London instructed North Carolina to support the new offensive in a directive sent to all the colonies in January. According to British plans, the southern colonies were to augment Braddock's two battalions of redcoats to seven hundred men each. These expected recruits for the regulars were to be armed and uniformed by the crown, and returned home once their American service was complete Few, if any, North Carolinians enlisted in the regular service. The colony did, however, contribute soldiers to Braddock's army. In accordance with the acts passed in January 1755 for granting aid for the new campaign, the colony raised a company of one hundred men to serve under Captain Edward Brice Dobbs, and ordered it to join British forces in Virginia.

In February, Dinwiddie urged Capt. Dobbs to send his soldiers by water via Alexandria to hasten their arrival, and requested that Carolina also contribute rice and "400 lbs good Pork ... a Quantity of Bacon ... and in May or June some Beeves." [76] By mid March, North Carolina was able to collect in Virginia sufficient supplies of pork and beef for its own company for six months, remarkable in comparison to South Carolina and Pennsylvania which contributed "not one Farthing." [77]

In mid-April, Capt. Dobbs and his blue-coated company of eighty-four men sailed from Portsmouth near Ocracoke Inlet and passed through Williamsburg en route to Alexandria on the long journey to join Braddock's gathering forces. After an overland march across the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Carolinians arrived at Ft. Cumberland on May 301h, where they were attached to the army's Second Brigade under Col. Thomas Dunbar. Dobbs reported seventy-two men of all ranks present by this point, which demonstrated a loss or desertion of twelve soldiers since he and his soldiers left Williamsburg in April. Even after his company joined Braddock's army, discipline was a constant concern: two of Dobbs' men were convicted of desertion on June 6th and sentenced to receive one thousand lashes each. [78]

The story of Braddock's attempt to capture Fort Duquesne is a familiar one. His army left Fort Cumberland on June 7th, [79] and after he divided his command to quicken his progress, his advance force stumbled into a large party of French and their Indian allies within ten miles of the fort on July 9th. Following three hours of desperate fighting, Braddock was mortally wounded and the British were virtually annihilated. Dunbar had been following Braddock's van with the wagons, most of the ordnance and eight hundred fifty men, including Dobbs' company, none of whom were involved in the battle. [8]

British survivors fled back in panic to reach the camp of Col. Dunbar, who immediately marched the remnants of the shattered army, including the Carolinians, back to Ft. Cumberland, then commanded by Col. James Innes. Ingloriously, Dunbar then marched his regulars out of Ft. Cumberland for Philadelphia on August 2nd, which left the frontier dangerously exposed and vulnerable to French attack. [81]

The Carolinians, too, had seen enough; after the debacle, most deserted taking their arms with them, while others stole horses from the fort for their journeys home. Capt. Dobbs and perhaps a few of his company remained with Col. Inns and the Virginia provincials to garrison the fort. After Dunbar's retreat to Philadelphia, British military efforts in the middle and southern provinces came to an end. [82]

While Braddock marched slowly west from Ft. Cumberland to the eventual disaster his army was destined to suffer, Arthur Dobbs was not idle in North Carolina in his efforts to strengthen the colony's defenses. In April, Dobbs set out from New Bern to tour the colony and establish locations for new fortifications. He inspected the sandy islands at Ocracoke Inlet "to fix upon a place to erect a fort or Battery," and ordered the work to commence immediately. He did likewise at Topsail Inlet and at Cape Lookout, and described the later as having "the best of any harbor from Boston to Georgia." He strenuously recommended to the Board that a fort be built to safeguard this harbor for the "protection of trade of all the Southern Colonies." [83]

Soon after he viewed the coast, Dobbs set out in June "to view my Lands and ... the Western Frontier and fix a place to station our Frontier Company." With the assistance of young Captain Hugh Waddell, Dobbs ordered the construction of a fort on a tributary of the Yadkin River, a "Barrack" later to be named for the governor. It was while working to situate the proper location of the fort "to assist the back settlers," that Dobbs "was alarmed with a report" of Braddock's defeat, and resolved to return to New Bern. Traveling east, he ordered two wagonloads of ammunition to be sent to the frontier, and directed the militia officers of Anson and Rowan counties to meet him on the Yadkin, where he ordered each county to raise fifty men immediately, all to serve under the overall command of Captain Waddell "in case of any incursion."

In fact, the backcountry had already begun to see Indian attacks, including a July raid near the Moravian settlements at Wachovia. [84]

Given the thoroughness and activity with which Dobbs sought to protect what he called "this poor province," Dinwiddie's letter to him on June 13th in which he cautioned Dobbs "to keep your colony to the westward close on their watch" was hardly necessary. [85]

Upon returning hastily from the frontier in August, Dobbs resolved to summon the Executive Council "to consider further our present Danger," and was hopeful the assembly would "exert themselves to the utmost" when they met in the fall. The legislators, however, were apparently either not convinced that the military situation was as critical as Dobbs rhetoric seemed to indicate, or they were disinclined to commit any more of the colony's meager resources to the war effort when they convened on the September 25th. In Dobbs' opening address he implored the delegates "...to grant as large a supply as this Province can bear not only to defend your own Frontier and Sea Coast, but also to Act in Conjunction with our neighboring Colonies, the zeal you have hitherto shewn leaves me no room to doubt of your ready & hearty concurrence, it being for you all your Religion, Liberty and Possessions. I am sensible of the difficulty this Province lies under from the scarcity of coin or bullion and our paper currency not having credit to pass in our neighboring Colonies, I must therefore earnestly request you to support the credit of your Bills by giving... a security on your lands."

Yet despite Dobbs' urging, the house "granted a supply of £10,000, £9,200 of which is borrowed out of the [1754] Bills struck and not issued till his Majesty's pleasure is known." Only £800 in new paper was thus raised. Of the assembly's grant, £1,000 was to be used to construct Fort Dobbs, laid out by Capt. Waddell during the summer. The remaining funds were for "raising, paying, cloathing and accommodating" three new companies of fifty men each for service through November, to be placed at the governor's disposal for service in the northern colonies, and financed by a five-year poll tax of two shillings per taxable. The legislature saw no need to call out the militia, or even place them on alert.

Before the session ended on October 16th, the Assembly called for drafting unmarried militiamen for service outside North Carolina, an unpopular measure indicative of the aversion that existed among the people to extended military service. Perhaps Dobbs' eagerness to thwart the designs of the French supplanted his sense of reason at times, for he suggested to the Board of Trade in November that a system of forts be created on the frontier to be garrisoned by "all the convicted Felons and Vagabonds transported to the Colonies," who were themselves to be guarded at night by armed sentries. More realistically and at the request of the lower house, he intended to send arms to the "the Militia of the exposed Counties and near the sea coast," despite the province's lack of munitions. [86]

As the colony voted aid for his Majesty "as the circumstances of the Province will permit," and defended its frontier in the fall of 1755, Dobbs struggled to support the few Carolina provincials still at Ft. Cumberland, and was reduced to selling hogs in Virginia for the company's upkeep even into the new year. [87] "I have parted with the Assembly in perfect harmony," Dobbs reported to a friend, "and have done everything for Britain and the colony that they could reasonably have expected in the time." [88]

The war continued unsuccessfully in the northern provinces in 1755, after the debacle near Fort Duquesne. The unsuccessful campaigns of Massachusetts Governor William Shirley, who replaced Braddock as American commander upon the latter's death, led to his recall to London in March, 1756. He was eventually replaced by an energetic, experienced soldier, John Campbell, Earl of Loudoun, a strict disciplinarian and superb administrator who was thoroughly unimpressed by the provincials he was forced to rely upon. Loudoun, "a rough Scotch lord, hot and irascible," quickly concluded that Americans "lacked a proper sense of subordination to constituted authority," and were "untrustworthy as well as ungrateful," as historian Fred Anderson has recently written. He was unaccustomed to the recalcitrance he encountered in receiving troops, quarters and supplies from the colonial legislatures, jealous of their oversight prerogative and accustomed privileges. Loudoun's autocratic style of dealing with the provinces, including North Carolina, was a "pattern of requisition, refusal, threat and (finally) submission."

This was particularly true in the southern colonies, which felt no significant external threat until late in the war. Loudoun described the position of colonial governors in 1756 as "Cyphers ... who had sold the King's Prerogative to get their Sallaries; and till you find a Fund, independent of the Province, to Pay the Governors, and new model the Government, you can do nothing with the Provinces." Though Dobbs (who received a £1,000 salary from the crown) and the North Carolina Assembly had maintained a cordial and effective relationship, by the end of 1757, the governor would come to echo Loudoun's bitter sentiments exactly. [89]

Britain's campaigns in the colonies during 1756 were largely unsuccessful due to the confusion in command, the loss of Fort Oswego on Lake Ontario in August, lack of financial resources, and Loudoun's heavy handed, dictatorial style in demanding assistance from the colonies rather than seeking their cooperation. [90]

North Carolina, however, was not idle during this period, although its martial efforts to support Loudoun resulted in only limited results.

Throughout 1756, the colony continued to strengthen its defenses, on the coast and in the backcountry. Dobbs reported in January "we are erecting Batteries" at Ocracoke and Beaufort, "and finishing our fort at Cape Fear," and pleaded to the Board of Trade for ordnance and stores, which the crown eventually granted in July. He personally inspected the construction progress of the coastal fortifications during the summer, and pushed for their completion, though the colony was never subjected to a maritime attack during the course of the war. [91]

The governor was not unmindful of the more exposed western settlements. Dobbs praised the friendly Catawbas and the ranger unit raised in 1755 for their role in securing peace in the backcountry, "for our planters and the lower class here are indolent and inactive." [92]

He was able to advise London in early January, 1756 that fortunately "we have had no Attacks or Insults yet upon our Frontier, owing principally to our frontier Company," and their Indian allies. [93]

Though finding willing laborers to complete the work proved quite difficult, the colony's primary western outpost at Ft. Dobbs was erected between Third and Fourth Creeks of the South Yadkin River, and was under the command of Captain Hugh Waddell. [94]

This young officer had previously served as a lieutenant in the provincials with James Innes in Virginia in 1754, and may have owed his position to a family connection with Dobbs in Ireland. [95]

In addition to Ft. Dobbs, several smaller forts were erected at the Forks of the Yadkin and on the New River. Thanks to Waddell's rangers, the Catawba Indians and the developing western defenses "we are still here in peace," the governor was able to report in June. A month later, however, a careful Dobbs requested from Lord Loudoun two thousand stands of arms to supply the poorly armed militia, after the governor received ominous word of hostile Cherokees on the frontier, reports of which continued to reach New Bern throughout the year. [96]

Financial difficulties continued to plague efforts "relative to putting the Province in a proper state of Defence in Case of War." The colony's currency was still not accepted in other colonies, and little cash was available. North Carolina was forced to sell provisions abroad to raise money with which to supply their provincial companies serving in New York with Shirley and Loudoun, "a great Inconveniency." [97] Some provisions were sold by the colony's agent as far away as Antigua, with the proceeds then transferred to New York. Efforts to sell pork and cattle in Virginia to raise money were largely unsuccessful, as "many [were] not fit to be slaughtered." [98]

Dobbs reluctantly informed Loudoun in July of the colony's inability to continue "to maintain any troops out of this Province as we have no cash, and ... no credit out of the Colony." If more money was to be required the next year, Dobbs advised Loudoun that he "shall be at a loss how to raise it unless His Majesty allows us to strike as many notes as the publick service of the Colonies requires." He further complained to the British commander of the difficulties he faced procuring provisions for the Carolinians serving at Albany, "as there are additional charges not provided for [by North Carolina] such as tents, camps, furniture, Batteaus, Provisions, and ammunition." Unless the army advanced money for use in paying his provincials, Dobbs would be "obliged to disband our troops before the Assembly meets ... before the end of September," surely unwelcome news to Loudoun, who was already besieged by a host of other military concerns. [99]

Yet despite the financial difficulties North Carolina faced, and with only 12,931 men nominally on its militia rolls in 1756, [100] and those "being not half armed," it is remarkable that the colony was able to provide and sustain four provincial companies for service outside of its own borders, and strengthen its internal defenses as well. In January, 1756, Dobbs placed the three companies raised the previous year, as well as the company raised in 1754, at Shirley's (later Loudoun's) disposal by Dobbs, who was eager for North Carolina to play a more active military role against the French. These troops were supported largely by the assembly's previous £40,000 grant in 1754. The Carolina provincials marched under the command of Edward Brice Dobbs [101] to Albany by May, and later served in the Crown Point and Ft. Oswego campaigns. By the late summer, however, North Carolina was no longer able to supply their men, and the governor directed the officers to persuade the men to enlist in the regular British regiments in New York.

The British high command tried to enlist Dobbs' provincials in the regular battalions at Albany in August, after Dobbs offered to turn these companies over to Loudoun "in the handsomest manner." By the end of the year, Loudoun was disappointed to report that "the Carolina Troops would not Submit to be turned over, without force; which I thought better avoided." He also noted that of Major Dobbs' command, "a good many of the enlisted in the [Royal] Americans," the 60th Regiment of Foot. Those who declined further service were permitted to return home, though the parsimonious Assembly allotted no money for their transportation. [102]

Given the difficulties and debt he encountered recruiting and maintaining the troops in New York, Governor Dobbs eventually suggested that Loudoun make North Carolina "a recruiting Colony" for the regular army, paid for by Britain. Perhaps due to the trouble enlisting men in North Carolina for the King's service already recognized by British officials in America, the plan was never enacted." [103]

The Assembly met in New Bern on September 13, 1756, prorogued since the preceding October. In Dobbs' estimation, the outcome of the session was unsatisfactory, despite his opening speech to the House in which he urged them "to exert the same Zeal and Spirit you have hitherto done in granting supplies to support these Colonies." He continued his address:

"I have faithfully represented to his Majesty your Zeal and Spirit in supporting his undoubted right in America and his Majesty has greatly approved of your Zeal and Cheerfulness in granting the necessary supplies and is fully convinced that you will exert the same Zeal and Spirit in defense of your Religion Liberty and Possessions."

Despite Dobbs' expectations and the assurances professed by the house "that ... we shall at all times cheerfully and freely contribute to the utmost of our fortunes and abilities," the governor met with considerable disappointment. "All I have been able to obtain," he complained to the Board of Trade in late October, "is about £3400 and the appropriation of £1200 more which remained out of the sum of £12000 granted in March 1754 to raise and maintain the men first sent to Virginia." Citing "the indigent and poor state of this Province," the Assembly decided to forgo any assistance to Great Britain's military efforts outside of the colony, and concentrated instead on North Carolina. The new grant, to be raised by a two-shilling tax, a duty on imported wine and spirits, and advanced by new paper currency, was to construct and garrison a new fort for the benefit of the Catawbas against the potential and increasing Cherokee threat, and to pay for the existing garrison of Fort Dobbs.

"There is no money granted to assist the Northern Colonies," Dobbs lamented. He attributed this lack of support from the lower house and other southern colonies to a renewed concentration on internal defense in the aftermath of the English loss of Ft. Oswego, "Lord Loudoun having sent circular letters to the several Southern Governments to prepare for the defense of our frontiers." As the legislature predicted, the loss of Oswego facilitated French hostilities in the southern backcountry, and drove many panicked settlers eastward. [104]

The frugal House further agreed to provide supplies for a garrison for Ft. Johnston, only if such a force was sent by the King. Despite these setbacks, Dobbs continued to plead with the Board of Trade for ordnance, munitions, powder and "a twenty gun ship for the security of our trade." [105]

The situation in the Carolina backcountry indeed became troublesome in late 1756, which almost certainly contributed to the reluctance of the Assembly to send aid outside the colony's borders. Earlier in the year, the House heard from two commissioners sent to inspect the condition of the colony's frontier. The western settlements "were in a Defencelss Condition except that part near Fort Dobbs," which was "a good and Substantial Building," fifty-three feet by forty and made of oak logs. "It contains three floors," the report went on, "and there may be discharged from each floor at one time about one hundred Musketts." Waddell's garrison numbered forty-six effectives, "appearing well and in good Spirits." News of "abuses and robberies committed by Strolling Parties of Indians," probably Cherokees, reached New Bern in July. Dobbs instructed the ranger companies to patrol the frontier and to "repel force with force," and further ordered the shipment of powder and lead to their Indian allies, the Catawbas. "This is all I can do without calling a Council and Assembly," the governor advised his frontier lieutenants. [106]

Once in session, the Assembly also acted to better regulate its internal defenses, no doubt in part because of reports from militia officers of poorly trained and disciplined men, who "fly to the swamps" to avoid being drafted. During this session, a new militia act was passed, which raised the number of company musters per year to five, and laid out fines for officers who neglected their duty and for men who missed the musters. The House recognized the inadequacies of its militia system, and sought to improve it once hostilities seemed more likely. [107]

The Assembly's 1756 session ended on October 26th, prorogued until the following March. Before he dismissed them, the governor addressed the Assembly frankly and with obvious disappointment. "I am sorry to find the Circumstances of our Credit has prevented you from raising a much larger supply so necessary to repell our Inveterate Enemies and to secure the future peace of this Province," Dobbs chided them. [108]

Privately, he was more candid. Frustrated at the lower house's unwillingness to provide more money and men for the common defense, he bitterly characterized the Carolinians as indolent planters "with a low confined way of thinking for want of education, who can't be brought to know their danger until they are actually attacked." The Board of Trade, however, recognized the difficulties Dobbs faced. London was "sensible that the circumstances of the people of North Carolina will not admit of their contributing so largely to the Common cause as may be reasonably expected from other Colonies," and complimented North Carolina's support of the "interests of the whole and the good of the service." At least the governor could take heart that he and the House "have parted good friends, although they have not granted so large a supply as I desired and hoped for." [109]

While Dobbs and the Assembly concluded their business at the end of the year, great changes were soon to be made in London that would significantly affect Britain's management of the war. After the string of misfortunes for British arms in 1755 and 1756, Newcastle left the seat of power, and in December, 1756, William Pitt assumed the leadership of Britain's military agenda as the southern secretary of state, an event Francis Parkman termed "pregnant with glorious consequence." After a few months out of office in early 1757, Pitt returned in June to lead the invigorated war effort with a conviction that France could be defeated by an all-out war in the New World, instead of on the European continent. North Carolina was to be part of this new focus on an American campaign. [110]

Pitt wrote all southern governors in February, outlining Britain's plans for "the ensuing campaign," and a request for colonial assistance. He urged the royal governors to "use all your Influence" with their assemblies "in the strongest Manner to raise with the utmost Expedition as large a Number of Provincial Forces as may be for the Service of the ensuing Campaign, over and above what they shall judge necessary for the immediate Defence of their own Province," and to place these regiments under Loudoun's command. Pitt further urged Dobbs to see to it that the appropriations made by the lower house "will not clogg the Enlistments of the Men, or the raising of the Money for their pay &c with such Limitations." Most significantly, Pitt also promised "as a further Encouragement" that the costs of raising, arming and clothing the provincials would be at the crown's expense. This was a major difference from past years in which Britain demanded men and money from the colonies, which were left to their own meager resources to provide such support. [111]