How Did The Spirit of '76
Find Brunswick County?
BY MARJORIE MEGIVERN
ie American summer season
? launched by the July 4th
ndependence Day that de
fines our national life and pride. We
are reminded in this season of hero
ic events that led to our separation
from Mother England and our sub
sequent identity as the United
States of America.
What was life like in Brunswick
County in those Revolutionary and
pre- Revolutionary days and what
role, if any. did it play in the con
flict? Wilmington native Lawrence
Lee is one able historian who has
answered these questions in his
book. The History of Brunswick
County North Carolina, a panora
ma that spans our history from
Cape Fear exploration to the post
Revolutionary War period.
Brunswick County was created
in 1 764 from parts of New Hanover
and Bladen counties, the county
scat located in Brunswick Town,
which had served as the seat of
government for the original New
Hanover County. What limited
communal and political life the
county experienced in the 17th and
18th century was focused on this
port community, site of the first
courthouse and of considerable
shipping activity before military ac
tivity replaced it.
Although Brunswick County was
spared the actual conflict of the
Revolution, its people lived for
years in the shadow of British dom
inance and expectations of armed
resistance to it.
The centerpiece of pre- Revolu
tionary activity was an episode of
overt defiance of the British Stamp
Tax. when residents acted with de
cency, but also spirit and firmness
against what they perceived as
tyranny. Brunswick Town was the
scene of this historic rebellion and
courage.
Men representing Brunswick and
several adjoining counties met in
Wilmington on February 18, 1766.
and organized the Sons of Liberty,
for the purpose of preventing im
plementation of the Stamp Act
passed by the British Parliament.
This required colonists to pur
BEACON FILE PHOTO
THE SPIRIT OF '76 infects these patriotic youngsters participating in a neighborhood Fourth of July
parade on Ocean Isle Beach last year.
chase stamps to place on legal pa
pers, newspapers and a variety of
other papers shipped out of the
colonies. It was one more tax im
posed to help support the empire
and citizens rebelled.
The Sons of Liberty marched to
Brunswick Town that February day,
where vessels awaited stamped ma
terials. put Governor William Try
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on under house arrest, then pro
ceeded to break into the homes of
William Dry, customs inspector,
and William Pennington, comptrol
ler of customs. These two gentle
men were made to swear they
would not issue any more stamped
paper. The Stamp Act was soon re
pealed.
County people again acted swift
ly in July of 1775, when rumors
grew that Fort Johnston, in what is
now Southport, was to be strength
encd by Governor Josiah Martin
with great numbers of armed
Loyalists as a means of subjugating
the citizenry from within. Citizens
moved decisively to seize the fort
and put the torch to it.
While burning down Fort John
ston hurt the revolutionary causc
more than it helped, it illustrated
the zeal and courage of Brunswick
County colonists.
The famous battle at Moore's
Creek a few months later brought
the revolution closer to this county,
and even before it took place, the
fears of Brunswick Town residents
prompted them to evacuate their
homes in anticipation of British at
tack. This may have saved their
lives, because there followed sever
al incidents of British sailors loot
ing and pillaging in the now desert
ed Brunswick Town.
After 1 776. the war was confined
to the north until 1778, when
British troops landed in Georgia,
facing Americans under the leader
ship of Maj. Gen. Robert Howe, a
Brunswick County native.
Howe was soon transferred to
West Point, then officiated in the
court-martials of Benedict Arnold
and the British spy John Andre.
Mustered out of service in 1783, he
returned to political activity in
Brunswick County, representing the
county in the North Carolina House
of Commons.
By the close of the Revolution in
1783, this county still had no towns
except the ghostlike Brunswick
Town whose shipping was demol
ished. (Ironically, the county today
has the largest number of munici
palities of any in the state.)
Its economy depended largely on
rice, grown on a sizeable number of
plantations, most of them lacking
the magnificence we expect today.
Orton Plantation, for example,
though now a showplace, was orig
inally an unimpressive one-and-a
half story brick structure without its
modern wings and columns.
Other plantations included Russ
ellborough. north of Brunswick
Town, its name changed to Bellfont
by Gov. William Tryon when he
purchased it. Belvedere, home of
Governor Benjamin Smith, Winna
bow. Blue Banks. Thornbury and
The Bluffs.
The sprawling, fragmented geog
raphy of the county, with the great
Green Swamp in its center and
rivers and creeks separating settle
ments, made it difficult for resi
dents to acquire education, health
care and even conduct corporate
worship.
It was hazardous during spring
floods, to travel to the courthouse
in Brunswick Town for elections;
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