Thursday, May 5, 2011

Redcoats on the River-- Part 1

Book Review in Dec. 4, 2008, Wilmington (NC) Star-News by Ben Steelman.

People in Wilmington know about Moore's Creek Battlefield and the Burgwin-Wright House "Cornwallis' House, but not many know that Wilmington lawyer William Hooper signed the Declaration of Independence for the state of North Carolina.

Not many Colonial and Revolutionary War and early Federal structures remain Wilmington because they were wood frame and fires claimed most. Civil War sites are much-better known.

Author Robert M. Dunkerly of the National Park Service has written a book "Redcoats on the River" to fill in the area's history during the Revolutionary War. Much of that conflict revolved around extremely brutal guerrilla war between Patriots and Tories/Loyalists (as the backers of England were called).

The Revolution pitted brother-against-brother, neighbor vs. neighbor. Two of Hooper's brothers remained loyal to the crown.

In Bladen and Duplin counties, the two sides burned each other's homes and scattered livestock.

More to Come. --DaCoot

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