NEWS

Hornets are not the only stinging insects connected with our area’s involvement in the Revolutionary War. A skirmish at McIntyre’s (McIntire’s) farm, which occurred just after the Battle of Charlotte, is sometimes referred to as the “Battle of the Bees.” This small encounter was one of many that served to slow down the Loyalists’ march toward Virginia.

There are many accounts of this skirmish, including a January 4, 1825, Catawba Journal report by Joseph Graham, whose brother George participated in the affray. The accounts differ; in addition, many were dramatic or romanticized. And none were written by actual participants. For this article I’ve relied mainly on a history by William Foote, published in 1846 and based on his interviews of participants.

After the battle of Charlotte, the British needed to replenish their supplies. Realizing that the farms surrounding Charlotte could provide grain, fodder, and provisions for the troops,  General Cornwallis ordered Maj. John Doyle to lead an expedition of forty wagons, a cavalry detachment, and as many as 450 men to scour the countryside. On October 3, 1780, as they proceeded up the road towards Beattie’s Ford, he left some troops to plunder McIntyre’s farm, which was about seven miles from Charlotte.

The family had been warned and had fled with as many valuables as they could manage. About a dozen members of the local Patriot militia, under the command of James Thompson, were also notified, and took hidden positions in the woods around the farm. They watched the British cavalry hitch some of their horses to the farm wagons and fill them with forage.

The McIntyre home in 1932. The house was demolished in 1941. (Watercolor by Martin E. Boyer Jr., Boyer family papers; image found (https://amrevnc.com/battle-of-the-bees/).

When British baggage wagons arrived, they loaded them with corn and oats. They then proceeded to catch the poultry and other livestock. In the process they knocked over some beehives, which resulted in utter confusion. Thus, the nickname “Battle of the Bees.”

At this point Thompson’s men, concealed in the bushes, began to fire, leaving eight or nine men and two horses dead, and twelve men wounded.  The Tories formed a line, but the Patriots had shifted their position and began to fire from another direction. The British apparently sent dogs in pursuit, but they proved ineffective. At this point the British began to retreat with their loaded wagons, but more neighbors had engaged in the fray, and some of the wagon horses were shot, blocking the road.

The British continued trying to form a battle line, which was futile in the face of the Patriots’ constant change of position. Doyle, a half mile from the skirmish and believing that they were facing a large force, ordered a retreat to Charlotte. His troops were harassed by local farmers along the way and entered Charlotte with mostly empty wagons. According to one of Doyle’s soldiers, they found a rebel in every bush.

Today the site of this British defeat is almost forgotten, with just a marker and a historical site, which opened on October 5, 1976, to memorialize it. Despite attempts by the Landmarks Commission, the site itself is undeveloped.

For more detailed information, see William Henry Foote, Sketches of North Carolina, Historical and Biographical (New York: Robert Carter, 1846), available here.

See also “The Battle of the Bees” here.