A FORGOTTEN
CAMPBELTOWN
A. I. B. Stewart, C.B.E., D.L.
In a previous number we saw that Flora MacDonald, who as every Campbeltown schoolboy knows, sailed from Campbeltown for Cape Fear in 1774, was for a time in North Carolina where many from Scotland had settled in the region of the Cape Fear River, in the eighteenth century. A town formerly called Campbeltown was nenamed Fayetteville in the aftermath of the American War of Independence after a hero of the time, the Marquis de Lafayette who had aided the Americans against the British.
From 1739 onwards, the Upper Cape Fear River had been settled by Highlanders, many from Kintyre and the Argyllshire islands. In 1756 the Reverend Hugh MacAden on a journey from distant Pennsylvannia found that these Highlanders had no pastor, and he persuaded James Campbell, because of his ability as Gaelic preacher, to settle among them. He did so willingly and soon founded three churches in the vicinity of the modern Fayetteville. James Campbell was licensed by the Presbytery of Kintyre and shortly afterwards emigrated to Pennsylvannia.
Opposite the church of Old Bluff, white painted and wooden, some fourteen miles from Fayetteville, stands an obelisk inscribed:
Rev. James Campbell, a native of Campbeltown, Argyleshire, Scotland, rests near this spot. He died in 1780 in the 75th year of his age and the 50th year of his ministry. He was a wise and pure patriot, a faithful defender of the principles of the Presbyterian Church, a zealous preacher of the Gospel, a devout and humble Christian. The churches which he founded and the Presbytery in the bounds of which he laboured 22 years have erected this monument to honour his name and perpetuate his memory. Bluff, Long Street and Barbecue Churches were organised by Rev. James Campbell, October 18th 1758. Hector Duncan McNeill, Ferquhard Campbell and Alexander MacAlister were the earliest elders of the Bluff Church. Malcolm Smith, Duncan Ray and Archibald McKay were the earliest elders of Long Street Church and Gilbert Clark, Daniel Cameron and Archibald Buie were the earliest elders of Barbecue Church. A little bronze plate bearing a Gaelic inscription has been added which may be roughly translated as "Let us not forget the deeds of our ancestors."
This worthy minister is not buried in the peaceful kirkyard but in a lonely spot on his 200 acre farm across the river. Tradition has it the flooded river prevented a crossing for the burial.
In his later years Mr. Campbell was assisted by the Rev. John Macleod and the Old Bluff Church's most prized possessions are two beautiful sterling silver communion cups inscribed "To the Presbyterian Congregation in Cumberland County N.C. under the care of Rev. John MacLeod."
On the outbreak of the American Revolution most of the Highlanders, many of whom had suffered greatly in the '45 supported King George. Mr. Campbell took the American side and this move was so unpopular with the majority of his flock that he had to leave the district. Mr. MacLeod sided with the loyal Highlanders who were almost immediately routed. Mr. MacLeod, like Flora MacDonald's husband, son and son-in-law, was imprisoned. Mr. Campbell's intervention. secured his release. He took ship to Scotland, but it is believed he was lost on the voyage. When things quietened down, Mr. Campbell returned to live and die surrounded by his flock.
The beautiful kirkyard at Buff is still neatly maintained although the Church is only occasionally used for weddings, and contains the graves of many Kintyreans. Among these notably are "Duncan McNeill, the son of Neill McNeill of Kintyre, Scotland, the pioneer and friend of the Scottish emigration to the Cape Fear Region, was born in Kintyre, Scotland, in 1728 and died near Bluff October 2, 1791, leaving to his children the legacy of an honest and upright character. This tribute of filial affection to the memory of a venerated father is erected by his youngest son Duncan." It also commemorates "Loveday, the wife of Duncan McNeill of the Bluff and daughter of Rev. James Campbell, died October 22 1786 aged 33 years. Her children that survived her were Isabella, Grisella, James and infant son Duncan."
Ignorance of conditions in remote corners of the world is not suffered by a generation brought up on T.V., films, and illustrated books. It was different in the eighteenth century when a large part of North Carolina was settled by immigrants from Argyll. A highland woman landing at Willington was delighted to hear two men on the wharf talking in Gaelic. She approached them and finding they were negroes felt that her worst forebodings of the Southern climate were justified. She cried in horror, "A Dianan fras am fas sinn vile mar sin?" - Oh God of mercy are we all going to turn black like that?
Page 2: Arms of the Royal Burgh of Campbeltown