Historic Charlotte

Davie placed some of his soldiers behind
the rock wall beneath the courthouse and sent
others down Tryon Street to hide among the
fences, houses, and outbuildings to protect
his flanks. The first of the enemy to arrive
were the green-coated cavalrymen of
Tarleton’s Legion. Tarleton was ill, so command
of the unit fell to the Major George
Hanger. Convinced that the patriot militia
could be easily dislodged, Hanger ordered his
men to gallop pell-mell toward the courthouse,
swords swinging menacingly overhead.
Davie instructed the militia to hold
their fire until the last moment.
A sheet of flame announced the presence of
the patriots behind the rock wall beneath the
courthouse. Stunned by a well-executed volley,
Hanger and his men turned back. A second
attempt also failed. Unable to protect his
flanks against the sheer number of troops that
Cornwallis could throw against him, Davie
eventually had to order his militia to mount
their horses and retreat northward on Tryon
Street toward Salisbury. In keeping with the
military tactics of the day, the Tory cavalry
vigorously pursued the departing patriots in
order to prevent them from forming another
battle line and delivering an effective volley.
The Tories caught up with George Locke, a
young lad from Rowan County, swooped
down upon him, and cut his body to pieces.
A marker in the median of Tryon Street just
south of its intersection with the connector
road from I-85 commemorates Locke’s death.
Charles Cornwallis and his army
encamped in Charlotte from September 26th
until October 12th. Davie and his militiamen
continuously harassed the foraging parties
that Cornwallis dispatched into the dense
forests that surrounded Charlotte. The British
attempted to win the support of the people of
Mecklenburg County. Davie reported that a
large contingent of redcoats and Tories
marched “in the direction of the Catawba,
near Tuckasegie Ford.” According to the patriot
commander, the enemy was “cajoling and
flattering the people to take Paroles.”
Cornwallis’s efforts to pacify the local population
were unsuccessful, causing the British to
label Mecklenburg County a “Hornets’ Nest.”
One particularly unpleasant episode for the
redcoats and Tories occurred in the first week
of October at McIntyre’s Farm on Beatties Ford
Road. Some 300 troops, marching toward a
gristmill on Long Creek near Hopewell
Presbyterian Church, were engaged in gathering
livestock and farm produce along the way.
Local farmers had been warned of the
approach of the enemy and were laying in
ambush in the woods bordering the farm
with rifles in hand. Incensed when the redcoats
and Tories “shouted joyously amidst
their plunder,” the farmers opened fire on
their unsuspecting victims and sent them
scurrying back to Charlotte. “A large number
of the dragoons were shot down,” reported
one observer.
✧
A map of the battle site at McCowan’s Ford.
Here, American General Davidson was
killed trying to delay the advance of British
Lord Cornwallis.
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, ATKINS LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF
NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE.
CHAPTER II
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