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The
Settlers
Settlers coming into
North Carolina had to deal with the Native Americans
who already inhabited the region they were trying
to claim. The tribe of the Albemarle region, the
Tuscaroras, felt the Carolinians were overstepping
their boundaries. In the process Indian huntings
grounds had shrunk and some Indians had become addicted
to liquor, while still others feared enslavement.
This infuriated the Tuscaroras and on September
22, 1711, war broke out between the Indians and
the settlers. The Indians attacked settlements and
captured settlers. In return, North and South Carolina
troops teamed up to fight back. They captured 1,000
Indians and killed 1,400. The war ended in March
of 1713. The remaining Tuscaroras traveled north
and joined the Iroquois Confederacy. Putting an
end to the "Indian problem," as the Indian presence
was often called, made more people feel comfortable
about settling in North Carolina.
In the 17th century
most settlers in North Carolina had come from Virginia,
but after the Tuscarora War more diverse groups
of settlers began to arrive. Prior to the war, a
couple non-Virginian groups had ventured into North
Carolina. In 1680, a group of French Huguenots went
to Carolina in an effort to produce silk and wine.
In 1710, 400 German and Swiss settlers arrived and
established the town of New Bern.
After 1735, land started
to become scarce in the northern colonies so farmers
from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, migrated
to the Piedmont region of North Carolina. At first
most of the migrants were of Scotch-Irish heritage,
but by mid-century, Pennsylvania Germans began to
join the Scotch-Irish and the backcountry population
began to grow. The North Carolina backcountry developed
into an area of ethno-religious enclaves. Pennsylvania
Quakers, German Lutherans, Moravians, and Scotch
Presbyterians all inhabited North Carolina's backcountry.
The German population, which had grown from 15,000
to 209,550 by 1775, banded together in communities
where they shared religion and language. They settled
throughout the Piedmont, concentrating heavily in
Rowan, Cabarrus, Davidson, and Davie counties. A
backcountry elite developed as well. The top ten
percent of landowners held forty percent of the
wealth.
Among the Germans
in the backcountry was an interesting group, the
Moravians. These people belonged to the Moravian
Church, officially named the Renewed Unity of Brethren.
The Moravians based their religion on the 15th century
Unitas Fratrum created by John Hus. Hus, a Bohemian,
wanted to simplify Christianity and make it more
applicable to people's everyday lives. This religion
appealed to many Bohemians as well as their neighbors
in Moravia. By the early 16th century, the church
had grown to include 200,000 followers. The Roman
Catholic Church was not pleased by this development,
mainly because the Unitas Fratrum believed that
Christ alone led the church, not the Pope. So in
the beginning of the 17th century, the Hapsburg
Emperor, Ferdinand III, eliminated nearly all of
the members of the Unitus Fratrum. The religion
barely survived through a few refugees. In the 18th
century the religion was renewed and developed into
the Moravian Church that exists today. New congregations
emerged in Germany, England, Holland, and Pennsylvania.
This group was considered somewhat radical because
they focused intensely on Christ. Some considered
them anti-Trinitarian, and they received much resentment
from other Christian sects. The resentment they
faced eventually forced them to North Carolina.
Here, the group fell into contact with John Carteret,
Earl of Granville, who owned over 15 million acres
of North Carolina land. The Moravians bought land
near Muddy Creek and named their town Wachovia.
The first ten settlers arrived at Wachovia in 1753,
and by 1772, 350 Moravians resided in the town.
The Moravians lived communally, believed in equality,
and did everything for the good of the community
as a whole. Today the first Moravian settlement
is part of an archeological park near present-day
Winston-Salem. Some of the original buildings remain
intact, and ruins have been excavated and stabilized
for visitors.
Scottish Highlanders
also added to the diversity of North Carolina's
settlers. The Highlanders immigrated to America
because of the laws enacted by the British that
were designed to destroy the Highland clan culture
and bring them under British control. The decay
of the clan system, change in agriculture, poverty,
and unrest made the decision to leave Scotland relatively
easy for many Highlanders, and thousands flocked
to America in the 18th century. The first Highlanders
arrived in North Carolina in the 1730s, and settled
in Cape Fear. James Innes, Hugh Campbell, and William
Forbs were among the first Highlanders to settle
in Cape Fear. When the Highlanders arrived in North
Carolina, they disembarked at either Brunswick or
Wilmington. They then had to travel ninety miles
up the Cape Fear River to the Cross Creek area,
which was the hub of Scottish settlement. The first
large group of Highlanders to settle in the Cross
Creek area was a party of 350 from Argyllshire who
arrived in 1739. By 1775 a large body of Highlanders
was situated along the rivers on the Sand Hill region
of Upper Cape Fear. Most Highlanders settled into
North Carolina and became farmers.
Slavery was a part
of North Carolina from the beginning; the proprietors
who founded the state were slave owners in the West
Indies. Plantations were held by the aristocracy,
and slaveholders were the wealthiest and most powerful
people in society. North Carolina blacks originally
came from other British colonies, but in 1786 a
ship came to North Carolina directly from New Guinea.
Slavery continued to be a part of North Carolina's
culture until the conclusion of the Civil War.
By the time of the
American Revolution, settlement in North Carolina
had defined the state into distinct ethno-religious
sections. The Albemarle Sound region had been settled
by the English for one hundred years where wealthy
slave owners operated plantations. In the Appalachians
the Cherokee lived undisturbed. In the middle, Germans
and Scotch-Irish inhabited backcountry enclaves.
Together these groups formed a uniquely diverse
North Carolina. |
