North Carolina played a critical, often overlooked, role in our nation’s founding. We at the North Carolina History Project have put together this timeline of our state’s contributions to the American Revolution. The following timeline chronologically lays out some of the most important events in North Carolina’s revolutionary history and links out to our more...
To academic historians and amateur (or avocational) historians: We explored the North Carolina Historical Review to find articles about the American Revolution. I hope these summaries (written by a person, not AI) will whet your appetite for the longer versions. (A link to each article on JSTOR is provided for each.) Did North Carolina’s Revolution...
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.
Pyle’s Defeat occurred in February 1781 near the end of the Revolution. It was a savage blow to British hopes, as Lt. Gen. Charles, Lord Cornwallis attempted to stop the Patriots’ momentum.
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.
The Edenton Tea Party was one of the earliest organized women’s political actions in United States history. On October 25, 1774, Mrs. Penelope Barker organized, at the home of Mrs. Elizabeth King, fifty-one women in Edenton, North Carolina. Together they formed an alliance wholeheartedly supporting the American cause against “taxation without representation.”
Bladen County (1734)
A Coastal Plain county and the third largest in North Carolina, Bladen County is rightfully named the “Mother County.” Of the state’s 100 counties, 55 of them were originally part of Bladen County.
Moore County (1784)
A border county between North Carolina’s Piedmont and Coastal Plain Regions, Moore County was established in 1784. Named after Alfred Moore, a Revolutionary War veteran and U.S. Supreme Court justice, Moore County was annexed from Cumberland County shortly after the American Revolution. Carthage, the county seat, was established in 1796.
Culpeper’s Rebellion (Part I)
Some historians have argued that the Albemarle colony’s location, an isolated one in the frontier backwaters of colonial northern Carolina, fostered the development of individual initiative and self-governance in the region. It seems that the Albemarle region did indeed have a culture of independence that nourished seeds of liberty (or rebellion to some); at least five rebellions occurred there before the American Revolution. Culpeper’s rebellion, the most significant rebellion of the proprietary period in Albemarle Colony, exemplified the area’s dedication to opposing unfair taxation and demanding sovereignty in affairs.
Benjamin Williams (1751 – 1814)
A Revolutionary War Patriot, North Carolina Governor, and U.S. Congressman, Williams used a middle-of-the-road strategy to achieve political success with Federalists and Republicans while serving as Governor.
Nathaniel Alexander (1756-1808)
A surgeon and Revolutionary War Patriot, Alexander was a Jeffersonian who incorporated Federalist policy into his politics. He championed internal improvements and played an instrumental role in the repeal of the Court Act of 1806, thereby allowing each county to have a court. Charlotte Motor Speedway sits on what was his homestead.
James Turner (1766-1824)
Turner was an accomplished governor of North Carolina from 1802 to 1805. Before that, Turner was a soldier during the Revolutionary War, during which he served under the famous General Nathaniel Greene. Turner later became a representative in the House of Commons from 1798 to 1800 and served in the State Senate before reaching the North Carolina governorship in 1802. Turner was best known for his affiliation with Nathaniel Macon, a politician from North Carolina who mentored the Old Republicans.
Culpeper’s Rebellion (Part III)
The British crown’s investigation into the rebellion in Albemarle did not conclude until November 20, 1680 when the Court of King’s Bench began its trial of Culpeper for high treason.
William Miller (1783-1825)
A Warren County native, William Miller served as North Carolina's attorney general and governor. His gubernatorial term spanned across the War of 1812 and he purchased the Canova Statue during the Era of Good Feelings.
Samuel Ashe (1725 – 1813)
The Judge presiding over the landmark case Bayard v. Singleton (1785), Ashe served three one-year terms as Governor and was an ardent Federalist at the beginning of his term. He soon supported state’s rights and Jeffersonian ideals.
Terry Sanford (1917–1998)
At the onset of the 1960s, Terry Sanford was elected the 65th governor of North Carolina. A lifelong Democrat, Sanford championed improving the state’s educational system at all levels, embodied the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, strove to fight poverty, and desired to expand the Research Triangle Park. Despite serving only one term, Sanford’s programs transformed Southern politics, specifically in education and race relations, and contributed to his legacy as a political hero in the New South.
William Woods Holden (1818 – 1892)
The gubernatorial impeachment of William Woods Holden serves as the only one of its kind in North Carolina history. A brilliant journalist, editor, and lawyer, Holden's political achievements would ultimately be masked by his shortcomings, including reform failure, an inability to stabilize the state during Reconstruction, and prompting an bloody war with the Ku Klux Klan.
Gabriel Holmes (1769-1829)
Lawyer by profession, planter at heart, Gabriel Holmes' 1821-1824 term as governor of North Carolina included a push for agricultural reform at the onset of industrialization, an integration of agrarian practices in higher education, and a commitment to the platform of the waning Democratic-Republican Party.