dren, with thirty
great-grand children to mourn his loss."

JAMES ORR.

James Orr was born in Pennsylvania in 1750. He early espoused the
cause of freedom, and first entered the service in a company of
riflemen, commanded by Captain Robert Mebane; marched to Cross Creek
(now Fayetteville), and thence to Wilmington, to the assistance of
Generals Ashe and Moore. In 1776, he volunteered under Captain Thomas
Polk, in Colonel Charles' corps of cavalry, General Rutherford
commanding, and marched against a body of Tories assembled at Cross
Creek, but they were dispersed before the expedition reached that
place. Again, in 1776, he volunteered under Captain Mebane, and
marched from Charlotte to the Quaker Meadows, at the head of the
Catawba River, against the Cherokee Indians, committing murders and
depredations on the frontier settlements. In 1777 he served under
Captain Elaby, Colonel Hicks' regiment, in South Carolina.

In 1780 he served under Captain William Alexander, in Colonel William
Davidson's battalion, General Rutherford commanding, and marched
against the Tories assembled at Ramsour's Mill, in Lincoln county; but
the battle had been fought, and the Tories subdued and routed, before
the expedition reached that place. This was his last important
service.

SKIRMISH AT CHARLOTTE; OR, FIRST ATTACK OF THE "HORNETS."

After the battle of Camden, Cornwallis, believing that he would soon
bring the rebels of North Carolina into speedy submission to the
British Crown, left the scene of his conquest with as little delay as
possible, and designated Charlotte as the most suitable place for his
headquarters. This town had been previously the rallying point, on
many occasions, for the American forces, and from which they marched
by companies, battalions and regiments, to the front, whenever their
services were needed.

Cornwallis entered Charlotte on the 26th of September,
1780. His approach to the town was from the south, on Trade street,
and, after taking possession of the place, his army lay encamped
eighteen days in the old field, or commons, nearly opposite the
residence of the late M.L. Wriston, with the exception of one
regiment, which pitched their tents about midway between Charlotte and
Colonel Polk's mill (late Bissell's). The head-quarters of his
Lordship was in the second house in the rear of the present Springs
building, with a front yard facing on Trade street. Many years after
the war this building, in