Fayetteville was the settlement of the Siouan Native Americans. Some of the groups of people who inhabited the city were the Waccamaw and Cape Fear. They remained faithful to the cultures of the earlier peoples in the settlement.
Following the turmoil of the Yamasee and Tuscarora Wars, the colony of North Carolina lobbied for English settlement along the Cape Fear River. The Scots founded two settlements from Argyll and Bute, Scotland.
Merchants purchased land Newberry out of fear that people would transport their products to Charleston, South Carolina. They did this to ensure their trade with the border countries is intact. Whites living a poor life and blacks resided in Campbellton and became known for a place of lawlessness.
Cross Creek and Campbellton emerged as one town in 1783. Fayetteville was soon incorporated to commemorate Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. He was a French military who helped the American soldiers in the war. Lafayette toured the city in March 1825. The town of Fayetteville was the first city to honor the significant help Lafayette did for the United States.
American Revolution
In the middle up to the late 1700s, Fayetteville was heavily settled by Scots. Most of the Scot settlers are loyal to the British government, but the Revolutionary people overpowered them during the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge.
One of the region’s most famous leaders at that time was Robert Rowan. The entrepreneur resided in Cross Creek and worked as an officer in the French and Indian War. During the Revolutionary War, he served as justice and legislature, and a sheriff. Rowan Street and the Rowan Park were named after Robert Rowan.
Flora MacDonald became popular for helping Bonnie Prince Charlie, following his army’s defeat in 1746. MacDonald who is a Scots Highland woman resided in North Carolina for almost five years. MacDonald was a Loyalist who helped her husband gather Scots to fight against the Revolution in the name of their King.
Post-revolution
The 1780s can be considered the “golden decade” for Fayetteville. The U.S. Constitution was ratified in the town in 1789. It was also the site where the General Assembly session chartered the University of North Carolina. However, the city didn’t win over Raleigh to become the official state capital.
20th century to the present
It was during the post-World War II that the population of Cumberland County skyrocketed. Shopping venues were constructed as well as subdivisions outside the Fayetteville city. School systems also began to establish in the early 1960s.
The segregation of public establishments persisted. The end of whites-only service in different facilities ended after marches and sit-ins in the Civil Rights Movement were done by the students of Fayetteville State Teachers College. Women, as well as a significant number of blacks, begin to have office works from the 1960s to the 1980s.
The towns and the surrounding areas of Fayetteville grew substantially in the early years of the 21st century. Raeford, and Hope Mills and other suburban areas in Fayetteville had a growth in population.
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