Alfred Moore. north to join Washington, who was then re treating through New Jersey and in great straits. Captain Moore did not accompany his regiment, for he had been compelled .by the misfortunes and necessities of his family, to resign his commission on the 8th of March, 1777. His brother Maurice, a lieutenant in his regiment, had but recently been killed, his father had died, and the utterly disor dered and defenseless condition of the coun try around Wilmington commanded his presence at home. But, though no longer in the Continental line, he still kept the field, and enrolling himself in the militia became an. active and zealous partisan. With a few raw but restless spirits he made himself such a thorn in the side of the Brit ish at Wilmington that Major Craig, in command there, sent a detachment to his plantation, which plundered his house, burned all the buildings on the place, carried away all his stock and left him utterly penniless and destitute. But his lofty courage and ardent patriotism were unshaken by these trials, and he continued to lose no oppor tunity to harass his enemy whenever an op portunity afforded. Judge Taylor tells us that Major Craig made every effort to kill or capture him, and, failing in both, sent him an offer to restore his property and give him amnesty if he would only return to his plan tation and take no further active part in the war. But this offer was spurned by him, and his efforts in the cause of freedom and independence were never relaxed until the final triumph. The close of the war found him ruined in fortune and estate. His plantation was a waste, his slaves scattered and stolen, he him self without resources or money, his family almost destitute of food and clothing. His condition was indeed deplorable. He had, prior to the breaking out of the war, studied law under his illustrious father. I have seen it stated that he was appointed Attorney General of the State before he had obtained a license to practice law, but this is a mis
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take, for in the minutes of the county court of New Hanover, April term, 1775, I have seen the record of his producing a license to practice law in the inferior courts of the State and taking the usual oath required. It is certain, however, that if he had ever had any practice at the bar it was but very limited and of very short duration. At the June term, 1782, of the court for the Hillsboro district, in the absence of the Attorney General, "the court," to use the words of Judge Williams, " got the favor of Colonel Alfred Moore to officiate as attorney for the State, and without whose assistance, which the court experienced in a very essen tial manner, they could not have carried on the business of the court." There were many important criminal cases at this term, and seven capital convictions, for burglary, high treason, etc. In 1782, the General Assembly of North Carolina, in grateful remembrance of his dis tinguished services, and in some part to com pensate him for his losses and unselfish pa triotism, recognizing his eminent abilities, appointed him Attorney General of the State to succeed Iredell, who had just resigned. We are told that the salary of the first two years of his office was paid in homespun and provisions. Think upon it a moment, your honors, what would be the consternation, the utter misery, of the present Attorney General, if such legal tender were proffered him for his salary! To a weak man, the high position to which Alfred Moore had been called at the very outset of his career as a lawyer, would have been but a quicksand and a pitfall. But he was anything but weak. Judge Taylor tells us that he had a mind of uncommon strength and a quickness of intel lectual digestion that enabled him to master any science he strove to acquire. He was small in stature, scarce five feet four inches in height, neat in dress, graceful in manner, but frail in body. He had a dark, singularly piercing eye, a clear, sonorous voice, and those rare gifts of oratory that are born with
