Mecklenburg County NcArchives Biographies.....Polk, Thomas 
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Source: Colonial Records of North Carolina
Author: Joseph Johnson

Biographical sketch of Thomas Polk
Johnson, Joseph, 1776-1862
1851 
Volume 15, Pages 178-179

COL. THOMAS POLK OF CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA.

[From Johnson's Traditions of the Revolution, 1776, Pages 82 & 83.]

December 15.
This gentleman was originally a surveyor in the southwestern portion of North 
Carolina, his education not acquired within the classic walls of a college, 
but practically obtained at intervals, from his occupations in the hills, 
vallies and forests of the Province. He thus became universally known and 
respected. No man possessed more influence in that part of North Carolina. He 
was uniformly a member of their Legislature, and was elected Colonel of the 
militia of Mecklenburg county; Adam Alexander was the lieutenant-colonel, John 
Phifer the 1st Major, and John Davidson the 2d major.

In consultation with his neighbors, the Alexanders, and Dr. Brevard, it was 
thought necessary to express their opinions of the political relations of 
America with Great Britain, particularly of the Boston port bill, and the late 
arrival of numerous British troops in Boston. It was agreed that he, as the 
military head, should issue a notice to officers of each company in his 
regiment, convening them, on the 19th of May, to consult on civil and military 
concerns. The officers met at the time appointed, not knowing of any political 
excitement, but it happened providentially that on the same day the express 
arrived from Boston with printed statements of the attack on Concord by the 
British troeps, and the battle of Lexington, which ensued. There was no longer 
conjecture or apprehension of what might be done by the soldiers to the 
citizens. Here was an outrage, attended by hostilities; the war had commenced, 
and they resolved to meet the exigency by the measures which have been 
detailed.

The first opportunity for proving his zeal, afforded to Col. Polk, was in 
South Carolina, in the winter of 1775. The tories in the northwestern part of 
the State had embodied themselves under Fletchal, Cunningham and others, with 
the inducements held out to them by Sir William Campbell, the last of the 
royal Governors. They had attacked the Whigs, under General Williamson, 
besieged him in Cambridge, Ninety-Six, and forced him to capitulate. The 
Council of Safety ordered out General Richard Richardson's brigade of militia, 
supported by Colonel William Thomson's new regiment of rangers, and called on 
the Whigs of North Carolina to aid in crushing the royalists. They did not 
hesitate or delay, but marched into the upper districts, under Colonels Polk, 
Rutherford, and Martin and Graham, with about nine hundred men. Col. Polk took 
with him his oldest son, Charles, who was wounded in a skirmish with the 
enemy. The royalists were completely vanquished, and did not again give any 
trouble until the fall of 1780, nearly five years.

When North Carolina raised four regiments of continentals, the Legislature 
elected Colonel Thomas Polk to the command of the 4th regiment. We have not 
heard of his adventures during the exciting scenes of General Gates' advance 
and disastrous flight through that part of North Carolina, but cannot doubt of 
his untiring energy and resistance to the British army under Lord Cornwallis, 
when we know that he called Mecklenburg the hornet's nest. This gentleman 
was the uncle of the late President James K. Polk.

When General Greene succeeded to the command of the Southern army, we find the 
following letter recorded:

Camp Charlotte, December 15th, 1780.
To Col. Polk.
Sir:

I find it will be impossible to leave camp as early as I intended, as Colonel 
Kosciusko has made no report yet respecting a position on Pedee. I must, 
therefore, beg you to continue the daily supplies of the army, and keep in 
readiness the three days' provisions beforehand. I have just received some 
intelligence from Governor Nash and from Congress which makes me wish to see 
you.

I am, &c.,
NATHANIEL GREENE.

This letter bears strong evidence of Greene's confidence in the energy, 
punctuality and patriotism of Colonel Polk, who at that time owned mills in 
the neighborhood of Charlotte and kept a store in the village.



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