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FanningW DAVID FANNING'S WAR The Tory Colonel The early morning fog hung very thick over the village of Hillsborough in this fall of 1781. The town guard, squinting into the gloom, could not make out the hands of the clock in the Anglican church tower. The intersection of King and Churton Streets would be noisily alive in an hour. But just now it was still peacefully quiet. No step could be heard in the vicinity of the great, barn -like court house. It was quiet around Johnston and Thackston's store across the street. Courtney's tavern and the market house seemed strangely still for places usually so full of activity. The private residences along Tryon and Wake and Queen Streets still slept into the early dawn. A single figure, wearing a buckskin jacket and carrying a l Stocks were a device for hunting rifle, slipped silently along the edge of Margaret Lane. punishing criminals, with His reddened eyes stabbed nervously into the fog ahead of <, holes for ankles and, him. Another edged his way past the stocks and toward the sometimes, wrists as well. jail behind the court house. Still another crept through the Ot1VIE (;U. rureui, WdRAW' 145 UaCKSVUFJ a NO PEOPLE IN THIS CHAPTER Lord Cornwallis, a British general Thomas Burke, Governor of North Carolina David Fanning, a Tory guerrilla fighter Cornelius Harnett, President, Council of Safety Samuel Johnston, a leading Conservative Willie Jones, a leading radical Richard Caswell, Governor of North Carolina Abner Nash, succeeded Caswell as governor John jasper White, a patriot Governor Thomas Burke had been blasting away with his pistols from an upstairs window since the first ghostly 146 001E CU. YUSUC UStAW M0CKSVh1fi; 1W cemetery toward King Street. A sleepy guard paid no atten- tion to two men coming up the hill from the direction of the Eno River. There were still a few more seconds of autumn calm. And then the first cries went up from startled sentinels. The first reports of muskets rang along the streets. Irritated people turned restlessly in their beds. They mut- tered curses at the guards for their ill-timed sport. The colonel would hear from them about this. If he couldn't control his men, then he should be relieved of command and replaced by an officer who knew something about discipline. The outcries of the black servants alerted the citizens. This was not just a drunken target practice. The sound of shooting could be heard now in every direction. The hoarse Skeptics are doubters. bark of commands proved to the last skeptics that the town was under attack. In 40 houses, frightened parents began or- dering children into cellars and attics. They began throwing silver spoons and gold watches behind loose bricks, snatching ATory was a person who muskets and swords from their racks. It had to be Tory cut - supported continued throats who were attacking. Lord Cornwallis had already allegiance to Great Britain. taken up his winter quarters in Virginia. The noise of the shooting gained intensity toward the eastern part of town. Robert Mebane's mind groped for the meaning of the invaders' objective. Eastward lay the gover- nor's quarters. Very likely they meant to burn the house in re- venge for some injury. Another moment passed before Me- bane got hold of his thoughts. The raiders must be trying to kill or capture the governor himself. North Carolina was about to lose its governor! Governor Thomas Burke had been blasting away with his pistols from an upstairs window since the first ghostly 146 001E CU. YUSUC UStAW M0CKSVh1fi; 1W David Fanning's War 147 An aide-de-camp is an shadow darted across the lawn. Captain Read, Burke's aide - assistant. de -camp, the faithful secretary, Mr. Huske, and an orderly, An orderly is a soldier had taken up stations in other parts of the house. This was to assigned as attendant or cover all outside doors. There was no chance of escape—the assistant. governor could see that. Powder -blasts now came from be- hind almost every tree or shrub in the yard. The only thing left was to shoot it out to the death. They would make the vandals pay dearly for their victory. There need be no thought of sur- render. These were outlaw Tories who would hang a prisoner as quickly as they would bayonet an enemy! The unequal exchange of fire went on for quite some time. Suddenly, out of the shrubbery, a white flag appeared. One of the attackers walked with it slowly toward the house. Governor Burke and his defenders held their fire. They watched the approaching figure, now clearly an officer dressed in a British uniform. When he came within hearing, A Highlander is a native of the the officer identified himself as a British Highlander. He told mountainous region of the governor that he must surrender. But he could expect to Scotland. be treated as a prisoner of war and not a common thief. The invaders were mostly loyalists, but there were Scottish regu- lars among them. They would insure that the rules of civilized war be followed. Burke discussed the matter briefly with Read As a boy of 13, Andrew Jackson was struck by a British officer when he refused to clean the officer's boots. m U J m 0. O U `r 4 aT Y U O 148 Revolution and Statehood 1775-1800 and Huske. He measured once more the alternatives he had. Finally, he told the officer he would surrender. Within a few minutes, North Carolina had lost its central government. It was late in the morning before David Fanning could pause a few moments and take stock of his success at Hills- borough. Two years ago, he had been a hunted fugitive with a pair of bullet holes in his back. He had nothing to call his own but the clothes he wore. Now, September 12, 1781, he had sud- denly become the decisive influence in the affairs of North Carolina. The governor was his prisoner. Several members of Continental means in the the governor's council, some Continental colonels, and 71 service of the Continental Continental regulars were also his captives. Fifteen rebels lay Congress. dead in the streets, with 20 others wounded. All this had been accomplished at the cost of one man injured among Fanning's forces. It had to be one of the most thrilling feats of arms so far in the war. And all the credit belonged to this Johnston County farmboy, who had planned and executed it. Even Thomas Burke, the one -eyed and pock -marked gov- ernor, was shaken by his first glimpse of the famous Tory leader. He knew that Fanning's silk cap was never removed in the presence of others. It covered hideous bald scars left from a boyhood case of tetters, or ring -worm, that went too long untreated. He also knew something of Fanning's background. There was the death of his father when he was a child and his Hillsborough -Halifax, 1785 Halifax o Hillsboro T' far 2 wi Tarboro 9 me Raleigh Kilmnelem 0 2U U � �� i Milne 0 20 e4 me Rlve'r Kinston OAVIE CO. PUBLIC LIBRAF,' MOCKSVILLEe NC r. —...Nut .., .�i.wA ra...rw. .. r. w._ •.- .+-.... �. .. ... ... ... ... .. .. ... _ .. .. _.. _ _ _. David Fanning's War 149 apprenticeship to a cruel master in Johnston County. He knew of his escape to South Carolina, and his employment there as an Indian trader before the war. But now, at 25 years of age, this unschooled orphan runaway had done something that the bravest Redcoat officers scarcely dreamed of doing. Burke had heard of Fanning's early experience as a Tory Guerrillas are independent guerrilla in South Carolina. Fanning had been captured at soldier bands who attack an least 12 times by South Carolina rebels. Sometimes he was enemy's supply and chained naked to the floors of rebel jails and brutally treated. communications lines by But each time he had found some way out—either by a hair - surprise raids. raising escape or a promise of good behavior. Before the or- deal was over, he became, in his own words, "a rack of noth- ing but skin and bones, ... my wounds had not been dressed, my clothes all bloody. My misery was beyond explanation, and no friend in the world that I could depend on...." He had also become something else. He was a daring and artful guerrilla fighter, an expert horseman, and a crack pistol shot. He asked no mercy from his enemies and gave none. In late 1780, he found that the South Carolina backcountry was hopelessly overrun with rebels. He moved into the Deep River country of the Piedmont section of North Carolina. Here, in Randolph County, the old love of King George- lived on in the hearts of hundreds of settlers. David Fanning hoped for a chance to take revenge for the injuries he had received. The army of Cornwallis arrived in North Carolina in early 1781. This revived the hopes of Tories that they might yet see the province recovered. Not since the last weeks be- fore the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge had there been such high hopes of a British victory. New Tory units sprang up in a score of places. They responded to Cornwallis' call for help. In Randolph and Chatham Counties, the Tories elected David Fanning as their leader. They began attacking the Whigs. Dur- ing the spring and early summer of 1781, Fanning led one bold raid after another. He surprised Whigs at their camps and fell upon wagon -trains of Whig supplies. He destroyed the houses and property of leading patriots. Within six months, Fanning became the most feared and respected Tory leader of the war in North Carolina. North Carolina patriots were too hard- pressed by Cornwallis to give proper attention to guerrilla bands. They tried to defeat the Redcoat army—at King's Mountain, at Cowan's Ford, at Guilford Court House. Meanwhile, Fanning went to Wilmington, occupied by the British in early 1781. There, he obtained a commission as a colonel of loyalist militia. He was promised British support for his campaign in the Piedmont. He also discussed an idea with Colonel James Craig, British commander at Wilmington. oAVIE CO. PUBUC UUMRY MOCKSV" SO 150 Revolution and Statehood 1775-1800 He had a plan for capturing the rebel governor and turning him over to the British. In early September 1781, Fanning gathered together al- most a thousand Tories. He furnished them with guns and supplies from Wilmington. He had been joined by Highland regiments from Cumberland and Bladen Counties. He then learned that Governor Burke was at Hillsborough with only a small detachment to guard him. Setting out on September 11, Fanning let his men believe that he meant to attack a Whig force west of Hillsborough under General Butler. They pro- ceeded about half -way to the announced destination. Fanning then ordered a change of course and revealed the real plan. After marching all night, the Tories surrounded Hillsborough before sunrise on September 12. Before noon that day, he had performed what has been called "without doubt the most brilliant exploit of any group of Loyalists' in any state throughout the Revolution." It was one thing to capture the governor, however daringly it was done. It was quite another thing to deliver him and some two hundred prisoners across one hundred fifty miles of country to Wilmington. Whig war parties were still close by. The patriots would run any risk to rescue the gover- nor. Fanning must expect desperate fighting along the entire route. In fact, unknown to the Tory colonel, a force of Whigs had started in pursuit of him almost before he left Hills- borough on the twelfth. During the morning, Robert Mebane managed to slip A dragnet is an organized through the Tory dragnet at Hillsborough. He borrowed a force of searchers. horse from a farmer and galloped off in search of General But- ler. He rode into Butler's camp, not long after Fanning tore the last of his men away from the rum kegs and the division of Spoils are property taken by spoils. Fanning set out for Wilmington but camped overnight force. a little south of Hillsborough. He crossed Haw River the next morning. Butler, by now, had his men in position at Lindley's Mill, directly in the line of Fanning's march. The Tory column stretched for perhaps a mile along the narrow road leading to Lindley's Mill. The prisoners were near the rear of the column. Fanning had failed to make cer- tain that scouts were sent out ahead. He had no warning of the ambush that awaited him. The front of the column was wading across Stafford Branch, a small arm of Cane Creek. Around 10 A.M., a hail of fire suddenly came pouring down Aplateau is level land which from the plateau above—on the far side of the branch. Tory rises above adjacent lands. soldiers began dropping all around. At the same moment, a Whig force attacked the rear of the column. The Whigs at- tempted either to free the prisoners or create such confusion that they could escape on their own. oAAV1E CO. PUSUC U""V MOCKSVILLF+ N0 David Fanning's War 151 Now the self-confidence and quick wit of David Fanning came out. Although surprised and shaken, he was able to re- cover from the first assaults. He positioned his men for de- fense and counterattack without losing control of the prison- ers. He got the governor and other captives into Spring Meeting House, a Quaker church. He sent a detachment around behind the plateau at Staffords Branch to strike at the Whigs from the rear. The battle raged on for about four hours. Neither side was able to gain a clear advantage over the other. But at last the Whigs withdrew far enough from their first po- sition to allow Fanning's force to pass. As the firing faded, Fanning was hit in the arm by a rebel bullet. He spent the next several weeks recovering at the home of a Tory. The Battle of Lindley's Mill was one of the bloodiest ac- tions of the war in North Carolina. It cost the lives of 27 Tories and at least 24 Whigs. But Fanning had preserved his captive governor, who was taken to Wilmington. With the other prisoners, the governor was turned over to the British. For Thomas Burke, the long march was an ordeal of "hunger, thirst, and fatigue," as he later wrote, "and ... frequent dan- gers" along "vast pathless tracts of intermingled Sand and Swamp very thinly inhabited and which ought not to be in- habited at all." For North Carolina, the loss of the governor was the last in a painful series of blows. These left the state at the point of collapse. Most of its army had been captured by the British at Charleston in 1780. The militia was poorly equipped. It was unable to defend the state against guerrillas, let alone the army of Cornwallis. The treasury was bankrupt. The destruc- tion of more than six years of fighting had drained the patriots of much of their strength and spirit. The fight for liberty had become a struggle for survival. The dreams of 1775 seemed all to have been betrayed. Liberty seemed to be a snare, democ- racy a delusion. What had gone wrong? Why had the great en- terprise failed? The Battered Alliance The ink was not yet dry on the Declaration of Independence when North Carolina patriots, firmly united in what they were against, began disputing over what they were for. Tories, of course, had no part in shaping the new state government. But Whigs split politically into two broad types as to the means by oAAV1E CO- PUBLIC UBSAA" M.00KSViL.L % NO P 4 156 Revolution and Statehood 1775-1800 the regular army. Weak as they were, however, North Caro- lina regiments saw service in some of the bloodiest actions of the war. These were at Brandywine and Germantown in 1777, Monmouth in 1778, and Stony Point in 1779. Some of them en- dured the long winter of 1777-1778 with General Washington at Valley Forge. But North Carolina made no significant con- tribution to the war effort before 1780. For three years, the main fighting of the Revolution took place in New England and the Middle Atlantic states. In 1779, in the hope of using strong Tory support to help split off the 4�_'-`irk +tom" • D :�J E 3L Ramsounr S� This map shows the route of the British Army under h Cornwallis as it marched through North Carolina in 1780 and 1781. ' w1'MZ Y_9 CS ofAN A 0 T!:501 O's IO O ��v - Cbrrtwa th� o ,,t y /0 20 30 40 SO QWOU � P �es4 -► Cornwallis, route David Fanning's War 159 This dramatic moment occurred in the Guilford Court House Battle, March 15,1781, a battle costly to the British. The One -Man War David Fanning's magnificent exploit at Hillsborough preceded the surrender of the British at Yorktown by only 34 days. At the peak of his strength and fame, he suddenly saw his work of over six years thrown away by a sorry general. To make matters worse, Governor Burke was paroled by the British. On his word of honor he was to take no more part in the war. But he broke parole by escaping and was soon back in power. It was a maddening end to the great struggle, one that Fanning found he could not accept. He made up his mind that he would continue the war somehow. He hoped that some miracle of salvation might yet justify his suffering, revenge his wounds. It was a faint hope, but it was all he had left. He had to be lifted onto his horse after more than three weeks in bed from his wound at Lindley's Mill. But within the next hour he had won another victory over the Whig militia. Even the news that the British had abandoned Wilming- ton, his base of supplies, did not discourage Fanning. It did not hinder his ability to inspire the Piedmont Tories. The war in this section became, during the winter of 1781-1782, more savage than ever before. Fanning's own account of the period WN& Co. Pusuc UUFV-R" M'J WKSYtt-t F, NC,' 160 Revolution and Statehood 1775-1800 relates the most shocking deeds by himself and his enemies. He tells of many chilling incidents: "... this party took one of my men, ... David Jackson, and hung him up without cere- mony," "fell in with one of [Capt. Colson's] men who had been assisting the rebels, I killed him," "fell in, with a man who had been very anxious for to have some of my men exe- cuted ...but I shot him," "three of their people followed Capt. Linley; and cut him to pieces with their swords ... I took two of them and hung them ... both on the limb of the same tree," "I ... delivered him up to some of my men, who he had treated ill when prisoners; and they immediately hung him." But even David Fanning at last saw the uselessness of the fight. In the spring of 1782, he left the state for good. Fanning la is a province of died in 1825 in peaceful old age in Nova Scotia. He had be- inada. come a legend in his own time—the symbol for the cause of all the sufferings experienced by North Carolina patriots during the war. More appropriately, however, Fanning was a symbol of another kind. His career owed something to the determined individualism of those who had framed North Carolina's con- stitution in 1776. They had created a government that could interfere but little in the individual liberties of those it called citizens. The government was bound to respect individual lib- erty. But it was not capable of defending it. The problem was how to keep the government obedient enough to leave indi- viduals alone, but strong enough to defend them. It might be said that the North Carolina constitution granted too much in- dividual liberty. One result was that the state government was too weak to rescue itself from David Fanning. Where was the proper balance of conflicting aims here? Where were the law -makers wise enough to give it force? The problem was not that of North Carolina alone. It haunted the new union of states and the creation of a common con- stitution for them all. Chapter Checkup PEOPLE Thomas Burke Willie Jones Abner Nash David Fanning Richard Caswell Lord Cornwallis Samuel Johnston John Jasper White ,v; Vv F GO. PUBLU; LlillftiwV0 wicYSVKS$ ill