Patriot Pride for the 4th of July?

I’m not one of the 165,000 members of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).  I could be, since I satisfy the requirement of being a descendant of someone (a Patriot) who fought in the Revolutionary War.  I envision members of the DAR as stuffy old ladies in hats, but in fact I’ve never met someone who was a member, so my assessment is quite unfair.  Certainly this organization must be commended as history preservers, and I’m all for that.  These days they don’t seem to be the elitist group that they were back in the 1930’s when they refused to allow the African American vocalist Marian Anderson to be booked at the DAR built Constitution Hall in D.C.  Today they donate over a million dollars each year to school programs, sponsor American History essay contests, provide scholarships, support literacy programs, and house one of our country’s most extensive genealogical libraries. 

We are filled with pride for our Revolutionary War Patriot fore bearers.   But what if, like me, you also hide a disgraceful Tory in the branches of your family tree?  It has been estimated that 15 to 20 percent of the American colonist were Loyalist.  So, I suppose that many of us have a few Tories that we would rather not mention of the 4th of July.  Like our slave-holding ancestors, we consider them as unrepresentative of our true and honorable origins. 

My Tory was named Gideon Wright and in 1780, along with his brother Hezekiah, he raised up a group of “Tories” in North Carolina, which might have numbered as high as 900.  Gideon had the support of the Royal Governor of North Carolina, Josiah Martin, who authorized Gideon to erect the King’s standard, enlist fellow loyalist, and “oppose all rebels and traitors.”  The group attacked Richmond, the little county seat of Surry County.  The County Sheriff was killed and property was destroyed.  In response, Patriot forces gathered and assembled across the area and on Oct. 14, 1780 a combined force of about 350 Patriots came together on the west side of a stream near the Shallow Ford crossing of the Yadkin River.  The Tory group approached and a battled began, lasting only about 45 minutes.  Despite being greatly outnumbered the Patriots were victorious, and the Tories ran away in retreat.  Several days later the officers of the Patriots offered a conditional pardon to those who had supported the Tory cause.  Many of the Tories agreed to this offer, which included a promise that they would serve in the local militia.  Co- leader, Col. Hezekiah Wright supposedly intended to agree to the pardon also, but was shot and killed at his home before having a chance to accept.  My ancestor, Col. Gideon Wright, took off for Charleston, South Carolina with his tail between his legs.  He stayed in exile there until his death a few years later. The British had held Charleston until the end of the War, vacating in December of 1782. 

In the desperate, and perhaps weak, defense of my ancestor I must mention that there is evidence that the Wright brothers and their followers were less concerned about supporting the British King than settling ongoing conflicts between themselves and another local power group.  There had been clashes between these two groups concerning the location of the county seat when Surry County was formed from part of Rowan County in 1771.  At the time of the county formation Gideon Wright used his political power and influence to make sure the first county courthouse was built on his land.  Rivals of the Wrights, Martin Armstrong and William Shepard immediately began advocating a bill in the state Assembly for permission to move the county seat to Richmond and onto land that they both owned.  Meanwhile a few court buildings were erected and court was held on the Wright property until suspiciously, the buildings were burned to the ground.  Before they could be rebuilt, Armstrong and Shepard had been successful in their bid to move the county seat two miles from Gideon Wright’s farm to what is now Old Richmond.  

Things weren’t settled and the tit for tat conflict continued with Armstrong once accusing the Wright brothers as being “bandits of plunders, whose ignorance is to be dreaded.”  One account says that during this time Hezekiah Wright was attacked and beaten by some of the Armstrong/Shepard supporters.  So, it is no surprise that when the Wright brothers and their followers (the Tories) charged into Richmond in October of 1780, they made sure that the raid included the burning of William Shepard’s home.  You might wonder how the Wright brothers were able to gain so much support.  Apparently, in the years leading up to the Battle of Shallow Ford, the local Patriots had been on a bit of a vigilante crusade; burning property, stealing cattle, and beating those they suspected of having Royalist sentiments.  Rather than being subjected to such treatment, many settlers began to ally themselves with the Wright brothers for protection.  I can imagine that it was a situation in which, regardless of your political leanings, you were forced to take a position and align yourself with the side that offered your family the best protection. 

Historians view the Patriot Victory at Shallow Ford as an important psychological turning point for the Southern colonists.  It fueled the confidence of the Patriot militias in North Carolina at a time when their moral and success was faltering.

The local DAR chapter down in those parts of North Carolina is named “The Battle of Shallow Ford Chapter.”  Maybe, as a Wright ancestor, I wouldn’t be real welcome there.    Does that even up my Patriot scorecard for this branch of the family tree?  Or, should I fade into the background of the 4th of July celebrations and hope none of you tell that I’m a descendant of a redcoat, lobsterback, traitor, Tory?

-Mary

*Additional details for the family historians who want more than the interesting story:

My Connection:  Col, Gideon WRIGHT- Sarah (Wright) HIGGINS- Gideon Wright HIGGINS – Lucy (Higgins) BURTON- Hannah (Burton) MITCHELL- Florence (Mitchell) GEIGER- Thomas M. GEIGER- Elizabeth F. GEIGER- Me

OK- here lies a problem and one that might at some later date require me to kick old Gideon Wright off my family tree branches and declare myself Tory free.  It is pretty clear that Col. Robert Higgins married someone with the last name of Wright, and although almost all the research I’ve seen posted on the Internet and various family histories declares that she was indeed the daughter of the Tory Gideon Wright, I can’t seem to find absolute proof.  This “Wright” wife of Higgins supposedly died while he was imprisoned during the War.  When Higgins returned to his home in what is now W.Virginia he remarried and moved the family west to Kentucky and then to Ohio, founding the town of Higginsport, OH.  Col. Robert Higgins parents moved also and ended up staying in Mercer county, KY.    A son from Col. Higgins first marriage (to Miss Wright) is supposedly Gideon Wright Higgins and we have records for him in Mercer County, KY.  The name itself shows some connection to Gideon Wright or his extended family because Gideon seems to be a common name in that line.  The other clue is that the Higgins and Wright families seem to both have connections in New York.  Perhaps, even though the Higgins were in W. Virginia and the Wrights were in N. Carolina, they had ties that brought them together in marriage.  My best opinion at this point is that Col. Gideon Wright (from N. Carolina) is my ancestor.

**The county of Surry was later divided and its’ original county seats on Gideon Wright’s property and the town of Richmond are now located in Forsyth County.  Today they are merely blips on the map.