Photographs Courtesy of the MCHA
injured; otherwise we will make the best defense we can; and if need be, sell our lives as dearly as possible.” Fanning agreed to her proposal, provided that Alston and his men agreed firstly not to venture more than five miles from their homes for the duration of hostilities, and secondly to swear oaths not to take up arms against the king or “cause anything to do or be done prejudicial to the success of His Majesty.” The terms were agreed upon and the lengthy skirmish was over. It appears that Alston and his men abided by their oaths throughout the rest of the war. Given Fanning’s violent nature and his rage over Kenneth Black’s killing, I asked House in the Horseshoe’s Historic Interpreter Roy Timbs why he thought Fanning permitted Alston to live. Was his charity granted out of a courtly respect for Mrs. Alston’s bravery? The veteran interpreter of fifteen years at the Horseshoe shook his head. “I don’t think so. Alston’s fellow militia officer Capt. Jacob Duckworth had men across the river. Fanning wanted to end the battle and get away from Deep River before ‘Duck’ came.” But why, I wondered, would Fanning let Alston go with merely an oath from his mortal enemy that could easily be disregarded? Timbs answered with gravity: “An oath is the one thing a man can both give and keep. It meant something back then. ” Thereafter, Fanning continued his guerrilla raids. His most spectacular maneuver involved capturing Gov. Thomas Burke and 200 other Patriots in Hillsborough on September 12. While en route to Wilmington to incarcerate his prisoners, Fanning was attacked by Patriots at Lindley’s Mill. Numerous dead and wounded resulted on both sides. But Fanning succeeded in delivering Gov. Burke to Maj. Craig for imprisonment. While Fanning was terrorizing North Carolina as the bloody summer of 1781 came to a close, Gen. Cornwallis found himself check-mated in Yorktown, Virginia. Surrounded by American and French armies, and the French navy preventing his rescue by sea, Cornwallis surrendered to Gen. Washington on October 19, 1781, and the British began vanishing from the south. Maj. Craig evacuated Wilmington on November 18. For a time, Fanning continued his reign of terror, but he too ultimately fled Wilmington for Charleston — still holding on as a British bastion — in May 1782. But then that city was abandoned by the English on December 14 and Fanning, along with his new 16-year-old bride departed as well. He ultimately settled in New Brunswick — a haven for exiled Loyalists. The end of the war still left unresolved what the state should do with the Tories and their confiscated property. The Black farm apparently escaped seizure as wife Catherine resided there for many years after Kenneth’s death. In 1783, the state legislature passed a measure pardoning all Tories and permitting some restoration of confiscated properties. There were three named exceptions to the pardon, one of whom was David Fanning. Notwithstanding this legislation, Tories remaining in the area were subjected to ostracism for a generation. Both Alston and Fanning led controversial lives after the war. Alston became politically active. After the southern half of Cumberland County became Moore County in 1784, Alston held various positions in county government. But he made political enemies, and they sought to eliminate him as a foe by causing his indictment for murder arising out of the aforementioned killing of Thomas Taylor when Alston was trailing Fanning in July 1781. Alston ultimately received a pardon for this offense, but other scrapes followed. George Glascock, Alston’s principal political nemesis, was murdered in 1787. Alston’s slave Dave was accused of the crime. Alston, who was hosting a party at the time of the murder, was charged as an accessory. Records of the disposition of the charges are sketchy, but it appears that Alston was confined for a time, but later escaped to Georgia, where he owned property. In 1791, he was assassinated by an unknown killer. Fanning faced his own charge of criminal conduct while in New Brunswick. In 1800, he was convicted of the rape of a neighbor’s young daughter. Fanning received the death sentence but managed to avoid this punishment by receiving a pardon through appeal. However, the pardon was conditioned on Fanning’s exile from the province, so he sailed to Nova Scotia, where he enjoyed success in shipbuilding until his death in 1825. The Moore County Historical Association (MCHA) has done much
to preserve the memory of the Revolutionary War events that occurred here. MCHA is currently involved in efforts to preserve the graveyard of Kenneth Black and family, located on a 45-acre tract behind the Chamber of Commerce building and Chick-fil-A off U.S. 15-501 in Southern Pines. For decades, the unmaintained graveyard was forgotten as vandals decimated gravestones and rock walls collapsed. The cemetery suffered further indignity when golfers’ shots caromed off its remaining fragments during the time when a driving range operated on the property. In the 1960s, Tony Parker, a local history writer and devotee of ancient graveyards, rediscovered the Black family burial ground. Black descendants and brothers Bill and Nolan Moran got local media interested in the site and convinced a local bank to place a new marker over Kenneth’s grave. About eitheen months ago, the Moran family requested that MCHA serve as an agent to oversee the cemetery. MCHA’s volunteers sprang into action to restore the burial ground by unearthing buried stones and rebuilding a fallen wall. Money was raised to pay for ground-penetrating radar to identify the specific location of all thirty-four graves in the cemetery to ensure their nondisturbance. Impressed by MCHA’s well-publicized restoration efforts, the current owner of the property, Tennessee physician Vince Viscomi, has made known his desire that any development of the property will preserve and protect this historic burial ground.
It occurred to me that had Kenneth Black sided with the Patriots, and been killed by the British under like circumstances, he would be remembered as a martyr and hero of the Revolution. John Brown of Roanoke, Virginia, another Black descendant who has succeeded the Morans as family representative for the cemetery, agrees. Brown feels that though his ancestor was not on the winning side, preserving the story of his role in the Revolution is important. “The work by MCHA and the Black family descendants to maintain the cemetery shows that people still care about history. Today, too many people don’t care.” MCHA also helped preserve the House in the Horseshoe itself by acquiring it in the 1950s from a private owner, and restoring the house to close to its original condition. MCHA subsequently conveyed the property to the state of North Carolina. The state’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources welcomes thousands of visitors annually who examine numerous bullet holes still visible from the desperate fight that took place 235 years ago. The House in the Horseshoe is primarily a three- man operation. The Historic Site Manager Michael Moore, Roy Timbs and Historic Site Assistant Frank Voelker do everything from mowing the lawn to conducting tours. The site’s lowkey operation coupled with its splendid isolated setting do much to help a visitor visualize the time when a courageous woman emerged from the House in the Horseshoe to confront hostile attackers so long ago. PS The 235th Anniversary Battle Re-enactment of the House in the Horseshoe will be staged on location on August 6 and 7. Check out “House in the Horseshoe” on Facebook for details, or call (910) 947-2051.
PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 2016
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