At the Convention of Delegates in Charlotte on the 19th and 20th of
May, 1775, Capt. James Jack was one of the deeply interested
spectators, and shared in the patriotic feelings of that ever
memorable occasion. He was then about forty-three years of age--brave,
energetic and ready to engage in any duty having for its object the
welfare and independence of his country. After the passage of the
patriotic resolutions, elsewhere given in this volume, constituting
the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, Capt. Jack, for his
well-known energy, bravery and determination of character, was
selected to be the bearer of them to Congress, then in session in
Philadelphia. Accordingly, as soon as the necessary preparations for
traveling could be made, he set out from Charlotte on that long,
lonesome and perilous journey, _on horseback_. There were then nowhere
in the American colonies, _stages_ or _hacks_ to facilitate and
expedite the weary traveler. Express messengers were alone employed
for the rapid transmission of all important intelligence. On the
evening of the first day he reached Salisbury, forty miles from
Charlotte, before the General Court, then in session, had adjourned.
Upon his arrival, Colonel Kennon, an influential member of the Court,
who knew the object of Captain Jack's mission, procured from him the
copy of the Mecklenburg resolutions of independence he had in charge,
and read them aloud in open court. All was silence, and all apparent
approval (_intentique ora tenebant_) as these earliest key-notes of
freedom resounded through the hall of the old court house in
Salisbury. There sat around, in sympathizing composure, those sterling
patriots, Moses Winslow, Waightstill Avery, John Brevard, William
Sharpe, Griffith Rutherford, Matthew Locke, Samuel Young, Adlai
Osborne, James Brandon, and many others, either members of the court,
or of the county "Committee of Safety." The only marked opposition
proceeded from two lawyers, _John Dunn_ and _Benjamin Booth Boote_,
who pronounced the resolutions _treasonable_, and said Captain Jack
ought to be detained. These individuals had previously expressed
sentiments "inimical to the American cause." As soon as knowledge of
their avowed sentiments and proposed detention of Captain Jack reached
Charlotte, the patriotic vigilance of the friends of liberty was
actively aroused, and a party of ten or twelve armed horsemen promptly
volunteered to proceed to Salisbury, arrest said