Patriotism of Presbyterians (5)

From Scotch and Irish Seeds in American Soil by Rev. J. G. Craighead

previous page | contents | start of chapter | next page

CHAPTER XII. … continued

In the Carolinas were Alexander Craighead, who, though not living to see the clash of arms, “sowed the seeds of the Mecklenburg Declaration;” Dr. David Caldwell, a distinguished patriot and educator, and member of the convention that formed the State constitution of North Carolina, and had his library burned by the enemy; Henry Patillo, a valuable member of the provincial congress of North Carolina, and active in carrying on the war against the enemy; Hugh McAden, who suffered the loss of all his property by the enemy; Dr. James Hall, a commander and chaplain; Dr. Francis Cummins, a Mecklenburg patriot, who fought in several engagements; John Simpson, who encouraged his people to deeds of heroism, and was himself in several battles; James White Stephenson, who served throughout the war, and had his gun shivered in his hand by the enemy’s shot; Joseph Alexander, a fugitive from his home, which was used by the patriots as a hospital for their sick and wounded; Lewis F. Wilson, who served for many years as surgeon in the Continental army, having studied medicine previous to entering the pulpit; Dr. Thomas H. McCaule, a zealous patriot, who was by the side of General Davidson when he was shot by a Tory; and Adam Boyd, one of the earliest friends of liberty, chaplain of the State brigade, editor of the Cape Fear Mercury, and a member of the committee of safety of North Carolina.

These were some of the more prominent advocates and defenders of the independence of their country. Whether engaged in preaching to their own congregations, or addressing public assemblies, or deliberating in legislative halls, or serving in the army as officers or soldiers or chaplains, they were known as earnest, active patriots, who fearlessly had committed themselves on the side of freedom.[9]

With the exhibition of such patriotic zeal and devotion as was evinced by the clergy, we may be sure that the elders and members of their churches stood in the front rank of battle when their country needed defenders. From the investigations we have made, we are persuaded that, could the facts be properly presented, they would be as surprising to most persons as they would be honorable to the Presbyterian Church. In confirmation of this remark, our space will permit of but two illustrations.

In one county of Pennsylvania, settled almost exclusively by Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, it is on record in the State papers that fourteen days after the battle of Lexington over three thousand men had already united in military organizations, fifteen hundred stand of arms had been returned, and that delegates from the different precincts of the county had met in convention and voted that five hundred effective men should be at once armed and equipped to march on the first emergency, and to be paid by a tax on all estates, real and personal, in the county. Reinforcements for the army continued to be sent forward as the public exigences of the war required, so that by its close “almost every man able to carry arms had been in the military service of his country.” And while these volunteer forces, in such surprising numbers, were marching to battle, there were already in the Continental army a great many officers and soldiers from this county who had joined it the previous year. These patriots very generally selected their own officers, and as a rule were commanded by their loved pastors, or the elders of the churches to which they belonged, who cheerfully encountered with the common soldiers the privations incident to an active campaign.

To give proper weight to the patriotism here displayed, it should be known that this was a frontier county, with a comparatively sparse population, the people poor and obliged to defend themselves from the Indian savages, who were instigated by the enemy to commit deeds of violence and to murder the unprotected inhabitants.

The other illustration of the military services rendered by Presbyterians in the Revolutionary struggle we take from a widely separated part of the country. Referring to the war in South Carolina, Rev. Dr. Smith writes: “The battles of the Cowpens, of King’s Mountain, and also the severe skirmish known as Huck’s defeat, are celebrated as giving a turning point to the contests of the Revolution. General Morgan, who commanded at the Cowpens, and General Pickens, who made all the arrangements for the battle, were both Presbyterian elders, and nearly all under their command were Presbyterians. In the battle of King’s Mountain, Colonels Campbell, Williams, Cleveland, Shelby and Sevier, as also Colonel Hamilton and Major James, were all Presbyterian elders, and the body of their troops were collected from Presbyterian settlements. At Huck’s defeat, in York, Colonel Bratten and Major Dickson were both Presbyterian elders. Major Samuel Morrow, who was with Colonel Sumter in four engagements and in many other battles, was for fifty years a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church.”

Thousands of others identified with the Presbyterian Church, either as office-bearers or private members, freely risked their lives in defence of their country, and many of them sealed their devotion to it with their blood. As descendants of those heroic men who so successfully resisted oppression in all its forms in the Old World, they, in the hour that tries men’s souls, proved themselves not unworthy of their lineage, and it was because the American Presbyterian Church contained within it such elements as these that it was able to take the patriotic stand it did in establishing a free republican form of government.[10]

After the part taken by Presbyterians in achieving the independence[11] of the colonies, it would have been strange if many of them had not been called into the civil service of their country. This was the fact, but our limits will only permit the mention of a few of the more distinguished of the number.

General Moultrie of South Carolina was twice governor of that State subsequent to the war; General Joseph Reed served in Congress, and was thrice governor of Pennsylvania; General Sullivan was president of New Hampshire for three years; General Henry Knox was selected as secretary of war; General Sumter, member of Congress, minister to Brazil and senator from South Carolina; Governor Clinton, elected vice-president; Patrick Henry, appointed secretary of state and minister to France, which posts of honor he declined, and was elected governor of Virginia; Robert R. Livingston, minister to France; General Morgan, a member of Congress from 1797 to 1799; Richard Stockton, member of the Continental Congress, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; General Stewart, a member of Congress in 1784-85; Samuel Spencer, judge of the Superior Court of North Carolina; General William Irvine, member of the committee on the war, and afterward in Congress—a judicious statesman and zealous patriot; James Wilson, representative in Congress, who gave the casting vote in the Pennsylvania delegation for independence, and a member of the war committee; John Meheling, member of the provincial congress of New Jersey, 1775, and quartermaster-general; Alexander Martin, govenor of North Carolina and senator; General Anthony Wayne, a member of the committee of safety of Pennsylvania; General John Armstrong, member of Congress; Thomas McKean, member of Congress from 1774 to 1783, and judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; Richard Caswell, governor of North Carolina and president of the convention that framed the State constitution; Hon. William Killen, chancellor of the State of Delaware; George Read, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and honored with many civil appointments; George Bryan, judge of the Supreme Court, and author of the plan to abolish slavery in Pennsylvania; John Montgomery, member of Congress and of the committee of safety of Pennsylvania; John Byers, member of the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania; Andrew Porter, surveyor-general of Pennsylvania, and declined the office of secretary of war; and John Armstrong, Jr., a member of General Gates’ staff, and afterward ambassador to France and secretary of war.

We forbear further mention of those who sat in the legislative halls of the nation, or were elevated to positions of honor and great responsibility. Our object has been merely to show that these men, and those of like lineage and spirit, enjoyed the confidence of their fellow-citizens, and were chosen by them to frame, expound and administer the laws and government of a free people.

previous page | contents | start of chapter | next page

NOTES

[9] Though the Scotch and Scotch-Irish colonists were in point of numbers relatively small as compared with the entire population of the country, yet they furnished a great many of the general army officers. At this late day anything like a full or accurate designation is impossible, owing to the fact that in the biographical sketches of these men very frequently there is no mention made of their nationality. Enough, however, can be traced to justify the assertion that the Presbyterian colonists were conspicuous and able and brave in the battles of the Revolution.

Of MAJOR-GENERALS we may refer to Anthony Wayne, John Stark, Hugh Mercer, Thomas Sumter, Henry Knox, William Alexander (Lord Stirling), Alexander McDowell, Richard Montgomery, John Sullivan and William Moultrie. Of GENERALS, to Daniel Morgan, John Beatty, Francis Marion, Griffith Rutherford, George Graham, William Irvine, John Moore, Charles Stewart, John Armstrong, William Davidson, Joseph Graham, Isaac Hughes, Andrew Pickens, Arthur St. Clair and Joseph Reed. Of BRIGADIER-GENERALS, to John Armstrong, Jr, Jethro Sumner, Matthias Ogden, Otho H. Williams, Stephen Moylan, Francis Nash, Elias Dayton, Edward Hand, Andrew Lewis, Lachlan McIntosh, William Thomson, Andrew Porter, James Moore and William Macpherson. Of colonels and of other subordinate officers we attempt no enumeration, as in point of numbers they were almost legion.

[10] As the Puritans of England were for a long time unquestionably Presbyterians, Robinson’s church at Leyden having the same government as the Protestant churches of France, and as not less than from twenty to thirty thousand Presbyterians from the north of Ireland entered New England at an early period and united with the churches already established, and that were so similarly constituted to those they had left, Presbyterians should be credited with no “insignificant share of the splendid patriotism displayed by New England in the Revolution.”

[11] Of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence, we recognize at least fifteen of them as having been of either Scotch, Irish or Huguenot ancestors.