Fact Friday 456 - The Battle of the Bees

Painting: Charles Cornwallis by Thomas Gainsborough, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Happy Friday, and happy almost-Halloween!

Looking for a scary story this week? Try being a British soldier in Mecklenburg County in the fall of 1780.

On September 26, 1780, Lord Cornwallis and his army marched into Charlotte (you can read about that day in Fact Friday 209: The Battle of Charlotte Reenactment). Holding the town turned out to be harder than taking it. Supplies ran low, so on October 3, Cornwallis sent officer John Doyle into the countryside to forage, with several hundred soldiers, a cavalry detachment and about 40 wagons. They headed up what's now Beatties Ford Road to the McIntyre family's farm, about seven miles from town.

Waiting for them were about a dozen local men led by Captain James Thompson (accounts put the number at 13 or 14). While the soldiers chased chickens and loaded up the wagons, one of them knocked over a beehive. The angry bees sent the redcoats scattering, and in the confusion, Thompson's men opened fire.

The first volley reportedly killed a British captain, nine men and two horses. Historian Joseph Graham later counted 8 British dead and 12 wounded in all. Convinced he was outnumbered, Doyle ordered a retreat. Dead horses blocked the road, and the Patriots kept firing on the soldiers as they pulled back toward Charlotte.

Nine days later, on October 12, Cornwallis gave up on Charlotte after a 16-day stay. He reportedly called the place a "damned hornet's nest," a name Charlotte has proudly worn ever since (more on that in Fact Friday 294: The Return of the Hornets and hornet significance).

The McIntyre farmhouse stood for another 160 years, still marked with bullet holes, until its private owner tore it down in 1941. In the 1920s, local resident Edward Lee Baxter Davidson built a fieldstone monument next to the farm site, and Mecklenburg County opened a historic site there on October 5, 1976, 50 years ago this month. You can still visit at Beatties Ford Road and McIntyre Avenue.

That nickname stuck. More than two centuries later, it gave Charlotte's NBA team its name, and it's why you'll see hornets all over town (and all over our store). So this Halloween, if you hear buzzing, think of Captain Thompson. Then rep the nest in classic teal and purple with the Cartoon Hornet Tee, the Retro Hornet Tee or the Hive Hoodie.

More Fact Friday: The Battle of Charlotte Reenactment, The Battle of Cowan's Ford and The Return of the Hornets.

Sources: NCpedia: McIntyre's Farm, Battle of; Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission: Battle of McIntyre's Farm Monument; Wikipedia: Battle of McIntyre Farm; WCNC: Charlotte to celebrate 250th anniversary