James Moore (Continental Army officer)

James Moore was a Continental Army general during the American Revolutionary War. Born into a prominent political family in the colonial Province of North Carolina, he was one of only five generals from North Carolina to serve in the Continental Army. Moore briefly held de facto command of the Southern Department before his death due to illness in April 1777.

About James Moore (Continental Army officer) in brief

James Moore was a Continental Army general during the American Revolutionary War. Born into a prominent political family in the colonial Province of North Carolina, he was one of only five generals from North Carolina to serve in the Continental Army. Moore was active in the independence movement, despite having been a supporter of the colonial government during his early career. He was elected the first commander of a Continental Line regiment in North Carolina in 1775. Moore briefly held de facto command of the Southern Department before his death due to illness in April 1777. He is remembered as a competent military commander whose early death ended a promising career. Moore had experience as a military officer before the American Revolution. James Moore was born in New Hanover Precinct in the Cape Fear region of the Carolinas in about 1737. His family had extensive landholdings at Rocky Point, located at a bend in thecape Fear River about 15 miles north of Wilmington. Moore’s nephew, Alfred Moore, served in the. Continental Army under Moore’s command and would go on to become an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. His sister, Rebecca Moore, would marry a Revolutionary War leader, militia General John Ashe. The Moore family relied on the production of naval stores and lumber, as the lower Cape Fear was unsuited to mass cultivation of more profitable products and crops like rice and indigo. In 1766 Moore led an armed mob that occupied the de facto capital of Brunswick, North Carolina.

The mob appointed Moore as its delegate to confront the royal comptroller of customs, William Pennington, who had taken refuge at Tryon’s home. Moore would not give in to the demands of the mob and resigned his post, swearing that he would not swear to the swearing of his post. He died in 1777, leaving behind a wife and two children, all of whom survived him at his death. His older brother, also named Maurice Moore II, would later become a Patriot political leader in the North Carolina during the Revolution. His uncle, Colonel James Moore, was a military leader during the Yamasee War. Moore remained in command of a provincial garrison company at Fort Johnston during the French and Indian War. During that conflict, he led to South Carolina to defend that colony against Cherokee attacks brought on by the Anglo-Cherokee War. By the time of theAmerican Revolution, six of the ten largest slaveholders in the lower. Cape Fear area were in some way related to Moore. He had nine aunts and uncles, and seventeen siblings and cousins on his father’s side, married into other affluent families, developing a strong network in the region that perpetuated their wealth and influence. Moore died in April 1917, aged 80. He leaves behind a son, James Moore Jr., who was a lieutenant before being permanently disabled by wounds received at the Battle of Eutaw Springs. He also had a daughter, Mary Moore, who would later marry Moore’s Continental Army colleague Francis Nash, and a son-in-law, Francis Nash.

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