Location
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Coordinates: 36.0399, -77.4134.
Type: Stop
Tour: Rebellion
County: Halifax
Full
If you approach the coordinates from Hopgood, to the south on NC 125, you will find a wide shoulder just north of the state highway marker for James Hogun. Most vehicles will also fit on the southbound shoulder before reaching the marker on the other side.
Ireland to Halifax to Philadelphia
If dedication to one’s soldiers is the mark of a great leader, James Hogun was the ultimate leader. When or why Hogun moved from Ireland to the colonies is unknown, but he married in Halifax County in October 1751. For reasons explained below, nothing is known of his activities from then until the war. But he must have become a successful landowner, because that was true of everyone elected to the N.C. Provincial Congress in 1774. This gathering of representatives from across the colony first challenged the royal governor, and then became the first colonial congress to endorse independence in April 1776, in Halifax.
Hogun helped form the Halifax County part-time defense force (“militia”) for the new state. Then in November 1776, he became a colonel in the regular Continental Army, commanding the N.C. Seventh Regiment. The regiment fought under Gen. George Washingt