North Carolina Office of Archives and History

Centennial History of Alamance County by Walter Whitaker; Staley A. Cook; A. HowardWhiteReview by: Douglas L. RightsThe North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 28, No. 4 (OCTOBER, 1951), pp. 520-521Published by: North Carolina Office of Archives and HistoryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23515879 .

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520 The North Carolina Historical Review

estimate of the influence of the country church on its members

who have moved everything they can to the city except their

church letters. The author's evident tenderness in handling this

subject suggests the possibility that such an estimate might have violated the prefatory pledge quoted above.

Paul Murray. East Carolina College,

Greenville, N. C.

Paul Murray.

Centennial History of Alamance County. By Walter Whitaker in collabora

tion with Staley A. Cook and A. Howard White. (Burlington, N. C.:

Burlington Chamber of Commerce. 1949. Pp. xvii, 270. Map.)

Alamance County, North Carolina, was fortunate in the selec

tion of Walter Whitaker, a native son, to write the county history for its centennial celebration. Mr. Whitaker has combined sym

pathetic understanding with scholarship and has given an au

thentic and readable chronicle of the first century of his county. The story of Alamance, as presented, includes the Indians, the

early settlers, the conflicts of the Regulators and the Revolution, the origin of the textile industry, the coming of the railroad, ante-bellum Alamance, the War Between the States, hard times

of Reconstruction, and later developments with survey of prog ress in business, education, religion, agriculture, and other vital

interests of the county. Deserved emphasis has been given to two subjects : First, the

uprising of the Regulators, culminating in the Battle of Ala

mance, is clearly and comprehensively narrated and is worthy of

study in the other counties of the state. Second, the textile in

dustry, beginning with pioneer Edwin M. Holt in 1837, is de

scribed amply in its remarkable development. There are a few minor errors, such as listing the "Sinnagar

Indians" as a Canadian tribe instead of the Iroquois of New York

State.

Numerous illustrations add to the attractiveness of the book

and a liberal selection of "old time" scenes serves for better

understanding of the past. A likeness of President Harry S.

Truman, facing his message of congratulation, greets the reader at the opening of the book, followed by that of Governor W. Kerr

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Book Reviews 521

Scott, the second citizen of Alamance to serve as chief executive

of the state of North Carolina.

The volume is appropriately and beautifully bound in cloth,

Alamance plaid, furnished by Burlington Mills Corporation.

Douglas L. Rights. Wachovia Historical Society,

Winston-Salem, N. C.

Douglas L. Rights.

The Colonial Records of South Carolina—The Journal of the Commons

House of Assembly, November 10, 1736-June 7, 1739. Edited by J. H.

Easterby (Columbia: The Historical Commission of South Carolina. 1951.

Pp. xii, 764.)

It is good news indeed that South Carolina has begun the sys

tematic publication of its colonial records. The series here in

augurated will be of the utmost value not only to persons directly

concerned with the history of that colony itself, but to all those

interested in the formative period of this country. The plan is

first to publish in chronological order the journals of the Com

mons House from 1737 to the Revolution, next to print or reprint

uniformly and completely the earlier journals, some of which

have been separately published before, and then to move on to

the council journals and other categories of documents. The pro

gram is as praiseworthy as it is ambitious.

The period covered in this initial volume spans the life of a

single assembly. Threatened war with Spain and friction with the

new colony of Georgia over control of Indian trade caused trouble

to the south and west, but with the province's other neighbor,

North Carolina, relations seemed unruffled. The assembly unani

mously supported development of the postal service between

Charles Town and the Cape Fear. At home the familiar problem

of the currency led to a long and valuable committee report

(printed in full) recounting the history of paper money in the

colony since 1703. The most significant political episode during

these years was a prolonged controversy over the council's right

to amend money bills, an issue which remained unsettled when

the lower house was finally dissolved.

Because parliamentary procedure in South Carolina was extra

ordinarily complicated and the clerk was meticulous in entering

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