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JOSEPH GRAHAM.

CHAPTER XIX.
JOSEPH GRAHAM.

A BRIEF memoir of the several members of the Mecklenburg Convention would present the interesting spectacle of noble spirits, capable of the highest efforts of patriotism, self-denial and manly daring, acting out in a secluded frontier and a narrow boundary all the imperishable principles on which our Republic is based. The great truths which their minds embraced and their hearts loved, will remain unchanged and unchangeable. They may be modified, but when they cease to be the principles of the American Republic, a new government will have arisen, a new battle will be fought in the renovated plains of Asia or Africa, or Liberty must depart from the earth for ever.

The distance from a flourishing printing-press—so great an evil during the Revolution—has been unfavorable to the notoriety of these retired but eminent men. Short memoirs, funeral orations, and collections of anecdotes, prepared by friends, which would have given all the desired information, were left to perish in manuscript, or die with those who had been witnesses, or live in the dim and twilight existence of tradition. All the prominent actors in the events of May 20th and 30th, 1775, have passed away; very few of those who were witnesses, and in the early days of youth, are living at this distant period; only here and there is one who can tell the deeds and recount the sufferings, and relate the anecdotes of the men of the Revolution. Brief notices will be given, interspersed in the body of the narratives and intermingled in the chapters, concerning these men whose memory must be dear to posterity.

The man whose name stands at the head of this chapter, may be taken as an example of the enterprise, and labors, and sufferings of the young men of Carolina, who in defence of liberty spent their strength, gave their property, and shed their blood. There were multitudes whose names are worthy of a record, not so fortunate as this man, that found in a son-in-law a recorder of his deeds and a memorialist of his life, who has favored the public with a specimen of Mecklenburg youth in the Revolution.

As you go from Beattie's Ford towards Lincolnton, about eight