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Local figure

Charles Cornwallis

Charles, Earl Cornwallis, a lieutenant general of the British forces, issued a proclamation at Hillsborough on February 20, 1781, inviting loyal subjects to gather in the town with their arms and provisions and help restore royal government in North Carolina.

Source: Colonial and State Records of North Carolina: Proclamation by Charles Cornwallis concerning recruitment for the British Militia

Also found in catalogs as Charles (1st Marquess Cornwallis) Cornwallis, Charles Cornwallis Cornwallis.

1738–1805 as the Library of Congress records it · Library of Congress authority record ↗

5 indexed works are connected with this person.

Search these 5 works Research sources View indexed works ↓
Charles Cornwallis, 1783
Charles Cornwallis, 1783

Indexed works

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.

House Joint Resolutions: February 12-14

North Carolina. General Assembly · 1781

Resolutions of the House of Commons, February 12 to 14, 1781, among them a request for an express rider to General Greene for the latest news and a summons for Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Taylor to appear before the next Assembly. Cornwallis, King's Mountain and militia matters figure in them. 79 images.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Digital Collections record: Cornwallis, Charles Cornwallis, Marquis, 1738-1805.

NC Digital Collections

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Miscellaneous Collection

State Archives of North Carolina. Private Manuscripts Archivists · 1689

The State Archives' Miscellaneous Collection: letters, deeds, land grants, surveys, wills, leases and other single items dating from 1689 to 2017, some as photocopies or transcripts from other repositories. Writers and subjects vary widely, governors and generals among them, and Orange County figures among the many places touched.

Why this is here: Their name appears in the record.

State Archives of NC

Letters from Nesbit Balfour regarding military progress in the Carolinas and victory at Guildford

1781

Nisbet Balfour's letters of 1781 on the progress of the war in the Carolinas and on the victory at Guildford. Troop movements, reinforcements, garrisons, supplies and convoys are among the subjects, with references to Cornwallis, Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Charleston, St Augustine, Pensacola and the West Indies. Hillsborough appears among the places. One online resource in Colonial Office series CO 5/239, military despatches of 1780 to 1782.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Cornwallis, Charles (1st Marquess Cornwallis).

Duke NC State

Letters from Sir Henry Clinton (including No.120-122) regarding details of events to the 16th in relation to the French Fleet and rebel forces, reference to letters regarding the state of affairs in Virginia and North Carolina and the difference between the Army and Navy on the division of prize money

1781

Sir Henry Clinton's letters of 1781, numbered 120 to 122, report events to the sixteenth in relation to the French fleet and rebel forces, refer to the state of affairs in Virginia and North Carolina, and take up the difference between army and navy over the division of prize money. Benedict Arnold, Lafayette, George Washington and Frederick Haldimand are named. Colonial Office series CO 5/238.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Cornwallis, Charles (1st Marquess Cornwallis).

Duke NC State

Letters from Lord Cornwallis regarding incursions into North Carolina, General Gates' movement to Hillsborough, interruptions during the movement of prisoners of war to Charleston and attacks by rebel forces

1780

Cornwallis reported in 1780 on incursions into North Carolina, on Horatio Gates moving toward Hillsborough, on interruptions to the movement of prisoners of war to Charleston, and on attacks by rebel forces. Militia, scouts, supplies, ordnance stores and garrison duty are among the subjects, with Camden, Augusta, Ninety Six and Waxhaw as places. The listed enclosures are not included. Colonial Office series CO 5/238, military despatches.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Cornwallis, Charles (1st Marquess Cornwallis).

Duke NC State

Start at OCPL

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.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 973.337 Rankin Greene and Cornwallis: The Campaign in the Carolinas Rankin, Hugh F. · 2003

    Hugh F. Rankin's brief account of the 1780 to 1781 campaign in the Carolinas between the American general Nathanael Greene and the British commander Lord Cornwallis, including the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in March 1781. Written as number 10 of the North Carolina Bicentennial Pamphlet Series in 1976, it was reprinted by the state's Division of Archives and History in 2003, with maps and illustrations.

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 7 dated events in the chronology →

  1. 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. People: Charles CornwallisDocumenting the American South: Proclamation by Charles Cornwallis, Marquis Cornwallis concerning recruitment for the British Militia (Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 17, pp. 986-987)
  2. Cornwallis occupies Hillsborough After driving Nathanael Greene's army across the Dan River, Lord Cornwallis reached Hillsborough on February 20, 1781, and issued a proclamation calling loyalists to join him. The ceremony of raising the King's Standard, ordered for one o'clock on February 21 with a salute of 21 guns, was put off that noon until the next day. Short of food and forage, and told that Greene had recrossed the Dan, he left on February 26, crossing the Haw toward Alamance Creek. People: Charles Cornwallis, Nathanael GreeneJournal of the American Revolution: Ian Saberton, Cornwallis and the Winter Campaign, January to April 1781 (April 28, 2020) · Also: Internet Archive: "A British Orderly Book, 1780-1781", IV, North Carolina Historical Review 9
  3. The British army posts a town guard and a mill guard at Hillsborough On the day Cornwallis's army reached Hillsborough, orders from headquarters there set a town guard of a captain, three sergeants, four corporals, a drummer and fifty privates from the Guards brigade, with a corporal and six men detached to guard the mill. Each corps sent its quartermaster for half hides, and a quartermaster with all his Black workers was to bury the offal at the cattle pen at noon every day. People: Charles CornwallisInternet Archive: A British Orderly Book, 1780-1781, part IV, ed. A. R. Newsome, North Carolina Historical Review 9 (1932), p. 371
  4. The British army halts at Hillsborough to mend clothing, shoes and harness Brigade orders at the camp near Hillsborough on February 21, 1781, said the army would halt for some days and told commanding officers to use the time to repair the men's clothing and finish their shoes. The Guards' collar makers and two smiths were sent to Lieutenant McLeod of the Royal Artillery and the tanners to Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton; on February 23 three carpenters and all the collar and harness makers were ordered to McLeod's tent, and the smiths and tanners at work were excused other duty. People: Charles CornwallisInternet Archive: A British Orderly Book, 1780-1781, part IV, ed. A. R. Newsome, North Carolina Historical Review 9 (1932), p. 373
  5. Cornwallis orders his outposts to stop soldiers straggling out for whiskey General orders at Hillsborough said Cornwallis heard every day of soldiers taken by the enemy after straggling out of camp in search of whiskey. He told the officers commanding the outposts and pickets to let no soldier pass, asked commanding officers to keep their men in camp, and warned that a man taken would sit out the war in prison for a moment's gratification. People: Charles CornwallisInternet Archive: A British Orderly Book, 1780-1781, part IV, ed. A. R. Newsome, North Carolina Historical Review 9 (1932), p. 373
  6. Cornwallis marches his army out of Hillsborough With his commissary reporting that town and county could no longer feed the army, Cornwallis left before his proclamation's deadline and camped on Alamance Creek between the Deep and Haw rivers. People: Charles CornwallisLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 57 · Also: Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary; Internet Archive: R. D. W. Connor, William K. Boyd and J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, History of North Carolina
  7. British soldiers pave the crossing of King and Churton streets To keep his men busy and away from plunder, Cornwallis had stone laid near his artillery park for 150 yards in each direction from the intersection of King and Churton streets. People: Charles CornwallisLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 54 · Also: Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary

Named with them in the chronology

People named in the same dated entries as Charles Cornwallis, 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.

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Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Charles Cornwallis Library card An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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Historical records and collections

Searched with the Library of Congress heading Cornwallis, Charles Cornwallis, Marquis, 1738-1805, which helps separate this person from others with the same name. The historical records searches look for the name as written, so they can turn up other people with the same name. Each link opens that catalog’s own results in a new tab. The Friends have not reviewed what they return.

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Picture: Charles Cornwallis, 1783. Public domain. By Thomas Gainsborough; www.npg.org.uk; via Wikimedia Commons

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