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Topics Related to This Day in North Carolina History
On November 18, 1915, the Confederate Women’s Home opened in Fayetteville.
On November 18, 1799, Glasgow County, in eastern North Carolina, was renamed Greene County.In 1791, Dobbs County was split. Half became Lenoir County, named for Revolutionary War General William Lenoir, and half became Glasgow County, for North Carolina’s first Secretary of State James Glasgow.
On November 18, 1879, the first North Carolina Colored State Fair opened in Raleigh. Born out of the desire by men of the Colored Industrial Association of North Carolina to showcase the progress made by African Americans after Emancipation, the fair was based on the successful model of the State Fair held by the State Agricultural Society since the 1850s.
On November 18, 1781, British forces under Maj. James Craig evacuated Wilmington. Previously, the town was threatened by the Loyalist campaign that culminated in the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge in 1776, and was afterwards briefly blockaded by a British fleet.Major Craig captured Wilmington, North Carolina’s major seaport, in January 1781. With less than 300 men available for duty, he could do nothing to expand British control of the area. He received little support from local Loyalists due to the small size of his command.
On November 17, 1862, 19-year-old James Wells Champney drafted a collection of small images titled “First impressions of North Carolina, sketched in cars on the [way] to newbern.”The son of a painter-illustrator, Champney apprenticed in Boston to become a master wood engraver, but the outbreak of war interrupted his artistic training. He volunteered for the 45th Massachusetts and deployed to North Carolina in November 1862 as part of reinforcements for the Union occupational forces then at New Bern.
On November 17, 1753, fifteen Moravian men from Pennsylvania arrived in present-day Forsyth County on the land they called Wachovia. Bethabara, which means “House of Passage,” was the first community built in Wachovia.
On November 17, 1949, Cameron Village—one of the first shopping centers in the Southeast—opened in Raleigh. The shopping center was part of a larger, 158-acre planned development that also included single-family homes and several apartment buildings.
On November 17, 1908, local officials from across North Carolina met in Charlotte to discuss their experiences in city and town management. Governor Robert Glenn joined them, as did the mayors of Boston, Houston and Roanoke, Va.Gathered in the 500-seat auditorium of the Charlotte Academy of Music building, those present voted to form the Carolina Municipal Association, for the “advancement of good civic management in all municipalities.”
On November 16, 1765, North Carolina’s stamp master, William Houston, resigned his post amid demonstrations against the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act of 1765, the first direct tax placed on the American colonies by Great Britain, was intended to raise revenue to defray Britain’s national debt. The measure, however, was met with great disdain throughout the colonies.
On November 16, 1951, renowned writer, journalist and literary critic Edwin A. Björkman died in Asheville.Born and raised in Sweden, Björkman worked as a clerk, journalist and actor before coming to the United States in 1891. Upon arrival, he briefly stopped in Chicago and then joined a Scandinavian colony in Minnesota, writing for newspapers to support himself. He later wrote for several papers in New York, served in the short-lived League of Nations’ news bureau and taught Scandinavian drama at Yale before moving to Waynesville in 1925.