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JOHN BRANCH
1782-1863
Governor of North Carolina, United States Senator,
Secretary of the Navy, Member of Congress,
Governor of Florida, etc.
BY
MARSHALL DeLANCEY HAYWOOD
Author of "Governor William Tryon and His Administration in the Province of North
Carolina, 1765-1771," "Lives of the Bishops of North Carolina," "Ballads
of Courageous Carolinians," etc.
Reprinted from
THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
October. 1915
JOHN BRANCH
1782-1863
Governor of North Carolina, United States Senator, Secretary of the Navy,
MicMHEK OF Congress, Govkknor of Florida, etc.
JOHN BRANCH
1782-1863
Governor of North Carolina, United States Senator,
Secretary of the Navy, Member of Congress,
Governor of Florida, etc.
BY
MARSHALL DeLANCEY HAYWOOD
I
Author of "Governor W^illiam Tryon and His Administration in the Province of North
Carolina, 1765-1771," "Lives of the Bishops of North Carolina," "Ballads
of Courageous Carolinians," etc.
Reprinted from
THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET
October, 1915
Raleigh, N. C:
Commercial Printing Company
1915
^915
JOHN BRANCH
By Mabshaul DeLancet Haywood,
Author of "Governor William Tryon and His Administration in the
Province of North Carolina, 17G5-1771," "Lives of the
Bishops of North Carolina," "Ballads of Coura-
geous Carolinians," etc.
Before the office of Secretary of the Navy was created,
the functions which were later performed by the occupant of
that office devolved upon the Chairman of the Committee on
ISTaval Affairs in the old Continental Congress, and Joseph
Hewes, of North Carolina — a Eevolutionary statesman, who
made his name immortal by signing the Declaration of Inde-
pendence — was the first person who held that post. Since
the Revolution, five North Carolinians have, at different pe-
riods of our country's history, entered the President's official
family in the capacity of Secretary of the Navy, viz. : John
Branch, in the Cabinet of President Jackson; George Ed-
mund Badger, in the Cabinet of the first President Harrison ;
William Alexander Graham, in the Cabinet of President Fill-
more; James Cochran Dobbin, in the Cabinet of President
Pierce; and Josephus Daniels (present incumbent), in the
Cabinet of President Wilson. It is the purpose of the writer
of this sketch to give an account of the distinguished services,
both State and National;;' of the first of these five cabinet
officials. ' ' '
JoHiq- Branch, three times Speaker of the Senate of North
Carolina, three times Governor of that State, a member of
the United States Senate and National House of Representa-
tives, Secretary of the Navy, member of the North Carolina
ii JOHN BRANCH
Constitutional Convention of 1835, last Governor of the Ter-
ritory of Florida, and first Acting Governor of the State of
Florida, was born in the town of Halifax, in Halifax County,
North Carolina, on the 4th day of JSTovember, 1782, at a time
when his father, Lieutenant-Colonel John Branch, was
bravely participating in the War for American Independence,
then drawing to a successful close. The services of the Revo-
lutionary patriot, last mentioned, were useful and varied.
He was High Sheriff of the County of Halifax at the outbreak
of the war; and, while acting in that capacity, was a terror
to the Tories in that vicinity. The records of the Committee
of Safety tell us that he brought disaffected persons before
the committee and "prayed condign punishment upon them."
Ho was a Justice of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions
(a tribunal made up of all the magistrates of the county)
from December 23, 1776, until after the close of hostilities.
On February 11, 1780, he became Lieutenant-Colonel of the
Halifax Regiment of ISTorth Carolina Militia; and, as such,
served for a while in the army of General Greene. In 1781
he was one of the State Auditors for the Halifax District.
He was a member of the House of Commons at two sessions
during the war, 1781 and 1782 ; and once in 1788, after the
return of peace. He likewise served as a delegate to the Con-
vention of IsTorth Carolina which rejected the proposed Con-
stitution of the United States in 1788 — he voting with the
majority to reject. For many years after the war he held
a seat in the Council of State, during the administrations of
Governors Richard Dobbs Spaight (the elder), Samuel Ashe,
Benjamin Williams, and James Turner. Colonel Branch
survived the Revolution nearly twenty-five years. He be-
longed to the Masonic fraternity^ acd was a member of Royal
White Hart Lodge, No. 2, in thfe-iown of Halifax. A con-
temporaneous newspaper announcement of his death said :
"Departed this life, on the 14th of March, 1806, at Elk Marsh, in
Halifax County, N. Carolina, Col. John Branch, a soldier of the
Revolution. Of this good man, the voice of panegyric is wont to
JOHN BRANCH 6
sound praises in the most exalted strain. As a man, he was brave,
open, and ingenuous ; as a citizen, active and useful ; as a husband,
father, and master, he was kind, tender, and affectionate. The child
of sorrow found in him a protector ; the man of worth, a sincere
friend ; the poor and needy sought shelter beneath his hospitable
roof, and a numerous circle of acquaintances will partake of his
glad cheer no more forever. His morning sun was fair and un-
clouded ; its meridian, bright and effulgent; and its descending rays
insured him a glorious immortality."
In the Will of Colonel Branch, he left (among other prop-
erty) to his son Joseph "ten thousand acres of land in the
State of Tennessee, on the waters of Duck River." By the
same will, Joseph was given a 600-acre tract called "The
Cellar," near Enfield. "The Cellar" or "Cellar Field" was
afterward owned and occupied by Governor Branch, who
probably purchased it from his brother.
Colonel John Branch, Sr., was twice married : first, to
Kebecca Bradford (daughter of Colonel John Bradford and
his wife. Patience Reed), and left by her the following five
children :
I. James Branch, who was twice married and left an only
child, who died young, upon which his property (by the
terms of his Will) reverted to his brothers and sisters.
II. Martha Branch, who married General Ely Benton
Whitaker.
III. John Branch, Jr., subject of the present sketch, who
married (first) Elizabeth Eoort, and (second) Mrs. Mary
Eliza Bond, nee Jordan.
IV. Joseph Branch, who married Susan Simpson O'Bryan,
and removed to Tennessee, where he died in 1827, at the
town of Franklin, leaving (among other children) Lawrence
O'Bryan Branch, of North Carolina, who becam,^ a Brigadier-
General in the Confederate Army, and was killed at the
Battle of Sharpsburg, otherwise known as Antietam.
V. Patience W. Branch, who married the Reverend Daniel
Southall.
4 JOHN BRANCH
The second wife of Colonel John Branch, Sr., was Eliza-
beth Norwood, daughter of John I^orwood, and a sister of
Judge William Norwood, of Hillsborough, North Carolina.
By her he left the three following children :
I. William Joseph Branch, who married Rosa Williams
Harriss.
II. Washington Lenoir Branch, who married Martha Anna
Lewis.
III. Elizabeth Ann Branch, who married (first) Gideon
Alston, and (second) the Eeverend William Burge.
As already stated, one of the sons of Colonel John Branch
was John Branch (known as John Branch, Jr., during his
father's lifetime), and to the latter's career we shall now con-
fine this sketch.
It was in the General Assembly of North Carolina, which
convened at Raleigh on the 18th of November, 1811, that
John Branch, our present subject, made his first appear-
ance in public life, having been elected State Senator from
the county of Halifax. So acceptable were his services to
the people of his county that he was repeatedly re-elected.
Twice during the Second War with Great Britain, in 1813
and 1814, he was State Senator; and, as such, was a firm
supporter of the measures of the National and State admin-
istrations in prosecuting that war. He was chairman of the
Joint Legislative Committee which presented resolutions of
censure (December 15, 1813) against the Honorable David
Stone, in a tone so severe as to cause that gentleman to resign
from the United States Senate, and make place for a more
active supporter of the war measures demanded by the people
of North Cal'^'olina. Mr. Branch had attained so high a repu-
tation that when he was next sent to the State Senate, in
1815, that body unanimously elected him Speaker — the pre-
siding officer of the Senate then being called Speaker, instead
of having the more recent title of President. He was again
State Senator and again unanimously elected Speaker, at the
JOHN BRANCH
two following sessions of 1816 and 1817. On the 3d of
December, 1817, while serving his third term as Speaker of
the State Senate, Mr. Branch was elected Governor of North
Carolina by a joint ballot of the General Assembly — the office
of Governor then being annually filled by the Legislature,
and not by popular choice. On the day after his election as
Governor, Mr. Branch sent in his resignation, both as Speaker
and member of the Senate, whereupon that body unanimously
passed the following resolution:
"Resolved, That the thanks of this House be presented to the late
Speaker thereof, Colonel John Branch, for the able and impartial
manner in which he has discharged the duties of the chair ; and that
a select committee of this House, composed of Mr. Murphey and Mr.
Pickett, be appointed to wait on Colonel Branch and make known to
him this Resolution."
Mr. Branch was re-elected Governor on ISTovember 24,
1818; and elected for the third time on November 25, 1819,
serving until December 7, 1820. In his official correspond-
ence, and messages to the General Assembly, we see evidences
of sagacity and foresight, while the humaneness of his dis-
position is shown by efforts to secure alterations of the over-
severe penal laws of the time in which he lived.
Though Mr. Branch was elected Governor in 1817, he was
not inaugurated until December 6 th in that year, when the
General Assembly had transacted most of its business, and
hence it was not until the Legislature of 1818 convened that
he transmitted his views on public matters, in the shape of
an annual message, on November 18th in that year. Concern-
ing education he then said :
"In a government like ours, where the sovereignty resides in the
people, and where all power emanates from, and, at stated periods,
returns to them for the purpose of being again delegated, it is of the
last importance to the well being and to the existence of government
that the public mind should be enlightened. Our sage and patriotic
ancestors who achieved the liberties of our country, and to whom we
are indebted for our present benign and happy form of government,
duly impressed with the magnitude of the subject, and anxiously
solicitous to impart stability to our institutions, and to transmit to
6 JOHN BRANCH
posterity the inestimable boon for which they fought and bled, have,
as regards this subject, with more than parental caution, imposed the
most solemn obligations on all of those who may be called to admin-
ister the government. Permit me, therefore, to refer you in a par-
ticular manner to this solemn injunction contained in the Constitu-
tion of the State of North Carolina, Article XLI, 'that a school or
schools shall be established by the Legislature for the convenient
instruction of youth, with such salaries to the masters, to be paid by
the public, as may enable them to instruct at low prices ; and all use-
ful learning shall be duly encouraged and promoted in one or more
Universities.' Let it be recollected that by this chart we are bound
as the servants of the people, under the solemnities of an oath, to
steer the vessel of state; and when we connect this imperious duty
with the luminous and impressive appeals which have so often been
made to the Legislature for the last year or two, I apprehend that
nothing that I could add would impart additional force. It surely
will not be denied that it is a subject, of all others, in a republican
government, of the most vital importance : for it is in this way, and
this alone, that our republican institutions can be perpetuated, or that
radical changes can be effected in the morals and manners of the
people."
In this message the Governor also commended the cause of
internal improvements, dvrelt upon the banking system of
that day and other matters not of present interest, and earn-
estly recommended that punishments under the criminal law
should be made less severe. The desirability of establishing
a penitentiary was also discussed, imprisonment therein to
supplant the many capital punishments then imposed by the
statutes.
It is a fact not generally known that the Supreme Court of
North Carolina was established in pursuance of a recommen-
dation contained in the above-mentioned annual message,
which Governor Branch sent to the Legislature on November
18, 1818. Before that time, the highest judicial tribunal in
the State had been called the Supreme Court, but the Su-
preme Court of North Carolina, in its present form, was not
organized until the year just mentioned. In his message,
Governor Branch dwelt at some length on the inconveniences
of the court procedure then existing, and closed by saying:
"I will take the liberty of recommending that three additional
JOHN BRANCH i
judges be appointed to preside in our Supreme Court, with
sufficient salaries attached to the offices to command the first
legal talents of the State." IsTo time was lost by the Legisla-
ture in acting upon the Governor's recommendation, for Chap-
ter I. at that session established the Supreme Court, and
Chapter II. made some supplemental provisions defining its
jurisdiction. The new Court first convened on January 1,
1819, John Louis Taylor presiding as Chief Justice, with
Leonard Henderson and John Hall as Associates — worthy
fore-runners of the long line of eminent jurists who have
since given North Carolina a rank second to none in the judi-
cial annals of America.
Governor Branch's interest in the cause of public education
never flagged ; and, when the next session of the State Legis-
lature convened, he renewed his former recommendations,
saying in his annual message, dated November 17, 1819:
"In the first place, as claiming a pre-eminence above all others,
allow me to call your attention to the subject of the education of
youth, the only durable basis of everything valuable in a government
of the people, and to press on your attention the moral and political
obligations which you are under, created and imposed by the solemn
injunctions of the Constitution, to patronize and encourage a general
diffusion of knowledge ; for, when we advert to the languishing con-
dition of some of our nurseries of science, and observe the apathy
which prevails in regard to their advancement, it becomes a subject
of no less astonishment than regret."
In the same message Governor Branch speaks in terms of
emphatic condemnation of one of the most oppressive and
unjust laws of that day, as follows :
"Imprisonment for debt must be considered as a kind of punishment
which is inflicted at the mercy of the creditor, and must often be
exercised upon objects where pity and not punishment is due. In
truth it seems to be a remnant of that Gothic policy which prevailed
during the ruder ages of society — a policy as barbarous as it is use-
less, and it is to me strange that it should so long have been suffered
to disgrace the code of laws of a State which might otherwise boast
of its freedom and humanity."
This message likewise refers to another law, then on the
statute books, which provided that a person convicted of per-
8 JOHN BRANCH
jury should have his ears cropped off and nailed to the pillory,
in these words:
"The cruel and sanguinary nature of the punishment inflicted on
those guilty of perjury, and probably some other offences, without
reference to the different degrees of criminality, are well worthy of
legislative animadversion. The certainty of punishment, it is uni-
versally admitted, has more influence in preventing the commission
of crimes than its severity. Hence it is desirable to apportion, as
nearly as practicable, the punishment to the enormity of the offence."
Love for the memory of Washington by the people of North
Carolina had moved a former Legislature to provide for the
making of a marble statue of the Father of his Country, by
the great sculptor Canova, to be placed in the rotunda of the
Capitol, and to give an order to the artist Thomas Sully for
two full-length portraits of the same great patriot — one to
be hung in each of the two Houses of the General Assembly.
In a special message, dated November 23, 1819, Governor
Branch announced that the statue would soon be ready for
delivery, and suggested that the State content itself with one
portrait of Washing-ton. He said :
"However much we may be disposed to honor the virtue and perpet-
uate the fame of the immortal patriot, yet it appears to me that it
will look a little like overdoing the matter to have a marble statue
and two portraits of the same person in the same building."
The advice of the Governor was followed by the Legisla-
ture, which procured one portrait instead of two. This por-
trait (copied by Sully from Stuart's original) was saved
from the burning Capitol in which Canova's statue was de-
stroyed, June 21, 1831, and still adorns the walls of the
House of Kepresentatives in Ealeigh.
The wisdom and foresic;lit of Governor Branch were strik-
ingly displayed in his last annual message, November 22,
1820, when he referred to impostors in the medical profession,
and urged a system of regulation for the government of physi-
cians. This was his language :
"The science of medicine, so vitally interesting to our citizens and
so well deserving of legislative attention, has as yet, with a few excep-
JOHN BRANCH 9
tions, passed unnoticed and unprotected. And it must be admitted,
however unpleasant the admission, that there are but few States in
the Union, where medicine is in a less reputable condition than in
North Carolina. The question naturally occurs, why is this the case?
The answer is obvious. Because, in almost every other part of the
country, a medical education, regularly acquired, and formally com-
pleted at some public medical university, or satisfactory testimonials
of professional ability from some respectable and legally constituted
Board of Physicians, is essential to the attainment of public respect
and public confidence.
"Hitherto the time of our annual sessions has been almost exclus-
ively devoted to the preservation and security of property, while the
lives, health, and happiness of a numerous and intelligent population
have been left at the mercy of every pretender; and thousands and
tens of thousands of our fellow-citizens, I might say, have fallen vic-
tims to the empirical efforts of a host of intruders.
"The youth of our State who have been reared and educated for the
profession, with that native modesty which I trust will ever charac-
terize them, advance with becoming diffidence in their avocations,
while the more adventurous quack, presuming on the ignorance and
credulity of the people, runs off with the spoil. This certainly in no
one instance can last long; but, from the facility with which these
persons change quarters, and from the eagerness with which afflicted
humanity seizes the offered relief, the first fruits are but too often
gathered by the rash though ignorant practitioner. Under these cir-
cumstances, what inducements have our young men to trudge up the
rugged hill of science and spend their time and patrimony in laying
the foundation for future usefulness? True, the intellectual triumph
is exquisite ; but, of itself, it is insufficient to sustain the diffident and
desponding youth who finds himself pressed by so many difficulties,
and finds, too, that his very sustenance is taken from him by the
characters above alluded to.
"Again, it must be mortifying to see our young men constrained to
abandon their native State in pursuit of medical science abroad,
where, too often, in reaping the fruits of science, foreign principles
and foreign habits are formed, not only opposed to the genius and
spirit of our government, but measurably disqualifying them in other
respects for useful life — thus exhausting, as it were, the last earn-
ings of parental industry and frugality to obtain what might, with
little effort, be as well obtained at home. Let me, however, observe,
what may be deemed superfluous, that this Medical Board will not
prejudice the pretensions of any practitioner of the present day, for
its operations must necessarily be prospective.
"This subject presents so many interesting points, and in truth is
so susceptible of illustration, that I must believe it is only necessary
10 JOHN BRANCH
to interest the mind of the intelligent statesmen to perceive its im-
portance.
"I am aware that some diversity of sentiment may be expected as
to the manner in which the Medical Board, above alluded to, should
be established ; but that it is not only practicable but highly expe-
dient, none, I think, can rationally doubt when they advert to the uni-
form success which has attended the efforts of many of our sister
States. Let me then entreat you, as the guardians of the people's best
interests, to give this subject, of all others the most interesting, a
full, fair, and dispassionate consideration."
Under the State Constitution then in force, Governor
Branch was not eligible for more than three terms in succes-
sion, and in his last message he made (by way of conclusion)
warm acknowledgments to the Legislature for past honors, in
the following words :
"I shall now, gentlemen, close this desultory address ; and, in doing
so, permit me to tender you, and through you my fellow-citizens
generally, the unfeigned homage of my respect and gratitude. If, in
the discharge of the duties attached to the Executive Office, my con-
duct has been such as to give efficacy to a government of laws — to
impart in the smallest degree vitality and energy to the benign and
happy institutions under which we live, and finally to meet the ap-
probation of my fellow-citizens, I can confidently say that my highest
ambition will have been gratified, and that my fondest and most
ardent anticipations have been realized."
While Mr. Branch filled the Executive Chair in Raleigh,
a little incident occurred (communicated to the writer by the
Governor's gTanddaughter, Mrs. Eppes) which makes an in-
teresting story. On going to his tailor's on one occasion, a
small boy employed in the shop ran out and held his horse.
After finishing his business, the Governor spoke kindly to the
little fellow and tossed him half a dollar as he rode away.
More than forty-five years thereafter, in June, 1865, when
one of Governor Branch's daughters returned to her home in
Tennessee, which she had left a few years earlier to be near
her husband, Major-General Daniel S. Donelson, of the Con-
federate Army, who had died in 1863, she found the place in
a state of dilapidation and filth, with wood-work and furnish-
ings wantonly broken and defaced, and the building occupied
by a Federal officer, who refused to yield possession of the
JOHN BKANCH 11
place, though the war was over. Mrs. Donelson had made
the trip from Florida in wagons, accompanied by some of
her former slaves, and under the escort of her brother-in-law,
Mr. Arvah Hopkins. Having occasion to continue his jour-
ney by rail to jSTew York, Mr. Hopkins stopped in Washington
and obtained an interview with President Johnson, to whom
he explained the treatment Mrs. Donelson had received.
After listening attentively, the President had an order issued
and forwarded by telegraph to the occupant of the Donelson
house to vacate it immediately, to have the premises cleaned,
and workmen employed to repair such damage as the place