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

by John W. Moore

1757.

3. Colonel Hugh Waddell, of Brunswick, was put in command of troops raised in North Carolina for the French and Indian war. He had started to join General Braddock's column, but just previous to the fatal battle on Monongahela River was recalled by Governor Dobbs to repel the attack of the Cherokees on Old Fort. This stronghold was built amid the western mountains to overawe the Indians and as a refuge for the settlers.

4. Governor Littleton, of South Carolina, by his bad management, had most wantonly provoked the Over-hill Indians into this condition of hostility. His foolish and unnecessary interference and cruelty had converted these usually peaceful neighbors into sufficient hostility to make it easy for French emissaries to obtain their active aid against the English settlers.

5. Captain Dennie, with his company, was also besieged at Fort Tellico. Colonel Waddell made haste with his battalion and drove off the Cherokees, burning their lodges and destroying all the corn he could find. Another battalion remained with General Forbes, as North Carolina's contingent in the expedition against Fort Du Quesne. These things occurred in 1757.

6. In England the administration of the Duke of Newcastle over American and foreign affairs terminated, and the first William Pitt succeeded to his place. In every portion of the world mighty consequences resulted from this arrangement. The fleets and armies of Great Britain were animated with the zeal and patriotism of that great statesman.

1759.

7. Of all the victories of the year, none was so important to America as that of General Wolfe over the French at Quebec. It broke the power of France in the Western Continent, and stopped, in a great measure, the war waged by Indians upon the frontier settlements.

8. At no period has the population of North Carolina increased relatively so fast as during these years now under consideration. Up to the death of Governor Johnston it had amounted to no more than thirty thousand souls, but since that time had more than doubled. In 1754 the exports amounted to sixty-one thousand five hundred and twenty-eight barrels of tar, twelve thousand and fifty-five barrels of turpentine, seven hundred and sixty-two thousand staves, sixty-one thousand five hundred and eighty bushels of corn, besides much tobacco, pork, beef and other commodities.

9. The most discreditable thing in Governor Dobbs' administration was his effort to procure the General Assembly to locate the provincial capital on his farm, called "Tower Hill." This was the place where the Indians had been defeated by Colonel James Moore in 1712. He failed in his scheme, and Snow Hill, as the place is now called, never became the capital of North Carolina.

10. He was often at variance with the Legislature, or more properly, the House of Assembly, concerning the courts and judges. He wished things arranged to suit certain men in London, and the House resolved that this should not be done, and North Carolina was left, in the end, with no judges but the justices of the peace.