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At the time of European contact, the Chowanoke were the largest tribe in North Carolina of the many in the Algonquian language family and it occupied most of the territory along the river. After suffering dramatic population decreases by the early 17th century due to infectious diseases from Europe, which they had no immunity to, most of the survivors were pushed out by encroaching Tuscarora, an Iroquoian-speaking tribe.
In 1585, the Ralph Lane Colony explored the Chowan River at least as far up as present-day Winton. In 1622, the John Pory Colony led an expedition from Virginia to the Chowan River. (Pory was secretary of the Province of Virginia.) In 1629, Sir Robert Heath was granted a patent to settle Carolina. This patent embraced Gates County.
The Chowanoke waged war against the encroaching colonists in 1644 but they ultimately lost. During the 1650s, colonists from Virginia began to move increasingly into the Albemarle Sound region. Colonel Drew and Roger Green led an expedition into the Albermarle area. In 1654, Francis Speight was granted a patent for 300 acres of land near Raynor Swamp. The first English settlement in Gates County was established near Corapeake in 1660. In 1670, Colonel Henry Baker of Nansemond County obtained a grant of land for 2,400 acres near Buckland. In 1672, Quaker leader George Fox visited Gates County. He described the county as barren.
The Chowanoke renewed their effort to expel the colonists, warring from 1675 to 1677. Following the English defeat of these forces, in 1677 they created a Chowanoke Indian Reservation, the first within the present-day United States. The 11,360-acre reservation was established at the Chowanoke settlement between Bennett's Creek and Catherine Creek in Gates.
From 1684 to 1722 Gates County was a part of the Chowan precinct. In 1711, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel established an Anglican school for Chowanoke and other local Indians at Sarum, with a Mr. Marshburn as the teacher. During the 18th century, the Chowanoke lost most of their land, selling off portions to help the tribe survive. Men's names were recorded in tribal conveyances, and many descendants can trace their ancestry to these families. Some members began to intermarry with other tribes, such as the nearby Meherrin people, as well as Englishmen and Africans.
Gates County was organized in 1779. It was named for General Horatio Gates, who had commanded the victorious American colonial forces at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777.
In 1806, white settlers established Middle Swamp Baptist Church as the first Baptist church in Gates County. This accompanied the Second Great Awakening revival in the South after the American Revolution, which was led by Baptist and Methodist preachers. In 1811, Savages United Methodist Church was established, the oldest Methodist Church in Gates County. Both denominations preached both to enslaved blacks as well as white residents, and they accepted slaves and free blacks as members and sometimes even as preachers.
The Chowanoke Indians lost their last 30-acre plot of communal land in 1821. Although Gates County residents were mostly yeomen farmers who owned few slaves, the South overall still had a slave society which classified people as either black or white. However, the Native Americans managed to maintain their culture and absorbed people of other races in their matrilineal kinship systems. The Chowanoke were increasingly classified as free people of color, as were free blacks and mulattos.
In 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette travelled through Gates County and was entertained at Pipkin's Inn.
County residents worked to develop better connections to major ports. From 1805 to 1822, they excavated the White Oak Marsh Canal or Hamburg Ditch (now known as Cross Canal), about three miles south of the Virginia line. It was Gates County's water route to the major port of Norfolk, running straight east for ten miles through the Dismal Swamp, from a landing on Daniels Road in Gates County to the Dismal Swamp Canal that led to Norfolk.
The Cross Canal is no longer a through route, as it was blocked by hurricanes that toppled trees and blocked access. Until the late 20th century, sportsmen in small boats used the Gates County end, at the site of the town of Hamburg, to enter the swamp.
Prior to the American Civil War, most of Gates County was covered with virgin timber. In 1861, A. J. Walton was chosen as Gates County's representative to the North Carolina secession convention. After North Carolina voted to secede, the "Gates Guard" company was formed to protect its borders. It was soon joined by a second company, the "Gates Minutemen". However, Gates County's greatest contribution was in supplying food to the Confederate States Army.
Jack Fairless of Gates County was dishonorably discharged from the Confederate army for stealing. He returned home and formed an outlaw band known as the "Buffaloes". Made up of draft dodgers, Confederate deserters, and renegades from both armies, Fairless's Buffaloes terrorized the old men, women, children who were trying to keep their farms going. Fairless was finally killed by his own men when they turned on him.
Fort Dillard was a Confederate post in Gates county, though the county was sometimes subject to Union raids. The story of the "Ellis Girls" is told even today. While fishing in the Chowan River, the sisters saw a Union gunboat on its way upriver to attack Winton. Union soldiers from the gunboat seized the girls and kept them prisoner on until they had finished burning down the town.
Adjacent Counties
- Chowan County
- Hertford County
- Perquimans County
- Suffolk, Virginia
- Camden County
- Pasquotank County
- Southampton County, Virginia
Towns, Townships & Communities
- Buckland
- Corapeake
- Eason Crossroads
- Eure
- Gates
- Gatesville (County Seat)
- Hall
- Haslett
- Hoflers Fork
- Holly Grove
- Hobbsville
- Hunters Mill
- Mintonsville
- Reynoldson
- Roduco
- Sandy Cross
- Selwin
- Sunbury
- Tarheel
- White Oak
Cemeteries
Links
National Register of Historic Places
NC Estate Files - Gates County
