The following is quoted from the Hadley genealogy by Curtis Healton, the volume entitled DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS HADLEY AND MARY THOMPSON:
FIRST GENERATION
4-20. THOMAS HADLEY, s of Joshua and Mary (Rowland) Hadley (p 21), was b in 1728,
New Castle Co, Del, d 1 Sept 1781.
He m., 6-13-1750 at London Grove Mtg, Pa, Mary Thompson, b 1730, Chester Co, Pa, d
1795, dau of John and Jane (Davis) Thompson.
Thomas probably moved to Va with his father. Shortly after his marriage to Mary
Thompson, he purchased land in Augusta (now Botetourt) Co, Va. The following items,
taken from Chalkey's "Records of Augusta County, Virginia", show some of his land
transactions:
"1750 Aug. 29. Deed Book 2, Page 854.-- Benj. Borden etc to Joshua Hadley 345 acres,
part of 2880 acres on Catabo Creek. Patented by Benj. Sr. 19th March 1740.
Page 866. Some to Thomas Hadley on Catuba Creek 334 acres, part of above
patent." The following year, Thomas sold 184 acres of this tract to his brotherin-
law, John Marshall.
"1752 May 20. Deed Book 4, Page 253. -- Borden to Thomas Hadley 399 acres of 2880
patented 9th March 1750. Catuba Creek at James."
"1753 Dec. 12. Deed Book 6, Page 22.-- Joshua Hadley and Patience to Thomas
Hadley, 400 acres in fork of James River and Craig Creek. Teste: Edward
McDonald. Delivered to Wm. Preston."
"1764 Nov. 12. Deed Book 11, Page 730. -- Thomas Hadley and Mary of Cumberland
County, N.C. to George Poage, £ 140, 400 acres in fork of James River and
Craig's Creek. Teste: Henry Carter."
"1764 Nov. 13. Deed Book 11, Page 731. -- Thomas Hadley to James Rowland, £ 130, 549
acres on Catawba Creek; corner in the Great Patent line and a small tract
belonging to William Preston, Mount Hadley -first surveyed in two tracts and
conveyed to Thomas Hadley by Borden. Delivered: Francis Smith, March Court,
1762."
The turbulent lives of Thomas Hadley and his descendants differs so greatly from the
tranquil existence of their Quaker cousins that it seems next to impossible that they had the
same origins and were reared in the same environments. What was the contributing factor?
Could it be an inherited temperament from their mother?
Thomas did not remain long in Virginia. In 1760, he, with a partner, John Wilcox, were
the first merchants of Cross Creek (now Fayetteville), in Cumberland Co, NC. He represented
his district at the Constitutional Convention at Halifax, NC, in Nov. 1776, which enacted a Bill
of Rights for the new Government. He was elected sheriff of Cumberland Co, NC, in 1778,
and re-elected in 1781 but was killed before he could serve his last term.
Thomas, his sons Joshua and Simon, and his son-in-law, Patrick Travis, were very active
in the American Revolution. All were Captains of Militia.
The Revolutionary War in NC was a dirty affair. While few major battles were fought
there, there was constant guerilla warfare which did not subside until long after the surrender
at Yorktown. As in the border states during the Civil War, communities were pitted against
communities, neighbor against neighbor, and brother against brother. In one respect, it
appears to have been a war between English and Irish Whigs who, in Cumberland Co, were
seriously outnumbered by the Scotch Tories under the leadership of a Col. Hector McNeill.
Cross Creek was captured by the Tories in Aug 1781, and the Whig families were
compelled to Seek refuge elsewhere. Thomas Hadley was at the battle of Cross Creek and his
family was staying at his home on the banks of the Cape Fear River, eleven miles north of the
town, and almost due east of the present site of Fort Bragg. The house was still standing in
1916. After the battle, Thomas went alone to visit his family there. The events that followed
was described by Reverend Caruthers in his book: "Incidents of the Revolutionary War."
I quote:
"Early in the Fall of 1781, Thomas Hadley was killed in a rather singular manner, by the
Tories to whom he made himself obnoxious, the Scotch say, by his severities. He lived on the
Cape Fear River opposite to the mouth of Carver's Creek, in what was then termed a 'high
roofed house', by which, I suppose was meant a house with a steep roof and attic windows.
About a dozen Tories, being apprised that he was at home, having just returned from a tour
of some kind, probably against their party, went there one night with a determination to take
his life. The night was intensely dark; but that may have been favorable to their design.
When the Tories surrounded his house, Captain Hadley barricaded his doors in the best way
he could, ran upstairs, and putting his head out of a window, called for Frank Cooley and
Andrew Beard to bring up their men; but this stratagem had been practiced so often by both
parties that it was now disregarded by the assailants. Cooley and Beard were not on the
premises with men to bring up; or if they had been there the Tories knew they could elude
them in the dark. The Tories instead of being at all disconcerted, only felt assured they had
nothing to fear and were determined on entering the house, but while they were making
preparations, as Hadley kept his head out of the window, giving directions to Cooley and
Beard, a little Scotsman by the name of McAlpin took it into his head that he would shoot at
the voice. When the gun was fired, the ball struct Hadley about the lower jaw and passing
diagonally through his head, lodged in some timbers above. A tuft of hair, carried by the ball,
stuck in the edge of the hole made by the bullet, and remained there many years.
Hadley had four sons, of whom all escaped under cover of the night except Benjamin, or
Ben as he was called. The Tories took him to 'Gray's Pocosin', five or six miles off, stripped
him, tied him to a tree on an island in the pocosin, which was afterwards called "Hadley's
Island," and there let the swarms of insects of every kind prey upon him." End of quote.
The guerillas then proceeded to loot the home. All of the silverware was carried off,
except one pair of sugar tongs which were dropped in the confusion. The daughter Mary
recovered them and when last known, they were prized possession of her descendant Thomas
Hadley Tyson.
The attitude of the McNeills and other Scots is well described by Reverend Caruthers who
quotes an Archibald McLean as follows:
"The Hadleys, with a few others, if they could only hear of a Scotsman having anything of
value, from a good negro down to a cooking pot, according to their moral code, constituted a
right to it. This state of things continuing for a length of time, same of those (Tories) lying out
in the islands of the swamp below Flea Hill, formed a plan of taking them by surprise at night.
They were unsuccessful, but the aged father was found, shot down and run through by a
sword for fear life was not extinct. The father was regarded as the recipient of stolen
property and responsible for the conduct of his sons.
The young Hadleys went to the McLean house after learning that they were implicated in
the death of their father, some time after the close of the war, with some friends. They came
to the McLean house and attempted to shoot two of the men whom they suspected. The first man, as one of the Hadley brothers raised his
gun to kill him, seized the muzzle of the gun and the discharge lacerated the hand of one of
the Hadley brothers.
I afterwards had the pleasure of seeing one of the Hadleys cropped on a conviction of
stealing.," End of quote.
Perhaps Thomas Hadley's son who was convicted as a thief was just that. There is also
a possibility that he was acting under the direction of his brother-in-law, Patrick Travis.
Undoubtedly any jury which had been subjected to the Acts of Confiscation would have a
very low regard for anyone participating in the confiscation. The provisional government
of North Carolina passed an 'Acts of Confiscation' designed to deprive all opponents to the
Revolution of their property to compensate for Tory raids. Several Lindleys, descendants
of Ruth Hadley and Thomas Lindley, were victims of these acts.
Mr. David McNeill is (1965) a local historian of that area. He states positively that the
name of the man who fired the fatal bullet, killing Thomas Hadley, was McPhail, not
McAlpin. He also recounts a rather interesting sequel to these events:-- A close friend
named Campbell swore vengeance for Hadley's murder and, each Sunday, carried his rifle
to church with the announced intention of killing McPhail who apparently concluded that
there were healthier places to live. He disappeared from the community and was never
heard of again.
Thomas was buried on his River Plantation. His wife was later buried beside him. Here
they remained for 150 years and more. The plantation had long since passed out of the
Hadley families' possession, the markers were broken, the graves sadly neglected when,
about 1935, Mrs. Mattie Hadley Woodard had the remains removed to her family plot in
Maplewood Cemetery, Wilson, N.C. A granite marker was erected on the site bearing the
inscription:
THOMAS HADLEY
1728 1781
Member of Convention which framed the Constitution
of North Carolina, 1776
Captain of North Carolina Militia in American Revolution
Fell in defense of his country's independence
His Wife
MARY THOMPSON
1730 1795

ALL THE QUAKER HADLEYS, with revisions. An unpublished compilation of works by Harlan Hadley, Lyle Hadley, and Wallace Hadley, pt II, Chap 1. Found in Hadley Society Files. Transcribed by Terry McLean, March 2000.
BURIAL: Buried originally River Plantation, reburied 1935 Maplewood Cemetery, Wilson, NC.

--------------------------------

AUGUSTA COUNTY, VIRGINIA - CHALKLEY'S CHRONICLES; Vol 3, PP 290 - 299
Page 239.--28th May, 1781. Thomas Hadley to John Marshel, 184 acres, on Catuba Creek of James River; Borden's tract, top of Mount Hadley. Teste: James Alexander, Robt. Grey.

Database: Full Context of North Carolina Revolutionary War Soldiers
Combined Matches:
Pierce'S Register [p.313] VOUCHERS
page 391 Militia Capt. Thomas Hadley 4896 Wilmington Dist.

ALL THE QUAKER HADLEYS, with revisions pt II, Chap 1

"Soon after their marriage, Thomas and Mary joined his father's family in the James River valley of Virginia, at or near the junctions of Craig's and Catawba Creeks with the river, across from Eagle Rock. He bought several tracts of land, in the part of Augusta Co that later became part of Botetout Co, in 1750, 1752, and 1753, and sold most of them in 1764. He was also deed 400 acres by his father, Joshua.

With a partner, John Wilcox, he established the first trading post at Cross Creek (now Fayetteville) NC. It apparently was quite profitable, because by the time of the Revolutionary War he owned an estate with a multi-floored house, named River Plantation, on the Cape Fear, opposite the mouth of Carver's Creek, 11 miles north of Fayetteville and east of Ft. Bragg.

Thomas and his sons Joshua and Simon and his son-in-law Patrick TRAVIS were highly active in the Revolution. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention which established the government of NC in 1776, as captains of militia; his son John was equally active, as constable of Cumberland Co, during the war years. Most of the battles in this part of the country were between guerilla bands of natives, Whigs on one side, Tories on the other. Communities were pitted against communities, neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother. It was a foretaste of a worse war to come in 1861.

Cross Creek was captured by the Tories in August 1781 and its Whig defenders and their families force to find refuge elsewhere;
Thomas retreated to to River Plantation. But the Tories followed and ambushed him there that night, shooting him through the head when he shouted from from the window of his barricaded house. Outnumbered, three of his sons escaped under cover of darkness; Benjamin was captured, carried to an island in the upland swamps of the Cape Fear River and stripped, tied to a tree, and left for the insects to devour, but escaped.

Meantime the Tories returned to loot the house, taking everything of value including all the silver except a pair of silver tongs which were dropped on the floor and overlooked. They were a prized family heirloom for many years.

(Family historians long have been and still are at a loss to explain the great differences between the turbulent lives of Thomas HADLEY and his descendants, on the one hand, and the tranquility of their Quaker cousins on the other. Of the same origins, having the same freedom of choice, the same family and social environments, it seems impossible that they could contrast in nearly every way.

After more than 150 years in the family graveyard on River Plantation, the bodies of Thomas and his wife Mary were moved in 1935 to the family plot of a descendant, Mrs. Mattie HADLEY WOODWARD, in Maplewood Cemetery at Wilson NC. The plantation had long been out of HADLEY hands, the grave markers were knocked over and broken and the graves there totally neglected except by vandals.

At Maplewood the site of the burial is marked by a granite stone inscribed: Thomas HADLEY 1728 - 1781, Member of the Convention which framed the constitution of North Carolina in 1776; Captain of North Carolina Militia in American Revolution; Fell in defense of his country's independence; his wife, Mary THOMPSON, 1730-1795."

Hadley genealogy:
The turbulent lives of Thomas Hadley and his descendants differs so greatly from the tranquil existence of their Quaker cousins that it seems next to impossible that they had the same origins and were reared in the same environments. What was the contributing factor? Could it be an inherited temperament from their mother?

Thomas did not remain long in VA. In 1760, he, with a partner, John Wilcox, were the first merchants of Cross Creek (now Fayetteville), in Cumberland Co. NC. He represented his district at the Constitutional Convention at Halifax, NC, in Nov 1776, which enacted a Bill of Rights for the new government. He was elected sheriff of Cumberland Co, NC in 1778, and re-elected in 1781, but was killed before he could serve his last term.

Thomas, his sons Joshua and Simon, and his son-in-law, Patrick Travis, were very active in the American Revolution. All were Captains of Militia.

The Revolutionary War in NC was a dirty affair. While few major battles were fought there, there was constant guerilla warfare which did not subside until long after the surrender at Yorktown. As in the border states during the Civil War, communities were pitted against communities, neighbor against neighbor, and brother against brother. In one respect, it appears to have been a war between the English and Irish Whigs who, in Cumberland Co. were seriously outnumbered by the Scotch Tories under the leadership of a Col. Hector McNeill.

Cross Creek was captured by the Tories in Aug 1781, and the Whig families were compelled to seek refuge elsewhere. Thomas Hadley was at the battle of Cross Creek and his family was staying at his home on the banks of the Cape Fear River, eleven miles north of the town, and almost due east of the present site of Fort Bragg. The house was still standing in 1916. After the battle, Thomas when alone to visit his family there. The events that followed was described by Rev. Caruthers in his book: "Incidents of the Revolutionary War".

I quote:
"Early in the fall of 1781, Thomas Hadley was killed in a rather singular manner, by the Tories to whom he made himself obnoxious, the Scotch say, by his severities. He lived on the Cape Fear River opposite to the mouth of Carver's Creek, in what was then termed a "high roofed house", by which, I suppose was meant a house with a steep roof and attic windows. About a dozen Tories, being aprized that he was at home, having returned from a tour of some kind, probably against their party, went there one night with a determination to take his life.

The night was intensely dark; but that may have been favorable to their design. When the Tories surrounded his house, Captain Hadley barricaded his doors in the best way he could, ran upstairs, and putting his head out of a window, called for Frank Cooley and Andrew Beard to bring up their men; but this stratagem had been practiced so often by both parties that it was now disregarded by the assailants. Cooley and Beard were not on the premises with men to bring up; or if they had been there the Tories knew they could elude them in the dark. The Tories instead of being at all disconcerted, only felt assured they had nothing to fear and were determined on entering the house, but while they were making preparations, as Hadley kept his head out of the window, giving directions to Cooley and Beard, a little Scotsman by the name of McAlpin took it into his head that he would shoot at the voice. When the gun fired, the ball struct Hadley above the lower jaw and passing diagonally through his head, lodged in some timbers above. A tuft of hair, carried by the ball, stuck in the edge of the hole made by the bullet, and remained there many years.

Hadley had four sons, of whom all escaped under cover of the night except Benjamin, or Ben as he was called. The Tories took him to "Gray's Pocosin", five or six miles off, stripped him, tied him to a tree on an island in the pocosin, which was afterwards called "Hadley's Island", and there let the swarms of insects of every kind prey upon him." end of quote.

The guerillas then proceeded to loot the home. All of the silverware was carried off, except one pair of sugar tongs which were dropped in the confusion.

The daughter Mary recovered them and when last known, they were prized posession of her descendant Thomas Hadley Tyson.

The attitude of the McNeills and other Scotts is well described by Rev. Caruthers who quotes and Archibald McLean as follows: - "The Hadleys, with a few others, if they could only hear of a Scotsman having anything of value, from a good negro down to a cooking pot, according to their moral code, constituted a right to it. This state of things continuing for a length of time, some of those (Tories) lying out in the islands of the swamp below Flea Hill, formed a plan of taking them by surprise at night. They were unsuccessful, but the aged father was found, shot down and run through by a sword for fear life was not extinct. The father was regarded as the recipient of stolen property and responsible for the conduct of his sons.

The young Hadleys went to the McLean house after learing that they were implicated in the death of their father, some time after the close of the war, with some friends. They came to the McLean house and attempted to shoot two of the men whom they suspected. The first man, as one of the Hadley brothers raised his gun to kill him, seized the muzzle of the gun and the discharge lacerated the hand of one of the Hadley brothers.

I afterwards had the pleasure of seeing one of the Hadleys cropped on a conviction of stealing." end of quote.

Perhaps Thomas Hadley's son who was convicted as theif was just that.

There is also a possibility that he was acting under the direction of his brother-in-law, Patrick Travis. Undoubtedly any jury which had been subjected to the Acts of Confiscation designed to deprive all opponents to the Revolution of their property to compensate for Tory raids. Several Lindleys' descendants of Ruth Hadley and Thomas Lindley, were victims of these acts.

Mr. David McNeill is (1965) a local historian of that area. He states positively that the name of the man who fired the fatel bullet, killing Thomas Hadley, was McPhail, not McAlpin. He also recounts a rather interesting secuel to these events: -- A close friend named Campbell swore vengeance for Hadley's murder and, each Sunday, carried his rifle to church with the announced intention of killing McPhail who apparently concluded that there were healthier places to live. He disappeared from the community and was never heard of again.

Thomas was buried on his River Plantation. His wife was later buried beside him. Here they remained for 150 years and more. The plantation had long since passed out of the Hadley families possession, the markers were broken, and the graves sadly neglected when about 1935, Mrs. Mattie Hadley Woodard had the remains removed to her family plot in Maplewood Cemetery, Wilson, NC. A granite marker was erected on the site bearing the inscription: __
Thomas Hadley
1728 1781
Member of Convention which framed the Constitution
of North Carolina, 1776
Captain of North Carolina Militia in American Revolution
Fell in defense of his country's independence
Hi Wife
Mary Thompson
1730 1795"

---------------------------------------
Addendum by John William Hadley 5 Jul 1999
(first part in Notes wife Mary)

Each colony established a Committee of Safety to deal with the problem of British supporters in their region. Acts of Confiscation were passed, so that those who would not swear allegiance to the colonial government were subjected to persecutions and confiscation of their real and personal property. The object was to deprive the Tories of their assets, and thereby prevent their strengthening the opposition.

Thomas Hadley was the Sheriff and later a militia Captain. His two eldest sons, Joshua and Simon were militia Captains, and his son-in-law,Patrick Travis, was in charge of confiscations. Their vigorous enforcement of the Confiscation Act brought on the extreme hatred of the local Scottish community.

There are numerous references in the county deed books, where various Hadleys and Pat Travis sold the confiscated real estate. (15)

There are several written accounts of the Hadleys' role in the Revolutionary War, focusing on the death of Thomas Hadley. Rather than trying to homogenize the various accounts. I have chosen to publish several versions verbatim. Keep in mind those versions by Scottish writers are very slanted against the Hadleys, even to the point of calling them Tories. These accounts are as follows: 1) Rosa Roundtree(Chalmers); 2) Eli Caruthers, "Interesting Revolutionary Incidents"-several stories; 3)Bain; and 4)Healton.
...........

VERSION I Roundtree

"The following information regarding descendants of Joshua and Mary(Rowland) Hadley is given by Miss Rosa Roundtree of Norfolk,Virginia:

Thomas Hadley, son of Joshua and his first wife, Mary (Rowland)Hadley, moved to North Carolina soon after his marriage in 1750, and settled in Cumberland County, North Carolina, or rather in the part of Bladen County that was taken into Cumberland County when it was formed in 1754. Thomas Hadley and his sons were very active in the Revolution, as they were ardent Whigs. He was the Representative of Campbelton, the Scotch town one mile from Cross Creek, at the Constitutional Convention held in Halifax, North Carolina, November 12, 1776, to establish a Bill of Rights for the new government.

The Scotch Tories were very numerous in Cumberland and the adjoining counties and greatly hindered the cause of the Whigs. Their leaders,Colonel David Fanning, and Colonel Hector McNeill, started a campaign of furor that continued long after the surrender at Yorktown. Both men and women were killed. Philip Alston, the confrere of Thomas Hadley in the Constitutional Congress, was among those who were murdered.

Captain Patrick Travis, who had married Jane Hadley, the daughter of Thomas Hadley, was appointed one of the Commissioners of Confiscation and in the discharge of his duties drew on the Hadley family, with the exception of John (Hadley), the hatred of the entire Tory community of Scots. Both Thomas and his younger son, Simon, the latter a mere boy, were Captains of light horse troops (Militia).

Joshua, Thomas' eldest son, entered the Continental Army as Ensign of Captain, Jean Baptiste Ashe's company of General Abner Nash's brigade.
Joshua was promoted by the United States Congress, first as Ensign in 1776, then a Lieutenant in1777, and in 1779 a Captain. He fought at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown.

After Cornwallis captured Savannah, S.C., he moved through North Carolina, rallying the displaced Tories. Cross Creek was captured by the Tories in August, 1781, and the Whig families had to seek refuge elsewhere. Captain Thomas Hadley was at the Battle of Cane Creek (nodoubt to try to protect his aunts, uncles and relatives who were Quaker and would not defend themselves) and his family were staying at the old home on the banks of the Cape Fear River, eleven miles from town, where Captain Thomas Hadley came alone to see his family.

The Scotch Tories learned that he was alone at home and rode up the river road on a dark night and surrounded the house. As he had done before, he leaned out of an upper window to call his men as a ruse to frighten off the Tories. One of them fired at the voice and instantly killed him. The Scots were led by a desperate character, Colonel Hector McNeill. The house was entered and all the silverware carried off except one pair of sugar tongs, which were dropped. The daughter, Mary Hadley,picked these up and they were later owned by Thomas Hadley Tyson, a descendent.

One of the younger sons, Benjamin Hadley, was caught and carried to an island a few miles distant and was tied to a tree for the insects to feed on, but he worked free from his bonds and escaped. The island is now called Hadleys Island." (16)
............

VERSION II Caruthers

"These little conflicts and atrocities among the Scots were communicated to me, chiefly by Dr. Smith, and some other in that region.

From the time the Act of Assembly took effect, which was in the summer of 1777, until the summer of 1779, about two years, there was comparative peace and security. There were occasionally individual acts of cruelty, depredations or house burning, and some acts of oppression by petty officers, both civil and military; but these were small matters in comparison with what had preceded and what followed. In the spring or summer of this year, Hector McNeil and Archibald McDougall returned from the British Army, where they had been for two or three years; and, as the British were now meditating another desperate effort for the subjugation of South and North Carolina, they had, no doubt, been thus sent back a little in advance to exert an influence on their country men and prepare them for the coming struggle. They were quite enthusiastic and gave the most glowing accounts of the British Army and its officers. They said the British would be handsomely rewarded if found on the King's side. Then why should they any longer submit to such injustice and tyranny,insult and oppression? Thus excited, they began again gradually to rise and embody; and from that time until the close of the war, the country presented a terrible scene of bloodshed, devastation, and wretchedness.

As the Tories began to rise and form into small parties, the Whigs began to rally for their suppression, and various little conflicts ensued, which were attended with success, sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other, but gradually increased in frequency and magnitude until the last. Captain Fletcher, from Fayetteville, with about twenty-five men, met a much larger body of Tories, who are said to have been commanded by Colonel Fanning, at Legat's now Davis' Bridge, on Rockfish. Fletcher gave them one fire and retreated. "Big" Daniel Shaw,a Whig, was wounded in the shoulder. Daniel Campbell, a Tory, was mortally wounded and died on the third day. He had been a Lieutenant in the Scots Army; and having been taken prisoner and exchanged, had joined this second rising of the loyalists now in its incipient stage. This is all that I have been able to learn, says Doctor Smith, as to the results of the skirmish on Rockfish, unless it gave rise to the unfortunatere-encounter or meeting, between Fletcher and Colonel Armstrong which took place soon after.

The real cause of the difference between them is not well known to the writer, nor is it a matter of much consequence at the present day. Some say that Fletcher, having thus retreated, Armstrong accused him of cowardice, and Fletcher sent him a challenge; but others say that Fletcher was Commissary, and that the men complained to Colonel Armstrong of the provisions furnished; that Col. Armstrong mentioned these complaints to Fletcher, who took offense and sent him the challenge; that Armstrong remonstrated with him and told him that he himself had nothing against him; that in thus making known to him the complaints of the men,he was only acting in his official capacity, as he was in duty bound to do, and that he intended no personal offense; but Fletcher would be not be reconciled. Armstrong went home greatly distressed, but endeavored to keep it concealed. His wife, Janet, however, who was a daughter of Farquard Campbell, perceived that something was troubling him very much and kept insisting on him to let her know what it was, until he ultimately told her.

She hooted at him and said, "Fight him - yes, fight him and kill him, too." Having made every explanation and acknowledgment, as he thought, which he could make without losing his influence as an officer and incurring the reproach of the community, he finally accepted the challenge. At the first shot he reserved his fire, and then renewed his proposals for reconciliation; but Fletcher refused. When ready for the second fire, Armstrong said, "Now Fletcher, I will kill you;" and so he did. At the next fire, Fletcher fell and Armstrong was greatly distressed that he had thus been driven to the necessity, contrary to his conscience and all his better feelings, of taking the life of a brother officer, and perhaps, until then, and intimate friend.

I have related this affair for two reasons; it is a sad instance,among many others, of that false sense of honor which military men, and even many others, are so apt to cherish. If the account which I received and have given above, be the correct one, Fletcher seems to have been,like many others, too sensitive in regard to his honor. We pass nocensure on him, or any one in particular; but it is against the practice that we inveigh, and adduce the instances which occur, as illustrations.The case also illustrates the spirit of chivalry or "heroic defense of life and honor" which then peculiarly characterized the higher order of the Scots. Farquard Campbell is said to have belonged to the stock of the nobility in Scotland; and his daughter seems to have possessed the spirit of her rank to such a degree that she could never think of having it said that her husband had refused a challenge.

As the difficulties increased, many Whigs removed their families to places of more security, and left them for a time. Captain Travis, who had married a daughter of old Thomas Hadley, took his family into Wake County and Andrew Beard, a noted murderer, as the Scots call him, drove the wagon. When Travis and Beard were returning with their wagons for another load, Co. Duncan Ray, who had gone over the river with about twenty men in search of Beard, met them at Sproul's Ferry, and Duncan Ferguson, one of Ray's men, shot down Beard on the spot. As soon as he could reload, he was about to shoot Travis also; but he sprang up and, seizing Co. Ray behind and around the body, held him between himself and Ferguson, all the time begging Ray for his life. The Colonel yielded buttook him and Sproal, with all his family, prisoners. Sproal's women,children and Negroes returned home next morning; but he and Travis were sent as prisoners to Wilmington. They were exchanged in time; and Travis afterwards acted as commissary; but was accused of altering tickets. On this or some other charge, he was apprehended and put under guard in Fayetteville; but, pretending to be drunk and asleep, the guard neglected him, when he escaped through a window and fled to Nova Scotia.

Near three hundred men, under Colonel Peter Robinson, of Bladen County, in passing through the country had halted at Stuart's, now McPherson's Mill Creek, to take breakfast, then Colonel McNeill, with all his force came upon them so suddenly, that they had no time to rally and were scattered forthwith. How many, if any of the Whigs were killed, I have not learned; but John Turner and Daniel Campbell, two of McNeill's men were killed on the ground; and Dougald McFarland, another of the Tories, was soon after found dead near the place. Matthew Watson, a Tory, took young Archibald McKisic by surprise and held him prisoner; and one story is that, being an acquaintance and knowing that Turner, a mulatto, would kill him on sight, gave him a chance to escape; but another, and probably the true account is, that Watson brought him up into the crowd and that McKizic, still sitting on his horse, and no disposal having been yet made of him on seeing an opportunity, stuck the spurs into his horse and dashed down the hill at full speed, the balls whizzing about his head all the time, crossed the creek and when he had ascended to the top of the opposite hill, he stopped a moment, turned round and waving his hat over his head, gave a whoop of defiance and cantered off at his leisure.

The following communication from Mr. William McMillen, for which he has my grateful acknowledgments, will be read with interest, and therefore we give it entire. The facts detailed belonged to different periods of the war; but as they are isolated or unconnected with any prominent transaction, we cannot do better than to publish them all together. He gives the names of those from whom he received the facts, which was the proper method; and I should have been glad to have responsible names for all the facts contained under this head, but could not have it so in every case. He intended to furnish mere memoranda; but he has related everything with so much perspicuity that I shall copy his language, with some merely verbal correction. In a letter to a gentlemanin that region, who has furnished me with so many facts, and through whose agency these were procured, he says, "The enclosed notes have been hastily written, and I have not time to revise or copy them. Should you find them of any value in forming materials for the purpose you 'mentioned, they are at your service. I am sorry that I could not have furnished them sooner; but I have been so much engaged since I saw you that I have not found it convenient to attend to the matter, until I am kept within doors today by the effects of a cold. Should they contribute, in any degree, to promote a greater regard and appreciation for the blessings resulting from law and order, and for the morals and intelligence of the community in our day, when contrasted with that awful period, I shall be amply compensated for the loss of the few hour sdevoted to them.

Archibald McLean, Informant (A Scotsman remember) "During the war I climbed that tree," pointing to a large poplar, "to watch the Hadleys having run off on their approach to my father's house; you will observe that the branches at the top spread out, which was occasioned by my breaking off the top at that time as I saw them taking away all our horses, three in number. Those Hadleys, with a few others, if they could only hear of a Scotsman having anything valuable, from a good Negro down to a cooking pot, that, according to their moral code, constituted a right to it. This state of things continuing for a length of time, some of those who were lying out in the island of the swamp, below Flea Hill,formed the plan of taking them by surprise at night, and of stopping their depredations. They were unsuccessful, as the objects of their pursuit were probably out on a plundering expedition; but the aged father was found, shot down, and their vengeance further wreaked by running a sword through his body for fear that life was not extinct. The father was regarded as the recipient of stolen property, and furthermore, that he was, to some extent, responsible for the conduct of his sons, who in this matter at least, reflected his will. As "murder will out", the young Hadleys, having ultimately learned that some individuals of their neighborhood were implicated in the death of their father, on a certain occasion, some time after the close of the war, they procured some friends and came to my father's house at night, where a small party were collected at a cotton picking. They rushed suddenly into the house and attempted to shoot down, in the crowd, two men whom they suspected. The first one, whom one of the Hadleys attempted to shoot, was near enough to seize the muzzle of the gun, and as it was being fired, to change the direction of the charge, which seriously lacerated the hand of one of his brothers, and also passed through the skirt of my hunting shirt, but fortunately without injuring my body. One or two other shots were fired at the other suspected person; but as the last one was discharged, he being a short distance from the house, luckily stumbled on a sitting hen and fell; otherwise it is supposed that his life would have been seriously endangered.

The assailants immediately dispersed to attend to the wounded man; and, as soon as practicable, a party of us procured our horses and guns and made all possible speed for the causeway near Flea Hill where we expected they would cross the swamp on their return home. There we arranged ourselves in ambuscade; but we afterwards learned that they crossed at a point much further south and thus escaped."
"Would you really have shot any of the party," I inquired, "if they had approached?"

"I never have been more anxious to shoot an old buck, in good season, than I was on that occasion to do so; but I afterwards had the pleasure of seeing one of the Hadleys cropped on a conviction of stealing. Having formed such a habit of it during the war, he could not desist after the establishment of law and order until arrested by the strong arm of the law.

A few years ago, some large beach trees in the islands of the swamp exhibited names and dates which, it is said, were inscribed by those lying out during that awful period."

Elijah Wilkins gave the following account of the battle at Stuart's Creek - On the day previous, our party, of whom Peter Robeson had the command, discovered the Tories on the west side of the raft and swamp. We hailed them, and mutual challenges were exchanged to cross the swamp,which was declined by both parties.

That evening we arrived at Stuarts where we remained for the night, having Ralph Barlow and another Tory prisoners. We killed two of Stuarts cattle for meat; and while some were preparing portions of it for traveling with, Barlow and the other prisoner were taken on the west side of creek to be shot. Barlow requested time to offer his last prayer, which was granted with the proviso that it should be a short one. This ceremony being ended, the order had been given to fire, when I simultaneously discovered at the top of the hill two or three red caps, and I shouted, Tories. One man had actually snapped his piece at the prisoner, when they sprang forward and made their escape in the confusion that ensued. Barlow, in his prodigious leap, broke the cords that bound his hands. He then escaped by swimming through the mill pond and died a few years ago at an advanced age, and regarded as a very worthy and highly respectable citizen. The Tories were commanded by a McNeill, and had nearly surrounded us except on the mill pond side. By concert we reserved our fire until they charged on us, when a few of us fired and then tried to make our escape. Some undertook to cross the creek below the mill; but the banks being very steep, they were thrown from their horses. It was rather a running fight from there to a ford on Rock Fish, near the junction of the two streams. On crossing Rock Fish our scattered party was pursued by some of the Tories. Two or three of us concealed ourselves in the bushes near to each other, and immediately a mulatto approached us who held some office. When within a few paces of us, he fired at someone who was at a distance, on which one of our party rose and presented his gun. He cried for quarters; but as he uttered the words, I saw a stream of fire pass beyond his body as the charge passed through him and he fell dead.

There was at this time, in that part of the country, a class of Whig officers, such as White, Hadley, Armstrong, Porterfield, and some others, who have been incidentally mentioned already, or some of them, but of whom it may not be amiss to take a little farther notice. They had belonged to the North Carolina brigade of Continentals, but having been discharged from the service for reasons which will be explained presently, they had returned to their homes in that region. This brigade, which went north under the command of General Nash, appears to have been a very respectable one for numbers, and to have had its full compliment of officers; but owing to the usual causes, such as desertion, disease, and battle, especially at the battle of Germantown, it soon became very much reduced; and as it could not be recruited immediately, it had to be remodeled. Hugh McDonnell, whose manuscript journal is now before me, and who was present, an eye-witness of what he related, tells us that on the morning of the battle at Germantown, which was fought October 4, 1777, one of the generals got so drunk that he failed entirely to perform the part assigned him by Washington, and his failure, besides the loss of the battle, caused General Nash to be killed, and his brigade to suffer more severely perhaps that any other in the army. After the battle, he says two of the officers, one from Virginia and one from this State, were sent home in disgrace and each with a wooden sword; the one from cowardice and the other for getting drunk; but most of the officers in the North Carolina brigade were brave men and were discharged as aprudential measure for the want of men to command. The remodeling of the brigade took place in May 1778, and the number regiments was reduced nearly one-half. Of these officers, he mentions only one who took umbrage and resigned his commission; but he, I think , was from S.Carolina, and had no connection with the brigade from this state. Hugh McDonnell, having returned temporarily to N. Carolina, on a visit to his friends, just when the country was in its greatest troubles, thus speaks of the supernumerary officers who had returned and were serving their country at home.

These officers, after their return from the north, proved to be very useful in N. Carolina. They found the country in great confusion - the terms Whig and Tory running high among them and, in many parts, robbing, plundering, stealing-mobs and murdering frequently taking place. They used their influence with all possible diligence, to bring the inhabitants to a better understanding, and in quelling or capturing the British and Tory companies who were in gangs through the state. In this way they proved more useful to their own State than they could have been to the country at large had they been retained in the army.

Old Thomas Hadley, who lived on the east side of Cape Fear and not very far above the Fox Islands, had under his command, at least during the latter part of the war, a militia troop of light horse or mounted men, but I have not heard of his rendering any very efficient services. His son, Joshua Hadley, was first employed as Captain of a militia company to go in search of the out layers, or those Scots who fled to the swamps for concealment rather than submit to the requisitions of the Whig government; but when the continental brigade was formed, under the command of Gen. Nash, he joined it with his company and went to the north, where he was in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. After the regiment to which he belonged was merged in another and he was discharged as a supernumerary, he returned to North Carolina and seemed to retain, not only his patriotism and devotion to the good of his country, but the habits of order and decorum which he had formed in theContinental Army under Washington. Hugh McDonald, when at home in 1781, again speaks of Hadley and the other supernumerary officers of that brigade who had returned, as exerting a very good influence, both in fighting the hostile bands of British and Tories combined, who were so troublesome, and in suppressing, or at least restraining to a considerable extent, even on the part of the Whigs, the practice of plunder, house burning and assassination which had become so prevalent. According to tradition, Captain (Thomas) Hadley, with his little militia company, was at the battle on Cane Creek and was, in general, prompt to render any service he could when occasion required. On the whole, an honorable man. Simon Hadley had no regular command but headed a band of reckless men whom the Scots represented as no better than robbers and cut-throats. Colonel Armstrong appears to have been a man of courage, firmness and honorable principles. Of the Porterfields I know very little, except that I have always heard them spoken of as men of undoubted courage, and as having been at the Battle of Camden in 1780,and of Eutaw in the fall of 1781, where one of them was killed. When a man fills any public office, especially in such a time as the Revolutionary War, his name and character, and principles, become identified with the history of the country.

THOMAS HADLEY

Early in the fall of 1781, Thomas Hadley was killed, and in rather a singular way by the Tories, to whom he had made himself obnoxious, the Scots say, by his severities. He lived on the Cape Fear, opposite to the mouth of Carvers creek, and in what was then termed a high roofed house, by which I suppose was meant a house with a steep roof and attic windows. About a dozen of Tories, being apprised that he was home, having just returned form a tour of some kind, probably against their party, went there one night with a determination to take his life. The night was intensely dark; but that may have been favorable to their design. If fortune does sometimes favor the brave, it is not always so; for history abounds with facts to the contrary; and when the brave do fall, apparently by chance, or by the hand of some miserable assassin, grave and important lessons are taught which we should not be slow to learn nor reluctant to practice.
When The Tories surrounded his house, he barricaded his doors in the best way he could, ran upstairs and, putting his head out at a window, called for Frank Cooley and Andrew Beard to bring up their men; but this stratagem had been practiced so often by both parties that is was now disregarded by the assailants.

Cooley and Beard were not on the premises with men to bring up; or if they had been there, The Tories knew that they could elude them in the dark. In his circumstances it could hardly be expected to succeed, and in this case, it proved his ruin. The Tories, instead of being at all disconcerted, only felt assured that they had nothing to fear, and were more determined on entering the house, but while they were making preparations for this purpose, as Hadley kept his head out of the window; giving directions to Cooley and Beard how to proceed, a little Scotsman by the name of McAlpin took it into his head that he would shoot at the voice. Raising his gun to the right position,and taking aim by the ear and not with the eye, when the gun fired the ball struck Hadley about the lower jaw and, passing diagonally through his head, lodged in some of the timbers above. A tuft of hair, carried by the ball, stuck in the edge of hole where it entered the timbers and remained there for many years.

Hadley had four sons, of whom all escaped under cover of the night, except one called Benjamin, or familiarly Ben, who was probably the youngest. The Tories took him and carried him to Grays pocosin, five or six miles off, where they stripped him tied him to a tree on an island in the pocosin, which, from this circumstance is still called Hadleys Island, and there they let the swarms of flies, mosquitoes and insects of every kind prey upon him till they were satisfied.

After Hadley's death, Andrew Beard moved up to Sproal's Ferry at the mouth of lower Little River, but soon met a similar fate. When getting corn our of his crib one day to feed his horse, he saw a company of Tories coming towards the house; and, while they were approaching, he came out of the crib, calling on his men to come up, and holding a large corncob in each hand. Whether this was done with the intention of deceiving his enemies or not was never known; but it was an unfortunate circumstance for the Tories supposing the corncobs to be pistols, fired on him and several balls having entered his body, he fell dead on the spot.

This next version is by a descendent of Scotch Tories, so he actually calls Thomas Hadley a Tory. He has many facts, dates, etc. incorrect,but is presented as written.17

15 Fields, Vol. II, various Hadley and Travislistings
16 Chalmers, p. 39-41
17 Caruthers. - PP. 167-169
...........

VERSION III Bain

Bain had a young man named Daniel McPhail hired as his herdsman. During the time of his service, one Thomas P. Hadley had recently moved from Pennsylvania and settled near Cape Fear River in the Armstrong neighborhood about eleven miles above Cambelton then, now Fayetteville. He was a Tory and claimed to be a regular tax collector for Governor Tryon and King George of England and would go out boldly, drive off choice cattle of Bains, Carouths, McPhails and others of that section. He would go into their homes and take choice table silverware or anything he chose, claiming he had a full right to take anything he desired for a tax for King George. Those people rose up in their might, determined to put a stop to such. They organized as it were, sought information of his and other Tory movements. They appointed a night that they had information that he was going to have a council meeting of Tories at his home on the bank of the Cape Fear, surrounded his house (Bain sending his herdsman McPhail and his two oldest sons). The council was being held in the upper story of the house, and McPhail hearing and knowing Hadley's voice, took aim with his "flint and steel rifle," shot at the voice through the weatherboarding and killed Hadley. That occurred in or about the year 1781, in the month of May.

After that occurrence the Scot settlers between the Cape Fear and South River were not annoyed by the Tory element any more, but one Farquard Campbell, a very bitter and influential Tory and friend of Hadley, swore vengeance on McPhail that he would kill or have him killed. After that McPhail would take his rifle with him for defense when attending church at Bluff Presbyterian Church,organized October 18th, 1758. It is said that Colonel Hadley while living in Pennsylvania claimed to be a Revolutionist, but after coming to North Carolina he became a rank Tory.

The remains of Hadley and his wife were removed from their graves January 1925, by their descendants, the Misses Woodard, of Wilson, N.C., to a cemetery in the town of Wilson. They were first buried in the old Armstrong family cemetery on the east side of a gully about three hundred yards from Cape Fear River. I was present at the removal of the remains. From their graves I took the skull bone off the shovel when the digger lifted it from the grave. It was buried there about 143 years before. Their remains were six feet under the earth.(18) ............

VERSION IV Healton

Mr. David McNeill is (1965) a local historian of that area. He states positively that the name of the man who fired the fatal bullet, killing Thomas Hadley, was McPhail, not McAlpin. He also recounts a rather interesting sequel to these events: A close friend named Campbell swore vengeance for Hadley's murder and, each Sunday, carried his rifle to church with the announced intention of killing McPhail who apparently concluded that there were healthier places to live. He disappeared from the community and was never heard of again.

Thomas was buried on his River Plantation. His wife was later buried beside him. Here they remained for 150 years and more. The plantation had long since passed out of the Hadley family's possession, the markers were broken, the graves sadly neglected when, about 1925, Mrs. Mattie Hadley Woodard had the remains removed to her family plot in Maplewood Cemetery, Wilson, N.C. A granite marker was erected on the site bearing the inscription:

THOMAS HADLEY
Æ 1728-1781
Æ Member of Convention which framed the Constitution of North Carolina,1776
Æ Captain of North Carolina Militia in AmericanRevolution
Æ Fell in defense of his country's independence
Æ His Wife MARY THOMPSON 1730-1795(19)

My mother and I (John W. Hadley) visited their gravesite on the old plantation, and also the family plot in Wilson, N.C. I put flowers on their graves, expressed my gratitude at finding them, and gave a salute with pride to our family's Revolutionary War hero and his brave wife."
Taken from the book Williamson County Historic Homes and Sites by Virginia Bowman submitted by LindaMooreMora
This book has him born in England in 1728 emigrated to America and settled in Cumberland Co. NC with his wife Mary. He was a Captain of a Troop of Light Horse.

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