North Carolina has had at least two, and now we’re in a third one.

There was, of course, the big Civil War. And the Revolutionary War in North Carolina was more a civil war than a revolution.  North Carolinians were split between Loyalists and Patriots.  Each side had militias with generals and colonels on down to privates.

My multi-great-grandfather, Oyen Dowd, died in that civil war.  He was killed in the Battle of Lindley’s Mill in 1781.  (Fortunately for me and my grandchildren, he had the foresight to have a son, Owen.)   

The day before Lindley’s Mill, Loyalists had kidnapped Gov. Thomas Burke in Hillsborough and were taking him to Wilmington to the British.  The next day, a collection of Patriot militias from nine counties, led by a general (who was sheriff of Orange County), ambushed them and attempted a rescue.  Both sides had 500-600 men, and both sides suffered more than 100 casualties. 

Thomas Lindley, on whose land the battle was fought, died of a heart attack that day because he had sons on both sides. 

But this column is not a history lesson.  It’s a case study in how destructive, and sad, a polarized society can be.  And a warning for us in our time.

The Dowd saga in the Revolutionary War began with Oyen Dowd’s father, Connor.  He came to America from Ireland (Ulster) in 1754 with almost nothing, starting as a pack-peddler for an Irish merchant in Wilmington. 

He bought land along Deep River in what is now Chatham County.  By the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Connor owned over 7,000 acres, a tavern, store, distillery, tannery, ferry, four different kinds of mills and a fine house.  He also had what a visitor called a “parcel of negroes.”

With the war came decision:  Patriot or Loyalist?  Connor Dowd chose to be a Loyalist – from 1776, when he sent supplies to British troops at the coast to the very end.

Why?  He belonged to a denomination of Baptists who taught (following Paul in Romans 13:1) that it was wrong to oppose lawful government, that is, the British.  But his assets included wagons that were used to carry his crops and manufactured goods to Cross Creek (now Fayetteville) and return with merchandise and supplies.  One big motivation for Loyalists was maintaining trade with Britain.

Spiritual, material or both, Connor Dowd was an all-out opponent of the Revolution.

In 1781, he outfitted a band of 35 Loyalists, under the command of his son, Oyen.  They joined Fanning’s Loyalist troops and were there for the Patriot ambush. 

Cornwallis surrendered a month later, ending the war.  In this civil war, Connor Dowd had backed the wrong side.  He was deported and died a Loyalist pensioner in Ireland.  His property was confiscated and sold.  His family he left behind was destitute. 

Oyen’s widow’s letter to the General Assembly is sad to read.

This 1776-81 civil war in North Carolina was similar to the big Civil War.  Confederates and Patriots were alike in wanting independence.  They were revolutionaries. 

Loyalists in the Revolution were like Unionists in the Civil War.  They wanted the status quo. 

In both cases the state government was in the hands of the revolutionaries who required military service on their side.  It was difficult to be a Loyalist or a Unionist.

The civil war that’s going on now in North Carolina is not about political independence. It’s over religious liberty and intolerance, like Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Our current civil war will be discussed in this space in the next Daily Planet.

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Lee Ballard lives in Mars Hill.