James Thackston

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each opens its own page, with its events date by date.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 10 dated events in the chronology →

1. late 1767 or early 1768 William Johnston and James Thackston go into business as Hillsborough merchants Johnston, a Scottish merchant of means related to the Johnston governors, came to Hillsborough and formed a partnership with James Thackston. Their store stood at the southwest corner of King and Churton streets. People: William Johnston, James Thackston Place: Hillsborough · Also mentions: King and Churton streetsSearch the index · Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 7
2. April 23, 1768 Edmund Fanning writes Governor Tryon that Orange is in revolt Two weeks after Regulators rescued a seized horse at Hillsborough, Fanning reported people across the county binding themselves by oath to refuse taxes, and said he and other officers expected an attack. People: Edmund Fanning, William Tryon, Thomas Lloyd (died 1792), Thomas Hart, Francis Nash, James Thackston, John Gray Place: HillsboroughLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 31
3. August 3, 1768 Justice James Thackston reports William Butler vowing not to pay the palace tax Thackston told former sheriff Tyree Harris that Butler said the Regulators would pay nothing toward the governor's house at New Bern for three years, and that some two hundred Regulators had threatened anyone who seized their goods. People: William Butler (Regulator), James Thackston, Tyree Harris Place: Orange CountyLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 29
4. September 24, 1770 Regulators stone Johnston and Thackston's store, where Edmund Fanning took refuge During the riot at the Hillsborough superior court, Edmund Fanning broke loose from the crowd dragging him from the courtroom and fled into the store of William Johnston and James Thackston. The Regulators attacked the building with stones and brickbats and broke everything they could reach. People: William Johnston, Edmund Fanning Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 16
5. September 30, 1770 Hillsborough's leading men write to Governor Tryon for protection after the riot James Watson, Francis Nash, Thomas Hart, Robert Lytle, William Johnston, James Thackston and James Monro wrote from Hillsborough describing the Regulators' insolence at the superior court, said they stood hourly in danger of their lives and estates, and asked Tryon to adopt whatever measures he judged proper. People: Francis Nash, Thomas Hart, William Johnston, James Thackston, James Watson Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Robert Lytle, James MonroDocumenting the American South, Colonial and State Records: Letter from James Watson, Francis Nash, et al. to William Tryon, September 30, 1770
6. May 1, 1771 James Thackston raises a company of Orange County militia against the Regulators Thackston enlisted sixty-two Orange County men into a militia company for the 1771 campaign against the Regulators. Place: Orange CountySearch the index · NCpedia: Thackston, James (Arthur C. Menius III, 1996)
7. August or September 1775 The Provincial Congress names Orange County's minutemen and militia officers Orange was to raise three companies of minutemen, and James Thackston was named colonel of minutemen for the Hillsborough district. For the county militia the Congress named John Hogan colonel, John Butler lieutenant colonel, William Moore first major and Nathaniel Rochester second major. People: John Butler, Nathaniel Rochester, James Thackston, Colonel John Hogan Place: Orange County · Also named: William MooreSearch the index · Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 51 · Also: Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952
8. February 1776 Major Nathaniel Rochester's Orange detachment takes retreating Loyalists prisoner According to Rochester's own sketch of his life, he marched as paymaster with the Orange and Granville militia under Colonel James Thackston to Cross Creek, where Thackston sent him with two companies of infantry and one of cavalry after Donald MacDonald's Loyalists. After an all-night march of twenty miles to Devo's Ferry he met about 500 men retreating from Moores Creek Bridge and took them prisoner. Short of provisions, he let all but about 50, whom MacDonald had made officers, go home on oath not to bear arms again, and turned the officers over to Colonel Alexander Martin at Cross Creek. People: Nathaniel Rochester, James Thackston, Alexander Martin Place: Cross Creek to Devo's Ferry (Cumberland County) · Also named: Donald MacDonaldSearch the index · Internet Archive: North Carolina Historical Review 38 (1961), p. 472
9. February 1776 Orange County militia under James Thackston hold Cross Creek during the Loyalist rising Militia bound east against Donald MacDonald's Loyalists gathered at Hillsborough, and Thackston's Orange contingent occupied Cross Creek (now Fayetteville), denying the Loyalists a refuge. The rising ended at Moore's Creek Bridge on February 27, 1776, a battle the Orange men did not fight in. People: James Thackston Place: Hillsborough; Cross Creek · Also named: Donald MacDonaldSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 44
10. late 1780 James Thackston gathers Continental recruits and returned deserters at Hillsborough With the Southern army broken at Camden in August 1780, the Board of War sent Lieutenant Colonel Thackston to collect fresh recruits and returning deserters at Hillsborough. By the middle of November he had gathered just sixteen men. Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · NCpedia: Thackston, James (Arthur C. Menius III, 1996)