Local figure
In 1753 Caswell served a few weeks as the first clerk of the Orange County court, when that county was formed from upper Johnston. After the defeat at Camden in 1780 he reported to the General Assembly at Hillsborough, which on September 12 relieved him temporarily of command of the state militia.
Source: NCpedia: Caswell, Richard
1729–1789 as the Library of Congress records it · Library of Congress authority record ↗
54 indexed works are connected with this person, and the index includes 9 works by Richard Caswell.
Works in the index that concern this person directly, or were written by them. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it; background reading with wider context sits further down.
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Richard Caswell's correspondence for September 1787, in the last months of his final term as governor before Samuel Johnston succeeded him. Across 36 images the papers touch Hillsborough, Warren and Washington counties and the Continental Congress.
Richard Caswell's correspondence from 14 January to 21 December 1786, during his second administration as governor, in 108 images that include proclamations. Topics range over wars with the Cherokee and Creek, enslaved people, enemy property, an embargo, fraud, debt and military trials. Philip Alston, Timothy Bloodworth, Griffith Rutherford, the Tar River and Hillsborough all appear.
From Richard Caswell's second period as governor, 1785 to 1787: letters of October 1786 in 70 images. Caswell had first led the state from 1776 to 1779. The month's papers touch on Continental Congress affairs and on Halifax County and Hillsborough.
Governor Richard Caswell's correspondence for August 1785, in 74 images, from the first year of his second run of terms. Duplin, Warren, Washington and Orange counties are named, along with Hillsborough and the Continental Congress.
July 1781 letters of Thomas Burke, elected governor the month before. Richard Caswell is among the writers, and across 137 images the papers reach Hillsborough and Bladen, Chatham, Cumberland, Duplin, Halifax, Richmond and Wake counties during the Revolutionary War.
August 1778 letters of Governor Richard Caswell, 17 images. Cornelius Harnett, John Penn, William Sharp and the Continental Congress appear, along with Hillsborough and Orange County.
All 9 works by Richard Caswell →
Numbered dispatches 59 through 67 from Governor William Tryon to the Earl of Hillsborough, with enclosures about the Regulators, whose protests broke into riot at Hillsborough in 1770. Reproduced by Adam Matthew Digital in 2019 from Colonial Office CO 5/302. The papers touch on the council and assembly, naval stores and trade, oaths, militia and provincial troops, judges, sheriffs and juries, voting, currency, Cherokee affairs, clergy, quitrents and land, and name officials such as Richard Caswell, Richard Henderson, Maurice Moore and Hugh Waddell.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Caswell, Richard.
Governor William Tryon's correspondence with the Earl of Hillsborough for the months from October 1768 to May 1769, just after Tryon marched militia to Hillsborough to protect the court from the Regulators. Adam Matthew Digital reproduced the file, Colonial Office CO 5/301, in 2019. Topics include legislation, Anglican clergy, soldiers' wages, sheriffs, land and quitrents, trade and currency, taxes and education, the Catawba and the boundary line, roads, a murder case, punishment and prison, and people such as Richard Caswell, James Hasell and John Rutherford.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Caswell, Richard.
Fordyce Mitchell Hubbard's lecture on Richard Caswell, the first governor of the state of North Carolina, delivered before the Oak City Guards in Raleigh in January 1857 and detached from the North Carolina University Magazine that August. Printed at the Gazette office in Chapel Hill, it is an early biographical treatment of a Revolutionary governor.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Caswell, Richard, 1729-1789.
The provincial congress of North Carolina met at Hillsborough on 20 August 1775, and this copy of its journal records the delegates and their proceedings as the colony moved toward war. Samuel Johnston, Richard Caswell, Samuel Spencer and Thomas Wade are among the men named, with delegates drawn from Anson, Rowan and other counties. The congress sat in Orange County. Reference CO 5/318.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC State record: Caswell, Richard.
Tryon's letter of 1771 to the Earl of Hillsborough forwards a message from the assembly, and a companion version reports the recent victory over rebel forces and the events after their surrender: oaths, disbandment, land grants, petitions from widows and children, and a capital sentence touching Benjamin Merrill. Richard Caswell, John Rutherford and Robert Palmer are named, and Hillsborough appears among the places.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Caswell, Richard.
An address from the governor's council in North Carolina, dated 1770, on counterfeit currency in circulation, the conduct of public officers, and a proposal to establish a public school in the province. Richard Caswell, James Hasell and Governor William Tryon are named. The Orange County tie is Hillsborough, the town that carries the secretary of state's title. From CO 5/314.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC State record: Caswell, Richard.
The journal of the North Carolina assembly from 5 December 1770 to 26 January 1771, covering appointments, prices, public revenue, grievances, trade, rebellion and the courts. Herman Husbands, Richard Caswell and John Burgwin are among the names, and the session fell in the Regulator years, when the unrest centred on Hillsborough and the Orange County courts.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Caswell, Richard.
Reports of North Carolina Senate committees, December 1793 to January 1794, 91 images, on the militia bill, public bills, a petition from Blackledge, disease in Fayetteville and the work of a Committee of Emancipation. Quakers, sheriffs and Richard Dobbs Spaight figure in the papers, with Hillsborough among the places tied to them.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Digital Collections record: Caswell, Richard, 1729-1789.
Governor Alexander Martin's correspondence from his second administration, 12 January to 27 November 1792, with some items from 1791, in 121 images. Oliver Wolcott Jr. is among the writers. Matters include taxation, tobacco, liquor, military pensions, debts and the army's clothing accounts, with William Blount, Benjamin Hawkins, Richard Caswell and Hillsborough named.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Digital Collections record: Caswell, Richard, 1729-1789.
First of two folders of miscellaneous petitions to the General Assembly, November 1792 to January 1793. Petitioners include Andrew Burke, Edward and Thomas Munford, Elizabeth Allen and the inhabitants of Goose Creek, on matters ranging from debts, canals and fisheries to crime and county boundaries. Orange County is one of many places named. Eighty-eight images.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Digital Collections record: Caswell, Richard, 1729-1789.
General Assembly joint reports and papers from 12 to 25 November 1790, in 73 images. They include a memorial of William Lord, a report favoring Edward Tinker, a petition from three Franklin County men, and a bill to move Montgomery County's public buildings. Boundaries, fraud, printers, the militia and Orange County matters also come up.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Digital Collections record: Caswell, Richard, 1729-1789.
Salary papers for Joseph Martin, 1784 to 1789, covering his work as agent and then superintendent of Indian affairs, first for Virginia from 1777 and for North Carolina from 1783 to 1789. The documents bear the signatures of Governors Alexander Martin and Richard Caswell. Eighteen images.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Digital Collections record: Caswell, Richard, 1729-1789.
Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this person. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled.
Lectures on North Carolina's Revolutionary generation that R. D. W. Connor gave at the State Normal and Industrial College in the spring of 1913. A survey of the colony and state from 1765 to 1790 is followed by studies of four leaders: John Harvey, Cornelius Harnett, Richard Caswell and Samuel Johnston. Published in 1916 as the college's Historical Publications no. 2; reprinted in 1971, 125 pages.
Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 14 dated events in the chronology →
People named in the same dated entries as Richard Caswell, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.
The index lists works with an Orange County connection. To find everything else about Richard Caswell, search these catalogs.
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Picture: Richard Caswell. Public domain. oshr.nc.gov; via Wikimedia Commons
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