OF NORTH CAROLINA, SHOWING WHEN THE MOST REMARKABLE EVENTS CONNECTED WITH HER BY D. K. BENNETT. "Time flies, and from his gloomy wings A shadow falls on living things." NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY JAMES M. EDNEY. 1858. F 254 B47 1858 223383 ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by D. K. BENNETT, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the District of Cape Fear, in North Carolina. PREFACE. THE necessity, and even the utility, of a work like the following, is obvious to every thinking mind. It is a notorious fact, that of the myriads of books that are yearly being written and published in every department of literature, a large majority are sadly deficient in chronological information, from which cause many of our modern writers have labored under great and perplexing inconveniencies, being compelled to gather from numerous, and too often unauthentic sources that which might have been easily compressed in a small volume. The design of the compiler of the following work was to prepare at least a useful little book of reference, for those engaged in the study or otherwise interested in the history of the "Old North State;" how well he has succeeded is for the public to judge. From the haste in which it has been prepared, and some other causes, it is doubtless very incomplete; but the compiler will still continue to gather material, and should another edition be called for, it will be his greatest pleasure to add to it every possible improvement. And now that, with all its imperfections, it is about to launch forth upon the uncertain sea of public favor, the author has this confidence in his fellow-citizens, that they will study to improve, rather than to condemn his production. If however there are any disposed to criticise, they are respectfully referred to the following lines from Pope: "Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be. THE AUTHOR. CHRONOLOGY or NORTH CAROLINA. 1584. AMIDAS and BARLOW sail for America, . April 27th. arrive in N. Carolina, July 4th. 66 66 "The North Carolinians are indebted, for the discovery and first effort to colonize their State, to the zeal and enterprise of Sir Walter Raleigh, one of the leading statesmen, and the most accomplished gentleman of his day. Endowed with a daring and fertile genius, and an ambition that looked beyond the intrigues of European courts, Raleigh made himself familiar with the accounts of navigators and adventurers who had visited the shores of this Western World; and to plant a colony and build up a great State became, with him, a darling object. To carry out his designs, he obtained from Queen Elizabeth (March, 1584) a grant for such lands as he should discover, not in the possession of any Christian prince or people. "This grant contained important powers and privileges, and provided that no other should take posses |