Guilford County NcArchives Military Records.....Paisley, Colonel John 
Revwar 
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Nancy Poquette npoq@hotmail.com May 26, 2006, 3:51 am

From The Life And Character Of Rev. David Caldwell, By The Rev. E. W. Caruthers, 1842, Greensboro, NC, Page 207-209:
	“His brother Alexander Caldwell was either in the army or away from 
home on business; and when he was away Dr. Caldwell was the only one to whom 
his wife and child could look for advice in difficulty or protection from 
danger. The plantations joined and the houses were not a mile apart. One 
evening about dusk, two men came there and were acting very rudely, seizing 
whatever they wished to carry away, ordering her to get supper for them, and 
etc. It is said they were British; one a sergeant or some subaltern officer, 
and the other a common soldier.”

	“General Greene had passed by Dr. Caldwell’s a few days before; 
Cornwallis was now passing within two or three miles on the other side [per the 
Hughes or Custom House Map, Cornwallis passed by on March 11 and 12, 1781]; and 
the supposition is that having camped somewhere in the vicinity, these men were 
sent out foraging, as others had been in other directions. There was no 
necessity for sending many together; for the militia companies were mostly out 
against the Tories; and several of the neighbors who were not fit for military 
service, or who could not leave their families consistently with their duty, 
were with Greene’s army; some having gone alone, and others had taken their 
families with them. As Greene passed by they took their wagons with the 
families in them and went along with the army merely for protection; but bore 
their own expenses and returned when they pleased.”

	“Of course when the British army passed through the country in pursuit 
of Greene, it met with no opposition; and the men thought that they could go 
anywhere without fear of molestation. Dr. Caldwell saw the two men above 
referred to, passing by the end of his lane after sunset; and as they were 
going towards his brother’s house, it occurred to him that perhaps he had 
better go over; but before he started or fully determined to go, Mrs. Caldwell 
sent a messenger informing him of the circumstances, and requesting his advice. 
He sent her word that she must treat them politely, get them as good a supper 
as she could, and as soon as practicable; but that she must be careful to 
notice where they put their guns, and set her table in the other end of the 
house; and in the meantime he would go over and conceal himself behind a 
certain haystack. She was moreover directed to let him know when the men sat 
down to supper; and to inform him correctly of all the arrangements.”

	“The house, like most others in the country at that time, was a double 
cabin, or a log house, with a chimney in the middle, an outer door to each 
apartment, and a communication from one end to the other; and she arranged 
everything according to the directions given. While the two men were engaged in 
demolishing what was on the table, without suspicion of danger or interruption, 
he went quietly into the other apartment, took up one of the guns which, of 
course he found loaded, and stepping to the door of the room in which they were 
so comfortably employed, presented it, and told them they were his prisoners, 
and that if they attempted to resist or escape their life would be the forfeit.”

	“As neither of them felt willing to die just at that time, they 
surrendered at once; and he marched them over to his own house where he kept 
them until morning; but it being inconvenient for him to keep them at his own 
expense, to say nothing of the risk he ran of being captured himself by some 
other party of the British or Tories, and Greene’s army being expected back in 
a short time, he put them on their parole by making them take a solemn oath on 
the Family Bible that they would not take up arms against the United States, 
nor in any way assist the British or Tories, but demean themselves peaceably 
and return to him on such a day. By that time he expected Greene’s army would 
be in the country or somewhere within reach; but in this he was disappointed.”

“However, they kept their word very honorably, and returned to him on the very 
day appointed; but as Greene had not come according to expectation, and it 
being uncertain when he would come, as he was employed in watching the 
movements of Cornwallis about Hillsborough, and waiting for more 
reinforcements, he put them on their parole again in the same way; and directed 
them to go and report themselves to Colonel Paisley. It was never known, nor is 
it now recollected, what became of them; for his own situation soon after 
became perilous; and Colonel Paisley being almost constantly out on duty he had 
no opportunity of seeing him until after the Guilford battle, when matters of 
that kind were pretty much forgotten. When the writer came into this country 
however, a number of years ago, the circumstance was well recollected by the 
old people then living; and it is still recollected by some of Dr. Caldwell’s 
family; for although they were then small, it made an impression which could 
not be erased, and it is believed that the fact as above related is 
substantially correct.”


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