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b y 1775, Royal Governor Josiah
Martin felt unsafe in New Bern
and fled to Boston. There he
met with British High Command and
said North Carolina was a divided colony,
but all he needed to gather a huge army of
Scottish Highlanders and other Loyalists
and squash the Patriots was supplies, troops
and the Banner of King George. He con-vinced
the High Command that as word of
his army spread, Loyalists support him and
that once the campaign started, more loyal-ists
would join his forces.
The High Command, swayed by his
argument, ordered General Cornwallis to
In 1770, Royal Governor Tryon felt so threatened he
removed all articles of the King from now completed St.
Philip’s Church. His move signaled the
beginning of the end for Brunswick Town.
A painting of St. Phillips Church, by Art Newton, depicting the structure as it would have
been in its prime. Only the brick walls still stand today. Courtesy of Susan Taylor Block.
set sail for the colonies with an invasion
force. In February, Cornwallis and his
army sailed from Cork, Ireland, ready to
rout the Patriot militias in the Cape Fear
region. Peter Parker did the same, leaving
from Plymouth with more troops. Their
plan was to rendezvous at the mouth of the
Cape Fear River and meet Royal Governor
Martin and his forces for an assault on the
Patriots in the region.
Martin returned to North Carolina to
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WBM february 2011
meet his Loyalist army. On the trip South,
his ship stopped another at the North
Carolina-Virginia state line, and he invited
everyone aboard. At dinner, his plans for
the massacre of Patriots and the razing of
Brunswick Town were revealed to guests.
Word spread to the Patriots, and by the
time Martin reached Brunswick Town, only
Loyalists remained.
In the meantime, storms delayed the
British fleet’s trans-Atlantic crossing, putting
them a month behind schedule. Word got
out of Scottish Highlanders’ plan to meet
Martin and join his army at Fort Johnston
(now Southport), and, at Moore’s Creek,
Patriots ambushed the Scottish Loyalists,
killing a few and sending the remainder
into hiding in the forests and swamps.
Many returned home, but the dozen or
so Scots that did meet Martin arrived a
month late.
By mid-March 1776, Martin and
his force of 300, led by Captain John
Abraham Collett, found the Cape Fear
thick with Patriots and militia members.
They began conducting raids up and