The Joel Lane Museum House presents a lecture on “Into the Lion’s Den: William Hooper’s Harrowing Mission to Crown-Occupied Wilmington” by Suzanne Adair.
On 25 January 1781, a British flotilla out of Charleston, South Carolina, reached the Cape Fear River. Three days later, redcoats marched north and occupied the port town of Wilmington, North Carolina. The Regiment caught the state’s patriot government by surprise, enabling the capture of some patriot leaders. William Hooper, signer of the Declaration of Independence, escaped at an agonizing cost. Suzanne Adair, author of an award-winning mystery series set during the American Revolution in North Carolina, will discuss Hooper’s voluntary return to Wilmington half a year later—while the British still controlled the town.