Finding Aid of the Spanish Invasion Papers, 1742-1748, SPI

The Spanish Invasion Collection is compiled by State Archives of North Carolina staff from various state government agency records and from materials donated by the public between 1903 and 1966. The collection documents the role of North Carolinians in the Spanish invasions of the North Carolina coast in the 1740s, as an offshoot of a series of disputes between England and Spain. It contains claims, receipts, accounts, and muster rolls. The materials cover the range from 1741 to 1748. The collection is currently stored in 1 Hollinger box.

The collection is arranged as followings:

Box 1

1741-1748 Miscellaneous Claims and Receipts for Provisions, Munitions, Equipment, etc., Spanish Invasion; Receipt from Even Jones (Craven County) to Martin Frank for items "pressed" March 22, 1741; Claim for "Vittels and Drink" provided by William Lord September 10-12, 1748; Claim of Joseph Blake, New Hanover County, for ferry services provided the Troops, September 5-12, 1748

Claim of William Simson for "Entertainment of all the people that were obliged to retreat from the town of Brunswick at the time of their being invaded by the Spaniards," September 10, 1748. Mentions Captains Inger Moore, Dry, and Quince being present.

Receipt to William Moore for various items secured on September 6, 1748; Claim of John Sampson for various items secured on October 10, 1748; Receipt from Louis DeRosset, Sheriff, to Rufus Marsden for various items secured September 8, 1748; Receipt to "Davies and Mackenzie" for various supplies consumed and military equipment and weapons lost and damaged, September 6-11, 1748.

Receipt to ______ Rutherford and Thomas Turnbull for gunpowder and shot "delivered Sergeant Dubose pr order of Joseph Blake, Esqr., the then Commanding Officer." John Sampson, Sheriff.

Receipt to Daniel Dunbibin for various items secured September 5, 1748. Mentions Major Swann, Benjamin Wheatley, Captain John Sampson, James Toomer, Joseph Blake, David Lindsay, and Rufus Marsden, JP.

1742-1743 Outfitting the "William of London" to combat Spanish privateers; 1747-1748 Muster rolls, New Topsail Company (John Ashe), William Dry's Company, John Sampson's Company; 1747: Thomas Lovick's Regiment: the alarm at Beaufort; 1748: Account of William Dry for munitions and provisions; 1747-1748: Expenses of Spanish prisoners; 1748: List of prisoners sent on a flag of truce to St. Augustine.

Upon the outbreak of England's war with Spain, North Carolina raised four companies of one hundred men each to join other colonial troops in the siege of Cartagena (in present-day Colombia). In addition to the four hundred men raised for the Cartagena expedition, it was necessary for the colony to raise forces for the defense of its coast. Spanish attacks on North Carolina shipping and port towns were continuous from 1741 to 1748 along the colony's coastline. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) ended the war in Europe and in America as well, and Spanish depredations along North Carolina's coast came to an end.