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The first blood shed in the southern war Of the
revolution, flowed from the veins Of the PoLks in
the battle where Captain Ezekiel Polk, and the
late COL William Polk, an officer under him,
with their Mecklenburg volunteers, met in hostile
array the enemies of America. That company
formed part of Col. IHompson's regiment,
which received a vote of thanks from the same
national Congress that declared the INDEPEN-
DENCE OF THE UNITED STATES
See Congress Journals goth July, 1776


And yet it is pretended that Ezekiel Polk was
"a TORY The tories of the revolution did not
carry certificates like this commission, nor win
the special thanks of the Congress of 1776.


Again: it has not been denied, but. on the con-
traTy, admired to be true, that shortly after the
revolution, or just before its closenost certainly
after Lord Corna0dllis had left Charlotte, and
North Carolina, too, torever-Ezekiet Polk was
appointed a Colonel of MECKLENBURG
county. He must have received his appointment
from the legislature, as, by the North Carolina
constitution of 1776, that body alone had power
to elect I" field officers of the militia" Now,
there is no instance in which the North Carolina
assembiyslsoon after the revolution) conferred
such an appointment upon one who was suspect
ed Of toryism


The feeling and the practice were so much the
other way, that without any clear authority for it
under the constitution, the Legislators of those
days actually eIpetted members OF TIE body from
their seats, If they had been tories in the reuOtu-
ton, as unscortky to sat toitk patriots! -


The journals of our assembly show that this
practice prevailed at all times up to the beginning
of the present century And who can believe
that the very same men who expelled tories from
theirow body would have appointed Ezekiel
Polk So field officer of the militia" had he been
guilty Of toryisns suspected of il, in that day.
L cannot be creditedl5 ea.- =.


{ Again: remember that Mecklenburg county
received from the British commander the distin-
gushing epithet of "the. hornets nest" and is it
probable that the '76 wings of Mecklenburg
would have mustered quietly under the command
of a tory cokoael? No--neverl This libel up