Basil Manly II was born January 29, 1798, in Chatham County, North Carolina, near Pittsboro. His father, a farmer who had settled in Bladen County and had spent most of his early life there, had led a band of homeguards in the Revolutionary War. He held the rank of Captain and did valiant service for the cause of the Colonies. At the end of the war the "Farmer-Soldier" had attained a place of honor and esteem among his fellow citizens and neighbors. After he returned home he was trampled upon by a vicious bull. Thus disabled, he had to turn over the management of his farm to his sons. "Determined to give them...a liberal education," Captain Manly took advantage of the school at Pittsboro, where he could send the boys daily. Later "he sent one after another to the even then celebrated Bingham School in Orange County."