This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
Size | 31 items |
Abstract | Richard Caswell was governor of North Carolina, 1776-1779 and 1785-1787, general in the state forces during the Revolutionary War, state comptroller, and speaker of the state senate. The collection is primarily correspondence relating to North Carolina and United States military and political issues of the Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary periods. |
Creator | Caswell, Richard, 1729-1789. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: SHC Staff
Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007
Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, January 2010
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Richard Caswell (1729-1789) was governor of North Carolina, general in the state forces during the Revolutionary War, state comptroller, and speaker of the state senate. Caswell came to North Carolina from Maryland about 1746 and became a surveyor, a clerk of Orange County court, and a lawyer. He lived in a part of Johnston County which later was apportioned to be part of Dobbs County and now Lenoir County, N.C. His political career began in 1754 and he held positions in the General Assembly and other public offices almost continually thereafter. Caswell was also a militia officer under Governor William Tryon in the Battle of Alamance, N.C. During the Revolution and the post-Revolutionary period, he served in the Provincial Congress, the Continental Congress, the General Assembly, as speaker of the House of Representatives, as speaker of the Senate, as major general of militia, as comptroller, and twice as governor of North Carolina, 1776-1779 and 1785-1878.
Back to TopThe collection is primarily correspondence relating to North Carolina and United States military and political issues of the Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary periods. Topics include Revolutionary preparations including the arrival of French military officers and the difficulties of funding and arming the militia. After the Revolution, correspondence discusses legislative issues and political news. Correspondents include Thomas Burke, John Penn, Rawlins Lowndes, Henry Laurens, John Ashe, James Iredell, William Sharpe, Abner Nash, and his son, William Caldwell, among others. Other items include a commission, 1777, for the negotiation of boundaries and peace with the Cherokee Indians; a diploma, 1803; and list and map, 1914, related the burial places of Caswell and his relations.
Back to TopFolder 1 |
1776-1777Folder includes original finding aid. |
Folder 2 |
1778 |
Folder 3 |
1779-1785, 1914 |
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-145/1 |
Diploma, 1803 |
Oversize papers (OPF-145/1).
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