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North Carolina's Governors
William Hawkins (1777-1819) was governor during the War of 1812. He was born in present-day Vance (then Granville) County, attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), and read law under Judge John Williams. Receiving his law license in 1797, he moved to Fort Hawkins, Georgia, where he worked as assistant Indian agent under his uncle, Benjamin Hawkins. In 1801, after returning to North Carolina, he was appointed by Governor James Turner to negotiate a settlement with the remaining Tuscarora Indians of Bertie County. In 1811 Hawkins was elected by his fellow assemblymen to the first of his three terms as governor. Because his tenure as governor coincided closely with the War of 1812, most of Hawkins's energies and political skills were devoted to military affairs. He was called upon to provide 7,000 troops from the ranks of the state militia. Hawkins and the majority of North Carolinians supported the war; but Federalists in the legislature opposed it. As the war progressed, disagreements arose between the state and federal governments with regard to their respective roles. It was widely observed that North Carolina was providing manpower to other states while its own coastline was virtually defenseless. In July 1813 British naval forces under Admiral George Cockburn entered state waters at Ocracoke Inlet and threatened an attack on New Bern. In the face of the emergency, militiamen hastened to the New Bern area from as far away as Raleigh. Hawkins himself conducted a survey of coastal defenses and reported to the legislature on his continuing efforts to secure military assistance from Washington. His third and last term as governor ended only weeks prior to the war's successful conclusion. Hawkins returned to private life and to his Pleasant Hill plantation for three years, but he returned to the House of Commons in 1817. He died in Georgia two years later, and was buried there in the town of Sparta.
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