A COLONIAL OFFICER AND HIS TIMES, 1754-1773: A Biographical Sketch of Gen. Hugh Waddell of North Carolina

Orig. pub. Raleigh NC 1890. Reprinted 1973. Print on Demand Edition 2021. (ii), (iv), 242 pp.

Gen. Hugh Waddell was a leading colonial and military official in North Carolina during the French and Indian War. This book, written by his great-grandson, Alfred Moore Waddell, gives much detail of his activities during the progress of the French and Indian War in the Southern colonies. While concentrating on North Carolina, there is information on his involvement in Virginia and South Carolina as well. His important role in resisting the landing of stamps during the Stamp Act crisis in 1765 is described in full. He also took part in leading troops against the Regulators but then later was critical of Governor Tryon for his harsh treatment in dealing with the rebels. Waddell died at an early age but he is still an important figure for his pre-Revolutionary activities. He was born in Lisburn, County Down, Ireland, the son of Hugh and Isabella Brown Waddell, both of Scots-Irish ancestry. He married Mary Haynes in 1762. She was a daugher of Captain Roger and Margaret Marsden Haynes of Castle Haynes which was located off the Northeast Cape Fear River just above Wilmington. Waddell was also an active merchant with his brother-in- law, John Burgwin, in Wilmington and had trading stations at Elizabethtown, Salisbury, Deep River, and Brown Marsh. The book closes with an account of the social life of the colony and an historical sketch of the former town of Brunswick, sixteen miles below Wilmington on the Cape Fear River.