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Was the Gourd Patch Conspiracy a Loyalist Uprising?

A fervent desire to defend and promote Protestantism might make someone a zealot, but it does not necessarily make them a loyalist. Nothing in the formation of John Lewelling's original secret religious society suggested that he meant to become a loyalist. Instead, only as the movement snowballed towards violence, and as the State of North Carolina made their own judgements of Lewelling's intentions, did Lewelling and his associates become loyalists. Still, each member's fealty to the king was a personal decision and the vast majority of former associators successfully reintegrated themselves into Patriot society once the charges against them were dropped. George Ward, a resident of Bertie, was implicated in the plot, but his name appeared on a county-wide Oath of Allegiance a year later. Isaac Barbree, one 's the plots most violent members who had assisted in planning several assassination plots, later enlisted in the Continental Army.

Statewide Oaths of Allegiance

List of People Swearing the Oath of Allegiance to the State of North Carolina in Edenton, 23 June 1778

In the aftermath of the Gourd Patch Conspiracy trials, the state continued to enforce the recent law requiring all white adult men in the area to take the Oath of Allegiance to the State of North Carolina. If they refused, they'd be considered a loyalist and might be asked to leave the state within sixty days or forfeit their property.

Every county was divided into districts, and local officials were responsible for collecting oaths from every man in their assigned area. It was also noted if men refused the oath and what reasoning they might have had if that was the case. Taken in total, these oath of allegiance lists of men who signed and refused to sign is an important collection of historical documents. Not only do they act as a sort of census for Bertie, Martin, and Chowan during the tumultuous time of the American Revolution, but the list also helped many average individuals appear in the historical record who might not have done so otherwise.

The Lewelling-Mayo Feud

John Lewelling Mayo's name as written on Nathan Mayo's will.

Nathan Mayo, by helping Mary Lewelling get an audience with Richard Caswell, likely helped save John Lewelling's life. And Mayo's forgiveness wasn't a momentary blip either. When John Lewelling died in 1793, he named Nathan Mayo as one of the executors of his will. Further, Lewelling's daughter Susannah married Mayo's son Frederick, and the pair named their son John Lewelling Mayo, evidence that any old feuds were long since forgiven. Later when Frederick died, Susannah remarried to her brother-in-law, Nathan Mayo Jr.

Conclusion

So the Gourd Patch Affair came to an end. As it turned out, there were no assassinations, no executions. Still, the events in a rural Martin County pumpkin patch had an important effect on North Carolina's new government. By granting a pardon, Caswell strengthened the power of the executive and defined one of the governor's roles in the new government. Further, it made state leaders aware of just what a tenuous hold they had on state authority. The Gourd Patch Conspiracy had been thwarted, but the event taught state leaders that in the future they'd need a mix of authority and compromise in order to keep the state together and prevent future uprisings.

For Further Reading

Cogliano, Francis D. No King, No Popery: Anti-Catholicism in Revolutionary New England. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995.

Crow, Jeffrey J. "Tory Plots and Anglican Loyalty: The Llewelyn Conspiracy of 1777." North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 55, No. 1 (Jan 1978) 1-17.

Freeze, Gary. "Like A House Built Upon Sand: The Anglican Church and Establishment in North Carolina, 1765-1776." Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Vol. 48, No. 4 (Dec 1979) 405-432.

Holton, Woody. Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves & the making of the American Revolution in Virginia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999.

McConville, Brendan. The Brethren: A Story of Faith and Conspiracy in Revolutionary America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2021.

Thomas, Gerald W. Rebels and King's Men: Bertie County in the Revolutionary War. Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 2013.

Troxler, Carole Watterson. The Loyalist Experience in North Carolina. Raleigh: NC Department of Cultural Resources, 1976.

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The Plot Unravels: Depositions

As knowledge of the plot got out to state officials, former members of the plot made depositions, or sworn statements, about their knowledge of and involvement in the conspiracy. Some of these men came before their local justices of the peace voluntarily, and others were likely arrested and questioned.

These depositions form the majority of the documents associated with the Gourd Patch Conspiracy, and are unique because they allow the plot's members to speak in their own words, even when it is clear that many of them were illiterate and could not sign their own names.

When making a deposition, former plotters informed on everyone they knew that was part of the conspiracy, including their own family members. Local judges then used these depositions as evidence in determining which men would be charged with a crime and what their charges would be.

A Test of the North Carolina Legal System

Trying the Gourd Patch Conspirators would be a groundbreaking test of the state's new legal system. In May 1777 the North Carolina General Assembly had passed legislation officially defining the the charges of treason and misprision of treason. They had also announced that every adult male in the state needed to make an oath of allegiance to the new state or leave the state in sixty days. The upcoming trial would be the first case since the new law, and the first in the Edenton District of Oyer and Terminer since the court had reopened from its pause when the American Revolution has broken out. It was also the first time a trial was titled "The State vs," rather than "The King vs."

Excerpts of the Prosecution Docket for the Edenton District Superior Court, May 1778. "The King vs John Green" was the final royal case the court saw prior to reopening as a state court.

The first associator to go on trial was the plot's ringleader: John Lewelling. In September 1777, using depositions from several co-conspirators as well as a long list of witnesses, James Iredell, the state's prosecutor and future supreme court justice, put Lewelling on trial for his life. On September 20 the court's judge John Baptist Beasley found Lewelling guilty of high treason. His execution was scheduled for September 30, 1777. The remainder of the conspirators were brought before the court on charges. Some were found guilty of misprision of treason and they were all bonded out until the next sitting of the court.

The court's case against John Lewelling was strong, and even before his conviction many people in North Carolina thought it would only be a matter of time before he'd face the death penalty. Still, just as his court case was a first for the state, his possible execution would be as well. As the shadow loomed ahead for Lewelling, many onlookers had opinions about what his execution might mean for the state, views that they voiced to Richard Caswell, the state's governor and one of Lewelling's intended victims.

Allen Jones, the Brigadier General for the Halifax District of the militia who was tasked with guarding the Halifax powder magazine from Lewelling's supporters, recommended no mercy for the arrested conspirators.

In contrast, Robert Smith, a lawyer in Edenton, recommended a pardon as a display of mercy.

Whatever Governor Caswell decided to do, his decision could have a profound effect on the state. Should he approve the punishment and demonstrate to the world what North Carolina did to traitors? Or he could grant a reprieve? Maybe by showing his would-be assassin mercy, Caswell could demonstrate the new state government's benevolence and sense of justice.

In weighing out his options, Governor Caswell considered several petitions from concerned members of the community who asked that Lewelling and others be pardoned. A petition from Thomas H. Hall called upon Caswell's paternal sense of mercy, reminding the governor that he had a duty to look out for the wellbeing of all the state's citizens. Caswell had good enough sense to know what was right, Hall stated, and any further arguments would be "needless as the Tears of the Widow and the Orphan" were Lewelling not pardoned.

Other petitions came from more unlikely circles. Colonel William Williams, one of the plot's intended victims submitted a petition on Lewelling's behalf. If Williams had found space to forgive his would-be killer, surely Caswell could do so as well.

One other notable petition came to Caswell's desk, and this final one was hand delivered. Mary Lewelling, John's wife, made the trek to Hillsborough to personally plead her husband's case before the governor. In making such a long journey without her husband, Mary had the escort of one of her longtime neighbors: Nathan Mayo.

Map of the town of Hillsborough. Courtesy of State Archives of North Carolina.

Nathan Mayo, Lewelling's close neighbor personally escorted Mary Lewelling as she sought a pardon for her husband. Lewelling and his co-conspirators had intended to kill Nathan and his brother James, as well as several members of their extended family. Nathan, a justice of the peace, had personally received a sworn deposition from co-conspirator Thomas Best, who had said Lewelling once said that "Nathan Mayo was a Very Busy Body... and that Son of A Betch would get kiled." For all that animosity, why the sudden change of heart?

One reason Nathan Mayo may have found forgiveness for John Lewelling was because Mayo was perhaps also seeking forgiveness for himself. On August 22, 1777, Mayo had a drunken dispute with one of his neighbors, Thomas Clark, about the politics of the day. When Clark expressed his support for King George III, it angered Mayo who declared Clark was a loyalist who ought to be arrested. Clark then attempted to shoot Mayo, and when he missed, Mayo went into his own home, retrieved his gun, and shot Clark, who died a few hours later. The charges against Mayo were later dropped, but whether he found forgiveness for Lewelling due to his own personal sense of remorse or for another reason, his presence as a would-be victim served to enforce the strength of Mary Lewelling's petition for clemency.

When Mary Lewelling submitted a petition to Governor Caswell, she did so not only for her husband, but also on behalf of herself and her entire family. Without John, Mary feared that she would be unable to provide for the couple's children. In addition to her husband's life, their family's property, all in her husband's name, was also at stake, and might be forfeited to the government as a consequence of Lewelling's crimes. Such a fate would leave Mary widowed, but also property-less.

Mary Lewelling's petition stands not only as a testament to the precariousness of womanhood during this period, but also points to how women could exert themselves in the public sphere. By getting the governor to sympathize with her position, Mary ultimately saved her husband's life.

In response to the petitions and the personal visit from Mary Lewelling and Nathan Mayo, on September 28, Governor Caswell and the North Carolina Council of State stayed the execution. While they did not grant him a pardon, they resolved that Lewelling's case could be considered at the next sitting of the state legislature.

In November, Lewellng's case came before the state house and senate, where the decision of what to do with Lewelling highlighted tensions between the new executive and legislative branches. Who had the right to pardon him? The legislature had made a law about treason and the justice system had determined Lewelling and others had broken it. What place did the governor have in this system? Some feared that by allowing the governor a pardoning power, that he might become too much like a king, which had been the cause for the whole revolution in the first place.

The house and senate ultimately decided that Lewelling ought to be executed. However, they added the caveat that if the judge in Lewelling's case had further information, they might reconsider the case. Accordingly on December 2, 1777, judge John Baptist Beasley asked Governor Caswell a pardon on Lewelling's behalf. He wrote:

With the letter, Judge Beasley made it clear that even he thought the sentence was unjust for Lewelling's crime. He asked for mercy, both for Lewelling and for his family. Based in part on Beasley's letter, as well as the number petitions he had previously received, Governor Caswell granted Lewelling a pardon, the first of its kind for the state. While the pardon does not survive, later evidence such as census records and Lewelling's 1794 will demonstrate that he, like most other members of the Gourd Patch Conspiracy were granted clemency.

During the 1778 term of the Edenton District court, charges were dropped against most of the remaining members of the conspiracy, likely after they swore an oath of allegiance to the State of North Carolina. William Brimage, a large landowner and prominent former judge refused to take the oath and was expelled from the state, leaving his family behind. One of the only other men not to have his charges dropped was the movement's spiritual leader, James Rawlings, who had fled from the New Bern jail never to be seen again.

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With William Tyler in jail and the conspiracy's papers possibly in the hands of the authorities, John Lewelling felt a sudden sense of urgency. If they wanted to defend Protestantism, they'd need to take action, and fast.

As news of May and later Tyler's arrest circulated, Lewelling and other members of the conspiracy met at the gourd patch, likely a location in Martin County near the Conetoe Swamp in the vicinity of Lewelling's home. Some men proposed to break William May out of jail on June 20, those plans were never realized. Yet, it was clear the conspiracy's aims were turning more violent. Rather than stopping at the abstract idea of kidnapping the governor, Lewelling and others in his circle began to identify other men as enemies. One new enemy of the plot was close to home, and in fact a near neighbor: James Mayo.

James and his brother Nathan Mayo lived near John Lewelling. Ardent whigs, they were involved in local politics and in the county militia. Nathan's land bordered Lewelling's, and he in fact sold Lewelling's land to him in 1772. Despite being neighbors, by the spring of 1777 Lewelling and the Mayos were feuding, and Lewelling became convinced that the brothers were somehow responsible for the recent arrests of the plot's members.

After William Tyler was arrested in late June, Lewelling and others met at the gourd patch, where Lewelling declared that James Mayo must be behind the recent troubles. Three or four men spied on Nathan Mayo, and shortly after, Isaac Barbree, at John Lewelling's son William's urging, concealed himself along a road James Mayo often frequented. Armed with a gun, Barbee intended to ambush and kill Mayo, but Mayo did not use the road that night and consequently avoided the attack.

By July 1777 neither the state's leading officials or even the plot's leadership could control the extent of the conspiracy. As the plotters paced the gourd patch and waited to hear the consequences of William Tyler's arrest, the group fragmented. Some members were ready to take up arms and violently resist the state government. Others panicked and feared they were in too deep. One of these hesitant members likely shared news of the plot with Whitmel Hill, a Martin County assemblyman and one of the plot's intended victims. By July 4th, word had spread to many of the area's leading officials that a violent conspiracy was afoot and that it's members planned to seize a powder magazine. By July 6, word went to the governor himself.

As news spread and the plan to attack Halifax unraveled, the gourd patch conspirators each had to decide the best path forward. Sometime in early July, Lewelling determined that their best solution would be to go directly to General William Howe, the commander of the British Army in North America.

Lewelling's decision to approach Howe was a serious one. To reach Howe, Lewelling would have to travel cross enemy lines and locate the British Army somewhere in northern New Jersey or Philadelphia. Such a journey was not only dangerous, but also costly, especially when Lewelling learned that James Sherrard, a fellow conspirator and close collaborator refused to share in the cost. Contacting Howe would be a clear step towards loyalism. Lewelling and his supporters could no longer claim that they were neutrals, motivated by a zealous interpretation of Protestantism. By approaching Howe, they were taking sides. Even more seriously, providing information to the enemy, as the North Carolina state government saw it, was treason, a capital offence. If Lewelling was caught, he'd be facing the death penalty.

In early July, Lewelling, James Rawlings, the group's spiritual leader, and possibly a few other men went set out north on horseback, intending to find Howe. It was not long however until either their courage or their funds ran out, and they turned around at Scotland Neck, just north of Halifax. Without Howe, there was no one else who could help the conspirators except themselves. Everyone faced a decision of what to do next: fight or flight.

Flight: James Rawlings

Just before the state discovered the extent of the conspiracy, Lewelling and other leaders saw the writing on the wall. On July 5th, having failed on their mission to contact General Howe, Lewelling advised James Rawlings, a church lay reader and the plot's spiritual leader, to destroy all evidence of the plot, flee for his life, and to claim no knowledge of it if captured.

Rawlings, as he later disclosed, was not just fleeing from state authorities, but from Lewelling himself. When Rawlings objected to Lewelling's plans to instigate an enslaved uprising and refused to assist in murdering James Mayo, Lewelling declared:

Taking his five small children and his wife with him, Rawlings got out of town as quickly as possible. It is unknown where he headed first, but it is likely he went south towards New Bern, where he waited for a time before acquiring a small sailboat. A known and wanted man, Rawlings intended to sail for Knott's Island, a place on the Currituck Sound bordering Virginia.

By early August, Abraham Jones, a local justice of the peace in Hyde County, received word that Rawlings might sail through the Pamlico Sound in his escape.

Jones spotted Rawlings' sailboat on August 2 and captured the craft, arresting Rawlings and bringing the lay readers' wife and five children with them back to New Bern.

Rawlings was confined in the New Bern jail, where he was questioned and made several depositions about his knowledge and involvement in the plot. Rawlings made a full confession and was charged with treason. He made a full disclosure of his knowledge of the plot, sparing nothing. It was from Rawlings that state officials first learned about Lewelling's plans to foment an enslaved uprising and assassinate the governor at Halifax.

The truth did not set Rawlings free however, and he continued to fear for his safety. Not only did Rawlings have to face charges, but he also feared what Lewelling might do when he learned Rawlings had made his violent plans known. Rawlings told the justices at New Bern that he had "Great Reason to fear [Lewelling] Will Make any attempts to Invalidate My Testimony... I being a poor Man have Reason to fear his power and Influence over Others to My hurt."

Fearful for his future, Rawlings took it into his own hands and escaped from jail during the night of September 11 along with two men charged with robbery. The wanted ad after his escape read:

Despite the 10 Shilling reward for his capture, Rawlings made good his escape and was never heard from again.

Fight: John Lewelling

On or about July 16th, Lt. Col. Henry Irwin of the Continental Army was recuperating at his home in Tarboro when an alarm rang out through the town. Irwin was a former officer in the Halifax District Militia, and he quickly gathered the local militia to face the alarm.

As Irwin discovered, a group of white planters, likely members of the Gourd Patch Conspiracy, and likely headed by John Lewelling himself. Facing them head-on, Irwin later recounted:

The Gourd Patch militants likely had come to Tarboro to seize the powder magazine there, but ill-prepared and faced with an trained fighting force, they quickly surrendered. Many members then sat in jail while authorities questioned them and determined what to do next. When captured, John Lewelling faced a treason charge.

Flight: William Brimage

William Brimage's attempt to escape from authorities is perhaps the most colorful. Brimage, a former admiralty court judge for the crown, was a prominent wealthy landowner in Bertie County. Elected to represent Bertie at the first Provincial Congress, he did not attend, but it was not enough to raise suspicion of his loyalist attachment to the crown, and he was selected as a judge for the Edenton District in 1777.

After being recruited, Brimage took the oath before Daniel Leggett and became a member of the Gourd Patch Conspiracy on July 4th. Because of his wealth and influence, Brimage immediately became a senior warden in the plot for Bertie County and was empowered to recruit new members, but it is unclear if he ever did so.

The following map highlights the key places and events of Brimage's attempted escape from North Carolina. When the plot unraveled later that July (likely after the arrest of some conspirators at Tarboro), Brimage was brought in for questioning about his involvement in the plot and later paroled. Paroled from jail but unwilling to make an oath of allegiance to the state, Brimage left his family behind at his Bertie County estate (1.) and headed towards New Bern, where he hoped to board The Brothers, aka the "Tory Brig," a ship captained by loyalist James Barzey which promised to bring crown sympathizers to British-held New York.

Brimage, however, was running late, and rather than catching the ship at New Bern, he had to meet the brig at Ocracoke Island (2.), its final stop before departing the state. Meanwhile, as state officials uncovered more alarming information about the Gourd Patch conspiracy, their suspicions about the extent of Brimage's involvement in the plot mounted. Governor Caswell personally called for Brimage's capture, stating:

Governor Caswell ordered out the militia, instructing them to stop Brimage from boarding the brig and to bring him back to New Bern to face charges. Captain James Anderson of the Ocracoke Militia, removed Brimage from the Tory Brig on July 27 or 28. The island, however, did not have a jail, so Anderson paroled Brimage, instructing him not to leave the island until authorities from New Bern came to arrest him.

Afraid of facing a treason charge, Brimage resolved to escape the island by any means possible. Sometime on his journey, either in New Bern, on the Tory Brig, or on Ocracoke, Brimage ran into two other men two also wanted to leave the island: a man named Campbell, and John Smith, a Bertie County blacksmith. Time was ticking though, and they'd need to leave quickly before their absence was discovered.

1776 Mouzon Map of North Carolina's waterways. Courtesy David Rumsey Map Collection.

As the sun rose on July 28, Brimage, Smith, and Campbell set about trying to hire a boat that could take them north to Virginia and the safety of the British warships that patrolled those waters. Brimage made a deal with the Cornelius and Daniel Austin, two brothers who promised to row Brimage, Smith, and Campbell to Roanoke Island (3.) in exchange for $8.

Shortly after embarking on their voyage, Campbell seemed to grow restless, Daniel Austin later recalled. Rather than going to Roanoke Island, Campbell suddenly asked the Austins to take them slightly farther to New Inlet (4.) instead, promising them $10. Though Campbell said he simply "wanted to see it," it is likely Campbell and the others thought it would be easier to make their escape to Virginia from the coastal inlet.

That afternoon, once the exhausted Austin brothers pulled the boat ashore at New Inlet, the group of men found themselves on a uninhabited windswept beach looking out at the Atlantic. When Daniel Austin walked a short distance from the boat to look at the nearby shoals, Campbell followed him.

Pulling out a pair of pistols he had concealed in a handkerchief, Campbell pointed them at Daniel, declaring that he was in fact a Lieutenant on a British naval ship, and that "he must have his Boat for he must make his Escape." Cornelius heard his brother cry out at 'Lt. Campbell,' "begging for God's sake not to take his Life." Brimage and Smith seemed shocked at Campbell's sudden turn towards violence and urged the lieutenant not to shoot. Brimage declared "he would perish on the beach" lest the brothers were spared. Smith wanted no part, and asked the Austins if he could go home with them should Campbell steal the boat.

A sandy beach on Ocracoke Island, where William Brimage met the Austins. Courtesy Ted Van Pelt

Despite Smith's and Brimage's words of support, the Austins still feared they were in danger. Cornelius asked Smith if he would help them fight Campbell but he refused, stating Campbell "was a blooded minded Fellow and was afraid he would kill some of them." In this uneasy truce, the Austins agreed that rather than lose their boat they'd take the group north to Currituck (5.), after which they'd be paid and free to go.

En route to Currituck, the weather suddenly worsened. They stopped at a small marsh island to get ballast, or small rocks to weigh down the boat and keep it steady against the rising seas. It was now that Brimage revealed the groups' true intentions to the brothers. They had hired the boat not as a mere sightseeing jaunt, but because they need to escape. Brimage and Smith "had done no harm, but being suspected Tories," were on the run. Campbell's taste for violence was his own, but Brimage and Smith assured the brothers that they merely wanted to escape the state peacefully.

Shortly after that, the stormy conditions worsened, and the group had no other choice but to pull the boat ashore and wait out the weather. They beached the boat at a placed called Dolbey's Point, somewhere on the Outer Banks north of Roanoke Island. The men all climbed out of the boat and sat on the beach. After some time, sensing that their captors were distracted, Daniel nudged his brother and they both ran for the boat and pushed off to sea.

As the Austins frantically rowed for safety, the three loyalists now found themselves stranded. Campbell somehow commandered a boat and left, presumably headed to Virginia, never to be heard from again. The Austins went to Chowan County, where they made sworn depositions about their recent experiences. John Mann, a resident of Hyde County near Roanoke Island (6.), later encountered Brimage and Smith, either on Roanoke Island or, more likely, near New Inlet, and arrested them. He brought them via boat to Edenton to face charges, where they arrived on July 30. Meanwhile the militia Gov. Caswell had sent to find Brimage at Ocracoke returned to New Bern (7.), finding their mission already had been done by a local fisherman.

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One member of the plot, Thomas Harrison, later testified that fourteen members of the North Carolina State Assembly either held personal religious beliefs or supported religious legislation that the plot's members found controversial. These fourteen men, as the plotters saw it, were challenging many North Carolinians' identities as devout protestants and eroding religion's role in the state, and they needed to be stopped. At first the plotter wanted to stop them ideologically, but as time went on they considered using violence.

While there is no list of the fourteen politicians who the Gourd Patch Plotters saw as the leading threats, it is possible to identify some of the conspiracy's intended victims due to their unorthodox religious beliefs and status in the community.

Initially John Lewelling and the conspiracy's other leaders had instructed their new members "to keep out popery" and protect the Protestant religion, but it was not exactly clear how they were supposed to do so. Aside from asking for financial contributions to employ a lay reader, or unofficial spiritual leader who could lead the group in church services, Lewelling also told his new adherents to oppose the state military draft, as he feared that the state militia might help the state government in diminishing the importance of religion in the state.

By the summer of 1777 as their fears increased and the state became more insistent in collecting oaths of loyalty from its citizens, the Gourd Patch conspirators were convinced that they needed to take further action. It was no longer enough to sit out the war—instead they might need to take matters into their own hands. Accordingly, James Sherrard, Daniel Leggett, and other wardens instructed their new adherents to each gather half a pound of gunpowder and two pounds of lead shot. They may need to fight back.

Getting gunpowder and ammunition for the plot was not as easy as going to the store. Bartlet Moreland Davidson of Martin County, who later named Lewelling among his "loving friends," went to Tarboro to get powder for the group. James Sherrard and John Collins went to Windsor, where they got enough powder for five of the plotters. It was not enough though. The war had led to powder and ammunition shortages, as most of these materials were being held for the Continental Army and militia's use.

The Gourd Patch conspirators needed more powder, and to get it, they had to go to the source: a powder magazine. Black powder was volatile and had to be stored carefully to keep it safe and useable. The special ammunition storehouse was called a magazine, and major towns each had one, usually in a central secure location residents could access in case of attack.

Powder magazines had become a hotbed of activity in the early period of the revolution. In 1775 the colonial governors in Massachusetts and Virginia had seized local powder magazines for the use of British troops, sparking major unrest in those areas. Now the Gourd Patch conspirators drafted plans to seize the powder magazine in nearby Halifax, NC for themselves. It would not be easy.

Why Halifax?

Every county in North Carolina was authorized to have a powder magazine, so why would Lewelling and his fellow conspirators decide to make a raid on the magazine at Halifax specifically? Halifax was over 33 miles away from Lewelling's home in the Conetoe Swamp, and no records survive identifying any resident of Halifax County as a member of the conspiracy. Lewelling was probably motivated by a mixture of three reasons.

• Halifax, like Edenton and New Bern, was a district center, so it may have had a larger supply of powder than other county magazines.

• Halifax was the symbolic birthplace of independence in the state. In 1776 Halifax had been the home of the signing of the Halifax Resolves, a set of instructions instructing the state's delegates in Philadelphia to vote for independence.

• Governor Richard Caswell was supposed to be visiting Halifax soon. Lewelling wanted to time the raid so that they could seize the magazine and attack the governor on the same day.

A raid on the powder magazine at Halifax had its advantages, but it was not without its difficulties. At the sound of alarm, the Halifax County Regiment would immediately scramble to protect their stores. There might also be an increased military presence if the governor was in town as planned. If Lewelling wanted to be successful, he needed a distraction.

The plotters' plan for a distraction depended on one man: David Taylor. Taylor, a resident of Chowan County, was a slave patroller, or a specially appointed armed official who regulated enslaved people's movements. Patrollers policed African Americans' movements in many forms, including checking enslaved people's passes to ensure they had permission to be out, checking free African Americans' freedom papers, breaking up gatherings of African Americans, and hunting for runaway, or self-emancipated people.

After being recruited by James Rawlings, David Taylor learned about the plan Lewelling had for him. Taylor's later testimony about his involvement in the plot is scant, but Lewelling wanted him to do one of two things. Lewelling may have wanted Taylor to burst into town in Halifax and use his reputation as credibility to lie and declare that nearby enslaved African Americans were rebelling and thus draw the militia out of the town. Alternatively Lewelling may have wanted Taylor to foment an actual enslaved rebellion. According to Rawlings, Lewelling wanted Taylor to:

Sketch of a slave patroller checking an African American man's pass. Patrollers like David Taylor watched the local roads to make sure enslaved people did not escape or meet to form plans to rebel.

Lewelling's decision to instigate an enslaved uprising, or at least suggest the rumor of one, was highly controversial. For many white planters, regardless of their personal religious beliefs, their greatest fear was that of an enslaved rebellion. When Virginia's royal governor seized the powder from the magazines at Williamsburg in 1775, the colonists were angry not merely because they felt that the powder was not the governor's to take, but because they were afraid the governor was purposefully leaving them defenseless and encouraging enslaved African Americans to rise up against them. One historian has even suggested that for many white Virginians, it was this specific fear, not lofty ideas about representation or the enlightenment, that spurred Virginian colonists toward revolution.

The thought of merely proposing, let alone instigating an uprising among the enslaved people was likely too much for David Taylor, and on June 4, 1777 he and his relative Joseph went to the authorities and made depositions about their knowledge of the plot. Still, Taylor was careful and did not make mention of the possible uprising or violence, possibly because he was fearful of additional criminal charges. Instead he said the plot was focused on keeping popery out of the state.

Shortly after the Taylors came forward, William May, another member of the plot, was arrested in Pitt County. May testified about his knowledge of the conspiracy on June 19th, and the rough edges of the plot soon began to unravel.

Unlike the Taylors, May's deposition mentioned another aspect of the plot. Aside from talk of keeping popery out of the state, state officials were alarmed to hear something else: the plotters were ready to oppose the military draft, and were going to encourage others to do so.

Due to this alarming new information, local officials suddenly took the Taylors' depositions about the plot more seriously. Rather than a relatively innocuous, yet zealous anti-Catholic group, it now appeared that the Gourd Patch organization would stand in opposition to the new state government. Shortly after May's arrest, Pitt County officials then arrested Martin County planter William Tyler, who May said had recruited him to the plot. This latest arrest was concerning for Lewelling and the plot's other leaders, as rumor had it "old Tylor was taken with all the papers in his pocket." What would happen if the plot's constitution and other important recruitment papers were now in the hands of county officials, the very men that Lewelling feared were trying to dismantle proper Protestant society? Something had to be done.

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With their secret religious society now established, John Lewelling and his fellow members then had to find ways to recruit like-minded locals into their plot. In crafting the structure and recruiting process for the new society, Lewelling repeatedly referred back to religious terms and symbols.

Lewelling enlisted the help of a small circle of supporters and appointed them as senior wardens for the society. The term "senior warden" alluded to the religious nature of the society and its goals. In the Anglican church, senior wardens occupied leadership roles in the congregation. They could hold religious readings and acted as an intermediary between the rector and the people. For Lewelling, his senior wardens would have the authority to swear new members into the society in his absence. They were also distributed throughout the area, so for example, while John Lewelling inducted new members in Martin County, Daniel Leggett did so in Bertie and Tyrrell Counties.

Finding likeminded locals eligible for induction into the society was another matter. Senior wardens in the society such as James Sherrard, Daniel Leggett, and John Lewelling designated certain trusted members of the society as recruiters, who could approach people, gauge their interest,and refer them to a senior warden for more information.

Recruiters often approached their own family members. John Garrett of Tyrrell County, for example, likely recruited five of his family members into the plot. Aside from approaching people at their own homes, recruiters also often took advantage of community events where groups of men gathered together.

John Everett approached John Harrison and Thomas Rogers, both Tyrrell County farmers, at the end of a religious reading at Everett's father's house. Bertie County farmer Peleg Belote was recruited after attending a sermon near James Sherrard's house in Martin County.

Daniel Leggett approached Stephen Harrison, Bird Land, and William Howard during a wheat reaping at Jonathan Davis' house, wherein men from the community visited one farmer's homestead to assist in the labor intensive tasks associated with harvest time. Several other members of the conspiracy mentioned gathering at Thomas Harrison's peach and apple orchards.

In nearly all cases, the recruiter would approach a potential member and engage him in a discussion about the threats to religion of the day. If he answered that he too wanted to protect the Protestant religion, the recruiter would take him to a secluded area where they wouldn't be seen or overheard, such as a quiet path, an isolated field, or inside a barn. There the recruiter would ask him if he could keep a secret. If the man agreed to swear to keep a secret, he'd make an oath and become a preliminary member of the society.

Still as a preliminary member, men had no idea what they had signed up for, except for that it was a religious organization meant to protect the Protestant religion. In order to get more information, the recruit would refer them to a senior warden in the area. Still, it was a secret society, so how could they approach a fellow member without raising suspicion? Like any good secret society, the Gourd Patch conspirators used a complicated system of secret signs and passwords.

New recruits received a special stick with three notches cut into it, with instructions to present the stick to a senior warden of the society. They were to present their stick to the warden, and the protocol was as follows:

The religious symbolism in the secret signs of the society abounded. In some cases, rather than "Be True," the password was "INRI," an abbreviation of a Latin term meaning "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews." As one historian has noted, the society's members were quite literally telling one another "to be true to INRI."

Be true

INRI

There were also numerous references to the holy trinity in the society's symbology. Aside from the three cut notches on the stick, one member, Charles Rhodes, was instructed to "shut Three Fingers of the left Hand and draw the fore Finger over the Face." Further when a provisionary member met with a senior warden, there were up to three additional secret oaths they could take. These signs and symbols all pointed back to how these zealous farmers of the Albemarle Sound wanted to observe and protect their religion and values.

It's difficult to be certain just how many people were involved in the Gourd Patch Conspiracy. Because of the system of regional senior wardens and recruiters, many members only knew the handful of fellow members with whom they'd been recruited. Even though John Lewelling is widely regarded as the leader of the plot, only nineteen members implicated him in the depositions that found their way to the archives. In contrast, Daniel Leggett, a senior warden for Bertie, implicated fifty four people in the plot (most of whom he swore into the society) but never named Lewelling, and may not have even been aware that he was the movement's founder.

Only some cells of the secret plot's network may have been uncovered by state authorities. When the plot was eventually discovered in July 1777, many members destroyed any evidence in an attempt to escape criminal charges. Further, the records for some counties may not have survived. Still, based on the extant historical records, it is possible to make some conclusions about the plot.

Only one membership list for the society survives--one from Daniel Leggett, a senior warden for Bertie. In it, he implicates fifty four individuals, most of whom are from Martin and Bertie Counties. A number of depositions survive which implicate men from Tyrrell and Pitt county as well. While some relevant sources suggest that the society also had supporters in nearby Edgecombe and Halifax Counties, no records exist which can prove that definitively. Below is a map outlining the possible extent of the movement:

Map outlining North Carolina's counties and military districts at the time of the Gourd Patch Conspiracy. Counties highlighted in orange contain at least one confirmed member of the plot. Counties highlighted in purple were suggested to contain conspirators, but no records survive to prove such a claim. Courtesy Linda Reeves, State Archives of North Carolina.

Moreover, some members of the plot claimed that its extent went far beyond the Albemarle Sound. James Hays, a Martin County farmer, supposedly "travelled some thousand Miles endeavouring to get as many people to [Associate] as possible." William Skiles reported that he had learned the movement first started in Virginia, and that it also had supporters near the Haw River west of Hillsborough and also in South Carolina. Leggett claimed that the society extended as far south as Georgia. No evidence has been located which supports the claims that the plot operated to this large of an extent, however.

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A wide variety of Christian and Jewish people, including Quakers, Moravians, Baptists, and Catholics all called colonial North Carolina home. Despite this religious toleration, North Carolina, like all of the British Empire, only had one state-supported religion: Protestantism, and more specifically the Church of England, or Anglicanism.

In the colonial era, being Anglican, or at least Protestant, was a central part of British identity. British subjects, both at home and in the colonies, were united by the Book of Common Prayer, and by a conviction that their specific religious denomination was especially chosen by God.

British subjects felt that their Protestantism was what set them apart from their old enemies: France and Spain, both Catholic monarchies. Consequently, many British people not only celebrated their own religion, but also fervently opposed people who practiced anything different. For many people, to be British was to be Protestant. Britons believed they were among the only Europeans who were truly free, as they, unlike the Catholics in France and Spain, only answered to God rather than to the Pope.

A sense of animosity towards Catholics and the French more specifically was an undercurrent in British identity. Indeed Francophobia and anti-Catholicism was so strong that for many colonists, "no greater earthly enemy existed" than Catholic France.

Satirical print titled "Protestant & Liberty or the Overthrow of Popery & Tyranny," 1757. The print depicts Lady Justice, surrounded by Faith, Hope, Charity and Liberty. On the right, the devil and the pope attempt to weigh the scales of justice in their favor, but are unsuccessful. A metaphor for the triumph of good over evil, the print reinforces that attitude many Britons held that Protestantism and liberty were intertwined and both at odds with Catholicism. Courtesy of the British Museum.

When the American Revolution ignited and North Carolina became an independent state, religious North Carolinians found themselves lost. There was no longer a state religion, and now suddenly the state's elite spoke of a possible alliance with France and Spain, their oldest foes. Many colonists had learned every Sunday since their birth that their freedom as British subjects was constantly under threat from Catholics under the devil's influence. Now suddenly they heard that it was only through a Catholic alliance that Americans could truly be free. Such an abrupt change was hard for many of the Albemarle's farmers to accept. In contrast, it was easier to believe that a conspiracy was afoot, and that the revolutionary leadership was being led astray by evil Catholic schemers.

Sometime in December 1776 or March 1777 after a meeting of militiamen in Martin County, John Lewelling approached James Rawlings looking for a favor. Lewelling was a prominent planter in Martin County and owned over 600 acres on the Conetoe Swamp. A religious man, he had served as a justice of the peace in the county and was well-known and regarded. On the way home from the muster call, he and his friend John Carter came to Rawlings seeking his blessing. Rawlings was a lay reader, or local religious leader for the Anglican Church, and Lewelling wanted his thoughts on one of the leading concerns of the day: the tension between revolution and faith. Since the Declaration of Independence, North Carolina had become spiritually unmoored from its traditional Protestant foundations. Suddenly French people were coming and settling in Edenton, and there were talks of a military alliance with Catholic France and Spain. These changes were alarming to devout farmers like Lewelling, and he concluded that he may have to take matters into his own hands. He told Rawlings:

The community needed to take a stand against these new threats to their Anglican way of life, and the state's leadership were not doing enough to uphold and protect their religious values. In fact, the new state constitution written in December 1776 stated that there was no longer an official religion. This new law, as Lewelling saw it, was only a sign of what was to come for the state's attempts to erode the importance of religion. Religious tolerance meant that Catholics would be welcomed into the state, and Lewelling was concerned. In response to these recent acts, Lewelling and Carter proposed creating a society which would promote and protect Protestant values under the new government. All members would need to swear an oath to join, and they'd pay dues for a lay reader, such as Rawlings, who could lead the society in religious services.

The society had humble, peaceful beginnings, but there was one thing that made it notable: it was a secret. Men could only join the society by invitation, and the group's activities were not discussed openly. After all, as Lewelling believed, there was a conspiracy of pro-Catholics and atheists afoot in the Albemarle Sound, so they'd need to keep their group a secret lest the anti-religion North Carolinians in power squash it. The extent and goals of Lewelling's society soon snowballed and it became a sort of conspiracy in its own right. Though never named by it's members, historians today call it the Lewelling Conspiracy, or the Gourd Patch Affair.

North Carolina Constitution of 1776. While it said all office holders had to be Protestant, it also stated there was no longer an official state religion, which was controversial for Gourd Patch associators. Courtesy of State Archives of North Carolina.

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> Home: The Kirk Holden War of 1870

> Part 1: A Declaration of Insurrection

Introduction

In the summer of 1870, Governor William W. Holden and the reconstruction-era state government engaged in a police action—known informally as the Kirk-Holden War—against the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist terrorist group that had taken hold in North Carolina.

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A Declaration of Insurrection

The Kirk-Holden War transpired during the uncertain times following the Civil War, a volatile period known as the Reconstruction Era. From the ashes of the Confederacy rose a new threat known as the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist terrorist organization that sought to curtail Republican influence and Black suffrage through violence and intimidation. Growing Klan activity, in the counties of Alamance and Caswell particularly, forced Governor Holden into action.

The Way of War

As the Kirk-Holden War progressed, well-known guerrilla fighter George W. Kirk joined Governor Holden's campaign in June 1870. With men from the North Carolina militia under his command, Colonel Kirk set about arresting suspected Klan leaders. Federal troops, sent by President Ulysses S. Grant, helped deter violence and maintain order. 

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Who is Margaret Elizabeth Cotten?

Margaret Elizabeth Cotten (1835-1895) was a young woman who attended St. Mary's School in Raleigh prior to the Civil War. The daughter of John Whitaker Cotten and Laura Placidia Cotten (née Clark), she was born into two prominent and influential high society families, which afforded her a variety of connections in North Carolina society. Her status provided her with both the money and the education that many women of the time did not receive, but these privileges came as the result of her family's enslavement of various people.

This diary provides a look at Margaret Eliza Cotten's life from October 1853 to July 1854, from age seventeen to eighteen, ending a year before her marriage to Joseph Adolphus Engelhard. Most of her entries record her daily activities, ranging from traveling up to St. Mary's School, to visiting Wilmington for Christmas, to interactions with various close friends and potential suitors.

Suitors, Courtship, and Marriage

For a young eligible woman of means, marriage was seen as a necessary step. By her eighteenth birthday, it was likely that getting married and finding a husband was a chief concern among Margaret's friend groups and family. Marriages among the elite in 1850s Raleigh could be for love, but could also be for money, stability, and patriarchal expectations. Margaret was not naive of these outcomes and stated herself that she hoped to never fall in love or marry, perhaps for personal reasons or in recognition of her own rights and privileges. Several close female family members, such as Maria Toole Haywood and Eliza Eagles Haywood, never married, and lived their lives single with the money to do so.

Marriage for Margaret would have meant losing a level of her own financial independence and having to submit to a man's authority. Losing her father at a young age undoubtedly shaped her family dynamic, and though she was placed under the guardianship of her uncles, she also gained independence other young women did not have. Her interactions with potential suitors, who accompanied her on walks and to parties, demonstrate that many were interested in her hand in marriage. In the spring of 1854, Margaret received a letter from someone she would not name, stating he was in love with her, with feelings she did not reciprocate. 

Records show that in late 1855, a little over a year after the end of her diary, Margaret married Joseph Adolphus Engelhard, with whom she was close friends with during the time of her diary. As no other diary from Margaret exists, we do not know how she felt about her wedding and eventual marriage. They would go on to have four children together and lived in North Carolina until Engelhard's death in 1879. She never remarried.

"Popping the Question" created by lithographer Sarony & Major circa 1846. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

"The Marriage" created by lithographer Sarony & Major circa 1846. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

"Mary Bryce (or Brice) of Point of Honor, Lynchburg, Virginia" circa 1853. Taken by photographer Peter E. Gibbs. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Taken from around the time Margaret Eliza Cotten's diary, this daguerreotype shows one woman who was enslaved during the 1850s.

Slavery and Emancipation in Raleigh

Through the wills of the Cotten family and Margaret's diary, it is evident that they enslaved around twenty people. Unfortunately, these individuals are often omitted from the narrative. The Cotten family's wealth could only be amassed through the exploitation of the enslaved, but in Cotten's diary, enslaved people's contributions and stories are pushed to the background. Unfortunately, in Margaret's mind, they are an afterthought in the record of her day-to-day activities, even though these enslaved individuals were what made her life possible.

In 1870 census records, several individuals mentioned in the diary can be found, then living free in Raleigh. Fountaine and Malvina by 1870 were living in the area and working for a wage. While their whole story cannot be told from just these census records, it demonstrates the newfound freedoms that enslaved people had following the Civil War and Emancipation. Both of them had taken on the last name "Cotten" or some variation of it, as was common for emancipated individuals to take on their former enslaver's name. Other individuals, such as Virgil, Davy, and Henrietta could not be located post-emancipation and may have moved or taken on other names.

How Women are Remembered and How We Research the Past

Margaret Elizabeth Engelhard (née Cotten) died in January 1895, having outlived her husband by about sixteen years. Her obituary in the Raleigh News and Observer from February 1st of that year opens with the words: One of Raleigh's Best Known and Honored Women Passes Away. Little is said however, about her accomplishments or personality outside of her parentage, husband, and children. Noted, is her general unwillingness to leave Raleigh and to leave her husband's grave. It is possible that some of her fears about marriage were realized. With no other diary currently known, Margaret Eliza Cotten's diary from 1853-1854 is our main source that provides insight into her thoughts and perspectives. Often times, the sources from women are limited, and her diary in the North Carolina State Archives is a useful tool to look at Raleigh from the 1850s, but one of just a single perspective. 

The Gourd Patch Affair, or the Lewelling Conspiracy, was a failed uprising against North Carolina's Patriot government in the summer of 1777. A group of Martin, Tyrrell, Pitt, and Bertie County farmers met in a pumpkin patch and crafted a secret plot. Their aim? Assassinate North Carolina's governor, overthrow the state government, and protect the Protestant religion.

In the end their plot was discovered and the ring's leader, John Lewelling, was the first man ever granted clemency by the State of North Carolina.

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Gunpowder, Treason, & Plot: First Arrests

As membership grew, Lewelling and others formed a more radical plan. They planned to seize ammunition and assassinate the governor in Halifax, but it was not long before their secret got out.

Fight or Flight

When the State Government discovered the conspiracy, the group's leadership was faced with the choice of continuing the fight, or trying to flee from authorities to avoid punishment.

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