School History of North Carolina : from 1584 to the present time

by John W. Moore

CHAPTER XI.

GOVERNOR DRUMMOND AND SIR JOHN YEAMANS.

A. D. 1663 TO 1667.

1. King Charles II., who thus bestowed this vast dominion upon a few of his friends, was in marked contrast, as a sovereign, to Queen Elizabeth. He was a gay, dissolute, shameless libertine, who despised all that is valuable in human duties, and spent his life in the paltriest amusements. He could be polite and entertaining in conversation, but abundantly justified Lord Rochester's remark that "he never did a wise thing or said a foolish one."

2. Under instructions from the other Lords Proprietors, Sir William Berkeley, in 1663, appointed William Drummond the first "Governor of Albemarle." He was a Scotch settler in Virginia, and was a man who deserved the respect and confidence of the people whom he governed. He was plain and prudent in his style of life, and seems to have given satisfaction to the people who had been previously uncontrolled by law or magistrate.

3. After a stay of three years, Governor Drummond returned to Virginia. A great trouble arose in Virginia at this period, known as "Bacon's Rebellion." A brave young man, Nathaniel Bacon, was at the head of a force resisting the presumption and illegal authority of Governor Berkeley. William Drummond, seeing the justness of the resistance, warmly supported Bacon's cause. Mrs. Sarah Drummond, wife of the Governor, nobly sustained her husband. Bacon died before the close of the "Rebellion," and a large number of the leaders were put to death. Governor Drummond was, by order of Berkeley, hanged within two hours after his capture. The entire property of Mrs. Drummond was confiscated and herself and five children were turned out to starve.

4. This tragic culmination of Berkeley's ruthless cruelties was the occasion of the bitter censure by the king, already recorded. After the death of Berkeley, Mrs. Drummond brought suit against his wife, Lady Frances Berkeley, for recovery of her property, and a verdict in her favor was given by a Virginia jury. Governor Drummond is commemorated by the lake in the Dismal Swamp which still bears his name.

5. It was discovered soon after the king's grant to the Lords Proprietors, that a belt of land extending southward from the present Virginia boundary to a point on a line with the month of Chowan River, and extending indefinitely west, was not included in that charter; so, in 1665 another charter was granted joining this strip of territory to North Carolina.

6. In 1663 there was an expedition formed in the island of Barbadoes, which came to the shores of Carolina and explored to the distance of about one hundred and fifty miles the courses of the northeast branch of the Cape Fear River. This expedition was under command of an experienced navigator named Hilton, who was assisted by Long and Fabian, and returned to Barbadoes in February, 1664.

7. Among the planters who had fitted out this expedition was John Yeamans. He was a young man of good connections in England. His father had been Sheriff of the City of Bristol during the war of King Charles I. with Parliament, and was put to death by the order of Fairfax on account of his stubborn defence of his city in the king's behalf.

1666.

8. Yeamans had emigrated to Barbadoes, hoping to mend his broken fortunes, and being pleased with the report of Captain Hilton's expedition, he determined to remove to Carolina. He went to England to negotiate with the Lords Proprietors and receive from them a grant of large tracts of land, and at the same time he was knighted by the king in reward for the loyalty and misfortunes of his family. Returning from England in the autumn of 1665, he led a band of colonists from Barbadoes to the Cape Fear, and purchasing from the Indians a tract of land thirty-two miles square, settled at Old Town, in the present county of Brunswick. The settlement was afterwards known as the "Clarendon Colony." This village, which was called Charlestown, soon came to number eight hundred inhabitants, and they occupied their time in clearing the land for cultivation and preparing lumber, staves, hoops and shingles for shipment to Barbadoes. The colony greatly prospered under the excellent and prudent management of Sir John Yeamans, but was afterwards deserted, when Yeamans was ordered by the Lords Proprietors to the government of a colony on Cooper and Ashley Rivers, South Carolina.

9. There had been, as early as 1660, a New England settlement for the purpose of raising cattle, on the Cape Fear; but this colony incurred the resentment of the Indians, it is said, by kidnapping their children under the pretence of sending them to Boston to be educated; and the colonists were all gone when the men from Barbadoes visited the Cape Fear. Whether the New Englanders were driven from the settlement by the Indians, or left because their enterprise was unprofitable, is not known with certainty. These men left attached to a post a writing discouraging "all such as should hereafter come into these parts to settle."

1667.

10. During Governor Drummond's stay in Albemarle there was entire satisfaction manifested by the people with his rule, and also with that of the Lords Proprietors. He exerted himself to arrange matters so as not to disturb the titles acquired in the time previous to the king's grant; and there was full sympathy between him and the class represented by George Durant.

11. This sturdy Quaker had, some years before, bought from the Yeoppim Indians the place known as "Durant's Neck," on Perquimans River; and he was a leader in wealth and influence among the settlers. He was prosperous in his affairs, and largely controlled the views of the people belonging to his religious sect.

12. The rivers were full of fish every spring, and with little trouble large supplies were caught in the nets and weirs. Indian corn, tobacco and lumber were sent in vessels to New England and the West Indies. In return sugar, coffee and rum were brought to Albemarle, and an active trade grew up, which was almost wholly conducted by the New England vessels.

13. These vessels all passed through the inlet at Nag's Head, where, as late as 1729, twenty-five feet of water was found upon the bar. This afforded entrance to ships of considerable size. Cape Hatteras was then, as now, a place of great peril to ships, and many were wrecked upon the terrible outlying sand bars; but this did not deter the brave mariners from the trade which they found was growing each year more profitable.