On this day 250 years ago in Salisbury, North Carolina, the Rowan County Committee of Safety had its first official meeting under the authority of the Resolution adopted by the North Carolina Provincial Congress on August 25, 1774 that had directed each county to organize a Committee of Safety to enforce the trade embargo with Britain. Rowan County was the hotbed of Patriots in North Carolina and the Rowan County Committee had actually organized itself earlier in the year before the North Carolina Provincial Congress met. The Rowan Committee had adopted the Rowan Resolves on August 8 (see my blog of that date).

In this meeting, the Committee voted to raise funds for the Rowan Militia, resolved an investigation of local merchants for price gouging in the sale of much needed gunpowder, and censured two Loyalists who were circulating protests in support of Parliament. From this day if not earlier in 1774, the Rowan Committee of Safety was functioning as the government of Rowan County independent of any British authority.

William Kennon was Chairman, Maxwell Chambers was Vice Chairman, Adlai Osborne was Clerk, and the other members of the Rowan County Committee were: James McCay, Andrew Neal, George Cathey, Alexander Dobbins, Francis McCorkle, Matthew Locke, Henry Harmon, Abraham Denton, William Davidson, Samuel Young, John Brevard, George Henry Barringer, Robert Bell, John Bickerstaff, John Cowden, John Lewis Beard, John Nesbit, Charles McDowell, Robert Blackburn, Christopher Beekman, William Sharpe, John Johnston, and Morgan Bryan.

Most of these men would go on to additional distinguished service in the Revolutionary War. William Davidson became a general in the Continental Army and died heroically at the Battle of Cowan’s Ford in 1791 not far from his home in Rowan County. Matthew Locke and Charles McDowell would both become generals in the North Carolina Militia. William Sharpe would be a Colonel in the North Carolina militia and then a member of the Continental Congress. William Kennon, Adlai Osborne and Christopher Beekman would all become Colonels, Francis McCorkle a Major, and John Johnston and Samuel Young, Captains in the Militia.

Sources: https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr09-0310;

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Rowan_County_Committee_of_Safety

https://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/nc_rowan_county_regiment.html