Location
Type: Hidden History
County: Cumberland
Moore’s campsite is on land owned by the Fayetteville Public Works Commission, behind the Rockfish Creek Water Reclamation Plant, in a secure area not open to the public. The map points toward the closest spot the public can get to the site along the creek by car. If you visit, park on the solid shoulder off Highway 87 across from Butler Nursery Road (coordinates: 34.9548, -78.8447).
Answering a Governor’s Call
Six months before the Declaration of Independence was signed, the British government had already lost control of the Province of North Carolina. Royal Gov. Josiah Martin had been chased out of New Bern and was living on a ship off the mouth of the Cape Fear River. At Martin’s suggestion, two British armies were converging there by sea to take it back, and Martin called for loyal volunteers to join them.
Nearly 1,600 men gathered in Cross Creek (modern Fayetteville) in February of 1776 under command of a British Army officer, Brig. Gen. Donald MacDonald. They prepared to march toward Brunswick Town, which is on this side of the Cape Fear River near modern Southport. However, Patriots (“Whigs”) had intercepted Martin’s January message to Loyalists, and were converging from across the state to foil Martin’s plans.
The most direct route to Brunswick Town crossed Rockfish Creek near the river, using a wooden bridge.[1] A force of 1,000 militia soldiers, backed by five cannons, camped there under the command of Col. James Moore from Thursday, February 15, to the 21st, to block the Tories’ path.
