tched their tent in the
wilderness, for there were but few human abodes to offer them shelter.
The chief occupants of the soil were the wild deer, turkeys, wolves,
raccoons, opossums, with huge rattlesnakes to contest the intrusion.
Fortunately for the homeless immigrant the climate was genial, and the
stately tree would afford him shelter while he constructed a house out
of logs proffered by the forest. Soon they began to fell the primeval
forest, grub, drain, and clear the rich alluvial lands bordering on the
river, and plant such vegetables as were to give them subsistence.

In course of time a town was formed, called Campbellton, then Cross
Creek, and after the Revolution, in honor of the great Frenchman, who
was so truly loyal to Washington, it was permanently changed to
Fayetteville.

The immigration to North Carolina was accelerated, not only by the
accounts sent back to the Highlanders of Scotland by the first settlers,
but particularly under the patronage of Gabriel Johnston, governor of
the province from 1734 until his death in 1752. He was born in Scotland,
educated at the University of St. Andrews, where he became professor of
Oriental languages, and still later a political writer in London. He
bears the reputation of having done more to promote the prosperity of
North Carolina than all its other colonial governors combined. However,
he was often arbitrary and unwise with his power, besides having the
usual misfortune of colonial governors of being at variance with the
legislature. He was very partial to the people of his native country,
and sought to better their condition by inducing them to emigrate to
North Carolina. Among the charges brought against him, in 1748, was his
inordinate fondness for Scotchmen, and even Scotch rebels. So great, it
was alleged, was his partiality for the latter that he showed no joy
over the king's "glorious victory of Culloden;" and "that he had
appointed one William McGregor, who had been in the Rebellion in the
year 1715, a Justice of the Peace during the late Rebellion (1745) and
was not himself without suspicion of disaffection to His Majesty's
Government."[21]

The "Colonial Records of North Carolina" contain many distinctively
Highland names, most of which refer to persons whose nativity was in the
Scottish Highlands; but these furnish no certain criterion, for
doubtless some of the parties, though of Highland parents, were born in
the older provinces, while in later