Imagine the Scene

Excitement at Biddle’s Fort

Walk farther out Front Street. It did not exist in 1782; homes and buildings then on the blocks across the street from the water fronted directly on the shoreline.

Go to the near corner with Marsh Street, three blocks east of Craven. Turn left and walk partially up the block. A sign marks the “Gibble House” across the street. It is a private home, not open to the public.

Capt. Charles Biddle brought his armed merchant ship to Beaufort in 1777 to sell cargo from the Caribbean. “As there were a number of British cruisers on the coast, I was determined to get into the first port we could make,” he wrote in his autobiography. They first spotted land near Cape Lookout, and the wind brought him to Beaufort for the first time, “a pleasant little village on the sea coast.” On that visit, he met Hannah Shepherd, daughter of a New Bern merchant who had moved here. He likely saw her in New Bern later, where the ship was based. Biddle returned to Beaufort to repair a broken mast in another ship, the Cornelia, in mid-November 1778. By coincidence, Shepherd was here visiting her mother. He asked her to marry him, and they did so nine days later. After the repairs he sent the Cornelia out again under another captain, only to have it be captured by a privateer.

Meanwhile, the Biddles bought this 1772 house from Gibble, Hannah’s uncle. It was the last one on this side of town.

In October 1779, the citizens of Beaufort are concerned about their literal lack of manpower. Women are not allowed to fight, many of the men are at sea, and the state required the county to fill quotas for soldiers from the rest. Biddle says in his autobiography, he “persuaded the people of the town and neighborhood to build a small fort. We all worked at it, and soon made a tolerably good one.”

The Biddles left here in May 1780, intending to be gone half a year visiting his family in Pennsylvania, but they never returned.[2] (Read a short bio for the rest of his amazing story.)

Return to Front Street, turn left, and walk another block to Live Oak Street.

Today’s Live Oak is the road out of town during the Revolution, so it seems likely the fort is at the water’s edge ahead of you somewhere within view. It at least has breastworks facing east and toward the sea, and may be entirely enclosed by earthworks given Biddle’s use of the word “fort.” The town somehow obtained four “6-pounder” cannons, referring to the size of cannonball they fire, from the Continental Congress, and placed them there aimed toward the water.

These were not the only cannons in town, Biddle adds. A Captain Gibbons obtained two 4-pounders. These he “mounted in his piazza, and frequently in the night, when drunk, would fire them off to the great disturbance of the peaceable people of the town.” The location is unknown, but had to be north of the battery, given later events.

Biddle approached the commander of the local part-time defense force or “militia” to say he should do something about Gibbons, he says in his memoir. “The man said he would ‘try again what could be done.’ The method he took to try again ‘what could be done,’ was to get me appointed captain of the… militia.”

Biddle went to Gibbons and convinced him to remove the cannons, but Gibbons didn’t take it well. That evening Gibbons called him into the house as he was passing by, and sent his wife out of the room. Wary, Biddle made sure Gibbons saw his pistols. “There was a pair of large pistols on the table, which convinced me he had some bad design, and I was determined if he took up one of them to try for the first fire.” Nothing more happened that night. However, conflicts continued until Gibbons shot a prisoner Biddle knew, was indicted for murder, and fled town forever.[a]

For two-and-a-half years, Biddle’s fort is a silent sentinel.

Imagine standing here in the dark of early morning on Thursday, April 4, 1782. A lone militiaman stands at least two modern blocks further out, where he can see the mouth of Taylor’s Creek, the waterway along the eastern shore of today’s Beaufort. At that time, the islands off today’s waterfront did not exist, so there was a clear view into the harbor. But low-lying, marshy Carrot Island visible to the right in the distance is on the other side of the creek, then as now.

Several large rowboats appear from the open bay, full of men in typical clothes of the day. One lands and a man approaches the sentry. He tells him they are Patriots.

Easton has seen the boats and is somewhere nearby, if not at the fort. He yells for the sentry and his other men to fire on them. They manage scattered shots. The raiders—we’ll call them “the British” though they might be Tories, or a mix of Tories and British dragoons—return a volley that drives them off. However, likely unsure of how many Patriots are here, the British decide to reboard their boats and row up the creek.

Somewhere to the east the British land on Carrot Island, sneak back in this direction, and ford the creek.[3] As the sun begins to warm the sky, they run into one or two sentries. You, and Easton, hear a gunshot from them. He and a handful of men run off in that direction. The two sides begin exchanging fire out of your sight. A British major is wounded in the hand, and a private is mortally wounded, dying the next day.[4] Before long, however, the Patriots are back, taking position in the fort and facing that direction around 4:30 a.m. A Capt. Dennis is now here with some unarmed men, and two others arrive.

One source says a pair of Patriots show up and report the British are gathering behind the house of Capt. Gibble (location unclear[5]), the last man captured after rowing out to the boats. It says the men in the battery watch helplessly as a militia captain walks towards them on the beach, only to be captured by raiders who run out of the house and surround him.[6] Another source[7] says a Patriot then runs up to tell them some of the Loyalists are trying to turn Capt. Gibbons’ cannons toward them. The Patriots supposedly open fire on the house and drive them off.

However, Easton looks behind you and sees more rowboats appearing from the harbor. He knows his men will soon be surrounded. He orders a retreat, probably up Live Oak Street to the other side of the bridge over Town Creek (visited later).

Within two days, Easton has established horse patrols to monitor the raiders, and placed guard units across the bodies of water that embrace Beaufort to prevent broader incursions.

Turn around and face the town.

The British and Tories remain for a week, plundering homes and destroying several mills in the vicinity. Women and children from town stream into the Patriot camp bearing tales of woe. Easton later wrote Gov. Thomas Burke to report:

“I have heard of cutting open of Beds, strowing the feathers over the floors, and in the Streets, and destroying every Article of furniture they could not bear off, taking the Clothes from Women’s backs, searching of their pockets, and otherwise abusing them in a very cruel manner, not leaving many a mouthful of provisions to Eat…”[8]

On Wednesday the 10^th, the camp awakens to find the marauders gone. The militia creep back into town. At the battery they find one of the guns destroyed, and the others removed from their carriages and spiked, meaning iron rods were driven into their fuse holes. By the end of the day, one has already been repaired.[9] The battle is ready for a second phase.

Go back two blocks and cross into Lynn Eury Park. Continue to the water’s edge.

A Sloop, Rowboats, and Rafts

Recall there was no island blocking the view of the harbor at the time, so you can see the British fleet. On Thursday morning, a week after the raid started, the militia see that a sloop (single-masted ship with sails fore and aft) is getting ready to leave. They fire the one working cannon at it. The British start shelling the town, hurting two houses but no people. That night the sloop either catches fire or is set aflame. Though destroyed, it doesn’t sink.

Throughout the occupation, the militia harass parties landing to collect drinking water all around the harbor. Part of the fleet is driven off from attempting to get water on Friday from Borden/Bogue Banks, the island where Fort Macon is today. The ships return to the harbor on Saturday. That same day some of the townspeople row out to the burned sloop, get a 3-pound cannon from it, row it back to town where they are “jubilantly greeted,” and add it to the fort.[10]

On Monday the 15th, the militia and townspeople “worked all day preparing rafts which they loaded with tinder (twigs and sticks), pine knots, straw and tar. At dark, when the tide was running in the right direction and the wind with it, they set fire to the contents of the raft(s) and sent them on the tide toward the vessels.”[11] Imagine the anticipation of the people standing along the shore, awaiting what happens. Sadly, the wind turns and pushes the rafts back onto the beach.

Apparently the lack of fresh water forces the British to give up. You see them prepare to leave Tuesday, but the wind blows the wrong way. Wednesday they succeed. The ships stop long enough to release their remaining prisoners. The British then return to Charleston, taking with them three larger and several smaller ships—one holding rice, tobacco, and lumber for masts—and former slaves to freedom. (More on the prisoners and runaways below.)

Go back and explore the town if you wish. Historic highlights include the North Carolina Maritime Museum and Harvey Smith Watercraft Center in the other direction along Front Street, a block past Craven Street. The Beaufort Historic Site, halfway up Craven on the right from Front, features posters about the town’s history and a collection of historic buildings.

The Old Burying Ground

War-related graves are at the Old Burying Ground. You may want to pick up a map at the Historic Site if you can. Go up Craven Street one block from Front to Ann Street. Turn left, and the entrance is halfway down the block on your right.

At the end of the initial straight path, there is a set of graves within a low wall. Go around the right-side corner of the wall, and use the step to go inside. Face the tombstone embedded in the wall on the right, marked as number 5.

Samuel Leffers was the schoolmaster at the time of the war. He and his wife lived in a house now at the Historic Site, but as you will see later on this tour, his school was the site of combat during the raid.

Continue up the path toward the 1820 church at the right-rear corner of the cemetery. The next-to-last grave before you reach it is marked number 18.

Here lies Col. William Thomson. He was the first commander of the new state’s Carteret County Militia, starting in September 1775.[12] However, it was hardly a new role: He also commanded the colonial version in 1771. That year it was part of the militia army recruited by Royal Gov. William Tryon to put down a rebellion by the Regulators, who were protesting unfair taxes and other practices. Thomson’s unit was on the far-left end of the front line at the decisive Battle of Alamance near today’s Burlington, and perhaps suffered the worst casualties of any. Fifteen of the 30 volunteers from here were killed or wounded.[b] No records could be found reporting what Thomson did during the Revolution prior to his resigning from the militia in 1779.

Thomson also served in the first four provincial congresses, which declared independence and set up the new state government before and at the start of the war. In 1778 he became a state senator.

Continue to number 19.

An unusual grave is the one here of an unknown British soldier. Though he is referred to as an officer from the battle fleet, he more likely was the private killed east of the battery on the first day.[13] Regardless, sources agree he was buried standing upright, having requested that as a salute to King George as he was dying.

Shots at the Schoolhouse

When ready to leave, go to your vehicle and drive east on Front back to Marsh Street (one block past the town hall). Turn left and drive two blocks to the 1907 railroad station on the left corner at Broad Street.

The local schoolmaster, Samuel Leffers, owned the two lots along the Broad Street edge partially occupied now by the station.[14] He did not live here, however. Those facts, combined with its location between the camp and town, makes this stretch of land the likely site of Leffer’s schoolhouse during the war.

On Friday, April 5, the day after the Patriots are driven back, Easton receives a message from the British naval commander, written by his prisoner Gibble. The commander offers to exchange prisoners. The militia had captured two British regulars caught looting. An attempted negotiation at the town schoolhouse on Saturday goes horribly awry somehow and breaks off. As a result, a random cannonball fired from the British-held fort arcs through the sky and falls into the camp ahead and to the right of you (visited next).

Easton posts a sentry at the school. On the 8^th, another cannonball screams over into the camp. A portion of the British force then advances from behind you and drives the sentry off. Twenty militia on horseback under Col. Enoch Ward come down from the camp and attack, forcing the British to take cover behind the schoolhouse. After a short firefight, the British set fire to the building and retreat to the fort.

That same day, some patrolling townsmen confront a raiding party north of the camp, wound several including a British officer, and capture three.

Easton had already agreed to another negotiation at the ruins of the schoolhouse. On Tuesday the 9^th, the two sides agree to an exchange of the two soldiers for the people out on the ships at 10 a.m., Wednesday.[15]

As you know, however, the town was found abandoned that day. The British send a party with some of the prisoners three hours late. Pilots—men who guide ships through the local waters—some townsmen, and people the British have rescued from slavery, are not returned.

The Bridge Out of Town

Turn right, and drive one block to Live Oak. Turn left. The road curves right and passes a few blocks. As it begins to curve left again, notice short guardrails on each side marking a flat bridge. Turn left immediately after them into a gravel parking lot.

Barely visible to your left and running under the bridge is Town Creek. In 1782 the creek was wider, so the “town bridge” was probably where Live Oak runs today. Militia guarded it here, and the militia/refugee camp was likely a little further up the road. At the time that curved left and became what now is NC 101, on or near the same curve you can see today in that direction.

Battle Map

The Beaufort Raid: All locations are educated guesses. 1) British rowboats land, exchange shots with Patriots, retreat to Carrot Island. 2) British return, Patriots confront them and fall back to fort. 3) As more rowboats appear, Patriots withdraw. 4) Patriots guard bridge as refugees set up camp. 5) British advance, are charged by militia cavalry, exchange gunfire, burn schoolhouse, and retreat.