America 250 Traveling Exhibit

From Revolution to Constitution

Battle-of-Moores-Creek-Bridge-Loyalists-at-the-Bridge National Park Service.

As tensions rose between Great Britain and her American colonies, most people in Cumberland County supported Britain at first. But in June 1775, fifty-five men led by Robert Rowan signed the “Cumberland Association,” promising to back the Continental Congress.

During the Revolution, local fighting broke out, with raids from both sides. In 1781, Loyalists even captured the Patriot county leaders at the courthouse, now the site of the Headquarters Library.

“They know that I abhor tyranny in every shape, and therefore are determined to strike at me, and all those that I have any influence with. This is evident, they have attempted it already, and marked me and all my friends as Tories - (I would much rather at this time be called a Horse thief.)” -Rowan to Governor Caswell in 1777 after he was accused of being against the Patriot Cause.

After the war, Cross Creek (renamed Fayetteville in 1783) briefly served as North Carolina’s capital. In 1789, two key things happened in Fayetteville: the state ratified the U.S. Constitution at the old State House (now the Market House), bringing North Carolina into the Union, and leaders signed the charter for the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest public university

Fayetteville Arsenal

When the Civil War began, Fayetteville mattered because of the Fayetteville Arsenal. The Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry took control of it for the Confederacy on April 22, 1861.

The arsenal made rifle-muskets and other weapons for the Confederacy. After the Confederacy seized Harpers Ferry, they moved equipment from there to the Arsenal, and thousands of rifles were produced there over the war.

In March 1865, General William T. Sherman’s troops destroyed the arsenal, local mills, and nearby land and burned the Fayetteville Observer offices. The damage hurt the city for years and likely contributed to Fayetteville’s later financial problems in the 1880s.

Sherman stayed at the Sanford House while in Fayetteville (now on Dick Street). A soldier left a “calling card” at the house: a bullet hole in the fireplace. It took decades for the region to recover.

On July 19, 1865, Captain E. W. Raynsford described what became of the Arsenal:

“A complete mass of ruins. There are but two small frame buildings standing...There are several old cannon broken at the trunions or the knob lying amongst the ruins. This comprises all of what was once the arsenal at Fayettevil

A History of Cultural Diversity

Matthew Nathaniel Leary Sr. (1802-1880)

Free African-American saddle-maker and business owner in antebellum Fayetteville. He was also an enslaver, though available records and family writings indicate he purchased enslaved people to help free them. His descendants included Lewis Leary, who rode with John Brown at Harpers Ferry, Matthew Leary Jr., who was a founding member of Fayetteville State University, and John S. Leary, who was one of the first African-American lawyers in the state. Matthew Sr. Served as a Cumberland County Commissioner right after the Civil War

Kalman (1880-1951) and Jacob Stein (1875-1942)

Russian-born Jewish immigrants who played pivotal role in Fayetteville’s economic development in the early-to-mid-20th century. The brothers started a department store on the northwest corner of Market Square around 1905 and in 1916, just over a decade, they had done so well they built Fayetteville’s first skyscraper, the five-story Stein Building on the southeast corner of Market Square, now known as the Lawyer’s Building. In 1921 they expanded again and built the Capitol Department Store on Hay St (now the site of Capitol Encore Academy) and by the time it finally closed in early 1990 it was the last remaining department store downtown.

Sylvia X. Allen (1923-2012)

Born in Cuba and raised in Jamaica, Slyvia always wanted to be a lawyer. In the late 1950’s, by then a wife and mom of six, she began taking classes in Chapel Hill, commuting daily from Fayetteville. In 1962, she became the first Black woman to graduate from UNC’s law school, and in 1969, she was the first Black woman to serve as assistant District Attorney in the County. She served on the fair housing board, the Human Services Commission, and Arms Around Fayetteville, a 1966 outreach initiative to fight homelessness

J. McNatt “Mack” Gillis (1912-2003)

John McNatt Gillis was a farmer who served over 30 years on the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners. He was a big advocate for farmers and rural communities in Cumberland. He was a member of the NC Cotton Growers Association and, in 1990, was inducted into the Cumberland County Agricultural Hall of Fame. His family is of Scottish descent and have been farmers in Cumberland since the end of the Revolutionary War.

Hyman Fleishman (1872-1934)

Jewish immigrant, born in Lithuania while it was a part of the Russian Empire, who brought his family to Fayetteville in 1906 and established B. Fleishman and Brothers department store downtown in 1909. In 1914, he convinced Jack Dunn, the owner and manager of the Baltimore Orioles, to spend a month in Fayetteville for spring training. It was during this stay that George Herman Ruth Jr. Hit his first home run and also acquired his nickname, “Babe Ruth.” When “The Great Bambino” died in 1948, Fleishman’s son Maurice, who had been a bat boy for the team while in Fayetteville and had become a successful merchant himself by this time, led the effort that resulted in the state historic marker placed on the site of the old fairgrounds.”

The Educational Legacy of Cumberland County

“Whereas, in all well regulated governments it is the indispensable duty of every Legislature to consult the happiness of a rising generation, and endeavour to fit them for an honourable discharge of the social duties of life, by paying the strictest attention to their education...” NC General Assembly, 1789

On December 11, 1789, lawmakers meeting in Fayetteville for the General Assembly approved a plan to start a state university.
It became the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the oldest public university in the United States.

On November 29, 1867, seven Black men, including Andrew J. Chesnutt, bought two lots on Gillespie Street to start the Howard School. In 1877, it became the State Colored Normal School, one of the first public teacher-training schools in the South for Black students.

Over time, the school’s name changed before becoming Fayetteville State University.
In 1972, a state law made it part of the UNC system.

Charles Waddell Chesnutt, Andrew Chesnutt’s son, became the school’s second principal in 1880. He left the school in 1883 to pursue his writing, later publishing The Conjure Woman (1889) and earning the NAACP Springar Medal (1928).

Influential Figures

Hiram Rhodes Revels (September 27, 1827 – January 176, 1901)
Born in Fayetteville, he became the first Africa American member of the U.S. Congress. He was an A.M.E. minister, helped recruit Black troops during the Civil War, started a school for freedmen in St. Louis, and was later elected as a U.S. Senator from Mississippi in 1870.

Mildred Barrington Poole (December 3, 1900-August 26, 1992)
As Fort Bragg’s school administrator, she desegregated the schools in 1961, the first school to desegregate in the South, and hired the first Black teacher there.
She said, “I can’t tell you how many Negro children we have...They are children to us, and we treat them that way.”
In 2018, an elementary school on post was named after her.

Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry Captain Robert Adams grave.

Captain Robert Adam (c. 1759-1809)
Born in Greenock, Scotland, Robert Adam moved to North Carolina and became a merchant in Wilmington and Fayetteville. He founded the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry on August 23, 1793, and offered service to President George Washington. He died in 1801 and was buried at Old Cross Creek Cemetery. His tombstone honors his character as a Christian, husband, and father.

Cumberland’s Military Heritage from Camp Bragg to Fort Bragg

Triple Nickels wait to exit the aircraft.

Cumberland’s Military Heritage from Camp Bragg to Fort Bragg

Camp Bragg opened on August 21, 1918, two months before World War I ended. By February 1919, though the camp was now finished, the war had ended, so the Army reduced the number of soldiers to less than one-quarter the original plan.

On August 23, 1921, the Army decided to shut down Camp Bragg. Brig. Gen. Albert J. Bowley and Fayetteville leaders fought the decision. After a visit by the Secretary of War, the order was canceled on September 16, 1921. On September 30, 1922, Camp Bragg became Fort Bragg, a permanent post.

In 1940, about 5,400 soldiers lived at Fort Bragg. After Germany attacked Western Europe in May 1940, the post grew fast and had 67,000 by the summer of 1941. Builders poured into Fayetteville-soon there were more workers than city residents. By the end of the war, Fort Bragg had 159,000 troops. Its size, airfield, and facilities made it perfect for training new airborne divisions like the 82nd and 101st.

After the war, the Army again considered closing Fort Bragg but decided not to. On January 19, 1946, the 82nd Airborne Division returned from Europe and stayed at Fort Bragg. This was the first time an airborne unit was permanently based at Fort Bragg, helping both the post and Fayetteville grow.

Since then, Fort Bragg has become the home of the Joint Special Operations Command in 1980, and the installation has been crucial to Desert Storm and the Global War on Terror.

Contact Information


Phone:	910-483-7727	Headquarters Library: 300 Maiden Lane Fayetteville, NC 28301
Fax:	910-486-5372

Email:
Director:	Heather Hall

Contact Information


Phone:	910-483-7727
Fax:	910-486-5372
Email:
Director:	Heather Hall
Headquarters Library:	300 Maiden Lane Fayetteville, NC 28301