The Old North State has a rich recorded history that has lasted approximately 450 years.
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The North Carolina Historical Review includes a rich collection of articles about the American Revolution. This list was compiled by Kathryn McKee and Jane Shaw Stroup.
Some revolutionary battles took place in the colonies before independence was declared on July 4, 1776. One of those was the February 27, 1776, battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge in Pender County, North Carolina.
The subject of Scottish folklore and myth, Flora MacDonald assisted Prince Charles Stuart in his escape from King George II. In 1774, she moved to North Carolina, where her Loyalist husband and son fought in the Battle of Moores Creek.
Josiah Martin, the last royal governor of North Carolina, was born in Ireland in 1737. Due to his family's connection to the British crown, Martin replaced Governor Tryon in 1771 as royal governor of North Carolina. Martin assumed a difficult position because Patriot colonists in North Carolina had long resented overwhelming British taxation and the War of Regulation remained fresh in the colonists' minds.
General Griffith Rutherford led a short but destructive march against the mountain-dwelling Cherokee in September 1776. Although casualties were relatively low on both sides, Rutherford’s army razed over thirty important Cherokee communities causing tribesmen and women to flee the mountains and start life anew elsewhere. Some historians claim that had the Cherokee recovered and fought with the British during the Revolutionary War, the conclusion may have been different.
The story is complicated. In the United States in the late 1800s, demand for wood seemed insatiable—for houses, ships, fuel, and railroad ties. Americans were logging trees all over the country.
St. John in the Wilderness is historically recognized as the first Episcopal parish established in Western North Carolina. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
What does Julius Caesar have to do with North Carolina’s state seal and the Halifax Resolves? On April 12, 2026, The Halifax State Historic Site celebrated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Halifax Resolves. Representatives from the site had put up a “Liberty Pole” as part of their festivities in celebration of the...
Smith has earned recognition as one of the most important writers of southern and Appalachian literature. A recipient of many awards, she was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2009.
It should not be forgotten that a disposition in the State governments to encroach upon the rights of the Union is quite as probable as a disposition in the Union to encroach upon the rights of the State governments.
Setting public deadlines, exit strategies, and casualty limits is a time-honored way to lose wars.
Money is, with propriety, considered as the vital principle of the body politic; as that which sustains its life and motion, and enables it to perform its most essential functions.
Commentary
What Is the Liberty Pole?
What does Julius Caesar have to do with North Carolina’s state seal and the Halifax Resolves? On April 12, 2026, The Halifax State Historic Site celebrated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Halifax Resolves. Representatives from the site had put up a “Liberty Pole” as part of their festivities in celebration of the...
North Carolina’s Role in the Creation of the U.S. Forest Service
The story is complicated. In the United States in the late 1800s, demand for wood seemed insatiable—for houses, ships, fuel, and railroad ties. Americans were logging trees all over the country.
Charles Cornwallis: One General Among Several
There's a lot to learn about General Charles Cornwallis, starting with the fact that he was never overall British commander during the American Revolution.