William Polk (colonel)

Colonel
William Polk
Member of North Carolina Council of State[1]
In office
1806–1807
Serving with Robert Burton, Nathaniel Jones, William Boylan, Bryan Whitfield, Reuben Wood, Lawrence Smith
Appointed by North Carolina House of Commons
Governor Nathaniel Alexander
Supervisor of Internal Revenue for the District of North Carolina
In office
1791–1808
Appointed by George Washington
Member of the North Carolina House of Commons
In office
1785–1786
Serving with Elijah Robertson
Governor Alexander Martin then Richard Caswell
Preceded by Ephraim McLean
Succeeded by Robert Ewing/Robert Hayes
Constituency Davidson County (now part of Tennessee)
Member of the North Carolina House of Commons
In office
1787–1788
Serving with Caleb Phifer
Governor Samuel Johnston
Preceded by George Alexander
Succeeded by Joseph Douglass
Constituency Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
Fifth Grand Master of Masons of North Carolina[2]
In office
1799–1801
Preceded by William Richardson Davie
Succeeded by John Louis Taylor
Personal details
Born 9 July 1758
Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
Died 14 Jan 1834
Raleigh, North Carolina
Resting place City Cemetery, Raleigh, North Carolina Section E-3
35°46′41″N 78°37′57″W / 35.77802°N 78.63237°W / 35.77802; -78.63237
Political party Federalist
Spouse(s) Griselda Glichrist(1789-1799), Sarah Hawkins (1801-1843)
Relations James K. Polk (first cousin, once removed), Ezekiel Polk (nephew of), Leonidas Polk (father of)
Alma mater Queen's College(not Queens University of Charlotte)
Occupation Soldier, Surveyor, Land Speculator, Banker, Politician, Educator
Signature
Military service
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch Army
Years of service 1775-1781
Rank Major, later Lieutenant-Colonel
Battles/wars Canebrake, Brandywine, Germantown, Camden, Cowan's Ford, Guilford Court House, and Eutaw Springs
Survivor of The 1777/1788 Encampment at Valley Forge
[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

Colonel William Polk (9 July 1758 – 14 January 1834) was a North Carolina banker, educational administrator, political leader, renowned Continental officer in the War for American Independence, and survivor of the 1777/1778 encampment at Valley Forge.

Early life and background

William Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, on July 9, 1758, the eldest child of Thomas Polk and his wife Sussana Spratt. From the earliest days of rebellion against British authority, Mecklenburg had been a hotbed of revolutionary fervor, and the Polk family was very active in this cause. William's father was commander of the local militia, a rumored key player in adoption of the Mecklenburg Resolves of May 31, 1775, and later colonel of the 4th North Carolina Regiment, Continental Line.

Following their father's example, three of Thomas Polk's sons served as officers in the war against the British. The younger Thomas was killed in action serving alongside his brother William at the Battle of Eutaw Springs.[11][12]

American Revolutionary War

Lieutenant-Colonels Polk and Middleton were no less conspicuous for their good conduct than their intrepidity, and the troops under their command gave a specimen of what may be expected from men naturally brave when improved by proper discipline.[23]

Post-war years

Politician and public servant

In 1783 the North Carolina General Assembly appointed Polk as Surveyor General of the Middle District, now a part of Tennessee. In this capacity Polk also acquired large tracts of land in the area. Twice he was elected to the House of Commons before returning in 1786 to his native Mecklenburg County.[3][6][8][25] He was re-elected to the House of Commons in 1787, served a one-year term and was re-elected in 1790.[9] He was a candidate for Speaker of the House in 1791, but was defeated by Stephen Cabarrus.[26] That March President George Washington appointed him as Supervisor of Internal Revenue for the District of North Carolina, a position he held for seventeen years, or until the Internal Revenue Laws were repealed.[26][27]

Polk was among the Continental Army officers who founded the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati on October 23, 1783.[28]

After the death of his first wife in 1799, Polk moved to property on Blount Street in Raleigh.[3][29] In December of that year he was elected Grand Master of Masons of North Carolina and served in that office until December 1802.[2][3]

Federalists in the state legislature nominated him for governor in 1802, but by a two-to-one margin he lost to John Baptista Ashe, a fellow officer in the Revolution.[3] Ashe died before taking office.[30]

Polk was appointed as the first president of the State Bank of North Carolina in 1811 and held that office for eight years.[3][6]

In March 1812, as war with Britain seemed imminent, President Madison offered Polk a commission as brigadier in the U.S. Army. A Federalist and opponent of the war, he declined the offer.[3][6][27] Not until August 1814, when the British sacked Washington, did he change his opposition to the war. Writing his brother-in-law William Hawkins, governor of North Carolina, he offered his services to the state in whatever capacity the governor saw fit. Inasmuch as North Carolina was not seriously threatened, he was not called upon.[31]

In June 1818 Polk became one of the first vice presidents of Raleigh Auxiliary of the American Colonization Society,[32] which sought to resettle free American blacks in a colony in West Africa. This colony developed as Liberia. Polk remained active in the group for many years.[3]

The Federalists nominated him as candidate for governor in 1814, and again he was defeated.[3]

Canova's Washington

Reproduction of Canova's Washington at the old State Capitol building.

After the War of 1812, the North Carolina legislature commissioned the celebrated sculptor Antonio Canova of Venice, Italy, to produce a statue of George Washington for the Statehouse. On Christmas Eve 1821 it arrived in Raleigh and was met with great fanfare, including a 24-gun salute, marching bands, and a parade of both houses of the legislature and the governor. In last position, just ahead of the statue, were veterans of the Revolution, with Polk bearing the Stars and Stripes. Polk also gave a speech that day.[33] The Capitol building burned in June 1831 and the statue was destroyed.[34] An accurate copy of the statue was produced in Italy from preserved molds in the 21st century and installed in the rotunda of the old Capitol building.

Lafayette's visit to Raleigh

Lafayette visited Raleigh in March 1825 as part of his Grand Tour of the United States.[35] Colonel Polk was appointed to give an address on the occasion.[27] After his speech, Polk and Lafayette embraced and wept in memory of what they had shared during the Revolution.[36] Lafayette attended various balls, dinners, and other events, including breakfast at Colonel Polk's home on the morning of March 3.[36]

Service to education

Polk was appointed as a trustee of the University of North Carolina in 1790 and served until his death, including a term as president of the trustees from 1802-1805.[3] Among other educational efforts, he founded a school for sixteen pupils in Raleigh in 1827 and assisted his wife Sarah in founding a school for poor children in 1822.[38]

Marriages and family

In October 1789 Polk married Grizelda Gilchrist,[27] a granddaughter of a former colonial attorney general of North Carolina.[3] She was born in Suffolk, Virginia, on October 24, 1768.[28] The couple had two children, Thomas Gilchrist Polk, born February 22, 1791, and William Julius Polk, born March 21, 1793.[39] Grizelda Polk died in 1799.[3]

On New Year's Day 1801, Polk married Sarah Hawkins.[3] Her brother William later was elected governor of North Carolina.[27] Sarah bore thirteen children, two of whom died in infancy.[39]

Notable relations

Death

Polk died on January 14, 1834, at his home in Raleigh.[44][45]

His obituary in the January 21, 1834, issue of the Raleigh Register contained the following:

Colonel Polk was at his death the sole surviving field officer of the North Carolina Line; and it will be no disparagement to the illustrious dead to say that no one of his compatriots manifested deeper or more ardent devotion to the cause of his country; that in her service no officer more gallantly exposed his life or more cheerfully endured privation and suffering, and that no one of his rank in the army contributed more by his personal services to bring that glorious contest to a successful end.
—The Raleigh Register, January 21, 1834, quoted by Marshall DeLancey Haywood[31]

Legacy

David Swain, the governor of North Carolina at the time of Polk’s death, said:

He was a contemporary and personal friend of Andrew Jackson, not less heroic in war, and quite as sagacious, and more successful in private life. It is known that Colonel Polk greatly advanced the interests and enhanced the wealth of the hero of New Orleans by information furnished him from his field notes as a surveyor, and in directing Jackson in his selection of valuable tracts of land in the State of Tennessee; that to Samuel Polk, the father of the President (James K. Polk), he gave the agency of renting and selling his (William’s) immense and valuable estate in lands in the most fertile section of that state; that as President of the Bank of North Carolina, he made Jacob Johnson, the father of President Andrew Johnson, its first porter; so that of the three native North Carolinians who entered the White House through the gates of Tennessee, all were indebted alike for the benefactions, and for promotion to a more favorable position in life, to the same individual, Colonel William Polk.
--David Swain, quoted by William H. Polk.[47]

Notes

  1. The Council of State at this time was an official advisory panel for the Governor, the members of which were appointed by the legislature. The name, and some of the authority, of the Council was later transferred to the body of the state's elected executive officials.
  2. 1 2 grandlodge 1998, p. 1
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 McFarland 1979, p. 114
  4. Angellotti 1923, p. 4
  5. Angellotti 1923, p. 14
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wilson 1888, p. 56
  7. Connor 1913, p. 428
  8. 1 2 Connor 1913, p. 586
  9. 1 2 Connor 1913, p. 697
  10. Connor 1913, p. 776
  11. William S. Powell, North Carolina Through Four Centuries, University of North Carolina Press, 1989, pp. 176, 177.
  12. William M. Polk, Leonidas Polk, Bishop and General, Longmans, Green & Co., 1915, p. 14.
  13. "Autobiography of Colonel William Polk" in The Papers of Archibald D. Murphy, William Henry Hoyt, editor, North Carolina Historical Commission, Raleigh, 1914.
  14. Mary Jones Polk Branch, "Memoirs of a Southern Woman," Branch Publishing, Chicago, 1912, p. 83.
  15. 1 2 "Autobiography".
  16. Murray 1983, p. 223
  17. "Autobiography", p. 404-405.
  18. Pension application of William Polk, S3706 fn51NC, Wake County, N.C., Superior Court of Law, spring term 1833.
  19. John Buchanan, The Road to Guilford Courthouse, John Wiley & Sons, 1997, p. 347.
  20. 1 2 "Autobiography", p. 407.
  21. "Autobiography", p. 408.
  22. "Autobiography"
  23. William M. Polk, Leonidas Polk, Bishop and General, Longmans Green & Co., New York, 1915.
  24. Mark M. Boatner, III, Encyclopedia of the American Revolution, Stackpole Books, 1994.
  25. Polk 1912, p. 140
  26. 1 2 Haywood 1905, p. 366
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Polk 1912, p. 141
  28. 1 2 Haywood 1905, p. 365
  29. Murray 1983, p. 122
  30. Congressional Biography of John Baptista Ashe 2000, p. 1
  31. 1 2 3 4 Haywood 1905, p. 367
  32. Murray 1983, p. 165
  33. 1 2 1902, p. 281
  34. Haywood, South Atlantic Quarterly 1902, p. 285
  35. Murray 1983, p. 222
  36. 1 2 Murray 1983, p. 225
  37. Raleigh Register 8 March 1825, p. 1
  38. Murray 1983, p. 188
  39. 1 2 Angellotti 1923, p. 16
  40. Angellotti 1923, p. 8
  41. Angellotti 1923, p. 22
  42. Fort Polk Public Affairs Office 2010, p. 1
  43. Angellotti 1923, p. 30
  44. Polk 1912, p. 144
  45. Wilson 1888, p. 57
  46. 1 2 3 Department of Correction 2011, p. 1
  47. Polk 1912, p. 143

References

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