James Moore (Continental Army Officer) - Colonial Political and Military Service

Colonial Political and Military Service

James Moore had experience as a military officer prior to the American Revolution. In 1758, Governor Arthur Dobbs appointed him as the captain of a company of militia at Fort Johnston, and Moore remained in command of that unit during the French and Indian War. During that conflict, Moore, a Captain at the time, led his company to South Carolina to defend that colony against Cherokee attacks brought on by the Anglo-Cherokee War. By 1759, he was appointed a justice of the peace. In 1766, Moore led an armed mob in protest of the Stamp Act that occupied the de facto capital of Brunswick. The mob appointed Moore as its delegate to confront Governor William Tryon and the royal comptroller of customs, William Pennington, who had taken refuge at Tryon's home. Pennington gave in to the demands of the mob, and resigned his post, swearing that he would not enforce the provisions of the Stamp Act.

Moore served as a colonel of an artillery company in the colonial militia during the War of the Regulation, a revolt by western settlers against perceived injustices in the colonial government of North Carolina in the decade immediately preceding the American Revolution. At the Battle of Alamance, Moore served as the commander of Governor Tryon's artillery company. Moore's orders in that engagement were to fire his cannons once Tryon had determined the Regulators would not surrender, thus signalling the beginning of the battle. During the conflict, however, the governor's artillery functioned poorly, and the Regulators were able to gain an initial advantage by fighting in an irregular fashion. The governor's forces eventually succeeded in crushing the armed farmers, thus ending the Regulator rebellion. Moore went on to serve in the North Carolina House of Commons from 1764 to 1771 and again in 1773, representing his home county of New Hanover. In 1772, he purchased a plantation of 500 acres (200 ha; 0.78 sq mi) on the Cape Fear River several miles upriver from Wilmington.