., August 17, 1922: souvenir program, [1922].

Battle of Alamance Bi-Centennial Commission, Battle of Alamance Bicentennial, 1771-1971, Battle of Alamance Bi-Centennial Commission, 1971.

Cooke, William, Revolutionary History of North Carolina in three Lectures; to which is appended a Prelmininary Sketch of the Battle of the Alamance, Cooke and Putnam, Raleigh and NY:, 1853. 237 pp. Illustrated, plates.

Department of Archives and History, Alamance Battleground: Where the war of the regulation came to an end, Division of Archives and History, [1997?].

Department of Archives and History, Alamance Battleground: State historic site, Department of Archives and History, 1960.

Elder, W Cliff, Commemorative souvenir program, May 9-16, 1971, Alamance County Historical Association, 1971.

Fitch, William Edward, The Battle of Alamance: The first battle of the American
Revolution, Alamance Battle Ground Commission, 1939.

Fitch, William Edward, Some neglected history of North Carolina; being an account of the revolution of the regulators and of the battle of Alamance, the first battle of the American Revolution, Neale Pub. Co., 1905.

Fletcher, Inglis Clark, The Wind in the Forest: The colonial frontier of NC 1768-1771 & Battle of Alamance, May 16,1771, Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1957. A novel. 448 pp.

Jones, E O, The War of the Regulators: It's place in history, unpublished thesis, 1942.

Kars, Marjoleine, Breaking Loose Together: The Regulator rebellion in pre-revolutionary North Carolina, UNC Press, 2002.

Kimball, Franklin M, Critters of Cane Creek: A novel, iUniverse, 2007.

McCorkle, Lutie Andrews, Was Alamance the first battle of the Revolution?, E.M. Uzzell & Co., 1903.

Powell, William S., The War of the Regulation and Battle of Alamance, May 16, 1771, State Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, NC, 1965. Fold out map. 32 pp.

Walsh, Colleen Tritz, Loyal Revolt: The Regulator movement in the North Carolina backcountry, 1995.

White, Howard, The Battle of Alamance, May 16, 1771: Two hours of history, Burlington, N.C.: Burlington Chamber of Commerce, [1956]. 22 pages.

The Battle of Clapp’s Mill

Bandy, James M, Cornwallis in Guilford County, 1781: Clapp's Mill and Wetzell's Mill, Greensboro Female College, 1898.

Dunaway, Stewart E, The Battle at Clapp's Mill, 2008.

Steele, Rollin M, The Lost Battle of the Alamance, also known as the Battle of Clapp's Mill: A turning point in North Carolina's struggle with their British invaders in the very unusual year of 1781, [1994].

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse

A Memorial Volume of the Guilford Battle Ground Company, Reece & Elam, 1893.

Cameron, Rebecca & Alfred Moore, A Sprig of English Oak : Lieutenant Colonel Wilson Webster, of His Majesty's 33d regiment of foot, 1781, North Carolina Society, Daughters of the Revolution, 1913.

Dunaway, Stewart E, Like a Bear with his Stern in a Corner - From the Dan to Guilford Courthouse, 2008.

Hairr, John, Guilford Courthouse: Nathanael Greene's Victory in Defeat, March 15, 1781, Da Capo, 2002.

Konstam, Angus, Guilford Courthouse 1781: Lord Cornwallis's Ruinous Victory, Praeger Publishers, 2002.

Rickard, Tim, The Battle of Guilford Courthouse, March 15, 1781, [Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, 1993].

The Battle of Hart’s Mill

Dunaway, Stewart E, The Battle at Hart's Mill, 2008.

The Battle of Lindley’s Mill

Alamance County Historical Association , Ambush on Cane Creek: The Battle of Lindley's Mill, The Association, 1981.

Dunaway, Stewart E, The Battle at Lindley's Mill, 2008.

Newlin, Algie Innman, The Battle of Lindley's Mill, Alamance Historical Association, 1975.

Pyle’s Massacre

Dunaway, Stewart E, Every Blood of them Tories - Complete Guide to Pyle's Defeat, 2008.

Hayes, John T, Massacre: Tarleton vs Buford May 29, 1780, Lee vs Pyle February 23, 1781, Saddlebag Press, 1997.

Troxler, Carole Watterson, Pyle's Defeat: Deception at the racepath, Alamance County Historical Association, 2003.

Troxler, George Wesley, Pyle's Massacre, February 23, 1781, Alamance County Historical Association, 1973.

The Battle of Weitzel’s Mill

Dunaway, Stewart E, The Battle at Weitzel's Mill, 2008.

Moore, Harry, The Liberty Boys at Wetzell's Mill, or, Cheated by the British, Frank Tousey, 1918.
Fiction.

Bandy, James M, Cornwallis in Guilford County, 1781: Clapp's Mill and Wetzell's Mill, Greensboro Female College, 1898.

David Fanning’s Exploits

Dunaway, Stewart E, The Civil War in the American Revolution, 2008.