Loyalist

As far back as 1770, Thomas Rutherford had served in the Cumberland County militia. He then served in the Provincial Congress of North Carolina for Cumberland County from 1774-1776. By 1775, he had also been appointed to the head officer (Col) of the Cumberland County Minute Men. That same year, he signed an August 1775 statement that the Provincial Congress wrote, which said they would support the continental and provincial congresses against Parliament’s taxation, though they were still loyal to the King.

However, Rutherford came out as a Loyalist in early 1776, urging Loyalists to join the King’s Standard in Cross Creek, saying:

“This is, therefore, to command, enjoin, beseech and require all His Majesty’s faithful subjects within the County of Cumberland to repair to the King’s Royal Standard at Cross Creek, on or before the 16th present, in order to join the King’s army; otherwise they must expect to fall under the melancholy consequences of a declared rebellion and expose themselves to the just resentment of an injured, though gracious Sovereign.” 

At the Battle of Moore's Creek, after the Loyalist defeat, Rutherford was captured but was back in the Provincial Congress in April 1776 but was then exiled from the state by the Provincial Congress. Rutherford ended up abandoning his estate, and he later died in the Loyalist cause during the war around 1780. After his death, his brother John Rutherford cared for his widow and orphan child.

Farquard Campbell had been an early surveyor of Cumberland County and was from Scotland. As early as 1770, he was one of the first Sons of Liberty from Cumberland County. In the early 1770s, he served as a captain in Cumberland County during the Regulator conflict. He then served in the First Provincial Congress of North Carolina in New Bern in 1774 and signed a statement pledging to support the Continental Congress in August 1775. However, Governor Martin in November 1775 noted that Farquhard’s conduct was inconsistent, and by the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge, he seems to have been playing both sides, conferring with General MacDonald as a Tory, yet also conferring with Caswell on the Patriot side. Campbell then was seen as being a Tory, and after the battle, the committee that investigated the insurgents said:

“Farquard Campbell, disregarding the sacred obligations he had voluntarily entered into to support the liberty of America against all usurpation, has tratoriously and insidiously endeavored to excite the inhabitants of this Colony to take arms and levy war in order to assist the avowed enemies thereof. That when a prisoner on his parole of honor he gave intelligence of the force and intention of the American army under Colonel Caswell to the enemy and advised them in what manner they might elude them and that he is a Freeholder and lives in Cumberland county.”

He was then sent out of the state as a prisoner of war, before returning in 1778. His switching sides caused him to later be kicked out of the Assembly in 1784.

James Hepburn was a North Carolina Scot merchant and attorney of Campbelltown before the American Revolution. He had served as a Justice of the Peace in Cumberland in 1774. The next year, he served in The Third Provincial Congress in August 1775. Around this time, the New Hanover Committee complained in early July 1775 that he was “a false, Scandalous & seditious Incendiary, who, destitute of property & Influence, as he is of principle, basely & Traitorously endeavors to make himself conspicious [sic] in favour [sic] of Tyranny & oppression, in hopes...to raise a fortune to his family upon the Subversion of Liberty & the destruction of his Country” by seeking to raise a militia to act against the American cause. He then attended the Hillsborough Congress and took an oath to support the aims of Congress, displaying Patriot ties. But by February 1776, Hepburn worked as secretary to General MacDonald, the Royalist commander at the battle. After incarceration following the battle, Hepburn was exchanged in 1778, later fighting for the British in Charleston. After the war, he became the attorney general of East Florida for a time, before living in the Bahamas. He died in 1798 and gave numerous enslaved individuals to his wife Mary.

McKay served in the Provincial Congress of North Carolina. He owned hundreds of acres in Cumberland County, and had a wife, five children and owned some enslaved individuals. He served as a Captain in the Loyalist forces at Moore’s Creek Bridge and was taken prisoner, later being sent to Philadelphia. After being exchanged he was then recaptured and spent some time aboard a prison ship in Boston. After being paroled, he went to Charleston and later sought to raise a company of Highlanders for the British in North Carolina, before going to Britain after the war.

In Feb 1776, Angus raised a company of men to fight at Moore’s Creek Bridge, but after the Loyalist defeat, he was taken prisoner. He was in captivity from Feb 1777 to August 1778, when he was exchanged. By 1780, he was appointed Captain of the NC Highlanders and was at the sieges of Savannah and Charleston before being taken prisoner. After Charleston he left for Jamaica and then London. He had owned a house on the Cape Fear River along with over one thousand acres in Cumberland.

Colbreath owned 200 acres in Cumberland County. He had come to America in 1768, and by 1775 had his own plantation near the Cape Fear River. In early 1776, he joined the Loyalists and was captured at the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge. He stayed in ‘retirement’ until 1779, when he tried to escape to Georgia. He was captured again and exchanged. His wife came to him at Wilmington in “distress and destitute of clothing,” and at the evacuation of Charleston they left for Jamaica.

Connor was the son of Owen & Judith Dowd, and the family had been settled on the Cape Fear for many years before the war. During the conflict, he furnished stores to Loyalists, causing his family to lose their estate and be exiled. He owned 7,000+ acres valued at 13,000 pounds. His wife Mary had written to him in 1789, when he was in London: “I am glad you have a prospect of settling your affairs in England so soon; from the newspapers we understand that April next is the time fixed by Government when I hope you will once again see this Country…Unless you can be here yourself, I shall be reduced to a truly deplorable condition.”

Gray married Mary in Scotland in 1769, and they traveled to North Carolina in 1771, raising three children. In 1776, he joined the Loyalists at Moore’s Creek, and was taken prisoner, being banished from the state. Mary his wife was “left with three weak children while he went to NYC and did duty with the militia.” He was captured at Charleston, but escaped and joined the army at Wilmington, before he and Mary went to Charleston. They then evacuated to Jamaica, and he died in 1783. They had owned 1,600 acres in two lots on Raft Swamp, Bladen Co, and Beaver Creek, Cumberland, along with a lot in Campbellton.

Neil McArthur was a merchant in Cumberland who was commissioned as a Captain in the Royal NC Regiment in Jan 1776. He was captured and served 30 months in captivity. He went to join the army in 1779 after being exchanged but was captured and taken to Boston and was imprisoned for four months. He and his family went to England in March 1784, and he had been “reduced from affluence to low circumstances with a family to support near Glasgow.” He had been quite wealthy: he owned hundreds of acres and a house on the Cape Fear by Campbellton, land near Cross Creek, houses and a storehouse in Campbellton and Cross Creek, lumber, tobacco, rifle and equipment given to the British army, along with enslaved individuals.

His father had been banished from NC in 1777 for refusing to take a loyalty oath. Archibald “was permitted to remain subject to paying a treble tax” because of his young age. He joined Lord Cornwallis's forces in March 1781 when they came through Cross Creek, and when they left, “he was appointed Capt. Of Militia and risked his life by going 120 miles through enemy country to become embodied in the Royal NC Militia. He helped in the capture of the rebel Gov. Burk with seven of his officers and 150 of his men.” He then became Col. of the Cumberland County Militia but later fled to Charleston. He had owned 300 acres at Cross Creek, a house as well as six enslaved individuals.

Jane Stanhouse of Cross Creek was a spinster. A native of Scotland, she had lived in North Carolina for 14 years before the war, where she “made a comfortable living by running a school for the children of gentlemen.” She supplemented her income by needlework and millinery work. After Moore’s Creek, she hid refugees and provided for them as they hid out in the woods, before she was driven from her home. She later arrived in England in poor health.

A planter from Cumberland who had lived there for several years before the war. He was a Liet of Militia in 1776 and helped to capture 50 rebel prisoners at Cross Creek. After being captured at Moore’s Creek, he escaped with 6 others and joined the Army at Fort Johnston on the Cape Fear. After that, his house was plundered and his “wife and child were stripped and turned out.” He went to England in 1782. He owned 250 acres on McClendon’s Creek and 200 acres on Little Rive

He was appointed Quartermaster of Gov. Martin’s Regiment in the North Carolina Highlanders in 1776. Captured at Moore’s Creek, he was forced to leave the province and his wife and three children behind. He joined the Army in New York in 1777 but was then captured by an American frigate and confined at Philadelphia for one year. He was exchanged, then joined the expedition against Charleston where he received a wound on board a galley, losing the use of his left arm. He departed for Britain in 1785, joining his wife and daughter. He had owned a house, 300 acres, and a tavern and lot in Cumberland

John served as a lieutenant in the NC Highland Regiment and was captured at the battle of Moore’s Creek. He was then “marched from goal to goal and treated barbarously. He was exchanged but seized again and taken to Boston. After being exchanged again, he served as a captain at the siege of Charleston. He died at Camden after hearing the death of his eldest son.” His wife Janet then “left their plantation to join her husband on his death bed but the enemy seized everything she left behind. Having been warned by her brother-in-law not to return home, she sought refuge within Army lines leaving her children behind to be taken into a neighbour’s house. At Wilmington, though sick with fever, she brought her children, which she had been separated from for 2 years, to Charleston, then to Britain.” They had owned 250 acres in Cumberland-the Rice Path Plantation, and 550 acres on Little Pedee.

Archibald came over to North Carolina from Scotland in 1767, settling at Little River in Cumberland County. He went to join the British Army in Georgia in 1779 but was captured and spent 10 months on a prison ship in Charleston, before escaping and heading to Savannah. He joined the Royal NC Regiment as an ensign and by 1781 became Col. Of the Militia of Cumberland County. “On three different occasions his force defeated the rebels, marched to Hillsborough and took 200 prisoners into Wilmington. When he was ordered back to Cumberland Co. He had almost brought the rebellious inhabitants to submission but then learned of the Army’s surrender in Va. In 1783 he went to St. Augustine and from there to Nova Scotia.” He had owned a house and peach and apple orchards in Cumberland County.