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William Moore
Sand Hill Road, Enka,
NC,
USA
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North Carolina State
Historical Marker |
Marker Text: "Captain of militia force which marched against the Cherokee in Nov., 1776. A fort which he built stood near here. His home was 200 yds. E." William Moore was born in Ireland and became one of the first white settlers west of the Blue Ridge in what is known as Buncombe County. Moore’s first visit to the area came in the fall of 1776 when he served as a militia captain under the command of General Griffith Rutherford. Rutherford’s expedition into western sections of North Carolina was designed to stop conflicts between the native Cherokee and encroaching white settlers. Additionally, they wanted to put a stop to the practices of British recruiters who enlisted the help of the Cherokee in harassing colonists during the early stages of the Revolutionary War.
Moore wrote a detailed account of an expedition of mounted troops that he led through the region. In his account, Moore described destruction of Indian towns and villages plus the brutal murder and mutilation of natives who were fleeing his men. Moore was at odds with his men over the care of Indian prisoners. Upon threat of mutiny, Moore was reluctantly obliged to sell some of their prisoners into slavery and divide the bounty among his men.
Moore returned to western North Carolina after Rutherford’s expedition and settled on land along Hominy Creek. Moore and second wife, Margaret Patton, raised his six children from his first marriage to Ann Cathey as well as their six children. Moore served during the Revolution and then returned to Buncombe to serve in municipal and civic roles the remainder of his life. It is said that Moore first constructed a block fort on his property near Hominy Creek for protection from Native Americans.
References:
The Heritage of Old Buncombe County, Volume 1 (1981)
Griffith Rutherford Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill
Douglas Swaim, ed., Cabins and Castles: The History and Architecture of Buncombe County, North Carolina (1981)
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