Mary Drew Alston

GEDCOM Note

There are quite a few bullet holes just to the left of that arched door.

Phillip Alston built this house in 1772 in a bend of North Carolina's Deep River known as "The Horseshoe". It was one of the first "big houses" built in the upland as settlers began migrating further into the interior of the state.

Less than 10 years later, he nearly lost it (along with his wife and seven children) to a band of British loyalists.

Alston was leader of the local militia during the Revolutionary War. After the militia killed a British loyalist, a Tory leader named David Fanning mounted a surprise attack on the Alston home as retribution.

As luck would have it, a group of Alston's men happened to be meeting with him at the home when the attack began, and a skirmish ensued.

In the not-so-lucky department, Mrs. Alston and the seven Alston children happened to be there as well. The battle progressed with those aforementioned bullets flying until someone got the bright idea to set a wagon full of hay on fire and run it right up against the house.

That is the point at which mama said "enough". Legend states that she emerged from the home and basically told them all what they could do with their muskets and wagons full of burning hay. Not only that, but she negotiated the terms of surrender of her husband and his men.

Maybe she did so with his blessing. Then again, maybe Alston was just as astonished as the group of Tories who suddenly found themselves dealing with a riled-up mother.
Whatever the case, Alston and his men survived and lived to fight another day because his wife decided that the war would have to be won somewhere other than over the heads of her seven children. And so it was.

Alston House (also known affectionately as The House in the Horseshoe) is now open to the public as a historic site in Moore County, NC - bullet holes and all.

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Photo by Beth Yarbrough.