Richard Caswell
| Richard Caswell | |
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| 1st & 5th Governor of North Carolina | |
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In office November 12, 1776 – April 20, 1780 |
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| Preceded by | Vacant (American Revolution) (Title last held by Josiah Martin) |
| Succeeded by | Abner Nash |
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In office May 13, 1785 – December 20, 1787 |
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| Preceded by | Alexander Martin |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Johnston |
Second Grand Master of Masons of North Carolina
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In office 1788–1789 |
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| Preceded by | Samuel Johnston |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Johnston |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 3, 1729 Harford County, Maryland |
| Died | November 10, 1789 (aged 60) Fayetteville, North Carolina |
| Spouse(s) | Sarah Caswell (nee Herritage) |
| Profession | Lawyer, Surveyor |
| Signature |  |
Richard Caswell (August 3, 1729 – November 10, 1789) was the first and fifth governor of the U.S. State of North Carolina, serving from 1776 to 1780 and from 1785 to 1787.
He was born on August 3, 1729 in Joppa, Harford County, Maryland, one of the eleven children of Richard Caswell and Christian Dallam Caswell. The younger Richard Caswell departed Maryland for the New Bern area of North Carolina in 1745.
While a member of the North Carolina colonial assembly, a post he held for seventeen years, he introduced a bill in 1762 establishing the town of Kingston, now Kinston, NC.
As an officer in the local militia, Caswell fought against the Regulators in the Battle of Alamance in 1771 during the War of the Regulation (1760-1771). According to some sources, he commanded the right wing of Governor William Tryon's forces at Alamance.
A lawyer and surveyor by training, Caswell represented North Carolina in the Continental Congress of 1774 and 1775. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Caswell was the commander of the district of New Bern, NC Minutemen. As a Patriot officer in the American Revolutionary War, Caswell led North Carolina militiamen in the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge. In 1780 he was also commissioned as a major general of North Carolina troops. At the Battle of Camden, his troops fled after the Virginia militia broke and fled in a panic exposing Caswell's militia to attack without greater defense, leaving the Continentals behind to suffer defeat.
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Wikipedia