SANFORD — A re-enactment of the “fiery” confrontation July 29, 1781, between Patriots and Loyalists will take place Saturday, Aug. 1, and Sunday, Aug. 2, at House in the Horseshoe State Historic Site near Sanford.
One of America’s most authentic Revolutionary War battle re-enactments, this program recalls an actual raid and attack by the much-feared Tory leader Col. David Fanning on what was then Whig Col. Philip Alston’s home. Free and open to the public, the 30th annual re-enactment will take place at 4 p.m. Aug. 1 and 2 p.m. Aug. 2. There is no admission charge, but donations are welcomed.
Played out on the banks of North Carolina’s Deep River, this attack was retaliation for several atrocities committed by Alston and his men, including the beating death of Kenneth Black, a noted Loyalist. To force the colonials to surrender, Tory forces even attempted to set the house on fire by rolling a cart filled with burning straw against it. Both sides suffered casualties, but hostilities ended after Mrs. Alston negotiated surrender terms on behalf of Col. Alston and his militiamen.
Even 228 years after the battle, one can still see bullet holes scarring the walls of the house.
The site will be open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 1 and noon-4 p.m. Aug. 2. Militia demonstrations and periodic firings of an 18th-century cannon replica are scheduled throughout the program. Besides the re-enactment, there will be presentations of period crafts such as blacksmithing, gun engraving and weaving. Children will even have a chance to play colonial games while adults enjoy handmade pottery on display. A medical crew will demonstrate Revolutionary War medical techniques for those with strong stomachs, and several sutlers (traders) will be selling replica 18th-century goods.
This program was chosen as one of the Top 20 Events in the southeastern United States for August by the Southern Tourism Society. Attendees will have a chance to see the re-enactment staged with accurate troop numbers, at the site where the battle was actually fought.
Perched on a hill above the Deep River, the House in the Horseshoe was erected around 1772, becoming one of the first big homes in the upland North Carolina frontier. During the American Revolution, groups of citizen-soldiers known as Whigs or Revolutionists (including Alston) fought a guerilla war in the state’s backcountry (western frontier) against Tories or colonists loyal to Britain
Suddenly on the morning of July 29, 1781, Alston and his band of revolutionaries camped on his property found themselves under assault from a group of Tories led by Fanning, a Loyalist known for being fearless and often ruthless in his dealings with the King’s enemies.
Born in Johnston County, Fanning was the most successful Loyalist partisan leader in the Province. Commissioned a colonel of the Loyalist militia, he never lost a battle in which he commanded, and he masterminded the raid on Hillsborough that netted several prominent Whig prisoners including North Carolina Governor Thomas Burke. Though Fanning and his followers were often blamed for violent acts throughout the backcountry, most of these were revenge for similar Whig actions in what was a fierce, bloody and often personal conflict. Because of Fanning’s successes the Whigs particularly hated and feared him.
After the Revolutionary War ended, Fanning became one of only three men in North Carolina exempted by name from the Act of Pardon and Oblivion, a general amnesty issued for former Loyalist militiamen.
Though Alston distinguished himself as a colonel in the Whig militia, his later career was marked by corruption. Twice indicted for murder, he was suspended from the state legislature. In 1790 Alston sold his house and plantation in the Sandhills to Thomas Perkins, later escaping from jail in Wilmington and fleeing the state. Alston was murdered while asleep in his cabin on the banks of the Occonee River in Georgia in 1791.
In 1798 Gov. Benjamin Williams bought the 2,500-acre plantation from Perkins. Besides serving four terms as North Carolina governor, Williams had been a captain in the Continental Army with George Washington, a colonel of the Whig militia, a member of the first University of North Carolina board of trustees and a representative to the national Congress at Philadelphia, Pa.
The House in the Horseshoe’s mission is to preserve and interpret the history of the battle at House in the Horseshoe, the Revolutionary War in the North Carolina backcountry and the life of Gov. Benjamin Williams. For more information on the re-enactment or the site, call (910) 947-2051, e-mail the staff at horseshoe@ncdcr.gov or check out the Web site at http://www.nchistoricsites.org/horsesho/horsesho.htm.
The state historic site is located on Alston House Road near Carthage. From N.C. 24/27 in Carthage, turn north onto State Road 1006; follow this road for 10 miles to Alston House Road, then turn left and the site is at the end of the road. From U.S. 1 in Sanford, take N.C. 42 west for 13 miles to Carbonton; turn left on State Road 2307, go 4.5 miles and turn right onto Alston House Road. From U.S. 421, take the Goldston exit at the brown House in the Horseshoe sign and go west on the Goldston-Pittsboro Road to Main Street; turn left on Main Street, then right on Colonial Street and left on the Goldston-Carbonton Road, go five miles to the stop sign and continue straight for another 4.5 miles, then turn right on Alston House Road.
Administered by the Division of State Historic Sites, the House in the Horseshoe is a division of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. Join the Cultural Resources 2009 theme observance of “Treasure N.C. Culture.” For more information, visit www.ncculture.com.