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.”
Richard Joshua “R. J.” Reynolds (1850 – 1918)
As the sixth of 16 children, Richard Joshua Reynolds left his small Virginia town at an early age to establish his own company. At the age of 25, Reynolds opened a chewing tobacco manufacturing company in Winston, North Carolina and quickly became a pioneer in the industry. He anticipated the growth in the smoking tobacco market and developed a line of pipe tobaccos. In 1913, he introduced Camel, the first American blend cigarette. His innovative branding and marketing strategy set the industry standard.
Charles Albert Cannon (1892-1971)
Charles Albert Cannon, the son of a textile mill owner, was born in 1892. After attending Fishburne Military Academy and Davidson College, Cannon entered the textile industry himself, achieving success as a manager, treasurer and secretary. When his father died in 1921, Cannon assumed the leadership of the Cannon manufacturing plants and consolidated them to one entity, The Cannon Mills Company.
Camel Cigarettes
During the late 1800s, North Carolina dominated the national tobacco market, and in 1913 R. J. Reynolds Company (RJR) introduced a product that revolutionized tobacco advertising and processing: Camel cigarettes.
Jack Laughery (1935-2006)
Jack A. Laughery grew up in the small town of Guthrie Center, Iowa. He studied business at the University of Iowa, graduating in 1957 and later joined the regional fast-food chain Sandy’s as a manager in 1962.
Harriet Jacobs (1813 – 1897)
A former North Carolina slave turned abolitionist and author, Harriet Jacobs was born in bondage in Edenton. In her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), Jacobs describes the abuse that she endured while a slave and is the best-known autobiography written by an African American woman during the 19th century.
Eng and Chang Bunker (1811-1874)
Originally from Siam but later residents of Surry County, Eng and Chang Bunker became the reference for the medical condition when twins are conjoined. Born in 1811, the two were joined together at the chest by a thin band of flesh and remained that way until their 1874 death.
Levi Coffin (1798 – 1877)
A business owner, Quaker, abolitionist, and an organizer of the Underground Railroad, Levi Coffin was born in New Garden, North Carolina. According to Coffin, “The Underground Railroad business increased as time advanced, and it was attended with heavy expenses, which I could not have borne had not my affairs been prosperous.”
Tariffs, Part I (Founding Era to American Civil War)
Commercial restrictions through tariffs have been an integral part of American history, and Tar Heels have voiced their opinion on tariff legislation since the founding of the United States. The federal government has used tariffs to raise revenue and protect American industry and labor. Before the Civil War, the federal government obtained close to ninety-percent of its revenue from tariffs and avoided instituting income taxation.
Tariffs, Part II (American Civil War to Progressive Era)
The federal government has used tariffs to raise revenue and protect American industry and labor. After the Civil War, Congress intensified its efforts to "protect" American industry through tariffs, but sometimes met opposition.
Tariffs, Part III (Progressive Era to Present)
Commercial restrictions through tariffs have been an integral part of American history, and Tar Heels have voiced their opinion on tariff legislation since the founding of the United States. The federal government has used tariffs to raise revenue and protect American industry and labor. During the Great Depression, Congress passed the highest tariff in the United States history.
Eliphalet Whittlesey (1821-1909)
During the creation of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, commonly known as the Freedmen’s Bureau, Oliver O. Howard, Commissioner of the Bureau, appointed Eliphalet Whittlesey as North Carolina’s first assistant commissioner.
Texas Pete
Necessity breeds invention, and the Great Depression contributed to the creation and sale of Texas Pete hot sauce. Since 1942, Texas Pete has been located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Although a couple nationwide competitors outsell Texas Pete, the product is popular in the Southeast, and the Garner Food Company's business philosophy includes a refusal to take on debt that might ultimately lead to its failure.