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Cheek family Moore NC - Rev War reference
Posted by: Rebecca (ID *****6999) Date: January 01, 2004 at 23:18:47
  of 3323

I came across a reference to the Cheeks of Moore Co., NC, in the Revolutionary War journals of William Seymour. (On-line edition, http://battleofcamden.org/seymour.htm , originally published in the Pennslyvania Magazine of History & Biography, Vol. 7 (1883).)

William Seymour was a soldier under Gen. Nathaniel Greene, whose army chased the British around North Carolina and South Carolina from 1780-1783.

On Mar. 15, 1781, Gen. Greene's army fought the British at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. After the battle, Greene's army pursued the British for 2 weeks but couldn't overtake them. When thte Americans reached Ramsey's Mill on the Deep River (Chatham Co., NC), Greene decided to abandon the pursuit and turn south toward Camden SC.

William Seymour, in his journal, writes that on March 20, 1781, the army was at Ramsey's Mills. On March 30, he says that Col. Washington [i.e., Col. William Washington, a relative of George Washington] and the Horse and Infantry division marched to Wilcox's Iron Works to have troop horses shod. [The Wilcox Iron Works were located in Chatham Co. in the town of Gulf, which is on the Deep River about 15 miles south of Ramsey's Mills.]

On Apr. 3, 1781, Seymour writes that the army encamped at "MR. CHEEK'S PLANTATION". They then continued their march and reached Camden SC on Apr. 19.

Based on Gen. Greene's route, I think "Mr. Cheek's plantation" must be a reference either to Robert Cheek or Randolph Cheek who at that time (according to land records) lived on Tyson's Creek and the Deep River near the border of Chatham Co., NC, and Cumberland Co. (present-day Moore) Co.

If you look at a map, it is not hard to imagine that Greene's army, following the Deep River south from Ramsey's Mill past Gulf, heading toward Camden SC, would have gone right through the area where the Cheeks lived.

On April 4th, 1781, Gen. Greene wrote a letter to Gen. Francis Marion (the "Swamp Fox" of South Carolina), in which he describes his location as "camp, Deep River." He doesn't specifically mention the Cheeks. But this does prove that the "Cheek Plantation" referred to by William Seymour was on the Deep River and not in some other location. (Gen. Greene's letters to Frances Marion appear in the Appendix to "Sketch of Life of Brig. Gen. Francis Marion" by William D. James (1821), on-line edition http://www.historycarper.com/resources/fmarion/appendix.htm


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