ADDRESSES OF HON. CHAS. B. AYCOCK R. F. E-3EASL.1EY,TESQ., On the occasion of the unveiling of the Colonial Column and the Monument to C‘;-xptain James Morehead, at Guilford Battle Ground, July 4, 1901. S PUBLISHED BY THE GUILFORD BATTLE GROUND COMPANY, GR:-zeussono, N.‘ o. PROGRAM OF THE ANNUAL CELEBRATION AT THE GUIL- FORD BATTLE GROUND ‘ON JULY THE FOURTH, 1901. Procession will form on the Salisbury Road at IO:3O in the following order: DR. CHARLES L. SCOTT, CHIEF MARSHALL, AND ASSISTANTS. PROXIMITY BAND. ORATORS OF THE DAY, CHAPLAIN, MASTER OF CEREMONIES AND DISTINGUISHED GUESTS IN CARRIAGES. DIRECTORS AND STOCKHOLDERS OF THE GUILFORD BATTLE GROUND COMPANY. ~ CITIZENS GENERALLY. Procession when formed will move to the Grand Stand. ORDER OF EXERCISES. At the Pavillion. V MUSIC Ev THE BAND-——-“The Old North State.” PRAYER BY THE CHAPLAIN, DR. L. W. CRAWFORD. ORATION-—~—GOvERNOR AYCOCK. PRESENTATION OF THE PORTRAIT OF JOSEPH M. MOREHEAD BY THE ARTIST AND DONOR, DAVID CLARK, ESQ., BY HON. ALFRED M. SCALES. RESPONSE BY DR. CHARLES D. MCIVER. MUSIC~—~“The Star Spangled Banner.” Procession Reformed and March to the CAPTAIN JAMES MOREHEAD MONUMENT AND THE COLONIAL COLUMN Then to be Unveiled. “ ADJOURN TO DINNER. REASSEMBLE AT PAVILLION AT 2:30 P. M. MUSIC BY BAND. ORATION ON THE BATTLE OF ELIZABETHTOWN BY R. F. BEASLEY, ESQ. T GRAND CONCERT Ev PROXIMITY BAND. JAMES W. FORBIS, ‘MASTER OF CEREMONIES. The stress of public duties preventing Governor Aycock from giving us a copy of his address for publication, the fol- lowing extracts from the press are inserted. _’I‘he Biblical Recorder, July 10, 1901. At only one place in North Carolina so far as we know, was the fourth of July—the birthday of Independence-—-appropriately observed. That was on the Guilford battlefield»-«a worthy place indeed. There a monument to virtue and and heroism and the spirit of independence was unveiled; and Governor Aycock and Editor Rowland F. Beasley delivered addresses. j North Carolina Christian Advocate, July 10,1901. A v THE GUILFORD BATTLE GROUND CELEBRATION, ill‘ , ii! , fit During the colonial period and the Revolutionary War North Carolina was the theatre on which many heroic deeds were enacted and many places within her bounds were made sacred by the valor of her sons. ' ’ ii 9!! CI The Guilford Battle Ground Company has wisely set apart the fourth of July, the birth of our Nation, as the time for the annual celebration of the battle of Guilford Court House. It has become a day and an occasion that are looked forth to with great interest andevery year thousands of people repair hither to commemorate the deeds of the noble men who fought in the Revolutionary war and who met and vanquished the enemy on that bloody field. V ‘ . In some particulars the exercises on last Thursday were more interest- ing than on any previousoccasion. » ~ t Hon. Charles B. Aycock, Governor of the State, was the principal orator, while Mr.-“R. F. Beasley, Prof. M. H. Holt and President Chas. D. Mclver made appropriate addresses. It is the first time in the history of the Association when two granite monuments were unveiled at one time. One of these‘ commemorates the last battle of the Revolutionary war fought within the borders of the State in September, 1781. The other an impos- ing Colonial .Co1um7n‘_ with four large‘, shields on its sides, sets forth the State's history from May, 1771,’ to April, 1776, the most heroic period in the history of, the Commonwealth. , l i ‘ ’ Too much cannolfbe said in praise of the men who have done so much to make prominent this historic place and draw to it year‘ after year many of the best, people of the State where is kindled anew in their bosorns the fires of patriotism. T e We commend their example toothers. 1 1* if Greensboro Patriot, Wednes.:1a.y, July 10., 1901. THE GLORIOUS FOURTH. The Battle Ground CeIebration——Speeches by Governor Ayeock. . A G T and Mr. Beasley. by The annual celebration at the Guilford Battle Ground last Thursday attracted a great many people, who greatly enjoyed the exercises of the day. The principal events of the day were an address byGovernor Aycock on the colonial history of North Carolina, and one by R. F. Beas- ley, Esq. l - ~ * l 91‘ ii! The Governor spoke of the struggles which went on from the .earliest“ settlement of North Carolina until the ‘people wrested their freedom from _: He said while in other sections of Amer-T ‘ British tyranny and oppression. ice. the struggle for liberty was usually begun by the leaders, in North Carolina it was the masses who first took up the fight for individual rights, maintaining the struggle until their representatives were instructed to de- clare for independence of Great Britain. The first blood of the Revolu- tion was spilled on North Carolina soil, at the battle of Alamance, and the Regulators, who stood -there against foreign oppression were not 1awbreak- ers, though they were fierce. But for Alamance, declared the Governor, North Carolina would not have been the first State to pronounce the Declaration of Independence. In closing his speech the Governor made a strong plea for education, saying this was the only way of maintaining the liberty bequeathed by the T fathers. . '36 916 it v Governor Aycock was followed by Mr. R. F. Beasley, editor of the Monroe Journal, formerly editor of the Greensboro Telegram, who deliv- ered a learned and scholarly address on the battle of Elizabethtown, which was fought in Bladen county in September, 1781. address displayed much ‘thought and patient research. — After the speaking the beautiful Colonial Column and the monu-‘N ment to Capt. James Morehead were unveiled with appropriate cere-’ monies. ‘ The Colonial Column is the first monument erected to the mem- ory of the men who fought at Alamance and who made memorable the few years just preceding that battle. _ ~ t“ . at‘ us as A pleasing incident of the celebration was the presentation by‘Mr. D. L. Clark, ‘the High Point artist, of a very fine oil painting of Maj. Joseph M. Morehead, ‘the indefatigable vice-president of the Guilford Battle Ground Company. The -presentation speech was made by Prof. M. H. Holt, of ‘Oak Ridge. The painting was accepted by Dr. Charles D. Mc- Iver. ~ ' ‘ Judge Schenck, the venerable president of the Guilforcl Battle Ground‘ Company, was too feeble to attend the exercises. T This is a portion ofirn- ll I portant North Carolina history of which little is known, and Mr. Beasley’s 1 l By-R.iF.,BEASLEY. M t Spear/z a’e[z'72eri'a’.o7z'2‘/ze 0ccasz'o7z of Me Azzzzzzczl CeZe&r‘¢z2‘z'o7z‘ic’zz‘ zp‘/ieGz¢lz'Zfoml Batfle Grozmd, 4, 1901. e LADIES AND G_ENTLEMEN:-- In the-, large gathering here to--day,"in the great speech of your Governor, to which you have just listened, and in the. ceremony which you are yet to witness, a stranger mustread the signsof an auspicious day in North Carolina, a day when the actions and motives ofa virtuous people are not only vin- dicated, but honored in the unveiling of a beautiful structure of granite with its sides emblazoned with tablets of living letters which fitly tell, a story of glory more imperishable than the bronze and adament upon which ’tis written. This day is rnoreauspicious than the similar ones that have gone before, because it is thehculmination of the things we have done be- fore. To-day, for the first time, we extend the circle of our endeavors and bring within its scope some men whose deeds have not only been too muchunhonored and unsung, but who i have actually been regarded by some of our so-called histo— , rians as extremely suspicious characters. On any day some fifteen years ago, if a traveler hadgbeen venturesome enough to attempt to pass the tangle of the “Old Salisbury road” he might have seen somewhere on. this field a stoutly-made man, robust in body and with a strong face, de- noting remarkable mental activity, busily engaged with a score of laborers in clearing underbrush, measuring distances, markingilines or laying_out avenues.‘ That man you all know. ‘ It was"Judge‘Davi'd' Sppchenck, to-,-day the honored ‘president of your company, and he has nobly served you,[not only in ‘the, ‘ work done on this field, but inthe writing of a book of sledge- hammer facts andlogic which has forever swept awayan 4un- \ worthy charge against North Carolina’s honor. , But upon thisfield again touldghave been seen the figure of another worker} it was upon a spot in front of where Irnow l stand,,,midway between Greene’s Virginiamilitia and his Con- tinental troops, and; itwasbut the 16th of lastr,.l\/lay-a—.4the fig-— 4 ure was that of Major Joseph M. Morel1ead*, who was busily engagedin completing the turfing around yon grand Colonial Column, perhaps the handsomest monument in the State and one of the handsomest anywhere. To that tirelesscgitizeng of, Greensboro we owe that great achievement in monument‘ building and also to him do we owe the fact that after a cen- fury and a quarter of either obscurity or misrepresentation, the Regulators and their motives and the consequences of their actions are understood and properly published to the worldi. I have said that to-day we have enlarged the scope of our celebration. Do you know that upon this good day, we are enabled to properly celebrate upon this field the first a battle of the Revolution, the first American victory in that war, one of the decisive battles, and the last engagementon the soil of? our State-—-—-Alamance, Moore’s Creek, Guilford" Court House and Elizabethtown? The work of the two’ gen— tlemen whom I have named represents the beginning and the realization of the possibility of this day. That is why I say this hour is doubly auspicious. What reflections must crowd upon the minds of the patriotic citizens gathered here to-dayl. Who has not asked himself the question, “Why do we build monuments?” And who of themany visitors that Come to this place from Maine to California do not look upon the shafts here and ask themselves why it all is? dead that we build? sleep on forgotten fields whether their names bewritten on brass or marble? ‘ W l C “Can storied urn or animated bust, » Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath P ” Why should it notbe said of each that--———~ “We carved not a line, ' And we raised not a stone, But left him alone in his glory?” Ah, We make statues and write history that thergllorious dead may yet speak to the living; that ‘th.0S&'wh‘\OSe deeds have wrought good to race or country maybring their mes— , sage to us as they gave it to their contemporaries, thus being, Is it for the What care these heroes whose bones * F‘ It should not be inferred that this was Major Morehead’s first service in this cause. Since its incipiency he has been, year in and year-out,,tire-; less intthe cause of the Guilford Battle Ground, spending his money, time and labor freely in its behalf. His lastwork is but _the crowning effort of past achievement. , ‘ V l l l . A 1‘ Major Morehead is the author of a most reliable historical pamphlet,‘ here referred to—,—“james Hunter, General of the Regulators.” , 4 l i S .“heirs of all the ages,” we have before our eyes for emulation the cumulative virtue and wisdom of the centuries. We build monuments for the honor of the past, for the inspiration of the present, and for the protection of the future. Monument- making is anethical force. It is ethical, because, in North Carolina, at least, we build only to the great or the good, and their virtues are thus inculcated in the young. “The portraits and statues of the honored dead,” says Edward Everett, “kindle the generous ambition of the youthful aspirants to fame. Themistocles could not sleep for the trophies in the Ceramicus; and when the living Demothenes had ceased to speak the stony lips remained to rebuke and exhort his de- generate countrymen. We can never look on the portrait of Washington, but his serene and noble countenance, perpetu- ated by the chisel and the pencil, is familiar to far greater multitudes than ever stood in his living presence, and will be thus familiar to the latest generations.” Macauley’s lone fish- erman may one day mend his nets upon the deserted banks ofthe Thames, but when will the picture of Good Queen Bess riding among her small band of sailors and exhorting them to hurl ,back the all~powerful Spanish Armada fade from the mind of the race that would esteem heroic action? Some day we may cease to hear the throb of the war drum, but when shall we cease to point proudly to the record of a warrior like Robert E. Lee and glory in his unblemished character, his tender sympathy, his knightly courage, his gallant bearing and his unswerving devotion? When Napoleon bade his sol- diers remember that from the pyramids forty centuries looked 0 down upon them, he voiced the fact that the greatest incen- tive to noble action in the present is the desire to be worthy of the noble actions of the past. What father, as he passes over this battlefield, will not strive harder to instil into his son’s mind and heart the lessons .of virtueaand patriotism which here open so abundantly before him?» Let the youth of our land he brought to spots like these and be taught the love of country anddevotion to the public good, the majesty, of liberty and the sacredness of law, the greatness of unselfishness and the beneficence of high «ideals. At this shrineof patriotism let them drink in the fact that they are of the present as these heroes were of the past; « that to each lot_ some dutyfalls; that none who shrink are worthy, and that while no invading enemyis now threatening and may never again threaten our country, there are daily calls, toiduty, tounselfishness and devotion to the public good. . v ,Let i; them understand that when from the fathers they inheri- , ted the freedom and glory of a great country they assumed the obligation totransmit themhundefiled. Infuse into them 6 these truths and youhave a generation of men, who, when the crises come, will meet themrtin whatever form presented as theimenof these hills met’-‘British inivasion; it Tell "rrie not that ‘we‘~cannot thus rear our youth, and tell me" not that when so reared they will “be recreantrto anyrpublic trust or*liberty- givenlresponsiibility. Tell‘ me not that a’ “peopletnurtured and reared in the" spirit of freedom will fail to-act’ as that spirit’ dictates when the nation comes, in itslarger l*ife,»to the solu- tion of questions which are thrust upon it asthei freest and "grandest country on the globe, or that we ’shall extend our 'ministrationsto other peoples except as'a‘benedi'ction. The freedom and greatness of our country are inthehearts-of its people’ as they were in the hearts of the heroeswho sleep here. and no‘ earthly power can”dislodge them. Then let us, de- scendants of worthy sires, as we meet in the very shadows of their glory, draws determination from their record and resolve todo What duty and country demand oflin,-July 6th: ~ . “I hope your excellejncy will order assistance totthis part of the country, otherwise goordrpeople here will be under the I necessity of giving uprvin order to save theirproperty if possi—— ble, but this be the last step?taken.’p’ 1 C Colonel 'iiKenannltoi. Govfernor B,urkie,lfrom Duplin, Julylg-thl: “I am much afraid the enemy will penetrate into this county before ‘we «shall receive any reeinforcemoent, as’ I am , told Colonel Linton is ordered to the westward. I hope your ~ excellenncy will bemindful ‘ofthis distressed, part of the coun-A ‘?’Y-”' a . A r. in ., n , n \ Isaac 'Wi11iamj's'tol,Gen’er'a1 Caswell, from Cape'Fear, July 22nd= re" r , ‘ , , , e ' .**# . [“I‘ have heard ‘nearly the same as I wrote,nyo'uf,before, that there , is between two andflfive hundre,d _of the Iories on IN I or near the Raft " emibodied. We had a muster on Monday last, when the third and fourth number was ordered ‘to meet in order tot march after“ the Tories, but there was V neither officers hor men met,‘ only eight or«ten. The colonel ‘never came at,all."” i * i Colonel Jno. Kenan to Governor Burke, _Iuly=~I5-th"::r ,, 4 “The enemy has moved out of Wilmington up to the Long Bridge and are rebuilding. it is said by several gentle- men who have left the t0Wn1‘i<. Their intention is to give no r morevparoles and will sell every man is propertywwho will not join them and“ become British subjects." »; , pColonel'iiKenanto Gover"noriBurke, from’ Duplin, August 2nd : “I am now convinced that this county with several oth- erspwill be..over~run with t:he_British and Tories.” ' Genelral Greene to" Governor Burke, from Headquarters on the ’ Santee, August 'I2t"h: i ‘ _ y A ‘M M“ “I perfectly agree with you in opinion that the best way of silencingthei Tories is by routing'”the enemy from Wil- ' ‘mingtomfor while they have footing there the Tories will re- ceive such {encouragement as to keepptheir hopes and expec- ‘tations alive, and theirfiincursions will be continued. ‘Nor will ‘it be in your‘ power to crush them w’ith‘all= theforce you can raise, as they act in small parties,and appear in so many" different shapes, and have so many different hiding places and ,secret‘springs of intelligence that you may wear oiutfan army and still be unable topsubdue them.”" i ' This was the deplorable state of affairs‘ when the action p of Elizabethtownr occurred on the 29th of‘Septem;ber, 1781. it i ‘Wheeler says that the battle was fought some timelin July, without giving a definite date, and that thesWhigs were com- ‘manded by General Brown. lBoth of these statements are ‘wrong. Honorable Hamilton McMillan has provenconclu- sively that the fight occurred September 29th :andJvthat the leader was Colonel Thomas Roberson. Mr. McMillan has kindly procured "for meta perfectlyiauthentioated manuscript written in I845 by Robert E. Troy,,a;.prominent lawyer of his is diaygliving in-~Lumberton. The manuscript was?‘ written at the dictation of James.-Cain, a Revolutionary veteran who was -in the“ battle whicirhhe describes. , By the aid vof«Mr. McMillan, Ithink every statement of J this account, with the exception of .an immaterial one, can be proven true, and "since it"7is entirely runknownto North Carolinians, and as it gives a ‘very graphic account of the b*att1e,~I cannot do better than to read. it 1:9 you, in lieu of any transcriptiongofits facts,;_ 2* M i . r 1,2 CAIN’S ACCOUNT. ‘R C i _ Copy of a letter written by Robert E. Troy, Esq., to The Fayetteville Observer, March 12,1845, telling of an interview with James Cain, of B-laden county, N.'C'., a Revolutionary veteran, whorelates the history of the battle of Elizabethtown, fought September 29, I781 : ‘ C ' r r LUMBERTON, N. C., March 12, 1845. - DEAR SIR : It has been a matter of regret that the events of the revolutionary war in North Carolina, while they exhib- ited some of the most brilliant feats of daring and chivalrous courage which distinguished that contest with the mother country," have almost entirely escaped the notice of the histo- rians whoirhave attempted to transmit to posterity a record of that interesting and eventful period. And who has not deep- ly and painfully felt that regret, as some greyhairedveteran of the Revolution, with all the interest and fidelity of an eye- witness and a, participant, narrated the particulars of some bold adventure," or some wild and dangerous enterprise, when bravery and conduct supplied the place of numbers, as he re- flects that those acts, which, in‘ therdark ages of knight- errantry,"would have won for those who were engaged in them the highest glory, will soon pass intooblivion and be _forgotter_1l forever? r l‘ , p iUn"der the influence of such feelingsas those, I have taken the liberty of sending you the followingraccount of the “Battle of Elizabethtown ” which I received inalmost the very words in which I have given it from one (perhaps the only living witness) who was present and who fought bravely for liberty on that and every other occasion, when fortune gave ,,him opportunity. It is impossible tohear him as he relates i with eloquence and. truth, the trials, the dangers and priva- tionsof those dark and turbulent times and doubt for a mo- ment the authenticity, of his statement; he speaks as one who knows and fee,ls—-—“,‘Qzraeqzre zfpse mz'serrz'mcz *z2z'a'z', at quorum magma pczrsfzzzi” ,» , ’ Some time during the summerof I78I or 1782, my infor- amant could not tell with certainty which, but he rather in- < clined to the belief that it was 1781, about7,4oo Tories unde_r Slingsby established their quartersl at Elizabethtown and about 500, more under Colonel Fanningfour miles above at a place ca1ledl“,Brompton on the river.“ Both the leaders and rnost of themen were,“wicked Tories.” There were, however, some true Whigs in principle who“ had been forced to take up arms against their; country, and who where called in the lan- guage of that time “signed Tories.” ' l if t l 13 From these two points they ravaged the country in every direction, insulting and plundering the most respectablefagm‘-4 ilies,,_burning several private dwellings, wahtonly, destroying a great quantity of pvaluableiproperty and committing upon the defenceless inhabitants outrages of the most horrible and W barbarous nature. r - _ l” b There were in the neighborood I80 Whigs under the command of Colonel Thomas Robeson, who felt themselves‘ too weak to either attack ,theHTories in a" body and avenge the wrongs they daily suffered or to protect their homes “from”th’e depredations of_the remorselessirnarauders. Colonel iThornasfn Brown, the regular commanding gofficer of the Whigs, ‘had been wounded a short time before in a skirmish with theBrfit-'4 ish regulars near Wilmington, and was unable to cointinueinn activeservice. Colonel Robeson had no comniisslion at that n time, (his former commission having expired) and he votun‘-, T iteered to take command at tiherequest of Co1onellf‘B'rown and‘ ‘ the Whigs generally, during the absenceiof that ”offi,cer‘“‘in consequence of the woundshe had received.‘ These”I8o men s , remained lurking in the swamps and thickets for threebweeks, hoping for reinforcements and watching for ‘opportunitiesof cutting off detached parties of Tories; they could not,1how~“ ever, get a shot at a single Tory, nor did they”obt’ain one ‘re-it cruit. They then resolved to endeavor to enlist the feelings of their fellow Whigsiin the adjoining counltieis, and llmarchedfi, through Duplin, Johnston, Wake, lCha,tham and_ the upper corner of Cumberland. In these counties, though they found many friends and were kindly received and hospitablyl‘enter,-“pi tained at almost every place where they made their“ appear» ance, and three general miusters were called to supply them with the necessary re-—enforcements, ‘yet they could not find as ’ man who was willing to join them and? march" against the Tories, Such was the general consterinationb, and so great was the terror of the names ofFanning JandS1ingsby, that all men so far from the scene ofsuffering" chose rather to stay at home, and take care ofthemselves and families than thus, as they * conceived, to voluntarily throw ,’the.mselves intoithe lion ’s clutches. , l T A T ” i i It was now six weeks since Colonel Robeson and his men, set out on; their recruiting expeidition,,‘an“cl when” they returned’ T“ to Duplin (now Sampslon)trheylrfounid instead of having in—- T creased their numbers, that, with those who‘ha,d deserted and c those who had obtained leave of absence upon furlough, they , had only 71 men, all of theiloriginal ‘company which had left the Cape,~Fe,ar., They_were all mounted and] all had guns,’ but manyof their horses were yvorn to ltheibone, and in“‘all the bones seemed to stick through the skin. T116: knees, ell‘? I4 bows and shoulders of a,great manygliof the men weree_xposed' and some had not even a changeuof colothes. In that, plight, Worn 0,L;1t~and dispirkited,theywarrived at the house of.G,abri_el Holmes, a true Whig and a. feryvepnti friend of liberty, ~Here Colonel Robeson announced tolhislittleybpand his deterrnina-V tion to return home and disperse the Tories or perish in the; attempt, and calledjuponall who .Were..w,illing to go with him in thisidesperate unde.rjtal