Chronology

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough orders its journal printed by James Davis

The congress meeting at Hillsborough directed that its proceedings be delivered to James Davis, the province's printer and a delegate for the town of New Bern, who was desired to print them and send a copy to each member. It also named a committee to state and settle his account for services done as printer to the province.

The Provincial Congress at Hillsborough adopts a test for its members to sign

On August 21, 1775 the congress sitting at Hillsborough named Allen Jones to a committee of seven to prepare a Test to be signed by its members. The committee reported on August 23 and the Test was read, approved, ordered entered on the journal and signed. Subscribers professed allegiance to the King while denying that Parliament could tax them.

Congress at Hillsborough appoints a committee to address the inhabitants of the province

The same day the congress named Maurice Moore, William Hooper, Robert Howe, Richard Caswell and Joseph Hewes to prepare an address to the inhabitants of North Carolina, stating the controversy with Great Britain in plain language and calling on them to unite in defence of American liberty. Doctor Burke was added to the committee on August 24.

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough names a Committee of Secrecy to procure arms

On August 23, 1775 the congress sitting at Hillsborough resolved that its president, Mr. Harnett, Mr. Caswell, Mr. Hewes, Mr. Nash, Mr. Willie Jones and Mr. Young be a Committee of Secrecy for procuring arms and ammunition. The committee was to report what sums of money would be needed for the purpose.

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough names a committee to confer with inhabitants who had scruples about the American cause

The congress sitting at Hillsborough appointed thirteen of its members, among them Memucan Hunt of Granville County, to confer with inhabitants of the province who held religious or political scruples. They were directed to use argument and persuasion to bring those inhabitants into support of the American cause.

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough appoints Benjamin Williams a lieutenant in the second regiment

Williams sat for Johnston County in the Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough. On September 1 the Congress named him one of the lieutenants of the second regiment, and on September 9 it made him a member of the committee of safety for the New Bern district.

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough names Alexander Martin lieutenant colonel of the Second North Carolina Regiment

Alexander Martin attended the Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough as a delegate from Guilford County. On September 1, 1775, the Congress named the officers of its two new regiments of Continental troops, with Robert Howe as colonel and Martin as lieutenant colonel of the Second Regiment.

Congress at Hillsborough appoints Hooper, Hewes and Caswell to the Continental Congress

Meeting at Hillsborough on September 2, 1775, the congress thanked William Hooper, Joseph Hewes and Richard Caswell for their service as the province's delegates at the last Continental Congress and appointed the three delegates for a further year, each to be paid five hundred pounds proclamation money.

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough names Samuel Johnston treasurer for the Northern District

Meeting at Hillsborough, the Congress appointed Samuel Johnston treasurer for the Northern District and Richard Caswell treasurer for the Southern District, giving them the powers the colony's treasurers had held under a 1773 act of Assembly.

The Provincial Congress at Hillsborough appoints John Penn to the Continental Congress

Richard Caswell told the congress at Hillsborough that his new duties as treasurer for the Southern District and as a signer of the public bills of credit left him unable to serve in the Continental Congress. The congress resolved the same day that John Penn take his place beside William Hooper and Joseph Hewes, with the same powers and allowance.

People: Joseph Hewes

John Butler is commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Orange County minutemen

The third provincial congress appointed John Butler to the committee of safety for the Hillsborough District and on September 9, 1775 commissioned him lieutenant colonel of the minutemen from Orange County. He went on to lead the county's militia in the Moore's Creek Bridge campaign and became colonel of the Orange County militia in April 1776.

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough elects a Provincial Council to govern between sessions

On September 9, 1775, the Congress at Hillsborough elected a thirteen-member Provincial Council to direct the army and militia during its recess: Samuel Johnston for the province at large and two members for each of the six districts, among them Abner Nash and James Coor for New Bern and Thomas Person and John Kinchen for Hillsborough.

People: Samuel Johnston · Abner Nash · Samuel Ashe · Willie Jones

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough makes Thomas Benbury a Chowan militia major and a district committee of safety member

Thomas Benbury sat for Chowan County in the Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough. On September 9, 1775, the Congress named him first major of the Chowan County militia under Colonel Thomas Bonner and a member of the committee of safety for the Edenton District.

Rochester is named to a commission to set up a gun factory near Hillsborough

The commission was to establish a gun factory near Hillsborough, and Rochester led a wagon train to Philadelphia to obtain iron for it. Illness later that year ended his military service.

Rochester serves as clerk of the Orange County court

Rochester resigned his seat in the first General Assembly of the state to become clerk of court. He was also commissioned to supervise the building of a new courthouse and to help establish an academy in the Hillsborough area, and he gave up the clerkship in 1778 because its fees did not cover the expenses of the office.

Rochester opens a Hillsborough store with Thomas Hart and James Brown

The partnership was successful and Rochester began putting his earnings into real estate. The business was liquidated in 1780 when British occupation of Hillsborough became a probability, and Hart moved his family to Maryland.

General Assembly charters an academy near Hillsborough named Science Hall

Meeting at Halifax, the General Assembly passed an act to establish an academy in the neighborhood of Hillsborough, naming William Hooper, Thomas Burke, Nathaniel Rochester, James Hogg and others as trustees. The act named the school Science Hall and gave its trustees the same powers as those of Liberty Hall in Mecklenburg County.

People: Alexander Martin · Nathaniel Rochester

Horatio Gates, on his way to the Southern Army, presses the governor for supplies from Hillsborough

Writing from Hillsborough, Gates told Governor Abner Nash that the army's commissary and quartermaster departments were in a deplorable state, asked the state to set up magazines of provisions and forage and to supply 700 tents for its militia, and urged Nash to come to Hillsborough himself.

People: Abner Nash

Gates regroups the defeated southern army at Hillsborough after Camden

After the American defeat at Camden, South Carolina, on August 16, 1780, Gates gathered the remnants of his army at Hillsborough. On September 3 he reported from the town that the Maryland division and the artillery were there being refitted and that nearly 500 regulars were marching from Petersburg to join them.

General Assembly meets at Hillsborough and creates a Board of War

Meeting at Hillsborough under Governor Abner Nash, the Assembly levied a provision tax in kind to supply the army and navy, passed acts on treason trials and confiscated property, and created a five-member Board of War. The Board of War held its first meeting in Hillsborough on September 14, 1780.

People: Alexander Martin · Abner Nash · Thomas Benbury

General Assembly at Hillsborough relieves Richard Caswell of command of the state militia

After commanding the North Carolina militia in the defeat at Camden, Caswell reported to the General Assembly sitting at Hillsborough. On September 12 the Assembly took his illness into account and relieved him temporarily of command of the state militia, leaving him the separate command of the North Carolina Partisan Rangers.

Board of War, led by Alexander Martin, directs the war effort from Hillsborough

The Board of War created by the General Assembly first met at Hillsborough on September 14, 1780, with Alexander Martin, John Penn and Oroondates Davis present. Through the fall it issued orders for arms, provisions and militia from the town and ran a shoe factory there for the army, then rose in late November to sit at Halifax from December 1.

People: John Penn

From Hillsborough, Gates thanks the victors of Kings Mountain

On receiving the news of Major Ferguson's defeat at Kings Mountain, Gates wrote from Hillsborough thanking the commanding officers and ordering the prisoners sent under guard to Fincastle Court House, Virginia. The same day he told Governor Thomas Jefferson he would move the whole army to the Yadkin once supplies arrived.

Greene sends Pickens's militia to shadow the British army at Hillsborough

Nathanael Greene ordered Brigadier General Andrew Pickens to pass around the British force at Hillsborough, fall in its rear and report its movements. Pickens's men struck at British parties when they could, and he sent Captain Joseph Graham to scout the ground around the town.

Lee's Legion joins Pickens's militia camp after the Hart's Mill raid

Later the same day as the Hart's Mill raid, Henry Lee's Legion, returning from beyond the Dan River with Greene's army, reached General Andrew Pickens's militia at a farm up Stony Creek, where the camp at first took the horsemen for Tarleton's cavalry. The combined force then went after Tarleton west of the Haw, the movement that led to Pyle's defeat.

People: Andrew Pickens

Cornwallis calls loyal subjects to the Royal Standard at Hillsborough

From his headquarters at Hillsborough, Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis issued a proclamation inviting loyal subjects to come without delay, with their arms and ten days' provisions, to the Royal Standard erected in the town and help restore royal government in North Carolina.

Pickens's cavalry fights Tarleton's horse at Clapp's Mill

An American force ambushed Banastre Tarleton's cavalry at Clapp's Mill on Alamance Creek, in the part of Orange County that became Alamance County in 1849. Forty of Pickens's cavalry under Captains Joseph Graham and Richard Simmons took part. The American second line broke and the British lost about twenty-one men.

Butler's militia ambushes Fanning's Loyalists at Lindley's Mill

The day after David Fanning's raid carried Governor Thomas Burke out of Hillsborough, John Butler rode with about four hundred militia to the ford where the Wilmington road crossed Cane Creek at Lindley's Mill and laid an ambush with Colonel Robert Mebane. The opening volley killed Colonel Hector McNeil, but Fanning organized a flanking attack that drove the militia from the field, and the prisoners went on to Wilmington.

General Assembly at Hillsborough elects Alexander Martin governor and grants western land to Continental soldiers

The Assembly met at Hillsborough, heard Governor Thomas Burke's message about his capture, and elected Alexander Martin governor on April 22. Its laws granted land in a western military reservation to officers and soldiers of the Continental line and directed the sale of confiscated Loyalist estates.

People: Alexander Martin · Thomas Benbury · Hugh Williamson

Assembly at Hillsborough elects Abner Nash and Hugh Williamson delegates to Congress

On May 3, 1782, a joint ballot of the General Assembly at Hillsborough elected Abner Nash, Hugh Williamson, Benjamin Hawkins and William Blount as the state's delegates to Congress for the year. Nash had been returned to the House for Jones County, and Williamson sat for the town of Edenton.

General Assembly at Hillsborough opens the western land office and passes an act of pardon

Meeting at Hillsborough, the Assembly re-elected Alexander Martin governor and chose Hugh Williamson, Benjamin Hawkins, Abner Nash and Richard Dobbs Spaight as delegates to Congress. Its laws opened a land office for western lands to redeem specie certificates and pay army arrears, and an Act of Pardon and Oblivion covered wartime offenses, with exceptions.

People: Alexander Martin · Abner Nash · Hugh Williamson · Richard Dobbs Spaight · Richard Caswell

Continental officers organize the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati at James Hogg's cabin

Former officers of the North Carolina Continental line gathered near Hillsborough in a cabin owned by the merchant James Hogg and founded the state's Society of the Cincinnati. They elected Jethro Sumner president, Thomas Clark vice president and Adam Boyd secretary. Sixty-six of the roughly six hundred commissioned officers the state sent to the war joined by contributing a month's pay.

General Assembly at Hillsborough cedes the state's western lands to Congress

The spring 1784 Assembly at Hillsborough passed an act ceding to Congress the state's claim to lands west of the Appalachian Mountains and an act giving Congress power to levy import duties. The House of Commons chose Thomas Benbury as speaker and elected Hugh Williamson and Richard Dobbs Spaight as delegates to Congress.

People: Alexander Martin · Hugh Williamson · Thomas Benbury · Richard Dobbs Spaight

Hillsborough Academy opens in the old Anglican church

The school chartered as Science Hall opened as Hillsborough Academy in the repaired Anglican church building, with the Yale graduates Benjamin Perkins and Solomon Pinto as its first principals. It never thrived and closed in 1790.

Willie Jones moves that the Hillsborough Convention vote on the Constitution at once

Jones moved that the question on the federal Constitution be put immediately, arguing that members had long since made up their minds and that a long sitting would waste public money. Thomas Person seconded him and James Iredell objected. The convention took up the Constitution clause by clause instead, debating it for eleven days.

The state treasury's money and papers are carried out of Hillsborough

The House of Commons voted to pay John Armstrong of Orange County three pounds for taking the Treasury's books and papers from Hillsborough to Fayetteville, and five pounds each to nine men of the Orange Company of Horse who guarded the money on the road. The treasurer's office had been kept in the town since 1786 in the confiscated store known as the Blue House.

General Assembly orders a new district courthouse built at Hillsborough

Alexander Mebane of Orange brought in the bill, and the act named William Watters, Absalom Tatom and Jeduthan Harper commissioners to raise a courthouse on the lot where the burned one had stood and to sell off its brick and remains. It was paid for by a poll and land tax on Orange and by lighter taxes on Wake, Chatham, Caswell, Granville and Randolph, the counties of the Hillsborough district.

Eagle Lodge is chartered at Hillsborough

Eagle Lodge No. 19 was chartered at Hillsborough in 1791, among the first lodges under the Grand Lodge of North Carolina, with George Doherty as its first secretary. It stayed active until 1799 and then lay dormant until the masons revived it in 1819 under a new charter and a new number.

Faucett's grist mill is working at the Eno ford northwest of Hillsborough

The county's architectural survey records the Faucett Mill in operation by at least 1792, at a place where a wagon road forded the Eno River northwest of Hillsborough, and says it may have been built as early as the 1760s by the Quaker milling family of Isaac Lowe. Mills of this kind ground the corn and wheat that Orange farmers hauled north to Petersburg or south toward the Cape Fear, and doubled as gathering places; the Faucett family later added a house that served as an inn and tavern.

James Hogg of Hillsborough gathers Orange County land and money for the university site

Hogg, a Hillsborough merchant who sat on the commission that fixed the university's place, brought in pledges of land and about 1,600 dollars from people in Orange County for the New Hope Chapel Hill site. The ground chosen lay roughly twelve miles from Hillsborough on the road running from Petersburg through the town and on south to Pittsboro.

Willie Jones views New Hope Chapel Hill as a university commissioner and signs for the site

Jones was one of six commissioners the trustees sent to fix the seat of the university. On November 5, 1792 he handed the commissioners Joel Lane's offer of 640 acres in Wake County; the commissioners then went on to view New Hope Chapel Hill in Orange County, where they took offers of 1,390 acres and about 798 pounds. Jones signed the report.

William Kirkland opens his own store in Hillsborough

William Kirkland, who left Ayr, Scotland, to work in the mercantile trade, had married and opened his own store in Hillsborough by 1793.

Hillsborough gets the first post office in Orange County

A post office opened at Hillsborough on March 20, 1793 with David Ray as postmaster, the first in the county; Chapel Hill followed on July 1, 1795. Letters were left at the office for recipients to collect, and for decades it moved from one Churton Street or King Street business to another.

Enslaved men owned by contractor James Patterson paint the roof of Old East

James Patterson, the slaveholding contractor who built Old East between 1793 and 1795, reported in a 1795 letter that several of his own enslaved workers had painted the building's roof. Their names were not recorded.

UNC’s Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies take shape

UNC students held the first recorded meeting of a Debating Society on June 3, 1795, and voted on July 2 to split in two, the new body being the Concord Society. They took the names Dialectic and Philanthropic in late August 1796 and for over a century served as debating clubs, student government and keepers of large libraries.

Part of The founding of the University and Chapel Hill, 1789–1795 · 7 events

People: Hinton James

UNC holds its first public examination, announced by Governor Spaight

The University's first public examination took place at Chapel Hill on July 13, 1795, after notice appeared in the newspapers over the signature of Governor Richard Dobbs Spaight. The governor's wife, Mary Spaight, was the only woman present, and about a dozen men attended, including William R. Davie, James Hogg, Alfred Moore and James Glasgow.

The Assembly orders the sale of the ruinous St. Matthew's church building

An act of 1797 authorised the sheriff to sell the old Anglican church on Lot 98, described as in a ruinous and decayed situation and not used for divine worship for a number of years. The building went soon afterwards, and around 1800 the town had no church at all.

Duncan Cameron sets up as a lawyer at Hillsborough

Cameron was admitted to the North Carolina bar in 1798 and, after a brief practice at Martinsville in Guilford County, established himself as a successful attorney at Hillsborough. A rivalry with another young Hillsborough lawyer, William Duffy, followed.

A free Black distiller works on East King Street as the county counts its Black residents

Africa Parker, a free Black man, was running a distillery on East King Street near William Courtney's house in Hillsborough in 1799. The census the next year counted 3,327 enslaved people and 100 free Black people in Orange County alongside 12,222 white residents.

Archibald D. Murphey graduates from the university and joins its faculty

Archibald D. Murphey graduated with honors from the University at Chapel Hill in 1799 and was hired at once as a tutor. The next year he became professor of languages, one of three faculty members, and also served as librarian before resigning to study law in Hillsborough.