Josiah Martin Archives - Journal of the American Revolution

Posted on February 10, 2026February 9, 2026

The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence: The Present Status of the Controversy

May 2025 will bring the 250th anniversary of a unique if obscure Revolutionary war event in Charlotte, North Carolina: the much beloved, much maligned, “first” declaration of independence in the American colonies: the Mecklenburg Declaration of May 20, 1775 (or “MeckDec” as the locals call it). The MeckDec tale and associated celebrations have ebbed and […]

by Scott Syfert

Posted on January 8, 2026December 29, 2025

The Association of Cumberland County, North Carolina

On June 20, 1775, Patriots of the Cumberland Association met at Liberty Point, the space currently located between the intersection of Bow Street and Person Street in what is now Fayetteville, North Carolina.[1] At the time, Cumberland County, which included the present-day counties of Moore, Hoke and Harnett, was inhabited by a large concentration of […]

by Joseph Westendorf

Posted on March 19, 2024March 21, 2024

British Miscalculation of Loyalist Support in the American South, Round One

The Royal Governor of the Colony of North Carolina, Josiah Martin, was young and dedicated to the Crown. His popularity was waning as he urged members of the Assembly on April 4, 1774, to resist the monster of sedition that was raising its ugly head in the colonies. He knew that his appeals fell on […]

by Gerald Krieger

Posted on April 26, 2022April 24, 2022

The 27th Grievance of the Declaration of Independence

“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.”[1] As with the 25th grievance in the Declaration of Independence, in the 27th grievance Thomas Jefferson carefully constructed […]

by James M. Deitch

Posted on April 5, 2022April 4, 2022

The Samuel Adams of North Carolina: Cornelius Harnett and the Burning of Fort Johnston

On a trip to the southern colonies in 1773, Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts visited the coastal region of North Carolina. He was introduced to North Carolina Patriot leadership, toured coastal Fort Johnston, and visually inspected the disposition and military capabilities of the South. It was on this southern tour that Quincy, a Boston born Patriot […]

by Travis Copeland

Posted on March 15, 2022March 14, 2022

The Last Royal Governors of the American Colonies

The last level of British authority at the colony level was the colonial governors. They came in various forms, military and civil, appointed and proprietary, and occasionally elected by the colonists. As British authority started to break down, the colonial governors were some of the most prominent people to be chased from their respective colonies. […]

by Richard J. Werther

Posted on July 28, 2021July 27, 2021

The Odyssey of Loyalist Colonel Samuel Bryan

Colonel Samuel Bryan is thought to be the highest-ranking Loyalist officer to remain in the United States after the Revolutionary War. Despite being a high-ranking British officer in command of hundreds of men, little is known about him and the militia unit he commanded. With the arrival of British regulars in the Carolinas in 1780, […]

by Douglas R. Dorney, Jr.

Tag: Josiah Martin