From the book "Fort Defiance and The General" by Margaret E. Harper, 1976, 2nd edition 1997:
"....The tempo of the war was rising in William Lenoir's part of the country. Having failed to destroy Washington's army in the north, the British decided to start from the other end and 'roll up the war from the south.' Charleston fell - disastrously; more than 5,000 men, including 815 North Carolina Continental soldiers and officers and about 600 North Carolina militia, were taken prisoner. Beaufort, Georgetown and Savannah were in British hands. One after another, Camden was tragedy for the Ninety-Six and Camden.....The Battle of Camden was tragedy for the Patriots, 800 killed and 1,000 captured, half the dead, North Carolinians. AND OF THOSE CAPTURED, ONE WAS WILLIAM LENOIR'S BROTHER, THOMAS. (Caps mine).
Thomas Lenoir's twelve-year-old daughter, Martha, learning that her father was in prison, wounded and suffering for food and attention, gathered together what provisions she could, and taking with her an elderly slave, rode horseback twenty miles through an uneasy countryside to the prison at Camden. That she managed to secure an audience with the British
commanding general seems no less than miraculous, but so she did. The story goes that General Cornwallis, impressed with her bravery and her appealing story, the mother dead, the children alone on the plantation with only the servants, listened patiently and 'placing his hand kindly on her head, said, 'My little Miss, your father shall not only have this food which you bring, but he shall accompany you home.' Thomas Lenoir, as a token of appreciation, had a pair of gold earrings made for her by the blacksmith (no jewelers on the frontier). Some years ago they were on display, on loan from a descendant, at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh, but their whereabouts now, unfortunately, cannot be learned."
Contributor: Lyneva Mitchell Grauberger
"....The tempo of the war was rising in William Lenoir's part of the country. Having failed to destroy Washington's army in the north, the British decided to start from the other end and 'roll up the war from the south.' Charleston fell - disastrously; more than 5,000 men, including 815 North Carolina Continental soldiers and officers and about 600 North Carolina militia, were taken prisoner. Beaufort, Georgetown and Savannah were in British hands. One after another, Camden was tragedy for the Ninety-Six and Camden.....The Battle of Camden was tragedy for the Patriots, 800 killed and 1,000 captured, half the dead, North Carolinians. AND OF THOSE CAPTURED, ONE WAS WILLIAM LENOIR'S BROTHER, THOMAS. (Caps mine).
Thomas Lenoir's twelve-year-old daughter, Martha, learning that her father was in prison, wounded and suffering for food and attention, gathered together what provisions she could, and taking with her an elderly slave, rode horseback twenty miles through an uneasy countryside to the prison at Camden. That she managed to secure an audience with the British
commanding general seems no less than miraculous, but so she did. The story goes that General Cornwallis, impressed with her bravery and her appealing story, the mother dead, the children alone on the plantation with only the servants, listened patiently and 'placing his hand kindly on her head, said, 'My little Miss, your father shall not only have this food which you bring, but he shall accompany you home.' Thomas Lenoir, as a token of appreciation, had a pair of gold earrings made for her by the blacksmith (no jewelers on the frontier). Some years ago they were on display, on loan from a descendant, at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh, but their whereabouts now, unfortunately, cannot be learned."
Contributor: Lyneva Mitchell Grauberger
From the book "Fort Defiance and The General" by Margaret E. Harper, 1976, 2nd edition 1997:
"....The tempo of the war was rising in William Lenoir's part of the country. Having failed to destroy Washington's army in the north, the British decided to start from the other end and 'roll up the war from the south.' Charleston fell - disastrously; more than 5,000 men, including 815 North Carolina Continental soldiers and officers and about 600 North Carolina militia, were taken prisoner. Beaufort, Georgetown and Savannah were in British hands. One after another, Camden was tragedy for the Ninety-Six and Camden.....The Battle of Camden was tragedy for the Patriots, 800 killed and 1,000 captured, half the dead, North Carolinians. AND OF THOSE CAPTURED, ONE WAS WILLIAM LENOIR'S BROTHER, THOMAS. (Caps mine).
Thomas Lenoir's twelve-year-old daughter, Martha, learning that her father was in prison, wounded and suffering for food and attention, gathered together what provisions she could, and taking with her an elderly slave, rode horseback twenty miles through an uneasy countryside to the prison at Camden. That she managed to secure an audience with the British
commanding general seems no less than miraculous, but so she did. The story goes that General Cornwallis, impressed with her bravery and her appealing story, the mother dead, the children alone on the plantation with only the servants, listened patiently and 'placing his hand kindly on her head, said, 'My little Miss, your father shall not only have this food which you bring, but he shall accompany you home.' Thomas Lenoir, as a token of appreciation, had a pair of gold earrings made for her by the blacksmith (no jewelers on the frontier). Some years ago they were on display, on loan from a descendant, at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh, but their whereabouts now, unfortunately, cannot be learned."
Contributor: Lyneva Mitchell Grauberger
"....The tempo of the war was rising in William Lenoir's part of the country. Having failed to destroy Washington's army in the north, the British decided to start from the other end and 'roll up the war from the south.' Charleston fell - disastrously; more than 5,000 men, including 815 North Carolina Continental soldiers and officers and about 600 North Carolina militia, were taken prisoner. Beaufort, Georgetown and Savannah were in British hands. One after another, Camden was tragedy for the Ninety-Six and Camden.....The Battle of Camden was tragedy for the Patriots, 800 killed and 1,000 captured, half the dead, North Carolinians. AND OF THOSE CAPTURED, ONE WAS WILLIAM LENOIR'S BROTHER, THOMAS. (Caps mine).
Thomas Lenoir's twelve-year-old daughter, Martha, learning that her father was in prison, wounded and suffering for food and attention, gathered together what provisions she could, and taking with her an elderly slave, rode horseback twenty miles through an uneasy countryside to the prison at Camden. That she managed to secure an audience with the British
commanding general seems no less than miraculous, but so she did. The story goes that General Cornwallis, impressed with her bravery and her appealing story, the mother dead, the children alone on the plantation with only the servants, listened patiently and 'placing his hand kindly on her head, said, 'My little Miss, your father shall not only have this food which you bring, but he shall accompany you home.' Thomas Lenoir, as a token of appreciation, had a pair of gold earrings made for her by the blacksmith (no jewelers on the frontier). Some years ago they were on display, on loan from a descendant, at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh, but their whereabouts now, unfortunately, cannot be learned."
Contributor: Lyneva Mitchell Grauberger
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