Army installation northwest of the city. As of the census , it had a population of ,, [ 5 ] It is the 6th-most populous city in North Carolina. With an estimated population of , in , the Fayetteville metropolitan area is the second- most populous in southeastern North Carolina and nd-most populous in the United States.
They followed successive cultures of other indigenous peoples in the area for more than 12, years. After the violent upheavals of the Yamasee War and Tuscarora Wars during the second decade of the 18th century, the colonial government of North Carolina encouraged colonial settlement along the upper Cape Fear River , the only navigable waterway entirely within the colony.
Merchants in Wilmington wanted a town on the Cape Fear River to secure trade with the frontier country. The merchants bought land from Newberry in Cross Creek. Campbellton became a place where poor whites and free blacks lived and gained a reputation for lawlessness.
In , Cross Creek and Campbellton united, and the new town was incorporated as Fayetteville in honor of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette , a French military hero who significantly aided the American forces during the war.
The vast majority of Highland Scots, recent immigrants, remained loyal to the British government and rallied to the call to arms from the Royal Governor. Despite this, they were eventually defeated by a larger Revolutionary force at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge.
