Moore, James

MOORE, JAMES. (1737–1777). Continental general. North Carolina. Born in New Hanover County, North Carolina, in 1737, Moore served in the Seven Years' War as a captain. For a year he was commandant of Fort Johnston at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. In provincial politics he sat in the House of Commons from 1764 to 1771 and in 1773. He actively opposed enforcement of the Stamp Act in 1765 and became a Son of Liberty at that time. During the troubles with the Regulators (an ad hoc organization of private citizens who took law enforcement in their own hands) he sided with the eastern oligarchy and the established government. He served as an artillery colonel in Governor William Tryon's expedition of 1768 and in the battle of Alamance, in North Carolina, on 16 May 1771.

Moore played a prominent role in driving Governor Josiah Martin from the province, being the first to sign the circular letter calling for the first Revolutionary Provincial Congress, which was held in New Bern in August 1774. He represented his county (New Hanover) at the Third Provincial Congress, which met on 20 August 1775 at Hillsboro. On 1 September he was selected by this body to command the First North Carolina Continental Regiment. In this capacity he directed the campaign that ended with the important victory at Moores Creek Bridge on 27 February 1776.

Appointed brigadier general by Congress on 1 March 1776, he was made commander in chief of the Patriot forces in North Carolina. During the defense of Charleston that year, Moore had the relatively inactive role of observing a small British fleet in the Cape Fear River. On 29 November he was ordered to Charleston, where he remained until February 1777. On 5 February he was ordered north to join General George Washington. He died suddenly at Wilmington, North Carolina, where his command had been delayed by lack of money for supplies, on 15 April 1777.

SEE ALSO Moores Creek Bridge; Regulators.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rankin, Hugh F. The North Carolina Continentals. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1971.

                              revised by Michael Bellesiles