Richard Caswell (August 3, 1729November 10, 1789) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the first and fifth governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1776 to 1780 and from 1785 to 1787. He also served as a senior officer of militia in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War. As a delegate to the First Continental Congress, he was a signatory of the 1774 Continental Association.
Early life
Caswell was born on August 3, 1729, in Harford County (present-day Joppa), Maryland; one of eleven children born to Richard and Christian () Caswell. The Caswells moved to New Bern, North Carolina, in 1745. He was appointed deputy surveyor for the province in 1750. He was a prosperous lawyer, farmer, land speculator, tanner, and grand master of North Carolina.
Military service
Caswell fought the Regulators at Alamance (1771) during the Regulator Movement, where it is thought he commanded the right wing of Governor Tryon's forces.
American Revolutionary War
Caswell represented North Carolina in the Continental Congresses of 1774 and 1775. When the New Bern District Minutemen was formed in September, 1775; Caswell was appointed to command that minuteman region. As such, he led the Provincial Congress' force at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge (1776). Soon after that, the Provincial Congress disbanded minuteman battalions in favor of militia. In 1780, he was commissioned major general of militia and state troops. At the Battle of Camden Court House in 1780, his troops fled after Virginia militia broke and ran in panic, exposing him to attack without greater defense, leaving the Continentals behind to suffer defeat.
After his defeat at Camden Court House, Caswell returned home with an unnamed illness. In the meantime, the North Carolina General Assembly appointed William Smallwood of Maryland to the command of North Carolina's militia without informing Caswell, so he resigned on October 21, 1780. When Smallwood returned to Maryland in January 1781, the General Assembly once again appointed Caswell major general of militia, and he retained the position until the end of the American Revolution.
Effective dates of promotion
- Colonel of New Bern District Minutemen (1775)
- Brigadier General of militia (1776)
- Major General of militia (1780)
Governor (1776–1780)
Caswell was president of the North Carolina Provincial Congress that wrote the first Constitution of North Carolina in 1776, serving from November 12 to December 23, 1776. He was appointed to serve as the first governor of North Carolina immediately following the dissolution of the Congress and subsequently re-elected by the new North Carolina General Assembly on April 18, 1777. Caswell stepped down in 1780 to command the militia, as the state constitution allowed only three consecutive one-year terms. William, a son by his first marriage, was also colonel of Dobbs Regiment and brigadier general and in command of New Bern District during the war.
Death and legacy
Caswell died in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on November 10, 1789. According to tradition, his body was returned to Kinston for burial in the Caswell family cemetery, near where a memorial and museum stands today.
Among his many accomplishments was Caswell's proposal to use the reimbursement funds for aid rendered to the Crown during the French and Indian War for erecting and establishing a free school in every county. His "Address to the General Assembly" in 1760 on this topic was used for many years by other politicians in favor of public education. He also wrote the proposal into the first North Carolina constitution in 1776.
References
Further reading
External links
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- Richard Caswell Papers in the Library Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill