Biography

After his father’s farm and commercial interests north of Baltimore failed, Richard Caswell and his brother moved to New Bern. Caswell became a surveyor for the state, later a lawyer, and then attorney general. First elected to the Colonial Assembly in 1754, he commanded one wing of Royal Gov. William Tryon’s militia army that defeated the Regulators in 1771. However Caswell became increasingly rebellious himself, as the British Parliament passed more laws against colonial interests, and served in the N.C. Provincial Congresses and first two Continental Congresses. He hatched the plan that booted Royal Gov. Josiah Martin out of New Bern, and led the forces at the Battle of M