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Military Deception at the Tory Hole
_____________________________________________________________
Military Deception at the Tory Hole
By John Tudor, from the Robeson County Heritage book
See Also: Biographical History of North Carolina (pgs. 408-416) • History of Robeson County, NC
This is a little known story of a successful military deception, committed by one of my ancestors during the Revolutionary War, known as the Battle of Elizabethtown.
Robeson County, North Carolina was named for Col. Thomas Robeson, Jr. (and his brother Capt. Peter Robeson) whom Wheeler’s History of North Carolina dubbed “The Hotspurs of the Cape Fear”, hero of the Battle of Elizabethtown, and a leading river planter who supported American independence.
He was the son of Thomas Robeson, Sr. (who came to North Carolina from Philadelphia in the early 18th century) and Sara Singletary Robeson; and grandson of Andrew Robeson, Jr. and Mary Spencer of Philadelphia. His great grandfather was Chief-Justice of Philadelphia and had come from Scotland. He married Mary Bartram, niece of John Bartram the famed naturalist and botanist of Philadelphia. He had one brother, Captain Peter Robeson, and had five children: Bartam B. Johnathon, William, Elizabeth, and Sarah. He lived in a plantation 64 miles above Wilmington called “Walnut Grove”.
Robeson was an accomplished legislator, and served until the Revolutionary War absorbed his activities. He served as delegate from Bladen County to the Provincial Convention at Hillsboro in 1773-76 and was appointed Colonel for Bladen Co. NC, also in 1775. He was a member of the Provincial Congress at Halifax in 1776, and framed the Bill of Rights and the State Constitution. He was appointed to consider ways and means of bringing justice to the Tories of Bladen County, and this he did!
He led the victorious Battle of Elizabethtown at the famed “Tory Hole”, which crushed the British influence in the region, in a fascinating act of military deception. In the summer of 1781 there were 400 Tories (Loyalists) encamped at Elizabethtown, 500 more encamped but four miles away, and they committed numerous atrocities upon the residents and property. Robeson (whose commission had expired) volunteered to take command from the wounded Col. Brown. The Whig (Patriot) troops hid in the swamps for several weeks, having dwindled from 180 to 69 men, and Robeson finally decided that they must engage the enemy or “die in the attempt”.
On September 29, 1781 the half starved but brave band of patriots forded the river opposite the British camp at Elizabethtown, and divided into three companies of 23 each to surround the British. At the signal shot from a sentinel’s gun, Robeson’s force fired repeated volleys towards the British troops while advancing swiftly and shouting: “Washington, Washington, General Washington is here!”. The Tories, fearing that Washington’s army was upon them, fled in wild disorder, throwing down their weapons, and most fell into a deep ravine (which is today the site of Tory Hole Park in Elizabethtown, NC). Seventeen Tories were killed, but Robeson’s force had no casualties, just four men wounded. This battle (and the Tory defeat at Moore’s Creek Bridge) broke the Tory strength in the area.
Col. Robeson magnanimously paid his troops out of his own private funds, taking notes from his soldiers, but exacting a promise from his children that no claim should be brought against the government for repayment.
In 1786 Robeson County was formed from Bladen County, and named in honor of the Robeson brothers, for their bravery and service to the land that now bears their name.
Notes:
“The published account of the battle of Elizabethtown (Wheeler’s History of North Carolina) states that General Brown was in command. The fact is that Colonel Robeson commanded. Mrs. Harriss, a lineal descendant of Colonel Robeson, has furnished the writer with a copy of a letter written by Mr. Robert E. Troy, in 1845, dictated by James Cain, of Bladen County. James Cain was a participant in this battle and tells the story of the battle to Mr. Troy. This letter appeared in the Robesonian (Lumberton, N. C), and corrects Wheeler’s statement, which was due to misinformation. Mrs. Harriss has also notes concerning the illness of General Brown at that time. Colonel Robeson and General Brown married sisters—Mary and Sarah Bartram, and family notes and reminiscences exchanged between them are in the possession of Mrs. Harriss.”
Biographical History of North Carolina
Sources:
Biographical History of North Carolina from Colonial Times to the Present, By Samuel A’Court Ashe, C. L. Van Noppen Publishers, 1908
Historical And Geneological Account of Andrew Robeson and His Descendants 1635 to 1916, Susan Stroud Robeson, Lippincott Press, Philadelphia, 1916
© 2009 John Tudor