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.”
William J. Gaston (1778 – 1844)
Many North Carolinians, and Americans from elsewhere, respected, if not adored, Gaston. John Marshall (1755-1835) once said that he would retire if he knew Gaston would replace him as U.S. Supreme Court Justice. In 1840, the state legislative leaders proposed Gaston as U.S. Senator, but he declined the honor.
John W. Ellis (1820-1861)
Born in eastern Rowan County, in what is now part of Davidson County, on November 23, 1820 to Anderson and Judith Ellis, John Willis Ellis was a North Carolina lawyer, legislator, judge, and Democratic governor during the Civil War.
Contraband Camps
Before the end of the Civil War, as Union troops occupied more and more of North Carolina during the Civil War, more and more slaves fled to Union lines to live in what were then called contraband camps. Contrabands (freedmen) were escaped slaves from the Confederate territory into Union territory.
Marion Butler (1863 – 1938)
Most remembered as the architect of political Fusion in North Carolina during the 1890s and for gaining Populist support for the 1896 presidential candidacy of William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), Marion Butler was born in Sampson County, North Carolina.
Anti-Federalism
Anti-Federal was the name given to the men and the movement opposing the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Ironically, Anti-Federals wanted a more federal government than the Federals; the term resulted from a Federal political strategy to present Anti-Federals as opponents of limited government. Before they ratified (approved) the Constitution, Anti-Federals wanted a Bill of Rights to be included.
The Conservative Manifesto
The Conservative Manifesto was a 1937 bi-partisan effort opposing what was considered excessive government intervention and growth. U.S. Senator Josiah W. Bailey (N.C.) authored the Manifesto.The Manifesto was a response to what was perceived as growing state collectivism and the fear that FDR led America, knowingly or not, down this path. Many southern Democrats and Republicans opposed the New Deal or believed that New Deal programs were necessary but needed to be limited.
Fort Dobbs
Twenty-seven miles west of modern-day Salisbury, North Carolina, Fort Dobbs is located in Iredell County. In 1756, colonial Governor Arthur Dobbs commissioned the construction of the fort to protect Piedmont settlements during the French and Indian War (1754-1763). At that time, Fort Dobbs was North Carolina’s only frontier fort; all others were on the coast.
City of Raleigh
Created by the State of North Carolina in 1792 as a planned capital city, the area encompassing present-day Raleigh, North Carolina had a handful of sparse colonial settlements as early as the 1760s. Enterprising landholders named Isaac Hunter and Joel Lane purchased large tracts of farmland in the area. Near their homes, they operated taverns and ordinaries for travelers on the main north-south route, cutting through central North Carolina. Called Wake Crossroads, this primitive outpost initially served as the county seat for Wake County, North Carolina. It was established in 1771 and provided a foundation for Raleigh’s future development twenty years later.
Arthur Dobbs (1689 – 1765)
Arthur Dobbs, sheriff (1720), Surveyor General (1730), and member of Parliament (1727-1730) in his native Ireland, became one of the five royal colonial governors of North Carolina in 1754.
Lunsford Lane (1803-?)
Born just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina on May 30, 1803, Lunsford Lane exhibited entrepreneurial talent as a child and a determination as an adult to buy his freedom. He is most famous for writing a slave narrative that included descriptions of his business activities while in bondage and his troubles securing his and his family’s freedom.
Willie Jones (1741 – 1801)
Willie Jones was an influential Jeffersonian states’ righter and patriot during the Revolutionary War and Federalist periods. Willie Jones (pronounced Wiley) is remembered mostly for opposing the ratification of the United States Constitution. His political philosophy has had a lasting influence.
Virginia Dare (1587 – ?)
Virginia Dare was born on August 18, 1587 at Roanoke Island, Virginia (present-day North Carolina). Virginia Dare was the first English-born child in the Americas. She was daughter of Ananias and Eleanor Dare and the granddaughter of John White. As a member of the lost Roanoke Colony, Virginia Dare’s fate is unknown, but she has become an icon of American folklore.