Skirmish at the county courthouse

By Benjamin Sanderford

Johnston County was in need of a new courthouse in 1759. The old courthouse at Walnut Creek was cut off in Dobbs County (now Wayne County). As a replacement site, the colonial government chose a “quarter section” (160 acres) of land just east of present-day Clayton known as “Hinton’s Quarter,” after William Hinton, who agreed to allow the construction of a new courthouse on two acres of his property.

Hinton’s Quarter would be the base of Johnston’s administration until 1771, when the creation of Wake County resulted in the removal of the county seat to Smithfield. The most significant event to take place at the Hinton’s Quarter courthouse was a pre-Revolutionary insurrection that became notorious as far afield as London.

This is not how the insurgents imagined their movement would play out. Indeed, protesting the policies of the King and Parliament was the last thing many of them wanted to do. However, they were frustrated with what they saw as the unfair tax system of Governor William Tryon in New Bern. It did not help that the taxes were used to fund the construction of a grand new palace that most Johnstonians would never see.

Discontent festered throughout the 1760s. As time wore on, one man, John O’Neals, began to take the lead in defying the local authorities. Since he could not write,

O’Neals persuaded an ally, Elmer Henley, to draft letters to their neighbors calling on them to refuse to pay taxes assessed under colonial law.

Despite his illiteracy, O’Neals was evidently skilled at motivating the small farmers who felt cheated by the Tryon administration. Many of them signed his and Henley’s letters, causing considerable consternation at Hinton’s Quarter. By February 1768, the authorities felt threatened enough to bring Henley to court, where he admitted his own and O’Neals’s role in the unrest.

The political temperature rose over the spring and summer. Finally, in August, O’Neals led a group of around 80 men to the courthouse with the intention of capturing the county justices and, possibly, freeing his relative and fellow dissident Thomas O’Neals.

The justices, warned at the last minute, managed to call on their supporters to confront the insurgents. The rival mobs, armed with clubs and fists, fought on a nearby field. The brawl was intense, but the authorities eventually restored order and arrested the insurgent ring leaders, including O’Neals.

The attack on Hinton’s Quarter was hardly a revolution. The insurgents had no political program apart from their grievances, and these grievances related to local issues only. They also had little support from higher members of society who saw them as a vulgar rabble.

Nevertheless, the violence at the courthouse clearly showed that a reservoir of anger against the status quo was building up and the colonial elite would soon not only share it but direct it against Mother England herself.

Within two years of the skirmish at Hinton’s Quarter, a squad of panicky British soldiers would shoot into another mob in Boston, known as the “Boston Massacre.” Within seven years, the Virginian Patrick Henry would cry, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” Twelve months later, representatives from North Carolina and 12 other colonies would declare complete independence from the British Empire.

Meanwhile, back in Johnston County, John O’Neals escaped imprisonment and vanished into the mists of time, but his spirit remained strong. Defiance in the face of injustice and determination to succeed despite the odds still mark Johnstonians today.

In fact, the northeastern most township in the county still bears the name of O’Neals.

Benjamin Sanderford, a resident of Clayton, studied social science at UNC Greensboro. He can be reached at benwsanderford@ gmail.com.