colonial history others belong to
the Scotch-Irish, who came in that great wave of migration from Ulster,
and found a lodgment upon the headwaters of the Cape Fear, Pee Dee and
Neuse. Many of the early Highland emigrants were very prominent in the
annals of the colony, among whom none were more so than Colonel James
Innes, who was born about the year 1700 at Cannisbay, a town on the
extreme northern point of the coast of Scotland. He was a personal
friend of Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, who in 1754 appointed him
commander-in-chief of all the forces in the expedition to the
Ohio,--George Washington being the colonel commanding the Virginia
regiment. He had previously seen some service as a captain in the
unsuccessful expedition against Carthagenia.

The real impetus of the Highland emigration to North Carolina was the
arrival, in 1739, of a "shipload," under the guidance of Neil McNeill,
of Kintyre, Scotland, who settled also on the Cape Fear, amongst those
who had preceded him. Here he found Hector McNeill, called "Bluff
Hector," from his residence near the bluffs above Cross Creek.

Neil McNeill, with his countrymen, landed on the Cape Fear during the
month of September. They numbered three hundred and fifty souls,
principally from Argyleshire. At the ensuing session of the legislature
they made application for substantial encouragement, that they might
thereby be able to induce the rest of their friends and acquaintances to
settle in the country. While this petition was pending, in order to
encourage them and others and also to show his good will, the governor
appointed, by the council of the province, a certain number of them
justices of the peace, the commissions bearing date of February 28,
1740. The proceedings show that it was "ordered that a new commission of
peace for Bladen directed to the following persons: Mathew Rowan, Wm.
Forbes, Hugh Blaning, John Clayton, Robert Hamilton, Griffeth Jones,
James Lyon, Duncan Campbel, Dugold McNeil, Dan McNeil, Wm. Bartram and
Samuel Baker hereby constituting and appointing them Justices of the
Peace for the said county."[22]

These were the first so appointed. The petition was first heard in the
upper house of the legislature, at Newbern, and on January 26, 1740, the
following action was taken:

"Resolved, that the Persons mentioned in said Petition, shall be free
from payment of any Publick or County tax for Ten years next ensuing
their Arrival.

"Re