Lincoln County, NC - The History of Lincoln County, Part 1

                            ~~~~~~~~~~

The North Carolina Booklet

Vol. IX

The History of Lincoln County

By Alfred Nixon

I would like to tender my sincere appreciation to them for this
History. Many of the individuals named in their Grandfathers'
history are familiar to me and to others researching in Lincoln
County N.C.

Mr. Alfred Nixon has indeed left a legacy that will live for many
years after him.

The Colonial Period.
 Lincoln County was born mid the throes of the American
Revolution, and christened for a patriot soldier, then battling for
independence. Prior to that time, while Carolina was a Province of
Great Brittain, in the bestowal of names there was manifest a desire
to please royalty: New Hanover was called for the House of Hanover;
Bladen, in honor of Martin Bladen, one of the Lords Commissioners of
Trade and Plantations; Anson, set up in 1749 from Bladen, derived
its name from Admiral Anson, of the English Navy, who in 1761 was
charged with the mission of bringing to her marriage with George the
Third, Charlotte of Mecklenburg. So, when the western part of Anson
was set up into a county in 1762, it was called Mecklenburg, with
county seat the Queen City of Charlotte, in compliment to the wife
of His Majesty, George the Third. As the settlements extended
westward from the Atlantic seaboard new counties were formed to meet
the convenience of the inhabitants. In 1768, Mecklenburg was divided
"by a line beginning at Earl Granville's line, where it crosses the
Catawba River and the said river to be the line to the South
Carolina line, and all that part of the county lying to the westward
of the said dividing line shall be one other distinct county and
parish, and remain by the name of Tryon County and Saint Thomas
Parish." The name Tryon was given in honor of His Excellency,
William Tryon, Royal Governor of the province.

  William Tryon, an officer in the regular army of Great Brittain,
landed at Cape Fear October the 10th, 1764, with a commission as
Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. His administration as Governor
of North Carolina lasted from the death of Governor Dobbs, 28th
March, 1765, to the 30th day of June, 1771, when he was appointed
Governor of New York. In the rupture with Great Brittain, he was a
Major-General in command of American Loyalists, vainly endeavoring
to re-establish Royal Rule. He remained nominally Governor of New
York until March 22, 1780. The name of Governor Tryon appears at the
head of the list of names enumerated in the Confiscation Acts of
both North Carolina and New York, and the county of Tryon in each
states was expunged from the map. Tryon Mountain and Tryon City in
the county of Polk, and one of the principal streets in the city of
Charlotte yet preserve his name. Shortly after relinquishing the
government of New York, he sailed for England, where he rose to
the rank of Lieutenant-General. He died in London, the 27th of
January, 1788, aged 58 years.

   The War of the Revolution rages. The patriots are battling for
independence. Oppressions of the Royal Governor have made his name
odious. "The large extent of the county of Tryon renders the
attendance of the inhabitants on the extreme parts of said county to
do public duties extremely difficult and expensive. For remedy
whereof," the General Assembly in 1779, instead of setting the
western part off into a new county, as had been its custom, blotted
the name of Tryon from the list of counties and divided its
territory into two counties, "by a line beginning at the south line
near Broad River, thence along the dividing ridge between Buffalo
Creek and Little Broad River to the line of Burke County"; and to
the two counties thus formed were given the names of two patriotic
soldiers. The western portion named Rutherford in honor of Griffith
Rutherford, of Rowan County, a Brigadier-General in the Revolution;
and the eastern portion Lincoln, in compliment to Maj.-General
Benjamin Lincoln, of Rhode Island, commander of the Southern Armies.

  Benjamin Lincoln was born January 23rd, 1733 at Hingham, about
thirteen miles from Boston. In February, 1777, he was appointed
Major-General in the Revolutionary Army and served with gallantry
throughout the struggle. At the request of the delegation in
Congress from South Carolina, he was assigned to command the Army in
the South. In 1780 General Lincoln was forced to surrender to the
superior force of the British at Charleston. When exchanged he
resumed the service, and was at the surrender of Cornwallis at York
Town, where the generous Washington designated him to receive the
conquered arms of the British. He was appointed Secretary of War in
1781, with permission to retain his rank in the army. He died in the
house of his birth 9th of May, 1810.

   When Tryon was divided the Tryon court-house fell in Lincoln
county, and the courts of Lincoln were held there until April, 1783,
and the Tryon records are still in Lincolnton. The pioneers came
into what is now Lincoln County between the years 1745 and 1749,
when it was Bladen County; they continued to come until the American
Revolution. So the pioneer history of Lincoln County is covered by
Bladen, Anson, Mecklenburg and Tryon counties. The Tryon records
cover ten years of the Colonial history of Lincoln County, 1769 to
1779. When Tryon was formed, the first settlers had not been here
more than a score of years. The Tryon records contain many quaint
things, mingled with matters of grave public concern, and a glance
at them is of interest to the student of Lincoln County history.

Tryon County

   In a letter of Governor Tryon of date December 12th, 1768, he
describes Tryon County as "forty-five miles in breadth due north and
south and eighty miles due east and west it having been found to be
that distance from the Catawba River to the western frontier line
which was run last year between the Cherokee hunting grounds and
this Province." The site for the public buildings was not fixed
until 1774. As there was no court-house the courts during this time
were held at private residences that happened to be convenient and
suitable for the purpose.

   The Tryon records begin with these words: "North Carolina, Tryon
County. Pursuant to Act of Assembly of the Province aforesaid
bearing date the fifth of December, 1768, in the ninth year of his
Majesty's reign, for dividing Mecklenburg into two distinct counties
by the name of Mecklenburg County and Tryon County and for other
purposes in the said Act mentioned." His Majesty's commission under
the great seal of the Province appointing certain justices to keep
the peace for the county of Tryon is read.

Ezekiel Polk, Clerk, John Tagert, Sheriff, and Alexander Martin,
Attorney for the Crown, produce commissions and take oaths of
office. Waightsill Avery produces license of attorney and takes oath
of office.

   The court records, beginning at April sessions, 1769, are in the
handwriting of Ezekiel Polk , the first clerk, who lived near King's
Mountain. Ezekiel Polk removed to Mecklenburg County, and afterwards
became famous through his grandson, James K. Polk, President of the
United States.

   The Tryon Courts were styled the "County Court of Pleas and
Quarter Sessions." In this court deeds and wills were probated,
estates settled, land entries recorded, guardians appointed, orphans
apprenticed, highways opened, overseers appointed, and many other
matters attended to. There were grand and petit juries and an
"attorney for the crown."

   These courts convened quarterly and continued without material
change until the adoption of the constitution of 1868.

   The Courts of Oyer and Terminer, corresponding to our Superior
Courts, were District Courts, several counties comprising one
district. Tryon county was in Salisbury District and each county
appointed its quota of jurors to attend the Salisbury Court. In 1782
the Salisbury District was divided, and Lincoln and other western
counties were declared a separate district by the name of Morgan,
where the judges of the Superior Courts shall sit twice every year
and hold a Superior Court of law. Lincoln County remained in the
Morgan District, the courts being held at Morgan town, until 1806,
when a Superior Court was established in each county of the State to
be held twice every year.

   The Tryon Court was organized at Charles McLean's and the Quarter
Sessions for the years 1769, 1770, and 1771, were held at his house.
He lived in the southern part of what is now Gaston county, on the
headwaters of Crowder's Creek, near Crowder's Mountain. Charles
McLean was an early, active, and zealous friend of liberty. At
January Sessions of 1770 he produced his Excellency's commission
appointing him captain in the Tryon Regiment of Foot, and took the
oath of office. In 1774 he was one of his Majesty's justices, and
chairman of the committee appointed to select a permanent site for
the court-house of Tryon county. He was a delegate from Tryon county
to the Provincial Congress at Halifax, 4th April, 1776; also
representing Tryon county in Assembly during the years 1777 and
1778. Between sessions, as colonel of the Tryon Regiment, he was
actively engaged against western Tories.

   The criminal docket of Tryon is marked "Crown Docket," and the
indictments are now brought in the name of the "King" or "Rex," as
we now use "State." The minutes of a few cases tried at the first
term will serve to show the administration of justice: "The King v.
John Doe. Petty larceny. Jury empaneled finds the defendant guilty
of the charge against him. Judgement by the Court that the defendant
be detained in the Sheriff's custody till the costs of this
prosecution be paid, and that at the hour of one o'clock of this day
the said defendant on his bare back at the public whipping post
receive thirty-nine lashes well laid on. "Rex v. Thomas Pullham.
Profane swearing. Submitted and fined five shillings." "The King v.
John Case. Sabbath breaking. Defendant pleads guilty, fined ten
shillings and the cost." "The King v. John Carson. Neglect of the
King's highway. Submitted and fined one shilling and sixpence."
Letters testamentary granted Nicholas Welsh on the estate of John
Welsh, deceased. William Wilson, appointed overseer of the road from
the South Fork to Charles Town in that part of King's Mountain and
Ezekiel Polk's and the head of Fishing Creek. The road orders extend
to the "temporary line between So. and No., Carolina." At October
Sessions the claims against Tryon County for the year 1769, include
a charter, twenty pounds expenses in sending the charter, eight
pounds; Charles McLean, to two courts held at his house, five
pounds; other items swell the amount to seventy-one pounds, sixteen
shillings, and ten pence; and a tax of three shillings and two pence
was levied on each of the 1221 taxable persons in Tryon county to
meet the same.

   At July Term, 1770, "Thomas Camel came into court and proved that
the lower part of his ear was bit off in a fight with Steven Jones,
and was not taken off by sentence of law; certified by whom it may
concern." At a later term, "James Kelly comes into open Court of his
own free will and in the presence of said court did acknowledge that
in a quarrel between him and a certain Leonard Sailor on the evening
of the 2nd day of June, 1773, he did bite off the upper part of the
left ear of him, the said Leonard Sailor, who prays that the same be
recorded in the minutes of the said court." This confession gave
James Kelly such standing in the esteem of his Majesty's Justices
that at the same term it was ordered by the Court that James Kelly
serve as constable in the room of George Trout and that he swear in
before Thomas Espy, Esq." From the court entries biting off ears was
a popular way of fighting, but whole ears were at least an outward
sign of honesty.

   An old parchment, yellowed with age, labeled "Charter of Tryon
County," encased in a frame, with great wax seal appended hangs on
the court-house walls. It is addressed in the name of his Majesty,
"George the Third by the Grace of God of Great Brittain, France, and
Ireland, King Defender of the Faith, and so forth, To All and
Singular our Faithful Subjects, Greeting," and is officially
attested by "our trusty and well-beloved William Tryon, our Captain-
General, Governor and Commander-in-Chief." at Wilmington, 26th June,
1769. It authorized Tryon County to elect and send two
representatives to sit and vote in the House of Assembly.

   The Quarter Sessions of 1772 were held at Christian Reinhardt's.
The site of his house is now in the northern corporate limits of the
town of Lincolnton, on the Ramsour Battle Ground. The Tories were
encamped around his house, and after the battle it was used as a
hospital. His house was built of heavy hewn logs, with a basement
and stone foundation, that served some of the purposes of a fort
both during the Indian Troubles and the Revolution. Some evidence of
its strength is furnished by this item from the record of July
Sessions, 1783: "Ordered by the Court that Christian Reinhardt's
loft be the public gaol of said county until the end of next court,
October Term, 1783."

   The courts of 1773 and 1774 were held at Christopher Carpenter's.
He lived in the Beaver Dam section. There were some half-dozen
Carpenters among the pioneers. Their signatures to all early deeds
and wills are written in the German, Zimmerman.

   The commissioners appointed by Act of Assembly to select the
place whereon to erect and build the court-house, prison and stocks
of Tryon County, on 26th July, 1774, reported their selection of the
place "called the crossroads on Christopher Mauney's land, between
the heads of Long Creek, Muddy Creek, and Beaver Dam Creek in the
county aforesaid as most central and convenient for the purpose
aforesaid." The county court adjourned to meet at the "house of
Christy Mauney or the cross-roads in his land." The site of the old
Tryon court-house is eight miles south-west of Lincolnton, in Gaston
County. October Sessions, 1774, were held at the house of Christian
Mauney, and a room in his dwelling was used as a jail.

   The old county of Lincoln, with its fine farms and beautiful
homes, dotted with towns and villages, and musical with the hum of
machinery, the pioneers found a wild, luxuriant with native flora,
the habitat of the red man and wild animals. There were herds of
fleet-footed deer; there were clumsy brown bears and fierce wild
cats and panthers; there were droves of buffalo, and countless
beavers building their dams on the creeks. The early settlers waged
a relentless war on these animals and set a bounty on many of their
scalps. The scalps on which a price was set were the wolf, panther,
wild cat, and such other as preyed on domestic animals. For killing
a grown wolf the price was one pound; a young wolf ten shillings; a
wild cat five shillings. The claims filed in court were for "scalp
tickets." As late as October Sessions, 1774, there were audited in
favor of individuals forty-nine "wolf scalp tickets." We still
retain Indian, Beaver Dam, and Buffalo Creeks, Bear Ford, Wolf Gulch,
and Buffalo Mountain, Buffalo Shoals, and the Indian names
Catawba and Tuckaseegee, memorials of these primeval days.

   In Tryon County there were many loyal subjects of the king, and
there was likewise a gallant band of patriots who as early as
August, 1775, adopted and signed the following bold declaration:

   "The unprecedented, barbarous and bloody actions committed by
British troops on our American brethren near Boston, on 19th April
and 20th of May last, together with the hostile operations and
treacherous designs now carrying on, by the tools of ministerial
vengeance, for the subjugation of all British America, suggest to us
the painful necessity of having recourse to arms in defense of our
National freedom and constitutional rights, against all invasions;
and at the same time do solemnly engage to take up arms and risk our
lives and our fortunes in maintaining the freedom of our country
whenever the wisdom and counsel of the Continental Congress or our
Provincial Convention shall declare it necessary; and this
engagement we will continue in for the preservation of those rights
and liberties which the principals of our Constitution and the laws
of God, nature and nations have made it our duty to defend. We
therefore, the subscribers, freeholders and inhabitants of Tryon
Couny, do here by faithfully unite ourselves under the most solemn
ties of religion, honor and love to our county, firmly to resist
force by force, and hold sacred till a reconciliation shall take
place between Great Brittain and America on Constitutional
principals, which we most ardently desire,and do firmly agree to
hold all such persons as inimical to the liberties of America who
shall refuse to sign this association. (Signed) John Walker, Charles
McLean, Andrew Neel, Thomas Beatty, James Coburn, Frederick
Hambright, Andrew Hampton, Benjamin Hardin, George Paris, William
Graham, Robt. Alexander, David Jenkins, Thomas Espey, Perrygreen
Mackness, James McAfee, William Thompson, Jacob Forney, Davis
Whiteside, John Beeman, John Morris, Joseph Harden, John Robison,
James McIntyre, Valentine Mauney, George Black, Jas. Logan, Jas.
Baird, Christian Carpenter, Abel Beatty, Joab Turner, Jonathan
Price, Jas. Miller, John Dellinger, Peter Sides, William Whiteside,
Geo. Dellinger, Samuel Carpenter, Jacob Mauney, Jun., John Wells,
Jacob Costner, Robert Hulclip, James Buchanan, Moses Moore, Joseph
Kuykendall, Adam Simms, Richard Waffer, Samuel Smith, Joseph Neel,
Samuel Loftin.

   In 1777 an act was passed establishing State courts, providing
that all suits and indictments instituted and fines imposed "in the
name or the use of the King of Great Brittain, when this territory
was under his government, and owed allegiance to him, and all
breaches on penal statues directed to be prosecuted in the name of
the king shall be prosecuted and proceeded in the name of the
State." This act terminated the "Crown Docket." and the King or Rex
as prosecutor. The "State Docket" begins at October Sessions 1777.

   The change of government from royal to state in Tryon County was
consummated without a jar. The last Tryon court was held January,
1779. During this year Tryon is blotted from the list of counties
and War of the Revolution is in progress. Lincoln County became the
scene of many thrilling Revolutionary events.

The Battle of Ramsour's Mill

   The Tories were embodied at Ramsour's Mill through the efforts of
Lieut.-Col. John Moore and Maj. Nicholas Welch. These officers left
the victorious British on the march from Charleston and arrived at
their homes early in June, 1780. Moses Moore, the father of Colonel
Moore, was a native of Carlyle, England, married a Miss Winston,
near Jamestown, Virginia, and came to this section with the
pioneers. Esther, a sister of Colonel Moore, married Joshua Roberts,
a patriot soldier. The late Capt. John H. Roberts, a grandson, lived
on the Moore homestead. It is situate on Indian Creek, eight miles
southwest of Ramsour's Mill. Colonel Moore was an active partisan
throughout the Revolution. Major Welch was a son of John Welch, and
was reared next neighbor to Colonel Moore on Indian Creek. He was of
Scottish descent, of great fluency of speech and fine persuasive
power. They bore English commissions, were arrayed in splendid
official equipments and made lavish display of British gold. By the
twentieth of June, these zealous loyalists collected at Ramsour's
Mill a force of 1,300 Tories, and were actively engaged in their
organization and drill preparatory to marching them to unite with the
British in South Carolina. They occupied a well-chosen and advantageous
position for offense and defence. It was on a high ridge that slopes
three hundred yards to the mill and Clarke's Creek on the west and the
same distance to a branch on the east.

   Col. Francis Locke collected a force of Rowan and Mecklenburg
militia to engage the Tories. His detachments met at Mountain Creek,
sixteen miles from Ramsour's on Monday, the 19th, and when united
amounted to four hundred men. They marched at once to the assault of
the Tory position. At dawn of day on the morning of the 20th, in two
miles of Ramsour's, they were met by Adam Reep, a noted scout, with a
few picked men from the vicinity of the camp, who detailed to Colonel
Locke the position of the enemy, and the plan of attack was formed. The
mounted men under Captains McDowell, Brandon, and Falls, marching
slowly were to follow the road due west to the camp, and not attack
until the footmen under Colonel Locke could detour to the south, and
reach the foot of the hill along the Tuckaseegee road, and make a
simultaneous assault. They proceeded without other organization or
order, it being left to the officers to be governed by circumstances
when they reached the enemy.

   The mounted men came upon the Tory picket some distance from the
camp, were fired upon, charged the Tory camp, but recoiled from their
deadly fire. The firing hurried Colonel Locke into action, a like
volley felled many of his men, and they likewise retired. The Tories,
seeing the effect of their fire, came down the hill and were in fair
view. The Whigs renewed the action, which soon became general and
obstinate on both sides. In about an hour the Tories began to fall back
to their original position on the ridge, and a little beyond its
summit, to shield a part of their bodies from the destructive fire of
the Whigs, who were fairly exposed to their fire. In this situation the
Tory fire became so effective the Whigs fell back to the bushes near
the branch; and the Tories, leaving their safe position, pursued half
way down the hill. At this moment Captain Hardin led a company of Whigs
into the field from the south and poured a galling fire into the right
flank of the Tories. Some of the Whigs obliqued to the right, and
turned the left flank of the Tories; while Captain Sharpe led a few men
beyond the crest of the ridge, and, advancing from tree to tree, with
unerring aim picked off the enemy's officers and men, and hastened the
termination of the conflict. The action now became close and warm. The
combatants mixed together, and having no bayonets, struck at each other
with the butts of their guns. When the Whigs reached the summit they
saw the Tories collected beyond the creek, with a white flag flying.
Fifty Tories, unable to make the bridge, were taken prisoners. Those
beyond soon di spersed and made their escape. One-fourth of the Tories
were unarmed, and they with a few others retired at the commencement of
the battle.

   Seventy men, including the five Whig and four Tory captains, lay
dead on the field, and more than two hundred were wounded, the loss on
each side being about equal. In this contest, armed with the deadly
rifle, blood relatives and familiar acquaintances and near neighbors
fought in the opposing ranks, and as the smoke of the battle
occasionally cleared away recognized each other in the conflict.

The Battle of King's Mountain

   Col. Patrick Ferguson pitched his camp on the summit of King's
Mountain, the 6th of October, 1780. So well pleased was he with his
position that he gave vent to the impious boast that God Almighty could
not drive him from it. In his army were eleven hundred men, brave and
well disciplined, every one of whom knew what actual fighting meant.
The patriot army aggregated a like number of eleven hundred men. Their
only weapon was the long-barreled rifle in whose use they were experts.
Ferguson had out foraging parties, and some of the patriots on foot
could not keep up with the march, so it is probable the combatants on
each side numbered nine hundred men.

   To Colonel Shelby is due the inception of the campaign and much of
the mobilization of the patriot army. To its successful culmination the
little band of Lincoln men, sixty in number, contributed their full
share. They united with the mountain men in pursuit of Ferguson at the
Cowpens about sunset on October the 6th. Between 8 and 9 o'clock of the
same evening the army set out toward King's Mountain in quest of
Ferguson. Enock Gilmer, an advance scout, dined at noon of the 7th with
a Tory family. From them he learned that Ferguson's camp was only three
miles distant, on a ridge between two creeks, where some deer hunters
had a camp the previous fall. Major Chronicle and Captain Mattocks
stated that the camp was theirs and that they well knew the ground on
which Ferguson was encamped; whereupon it was agreed that they should
plan a battle. They rode a short distance by themselves, and reported
that it was an excellent place to surround Ferguson's army; that the
shooting would all be uphill with no danger of destroying each other.
The officers instantly agreed to the plan, and without stopping began
to arrange their men, assigning to each officer the part he was to take
in surrounding the mountain. To the north side were assigned Shelby,
Williams, Lacey and Cleveland, and on the south side Campbell, Sevier,
McDowell, and Winston, while the Lincoln men, under Lieutenant Col.
Frederick Hambright, were to attack the northeast end of the mountain.
It was three o'clock in the afternoon when the patriots reached their
position, and Campbell's men were first to fire into the enemy. His
column was charged by Ferguson's men with fixed bayonets, and driven
down the mountain side. Shelby was advancing in quick time from the
other side, so the enemy found it necessary to give attention to
Shelby's assault, when Campbell's men returned to the fight, and Shelby
and his men were forced to retreat before the dashing charge of
Ferguson's bayonets. thus back and forth, Campbell, Sevier, McDowell
and Winston on the one side, Shelby, Williams, Lacey, and Cleveland on
the other, charged up the mountain and were driven back, only to renew
the charge, until the mountain was enveloped in flame and smoke, and
the rattle of musketry sounded like thunder.

   The South Fork boys marched to their position with quick step, Major
Chronicle ten paces in advance, and heading the column were Enock
Gilmer, Hugh Ewin, Adam Barry, and Robert Henry. Arriving at the end of
the mountain, Major Chronicle cried, "Face to the Hill!" The words were
scarcely uttered when they were fired upon by the enemy's
sharp-shooters, and Major Chronicle and William Rabb fell dead. But
they pressed up the hill under the leadership of Lieutenant-Colonel
Hambright, Maj. Jos. Dixon, Capts. James Johnson, Samuel Espy, Samuel
Martin, and James White. Before they reached the crest, the enemy
charged bayonets, first , however, discharging their guns, killing
Captain Mattocks and John Boyd and wounding Gilmer and John Chittim. As
Robert Henry, a lad of sixteen, raised his gun to fire, a bayonet
glanced along the barrel, through his hand and into his thigh. Henry
discharged his gun, killing the Briton and both fell to the ground.
Henry observed that many of his comrades were not more than a gun's
length in front of the bayonets and the farthest not more than twenty
feet. Reaching the foot of the hill, they reloaded, and fired with
deadly effect upon their pursuers, in turn chasing their enemies up the
mountain. William Caldwell, seeing Henry's condition, pulled the
bayonet out of his thigh, kicked his hand from the bloody instrument
and passed on. Thus the battle raged on all sides. No regiment, no man
failed to do his duty. The unerring aim of the mountain men from behind
every tree and every rock was rapidly diminishing the brave fighters
under Ferguson, who began to despair. At the end of an hour Ferguson
was killed and a white flag was hoisted in token of surrender. Three
hundred of his men were dead and wounded, and six hundred prisoners.
The Americans suffered a loss of twenty-eight killed and seventy-four
wounded.

   Thus was fought one of the decisive battles of the Revolution. It
was the enemy's first serious disaster and turned the tide of war.
Ferguson and his army were wiped out of existence. Its immediate result
was to check the enemy's progress until the patriots could muster
strength for his final overthrow.

   The Lincoln County men, considering their small number, suffered
considerably in the engagement: Maj. William Chronicle, Capt. John
Mattocks, William Rabb, John Boyd and Arthur Patterson were killed;
Moses Henry died soon thereafter in the hospital at Charlotte of the
wound he received in the battle; Capt. Samuel Espey, Robert Henry,
William Gilmer, John Chittim, and William Bradley were wounded. The
Tories, shooting down the steep mountain side, much of their aim was
too high. Lieutenant-Colonel Hambright's hat was perforated with three
bullet holes, and he received a shot through the thigh, his boot filled
and ran over with blood, but he remained in the fight till the end,
gallantly encouraging his men.

Cornwallis In Pursuit Of Morgan

   Morgan defeated Colonel Tarleton in a signal victory at the Cowpens,
South Carolina, 17th January, 1781. In less than an hour five-hundred
of Tarleton's Legion were prisoners, the remainder were slain and
scattered, and he scampering in mad haste to Cornwallis, then but
twenty-five miles distant. General Morgan, anxious to hold every one of
his prisoners to exchange for the Continental line of North Carolina
captured at Charleston, and then languishing on British prison ships,
while Cornwallis, in command of 4,000 well-equipped veterans, gave
pursuit. Colonel Washington's calvary, with the prisoners, safely
crossed the Catawba at the Island ford; the prisoners were sent on,
while Washington rejoined General Morgan, who had crossed with the main
army eight or nine miles farther down at Sherrill's Ford, where they
tarried awhile on the eastern bank.

   The British came by way of the old Tryon court-house. Cornwallis
says "I therefore assembled the army on the 25th at Ramsour's Mill on
the south fork of the Catawba, and as the loss of my light troops could
only be remedied by the activity of the whole corps, I employed a halt
of two days in collecting some flour, and destroying superfluous
baggage, and all my wagons except those loaded with hospital stores,
and four reserved in readiness for sick and wounded." Steadman says
that Lord Cornwallis, "by first reducing the size and quantity of his
own, set an example which was cheerfully followed by all the officers
in his command, although by so doing they sustained a considerable
loss. No wagons were reserved except those loaded with hospital stores,
salt and ammunition, and four empty ones for the accommodation of the
sick and wounded. And such was the ardour, both of officers and
soldiers, and their willingness to submit to any hardship for the
promotion of the service, that this arrangement, which deprived them of
all future supply of provisions, was acquiesced in without a murmur."

   Cornwallis crossed the South Fork River at the Reep ford, one mile
from Ramsour's Mill, and pitched his marquee on the Ramsour
battle-ground; O'Hara remained on the west bank of the river at the
Reep place; Webster occupied the hill west of Ramsour's Mill; while
Tarleton who had crossed the river three miles lower down, between the
Laboratory and the present railway bridge, in rejoining his chief,
camped on the hill south of Cornwallis. Foraging parties were sent out
in different directions to collect grain, and Ramsour's Mill was kept
running day and night converting the grain into flour to replenish his
Lordship's commissary.

   In the destruction of baggage, Cornwallis first ordered his splendid
camp chest burned. His mahogany tea chest with the remainder of his
tea, and six solid silver spoons, he sent to Mrs. Barbara Reinhardt,
wife of Christian Reinhardt, with a note requesting she accept them.
These presents were treasured and carefully preserved. At the breaking
out of the Civil War they belonged to a granddaughter, whose sons were
Confederate volunteers. Believing an old saying that whoever carries
anything in war that was carried in another war by a person not killed,
will likewise be unharmed, she gave each of her sons one of the silver
spoons, and the others to neighbor boys, and in this way the spoons
were lost and Federal bullets shattered faith in their charm. the chest
is yet preserved. After the conflagration many irons were tumbled in
the mill-pond while others left on the ground were picked up by
citizens. The mill-dam was taken down the next summer and much iron
valuable to the farmers taken out. A few defective muskets were found;
also one piece of artillery, so damaged it was not removed from the
mud. Where the whiskey and rum bottles were broken the fragments lay in
heaps for years. These were afterwards gathered up and sold to the
potters for glazing purposes.

   To this destruction of his whole material train and necessary outfit
for a winter campaign Judge Schenck attributes the final discomfiture
of Cornwallis at Guilford Court House. The supplies he burned could not
be replaced short of Wilmington, and thither he was compelled to go
when a reverse met his arms.

   While here Cornwallis requested Christian Reinhardt to point out
Colonel Moore's position, and describe the battle of Ramsour's Mill. At
the conclusion his only observation was that Colonel Moore had a fine
position, but did not have the tact to defend it; that he ought not to
have risked a battle but should have fallen back to Ferguson.

   Early on the morning of the 28th the British broke camp and marched
toward Beattie's Ford, a distance of twelve miles to Jacob Forney's.
The moving Britons, in scarlet uniforms with glittering muskets, made
an impressive sight, and tradition still preserves their route. Jacob
Forney was a thrifty farmer and well-known Whig. Here they encamped
three days, consuming his entire stock of cattle, hogs, sheep and
poultry, and taking his horses and forty gallons of brandy. Some state
that Cornwallis approached the Catawba on the evening of the 28th, and
found it considerably swollen and impassable for his infantry and this
caused him to fall back to Jacob Forney's plantation.

The Battle of Cowan's Ford

   The tardiness of Cornwallis was not altogether due to the flushed
condition of the Catawba, however much the swollen waters of the Yadkin
and the Dan may have later impeded his pursuit. The prime cause of
delay was the vigilance of the Whigs in guarding the several fords. On
the approach of the British, Gen. William Davidson placed guards at the
Tuckaseegee, Tool's and Cowan's fords; with his greatest force and
Capt. Joseph Graham's cavalry troops, he took position himself at
Beattie's Ford; while Morgan and Washington were at Sherrill's Ford.
Cornwallis kept posted on these dispositions. Cowan's was a private
ford, guarded only by Lieut. Thomas Davidson with twenty-five men.
After getting the best information he could obtain, Cornwallis resolved
to attempt the passage at Cowan's Ford. Each army was keeping close
watch on the movements of the other. On the 30th Captain Graham's
cavalry was dispatched across Beattie's Ford and ascertained that the
British were encamped within four miles, and in two miles they
discovered one hundred of the enemy's cavalry, who followed them to the
river but kept a respectful distance, evincing fear of an ambuscade.
Green, Morgan, and Washington came to Davidson's headquarters at
Beattie's Ford on the afternoon of the 31st and held a consultation.
The British vanguard of four or five hundred men appeared on the
opposite hill beyond the river and viewed the American position. After
General Green's departure, leaving a portion of his force at Beattie's
Ford, under Colonel Farmer, General Davidson, with 250 men and the
cavalry, marched down the river four miles to Cowan's Ford, where he
arrived after dark.

   The river at Cowan's Ford is one-fourth of a mile wide. The wagon
ford went directly across the river. The horse ford, entering at the
same place, obliqued down the river, through an island and came out on
the Mecklenburg side a quarter mile lower down. The latter was the
shallower and most used, and the one the British were expected to
follow, so General Davidson took position on the hill overlooking this
ford. Above the coming-out place of the wagon ford was a narrow strip
of level bottom, and then an abrupt hill. Lieutenant Davidson's picket
remained at their post on this level strip, fifty steps above the
landing and near the water's edge.

   Cornwallis broke camp at one in the morning of the first of
February, and detached Lieutenant-Colonel Webster with that part of the
army and all the baggage to Beattie's Ford, where General Davidson was
supposed to be posted, with direction to make every possible
demonstration by cannonading and otherwise of an intention of forcing a
passage, while he marched to Cowan's Ford, arriving at the bank of the
river as day began to break. The command of the front was given to
Colonel Hall of the Guards. Under the guidance of Frederick Hager, a
Tory living on the west bank, employed by Cornwallis on account of his
familiarity with the ford, the bold Britons plunged into the river,
with the firm determination of encountering the small band of Americans
on the eastern bank. When one hundred yards in the river they were
discovered and fired upon by Lieutenant Davidson's picket which aroused
the guard, who kept up the fire, but the enemy continued to advance. No
sooner did the guide who attended the light infantry to show them the
ford, hear the report of the sentinel's musket that he turned around
and left them. This, at first seemed to portend much mischief but in
the end proved fortunate for the British. Colonel Hall, forsaken by his
guide, and not knowing the true direction of the ford, led his column
directly across the river to the nearest point of the opposite bank.
The picket fire alarmed Davidson's camp, who paraded at the horse ford,
then Graham's cavalry was ordered to the assistance of the picket. By
the time the cavalry were in position on the high bank, and ready for
action the British were within fifty yards of the Mecklenburg shore.
The cavalry poured a destructive fire into the advancing columns. The
British did not fire a gun while in the water; as they landed they
loaded their guns and fired up the bank. The firing was kept up some
minutes, but the Whigs soon retreated from the unequal contest.

   By the time his Lordship crossed the river Webster had his force in
array on the face of the hill fronting Beattie's Ford, and was making
demonstrations of attempting a passage. His front lines were firing by
platoons, a company went into the water fifty steps and fired; while
four cannon were booming for half an hour, the flying balls cutting off
the limbs of trees and tearing up the opposite bank, the sound rolling
down the river like peals of thunder. All this, however, was only a
feint. Colonel Farmer, being notified by an aide of General Davidson,
that the enemy had crossed at Cowan's Ford, retired. The pickets at
other points were notified and all united at John McKnitt Alexander's
that afternoon, eight miles from Charlotte; while Cornwallis united his
forces two miles from Beattie's Ford at Given's farm.

   In this action, the Americans lost General Davidson, a gallant,
brave and generous officer, and three others. Of the British, Colonel
Hall and another officer and twenty-nine privates were killed and
thirty-five wounded. the horse of Cornwallis was shot and fell dead as
he ascended the bank. Lord cornwallis on the 2d of February returns his
thanks "to the Brigade of Guards for their cool and determined bravery
in the passage of the Catawba, while rushing through that long and
difficult ford under galling fire."

Importance Of These Engagements

   On the 18th June, 1780, General Rutherford, in command of the
Mecklenburg and Rowan militia, marched to attack the Tories at
Ramsour's Mill. At the Catawba, Col. William Graham, with the Lincoln
County Regiment, united with General Rutherford, swelling his command
to twelve hundred. He encamped at Col. Joseph Dickson's, three miles
from the Tuckaseegee, twenty miles from Ramsour's and about the same
distance from Colonel Locke on Mountain Creek. General Rutherford
dispatched a message directing Colonel Locke to join him at the Dickson
place on the evening of the 19th or the morning of the 20th. Colonel
Locke likewise dispatched James Johnston to inform General Rutherford
of his intention to give the Tories battle on the morning of the 20th.
However, no junction was formed and after a hard and well-fought battle
Colonel Locke defeated the Tories. General Rutherford followed the
Tuckaseegee road and arrived at Ramsour's Mill two hours after the
battle. The dead and most of the wounded were lying where they fell.
General Rutherford remained here two days sending Davie's Cavalry and
other troops in pursuit of the Tories, thus accenting the victory and
making the defeat crushing and complete, subduing the loyalist spirit,
with consequent encouragement of the patriots.

   Three days after the battle Allaire, who was with Ferguson,
referring to the battle of Ramsour's Mill, recorded in his dairy:
"Friday, 23d. Lay in the field at Ninety-six. some friends came in.
four were wounded. the militia had embodied at Tuckaseegee, on the
South Fork of the Catawba river. Were attacked by a party of rebels,
under command of General Rutherford. the militia were scant of
ammunition, which obliged them to retreat. They were obliged to swim
the river at the milldam. The Rebels fired on them and killed thirty."
Col. John Moore with thirty men reached Cornwallis at Camden, where he
was threatened with a trial by court-martial for hastening organization
in advance of Ferguson.

   The Battle of Ramsour's Mill was fraught with important results. It
was fought at a gloomy period of the Revolution, when the cause of
liberty seemed prostrate and hopeless in the South. The victorious
British considered South Carolina and Georgia restored to English rule
and were planning the invasion of North Carolina. It marks the turning
point in the war. But for this battle Moore and Welch could have
reinforced Ferguson with an army of 1,500 or 2,000 men, and there might
have been no King's Mountain or King's Mountain with a different
result. But instead of aid to Ferguson, the Lincoln Regiment with the
South Carolinians under Hill and Lacey were again encamped on the
Catawba, and when Colonel Williams crossed the Tuckaseegee, and united
with these troops, the entire force encountered no opposition, followed
the Tuckaseegee rod,via Ramsour's Mill, the Flint Hill road to Cherry
Mountain, later uniting with the mountain men at the Cowpens, the next
day helping to destroy Ferguson, and gain the glorious victory, that
makes the name of Kings Mountain famous in our country's history, of
which the Battle of Cowpens, Guilford Court House and the surrender of
Cornwallis at Yorktown were the direct consequences.

Lincoln County Pension Roll

   On the pension roll as late as 1834, more than fifty years after the
Revolution, the following is the Lincoln County list of soldiers yet
living and drawing pension: Robert Abernathy, Vincent Allen, Christian
Arny, Matthew Armstrong, Robert Berry, Jonas Bradshaw, Caspar Bolick,
Alexander Brevard, Samuel Caldwell, William Carroll, John Chittim,
Michael Cline, Samuel Collins, Martin Coulter, Thomas Costner, George
Dameron, Joseph Dixon, Peter Eddlemon, William Elmore, Samuel Espey,
James Farewell, Abraham Forney, Robinson Goodwin, Joseph Graham,
William Gregory, Nathan Gwaltney, Nicholas Hafner, Simon Hager, John
Harman, John Helm, James Henry, James Hill, John Kidd, John Kincaid,
Robert Knox, Shadrack Lefcy, Tapley Mahannas, Marmaduke Maples, Samuel
Martin, Thomas Mason, William Mayes, William McCarthy, William McLean,
Nathan Mendenhall, Alexander Moore, John Moore, William Moore, Jeremiah
Mundy, Humphrey Parker, Hiram Pendleton, Jacob Plonk, William Potter,
William Rankin, Charlie Regan, Adam Reep, Joshua Roberts, James
Robinson, Henry Rumfeldt, Peter Schrum, John Stamey, Bartholomew
Thompson, Charles Thompson, Phillip Tillman, Conrad Tippong, Robert
Tucker, John Turbyfill, Charles Whit, John Wilfong, Joseph Willis,
James Wilkinson, and Elisha Withers.

Lincolnton and Lincoln County

   When Tryon County was divided the Tryon Court-house fell in Lincoln
county, but too near its western border for public convenience. the
courts for part of the years 1783 and 1784 were held at the house of
Capt. Nicholas Friday. His residence stood on the east side of the
river, seven miles south of Lincolnton. The courts of July and October
sessions, 1784, were held at the house of Henry Dellinger, and his
spring house was designated as the "gaol." This spring house was a
two-story affair, the lower stone, the upper logs; the upper story was
used as the public jail. Some of the prisoners escaping, the sheriff
was ordered "to make use of a room in Henry Dellinger's house to be
strengthened for the purposes of a common gaol." The sheriffs, for
protection against the escape of prisoners from these very odd jails,
always entered on the court record their"protest against the
sufficiency of said gaol." The site of Henry Dellinger's home is
Magnolia, six miles southeast of Lincolnton, where the late John
B.Smith lived.

   While the location of the county seat remained an open question, the
map of the county changed. In 1753, the western portion of the
Granville domain was set up into the county of Rowan. Rowan in 1777,
was divided by a line beginning on the Catawba River at the Tryon and
Mecklenburg corner, thence up the meanders of the said river to the
north end of an island, known as "the Three Cornered Island," etc. and
the territory west and south of said line erected into a new county, by
the name of Burke, and the county seat, Morganton, located fifty miles
from the southeast part of the county on the Catawba. It being
represented to the General Assembly that "certain of the inhabitants of
Burke labor under great hardships in attending on courts and other
public meetings from their remote situation from the court-house," in
1782, it enacted that all that part of Burke from Sherrill's Ford to
the Fish Dam Ford of the South Fork, "and from thence a southwest
course to Earl Granville's old line," be taken from Burke and added to
Lincoln County. In 1784 a greater slice of Burke was added to Lincoln.
The line separating the counties began at the Horse Ford on the Catawba
and ended at the same point in the Granville line. This is now a noted
point, known as the "Three County Corner," the county of Lincoln, Burke
and Cleveland, and is the only established point in the old Granville
line west of the Catawba River.

   In the history of Lincolnton and Lincoln County the name of Joseph
Dickson stands conspicuous. The site of his homestead is two miles
northwest of Mount Holly, on the line of the Seaboard Air Line
Railroad. General Rutherford, en route to attack the Tories at
Ramsour's Mill encamped at Dickson's the night before the battle. He
accompanied General Rutherford next day, passing over the ground the
vacant land, where five years later, the grant was made him as
proprietor in trust for the citizens of Lincoln county. He was one of
the immortal heroes of King's Mountain. With the rank of major he was
one of the officers that led the South Fork boys up the rugged
northeast end of the mountain, facing with undaunted spirit the lead
and the charge of the enemy's bayonet. In 1781 he opposed the British
invasion of North Carolina, serving with the rank of colonel. During
this year he was elected county clerk, which office he held the next
ten years. He was chairman of the committee that selected the site of
Lincolnton, and the grant for the land on which the town was built was
made to him. The grantor to all original purchasers of lots is, "Joseph
Dickson, Esq., proprietor in trust for the commissioners appointed to
lay off a town in the county of Lincoln by the name of Lincolnton." He
was chosen Senator from Lincoln County in 1788, and continuously
succeeded himself until 1795. In 1789 he was one of the forty great men
of the State selected by the General Assembly to constitute the first
trustees of the University of North Carolina. He then served as a
general in the militia. From 1799 to 1801 he was a member of Congress.
December 27th, 1803 he sold his plantation of twelve hundred acres, and
removed to Rutherford County, Tennessee, where he died, April 24th,
1825, aged eighty years, and was buried with military and Masonic
honors.

   Lincolnton is situate 869 feet above sea level in the hill country
of the great Piedmont belt. In the county are Reece, Clubbs, Daily,
Rush, and Buffalo Mountains; they are small peaks not larger than Hog
Hill in the northern part of the county. From Lincolnton mountains are
visible in almost every direction. On the northeast is Anderson's
Mountain; in the southwest looms up King's mountain, on whose historic
heights was fought the memorable battle that broke the power of the
British crown; in line with King's mountain to the south can be seen
Spencer, Crowder, and Pasour Mountain; in the north and northwest are
Baker's Mountain, Carpenters, and Ben's Knobs, and numerous peaks of
the south Mountains; while in the distance in solemn grandeur lies the
upturned face of the Grandfather; and yet still farther away rise the
far-distant peaks of the great Blue Ridge. The Carolina and
Northwestern Railroad comes in from Chester, South Carolina, and runs
northwesterly into the heart of the mountains of North Carolina; while
from the east comes in the Seaboard Air Line, and extends westwardly to
Rutherfordton.

   Lincoln thus remained a large county until 1841, when the first
slice was taken to form, with a portion of Rutherford, the county of
Cleveland. In 1842, Catawba was set up from Lincoln by an east and west
line passing one and a half miles north of Lincolnton. In 1846, the
southern part was set off into the county of Gaston, by a line to pass
four and a half miles south of Lincolnton, and four miles of Catawba
ceded back to Lincoln. the formation of these new counties reduced
Lincoln to a narrow strip, ten miles in width with and average length
of thirty miles, and it is with this strip that the remainder of this
narrative will deal. Lincoln County is bounded on the north by Catawba
County; on the east by the Catawba river, which separates it from
Iredell and Mecklenburg; on the south by Gaston; on the west by
Cleveland, and one-fourth mile of Burke.

First Superior Court Clerk

   Lawson Henderson was long an influential citizen, filling the
offices of county surveyor, sheriff, and clerk of the county and
Superior Courts. He was a son of James Henderson, a pioneer settler,
and was appointed Superior Court Clerk for life under the Act of
Assembly of 1806 establishing a Superior Court in each county of the
State. He served from April term, 1807 to Fall term, 1835, when he
resigned. At Fall term, 1833, John D. Hoke applied for the clerk's
office having been elected pursuant to act of 1832. Then followed the
suit of "Hoke vs. Henderson," in which Mr. Henderson was the winner.
This was a famous case. It decided that an office is property, and was
not reversed until 1903, and then by majority opinion, two justices
dissenting.

Pleasant Retreat Academy

   This school occupied four acres in the northern part of Lincolnton.
>From its institution it bore the attractive name of Pleasant Retreat
Academy. The older students delighted to speak of its refreshing
shades- the oak and the hickory interspersed with the chestnut and the
chinquepin- and the spring at the foot of the hill. It was chartered by
the General Assembly, 10th December, 1813, with the following trustees:
Rev. Philip Henkle, Rev. Humphrey Hunter, Lawson Henderson, Joseph
Graham, John Fullenwider, John Hoke, Peter Forney, Robert Williamson,
Daniel Hoke, J. Reinhardt, Vardry McBee, David Ramsour, Peter Hoyle,
Henry Y. Webb, George Carruth, William McLean, Robert Burton, John
Reid, and David Reinhardt. In this school were trained a long roll of
men whose names adorn their county's history. Of its students....

   James Pinkey Henderson, son of Maj. Lawson Henderson, sought the
broad area of the "Lone Star State" for the full development of his
giant intellect and won fortune and fame. An eminent lawyer, Attorney -
General of the Republic of Texas, its minister Plenipotentiary and
Envoy Extraordinary to France, England and the United States,
Major-General of the United States Army in the War with Mexico,
Governor of Texas, and at the time of death, United States Senator, he
adorned the positions his courage and talents won.

   William Lander, brillant, impetuous, and chivalric, was one of the
foremost advocates of the bar and member of the convention from Lincoln
county that passed the Ordinance of Secession. Afterwards his splendid
eloquence found congenial fellowship amid the fiery spirits of the
Confederate Congress. Lawyer, solicitor, legislator, and member of the
Confederate Congress, he has a monument of love and affection in the
hearts of those who knew him best. His brother, Rev. Samuel Lander, was
a man of broad scholarship, and educator of note, and a preacher of
wide repute.

   Thomas Dews, when a mere lad, entered the State University,
graduated in the class of 1824, taught awhile in the Pleasant Retreat,
and began the practice of law. He was drowned in the Second Broad
River, August 4th, 1838, aged 30 years, 2 months and 25 days. his
remains lie in honor beneath a marble shaft, the tribute of a
noble-heated woman to the man who adored her while he lived, and marks
the spot where rests he lover and her love. Judge William H. Battle
knew Mr. Dews at Chapel Hill and often spoke of his talents and his
genius. Toward the close of an address before the literary societies at
the commencement of 1865, growing reminiscent, Judge Battle said: " I
will occupy a few more moments of your time in recalling from the dim
recollections of the past the names of a few men, each of whom was
well-regarded as a college genius of the day, and who with
well-directed energies, and a longer life might have left a name the
world would not willingly let die. In the year 1824 thomas Dews, a
young man from the county of Lincoln, took his degree of Bachelor of
Arts, dividing with Prof. Sims, Judge Manly and ex-governor Graham the
highest honor of the class. His parents were poor, and it is said
resorted to the humble occupation of selling cakes for the purpose of
procuring means for the education of their promising boy. After
graduation, he studied law and commenced the practice with every
prospect of eminent success, when unhappily, a morbid sensitiveness of
temperament drove him to habits of intemperance, during one of the fits
he came to an untimely end. His name, which ought to have gone down to
posterity on account of the great deeds achieved by extraordinary
talents, will probably be remembered only in connection with a
happily-turned impromptu epitaph". Yet it has gone down in history
immortalized by his neighbor and friend, Col. James R. Dodge, a
distinguished practitioner for many years at the Lincolnton bar.
Colonel Dodge was a son of Gen. Richard Dodge and Sarah Ann Dodge, his
mother being the sister of Washington Irving, of New York. Those
acquainted with the playful writings of Washington Irving will not be
surprised at the spontaneous retort of his nephew. But one residence
separated the Dews home from that of colonel Dodge in Lincolnton. At
April term. 1832 of Rutherford Superior Court, David L. Swain,
afterwards Governor, was on the bench and in the bar were Samuel
Hillman, Tom Dews and Mr. Dodge. While Mr. dodge was addressing the
jury, Judge Swain recalled a punning epitaph on a man named Dodge,
wrote it on a piece of paper, and passed it around to the merriment of
the bar; and when Colonel Dodge had finished his speech, he found it
lying on his table:

" Epitaph of James R. Dodge, Esq., Attorney-At-Law

"Here lies a Dodge, who dodged all good,

And dodged a deal of evil,

Who after dodging all he could,

He could not dodge the Devil."

   Mr. Dodge read the paper, turned it over and wrote on the other
side:

"Epitaph of Three Attorneys"

"Here lies a Hillman and a Swain,

Whose lot let no man choose;

They lived in sin and died in pain,

And the Devil got his Dews."(dues)

   Among the post-bellum students are Hoke Smith, lawyer, journalist,
Secretary of the Interior, and Governor of Georgia; William Alexander
Hoke, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina; William
E. Shipp, Lieutenant Tenth United States Cavalry, killed on San Juan
Hill, Battle of Santiago, July 1st, 1898; T.H. Cobb, Beverly C. Cobb,
David Robinson, Charles C. Cobb, and Lemuel B. Wetmore, lawyers; Silas
McBee, Editor of the Churchman; Rev. William L. Sherrill of the Western
North Carolina Conference; William E. Grigg, banker; Blair and Hugh
Jenkins, Charles and Henry Robinson, merchants; William W. Motz,
architect and builder; William A. Costner, Thomas J. Ramsour, Charles
M. Sumner, farmers and a long list of others.

   The Pleasant Retreat Academy property has been transferred to the
Daughters of the Confederacy for a Memorial Hall. In this there is
eminent fitness, for among its students were Willaim A. Graham,
Confederate States Senator; William Lander, member of the confederate
Congress; Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Ramsour; Maj. Gen. Robert F. Hoke; Col.
John F. Hoke; Maj. Frank Schenck;Capts. James F. Johnston; Joseph W.
Alexander, George W. Seagle, George L. Phifer, James D. Wells, and
others, making an honor roll of more than a hundred Confederate
soldiers.

   Lincolnton Female Academy was chartered by the General Assembly
December 21st, 1821, with James Bivings, Vardry McBee, David Hoke, John
Mushatt, Joseph E. Bell, and Joseph Morris, trustees.  Four acres on
the south side of the town were conveyed to the trustees for school
purposes, and the two school properties were connected by Academy
street. The Female Academy likewise had a long and useful career. It is
now the site of the Lincolnton graded school.

Early Settlers and Churches

   The Early settlers of Lincoln were Scotch-Irish and German origin.
There were but a few of other nationalities. They came in swarms, by
"hundreds of wagons from the northwards." About the year 1750, the
Scotch-Irish settlement covered both banks of the Catawba, so the
eastern portion of Lincoln was populated by this race, while the South
Fork and its tributaries- the remainder of the county-were
contemporaneously settled by Germans.

   The Scotch-Irish are stern and virile, noted for hatred of sham,
hypocrisy and oppression. the Germans are hardy and thrifty,
characterized by love of home and country, tenacious of custom and slow
to change. Both were a liberty-loving, God-fearing people, among whom
labor was dignified and honorable. A charm about these pioneers is,
that their heads were not turned by ancestral distinction. They were
self-reliant and mastered the primeval forest, with its hardships and
disadvantages. they became adept in handicraft and combated the foes of
husbandry in and unsettled region. They were silent heroes who shaped
destiny and imbued unborn generations with strength of character and
force of will. The early Scotch-Irish preachers taught the creed of
Calvin and Knox, and the first place of worship on the east side was
Presbyterian. The pioneer Germans were followers of the great central
figure of the Reformation, Martin Luther, and the Swiss Reformer,
Ulrick Zwingle, and the oldest place of worship on the west side is
Lutheran and Reformed. Today the county is dotted with churches which
according to numerical strength, rank in the following order; Methodist
Episcopal, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Prostestant, Presbyterian,
Reformed, and Protestant Espicopal.

   When churches were few camp meetings were held by the Presbyterians,
Baptists, Reformed, Prostestants and Methodists. They have all been
discontinues except one, the celebrated Rock Springs Camp Meeting of
the Methodists in east Lincoln. There a great arbor is surrounded by
three hundred tents, and the meeting is held annually since 1830. It is
incorporated after the style of a town, and governed much the same way.
It is held on forty-five acres of ground conveyed 7th August, 1830 by
Joseph M. Mundy to Freeman Shelton, Richard Proctor and James Bivings,
trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Lincoln circuit. The estate
an owner has in a lot is conditional, and ceases upon failure to keep
and maintain a tent on it. The meeting continues one week an embraces
the second Sunday in August. It is attended by all denominations from
the surrounding counties by ten thousand to fifteen thousand people.
Deep religious interest is manifest and many date their conversion from
these meetings. Viewed from a social standpoint this is also a great
occasion. The old camp ground combines the best elements of social life
in the country, city and summer resort. Rock Springs is the successor
of an older camp ground called Robey's, which is situate near the
Catawba Springs.

   The memory of the old people runs back to the time when the printing
press had not filled the churches with hymn books, where there were no
church organs, nor organists to lead the choir. In those days the
congregations sung, being led by a precentor called the clerk, a man of
importance, and the minister lined out the hymn. Four young men from
Lincolnton attended a camp meeting. When the minister lined a a couplet
of a familiar hymn, the congregation followed the clerk, sung the
couplet and paused for the nest. The four boys, filled with the spirit
of John Barleycorn, paused not, but in well-trained musical voice,
carrying the several parts finished the stanza; then the second and
entire hymn to the dismay of the minister, clerk and dumbfounding the
congregation. A charge of disturbing the public worship was preferred
in the courts, conviction followed and the offenders sentenced to sit
one hour in the stocks.

   Most of the people in North Brook, the western township in the
county are Methodist, Protestants, and they have one church, Fairfield,
near the Catawba River on the eastern side of the county.

   Long Creek was the first Baptist church established in Lincoln
County, either in 1772 or 1777. It is on Long Creek, one mile from
Dallas. Hebron was organized at Abernathy Ferry on the Catawba about
1792, six miles from Beattie's Ford was Earhardt's church, constituted
in the 18th century. Abraham Earhardt, upon whose land the church was
located, was an ordained minister and preached at his church and
elsewhere. He married Catharine Forney, a sister of Peter, Abram and
Jacob Forney, and owned more than a thousand acres of land, on which he
operated a flouring mill, a tan yard, a blacksmith shop and a
distillery. The Earhardt place is now the home of Maj. W.A. Graham.
Today the Baptists have churches in every section of the county.

   The act of the Provincial Assembly in 1768, erecting that portion of
Mecklenburg County west of the Catawba into a separate county by the
name of Tryon, also created Saint Thomas Parish; and according to the
custom of the day, county and parish were coterminous. While nominally
under a church establishment, no clergyman of the Church of England
exercised any pastoral care in colonial days. In 1785 Robert Johnson
Miller, afterwards known as Parson Miller, came to Lincoln, and became
the religious teacher, lay reader, and catechist of the Episcopalians
he found in the county. While avowing himself an Episcopalian, he
receive Lutheran ordination. In 1806 he resigned his Lincoln Charge to
David Henkel, a Lutheran licentiate, and removed to Burke. From 1785 to
1823, Parson Miller was almost the only Episcopal minister in this
region. In 1823 John Stark Ravenscroft was elected Bishop, Parson
Miller being in the chair. The Bishop visited Lincoln county in 1824,
and in the three parishes of Smyrna, White Haven and St. Peter's
confirmed forty-one persons. In 1828 he again visited Catawba springs
and endeavored to collect the remains of the three old parishes in that
neighborhood, but found it a hopeless task. While at the Springs he
preached at Beattie's Ford and "on sunday in the public room at the
Springs to such company as a rainy day detained from visiting a camp
meeting in the vicinity." In the year 1835 Dr Moses A. Curtis, the
noted botanist, was stationed in Lincolnton. The year 1837 found him in
another field. On the 2d of March, 1842 Col. John Hoke conveyed to
"E.M. Forbes, Jeremiah W. Murphy, T. N. Herndon, Michael Hoke, Leonard
E. Thompson and Haywood W. Guion, vestry and trustees of the Saint
Luke's church in Lincolnton, the lot on which Saint Luke's church yet
stands. Its rectors have been Rev. T.S.W. Mott, Rev. H.H. Hewitt, Rev.
C.T. Bland, Rev. G.M. Everhart, and Rev. Dr. W.R. Wetmore for forty
years from 1862 until his death.

   Rev. Robert Johnston Miller was born in Scotland July 11th, 1758.
His parents designed him for the ministry, and sent him to the Dundee
classical school. Before he entered the ministry he migrated to
America, arriving in Charlestown, Massachusetts, A.D. 1774. Soon after
the colonies declared their independence and young Miller at once
espoused the cause of liberty, and when General Greene passed through
Boston, he enlisted as a Revolutionary soldier. He participated in the
battles of Long Island, where he was wounded in the face, of
Brandywine, White Plains, and the siege of Valley Forge. With the army
he traveled south, where he remained after peace was restored and the
army disbanded. He began his work as a licentiate of the Episcopal
Church without authority to administer the sacraments. His people of
White Haven church, in Lincoln County, sent a petition to the Lutheran
pastors of Cabarrus and Rowan, with high recommendations, praying that
he might be ordained by them, which accordingly was done at St.John's
church, Cabarrus county, on the 20th of May, 1794. His ordination
certificate reads: "To all to whom it may concern, Greeting: Whereas, A
great number of Christian people in Lincoln County have formed
themselves into a society by name of White Haven church, and have also
formed a vestry: We the subscribers having been urged by a pressing
call from the said church to ordain a minister for the good of their
children, and for the enjoyment of ye gospel ordinances among them,
from us, the ministers of the Lutheran Church in North Carolina, have
solemnly ordained," etc. *** "according to ye infallible word of God,
administer ye sacraments, and to have ye care of souls; he always being
obliged to obey ye rules, ordinances and customs of ye Christian
Society, called ye Protestant Episcopal Church in America," etc. This
White haven was situated near the Catawba, on the opposite side of the
great highway from Castanea Presbyterian church. The Lutherans
subsequently built a White Haven three miles north on the same highway.
Rev. Miller attended the Episcopal Convention, held in Raleigh, April
28th, 1821. His object was to connect himself fully with the Episcopal
Church, to which he really belonged. As there was no Episcopal diocese
at the time of his ordination in the State, he felt it his duty to form
a temporary connection with the Lutheran Church, was admitted a member
of the Lutheran Synod at its organization in 1803, and labored for her
welfare twenty-seven years, until 1821, when he served that connection,
and was ordained to deacon's and priest's orders in the Episcopal
ministry. Mr Miller likewise attended the Lutheran North Carolina Synod
in 1821, and from its minutes the following is quoted;"The president
now reported that the Rev. R.J. Miller, who had labored for many years
as one of our ministers had been ordained by the Bishop of the
Episcopal Church as a priest at a convention of that church, but he had
always regarded himself ordained by our ministry, with the
understanding tht he still belonged to the Episcopal Church. But as the
said church had now reorganized itself (in this State) he has united
himself with it, and thus disconnected himself from our Synod, as was
allowed him at his ordination by our ministers. Rev. Miller then made a
short address before Synod, and the congregation then assembled, in
which he distinctly explained his position, so that no one should be
able to say tht he had apostatized from our Synod, since he had been
ordained by our Ministerium as a minister of the Episcopal Church. He
then promised tht he would still aid and stand by us as much as lay in
his power. With this explanation the whole matter was well understood
by the entire assembly, and was deemed perfectly satisfactory.
Whereupon it was resolved that the president tender to Rev. Miller our
sincere thanks, and in the name of the Synod, for faithful services he
had hereto rendered our church. This was immediately done in a feeling
manner." Mr. Miller died in 1833. One of the last acts of his ministry
was to marry in that year Col. Michael Hoke and Miss Frances Burton,
daughter of Judge Robert H. Burton. The marriage took place at
Beattie's Ford. A carriage was sent to bring Mr. Miller from Burke to
solemnize it. Some time after marriage Colonel and Mrs. Hoke were
confirmed. One of their sons is the distinguished Confederate General
Robert. F. Hoke.

______________________________________________________________________

Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm

This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by
Mrs. Peggy Simmons, Lincolnton, N.C., Mrs Jane Costner
Ware, Lincolnton, N.C. and Mr. Kemp P. Nixon, Lynchburg, Va., the
Grandchildren of Mr. Alfred Nixon have given permission to place this
Historic Manuscript online in the USGenWeb Project for Lincoln County,
N.C., this 10th day of June, 1997
______________________________________________________________________