1758-1802

Richard Dobbs Spaight was an active patriot of North Carolina during the Revolution, and he remained firm in the faith when the British seemed completely triumphant in the South. He was a young man when Gates led his doomed army southward. He hastened to join the North Carolina forces, then commanded by General Caswell, and was appointed aid-de-camp to that officer. Throughout the struggle, Mr. Spaight showed a gallant spirit. The people of his native State, appreciating his patriotism and capacity for public office, appointed him a delegate to the convention which framed the constitution. He was an active and influential member of that body, and strongly advocated the adoption of the federal constitution in North Carolina. In 1792, Mr. Spaight was elected governor of the State, and in that position his energy and ability were conspicuous. He was one of the noblest citizens of whom North Carolina could boast in the days of trial. We find no record of the precise time of his decease; but notice in our researches into the biography of those patriots who signalized themselves by virtue, courage and patriotism in the early days of the republic, that North Carolina furnished her full share.

[During the convention which drafted the new constitution, Georgia delegate William Pierce, and others for various reasons, left the convention before September and did not sign the new constitution. However, while in attendance Pierce made private notes on each representative.]

Pierce's notes.