The Battle of Rockfish Branch on the Cape Fear River
By Jeannette Holland Austin
profileBy February 21, 1776, the British General MacDonald crossed to the east side of the Cape Fear and to avoid open battle, sank their boats to discourage pursuit. He then marched southward to Wilmington to join with the forces of Governor Martin. The pursuit of MacDonald lasted several days, resulting in his defeat at Moores Creek Bridge on February 27th.
Hugh Stanley testified before the North Carolina Assembly that he served in the militia and was disabled by wounds which he received during the Battle of Rockfish Creek while serving under General Kenan. He stated that he was disabled " by being chopped on the head and shoulders also on the hands." Source: Treasurer's and Comptrollers Records, Veterans Pensions, North Carolina Archives.
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1 comment:
Jeannette,
Thank you for your laborious efforts to preserve history. For clarity, when Highland Scotsman, General Macdonald, husband of famous heroine Flora Macdonald, in service to King George III, enountered Gen. James Moore at Cumberland County's Rockfish Creek on the NW Branch of the Cape Fear River February 1776, he did indeed decide to avert battle and took instead a route that would be his undoing, encountering Patriot forces of Caswell and Lillington at Moore's Creek where he and his 800+ Loyalist followers were soundly defeated. Although James Kenan was present at Moore's Creek, he was not present at the 1776 Rockfish encounter.
However, Kenan commanded the Duplin Militia August 2, 1781 at Rockfish Creek in Duplin County where his outnumbered men, ill-equipped men, perilously low on ammunition squared of with superior-trained and equipped Bristish dragoons under the command of British Major James Craig. Kenan's forces were routed and soon retreated. It is most probable that Hugh Stanley's wounds were sustained in Duplin in 1781 rather than Cumberland, 1776. The same name of Rockfish for both places is easy to confuse.
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