XPost: Civil War Experiences of Nancy Brewer

[The following is a cross-post from the Southern Unionist Chronicles blog created by Victoria Bynum.

http://southernunionistschronicles.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/the-civil-war-experiences-of-nancy-brewer-a-free-woman-of-color/#comments

[It drew my attention because the incidentally mentioned husband Green Brewer is a figure in Chapel Hill history about whom little has ever been written or was even known. Green Brewer was elected to the Chapel Hill Board of Commissioners (i.e what is now the Town Council) in 1869 and is listed in census records as being African-American. Along with Thomas Kirby and Wilson Caldwell, he was one of three 19th century African-Americans who served on what-is-now the Town Council. I have written previously about Thomas Kirby:

http://piedmontwanderings.blogspot.com/2009/03/thomas-kirby-freedoms-lawmaker.html

[And I'll have to get started on Wilson Caldwell soon! Meanwhile, here is Victoria Bynum with the brave struggle of a free woman of color through the Civil War - and incidentally some detail on the end of Green Brewer's life . . . ]

The Civil War Experiences of Nancy Brewer, A Free Woman of Color

By Victoria Bynum

Renegade South

One of the women who will make a brief appearance in my book-in-progress, Southern Communities at War, is Nancy Brewer of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In 1871, fifty-year-old Nancy applied to the Southern Claims Commission for compensation for wartime damages caused by the Union Army (#11545). Specifically, she testified that soldiers under the command of Gen’l S. D. Hopkins had in April 1865 seized a horse worth $100, forty lbs of bacon worth $10, and 1000 feet of lumber worth $20, from her farm.

Nancy Brewer’s claim was one of many submitted under the act passed by Congress in March 1871 allowing for “Claims of Loyal Citizens for Supplies furnished during the Rebellion.” Hers caught my eye because she was both black and a woman. I opened her folder not so much to learn what she believed the government owed her, but to glean whatever insights I could into what Nancy Brewer’s life was like in slaveholding and Civil War Chapel Hill.

Given that Nancy was claiming loss of property, I was not surprised to learn that she had been a free woman even before the Civil War. Although she could not sign her own name, Nancy had also been a prosperous free woman. Two years before the war, she explained, she had bought a lot and a house in Chapel Hill for $400. She had also purchased her future husband, Green Brewer, out of slavery in order that they might live as a married couple.

These are the sorts of personal family histories that we might never know about without the existence of records that address totally unrelated issues that happen to involve African Americans. Nancy’s deposition further reveals the complexities of life for people who opposed the Confederacy, yet suffered depredations committed by Yankee soldiers. According to Nancy, her late husband, Green, had belonged to the Union League, and they had always sympathized with the Union cause because it was “God’s will for the colored race to be free.” But during the last months of the war, as Union Army encampments surrounded Chapel Hill, the Brewers’ pro-Union views did not protect their property. Soldiers had taken the Brewers’ horse despite her protest that without it they could not make a crop.

Testifying on Nancy’s behalf was another African-American woman, Nelly Stroud, a washer woman who now lived with her. Nelly admitted that the Brewers had not shared their political views with her while the war was raging. “It would not do for colored people to talk here,” she explained, “a still tongue made a wise head.” But Nelly had little good to say about Union soldiers either. During the war, she washed and cooked for them, but feared them at the same time. They threatened to “show me the devil” if General Johnson did not surrender, Nelly told Commission agents. When asked why they would make such a threat, she responded that “I just believe the Devil made them do it.”

Thomas M. Kirkland, a white merchant, also testified on behalf of Nancy Brewer. Kirkland claimed to have known Nancy’s husband, Green, for about ten years, though he quickly explained that he had not been on “intimate” terms with him during the war because Green was a black man. In typical paternalistic fashion, he characterized him as “sober & upright,” and generalized that almost all blacks were loyal to the U.S. Government during the Civil War.

Nancy Brewer’s claim was approved by the Commission. This final comment from a Claims Commission officer appears on her file, giving us further valuable information about the experiences of this African American couple of the Civil War Era South:

The claimant is a colored woman & a widow—her husband having died since the war. He was formerly a slave, but she had bought him & he belonged to her!—or rather was freed during the war—. He was a rather superior colored man. After the war, Governor [William] Holden appointed him a magistrate—Loyalty proven.

Farewell Forever Old Road to Durham?

Have you ever wondered why there is no rail line between Chapel Hill and Durham? Do you want to know how we can ever create one? Do you want to know how you can help? Let me tell you . . .

University Station

When the North Carolina Railroad was built across the Piedmont from Goldsboro to Salisbury in the 1850’s, there were several competing proposals about the route of the rail line. A route through Chapel Hill was considered for the NCRR, but the Hillsborough alternative was ultimately built. The nearest point to UNC on this line was not in any existing community, so a stop was established five miles east of Hillsborough at what became known as University Station. Students were dropped off there and would either walk or pay for a wagon to take them 10 miles to UNC. For about 25 years, this route was UNC’s connection to the railroad and the rest of the state. But this was never viewed as a satisfactory arrangement.

The former station house at University Station, east of Hillsborough, NC

In February of 1861, the legislature created a corporate charter for the University Railroad Company to establish a rail connection from Chapel Hill to some point on the North Carolina Railroad. The charter called for the commencement of construction by 1863 and completion by 1867. Of course, the Civil War derailed these plans, but even at this early date, engineers considered whether it was better to connect to the NCRR by following what we now call Old Chapel Hill-Durham Road or by building a line to University Station. “That route was surveyed by Prof. C[harles] Phillips fifteen years ago when the prospect of a railroad or a plank was agitated for the University. It is but eight miles, four miles shorter than any road leading from Durham could be made, and is said to run mostly on a ridge and will require but little grading.” (NC Presbyterian, 2/12/1873).

By the beginning of 1878, the Trustees of the University had come to feel that a rail connection to Chapel Hill was essential, resolving that they “look with deep interest to the early completion of the railway communication between Chapel Hill and the steam lines of travel already in existence, and would urge upon the Legislature of the State and upon the people of the country the duty and value of a speedy establishment of such line.” (UNC Trustees Minutes, 1/16/1878).

A Rail Line to Durham?

Immediately Durham interests sought to secure a connection from Chapel Hill to Durham. The Durham Tobacco Plant editorialized in 1879: “Durham can and will do more for such a road than any other point . . . this would be on a direct line to Oxford and connected with the Clarksville branch and thereby make it a very important road. The charter should be granted running from Durham.” The Chapel Hill Weekly Ledger (3/8/1879) agreed: “Durham will help us build the road if we build it to that place – she has promised and is able to aid in its construction. There are many reasons why the road should be built to Durham. It will be beneficial to both towns to a greater extent than if it were built to any other point.” These pleas did not fall upon deaf ears, but in 1879 when the legislature authorized the creation of the State University Railroad Company (SURR), the question of where to connect was left in the company's hands.

Because the line to Durham was longer and more expensive, it was clear that a line to Durham could only be justified by investment from Durham. The Chapel Hill Ledger (11/8/1879) reported that a meeting of the incorporators resolved to take subscriptions for $10,000 to run the line through Durham. Battle relates in his History: “I spent a day in the endeavor to persuade [Durham residents] to do this, but met with no response . . . One merchant replied, ‘Your road is against the interests of Durham. Trade would stop at Chapel Hill.’”

In early 1880 the Chapel Hill Ledger (1/10/1880) reported: “An interesting debate was participated in . . . as to what point the road should be run . . . Messrs. Battle and Hoke favoring University Station . . . They would be glad to see the road go to Durham if the requisite amount could be raised. Messrs. [Julian[ Carr and [Paul] Cameron warmly advocated Durham as the point to which the road should be run. Mr. Carr pledged himself to raise $4,000 in Durham . . . K P Battle offered a resolution to locate the road from Chapel Hill to University Station.” The resolution passed.

The State University Rail Road

So ultimately the rail line was built to University Station, rather than Durham. Ironically, Jule Carr wrote a letter to the Ledger (1/24/1880) casting doubt on the success of a route that did not connect at Durham: “I trust that your railroad to University Station may prove of as much benefit to the good people of Chapel Hill as some of your very clever citizens seem to think it will, but, to be honest with you, I have very little hope of it myself.” As it turned out, the railroad to University Station was not only a benefit to “the good people of Chapel Hill,” but it was so successful that it spawned a new town that would, thirty-three years later, be named for Mr. Carr.

"The Whooper" ran from University Station to Carrboro for over 40 years.

Whether the community leaders of old made the right decisions could be debated. On the one hand, the route actually got built and served (and still serves) important functions for southern Orange County. That rail line spawned the Town of Carrboro, which (pardon my bias) I view as a good thing. On the other hand, had they worked harder to connect UNC to Durham, our region and its challenges would look quite different today.

Will Rail Ever Come?

Now at last we may be coming to the time when the problem of a rail connection to Durham could actually be solved. Two years ago the General Assembly authorized Triangle area Counties to implement an additional ½ percent sales tax to support public transportation. While other funding sources were considered by the Legislature, only a sales tax was ultimately permitted, and only on the condition that it be approved by a county-wide referendum in each county.

After years of careful planning, Triangle Transit and Orange and Durham governments are finally coming together around a plan to build a light rail system to connect from Durham to UNC. The plan is essentially this:

Orange and Durham County voters would go to the polls in November of 2011 or 2012 to consider a referendum on whether to increase the sales tax in each county by ½ of a percent to finance a major expansion of public transportation. If approved, the new public transportation plan would include:

1. Major bus service upgrades along US 15-501 and NC 54,

2. A Bus Rapid Transit system on Martin Luther King Boulevard,

3. A new Carrboro-Chapel Hill- Durham regional express bus service.

4. Expanded service on the 420 Bus Route between Hillsborough and Chapel Hill.

5. Full Chapel Hill Transit service on Saturdays (expanding the limited existing Saturday schedule).

6. Limited Chapel Hill Transit service on Sundays (currently there is no service),

7. A new Efland-Hillsborough-Durham regional express bus service along US-70,

8. A major evening service expansion on Chapel Hill Transit,

9. Permanent funding for bus service within the Town of Hillsborough (currently grant funded, but with funds running out in 2014 unless this referendum is passed),

10. Commuter rail service from Durham to RTP starting in 2018. This service would eventually extend far into Wake County as well, but only after Wake implements the same sales tax. This service could be further expanded to serve Hillsborough and points both further east and west, but that is not a part of the immediate plan, and

11. Light Rail service from UNC to Duke, Downtown Durham and NCCU in 2025. This service could be expanded to points further west at some point in the future if further funding were to be identified.

How to Get Involved

The next six weeks will be critical to making this plan come to fruition. The Orange County Board of County Commissioners will need to pass a resolution placing this issue on the ballot in order for us to get to vote on it in November.

We need to vote on this referendum THIS YEAR. All environmental indicators show that we should have implemented a system like this a decade or more ago. Orange County’s Green House Gas (GHG) Inventory shows that over half of all GHG emissions in our community come from automobile traffic and a major expansion of public transportation is the single greatest opportunity to reduce those emissions. The price of gas continues to spiral out of control and there is no end in sight. The sooner we move to a more sustainable future centered around public transportation, the better off both our region and our planet will be.

As well, 2011 will be a great time to vote on this matter. The political pendulum is singing back in the direction of environmental protection and sustainability and we should ride that wave to victory this November. If you agree with me that this plan needs to be the future of Orange County, then please let your County Commissioners know: Now is the time and this is the plan!

You can email the entire County Commission by emailing the Clerk of the County Commission at:

dbaker@co.orange.nc.us

Postscript

Battle tells us in his History: “When the grading was finished the ladies of the village gave the employees and convict [laborers] an excellent dinner.” There was also a grand ceremony to mark the occasion. Cornelia Phillips Spencer’s daughter Julia drove the last spike in the rail line. As Battle says“Speeches were made by President Battle, Mr. Jones Watson, and others.” And Julia Spencer wrote a song for the occasion, which I take the liberty of excerpting here:

"Farewell, old wagon/Jolting hack and phaeton/Farewell forever/We’re going to take the train . . .

"Farewell forever/Old road to Durham/Farewell forever/We’ll travel now by train . . .

"And all along the coming years/That time for us may fill/We’ll bless the men that brought the road/To dear old Chapel Hill . . ."

Sources consulted:

Battle, Kemp P., History of the University of North Carolina, Vol. II, UNC Press, 1912.

The Chapel Hill Ledger, George T. Winston, ed., 1879-1880.

Hoke, William F. papers, North Carolina State Archives.

Hoke, William F. papers, Southern Historical Collection, UNC-CH.

Love, James Lee, ‘Tis Sixty Years Since, UNC Press, 1945.

The Tobacco Plant, Caleb B. Green, ed., 1879-1882.

Trustees Minutes, UNC Archives, UNC-CH.

The Weekly Ledger, Cornelia Phillips Spencer, ed., 1878-1879.

Wilson, Louis R. ed., Selected Papers of Cornelia Phillips Spencer, UNC Press, 1953.

Content within the Bounds of Reason

Could there ever be any semblance of justice for any of North Carolina’s Native Americans? Perhaps.

Before the Europeans

I am not an archeologist or anthropologist, but it is clear from historical records that the area that is today Orange County was inhabitted by Native Americans long before the advent of Europeans. The closely related Eno (a.k.a. Occaneechi or Sapponi) and Saxapahaw (a.k.a. Sissipehaw) people lived throughout the Haw and Eno River valleys. There were numerous Native American villages in this area, but there was a particularly prominent village called Acconeechy (or Occaneechi) on essentially the same site that is now Hillsborough.

The Native Americans also had a major trade route which extended for a thousand miles from the vicinity of modern Petersburg, VA to Mobile, AL. This trade route, called the Trading Path passed through Acconeechy town on its way across what-is-now Orange County. The Trading Path was such a prominent feature of the pre-European landscape of Orange County that old land records frequently mention it. Even today the Trading Path is still well traveled. The modern route of Saint Mary’s Road and Old NC 10 are pretty much exactly the Trading Path.

Here in southern Orange County, there is also vestigial evidence of former Native American settlement. Old Field Creek, which flows northeast out of Chapel Hill into New Hope Creek was almost certainly the site of some sort of Native settlement. The term ‘old field’ in old North Carolina land records refers to lands that were developed agriculturally by Native Americans – land that had been cleared before the arrival of Europeans – literally old fields – ancient fields. Further to the west of here, the Haw Old Fields had belonged to the Sissipehaw or Saxapahaw people into the 1720’s, when a major smallpox epidemic ravaged the Native Americans of the North Carolina Piedmont.

The Saxapahaw Old Fields

That great North Carolina explorer and chronicler John Lawson wrote of his journey through this vicinity in his book A New Voyage to Carolina. In traveling through the area in 1701, Lawson remarked: “Here is plenty of good Timber, and especially, of a Scaly-bark'd Oak; And as there is Stone enough in both Rivers, and the Land is extraordinary Rich, no Man that will be content within the Bounds of Reason, can have any grounds to dislike it.” Lawson does not much discuss the Native people in this area, but he does refer to the Hawfields in saying: “The Savages do, indeed, still possess the Flower of Carolina, the English enjoying only the Fag-end of that fine Country.”

Though Lawson gives few details in this part of his book, he does say that the Native Americans were living there, and in the same breath he hopes for colonization: “It is call'd Hau-River, from the Sissipahau Indians, who dwell upon this Stream, which is one of the main Branches of Cape-Fair, there being rich Land enough to contain some Thousands of Families; for which Reason, I hope, in a short time, it will be planted.”

It is clear that from earliest times the Europeans admired the area that is now Orange County. Lawson related in 1701: “The Virginia-Men asking our Opinion of the Country we were then in, we told them, it was a very pleasant one. They were all of the same Opinion, and affirm'd, That they had never seen 20 Miles of such extraordinary rich Land, lying all together, like that betwixt Hau-River and the Achonechy Town.”

European settlers kept essentially no records of the Native Americans they encountered upon arriving in Orange County and so it is unclear how many Native Americans there were at the time of European settlement. But it is clear that there were at least some Native people still here at that time.

Even as late as 1770, the former Native American presence in our county was still palpable, as John F. D. Smyth related in A Tour of the United States of America Containing an Account of the Present Situation of that Country: “I have reason to believe, that some of the Haw fields have been cleared of woods by the Indians, in ages past, who were undoubtedly settled here; many insignia, and vestiges of the remains of their towns, still remaining.”

How the West Was Lost

Unlike some parts of the United States, there was never any treaty or agreement signed between the Europeans and either the Saxapahaw or the Eno people. Instead of relying on the terms of some sort of dubious treaty, the Europeans pointed to a still shakier source of land title authority.

Sir Richard Grenville

In 1585, Sir Richard Grenville, the head of Sir Walter Raleigh’s first colonization party sailed to the Outer Banks. Grenville and his men then explored along the outer banks encountering various Native settlements including the village of Aquascogoc. The Englishmen accused the Algoquin natives of stealing one of their cups and in retaliation sacked their village and burned their chief at the stake. With this moral foundation, Grenville laid claim to ‘Virginia’ on behalf of Queen Elizabeth. As conceived at that time, Virginia included the entire east coast, from the Spanish colonies in Florida north to the French settlements in Quebec. Of course, the resulting Roanoke Island Colony soon became the Lost Colony. Still, the Crown maintained that Grenville’s 1585 ceremonial declaration entitled the English to most of North America.

Queen Elizabeth did little with the area that became North Carolina after the disappearance of the Roanoke Island Colony. In the early 1600’s, English colonization shifted to Jamestown, VA and Plymouth, MA. Charles I attempted to restart colonization in North Carolina in 1629, but he was executed by Oliver Cromwell in 1630. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II rewarded his allies with huge and valuable real estate grants. Through several twists and turns of fate and history, one man wound up with a deed to the northernmost sixty miles of North Carolina – literally a swath of North Carolina extending due west from the Outer Banks, bounded on the north by what is now the Virginia State line and extending south to what is now the southern boundary of Chatham and Randolph Counties, NC. That man happened to be the grandson of Sir Richard Grenville: John Carteret, Earl Granville.

The Origins of Land Title in Orange County

Earl Granville’s deed included all of what is now Orange County. And from 1744 until his death in 1763, Earl Granville issued deeds to the European settlers who came and staked claims on the land that had once been the land of the Eno and Saxapahaw. These deeds from Granville comprised a major portion of modern Orange County. Probably somewhere around half of Orange County’s current land area traces its title history back to one or another of Granville’s grants, including most of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough as well as many other areas of the county.

John Carteret, Earl Granville

After Granville’s death, his estate was embroiled in a grand legal battle in the English courts in London and the estate was not settled until well after the American Revolution. During the 15 years between Granville’s death and the Revolution, much of the rest of Orange County was occupied by European immigrants. But these relative newcomers were unable to obtain title to the lands that they were occupying because of the on-going legal battle over Earl Granville’s estate. This problem (which existed affected many counties) was at the top of the non-military agenda of the newly impaneled legislature of North Carolina. The issue was such a priority that despite the then on-going Revolutionary War, the General Assembly passed legislation making it clear that the lands in North Carolina formerly belonging to Earl Granville (as well as the King) were forfeited to the new State of North Carolina.

So it was that in 1778, the legislature created the North Carolina State Land Grant system. Virtually all of the remaining land in Orange County that had not already been granted by Granville was soon granted to the settlers who were then on the land. Thus, the other half of Orange County’s land area traces its title history back to one or another of these State Land Grants.

So, regardless of whether a particular piece of land in Orange County was originally granted by Earl Granville or by the State of North Carolina, the ultimate source of its legal authority is founded on a brief ceremony conducted by Sir Richard Grenville 200 miles east of here, 426 years ago, immediately following the sacking of Aquascogoc.

Justice Too Long Delayed?

My point in recounting this long tale of woe is this: Across America there were many different methods used to cheat, steal and defraud the Native Americans out of their land, but in the area that is now Orange County, the land was simply occupied by the Europeans under the pretense that Grenville’s 1585 claim staked on the Outer Banks wound up vesting valid title in the hands of Earl Granville and later the State of North Carolina. No person of conscience could seriously believe that this was a just or even legally valid result.

Many people would probably argue that we cannot be held responsible for the wrongdoing of our forbearers and others would argue that whatever injustices happened in the past, the victims of those wrongs have been dead for centuries. But it seems to me that all of us who own real estate in Orange County benefit to this very day from unjust acts carried out centuries ago – not in some abstract or theoretical way, but in a way that history still demonstrates. And though the victims of those injustices have indeed been dead for centuries, their descendants are still among us here today.

http://www.obsn.org/show/page/the-voice-of-the-occaneechi-nation

In fact, not only are their descendants among us, living along the border of Alamance and Orange County, but they are organized and working on economic development through heritage tourism. I believe that in the past they have sought help from both the Orange and Alamance Boards of County Commissioners.

So, my question is this: While we will never be able to lift the moral and ethical cloud that hangs over the actions of our predecessors, could there ever be a way to lift the legal and moral cloud that hangs over all modern land titles in Orange County? What if, as a County, we were to explore a partnership with the Occaneechi Band to promote heritage tourism and economic development through their proposed park/museum, and as a part of such a partnership the Occaneechi Band might agree to what would essentially be a quitclaim deed to the entirety of Orange County?

The Hermitage

The two of Alamance County's most prominent historical figures lived just opposite Swepsonville near the confluence of Big Alamance Creek and the Haw River. Archibald D. Murphey was the founder of lower public education, a great proponent of internal improvements (canals, plank roads etc.), a lawyer, a judge and a state senator.


Judge and Sen. Archibald Debow Murphey

Murphey nearly went bankrupt in the banking crisis of 1819 and was forced to surrender his extensive real estate holdings to his friend and creditor Thomas Ruffin. Ruffin became an even more eminent (and later infamous) figure serving on the NC Supreme Court and authoring the Court's opinion in State vs. Mann.

NC Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin

The homeplace of Murphey and later Ruffin was called the Hermitage. According to the Papers of Archibald Debow Murphey (pp334-335), the Hermitage stood "three miles south of the site of Graham and about half a mile from the stage road leading from Hillsboro via the Hawfields to Salisbury." Murphey (and later Ruffin owned) the waterpower site which later became Virginia Mills in Swepsonville. "The mills were about two miles to the east [of the Hermitage], at the confluence of Haw River and Great Alamance."

The site of the Hermitage is shown on W L Spoon's 1893 Map of Alamance County:

The Papers of A D Murpehy described the site: "A lane ran southward from the public road to the front gate, where it turned to the right and ran along the northern border of the yard and into an enclosure containing the kitchen, servants' quarters stables, and other outbuildings. On the eastern side of the dwelling-house, about thirty feet from it, stood Murphey's law office, and under the office was a wine cellar. Further east was an orchard. In the rear of the house was a garden, which adjoined a lot lying on Great Alamance Creek."

"The house was a plain, substantial wooden building having two stories in the central portion and one and a half in the winds on the eastern and western sides. At the right end of a large hall as one entered was a room called Judge Ruffin's room after he took up his abode there, and at the left a library and parlor. These rooms formed the first stories of the wings. At the back of the hall were the dining-room and a guest chamber, and behind these a narrow hall, with a pantry and storeroom at its ends, and a piazza overlooking the garden and creek. Upstairs, in the central portion of the house was another large hall, and in the rear two bedrooms, a storeroom, and a back hall. Two spacious guest chamber, with four dormer windows in each, formed the second floors of the wings."

As authority for such a detailed description of the house, the editor of Murphey's papers tells us: "For this description I am indebted to Col Bennehan Cameron, of Stagville, who often visited the Hermitage during his boyhood."

A Tolerable Bateau Navigation

Here's an excerpt from my next forthcoming book A Tolerable Bateau Navigation: The Story of the Deep and Haw River Navigation Company, 1796-1881. You can order the book via email: Mark_Chilton@hotmail.com

Round IV on the Upper Cape Fear: A Bateau Navigation 1828-1832

By the fall of 1828, the Fayetteville Observer was already complaining again about the Cape Fear Navigation Company’s emphasis on the Upper Cape Fear: “We understand that the hands employed upon our River are at work 20 or 30 miles above this town; to which no one could have a reasonable objection, if the Navigation Company had really removed the obstructions between this place and Wilmington, and had the funds left to prosecute the works above . . . The Navigation Company may possibly be promoting their own interests by their operations; but the merchants and boat owners here complain, and apparently with reason, that they pay heavy tolls, for no good that they can see except to furnish money to prosecute a visionary scheme of opening a navigation to Haywood, or Murphey’s Mills [Swepsonville]. Is there no remedy?” In response, the Board of Internal Improvements’ engineer Alanson Nash supervised the removal of snags below Fayetteville and the construction of an additional wing dam at Spring Hill Shoal (Observer 10/30/1828). Nash also reported that more such improvements were needed at the ferry at Elizabethtown and at the old ferry site a few miles below (1828 Report).

The summer of 1829 was a time of great optimism for the Cape Fear Navigation Co. The renewed investment from the State of North Carolina was making it possible to make major progress on improving the river above Fayetteville and the passable condition of the lower Cape Fear was allowing the Company to collect significant tolls. As the Recorder reported (6/10/1829) the CFN Company’s Directors at their annual meeting found “the affairs of the Company in a much more prosperous situation than at any other meeting during the time they have had the honor to direct its concerns.”

In fact, the papers were full of promising reports about navigation of the upper Cape Fear in the summer and fall of 1829. By July, the Recorder said that work on the Buckhorn locks was complete and that hands had been moved down to Smiley’s Falls (7/20/1829), allowing Haywood businessman Jonathan Haralson to send his boat the Clara Fisher to Fayetteville with 27 bales of cotton using hired boat hands (see also Observer 5/28/1829). Work was still progressing at Smiley’s Falls in September, but Archibald D. Murphey was able to send his boat from Haywood to Fayetteville (Recorder 9/23/1829). And still another trip through Smiley’s Falls reportedly at low water and at night was approvingly noted in October that year (Observer 10/22/1829).

The newspaper accounts certainly make it appear that the navigation of the Upper Cape Fear was complete by the end of 1829. As the Recorder (9/23/1829) put it: “The river, for the first time this season, is in good working order and nothing is wanting but hands for which liberal wages are offered.” But high-water in the winter of 1829-30 must have been hard on the works put in place in 1828 and 1829, as the summer of 1830 saw a furious new round of improvements under way above Fayetteville.

In 1830, the BII’s superintendent on the river, Abraham G. Keen built a breakwater dam at Haralson's landing, blasted ledges and built wing dams at Upper Little river falls, built more wing dams at Williams' Falls, and removed fish traps at Borough Shoals. They did more blasting and built more wing dams at Stewart's Creek ledge, at Shaw's Upper Falls and Wirt's Fish Stand Falls, at Thorington Creek Shoals , and at Jones Falls and Massie's Fish Stand Falls - to say nothing of wing dams built at M'Craney's Fish Stand Falls, Dry Creek Shoals, Norrington's Falls, Ford Shoals, Mrs. Atkins Ferry Shoal, John Atkin's Fish Trap Shoals, M'Neal Shoals, Guess Ford Shoals, James Battle's Falls, Blalock's Falls, and Brazier Falls. And they also built "several other dams." To his credit, Mr. Keen complained only that "[o]wing to the extreme low water this summer, I had a great deal of unnecessary work to do to enable us to get up the river with our loaded boats." (1830 Report)

The sweaty and noisy summer of 1830 must have resulted in a notable level of success. The BII met in June of 1830 at Haywood (Observer 6/10/1830) and “proceeded down the River in one of the Company’s boats, accompanied by several of the neighboring planters, and there being no obstruction in the River for ten miles, they had a pleasant passage to the dam across it near the Buckhorn Falls . . . The Boat then entered an outlet from the river which leads to the Buckhorn Canal. The river being low, Mr. Keene had some fears that it would not be found sufficient to carry the boat through the Locks; but the event found his fears groundless . . . and when [the boat] again entered the river, it met with but few obstructions. It had indeed to pass a number of inconsiderable falls, and some very shoal places; but from the sluices cut through the former, and the activity of the hands in managing over the latter, but little inconvenience was sustained from either.” The report allowed that the passage through Smiley’s Falls was rapid, but successful owing to wing dams, sluices and blasting that had been going on. Along the side of these long Sluices are erected substantial Stone Walls, which serve for towing paths for ascending boats.” (See also Observer 7/15/1830)

In fact, the level of optimism about the improvements to the upper Cape Fear was so high that some quarters seemed to think that boats, rather than wing dams were the missing ingredient. “As soon as it shall be generally known that there is a good navigation opened between Haywood and Fayetteville,” the Observer opined, “there is no doubt that the planters within a reasonable distance from the River, will avail themselves of this easy mode of sending their crops to market.” (Observer 6/10/1830) Even George M'Neill, no admirer of the Board of Internal Improvements, grudgingly admitted: "[T]he River was sluiced through Smiley's falls, and other falls between Fayetteville and Averasborough, which afforded a tolerable navigation for such bateaus as could pass the Canal and Locks at Buckhorn falls." (1838 Report)

The Backlash

In late 1830 increasing frustration with the Navigation Company led to sharp criticism in the newspapers. An anonymous letter to the editor of the Observer of 11/25/1830 bemoaned the navigation problems below Fayetteville and asked: “Why have not the stockholders for the last 3 years foreseen these fatal consequences at their general meetings? The only answer that can be given to that question is that the well known zeal manifested by Mr. [CFN Co. President James] Mebane in promoting operations above Fayetteville, and his representation of the 650 shares of stock owned by the State (and which generally constitutes a majority of stock represented at those meetings) precludes the possibility of any successful argument in favor of the true interests of the Company.” Still more criticism was published 12/2/1830 and on 12/23/1830. The Observer reported that a group of Wilmington residents had organized a petition to the legislature to revoke the CFN’s power to charge tolls on the river because of the shortcomings of the Company’s efforts between Fayetteville and Wilmington.

This critical sentiment was also reflected in the CFN Company’s annual report to the BII in 1830. "When the work now in progress, under the direction of your Board, between Fayetteville and Haywood is completed, it is hoped that the large sum expended at and about Buckhorn Falls will not be entirely unproductive. The Canal at and near Fayetteville is not likely to yield the company any income; but, on the contrary, it is a continual expense." (emphasis in original).

In 1831, there was evidently renewed unhappiness with the company in the legislature, as the Board of Internal Improvements was directed to assess the question of what had been accomplished by the Company . . .

For the rest of the story, please order a copy of the book via email: Mark_Chilton@hotmail.com

McCulloh's Petition to the King

I transcripted this from a hand written collection of Henry McCulloh's writings contained in the Manuscripts collection of Duke University:

General Observations in Relation to the Steps which were taken previous to the Earl of Granville’s division of the Two Carolina’s with the Crown

Lord Granville by His Petitions to His Majeesty humbly Prayed His Majesty that his one eighth part of the Soail of the Two Carolina’s might be set out and alotted to him in such part of the said Provinces asshould be Agreed on between such Persons a His Majesty should be pleased to appoint and such Persons as the said Lord Granville should name on his part.

His Majesty was pleased to referr the said Petition to the Right Homble the Lords of the Committee of Council and their Lordships referred the same to the Right Honble the Commissioners of Trade and Plantation for them to Consider thereof and Report their Opinion thereupon.

And in pursuance thereof their Lordships did Report That they conceived the method proposed by the said Lord Granville would be the most Effectual.

Which said Report the Lords off the Committee of His Majesies most Honble Privy Council did agree to and on the Twenty Fourth of August 1742 made their Report thereupn to His Majexty and gave it as their Opinion that the said Lord Granville’s Property should be Separated from that of His Majesty, and humbly proposed that proper Persons should be appointed as Commissioners on His Majesties behalf not exceeding Five who in Conjunction with the like Number of Persons to be appointed by the said Lord Granville, should be Impowered to Sett out and Alott to the said Lord Granville One full Eighth part of the said Provinces of Carolina in such part of parts of the siad Provinces as should be Agreed upon by the said Commissioners. And that they should be required to make a Return of their Proceedings to His Majexty in council within Eighteen Months from the dates of His Majesties Order. And alsoto lay before His Majesty A Plan containing a full and exact Description of the said Land together with the respective Boundaries thereof.

And for the better Guidance of the said Commissioners that it might be Advisable for His Majexty to require the said Commissioners to follow and Observe such Direstions and Instructions as might be given from time to time either by His Majesty or by those who act under His Majesties Royal Authority.

Which Report His Majesty was pleased to Approve of as may more fully and at large Appear by His Majesties Order of Council dated Fifteenth day of September 1742.
And in pursuance thereof His Majesty by His Royal Instructions thereupon given the Tenty fifith day of April 1743. Required and Commanded the Commissioners to make a Return of the whole of their Proceedings within Eighteen Months from the date of the said Order, and also required them to transmit a full and Exact description of the Lands so to be set out and Alotted to the said Lord Granville with the respective Boundaries thereof. And that the said Commissioners should follow such Instructions as might be found necessary to be given to them either by His Majesty or by those who act under His Majexties Royal Authority.

His Grace the Duke of Newcastle (as Conceived at Mr Belaquier’s Request) wrote a Letter to the Governor of North Carolina dated the Ninth of June 1743, including a Plan drawn in London of such part of North Carolina as was deemed to be an Eighth part of the whole of the said Province but His Grace did not direct that the Commissioners should follow the said plan and only sent it as what might be of Service to His Majesty’s Commissioners in making the said Division.
Mr. Belaquie by his Letter dated eleventh June 1743 to Col. Edward Moseley who was Lord Granville’s Agent inclosed to him a Map or Plan of said tract drawn by Mr. Warner in London with directions hiw to proceed in that matter for Ld. Granville’s Service.

And Mr. Belaquier in his Letter to me dated Eleventh June 1743 wished that his Lordship had Signed a Commission at Hanover Appointing Commissioner sin his behald, and had given the necessary Instructions to Mr. Moseley which were to be Communicated to me. That he had Transmitted to mr Moseley a Copy of the Duke of Newcastles’s Letter to the Governour dated the Ninth of June 1743 Including a Map or Draught of such a Tract of North Carolina adjoining to Virginia as is deemed to be an Eighth part of the whole, together with some ____ amd directions upon the same as what may possibly be of use to His Majesties Commissioners. And Mr. Balaquier further said that he had in Command from his Lordship to Assure Mr. McCulloh that His Lordship would be Obliged to him for his Complyance with the several Matters above mentioned.

I pray leave to Observe that as Lord Granville was then Secretary of State and that His Majexty had Commanded the Commissioners to Observe such Instructions as were given to them by those who Acted under His Majesties Royal Authority I did not Conceive myself to be at Liberty to Oppose Mr. Moseleye in any Matter which related to His Lordship.

The Commissioners in behalf of the Crown and those Appointed by Lord Granville met together in October 1743. And on looking into His Majesties Orders of Council and the other Letters and Papers transmitted to them Did not Apprehend themselves to be at Liberty to do any thing further than to lay out the Latitude, and then to run a West Line, and accordingly went upon that Duty without taking the Oaths usually required in such cases to do Justice to each of the Parties.

The Season of the Year being then far Advanced and the Commiss.ers being required to make a return within Eighteen Months from the date of His Majesties Order in Council, they did not run the West Line further than to a place called Pamticoe River.

The Return made to His Majesty by the Commissioners is dated the Sixth of December 1743 Setting forth that in pursuance of His Majesties Royal Order in Council dated Fifteenth September 1742 and Instructions dated 25th April 1743 they did set out and Alott to Lord Granville One full Eighth part of the Provinces of North Carolina next Adjoining to Virginia on the East by the great Western Ocean. And as for southwardly as a Cedar Stake set on the Sea side in the Latitude Twenty five Degrees and Thirty four Minutes North Latitude being Six Miles and an half to the southward of Chickinacomack Inlet from that Stake by a West Line which passed Tenty five Foot to the Southward of the House where Thomas Willis lived to the West as far as the Bounds limited by the Charter granted to the Late Lords Proprietors. Which West Line was run One Thousand Six hundred and sixty Poles to the North of the South end of Bath Town.

All which was most humbly Submitted &c &c &c.

At the time of making that Return a Plan was also Transmitted which had been Separated and set out for Lord Granville with a Scale of Miles Annexed thereto.

It is proper to Observe here that the Commissioners did not say that the Plan so Transmitted was a full and Exact description of the Return made by them nor in Truth was it, there being a Supposed Line given in the following words which were not contained in the Plan, namely So West as far as the bounds of the Charter granted to the late Lords Proprietors.

The Return was drawn up by Lord Granville’s own Agent, and so gave roo for the deception whicafterwards Appeared in the Prosecution of the said Affair.

By His Majesties Orders the Plan and Return were to Agree, as by the Plan would Apear what Extent of Country was Alotted to His Lordship. But the Commissioners having acted only by a Suppsed Plan sent to them they had not time to run the Boundary Line, not to perfect their Plan and Consequently sent in Open.

However this being about the time when Lord Granville resigned his Commission as Secretary of State, he was willing to have the matter determined. And the Affair was Represented to the Lords of the Committee of Council as to Cause in them an Opinion that the Return and Plan were one and the same as will more fully appear by the following Report.

The Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of Council on taking the said Returna nd Plan into Consideration the Nonth day of May 1744 were pleased to Report to His Majesty that the Commissioners having transmitted to His Majesty a Plan containing a full and Exact description of the said One Eighth part of the said Provinces or Territories so set out and alotted to the said Lord Granville Their Lordships were humbly of Opinion that His Majexty might be pleased to Approve of the said Return and Plan and the Alottment thereby made to the said Lord Granville. And that thererupon it might be advisable for His Majesty to Order his Attorney and Solicitor General to prepare the necessary Instruments or Deeds Conformable to what was ---- Contained in the aforesaid Reports.

It is to be Remarked that when the Return and the Plan were copied out in Order to be laid before His Majesties Attorney General, the following words were added to the Copy of the Return, Viz: “And the said Commissioners did pursuant to His Majesties Order in Council Transmit to His Majesty a Plan containing a Full and Exact Description of the said One Eighth part of the said Provinces or Territories so set out and Alotted to the said Lord Granville.”
It is very probable that if the above words had not been so added to or inserted in the Copy of the Return made by the Commissioners that His Majesties Attorney General would have perceived the great difference which really was between the Return and the Plan, so that the necessary Instruments and Deeds could not have been made out agreeable to what is contained in the aforementioned Reports.

The deeds as drawn by the Attorney General are worded with Extreme Caution and Convey to Lord Granville only such Eighth part of the said Provinces or Territories as are Separated set out and Alotted to Lord Granville.

Which words (as concieved) are really Conjunctive and so Lord Granville Cannot avail himself of any more Lands under the said Grant than what are Comprized within the Plan returned by the Commissioners Especially for that the said Plan and Report Annexed thereto as laid before the Attorney General are said to Conaitna a full and Exact description of the said One fulll Eighth part of the said Provinces or Territories so set out and Alotted to the said Lord Granville.
But Lord Granville being of Opinion that the supposed Line above mentioned might still be Carried into Execution and a New Line run out.

Mr. Moseley his Lordships Agent prevailed on the Governour to Appoint the same Commissioners who were formerly authorized by His Majesty (although their Commission was then Expired near Two Years) to meet such Commissioners as Lord Granville then Appointed. And they accordingly met the latter End of March 1746 and run a further Line for Lord Granville from Pamticoe River to the Westward of Nues River. And they having met again in September 1746 run a further Line from Nues River to the Westward of Peedee River including the whole of the said ___ survey about One hundred and forty Miles in length, and if the supposed Line should ___ be carried on, it will Extend at least Two hundred and fifty Miles further.
In running the said Lines the Commissioners did not make any Allowance for the difference which induced me at my own Expence to Employ one of His Majesties Deputy Surveyors to Measure the Distance between Lord Granville’s Line on Pedee River to the Virginia Line, and on Surveying of the same it was found that Lord Granville had Thirteen Miles and hald in Breadth more than he was Intitled to, even Admitting that the Commissioners had a Power to proceed further on the said supposed Line.

If Lord Granville should be Allowed to keep possession of all he Claims under the Supposed Line, One Fifth part and more of the Provinces of South and Norht Carolina will come within His Lordship’s Division, Whereby One Fourth part and more of the White Inhabitants of the said Colonies will be Included therein.

But if Lord Granville should be restrained or Limitted to what is Comprized in the first Survey and Plan returned thereon His Lordship will not possess above one Twelfth part of the Lands, Althoguh in Value and point of Settlement it is more than equal to an Eighth part of the whole Provinces.

My Motive in troubling your Royal Highness with the above Representation is to Evince the Truth of my former Remarks and shew that when the Rules of Office are dispensed with, not only the Crown but the Lords of the Privy Council are Subject to Surprize.