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In the year 1759 a town
was established by the legislature of the province of North Carolina, on
the Eno, a branch of the reuse, near its head waters, in the county of
Orange, which might have received its name, Hillsborough, from the
beautiful eminences by which it is surrounded, as well as from the Earl
of Hillsborough, Secretary of State for American affairs, from whom it
is called. Its first name was Childsborough, in honor of the
Attorney-General; but the change speedily took place on account of the
odium attached to the attorney for his exorbitant fees.
This little village, the
county seat of Orange, has claims upon our attention, for events enacted
within its precincts and its neighborhood, in times gone by. It was the
seat of the first Provincial congress in North Carolina, 1775;—the
head-quarters of Gates after his sad defeat at Camden;—and of his
adversary, Lord Cornwallis, on his invasion of Carolina in his pursuit
of Greene (the residence of his Lordship, then one of the most sightly
buildings in the village, is now kept as a tavern of no splendid
appearance);—but more particularly noted as the place of the first
outbreaking of those discontents, which had shown themselves in
complaints and remonstrances, but here assumed form and consistence,
first heard of in Orange and Granville, and ultimately spreading over
all that section of the State west of a line drawn from the point of
entrance of the Roanoke, from Virginia, to the point of egress of the
Yadkin to South Carolina--discontents, and complaints, and outbreakings,
that eventuated in the first blood shed in Carolina, in the contest of
freedom of opinion and property with the tyranny and misrule of the
British government: and the first contest that had any appearance of a
regular predetermined battle, in the provinces in North America.
This spirit of discontent
was at first confined to that part of the province granted and set off
to Lord Granville, which was bounded by the Virginia line on the north,
by the line of latitude of 35º 34' on the south, and extending from the
Atlantic Ocean indefinitely west; but more particularly, that part of
his Lordship's domain lying west of the line from the Roanoke to the
Catawba, at the points specified above. It might have been quieted, had
the governor been as ready to require the agents of Granville and his
own officers to do justice, as he was to issue his proclamations, filled
with promises, and vain orders, to a people irritated by oppression, but
not desirous of rebellion.
On the 24th of April, 1771, Governor 'Tryon
marched from Newbern with a small force, on his way, according to the
recommendation of the council, to check a rebellion in the upper
country, which had received the name of the Regulators, or the
Regulation; the militia of the several counties, in answer to the
governor's demand upon the constituted authorities, joined him on his
march; and on the 4th of May he encamped at Hunter's lodge in Wake
county. Here being joined by a detachment of militia under Col. John
Hinton, he found himself at the head of an armed force sufficient to
alarm, if not subdue, the undisciplined country in which the
dissatisfaction prevailed. He left the palace in Newbern accompanied by
about three hundred men, a small train of artillery, and a number of
baggage wagons; on the way he had been joined by the detachment of
militia from New Hanover county, under Col. John Ashe; of the county of
Craven, under Col. Joseph Leech; of the county of Dobbs (now called
Lenoir), under Col. Richard Caswell; of the county of Onslow, under Col.
Craig; of the county of Cartaret, under Col. William Thompson; of the
county of Johnson, under Col. Needham Bryan; of the county of Beaufort,
a company of artillery, under Capt. Moore, and a company of Rangers
under Capt. Neale; and a company of light horsemen from Duplin, under
Capt. Bullock. From
this place he sent out some detachments to assist the sheriffs in
collecting their taxes and various fees due to the government and its
officers, with the hope of overawing the community by his military
parade; and on the 9th instant marched to the Eno, and encamped within a
few miles of Hillsborough, the centre of the infected district, and the
residence of the most hated and oppressive officer of the crown, Col.
Edmund Fanning, who joined his camp at this place with a detachment of
the Militia of Orange, whom by various means he had prevailed upon to
unite with the governor in putting clown their distressed and rebellious neighbors. This was
the second visit paid by the governor to the county of Orange on account
of the agitation of the public mind, and the disturbances in the
community, and the difficulty attending the collection of taxes and the
fees of the public officers. In the early part of July, 1765, he came as
governor, unattended with any armed force, and used the authority of the
chief magistrate, and the address of a practised politician, to restore
order, under promises of redress. The apparent quiet gave place to
redoubled confusion after his departure, as the promises of protection
from illegal exactions all proved vain. he now came with an armed
detachment of the colonial militia, to quell by power what he would not
control by justice.
The whole inhabited region of Carolina, west
of the line mentioned above, inhabited, as Martin says,—"by several
thousand families, removed from the mother country, settled in the
frontier counties of the province, exposed to the dangers of savage
Indians, and subject to all the hardships and difficulties of
cultivating a desolate wilderness, under the expectation of enjoying to
their fullest extent the exercise of their religious privileges as a
people,"—and with their religious were joined inseparably the civil and
domestic rights of an enterprising race accustomed to endure hardship
and resist oppression;--all this region of country was agitated, and in
some parts in open rebellion; without a single military leader of
experience; with few men of much wealth or political eminence, or
polished education; with a population of scattered neighbourhoods, and
not a single fortified place, or any preparations of the munitions of
war beyond the rifle and powder and ball of the hunter.
Mr. WVirt, in his Life of Patrick Henry,
says, "the spirit of revolution in Virginia began in the highest circles
in the colnmunity, and worked its way down to the lower, the bone and
sinew of the country." Wherever it may have begun in the eastern part of
Carolina, it is certain that in the western division, the people,
feeling that their interests were neglected by the governor, and
misunderstood or overlooked by the seaboard counties, and not protected,
or even consulted, by the parliament or court of England, or any of
their, executive officers, were moved as one great, excited,
undisciplined mass of shrewd, hardy, enterprising men, that acknowledged
the dominion of law, and held "opposition to tyrants" to be "obedience
to God." The men on
the seaboard of Carolina, with Colonels Ashe and Waddel at their head,
had nobly opposed the Stamp Act, and prevented its execution in North
Carolina; and in their patriotic movements the people of Orange
sustained them; and called them "The Sons of Liberty." Col. Ashc, in
Wilmington, had ventured to lead the excited populace against the wishes
and even the hospitality of the governor, and in 1766 his party had
thrown the governor's roasted ox, provided for a barbecue feast, into
the river. Now they were marching with this very governor, to subdue the
disciples of Liberty in the west; perhaps, through a misunderstanding of
the trite nature of the case, they were willing to convince the governor
that they were all supporters of the laws and of the authority of the
British crown, by uniting with him and subduing those who were reported
to the council and provincial legislature as an ignorant and restless
multitude, to be reclaimed, by severity, to the government of the laws.
The eastern men looked for evils from across the waters; and were
prepared to resist oppression on their shores before it should step upon
the soil of their State. The western men were seeking redress from evils
that pressed them at home, under the misrule of the officers of the
province, evils unknown by experience in the eastern counties, and
misunderstood when reported there. Had Ashe, and Waddel, and Caswell,
understood their case, they would have acted like Thomas Person, of
Granville, and favored the distressed, even though they might have felt
tinder obligations to maintain the peace of the province, and the due
subordination to the laws. While the rest of this province, and the
other provinces, were resisting by resolutions and remonstrances, and
making preparations for distant and coming evils; these western men, in
defence of their rights, boldly made resistance to the constituted
authorities, unto blood. While the eastern men stopped the stamped paper
on the shore, these contended with an enemy in their own bosom, and
sought deliverance at home in the wilderness.
The disturbances Governor Tryon came to
quell were no sudden outbreaks of a discontented and excitable people.
As early as the year 1759, the attention of the legislature of the
province was called to the illegal fees exacted by the officers of
government, producing great and alarming discontents; and a law proposed
for redress failed in meeting the approbation of the legislature, though
the discontent of persons living on Lord Granville's land had been
manifested by the seizure of his lordship's agent, in Edenton, Francis
Corbin, and his purchase of liberty by his bond, for future better
behavior, in £8,000, with eight securities. This exhibition of popular
frenzy was not noticed by the governor, because one of his favorite
counsellors, M'Culloch, was engaged in it. In 1760, the people of
Orange, finding themselves "defrauded by the clerks of the several
courts, by the recorders of deeds, by entry takers, by surveyors, and by
the lawyers, every man demanding twice or three times his legal fees,"
violently prevented the sheriff from holding an election according to
proclamation of the governor, in expectation of some new oppression by
the office-holders, in the form of taxes and fees. In June, 1765, a
paper entitled, "A serious address to the people of Granville county,
containing a brief narrative of our situation, and the wrongs we suffer,
with some necessary hints with respect to a reformation," was circulated
in that county, with great effect, being written with much clearness and
force. The wrongs complained of in Orange, and Granville, and Anson, and
the other counties, were essentially, and for the most part,
individually the same.
The people complained that illegal and
exorbitant fees were extorted by officers of government; that
oppressive taxes were exacted by the sheriffs, where they had a right to
exact some; and that the manner of their collection at all times was
oppressive, especially when the right to exact any was denied. As early
as the years 1752 or 1753, Childs and Corbin, the agents for Lord
Granville, and successors of Mosely and Holton, began to oppress the
people who had been induced, by fair promises, to settle on his
lordship's reservation, by declaring the patents issued by their
predecessors null and void, because the words, "Right Honorable Earl,"
had been left out from the signature, which had been simply, "Granville,
by his Attorneys." They next demanded a larger fee for the patents they
issued, than had been given to their predecessors;—next, a fee for a
device which they had invented to be affixed to the papers;—also, by
granting over and over again, knowingly-, the same lands to different
persons, and in no case returning the illegal fees;—and in various ways
rendering titles to land uncertain and insecure in a large part of
Orange. In all these extortions the people complained that the high
officers of the province were so interested, there was little prospect
of justice but by some strong appeals and exhibitions of powerful
dislike, that could not be frowned down.
The governor's proclamation, issued from
time to time, requiring that copies of the legal fees should be
exhibited to the people, and no others demanded, were disregarded by his
officers; and it was more than hinted that the judges were, indirectly
at least, in many cases, partakers of the crime, by sharing the fees of
office with the inferior officers. This gave weight and impunity to the
oppressive exactions. The people were poor; living on productive land as
most of them did, they were far from market, and had scarcely surmounted
the labors and exposures of a new settlement. One of them, who was
engaged in the opposition, declared that when he had bone with his
father to Fayetteville to market, with a load of wheat, he could get a
bushel of salt for a bushel of wheat; or if money was demanded, they
could get five shillings a bushel for wheat, of which one only was in
money, and the rest in trade. And if they could go home with forty
shillings, or five dollars, from a load of forty bushels, they thought
they had done well. In these circumstances double fees and double taxes
were exceedingly oppressive,—and to men of their principles these
exactions were sufficient cause of open and persevering resistance.
In 1766, the Stamp Act was repealed, and the
governor issued two proclamations on the 25th of June, one making known
that desirable fact, the other requiring of the officers of government
strict adherence to the graduated table of fees; expecting of
consequence that both the east and the west would be gratified, and make
no further resistance to the collection of the lawful taxes, and range
themselves on the side of the government. The relief and tranquillity
were far greater in the eastern counties than in the western. During the
session of time county court of Orange, a number of persons entered the
court-house in Hillsborough, and presented to the magistrates a written
complaint, drawn up by Harmon Husbands, which they requested the clerk
to read, setting forth the views of the people respecting their
wrongs,—"that there were many evils complained of in the county of
Orange that ought to be redressed,"—and proposing that there should be a
'meeting in each company of militia, for the purpose of appointing
delegates for a general meeting to be held at some suitable place "where
there was no liquor,"—"judiciously to inquire whether the freemen of
this county labor under any abuse of power,"—"that the opinions of the
deputies be committed to writing, freely conversed upon,---and measures
taken for amendment." The proposition was considered reasonable, and a
meeting was appointed to be held at haddock's Mill, two or three miles
.vest of Hillsborough, on the 10th of October, to inquire into the acts
of government,—"for while men were men, if even the Sons of Liberty were
put in office they would become corrupt and oppressive, unless they were
called upon to give an account of their stewardship."
The company meetings were held, and the
delegates were appointed; in some cases, with written commissions, viz:—"At
a meeting in the neighborhood of Deep River, 20th of August, 1766, it
was unanimously agreed to appoint W. C. and W. M. to attend a general
meeting on the 10th of October, at Maddock's Mill, where they arc
judiciously to examine whether the freemen in this county labor under
any abuses of power; and in particular to examine into the public tax,
and inform themselves of every particular thereof, by what laws, and for
what use it is laid, in order to remove some jealousies out of our
minds." "And the representatives, vestrymen, and other officers, are
requested to give the members what information and satisfaction they
can, so far as they value the good will of every honest freeholder, and
the executing public offices pleasant and delightsome."
On the appointed day, the 10th of October,
1766, the delegates assembled; after some time, James W Watson, a friend
of Col. Fanning, the most odious officer in the county, came, and as a
reason for his not appearing to give account as their representative,
read a message from Fanning, that, "It had been his intention of
attending them till a few days ago, when he observed in the notice from
Deep River, the word judiciously, which signified the authority of a
court; and that he considered the meeting an insurrection." The meeting
had full and free discussion on a variety of topics; and finally
resolved that such meetings as the present Were necessary, annually, or
oftener, to hear from their representatives and officers, in order to
have the benefits of their constitution and the choice of their rulers;
and that as their representatives, sheriffs, vestry and other officers
had not met them here, with but one exception, they should have another
opportunity of conferring with their constituents. It is impossible to
conceive what fairer mode of ascertaining the truth could be devised by
men situated as they were, without a printing press and without
newspapers. Such proceedings might, in the colonial days, be rebellion
to be put down; in these days of liberty, a man would lose his hold on
the community were he to refuse compliance with such commands from his
constituents, or the community at large.
In April, 1767, another meeting was held at
the same place, Maddock's Mills, and the following preamble and
resolutions were discussed and adopted, by which these men passed the
Rubicon and from being called a mob, or insurgents, were known by the
name of REGULATORS, or THE REGULATION, and were considered as having
some continued existence:
"We, the subscribers, do
voluntarily agree to form ourselves into an association, to assemble
ourselves for conference for regulating public grievances and abuses of
power, in the following particulars, with others of the like nature that
may occur, viz.
"1st. That we will pay no more taxes until we are satisfied they are
agreeable to law, and applied to the purposes therein mentioned, unless
we cannot help it, or are forced.
"2d. That we will pay no officer any more
fees than the law allows, and unless we are obliged to it; and then to
show our dislike, and bear an open testimony against it.
3d. That we will attend our meetings of
conference as often as we conveniently can, and is necessary in order to
consult our representatives oil the amendment of such laws as may be
found grievous or unnecessary; and to choose more suitable men than we
have done heretofore for burgesses and vestrymen; and to petition the
houses of assembly, governor, council, king, and parliament, &c., for
redress in such grievances as in the course of the undertaking may
occur; and to inform one another, learn, know, and enjoy all the
privileges and liberties that are allowed, and were settled on us by our
worthy ancestors, the founders of our present constitution, in order to
preserve it on its ancient foundation, that it may stand firm and
unshaken. "4th.
That we will contribute to collections for defraying necessary expenses
attending the work, according to our abilities.
"5th. That in case of difference in
judgment, we will submit to the judgment of the majority of our body.
To all which we solemnly swear, or being a
Quaker, or otherwise scrupulous in conscience of the common oath, do
solemnly affirm, that we will stand true and faithful to this cause,
till we bring things to a true regulation, according to the true intent
and meaning hereof, in the judgment of a majority of us."
These resolutions were drawn tip by Harmon
Husbands. A.
subscription was set on foot, and fifty pounds were collected for the
purpose of defraying the expenses of such suits as might arise in
seeking redress of their grievances.
During this year, 1767, the governor
commenced his palace at Newbern, for which, with great difficulty, he
had obtained an appropriation of £5,000 by the last legislature; and
proceeded in a tasteful and expensive style of building, to expend the
whole sum upon the foundation and a small part of the superstructure. At
the meeting of the two houses in December of this year, the governor
laid before theta the condition of the building. The legislature with
reluctance gave, as the only alternative, £10,000 more to complete the
palace. When finished it was pronounced the most superb building in the
United Provinces. The governor was gratified, and the people incensed.
The taxes had been burdensome—the palace rendered there intolerable.
On the 21st of May, 1768, the Regulators had
another meeting, and determined to petition the governor direct, and
prepared their address; which, with a copy of their proceedings at this
and the previous meetings, was sent to His Excellency, by James Hunter
and Rednap Howell. In the month of June, these gentlemen waited upon the
governor at Brunswick; and in reply to their petition, received a
written document from which the following extracts are made:
"The grievances complained of by no means
warrant the extraordinary steps you have taken: in consideration of a
determination to abide by my decision in council, it is my direction, by
the unanimous advice of that board, that you do, from henceforward,
desist from any further meetings, either by verbal appointments or
advertisement. That all titles of Regulators or Associators cease among
you. As you want to be satisfied what is the amount of the tax for the
public service for 1767, I am to inform you, it is seven shillings a
taxable, besides the county and parish taxes, the particulars of which I
will give to Mr. Hunter. I have only to add, I shall be up at
Hillsborough the beginning of next month."
In all these public and documentary
proceedings of the Regulators, we see nothing to blame, and much to
admire. On these principles, and to this extent of opposition, the whole
western counties were agreed. The most sober and sedate in the community
were united in resisting the tyranny of unjust and exorbitant taxes; and
had been aroused to a degree of violence and opposition difficult to
manage and hard to quell. And the more restless and turbulent and
unprincipled parts of society, equally aggrieved, and more ungovernable,
cast themselves in as a part of the resisting mass of population, with
little to gain, but greater license for their unprincipled passions, and
little to lose, could they escape confinement and personal punishment.
These persons were guilty of lynching the sheriffs, that is, seizing
those they found in the exercise of their office, tying them to a
black-jack, or other small trees, beating them severely with rods,
laughing and shouting to see their contortions; they would rescue
property which had been seized for taxes, often with great violence; and
on one occasion, in April, 1768, proceeded to fire a few shots upon the
house of Edmund Panning in Hillsborough. These unjustifiable acts were
charged upon the party; and the Regulators were made accountable for
all the ill that wicked men chose to perpetrate under the name of
struggling for liberty; while it is well known that the leaders of this
oppressed party never expressed a desire to be free from law or
equitable taxation. The governor's palace, double and treble fees and
taxes without reason, drove the sober to resistance, and the passionate
and unprincipled to outrage. But there were cases of injustice most foul
and crying that might palliate, where they could not justify, the
violence that followed; such as taking advantage of the quietness of the
Regulators to seize a man's horse with the bridle and saddle, and
selling them for four or five dollars to an officer, to pay taxes
resisted as illegal.
The sheriff had taken advantage of a
peculiar conjuncture of events to seize two of the leading men. A
meeting had been agreed upon to be held. on the 20th of May, 17G8, when
the sheriff and vestrymen would meet a deputation from the Regulators,
and give them satisfaction. Previous to that day a messenger came from
the governor with a proclamation against the Regulation as an
insurrection; the sheriff immediately, with a party of thirty horsemen,
rode some fifty miles, and seizing Harmon Husbands and William Hunter,
confined them in Hillsborough jail. The whole country arose, and making
an old Scotchman of some seventy years of age, Ninian Bell Hamilton,
their leader, marched towards Hillsborough to the rescue. When they
reached the Eno, they found the prisoners set free, with this condition
laid upon them among others—"nor show any jealousies of the officers
taking extraordinary fees." When the Regulators reached the Eno, Fanning
went down to meet them with a bottle of ruin in one hand and of wine in
the other, and called for a horse to take him over—"ye're nane too gude
to wade," replied the old Scotch-man. Fanning waded the river, but no
one would partake of his refreshments, or listen to his statements. The
governor's messenger, who had just then returned, rode up to diem, read
the governor's message, and assured them that, on application to the
governor, he would redress their grievances and protect them from
extortion and oppression of any officer, provided they would disperse
and go home. The whole company cried out, "agreed! agreed!" and
immediately dispersed. This event preceded the visit made by Hunter and
Howell to the governor.
Early in July, 1768, the governor arrived in
Hillsborough, and issuing a proclamation, as he had promised Hunter and
Howell, excited the expectations of the country that some redress would
be granted. But sending the sheriff to collect the taxes, and with him a
letter addressed to the people of a similar import with his
proclamations and previous letters, these fond expectations were all
broken, and the excited people drove off the sheriff with threats of his
life if he persisted in his efforts, and sent a reply to the governor.
On a false alarm, a large body of the Regulators assembled in arms, on
the night of the 11th of August, near Hillsborough. The nearest
companies of militia were called upon; and a large body assembled to
defend the governor from injury or insult. The better part of the
community were averse to the irregularities of those lawless spirits
who, attaching themselves to the cause of liberty, greatly impeded its
progress; and desired to govern themselves and persuade their neighbors,
by reason, to gain the justice they demanded. Frequent communications
passed between the governor and the leaders of the Regulators before the
session of the superior court, Sept. 22d, at which Husband and Butler
were to be tried; and the demands of his Excellency always implied
absolute submission; while the Regulators insisted on protection. On
the day of trial, between three and four thousand people assembled near
the town, but no violence was committed; the court proceeded; Husbands
was acquitted; Hunter and two others were found guilty of riot, fined
Heavily and committed to jail, from which two soon found the means of
escape, and all soon received the pardon of the governor. A number of
indictments were found against Fanning; he was pronounced guilty on all,
and fined one penny each.
After this display of justice, the governor
issued a proclamation of a general pardon to all who had been engaged in
the late riotous movements, except thirteen individuals designated by
name. These were probably esteemed by the governor as principal men
among the Regulators in Orange county, and their names are preserved,
James Hunter, Ninian Hamilton, Peter Craven, Isaac Jackson, Harmon
Husbands, Matthew Hamilton, William Payne, Ninian Bell Hamilton, Malachy
Tyke, William Moffat, Christopher Nation, Solomon Goff, and John O'Neil.
Supposing the country sufficiently pacified, the governor returned to
his palace, soon to find that the people were neither deceived nor
dispirited. The
course of events in the upper country flowed on in a disturbed channel,
during the remaining part of the year 1768, the whole of 1769 and 1770.
The Regulators hold their meetings, often in an excited, but never in a
dissipated manner, and continned to throw more and more difficulties in
the way of the sheriffs and other officers, whose exactions increased by
impunity. All classes felt the evil, and a treater number than formerly
determined on resistance. In March, 1770, Maurice Moore reported to the
governor from Salisbury, where he had gone to hold the superior
court,—"that the sheriffs of the several counties of that district,
complained heavily of the opposition made to them in the exercise of
their duties, by the Regulators; that it was impossible to collect a tax
or levy an execution; plain proofs, among others, that their designs
have even extended farther than to promote a public inquiry into time
conduct of public officers:" and he prayed that it might not be found
necessary to redress the evil "by means equal to the obstinacy of the
people." On the
records of the superior court in Hillsborough, under date of Sept. 24th,
1770, is time following entry, which requires no comment. "Several
persons styling themselves Regulators, assembled together in the
court-yard under time conduct of Husbands, James Hunter, Rednap Howell,
William Butler, Samuel Divinny, and many others, insulted some of the
gentlemen of the bar, and in a riotous manner went into the court-house,
and forcibly carried out some of the attorneys, and in a cruel manner,
beat them. They then insisted that the judge (Richard Henderson being
the only one on the bench) should proceed to trial of their leaders, who
had been indicted at a former court, and that the jury should be taken
out of their party. Therefore, the judge finding it impossible to
proceed with honor to himself and justice to his country, adjourned the
court until to-morrow at 10 o'clock; and took advantage of the night and
made his escape, and the court adjourned to meet in course."
The next entry is as follows, viz.
March term, 1771. The persons styling
themselves Regulators, under the conduct of Harmon Husbands, James
Hunter, Red-nap Rowell, William Butler, and Samuel Divinely, still
continuing their riotous meetings, and severely threatening the judges,
lawyers, and other officers of the court, prevented any of the judges or
lawyers attending. "Therefore, the court adjourned till the next
September term." So it appears there was no superior court in Orange for
a year; and in Howan the course of justice was greatly impeded.
To these acts of rebellion, unfortunately,
were added acts of personal violence that called the governor from his
palace, with his armed force to revenge. Immediately after the
adjournment of the court, a lawyer, Mr. John Williams, on his way to the
courthouse, was met by a number of individuals, who seized and beat him
severely in the streets. Edmund Fanning, the person most obnoxious to
the community, was seized in the court-house, dragged out by his heels,
severely beaten, and kept in confinement during the night. In the
morning, when it was discovered there would be no court, he was beaten
again; his fine house, which occupied the site of the present Masonic
Hall, was torn down, and his elegant furniture destroyed. While the
buildings on the premises were falling under the hands of the
Regulators, a bell, which had been procured for the Episcopal church,
and deposited with Fanning for safe keeping, was discovered. The cry was
raised, "it's a spice mortar;" and in a twinkling, Fanning's spice
mortar was scattered in fragments.
The excited multitude then proceeded to the
court-house; appointed a roan by the name of Yorke as clerk; set up a
mock judge; called over the cases; directed Fanning to plead law and
pronounced judgment in mock gravity and ridicule of the court, and law,
and officers, by whom they felt themselves aggrieved. Henderson informed
the governor, and urged his special attendance, and proposed the calling
of the Assembly. Soon after, the house, barn, and out-buildings of the
judge, were burned to the ground.
The governor postponed the calling of the
legislature till the usual time; and received them in the palace, which
had just been completed, amidst the confusion of the upper country, so
greatly aggravated by its erection. Vigorous measures were proposed to
restore peace to the upper country; four new counties were set off
—Guilford, Chatham, Surry, and Wake. With the hopes of dividing the
attention of the people, a proclamation was issued forbidding merchants,
traders, or others, to supply any person with powder and shot, or lead,
till further notice; and finally it was determined to proceed to
extremities, and on the 19th March, 1771, the governor issued his
circular to the colonels and commanding officers of the regiments,
stating the grievances the government was suffering; he adds—"You are to
take fifty volunteers from your regiment, to form one company," &c.,
offering, at the same time, liberal rations, bounty and pay. No little
difficulty was found in collecting the necessary forces, from the great
unwillingness of the militia to march against men, in whose doings there
was so much to justify, and so little to condemn and punish.
On the 9th of May, after many delays, he was
encamped, as we have said, on the banks of the Eno, near Hillsborough.
General Hugh Waddel had been directed to march with the forces of Bladen
and Cumberland, and to rendezvous in Salisbury, and collect the forces
from the western counties, and join the governor in Orange, now
Guilford. While he was encamped at Salisbury, waiting for the arrival of
ammunition from Charleston, the exploit known in tradition as the Black
Boys was performed by a company of men in Cabarrus county, who, lying in
wait in disguise, with blackened faces, intercepted the convoy of
ammunition between Charlotte and Salisbury, routed the guard, blew up
the powder, and escaped unhurt.
Having crossed the Yadkin, Waddel found a
large company of Regulators assembled to prevent his advance; his own
men were many of them averse to violence, and others strongly in favor
of the insurgents, and were falling away from his ranks. Upon receiving
threats of violence if he continued to advance, in a council of
officers, he determined to retreat across the Yadkin.
"GENERAL WADDEL'S CAMP,
"Potts' Creek, 10th May, 1771.
By a Council of Officers of the Western
Detachment:-
"Considering the great superiority of the insurgents in number, and the
resolution of a great part of their own men not to fight, it was
resolved that they should retreat across the Yadkin.
"May 11th, Captain Alexander made oath
before Griffith Rutherford, that he had passed along the lines of the
Regulators in arms, drawn up on ground he was acquainted with. The foot
appeared to him to extend a quarter of a mile, seven or eight deep, and
the horse to extend one hundred and twenty yards, twelve or fourteen
deep." On Waddel's
retreat the Regulators pressed on him, and many of his men deserting, he
reached Salisbury with a greatly diminished force, and immediately
despatched a messenger to Tryon to warn him of the common danger. The
governor, already alarmed at the reports that came in, of forces
gathering on the Alamance, on the route to Salisbury, raised his camp
immediately, and on the 13th of May crossed Haw River; and on the
evening of the 14th, encamped within six miles of the Regulators, on the
Alamance. On the 15th, the Regulators sent a message to the governor
making propositions of accommodation, and asking an answer in four
hours. He promised them one by noon the next day. In the evening,
Captain Ashe and Captain John Walker being caught out of camp, by the
Regulators, were tied to trees, severely whipped, and made prisoners. On
this, as on the preceding night, one-third of the forces was under arms
all night. On the 16th, Tryon began his march at daybreak, and moved on
silently within half a mile of the insurgents, and there proceeded to
form his line, the discharge of two cannon being the signal. Here Rev.
David Caldwell, who, at the solicitations of his parishioners and
acquaintances, some of whom were with the Regulators, had visited
Tryon's camp on the 15th, in company with Alexander Martin, afterwards
governor of the State, to persuade the governor to in measures, again
visited the camp, and it is said obtained a promise from the governor
that he would not fire until he had tried negotiation. Tryon sent in his
reply to the Regulators, demanding unconditional submission, and gave an
hour for consideration : they heard with great impatience a first and
second reading. Both parties advanced to within about three hundred
yards of each other; Tryon sent a magistrate to the insurgents with a
proclamation to disperse within an hour, and also commenced a
negotiation for an exchange of Captains Ashe and Walker. Robert
Thompson, who had with some others conic into the camp to negotiate with
the governor, was detained as a prisoner, and attempting to leave camp
without liberty, the governor seized a gun and shot him dead with his
own hand. A flag of truce sent out by him was immediately fired on by
the excited people, many of whom were near enough to witness the
circumstances of Thompson's death. The parties had gradually been
drawing nearer and nearer to each other, the insurgents somewhat
irregularly, till their lines in places almost met. The governor gave
the word "fire," his men hesitated, and the Regulators, many of them
with rude antics, dared them to "fire." "Fire!" cried the governor,
rising in his stirrups; "fire! on them or on me!" and time action began.
The cannon were discharged, and the military commenced firing by
platoons; time Regulators in an irregular manner from behind trees. Some
stout young men of the Regulators rushed forward and seized the cannon
of the governor, but not knowing how to use them, speedily gave them up
and retreated. A flag of truce was sent out by the governor to stop the
battle; an old Scotch-man cried out to the Regulators, "it's a flag,
don't fire;" but almost immediately three or four rifles were
discharged, and the flag fell. The firing was renewed with fresh vigor
by the military, and the Regulators in the general fled, leaving a few
posted behind trees, who continued their fatal aim till their ammunition
was exhausted, or they were in danger of being surrounded.
Some of the Regulators had wished and
expected to fight; but the greater part that had assembled expected that
the governor, seeing their numbers, would parley with them, and
ultimately grant their demands. Rev. Mr. Caldwell, just from Tryon's
camp, was riding along the lines urging the men to go home without
violence, when the command to fire was given, and with difficulty
escaped from the conflict.
They had no commander to regulate their
motions, they had none with them used to camps and wars to give their
advice there had of late been no expeditions against the savages, and
the military life, further than to shoot a rifle and live on short
rations, was all new. "O," said an old man, who was in the battle, to
Mr. Caruthers, "O, if John and Daniel Gillespie had only known as much
about military discipline then as they knew a few years after that, the
bloody Tryon would never have slept in his palace again!" Many that were
defeated in that bloodshed, in a few years showed Cornwallis they had
learned to fight better than in the day of Tryon's victory on the
Alamance. It is the unvarying tradition among the people of the country,
that the Regulators had but little ammunition, and did not flee till it
was all expended.
Nine of the Regulators, and twenty-seven of the militia were left dead
on the field; a great number were wounded on both sides in this
skirmish, or battle—in this first blood shed for the enjoyment of
liberty. We cannot but admire the principles that led to the result, how
much soever we may deplore the excesses that preceded, and the bloodshed
itself. The
excesses of the Regulators had been great, as has been recorded, but the
barbarities of the governor upon his prisoners, after his victory, make
these lamented deeds dwindle into harmless sport. On the evening of the
battle, he proceeded to band, without trial or form, James Few (whom he
had taken prisoner), a young man, a carpenter, that owned a little spot
of land near Hillsborough, where Mr. Kirkhani's house now stands, of
quiet and industrious habits, goaded on to rebellion by the exactions of
Fanning and at last, driven to madness by the dishonor done by that man
to his intended bride, he joined the Regulators, and proclaimed himself
"sent by heaven to release the world of oppression, and to begin in
Carolina." And not content with this, the governor's vengeance followed
his aged parents, and having executed their son, Tryon proceeded to
destroy the little provision made for their helplessness and age.
Captain Messer was condemned to be hung the
next day. His wife, Bearing of his captivity and intended fate, came
with her oldest child, a lad of about ten years, to visit and intercede
for her husband. Her kindness comforted but could not redeem her
husband, the father of her children; the governor was inflexible. While
the preparations were making for the execution, she lay upon the ground
weeping, her face covered with her hands, and the weeping boy by her
side. When the fatal moment, as he supposed, had arrived, the boy,
stepping up to Tryon, says: "Sir, hang me and let my father live!" "Who
told you to say that?" said the governor. "Nobody!" replied the lad.
"And why," said the governor, "do you ask that?" "Because," said the
boy, "if you hang my father my mother will die, and the children will
perish." "Well!" said the governor, deeply moved by the earnestness and
affecting simplicity of the lad, "your father shall not be hung to-day."
On suggestions of Fanning, Messer was offered his liberty on condition
that he would bring in Harmon Husbands, his wife and child being kept as
hostages. After an absence of some days he returned, saying he had
overtaken him in Virginia, but could not bring him back; he was put in
chains and taken along as prisoner.
After resting a few days on Sandy River, the
governor passed on as far as the Yadkin, and having issued a
proclamation, that all those who had been engaged in these disturbances,
excepting the prisoners in camp, the company called the Black Boys, and
sixteen others, that should come into camp, lay down their arms, and
take the oath of allegiance before the 10th of July, should receive a
free pardon: and having sent General Waddel with a company of
twenty-five light horse, one field-piece, and a respectable corps of
militia to visit the counties to the west and south, and return home,
himself took a circuit round through Stokes, Rockingham, Guilford to
Hillsborough. In all his circuit, after the bloodshed, he exhibited his
prisoners in chains, particularly in the villages he passed. He exacted
the oath of allegiance from all the inhabitants that could be found;
levied contributions of provisions with a lavish hand upon the suspected
and the absent; he seized one Johnson, who was reported to have spoken
disrespectfully of Lady Wake, from whom one of the counties lately
forcibly set off had been called, a beautiful and accomplished lady; and
for his want of gallantry to this sister of the governor's wife,
condemned him to five hundred lashes on his bare back, two hundred and
fifty of which were inflicted; and offered a reward of a thousand acres
of land, and one hundred pounds in money, for Harmon Husbands, James
Butler, Rednap Howell, and others of the Regulators; and filled his
measure of tyrannical glory by burning houses, destroying crops, and
holding courts-martial for civil crimes. On reaching Hillsborough, he
held a special court for the trial of his prisoners, twelve of whom were
condemned to death on his urgent statements, and six were actually
executed. The real leaders had all escaped, but a sacrifice must be
made; the court hesitated and delayed; he sent his aide-de-camp to chide
and threaten their delay; the soldier and governor were lost in the
tyrant and the savage.
On the 19th of June, six prisoners were
publicly executed near Hillsborough, of whom the unfortunate Messer was
one, reprieved a few days by the spirit of his child, only to be carried
about in chains, and hung ignominiously at last. The governor, in
person, gave orders for the parade at the execution, and, as Maurice
Moore said, "left a ridiculous idea of his character behind, bearing a
strong resemblance to that of an undertaker at a funeral."
Robert Mateer, one of the victims, was a
quiet, inoffensive, upright man, who had never joined the Regulators. On
the morning of the bloodshed he visited Tryon's camp with Robert
Thompson, and was detained with him a prisoner; being recognized as the
person who had, some time before, grievously offended the governor in
the matter of a letter entrusted to his care, he was condemned, and
made one of the six that were executed; beloved while living, and
lamented when dead.
Captain Merrill, from the Jersey Settlement,
or, as others say, from Mecklenburg county, was on his way to join the
Regulators—probably had been engaged in intercepting Waddel—with three
hundred men under his command. Hearing of the defeat and dispersion of
the Regulators on the Alamance, when within a day's march, his men
dispersed, and he returned home, but was afterwards taken prisoner, and
was made one of the six that were executed. A pious man, he professed
his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and declared himself ready to die,
and died like a soldier and a Christian, singing very devoutly, with his
dying breath, a Psalm of David, like the Covenanters in the Grass Market
in Edinburgh. James
Pugh, an ingenious gunsmith, had, during the firing at Alamance, killed
with his rifle some fifteen of those who served the cannon, and delaying
his escape too long was taken prisoner, and made one for this day's
sacrifice. When placed under the gallows he asked and obtained leave
from the governor to address the people for half an hour. he justified
his course, professed his readiness to meet God, inveighed against the
oppression of the public officers, and particularly against Fanning.
This dastardly man, unable to bear the reproaches of his victim, made
the suggestion, and the barrel, on which the prisoner stood, was
overturned, and the young man launched into eternity, his speech
unfinished and his half hour unexpired.
These men may have been rash, but they were
not cowards they may have been imprudent, but they were suffering under
wrong and outrage, and the withholding justice, and the proper exercise
of law. "And if oppression will make a wise man mad," the ten years of
such oppression as these suffered, would have proved them fit for
subjection had they been submissive.
Tryon returned to his costly palace in
Newbern, only to bid it farewell, and make room for Josiah Martin, who
knew better how to appreciate these people and their complaints. Edmund
Fan-lung, the cause of so much trouble, gathered a company and met the
governor on his first approach to Orange; went with him to Alamance, and
as the firing commenced, found it indispensable to take his post many
miles in time rear, whether through fear of his life, or of shedding the
Regulators' blood. Marmon Husbands, also, on the other side, rode faster
and farther on that day. He had been active for years in exciting the
people to resistance, making speeches, circulating information, drawing
up memorials and papers of a political cast, and taking the lead in
measures that brought on the bloodshed in Alamance. He had been once put
in prison while a member of the legislature, for his principles and
connection with the disturbances in Orange; but when the cannon began to
roar at Tryon's command, on the 16th of flay, on the Alamance, he
mounted his horse and rode rapidly away to the more quiet State of
Pennsylvania, and was not seen again in Carolina till after the
Revolution—professing that his principles as a Quaker forbade him to
fight, though they impelled him to resistance. When the time of trial
carne, that men must submit or flee, or bleed, he escaped, while others
poured out their blood. He and all like him are passed over in the
inquiries we make about the people who bore the burthen of the
Revolution and its previous struggles.
The question now arises, who were these
people?—and whence did they come? They could discuss the rights and
privileges of men; they could write in a manner that has been pronounced
"the style of the Revolution;" and they were men that feared an oath.
The oath of allegiance exacted by Tryon, from multitudes, as the
condition of their lives and property, hung on their consciences through
life, and no reasoning could convince them they were free from its awful
sanctions, though the king could afford them no protection. One of
these, who was in the bloodshed of Alamance, and afterwards had borne
arms for the king, as he considered himself bound to do, said
sorrowfully at the close of the Revolution—"I have fought for my
country, and fought for my king; and have been whipped both times."
Still his oath bound his conscience, while he rejoiced it did not reach
his children. The
descendants of these people, who were at the time treated as rebels, and
stigmatized in government papers as ignorant and headstrong and
unprincipled, hold the first rank in their own country for probity and
intelligence; have held the first offices in their own and the two
younger and neighboring States; and have not been debarred time highest
offices in the Union.
In less than four years from this period,
those who were not crushed by the solemnities of the oath Tryon forced
on them, united with their brethren of Mecklenburg of time same stock,
and kindred faith, in maintaining the first declaration of independence
made in North America—a declaration sealed with blood in North Carolina,
but never, like the Regulation, put down. The principles of the
Regulators never were put down; and in the contest with the governor,
there is little doubt on which side the victory would have declared
itself had there been a military man at the head of the undisciplined
people, or had they been fully convinced the governor would fire upon
them. Repeatedly had these men gathered at Hillsborough, and dispersed
without violence, on promise of redress; and Waddel had been met and
turned back without bloodshed a few days before. The greater part
expected some terms of reconciliation, while some wished for the
contest, and many were ready to fight.
The address sent in to Tryon time day before
the bloodshed, in which they promised to disperse and go home if he
would redress their grievances, shows they were not expecting the
governor would proceed to violence. The feelings of a great part of the
western counties were united in the object of their efforts; and many of
the inhabitants of the seaboard were on their side. The militia of
Duplin refused to march against them, with the exception of a company of
light horse under Capt. Bullock, and also refused the oath of allegiance
the governor offered them on his return. In Halifax there were many
supporters of their principles; in Newbern itself many, in fact, the
majority of the militia assembled, declared in their favor. Not a few
men of eminence favored them more or less openly, advocating the
principles, but greatly disapproving the excesses of the violent. Of
these were such men as Maurice Moore, judge of the Superior Court;
Thomas Person, the founder of Person Hall, at Chapel Hill; and Alexander
Martin, afterwards governor of the State.
Martin, the historian, who appears to know
so little about the principles and habits of the persons engaged, says
that there were "several thousand families" scattered through the upper
counties and so there were—and these gathered into congregations of
religious worshippers all along from the Virginia to the South Carolina
line. It is the origin of these that is now inquired after; and the
nature of their religion, so favorable to mental exercise and
improvement, to civil freedom and the rights of man, that is to be
delineated,—a religion the same now as in the days of the American
Revolution,—and the great English Revolution of 1688,—and the same in
spirit and substantial forms as when the great Apostle plead his cause,
in chains, at Rome.
There has been as yet no monument erected to
the memory of those who fell on the Alamance, in this first bloodshed in
the cause of oppressed freemen seeking their rights: they sleep in
unhonored graves, as also do those who were publicly executed in the
same glorious cause near Hillsborough, June 19th, 1771. But you can find
the battle ground and graves of the slain, on the old road from
Hillsborough to Salisbury by Martinville, or Guilford old courthouse. It
is a locality to be remembered, for the event must always fill an
honorable page in any full and fair history of North Carolina, or of the
United States, as the first resistance to blood, in which resistance was
determined upon, even should resistance end in wounds and death.
The Regulators may have been rude, they
certainly were unpolished; but they were not ignorant, neither did they
lack intelligence, nor exhibit as a people any lack of religious or
moral principle. On the contrary, their estimation of an oath far
transcended the expectation of the governor, who anticipated much from a
people taught by McAden, Caldwell, Pattillo, and Craighead, all eminent
in their vocation as gospel ministers.
Differing from the governor in their
religious principles as much as in their political creed, they were
condemned by the king's officers to fines and plunder and confiscation
and death, and by the ministers of the State religion to endless
perdition. 'There is extant a sermon preached before the governor at
Hillsborough, on Sunday, the 25th of September, 1768, by George
Micklejohn, from Romans, chapter xiii., 1st and 2d verses—in which the
preacher avows that the governor ought to have executed at least twenty
on that his first visit; and that the rebels could not escape the
damnation of Bell on account of their resistance to the existing
government. But these outraged men sought deliverance from the
oppression of man, and hoped in the mercy of Almighty God. And they
found from heaven what was denied by earth.
The succeeding pages will give a collection
of facts that shall present the history of principles that cannot die,
and are always effective. The scene of action and the actors but reflect
additional tints of beauty on what, in themselves, are immortal,—the
principles of true government and undefiled religion. |
