Burke-Lincoln County NcArchives Biographies.....Duckworth, John 
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Nancy Poquette npoq@hotmail.com May 24, 2006, 2:39 am

Author: Col. Thomas George Walton

From Sketches of the Pioneers in Burke County History, by Col. Thomas George 
Walton, for the old Morganton Herald, 1894, reprinted by Southern Historical 
Press, PO Box 738, Easley, SC 29641-0738, pages 16-18:

	“John Duckworth was one of the few surviving soldiers of the Revolution 
in 1840. He was severely wounded in the Battle of Ramsour’s Mills, June 20, 
1780. A large rifle ball which entered his left was cut from his right side in 
1843, having carried this relic of the battle for sixty-three years. At a 
barbecue in Morganton in the Canvass for President in 1844, Governor Morehead 
exhibited this bullet in the course of a speech he made on that occasion, to a 
large assemblage of persons, producing a great sensation. Alexander Duckworth, 
his son, kept this relic as a precious heirloom.”

“In illustration of the character of this old soldier and patriot, I have to 
refer to circumstances and incidents in which I took, for the first time, an 
active part in a presidential election. It was in 1840, before the country was 
divided into townships, when a large vote was always given in Morganton, I 
circulated a general notice that there would be a grand rally of the Whigs on 
the morning of the elections at the forks of the Asheville and Rutherford 
roads, with refreshments of cakes and hard cider, and a large banner to be 
borne at the head of the procession by two Revolutionary soldiers, with this 
inscription painted in large letters upon the banner:

	“In the sweat of our brows we earn our bread,
	And vote for Harrison, Tyler and Morehead!”

	“I consulted my father (Thomas Walton), who had been for many years, 
agent for paying pensioners of the Revolution. He said there were only two 
living-John Duckworth of Hunting Creek, and George Hodge, of Muddy Creek. 
Writing, I invited them to come to my house the evening previous to the 
election. Duckworth came first, and inquired who was to carry the banner with 
him. I replied, ‘George Hodge.’ ‘He was a Tory; I will carry no Whig banner 
with him,’ said Duckworth. I said, ‘Mr. Duckworth, you are certainly mistaken; 
he has been receiving a pension for many years.’ ‘Well, he ought not. I know he 
was a Tory.’ I said, ‘This will place me in a very unpleasant dilemma. Mr. 
Hodge will be here in a very short time. He is a man of respectability and well 
off; he will be my guest. I have invited him, what am I to do?’ ‘I don’t know, 
but I won’t carry the banner with him,’ Duckworth insisted.”

	“Seeing no other way to overcome the difficulty, I proposed that after 
supper I would suggest to them to tell me some incidents of the war, and that 
Duckworth could then charge Hodge with having been a Tory. ‘I’ll do it,’ was 
the answer. When Mr. [page 18, no text on page 17] Hodge came, Duckworth 
treated him very coolly. After supper I asked them to tell me about the part 
they took in the old war, hoping that Hodge would satisfy Duckworth that he was 
on the right side. After some conversation, Mr. Duckworth said, ‘Were you ever 
in Ferguson’s camp?’ ‘Yes, sir,’ said Hodge. ‘When and where?’ said 
Duckworth. ‘After the battle of King’s Mountain was over I went with other 
Whigs to see the dead Colonel Ferguson; he was shot under the right eye,’ said 
Hodge. ‘That is true’, said Duckworth, ‘but you were in Ferguson’s camp at 
another time, when you took his foragers to Mrs. Hemphill’s and took her 
sheep.’ ‘It is a lie, whoever says it.’”

	“Duckworth sprung to his feet, and there would have been a collision 
between these two gamecocks but for my interposition. Hodge said, ‘Duckworth, 
you know none but Whigs went when General Griffith Rutherford called for 
volunteers to crush the Cherokee Indians, who were gathering their warriors to 
join the British and Tories. I have my discharge after the suppression of the 
Cherokees.’ Duckworth made no reply.”

	“Early next morning I asked Duckworth if Hodge had satisfied him. An 
emphatic ‘No’ was the answer. I then went to Hodge and told him the banner was 
heavy and I thought it would be best to get a young man representing the Whigs 
of the day, to assist in bearing it, and as Duckworth was better known in this 
neighborhood, it would be better policy that he should represent the Whigs of 
the Revolution. ‘As for yourself,’ I said, ‘You shall have a prominent place in 
the procession. I am satisfied you were as good a patriot as Duckworth.’ He 
replied, ‘Oh, it makes no difference to me; I am now, and have always been a 
Whig. I will take any place in the procession you may like.’”

	“Going early to the place designated, I found a large crowd assembled, 
having printed in large letters on a strip of white paper (to be used in hat 
bands) the words, ‘No Sub-Treasury-No Negro Testimony’, two of the many charges 
made by his opponents against Van Buren. I called upon the crowd to put the 
bands around their hats. They refused, saying that would be making ‘collar men’ 
of them. I said, ‘Here is an old soldier who put, with other Whigs, a strip of 
white paper around their hats at the battle of Ramsour’s Mills, to distinguish 
them from the Tories.’ ‘That is so,’ said Duckworth, ‘I was Whig then and now; 
give me one.’ This caused a general rush for the strips and their hats were 
decorated with this denunciation of the Democratic candidates.”


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