Rev. Humphrey Hunter
Rev. Humphrey Hunter was born in Ireland, near Londonderry, on the 14th of May, 1775. His paternal grandfather was from Glasgow, Scotland. His maternal grandfather was from Brest, in France. His descent is traced to the Scotch-Irish and Huguenots of France. His father died when he was four years old, and shortly afterward, his mother joined the great tide of emigration to the New World. In May 1759, the family embarked on the ship Helena to Charleston, South Carolina. After a long and boisterous voyage, the vessel reached its destination safely. His mother then procured a cheap conveyance and proceeded to the eastern part of Mecklenburg County (now in Cabarrus County) in North Carolina, where she purchased a small tract of land and spent the remainder of her days.In the manuscript journal of the Rev. Humphrey Hunter, he furnished some interesting facts respecting his life and services. He grew up in the neighborhood of Poplar Tent, inhaling the salubrious air of a free clime and imbibing the principles of genuine liberty. At this stage of his early training, he pays a beautiful tribute to the patriotism of the mothers of the Revolution. He says:
" Neither were our mother"s silent at the commencement of the Revolution." " Go, son, said his mother, and join yourself to the men of our country. We ventured our lives on the ocean's waves in quest of the freedom promised us here. Go and fight for it, and rather let me hear of your death than of your cowardice."
A short time afterward, orders from Colonel Thomas Polk to meet at the Courthouse in Charlotte on the 19th of May 1775 to consult upon such measures as might be thought best to be pursued. Accordingly, more than two out of each company were present on said day. He was twenty years of age at the time and joined in a shout of approval which burst forth from the assembled multitude.
After the Convention in Charlotte, Colonel Thomas Polk raised a regiment of infantry and cavalry and marched in the direction of Cross Creek (now Fayetteville) to disperse a body of Tories. In this service, he joined a corps of cavalry under Captain Chas. Polk. Soon after the return of this expedition, Hunter commenced his classical studies at Clio Academy in the western part of Rowan county (now Iredell).
Cherokee Indians Committed Depredations and Murders on the Catawba River
General Rutherford called out a brigade of militia from Guilford, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Lincoln, and other western counties, composed of infantry and three cavalry corps. In one of the companies commanded by Captain, afterward Colonel Robert Mebane, he acted as Lieutenant. Two skirmishes took place during this campaign, in which several Indians were killed, and a considerable number made prisoners, among the latter, Hicks and Scott, two white traders who had married Indians and espoused their cause.After his return from the Cherokee expedition, he resumed his classical education at Queens Museum in Charlotte under the study of Dr. Alexander McWhorter, an eminent Presbyterian clergyman from New Jersey. In the summer of 1780, this institution, having assumed in 1777 the more patriotic name of Liberty Hall Academy, was broken up by the approach of the British army under Lord Cornwallis. The school, then in a flourishing state, was dismissed, and the young men were urged by Dr. McWhorter, with patriotic appeals, to take up arms in defense of their country.
The Perilous Decision of General Gates
General Gates was going to the Southern States. In a brigade raised by General Rutherford to go to Salisbury, Hunter acted for a short time as Commissary and afterward as Lieutenant in the company of Capt. Givens. This force first marched from Salisbury down the northeast side of the Yadkin River, scouring the Tory settlements of the Uwharrie and Deep Rivers before its junction with General Gates at Cheraw. It was from this place that General Gates made his unfortunate march towards Camden, as far as Gum Swamp, where on the 16th of August 1780, the sad battle of Camden occurred.A contagious panic seized most of the militia early in the action, and a precipitate retreat was the natural consequence. The regulars of Maryland and Delaware, with a small portion of the North Carolina militia, firmly stood their ground until surrounded by overwhelming numbers. The British captured Humphrey Hunter, stripping him of his clothes. Soon after his surrender, he witnessed the painful incidents of battle, resulting in the death of Baron DeKalb. He informs us he saw the Baron without suit or aid and without manifesting the designs of his movements, galloping down the line. The enemy clapped their hands on their shoulders, exclaiming " a General, a rebel General." Immediately, a man on horseback (not Tarleton) met him and demanded his sword. The Baron reluctantly presented the handle to him, inquiring in French, " Are you an officer, sir? " His antagonist not understanding the language, with an oath, more sternly demanded his sword. The Baron then rode on with all possible speed, disdaining to surrender to anyone but an officer. Soon the cry, "a rebel General," sounded along the line. The musketeers immediately, by platoons, fired upon him. He proceeded about twenty-five rods when he fell from his horse, mortally wounded. He was raised to his feet, stripped of his hat, coat, and neckcloth, and placed with his hands resting on a wagon. His body was found, upon examination, to have been pierced by seven musket balls. Whilst standing in this position, with the blood streaming through his shirt, Cornwallis rode up with his suit. Being informed that the wounded man was Baron De Kalb, he addressed him by saying, "I am sorry, sir, to see you; not regretful that you are vanquished, but sorry to see you so badly wounded." Having given orders to an officer to administer to the wants of the Baron, Cornwallis rode on to secure the fruits of his victory. In a short time, the brave and generous De Kalb, who had served in the armies of France and embarked in the American cause, died, and was buried in Camden.
After being confined seven days in a prison yard in Camden, Hunter was taken, with many other prisoners, including about fifty officers, to Orangeburg, South Carolina, where he remained until the 13th of November following, without hat or coat.
The Visit to a Lady
On that day, without any intention of transgressing, he set out to visit a friendly lady in the suburbs who had promised to give him a homespun coat. Before he reached her residence, he was stopped by a horseman, armed with a sword and pistols, who styled himself a Lieutenant of the station at the Court House, under Colonel Fisher. The horseman blustered and threatened and sternly commanded him to march before him to the station to be tried for having broken his parole. No excuse, apology or confession would be received in extenuation of his transgression. "To the station," said the horseman, "you shall go; take the road." The Tory Loyalist was exercising his brief authority over a real Whig. Up the road, his prisoner had to go, sour and sulky, with much reluctance, being hurried in his march by the point of the Tory's sword.Hunter was constantly on the lookout for some means of self-defense. Fortunately, after they progressed a short distance, they approached a large fallen pine tree, which lay many pine knots, hardened and blackened by the recent fire action. Hunter, in an instant, saw his opportunity and immediately jumped to the further side of said tree and, armed with a good pine knot, prepared for combat. The Tory instantly fired one of his pistols at him but without effect. He then leaped his horse over the tree. Hunter, with equal promptness, exchanged sides, being fired a second time by his would-be conqueror but again without effect. Much skillful maneuvering took place while the Tory was thus kept at bay. Hunter then commenced vigorous warfare with the pine knots so opportunely placed at his command and dealt them with profuse liberality. The accurate aim of two or three pine knots against the horseman's head soon disabled him and brought him to the ground. He was then disarmed of his sword and capitulated on the following terms: That Hunter should never make known the conquest he had gained over him and give back the captured sword, and that he (the Tory loyalist) would never report to headquarters that any of the prisoners had ever crossed the boundary line, or offended in any other manner. But secrecy could not be preserved, for during the combat, the horse, without his rider, galloped off to the station, creating considerable anxiety respecting the horseman's fate. The dismounted horseman presently appeared with several visible bruises on his head, bearing striking proof of the adequate precision of the pine knots.
They concealed themselves daily to avoid the British scouts sent in pursuit and traveled during the night, supporting themselves principally on the raw corn found by the way-side. On the ninth night after they set out from Orangeburg, they crossed the Catawba and arrived safely in Mecklenburg County.
After remaining a few days at his mother's residence, he again entered the service and joined a cavalry company, acting as Lieutenant under Colonel Henry Lee. During the Battle of Eutaw Springs, he was wounded.
Soon after the close of the war, he resumed his classical studies under the instruction of the Rev. Robert Archibald near Poplar Tent Church. During the summer of 1785, he entered the Junior Class at Mount Zion College in Winnsboro, South Carolina, and graduated in July 1787. Afterward, he studied Theology under the care of the Presbytery of South Carolina and was licensed to preach in October 1789. In 1796, he left South Carolina for the southeastern part of Lincoln County (now Gaston), where he purchased a home for his rising family. His ministerial labors extended through nearly thirty-eight years, principally at Goshen and Unity churches in Lincoln County (under its old boundaries) and Steele Creek church in Mecklenburg County. In 1789, he married Jane, daughter of Dr. George Ross, of Laurens District, South Carolina.
Humphrey Hunter died on the 21st of August, 1827, in the 73rd year of his age, survived by ten children.