Schooling America’s First Generation
The children of the revolution were schooled at home or taught in church schools. Public education would not become available for another one hundred years. The male children of Guilford County, North Carolina were fortunate to have the Log Cabin College of David Caldwell (1725-1824) whose home and school were located near the bicentennial park in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Dr. David Stewart Caldwell, a Doctor of Medicine and divinity, founded the Buffalo Creek Presbyterian Church in 1756. His students included such notables as the first territorial judge appointed by President George Washington, Judge John
McNary and Rev. Barton W. Stone, founder of the Disciples of Christ.
The story of David Caldwell’s role in the American Revolution is told in my
books Spring House and Adam’s Daughters. His efforts to preserve the battlefield
of Guilford Courthouse unfold in the first three chapters of the Children of the
Revolution.
During the Revolution, General Cornwallis offered £200 for the capture of Rev.
Caldwell for his activity against the crown. The beloved minister was hidden by
church members and his family protected. After the battle at Guilford Courthouse
on March 15, 1781, he and his wife Rachel set up a field hospital in the McNary
home to tend the wounded.
Adam Mitchell’s six children witnessed the bloody battle from the family spring
house; they were truly children of the revolution, their resiliency and patriotism
born on the battlefield of Guilford Courthouse.
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