GIFT OF SEELEY W. ML'DD and GEORGE I. COCHRAN MEYER ELSASSER DR.JOHNR. HAYNES WILLIAM L. HONNOLD JAMES R. MARTIN MRS. JOSEPH F. SARTORI to the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SOUTHERN BRANCH This book is DUE on the last date stamped below APfi 2 5 1^^ EJ^D to-af?| ^^^'4 .^P^3.J88 467.1 _P7£7_ v.l Polk - Southern Branch of the University of California Los Angeles Form L 1 E AGX-\ LEONIDAS POLK Volume I n^ravid, ty Wjn, Sa.rta.2! . [LD[£MTro(D®n=oW"?' IPCDlLC^o LEONIDAS POLK BISHOP AND GENERAL BY WILLIAM M. POLK, M. D., LL. D. PKOrESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OP THE CITY OF NEW YORK ; EORMERLY AN OFFICER OP ARTILLERY IN THE CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY IN TWO VOLUMES Vol. I NEW YORK LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1894 9185S Copyright, 1893, by William M. Polk, M. D., LL. D, E Pi PI /'I DEDICATED TO THE MEMOEY OF FEANCES DEVEREUX POLK THE WIFE OF LEONIDAS POLK PEEFACE. The author expresses here his indebtedness to the Rev. John Fulton, D.D., for the invaluable aid rendered by him in the preparation of this book. Dr. Fulton's close association with Bishop Polk as Assistant Rector \ and Rector of Trinity Church, New Orleans, during the period covered by Chapters VI. and VII. of Volume I. has enabled him to write more fully and correctly of the ^ events of that period than was possible to any one else. "^ These chapters are therefore presented, practically, as he wrote them. '^ The page headings, chapter headings, and index are % the work of Mr. E. E. Treffry. The completeness with which he has performed this task will be best appre- ciated by those engaged in biographical and historical research. CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. CHAPTER I. PAGE Ancestry.— Thomas Polk of Mecklenburg.— Under Washington. — With Gates and Greene.— Williajm Polk.— Germantown,— With Sumter, Marion, and Henderson. — Eutaw Springs 1 CHAPTER II. West Point.— General Gaines, General Scott, Colo- nel Thayer, Dr. McIlvaine, Sidney Johnston.— Class Standing. — Graduation.— Travels through New England and Canada 45 CHAPTER III. Enters the Ministry. — Theological Seminary, Alexandria. — Ordination. — Assist.^nt to Bishop Moore, Richmond, Va.— Travels through Europe. 87 CHAPTER IV. Priest to the Pl.'lntation Parish. — Missionary Bishop of the Southwest. — Work in Arkansas, Indian Territory, Republic of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. — The Negro as a Part of his Charge 127 CHAPTER V. The Sugar Plantation.— Scenes from the Planta- tion Home.— Mrs. Polk.— The Slave and his Master.— The Cholera Epidemic l'')3 X CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. CHAPTER VL PAGE The Negro, the Problem at the South. — How to Meet it.— Educate the People. — The Equality of THE South in the Union of the States.— "The University of the South will do ]\Iuch to Com- pose AND Reconcile National Feeling." 191 CHAPTER VII. Secession of Louisiana. — Action of the Dioceses. — The Church in the Confederate States. — Bishop Polk's Attitude 262 CHAPTER VIII. Enters the Confederate Army.— The Manner of Doing it. — How the Act was Received.— A Tem- porary Service.— Efforts to Resign 314 ILLUSTRATIONS. Lieutenant-Colonel Willlui Polk Frmtispiecc St. John's Church To face page 151 Leonid AS Polk (Missionary Bishop of the Southwest) To face page 170 University of the South To follow page IZ'd CHAPTER I. THE FOREFATHERS OF LEON IDAS POLK. 1(320 TO 1826. Settlement of John Pollock of Lanarkshire, Scotland, in the north of Ireland.— His son, Robert Pollock, serves under Cromwell; emigrates to the Eastern Shore of Maryland.— Change of the name of Pollock to Polk.— William, grandson of Robert Polk, removes to Carlisle, Penn- sylvania.— His son Thomas removes to Mecklenburg County, North Carolina; a Member of the Provincial Assembly in 1762 and 1771 ; leader of the opposition to British aggression.— General temper of the Colonies.— The revolutionary spirit in North Carolina.— The Meckleu- bvirg Declaration; Thomas Polk's part therein; appointed Colonel of Continentals ; serves with Washington at Brandywine and Valley Forge ; convoys the " Liberty Bell " to Bethlehem ; Commissary-General imder Gates; appointed Brigadier-General by Greene; why the appointment was not confirmed; death of Colonel Polk in 1793.— Mr. Lossing's error in his " Field-Book of the Revolution."— The eiTOr handsomely acknowl- edged.— Birth of Wniiam Polk, July, 1758; Major to the Continental Army at the age of eighteen ; engaged at Brandywine ; frightfully wounded at Germantown ; Valley Forge ; present at the defeat at Cam- den; serves vyith Davidson; following the fortunes of Sumter and Marion; battle of Eutaw Springs.— Colonel William Polk's career after the war; Member of the General Assembly of North Carolina; U. S. Supervisor of Revenue for North Carolina ; President of the State Bank; appointed Brigadier- General of the Army of the United States; declines the appointment; Commissioner to receive the Marquis de La- fayette ; his death in 1834. Before we attempt to sketch the career or to estimate the character of Leonidas Polk it will be of some advan- tage to recall some incidents in the story of the adven- turons race of pioneers from which he was descended. The origin of tlie family is obscure. An old tradition of 1 2 JOHN POLLOCK SETTLES IN IRELAND. [1G20 the derivation of the family iiaiiu^ in its original form of Pollock is too clearly apocryplial to l)e worth repeat- ing. A whimsical talc of the exploit which led to the adoption of the arms of the Pollocks is not more trust- worthy, but the de\dce of a wild boar pierced with an arrow, and the motto, Audacifer et lSfn')me, " Boldly and Stoutly," must evidently have been suggested by some feat of daring in which courage and strength were both exhibited. The branch of the Pollock family from which Leoni- das Polk traced his descent was represented in the reign of James, Sixth of Scotland and First of England, by John Pollock, a gentleman of some estate in Lanark- shire, not far from what was then the small but impor- tant cathedral city of Glasgow. Those were troublous times in Church and State, and John Pollock, who was an nncompromising Presbyterian, left his native land to join the new colony of Protestants which had been es- tablished in the north of Ireland. It was a hazardous adventure ; for although the last of the numerous pettj' kings of Ireland had jn-ofessedly suljniitted to the Eng- lish arms at the beginning of Bang James's reign, the Irish people cherished a vindictive hatred of their con- querors, and while the king-'s writ ran throughout the length and breadth of the island, the Scotch and Eng- lish colonists were often compelled to maintain peace by dra^nng and using their good swords. Little more is now known of John Pollock than that he lived to a good age, and that he had a son of true-blue Pres- byterian principles and of a strenuous temper like his own. Robert Pollock, a son of John Pollock, served as a subaltern oflficer in the regiment of Colonel Tasker in tho Parliamentarv avmv ac'ainst Charles I., and took an 1059] EMIGRATION OF BOBEBT POLLOCK. 3 active part in the campaigns of Cromwell. He married Magdalen Tasker, who was the widow of his friend and companion in arms, Colonel Porter, and one of the two daughters of Colonel Tasker, then Chancellor of Ire- land, of Bloomfield Castle, on the river Dale. By this marriage Pollock acquired the estate of "Moning" or " Moneen " Hill, in the barony of Ross, county of Don- egal, Ireland, of which his wife was heiress. Her elder sister, Barbara, who was born in 1640, married Captain John Keys, an English soldier, and their descendants still own Bloomfield Castle. On the death of Cromwell and the accession of the second Charles, Robert Pollock resolved to emigrate with his wife aiid family to the American plantations. In 1659 he took ship at London- derry, and after a stormy voyage, during which one of his ehildi-en died, he landed on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, in the i^rovince of which Lord Baltimore was ^' Sovereign Lord and Proprietary." Soon after his emi- gration the surname of Pollock began to be written Polk, and it appears in that form in the will of his widow, Magdalen Polk. Grants of land on the Eastern Shoi-e were made to Robert Pollock, or Polk, and to his sons ; and a homestead patented under the name of Polk's Folly is still in the possession of the family. In com- parison with other changes in the surnames of settlers in the American plantations, this change was slight. Tluis, in one well-authenticated instance, Beauclerc was trans- formed to Butler, and two families now bearing the names of Noyes and Delano are known to be descended from a common ancestor whose surname was De la Noye. Polk's Folly lies south of Fauquier Sound, oppo- site the mouths of the Nanticoke and Wicomico rivers. The old clock which was brought from Ireland by Rob- ert Pollock still stands in the hall of the dwellins'-house. 4 THE POLK FAMILY IX XOliTll CAKOLIXA. [\1X\ and his iiuiliogany liquor-ease is still preserved among the family relics.' John Polk, the eldest son of iiol)ert Pollock and Mag- dalen Tasker, married Joanna Knox. Two cliildren, William and Nancy, were Ijorn of this marriage. Will- iam married Priscilla Roberts, and afterward removed tf) Carlisle, Penn., where his fourth son, Thomas Polk, grandfather of the subject of this memoir, was horn. Follomng the exami)le of John Pollock, the Scottish colonist of Ireland, of Robert Pollock, the Cromw<'llian soldier who emigrated from Ireland to Maryland, and of his father, William Polk, who i-emoved from the province of Maryland to the ])i-ovince of Pennsylvania, Thomas Polk set out in 1753 to seek his fortune in a new field. In company with his two brothers, Ezekiel and Charles, he traveled through Maryland and Virginia, skirted the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge, crossed llif Dan and Yadkin rivers, and finally settled in Mecklen- burg County, in the western part of the prox-ince of North Carolina. For his homestead lie selected lands on Sugar Creek, a branch of the Catawba River, in a neigh- borhood where not a few pioneers had ab-eady made their clearings. INIost of tliem were emigrants from Grreat Britain who had spent a f(nv years on tli(^ banks of the Delaware Ix'fore going to North Carolina: and among the sturdy colonists of Mecklenburg County the Scotch-Irish stock, from which Polk himself had sin-ung, was largely re))r('S('nted. In 17.").') he mari-ied Su.san Sjtratt, the daughter of a farmer who had renu)ved from Pennsylvania in the same year in whieli Polk had \vit. 1 Among the desccmlunts of Rolx-rt Polk were Charles Polk, Gover- nor of Delaware, Trusten Polk. Oiovenior of Missouri and United States Senator, and James K. Polk. Speaker of the House of Representatives and President of the United States. 1771] THOMAS POLK A LEGISLATOR. 5 Carlisle, and it seems likely enough that the bright eyes of the farmer's daughter, as well as the prospect of rich lands in the Sugar Creek bottoms, had cheered the young emigrant in his long and difficult journey. By industry and enterprise he soon acquired a large tract of land and a sufficient fortune to enable him to rear and edu- cate the nine children born of this marriage in the simple but liberal style of a colonial gentleman. His personal qualities made him a leader in the settlement, and in 1769 he was chosen a member of the Provincial Assem- bly of North Carolina. Under his patronage an academy for the education of youth was established iiear his resi- dence, and he procured the passage by the Assembly of an act to establish "Queen's College" in the town of Charlotte, thus securing to young men in the western part of the province the opportunity of a more advanced education than is usual in newly settled regions. " Queen's College," though disallowed by the Crown, prospered until the Revolution, when the British troops took posses- sion of the town and l)nrned the buildings. The devo- tion of its students to the cause of American independ- ence gained for it the name of " the Southern Cradle of Liberty." In 1771 Thomas Polk was again a member of the Provincial Assembly, he and Abram Alexander repre- senting the county of Mecklenburg in the Lower House, and Josiah Martin being governor of the pro\'ince. He took a leading part in all the patriotic movements by which the colonists endeavored to withstand the aggres- sions of the mother-country ; and Joseph Seawell Jones, in his " Defense of the Revolutionary History of North Carolina," declares that Thomas Polk was the first to maintain the necessity of dissolving the political ties which bound tlie colonies to Great F>ritaiii. His fecliniis 6 EAliLY UEVOLUTIONAJRY SPIPilT. [1771 and opinions were decided ; his expression of tliem was frank and courageous ; and Mr. Jones adds that " out of these feelings and opinions grew the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence," in the framing of whicli Thomas Polk was the leading spirit.^ In his early zeal for American independence, Polk was in advance of most men of the Southern colonies. The prevailing sentiment in Vu-ginia, in the Carolina s, and, indeed, in all the colonies south of New York, differed materially from that of the people of New England. In New York the public sentiment, like the population, was mixed ; in New Jersey and Philadelphia the revolutionary spirit, even after 177G, was much more fervent in a few conspicuous individuals than among the mass of the people. In a broad way Virginia and New England represented two distinct traditional tendencies. New England looked back to the Commonwealth as the glorious period of English history; Virginia had sent her homage to the exiled Charles II. and had heartily hated the " Crop-Ears." The colonists of both demanded their rights as Britons, but their principles and prepos- sessions were widely different in many respects, and it will always be a cause of wonder that the most short- sighted of ministries should not have attempted to make terms with the one section in order more effectually to turn its arms against the other. The colonists in general entered upon the struggle with the king and his ministers with no puri:>ose of severing the ties which bound them to the mother- countiy, but solely, as they constantly and openly de- 1 It must be admitted that the violent prejudice and the exaggerated style of this writer have seriously affected his credit as a historian ; yet his statements of the facts are generally trustworthy. In the matter here under consideration they are amply coiitlrmed by othur evidence. 1775] AMEIilCA^ LOYALTY TO ENGLAND. 7 clared, to obtain tlieir constitutional rip-lits as Britons. Their aim, indeed, was rather to draw the bonds of nnion with Great Britain closer than to form an in- dependent nation. This desire was so general, and the name of Briton was so highly prized, especially by the well-descended colonists, that they were galled at every indication of a political difference between them- selves and their fellow-snbjects at home. Certain it is, that, nntil the British Government had explicitly and hanghtily refnsed to aeknoMdedge what the American colonists held to be their constitutional rights, and until a senseless course of petty but high-handed oppression had alienated their affections, no more loyal subjects bore the name of Briton than the people of the Amer- ican colonies. Thus far there had been little immigra- tion from the Continental countries of Europe. With few exceptions the colonists had come from the British islands. They had inherited the rights, and they under- stood the principles, of constitutional liberty. When their sovereign denied those rights and trampled on their liberty as though they were not Britons, then, and only then, reluctantly but resolutely, they drew their swords to vindicate their birtliright. War once begun, the old love turned to hate, and, before the struggle closed, the very name of Briton, which they had once prized, had become a synonym of all that was tyrannous and detestable. The people of North Carolina, however, and especially the people of Mecklenbin-g County, did not share the general sentiment of loyalty which in the earlier stages of the quarrel pei'vaded the other colonies south of New England. In his centennial address on the Mecklen- burg Declaration, Governor William A. Graham says, willi miu'h truth, that from the outset the leading spirits 8 MECKLENBURG COUNTY. [1775 iu tliat province were eager for revolution. They de- tested the institution of monarchy, and they were un- alterably convinced that if the colonies were to be truly free they must renounce their allegiance to the Crown. Thus, while others were vainly striving to devise expe- dients to avei't a war into which they were blindly drift- ing, Thomas Polk was preparing the stern and not easily governed people of his neighborhood for the clash of arms he saw to be inevitable. The colonists of North Carolina had always been in- tolerant and resentful of interference in their affaiivs. As early as 1751 Governor BiuTington complained : ''They have always behaved insolently to their gov- ernors. Some they have driven out of the country ; at other times they have set up a government of their own choice, supported by men under arms." It was Corn- wallis's uucomfortal)le fortune during his invasion of North Carolina to have his headquarters in Charlotte, the county seat of that ''heady, high-minded" county of Mecklenburg, which he soon, and with very good reason, pronounced to be the " hornets' nest of North Carolina." ^ Whatever hope there might have been of bringing the hornets iu this nest to live peaceably with the repre- sentatives of British authority, was shattered by the guns of Lexington. Even the loyalists of New York, who were planning to bring about a better undej-staud- ing between the colonies and the Crown, then felt that almost the last hope of reconciliation had vanished. To the impetuous Mecklenbiu'gers the report of the battle of Lexington was a proclamation of the dissolution of the union of the colonies with Great Britain. 1 Colonel Tarleton. in his "Memoirs," p. 159, says: "It was evident, and bad frequently been mentioned to the king's ofl&cers, tliat the coun- ties of Mecklenburg and Rohan were more hostile to England tlian any others in America."' 1775] COLONEL THOMAS POLK. 9 Colonel Thomas Polk was a l)orn leader of men, and he was recognized as the master-spirit in the conimunity in which he lived. From the beginning of colonial dis^ turbances he had boldly advocated a policy of uncom- promising resistance to the encroachments of the British ministry. When the qnarrel in Massachusetts broke out into active hostilities, he was chosen, in his capacity as colonel of the county, to call a meeting of citizens at the county seat; and it was there, on May 20, 1775, that, in presence of representative men of the district, he read the paper known as the Mecklenburg Declaration,^ pro- claiming the freedom of Mecklenburg from the control of (Ireat Britain. This was a year before the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. News traveled slowly in those days. From the Revo- hition down to the summer of 1820, but one newspaper was published in North Carolina west of Raleigh. The Continental Congress, then sitting in Philadelphia, was not ready to take official notice of so bold an act as the Mecklenburg Declaration, set forth, as it had been, by a handful of niilitia-men in a remote corner of tlie Amer- ican settlements. Indeed, had the members of the Con- gress been unanimously in favor of independence, as at that time they certainly were not, it was manifestly ex- pedient, until concert of action could be assured, rather to curb and ignore than to encourage radical proceed- ings.2 Hence, it is not surprising that outside the county in which it originated the Mecklenburg Declaration was liardly known until forty years had passed away. It by no means follows, however, that the Declaration was not actually read at the time mentioned. Tliose who doubt its authenticity adnut that, eleven days after its promul- 1 See Appendix to Chapter I. 2 See Appendix to Chapter I. — .Tohii Adams's Letter. 10 THK MECKLENBURG BEGLAEATW^ . [177.') gatioii on May 20, 177."), t.lie men of Mecklenburg", at a formal meeting- called l\v Thomas Polk, adopted sundry radically i-e\'olutionary resolutions.' Yet it apjjears that, more than forty years later, neither Thomas Jefferson nor John Adams had ever even heard of these resolu- tions of May 31st. The British were better informed ; for, on the 30th of July in this same year (1775), Gov- ernor Martin wrote to the Colonial Secretary in London, that ^^ the resolves of the Committee of Mecklenburg-, which yom- lordship will find in the enclosed newspaper, surpass all the horrid and treasonable publications the inflammatory spirits of this continent have yet pro- duced." Again, on the Stli of August, when aboard the government cruiser, Governor Martin issued a procla- mation beginning with these words: Wltereas, I have seen a most infamous publication in the Cnpe Fear Mercury, importing to be resolves of a set of peo- ple styliag themselves a Committee of the Coiuity of Mecklen- burg, most traitorously declaring the entire dissolution of the laws, government, and constitution of this country, and set- ting up a system of rule and regulation repugnant to the laws and subversive of His Majesty's Government. Now, the perturbed and somewhat hysterical state of mind into whicdi the governor was thrown hy the doings of the men of Mecklenburg sufficiently proves that the revolutionary spirit was active and aggressive among them in this month of May, 1775. The added testimony of those who stood -w-ithin the sound of Thomas Polk's voice on May 20tli ought to set at rest all questions of the genuineness of the resolutions of that date.- Besides his connection with the Mecklenburg Declara- tion, Colonel Polk was actively engaged in the p^^blic 1 See Bancroft's "History of the United States," 1886, vol. iv. p. 19C. 2 See Appendix to Chapter I. 1775] BBANDYWINE AND VALLEY FOBGE. 11 measures of his district which had been rendered neces- sary by the revolt against the Crown. He was a member of the committee which on August 24, 1775, prepared a plan for securing the internal peace and safety of the province. A few months later he was appointed colonel of the second of two battalions of minute-men which were raised in the district of Salisbury imder a resolu- tion of the Council of the Province, and it was not long before he was called into the field. The Tories of South Carolina, encouraged by Sir William Campbell, the last of the royal governors of that colony, had enrolled them- selves under Fletcher, Cunningham, and other leaders, and, attacking' the forces under Colonel Williamson at Cambridge and at Ninety-Six, had compelled him to capitulate. In this emergency the Council of Safety ordered out General Richardson's brigade and Colonel William Thompson's regiment of rangers, and called upon the Wliigs of North Carolina to aid them in crush- ing the Royalists. The North Carolinians promptly responded : nine hundred men, under Colonels Polk, Rutherford, Martin, and Graham, marched into South Carolina, and in a severe engagement defeated the Roy- alists. By the Provincial Congress, which met at Halifax on April 4, 1776, the State was placed on a war footing and the militia was regularly organized. With Thomas Polk as colonel and William Davidson as major, the 4th Regiment of Continental troops raised under this enact- ment marched, with other forces under Brigadier-Gen- eral Nash, to join the Army of the North under Wash- ington. Thomas Polk remained for three years under Washington's direct command, and participated in the battle of Brandywine and the hardships of Valley Forge. He was not present, hoAvever, at the bnttle of German- 12 COXVOYS LIBERTY BELL. [1780 town, Itciiiu' ;it that time in coiiiiiiiUMl of tlu' escort dc- tailcd to g-imrtl and convoy the hea\y baggage of the army (some f^even liundi'ed wagons) to a place of safety at Betlileliem, Penii. Among the impedimenta of the train uere the bells of Pliiladdjiliia. including the fa- mous " Liberty Bell." In November, 1779, tlie North Carolina troops were sent to reinforce the southern army, mider the com- mand of General Liucoln,i and, excepting Polk's regi- ment, were included in the gamson at Charleston. After the fall of the cai)ital f)f South Carolina in May, 1780, the organization of an army for the general defense of the southern States was entnisted by Congress to General Gates. As in all armies, so especially in this, the most pressing want was an efficient commissariat. During his ill-judged and ill-timed march through a barren country to Camden, where he more than suf- ficiently tested the ability of his men to march and to fight without food, Gates sought out Thomas Polk, and, through Thomas Pinckne}-, the aide of Baron de Kalb, offered him, August 3d, the double position of Commis- sary-General for the State and Commissary- of Purchase for the army.- This offer Polk accepted, but almost be- fore the ink was diy up(m his letter of acceptance Gates aiTived at Charlotte in hot haste from the field of Cam- den, and without so much as a corporal's guard. Char- 1 Extracts from '-XMieeler's Reminiscences of North Carolina."' from the archives at Raleiffh and the Moravian Records at Bethlehem, Penn., relative to Thomas Polk's services in the Revolution, reach nearly to the period of Gates's administration of the Southern Department. WTieeler's statements concerning this later period are evidently incorrect. See tlie " Papers of Major-General Gates " in possession of the New York Histor- ical Society, the " Papers of Major-General Greene " in possession of George W. Greene, of Rhode Island, and the collection of Dr. Thos. Addis Emmet. New York City. 2 '• Gates Papers." Doc. 132, vol. xvii. 1780] GATES'S DEFEAT AT CAMDEN. 13 lotte was a point of some strategic importance. It Ava.s the center of one of the best provisioned districts of the country, and the peoj)le were generally loyal to the col- onists. It was natural, therefore, to suppose that the general would halt there, and endeavor to organize at least a show of resistance to the enemy. Such a course would have strengthened the Continental cause, and would certainly have increased the influence of dates ; but with scarcely more than a moment's pause he aban- doned Charlotte and hurried across the State to Hills- boro, where the seat of State government then was. The effect of the defeat at Camden was deplorable ; and when the people of Charlotte saw the general who had been sent to them hy Congress flying even before the enemy had approached, their dissatisfaction and disgust were loudly expressed. But their spirit was not l)i-oken, and even after the defeat and dispersion of Sumter's comnuind, which occurred below Charlotte two days after the defeat at Camden, they were still resolute and ready to resume the conflict. The confusion and distress at Charlotte in this critical juncture are well described in Ramsay's "History of South Carolina." The British were hourly expected. The proclanuition fulminated by Cornwallis at Waxhaw on September 16th against the patriots of South Caro- lina, supported as it was by the well-known violence of his soldiery, convinced the people that they could assure their safety only by submission or flight, and among those who fled was the family of Thomas Polk. The men of Mecklenburg, supported by the militia from the counties of Rowan, Lincoln, Surrey, and Wilkes, pre- pared for a contest with Lord Cornwallis's well-appointed army of regulars. On September 2Gth Cornwallis entered Charlotte, and 14 BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN. [1780 made his headquarters at the White House, as Colonel Polk's dwelling, the only painted edifice in the towm, was called ; and one of the first acts of the general was to seize and confiscate all of the property of his involuntary host that coidd be found. Polk, meanwhile, was actively engaged in se(!uring supplies for the American army, often ])y the pledge of his own credit. It was no easy task, but he lost neither faith nor courage ; and at the first glimpse of good fortune — Khig's Mountain — he wrote as follows to the B(^ai'd of War: Camp, Yadkin River, October 11, 1780. Gentlemen : I have the pleasure to infonn you that on Sat- urday last the noted Colonel Ferguson with 150 men fell on King's Mountain ; 800 taken prisoners, and 1500 stand of arms. Cleaveland and Campbell commanded. A glorious affair. In a few daj'S we will be in Charlotte, and I will take possession of my house, and his lordship take the woods. ^ I am, gentlemen, with respect, Youi" humV>le servant, Thos. Polk. To the Board of War, Hillsboro. To his duties as commissary Thomas Polk voluntarily added those of recruiting officer. Riding from house to house throughout the counties of western Xorth and South Carolina, he gathered provisions and preaehed a crusade against the British. Xo one in all that region did more to re\dve the drooping spirits of the Whig col- onists, and no one sent so large a number of recruits, either to Sumter's command or to the regular forces serWng with General Greene. His spiiit is shown in a letter to General Greene, dated March 1, 1781, and writ- ten from Charlotte at the most trying period of the war in the South. Greene had been driven into Virginia; tlie Carolinas lay at the nioi-ey of CoruwalHs. Tarleton, 1781] DESPAIR OF THE COLONISTS. 15 and Rawdon ; prominent men in both of the Carolinas had despaired of the snccess of the colonists, and were accepting protection, with all that the act involved, from the British anthorities. It was then that Polk, reporting the state of affairs abont Charlotte and the details of his own work, wrote : I received youi-s of the 16th on Saturday the 24th, and am much distressed at your being- obliged to retreat as soon as you have. But it certainly is the salvation of our country for you not to run any risks with your army. For while you are safe the British cannot occupy nor possess any part of our country but what is inside of their sentries or lines. General Greene wished to avail himself of Polk's ser- vices in the field, and on the death of General Davidson of the Salisbury district, who was killed at Cowan's Ford, the field-officers of the district having requested that Polk should be appointed to command them,^ Greene sent him a commission couched in words which bear full testimony to his confidence in the man : Reposing- special trust in your wisdom, patriotism, and valor, I do hereby appoint you, agreeable to the field-officers of Salisbury district, and by virtue of powers lodged in my hands for the time being, Brigadier-Genei'al of the said dis- trict and commanding of&cer of all the militia in the same. In consideration of the claims of Colonel Locke, an officer of the district, this commission was not confirmed 1 A petition of the field-officers of the Disti-ict of Salisbury, now in service. To General Geeene. Sir: We, the snhsoribers. considering the critical situation of our roiintry, and the difficulties our District have labored under for want of a commanding officer since the fall of General Davidson, do offer thi.s our humble petition that another be appointed in his room. And as we repose special confidence in Col. Thomas Polk, of Mecklenburg County, IC) GENERAL GREENE'S BEQUEST. [1781 by the Assembly/ but General Greene continued to ur^e it upon them and upon Governor Nash, and afterward upon Governor Burke, who succeeded Nash. In reply to a letter from Greene, dated August 5, 1781, requesting Polk's appointment, Governor Burke wrote as foUows, under date of August 15 : I am sensible tliat the commandant of that district [Salis- bury] is a very important office, and requires a character such as you describe, firm, active, having the art of compelling others to do their duty, and were I at liberty to make an ap- pointment pursuant to my own judgment, I should not hesi- tate on choosing the gentleman you mention, belieAT.ng him possessed of knowledge, experience, and industry beyond any officer I know in the district. But this is an affair that re- as a gentleman qualified for such an important trust, it is our request that he be appointed to take the command of the above district. Your compliance with this our request will lay under lasting obliga- tions your humble petitioners, Jos. Dickson, Col. Jas. Maktlk, Col. Jos. W^iLLiAMs. Lieuf.-Col. John PeASL ' ) [These two names are incom- JOg_ ; \ plete, the MS. being torn. ] Camp Sheroes. Marcli ."). 1781. 1 The militia of the Salisburj- District, under General Da\ndson. had done excellent service, and General Greene had a right to expect that this service would be continued under Polk, and that he would join liim in the pursuit of CornwaUis after the battle of Guilford, all of which lie wrote Polk JIarch 22d. But the Assembly would not confirm the appointment as made by Greene, sending Polk instead that of " Colonel Commandant." Polk returned this commission to Governor Nash, hav- ing called his attention to the fact that it was proper he should have the same rank as his predecessor, especially as Davidson had been Lieuten- ant-Colonel in the regiment of the line of which he. Polk, had been Col- onel. Pending the settlement of this question, Polk at first declined to act, but later, after an interview with General Greene, he assumed the duties of t!ie position. ^leanwliile. many of the men had joined Sum- ter's command (some l.')0 being in the 4th South Carolina, his son's regi- ment) and the others were widely scattered. By the middle of May. 1781] GOVERNOB BURKE'S POLICY. 17 quires to be attentively surveyed with the eye of wisdom and policy.! Governor Burke's reason for not feeling himself at liberty to make the appointment is given in a letter to General Butler, dated August 15, 1781 : Sir: I have tliis morning received a letter from General Greene, dated on the High HiUs of Santee, August 2d, and another on the 5th. In both he expresses great surprise and uneasiness that Colonel Locke has not marched the militia direct from Salisbury to reinforce the southern army. He very strenuously urges the necessity of the reinforcement for enabling him to oppose the enemy and check their operations, should they move up to establish posts of communication on the Congaree and the Wateree rivers, which plan he believes they have in contemplation . In the letter of the 5th he says that by intelligence from Charlotte he learns that the militia who were called out in Salisbury District have been disbanded over the road as low as the Waxha.w, and are now returning to their respective homes without any officer to collect and bring them on. He very plainly suggests a want of militaiy competency in Colonel Locke, and his wish that Colonel Polk, whom he believes possessed of talents more useful for the however, he succeeded in getting the command ready for field service, but he was then relieved. This fact he reports to General Greene in the following letter : " Salisbury, May 15, 1781. '^ Sir : An express arrived at Salisbury the loth from Governor Nash, giving Colonel Locke the command, thei-efore my orders will be no more obeyed. I have been to all the counties but those over the moun- tains, Surrey and Gifford. Tlie new arms and accoutrements will be nearly ready in about eight days. The ammunition in the wagons at this place must furnish the men. Anything in my power is at your caU. "I am, sir, with great esteem, "Your humble scr., " Thos. Polk. " To Major- General Greene." 1 "Letter Book," 1774-1781. Governor's Oflice. Raleigh, N. C. 18 DEATH OF THOMAS FOLK. [179:$ present occasion, should bo appointed to the command of the district. The superseding an officer of Colonel Locke's rank without inquiry or trial might prove an act fi-om which might result very troublesome consequences ; but to leave af- fairs of such importance, at such a crisis, under management which has hitherto been so unsuccessful, is entirely inadmis- sible. I nuist therefore, thoixgh very unwilling to put upon you an arduous or disagreeable service, or to spare your ser- vices from other important operations, request you, as soon as possible, to take the command of the whole force which has been called out for reinforcing the southern army, and to march them with all dispatch to join General Greene.^ At last the tide of war reeeded to the low countries of South Carolina, and peace soon followed. The people of the scattered American colonies were left to form their new governments and repair the ravages of war. To these tasks Thomas Polk now turned with characteristic energy, l;)ut his later life offers few incidents of interest. The last historic notice of him is found in Elkanah Wat- son's "Men and Times of the Revolution." On page 259 he says : '' I carried letters to the court(H)us General Polk, and remained two days at his residence in the dehghtful society of his charming family." He lived to an honored old age, surrounded by his sons, whom he had reared to an honoral)l(! and self-reliant manhood. He died at Charlotte in 1793, and was l)r.ried in the Pres- byterian chin-chyard. For fifty years the name of Thomas I'olk remained, as he liad left it, free from reproach. Then Mr. Lossing, when gathering material for his "Field-Book of the Rev- olution," visited Charlotte, and was told by a Mr. Cald- well that Thomas Polk had taken "protection" from Lord CornwalHs. This statenu-nt, if it had been true, 1 •■ Letter Book," 1774-1781. Governor's Office. Raleigh. N. C. 1793] A mSTOMIAN'S ERBOB. 10 would ini2)ly tliat P<»lk liad romaiiied in Chai'lotte dur- ing its occupation by the British, and that he had made liis submission and secured protection for his person and property. Finding among the " Gates Papers," in the New York Historical Society collection, a letter to the State Board of War, dated November 12, 1780, which in- timated that Thomas Polk's conduct was considered sus- liicious, Mr. Lossing accepted it as a sufficient proof of Caldwell's statement, and pabhshed it as such. Bishop Leonidas Polk, grandson of Thomas Polk, wrote Mr. Lossing of his mistake, and received in reply a prompt and courteous acknowledgment of the error. The correspondence is given below. Bishop Polk to Mr. Lossing. May 20, 1854. Mr. B. J. Lossing : Bear Sir : A friend yesterday called my attention to the fol- lowing on page 625, 1st vol. of your " Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution," to wit : '^ Hundreds who were stanch patriots came forward and accepted protection from CornwaUls, for they saw no other alternative but that and the ruin of their families. Among them was Colonel Thomas Polk, who there- by incurred the suspicions of his countrymen," etc. As a descendant of the individual here mentioned, you wiU, I presume, recognize my right to ask you to furnish me the evidence upon which you here state that Colonel Thomas Polk " took protection" from CornwaUis. I observe what is said in the note upon the same page as to tlie order issued by Gates, and said to be found in the archives of the New York Historical Society, of the motives leading to which I have some knowledge, but you will per- ceive the insinuations contained in that order do not cover the ground occupied by yom' statements. Your reply will oblige, Respectfully, Leonidas Polk. 20 THE ERliOli ACKNOWLEDGED. [\1\Y.\ Mr. Lossing to Bishop I'olk. POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y., June 12, 1854. Rt. Rev. Leonidas Polk : My dear Sir : On my return home, after a short absence, I found your letter of the 20th May, forwarded to me by Messrs. Harper & Bros. I had ah-eady received letters from North Carohna on the subject refeiTed to in youi's, in which are ample proofs that the inference in the paragraph alluded to is not wairanted by real facts, however much it appears to be sustained by the order signed by Gates, Huger, Jones, and Butler. The verbal infonnation which I received on the subject was given me by Greene W. Caldwell, Esq., the present superintendent of the branch mint at Charlotte, when I visited that town early in 1849. From information that I have since received from Gov- ernor Swain of Chapel Hill, Governor Graham, and two or three other citizens of Mecklenburg County, I am convinced that Mr. Caldwell was mistaken in the man, it being conceded that Colonel Ezekiel Polki did take protection from Cornwal- lis, while Colonel Thomas Polk appears to have been made of steiTier stuff. I felt thankful to those gentlemen, and I now feel grateful to you, for calling my attention to the evident error, for I am extremely anxious to have my work a faithful record in every particular, even the most minute, and I feel the obligation, above every other, to uphold in its lofty integ- rity the character of every true patriot dm'ing that struggle, for they are the great exemplars for those who are yet to fight the battles of freedom in the Old World. I had already made the proper correction of the en'or and injustice, in preparing my work for a new edition, when the disastrous conflagration of Harper's estabUshment occurred. 1 "Taking protection." — which in Thomas Polk, an officer of the army, would have been desertion, — iu Ezekiel Polk, an old man and a non-cora- hatant, was simply the act of a private citizen, done to save a helpless family from ruin and want. Far less provocation had forced hundreds of the Lest patriots of South Carolina into a similar step.— Bancroft, vol. vi., p. 286-288. 1758] THE ''GATES PAPERS:' 21 Every sheet unsold was then consumed. They have now got their new buildings advanced far toward completion, and we hope, early in the autumn, to issue a new edition. You mention that you possess a knowledge of the motives which led to the orders of Gates and others. Will you have the kindness to communicate them to me, as eai-ly as your con- venience wiU permit after the receipt of this ? The order al- luded to I copied from the original with the signatures, now among the '' Gates Papers" in the New York Historical Soci- ety collections. I am a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and therefore I may subscribe myself your brother in the bonds of Christian fellowship, and a friend. With sentiments of highest regard, Faithfully and truly, Benson J. Lossing.i William, the eldest son of Thomas and the father of Leonidas Polk, was born on the 9tli of Jnly, 1758, near the town of Charlotte, in the connty of Mecklenbni-g. At school, according to his own modest account, he showed no great aptitude for learning, Init rather a disposition for mischief, which frequently led him into 1 Notvntb standing the explicitness of Mr. Lossing's retraction, it may- be well to state the facts and to cite the documents bearing on the error into which he fell. Among the " Gates Papers " in the New York Historical Society is one dated November 12, 1780, signed by Generals Gates, Huger. Butler, and Cadwalader Jones. In this paper, which is addressed to the North Caro- lina Board of War, they charge that the conduct of Colonel Polk is sus- picious, and they recommend that he be ordered to Salisbury to answer for his condiict. No specifications accompany this charge, so that any one failing to look carefully thi-ough the " Gates Papers," and accepting Caldwell's statement as fact, might infer, as did Mr. Lossing, that the one bore upon the other. The denials of Governors Swain and Graham and of the citizens of Mecklenburg convinced Blr. Lossing that the charge did not relate to " taking protection," and the numerous letters to and from Thomas Polk dealing with the details of his duties as an officer of the army, to be found in the papers of Major-General Gates and Major-Gen. 22 BIRTH OF WILLIAM POLK. [1775 childish trouble. At the ag'e oi' fourteen he Avent to a grannuai' sehool, aud was at'terwai'd entei-ed at Queen's College, wlien^ he remained until the beginning of hos- tilities between the colonies and Great Bntain. The war fever of the eonung Kevoluti