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James Moore (1737 – April 15, 1777) was a Continental Army general during the American Revolutionary War. Born into a prominent political family in North Carolina, he was one of only five generals from the state to serve in the Continental Army. Moore spent much of his childhood and youth on his family's estates in the lower Cape Fear River area, but soon became active in the colonial military structure in North Carolina. Moore served in the colonial militia during the French and Indian War, and commanded the colonial governor's artillery at the Battle of Alamance, which ended the War of the Regulation. In addition to his military involvement, he was active in the independence movement, despite having been a supporter of the colonial government during his early career. Moore played a prominent role in the local Sons of Liberty organizations, and assisted in organizing the colony-wide extra-legal Provincial Congress. In 1775, he was elected the first commander of a Continental Line regiment in North Carolina, which had been raised pursuant to instructions of the Continental Congress. After distinguishing himself in the campaign that led to the Patriot victory at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, and the battle's aftermath on February 27, 1776, Moore was promoted to brigadier general in the Continental Army. He maintained his headquarters in North Carolina during early 1776 in order to thwart a threatened British invasion of the state but, in the latter part of the year, received orders to move his command to South Carolina. Moore briefly held ''de facto'' command of the Southern Department before his death due to illness in April 1777. He is remembered as a competent military commander whose early death ended a promising career. ==Early life and family== James Moore was born in New Hanover County in the Cape Fear region of the Carolinas in about 1737. His family had extensive landholdings at Rocky Point, located at a bend in the Cape Fear River about north of Wilmington. He was the son of Maurice Moore and his second wife, Mary Porter. His older brother, also named Maurice Moore, would go on to become a Patriot political leader in North Carolina during the American Revolution. His sister, Rebecca Moore, would marry a Revolutionary War leader, militia General John Ashe. Moore was, through his father's side, a grandson of Governor James Moore, who was governor of the Province of Carolina when North and South Carolina were a single colony. Maurice Moore had championed settlement of the Cape Fear region under Governor George Burrington. Additionally, Moore's uncle, Colonel James Moore, was a military leader during the Yamasee War. Moore's nephew, Alfred Moore, served in the Continental Army under Moore's command, and would go on to become an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Moore's niece, Mary, would later marry Moore's Continental Army colleague Francis Nash. Moore's extended relatives constituted the single most powerful family in the region, and were known by local settlers simply as "the Family". His nine aunts and uncles, and seventeen siblings and cousins on his father's side, married into other affluent families, developing a strong network in the region that perpetuated their wealth and influence, and increased their slaveholdings in each successive generation. By the time of the American Revolution, six of the ten largest slaveholders in the lower Cape Fear region were in some way related to Moore. The Moore family relied on the production of naval stores and lumber, as the lower Cape Fear was unsuited to mass cultivation of more profitable products and crops like rice and indigo. One early description of Moore states that he spent his early years on his father's plantation, until that tract sold in 1761. In his adulthood, Moore married Anna Ivey, with whom he had two sons and two daughters, all of whom survived him at his death. One son, James Moore, Jr., would serve in the American Revolutionary War as a lieutenant before being permanently disabled by wounds received at the Battle of Eutaw Springs. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「James Moore (Continental Army officer)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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