1729. First Scotch-Irish Settlement

The Cape Fear River is called the black water, as it is swampy.

Note: The Cape Fear River consists of almost 200 miles of blackwater river in east central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The first settlement in this region is believed to have occurred in 1729 by the Scotch-Irish from Ulster.

It is unknown by many historians the vital role that traders played in the peaceful settlement of America.

The colonial traders in America made no small contribution. They were the first to confront the French and Spanish and various Indian tribes.

During the eighteenth century, when the colonists of Virginia and the Carolinas were only a handful of settlers, it was the trader who defeated each successive attempt made by French and Spanish agents to weld the tribes into a confederacy to annihilate the English settlements.

While examining the colonial records, one might not be impressed with the mercenary figure or trader. However, in so many instances, the trader, as he traveled about the wild country, managed to maintain a casual trade with local Indians.

Colonel William Bull, Indian Trader

“If we wonder, for instance, why the Scotch Highlanders who settled in the wilds at the headwaters of the Cape Fear River, about 1729, and were later followed by Welsh and Huguenots, met with no opposition from the Indians, the mystery is solved when we discover, almost by accident, a few printed lines which record that, in 1700, the hostile natives on the Cape Fear were subdued to the English and brought into friendly alliance with them by Colonel William Bull, a trader.”

“The early English trader was generally an intelligent man; sometimes educated, nearly always fearless and resourceful. He knew the one sure basis on which men of alien blood and far separated stages of moral and intellectual development can meet in understanding — namely, the truth of the spoken word. He recognized honor as the bond of trade and the warp and woof of human intercourse. The uncorrupted savage also had his plain interpretation of the true word in the mouths of men, and a name for it. He called it the “Old Beloved Speech”; and he gave his confidence to the man who spoke this speech even in the close barter for furs.”

The above quote comes from Constance Lindsay Skinner’s book, Pioneers of the Old Southwest.

The Cape Fear Settlement in 1729

For some years, I have been investigating the Cape Fear settlement which is touted as the first known settlement of the Scotch-Irish in America. The mention of Colonel William Bull as a trader is interesting, especially since historians label him as a captain in the Tuscarora war and a Colonel in the Yamasee war. I do not think they unfolded the fact that he was a friendly trader with the Indians and paved the way for the white man. In 1733, Colonel Bull assisted Oglethorpe in the settling of Savannah. Oglethorpe showed his appreciation by the name of Bull Street. Governor Bull was a Governor of South Carolina from 1738 to 1744.

Doubtless that the Scotch-Irish were from Ulster and landed in Philadelphia about 1729 before assembling a mule train to carry them to the vicinity of the Cape Fear River. That settlement appeared to survive for many years, yet, since no records exist, no one knows if they moved on.

We have to consider that from the 1730s to the 1760s, the Scotch-Irish immigrated to the Carolinas in droves, quickly filling up the Midlands and Backcountry of South Carolina.

It was not until after the Revolutionary War, however, that many Scotch-Irish established small farms and homesteads in the mountains of North Carolina.

Between 1717 and 1775 some 200,000 Scotch-Irish settlers came to America.

Traders prevent attacks by Spanish Indians

We read further and learn that the Spaniards in Florida had long endeavored to unite the tribes in Spanish and French territory against the English and that the influence of traders prevented that idea from taking formation.

In 1702, the Spaniards had prepared to invade English territory with nine hundred Indians. Luckily, the plot was discovered by friendly Creek Indians and disclosed to their friends, the traders, who immediately gathered together five hundred warriors and marched swiftly to meet the invaders and utterly routed them.

Again, when the Indians, incited by the Spanish at St. Augustine, rose against the English in 1715, and the Yamasi Massacre occurred in South Carolina, it was the traders who alerted some of the settlements to defend themselves.

The early English trader was generally an intelligent man; sometimes educated, nearly always fearless, and resourceful. He knew the one sure basis on which men of alien blood and far separated stages of moral and intellectual development can meet in understanding — namely, the truth of the spoken word. He recognized honor as the bond of trade and the warp and woof of human intercourse. The uncorrupted savage also had his plain interpretation of the true word in the mouths of men, and a name for it. He called it the “Old Beloved Speech” and he gave his confidence to the man who spoke this speech even in the close barter for furs.