“Voices of the American Revolution in the Carolinas,” edited by Ed Southern. John F. Blair, Publisher. 2009. 252 pp. $12.95.
By Deirdre Parker Smith
dp1@salisburypost.com
As much of a role as North Carolina played in the Civil War, the state was equally important during the Revolutionary War.
Ed Southern, executive director of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, has compiled a series of accounts from the war for independence to bring that pivotal era back to life.
He will be at Literary Bookpost for the Saturday Salon on April 11, 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Choosing what to include was fairly subjective, he says. He started with “accounts that appealed to me,” that were interesting and exciting and “told a story that wasn’t otherwise told or told as well, at least in my judgment. … I wanted to have the accounts tell as full a story as possible.”
He tried to use entries people could relate to, accounts “by or about an individual we’ve heard of. Thanks to Walt Disney, we’ve all heard of the Swamp Fox,” Francis Marion, “and Southerners know he was from the Low Country, but what made him the Swamp Fox?”
Southern included stories by or about Gen. Nathanael Greene, Daniel Morgan, William R. Davie, William Moultrie, and places of relevance, such as Kings Mountain, Guilford Courthouse, Cowan’s Ford.
“While these battles may not be terribly significant, the militia slowed down Cornwallis.” How many people realize as they drive across Lake Norman on I-77 there is an important battleground under the lake?
“As you leave Rowan County going north crossing the Yadkin, you are very close to where Gen. Nathanael Greene crossed the river escaping Cornwallis.”
But Southern wanted more, accounts by and about people you’ve never heard of, “like James Collins and Thomas Young … both started as boys who were scouts” and then became partisan fighters who saw significant battles.
“To me, the Revolution was especially important in the Carolinas. It was more of a civil war than what we call the Civil War,” Southern says. The Civil War was basically North vs. South. “In the Revolution, there wasn’t that geographic division” he says. People loyal to the colonies could be neighbors or even members of the same family who supported the British.
“Tory and Whig would come together to mourn a family member killed in the war.”
Patriotism at the time meant two distinctly different things ó loyalty to the new nation of America or to the King of England.
“A lot of people were split,” he says. They saw the injustice of the Stamp Act, but they may not have been ready for an outright rebellion.
“Lord Cornwallis, who was, in my opinion, the finest commander the British had in North America … was an opponent of the Stamp Act, and generally had a favorable opinion of the colonists, but once they declared rebellion, he was a loyal subject, a professional soldier who sold his services to the king.”
Southern sees the resurgence of interest in the Civil War as a result of Ken Burns’ epic documentary; now, people have a renewed interest in the Revolution due to a variety of new books.
He thinks the way the war has been presented ó the noble American Patriot being crushed by the British oppressor ó is too simple. “It’s much more complicated than that.”
Although there were many dedicated patriots, probably the bulk of the population in the 13 colonies “just wanted it to be over. … In the back country of North Carolina, if you were a small farmer, whether your government was in North America or England really didn’t make much difference to you. You just wanted the fighting to stop.”
Southern, who was once an editor at Blair and has written another book in their “Real Voices Real History” series, “The Jamestown Adventure,” presented his idea to Blair after thinking about it for a while.
He has been very pleased with his book tour. “I get good questions at the sessions. … It’s gratifying to see people interested in it.
“You can make an argument the the Revolution was won in the Carolinas.”
During 1775-81, the Revolution “had gone back and forth, but mostly in favor of the British. … But when they couldn’t defeat George Washington,” the British came South “to hit us where Washington wasn’t. … Cornwallis was by far the most aggressive commander, yet by the end of 1 1/2 years in the Carolinas, it seems like he was done fighting. He’d had enough, and was ready to surrender.”For Salisburians, there’s “Aunt Susie and Andy Jackson,” a tale of dubious authenticity told by the future president’s aunt, Susan Smart Alexander.
At one point, Andrew and his mother fled the British and took refuge at Aunt Susie’s house. She has a carefree attitude about how the Americans treated their prisoners:
“But it must be said to the credit of the Americans, they never abused a prisoner yet ó unless it was now and then to tar and feather a Tory. This neither broke their bones nor scalded their heads, but kept them busy getting it off them, and I thought no harm in that at all.”

---

The N.C. Writersí Network is a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to education, promoting and advocating for writers at all levels of experience, says Executive Director Ed Southern. It sponsors three conferences a year.
ěWe provide resources for writers trying to improve their craft. … The main thing we do is literally, weíre a network for writers to get in touch with each other and form a community. It can be lonely work.î
Southern says the most important thing NCWN can do is connect writers for mutual support.