Verifying North Carolina’s Turn Toward Independence: Archeology at Moores Creek National Battlefield

Moores Creek bridge, approximate site of early Revolutionary War battle. NPS photo.

On February 27, 1776, 19 miles north of Wilmington, North Carolina, one of the first clashes of the early throes of the American Revolutionary War transpired at what is now Moores Creek National Battlefield. Although expected by the British to be a simple detour to kick off the Loyalists’ southern campaign, the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge set into motion a more vigorous call for American independence.

The battle was small but mighty, and the same can be said for the archeological resources recovered at the site since the 1930s. Most recently, a NPS National Historic Preservation Act compliance project at Moores Creek offered archeologists, with the help of Moores Creek staff and local volunteers, the opportunity to conduct a systematic metal detector survey on the grounds. The few artifacts yielded overwrote the previous consensus that the 1776 Battle of Moores Creek may not have occurred within the national battleground’s boundaries.

The Great Aftermath of a Minor Engagement

Political tensions had been brewing in the North Carolina colony for years prior, with the popularly elected royal assembly opposing Royal Governor Josiah Martin while many others supported British rule or abstained from picking sides altogether.

In the northern colonies, British commanders were already preparing for a major offensive, but they committed to a hasty campaign in the Carolinas in the hopes retaking the colony would rally Loyalists and demoralize their southern adversaries. Their plans were entirely thwarted.

On February 18, 1776, Governor Martin authorized Colonel Donald MacDonald to mobilize a Loyalist army of 1,600 Highlanders (recent emigrated Highland Scots) on a southbound path to join with British troops arriving by sea. The Patriots, however, had intercepted Governor’s Martin’s printed proclamation and mustered a force of their own, combined from Colonel Richard Caswell’s minutemen from New Bern as well as Colonel Alexander Lillington’s Wilmington District Minutemen.

On February 25, Lillington’s force beat their opponents to Widow Elizabeth Moore’s Creek, subsequently known as Moores Creek. There, on the east side the creek, the colonel and 150 Minutemen constructed earthwork entrenchments, where Caswell and his 800 additional minutemen met them the following day.

A reenactment of Wilmington Minutemen firing “Mother Covington.” NPS photo.

The Loyalists marched forth on February 27 to discover that the Patriots had stripped the bridge of its planks and covered what remained with grease. As the Scottish Highlanders picked their way across to the sounds of bagpipes, drums, and the cry “King George and broad swords,” the Patriots greeted them with fire from two cannons known as “Old Mother Covington and her daughter.” After just a few minutes and the killing or wounding of over 70 Loyalists, the Patriots claimed a decisive victory, the first decisive Patriot victory of the war.

Metal detector operators and Cub Scouts surveying the Moores Creek site. NPS photo.

Scratching the Surface Through Archeology

The battleground was virtually forgotten after the Revolutionary War until citizens in local communities, inspired by a critical article printed in the Fayetteville Observer in 1856, organized a commemoration of the battle’s 80^th anniversary. The Revolutionary War centennial in 1876 reignited these efforts. From there, the newly protected battleground site slowly grew in size and ornamentation, though it was mainly used for recreation. Monuments, straight roads, formal flowers, and new facilities intruded until the site was redesigned in the mid-1900s to reflect its battle-period appearance more accurately. Yet looming was the possibility that the engagement did not happen at the battleground at all.

Archeologists expected a shovel test survey in 1994 to produce many battle-related artifacts like buckles, buttons, and the metal parts of guns and rifles, but no trace of a camp, manmade earthworks, or Revolutionary War-era items from either of the supposed locations of these two works materialized. An earlier archeological study in 1958 had revealed only a few 18^th-century artifacts, and further underwater and aboveground surveys in the 1980s also failed to identify the original bridge. The absence of artifacts gave rise to the theory that the Battle of Moores Creek could not be attributed to the park.

Under the direction of NPS archeologists, Moores Creek staff and local volunteers conducted a systematic metal detector survey of the battlefield in December 2011 to determine the location of Colonel Alexander Lillington’s forward camp and Colonel Richard Caswell’s entrenchments. Volunteers consisted of experienced metal detectors from the Eastern North Carolina Metal Detecting Association (ENCMDA) but also Boy Scout Troops, Cub Scout Troops, and Friends of the Park. Each participant from ENCMDA was paired with one or more Boy or Cub Scouts, who applied the hands-on knowledge gained from the project toward earning an Archeology Merit Badge.

Commemorative button from the marriage of King George III and Queen Charlotte, found by metal detector enthusiasts at Moores Creek. Photo by PRGringo.

Metal detector operators, spaced in a line about 3 m apart, covered the suspected locations of the battle, associated camps, and entrenchments. This survey technique has proven effective at similar sites, including Little Bighorn Battlefield and Horseshoe Bend National Military Park.

According to Ken Blevins of ENCMDA, the team found quite a few buffalo nickels, hay pennies, and 1800s-1900s reproduction buttons that were not associated with the battle. Testing of the Caswell earthworks, Lillington earthworks, and Moore’s Creek Bridge causeway yielded 300 items, such as iron nails and coins, though most appeared to be linked to reenactments and recreational use of the park.

Only two artifacts undoubtedly belonged to the battle: a coronation button commemorating the marriage of King George III and Queen Charlotte in 1761, and a British Half Penny minted in 1738. Other artifacts of interest were musket balls, a 1700s coin, and period buttons found between 2 to 8 inches beneath the surface. A later metal detector survey in the area surrounding the community building Patriots Hall and within the Caswell entrenchments encountered a piece of lead shot potentially related to the battle.

Studying the Little Things

Although scant, this material culture provides convincing evidence that the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge did take place within the already recognized national battlefield area. The public, starting with the community members that lent their time to archeological undertakings at the park, can now confidently point to Moores Creek National Battlefield as a turning point in American history.

Even so, archeology has so far only scratched the surface of the site’s potential. Patriot success at the Battle of Moores Creek delayed a full-scale British invasion of the South and emboldened the North Carolina Provisional Congress to pass the Halifax Resolves which allowed the North Carolina delegates to the Continental Congress to seek out and vote for independence, the first American colony to do so. By digging beyond what is already suspected, future archeological projects may confirm all this and more.

Resources

Moores Creek National Battlefield: An Administrative History, 1999. National Park Service.

Moores Creek National Battlefield Foundation Document, 2012. National Park Service.

Seibert, Michael and Amelia Jansen. Memo to David W. Morgan, Director, Southeast Archeological Center (SEAC), Tallahassee, FL. 24 January 2012.

Seibert, Michael and Amelia Jansen. Memo to David W. Morgan, Director, Southeast Archeological Center (SEAC), Tallahassee, FL. 17 June 2013.