North Carolina...
At the time of the first federal census in 1790, North Carolina was the third largest state in the Union. It continued to serve as a leader of the Old South up until the time of the Civil War and continues to maintain a presence in the region.
English colonization in America began with an expedition sent by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584. The Englishmen explored the coast between Pamlico and Albemarle sounds. The next year Raleigh sent over the first party of colonists who settled on Roanoke Island. Conflicts with the Native Americans and scarcity of food and equipment soon caused them to return to England.In 1587 Raleigh sent a party under John White as governor. White's granddaughter, Virginia Dare, was born here on Aug. 18, 1587 the first child born of English parents in America. After three years' absence in England to obtain supplies, Governor White returned to Roanoke Island in 1591. He found the area mysteriously deserted. The fate of this Lost Colony of early settlers has never been learned.
King Charles I granted a charter for the territory south of Virginia in about 1629, and it was named in his honor. (Carolina means the "Land of Charles.") The first permanent settlement was made by Virginians in the Albemarle region in about 1653. In 1663 Charles II granted the Carolina region to eight lords proprietors. The colony prospered, but the settlers became discontented over feudal laws and neglect by the owners. Finally in 1712 North Carolina and South Carolina became separate colonies.
Physical defiance and other acts of resistance nullified the English Stamp Act in North Carolina. In the western counties a group of backcountry farmers known as the Regulators (so called because they pledged to "regulate" the local government) rebelled against royal rule in 1768. They were defeated by Governor William Tryon's militia on May 16, 1771, in a battle along Alamance Creek.
Fight for Independence
North Carolinians organized a provincial congress on Aug. 25, 1774, to plan resistance against royal rule. When the shooting war began at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, North Carolina's last royal governor fled, and a provincial council took over. According to local history, on May 20, 1775, the citizens of Mecklenburg County drew up the first declaration of independence in the colonies the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. This date of their meeting in Charlotte is on the state seal and flag. Equally significant was a meeting of the Mecklenberg Committee on May 31, also in Charlotte, that adopted more moderate resolutions the Mecklenburg Resolves.
North Carolina's militia gained a victory over Loyalist troops at Moores Creek Bridge, near Wilmington, on Feb. 27, 1776. On April 12 the provincial Congress, meeting at Halifax, directed its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence. With these Halifax Resolves, North Carolina became the first colony to authorize a vote for freedom from England.
During the American Revolution North Carolina frontiersmen made a fierce attack on Tory forces established on King's Mountain on Oct. 7, 1780. The British, however, won the biggest battle fought in North Carolina, at Guilford Courthouse on March 15, 1781. Heavy losses in both battles, especially of officers at Guilford Courthouse, helped force Lord Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown.
This information comes from the Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia, Copyright 1995.
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