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History Timeline

1729 - Royal Colony

The Proprietors (with the exception of the Earl of Granville) sell their shares to the Crown, and North Carolina becomes a royal colony. The governor is now appointed directly by the King.

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1759 - A Child Called Peter

A contagious and deadly disease called smallpox leaves Peter Harris an orphan. The Catawba Indian boy is welcomed into Thomas Spratt's home in Charlotte. Harris will remain close with his adoptive white family throughout his life. He will fight for the Americans during the Revolutionary War, and be buried in Spratt's family graveyard when he dies.

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1775 - The Shot

April 18, 1775 - The British are angry at the American colonists who defy orders to follow the monarchy's laws. Paul Revere rides his horse through the countryside and warns the minutemen, who were ready to fight at a moment's notice, that the British are coming. British soldiers called redcoats because of their uniforms, fire upon colonists gathered at the village green in Lexington, Massachusetts. The Revolutionary War has begun. 

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1763 - Chief of the Catawbans

Since beginning his rule in 1750, Catawba Chief Hagler has been a respected leader. He is known for working to keep alive the tribe's traditions while striving to live peacefully with the white settlers. Returning from a meeting where he had spoken on behalf of his people, Chief Hagler is killed by a Shawnee war party.

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1774 - Backcountry Politics

December 1774 - Colonists hold meetings and agree they will refuse to buy any more British goods. This refusal, called a boycott, further shows the British rulers that the settlers are determined to win independence. In Charlotte, citizens select a Committee of Safety, five men who will help carry out the boycott and inform citizens of its results. The men are John McKnitt Alexander, Abraham Alexander, Hezekiah Alexander, Thomas Polk and Ephraim Brevard.

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1774 - Intolerable Situation

March, 1774 - The British lawmakers, called Parliament, enact a series of laws designed to punish the port of Boston, where feeling for independence runs high. Colonists throughout America call the laws the Intolerable Acts.

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1763 - Native Land Deals

Representatives of Great Britain meet the Catawba Indians at the Great Congress of Augusta. An Indian interpreter named Hexayours, sometimes called Ayers, helps the tribe negotiate with the British for 144,000 acres along the banks of the Catawba River. This land will be set aside for the Indians. Since there is no American government yet, the British claim control of the land in the colonies.

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1640 - The Catawbans

The Catawba Indian Tribe was once part of several tribes of the Sioux Indian Nation in the west. They fled to the southeast to escape their enemies in 1640. Settling first in Botetourt County Virginia, the Catawba eventually established homes along the Catawba River by 1660. Their name, Catawba, means people of the river. There are several thousand members of the tribe.

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1775 - Rumblings of War

May 1775 - Charlotte's Committee of Safety, men who keep order among the citizens, learns that Britain's Parliament has decreed the colonists are in a state of actual rebellion. The Crown will not tolerate this revolt against its authority and will send troops to suppress the uprisings.

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1764 - Slave Trade

The first sale of a slave in Mecklenburg County is officially recorded. Prices are set in units of British currency, called pounds. The price paid for the African man is 75 pounds. Slaves are given new names by their masters. Some names, such as Joseph and Jacob, come from the Bible. Other names come from literature and history -- Romulus, Titus and Daphne. The slaves are not allowed to use their African names.

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