Some neglected history of North Carolina, being an account of the revolution of the Regulators and of the Battle of Alamance, the first battle of the American Revolution

Front matter

SOME NEGLECTED HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA

A PLAN of tKe Camp ami Battle of Alamance, tlaeitf 'May 777/

Between the Provincials of NortK Carolina

Chapter I

Early Settlers Inherited Liberty-loving Spirits Which Their Fathers and Forbears of Old Fought for with Cromwell on English Soil; the Province of North Carolina from 1735 to 1740; Unlawful Taxes and Oppressive Government; Want of a Circulating Medium; William Tryon Commissioned Governor, 1764; Passage of the Stamp Act, 1765; Arrival of the Sloops "Diligence" and "Viper" ; Governor Tryon's Barbecue; Duel of Simpson and Whitehurst ; Boston Tea Party ; the Building of the Governor's Palace at Newberne and Description of the Edifice 33

Chapter II

Harmon Husband, Member of General Assembly from Orange County; His Arrest While Attending Meeting of General Assembly; Governor Tryon's Proclamation to Weaken Organization of the Regulators ; the Causes Leading to the Confederation of the Regulators ; Proofs That the Regulators Were Justifiable in Their Acts and That They Had Just Cause for Grievances ; the Royal Governor's Reports to Lord Dartmouth; Convention of Regulators and County Officers at Mrs. Steele's Inn at Salisbury on March 7, 1771 ; Governor Tryon's Letter to Maurice Moore Pertaining to This Meeting; Unequal Representation of Western Counties as Compared with Eastern Counties ; the Atticus Letter; the Sheriff of Orange County Sells "Homespun" Dress at Auction from a Poor Woman's Back for Her Husband's Taxes 47

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Chapter III

Early Immigrants to North Carolina; Tryon Denounces Harmon Husband as a "Blatant Demagogue ;" Husband a Prisoner of Edmund Fanning ; His Friendship with Benjamin Franklin; "Sermon on Asses ;" Parentage and Early Life ; Location and Estates on Deep River; the Organization of the Regulators in April, 1767; Petition of Regulators to Governor and General Assembly; Regulators Go to Court; Copies of Cases as Disposed of at Hillsborough Court; Regulators Enter the Temple of Justice and Take Out Lawyers and Court Ofificials and Whip Them on Court-house Green ; They Compel Edmund Fanning to Plead Law Before a "Mock" Judge; Take Him Out and Whip Him, Then Destroy His Furniture and Burn His Home ; Fanning's Nativity and Education ; Lord Granville's Land Agents and Their Frauds; Unlawful Taxes and Extortionate Charges ; Rednap Howell — His Nativity, Doggerel Poems, and Teachings as a Regulator; Preparations to Resist Further Oppression and Extortion 103

Chapter IV

Tryon's Preparations for War and Orders to General Waddell ; the Cabarrus "Black Boys" Capture a Convoy; General Waddell Receives This Information and Sends Dispatches to Tryon ; Breaks Camp and Marches Eastward ; Met by a Company of Regulators and Forced to Retreat ; Tryon Receives Waddell's Dispatches ; Marches Toward Haw River ; Regulators Send Petition to Tyron, Praying for an Audience; Transcript from Tryon's Journal; Regulators' Needs; Alamance Battle-ground; Seymour Whiting's Poem; Battle of Alamance ; Tryon's Advance ; Battle Fought on Plantation of Capt. Michael Holt ; Strength of Governor's Army ; Harmon Husband Flees ; Dr. Caldwell and Others Visit Tryon's Camp in Behalf of the Regulators ; They Present Second Petition ; Tryon's Proclamation ; the Battle Begins ; the Governor Kills Mr. Robt. Thompson ; Tryon's White Flag ; Tryon's Army Retreats ; Second White Flag ; Tryon Rallies His Men and Leads a Charge ; His Army Victorious ; Prisoners Taken ; Tryon Orders Battle-field Set on

Contents 11

Fire ; Losses and Captures ; Execution of Few, Messer, and Pugh, Other Prisoners in Chains 185

Chapter V

After the Battle Tryon Begins His March of'Devastation ; Husband's Estates His First Stop ; Burns and Lays Waste His Property and Crops; Personal Mention of Husband and Family; His Implication in the Whiskey Riot in Pennsylvania; Tryon Marches Through the Jersey Settlements, Pillaging with Fire and Sword; in Camp at Reedy Creek; Joined by Waddell June 4; Combined Army Marches to the Moravian Settlements ; Celebration of King's Birthday; General Waddell Ordered to March Westward and Subdue and Enforce Submission of Regulators in Rowan and Adjoining Counties ; Governor Begins His March Toward Hillsborough ; in Camp at Guilford Court House ; His Proclamation Outlawing Certain Regulators; Breaks Camp and Marches to Hillsborough ; Prisoners Tried and Condemned ; his Personal Supervision of the Gallows and Details of Execution; Dr. Caldwell Comforts Condemned Men ; Place of Execution ; Pugh as a Man and Patriot ; Robert Matear and Governor's Enmity for Him ; Captain Messer ; Captain Merrill and His Talk While on the Scaffold : 233

Chapter VI

Tryon Receives Commission as Governor of the Province of New York; During Trial of Prisoners He Leaves Hillsborough ; Goes into Camp at Stony Creek; Next Morning His Farewell to His Officers and Army; Returns to His Palace at Newberne and Embarks for New York; Josiah Martin, the New Governor ; Blood Shed at Alamance Battle-ground ; the Graves of Patriots ; the "Flower of Freedom" Which Sprang Therefrom ; Monument to the Regulators that Fell at Alamance ; the Monument Association; Rev. Daniel Albright Long; Distinguished Guests in Attendance ; the First "Liberty Bell" in America; the First Battle of the American Revolution ; the First Declaration of Independence at Charlotte; the Mecklenburg Declaration, May 20, 1775.. 257

PREFACE

North Carolinians have for decades past been interested to an unusual degree in the Provincial and Colonial history of the "Old North State." A growing taste for history and antiquities has become apparent in our history, as has been manifested in various quarters by some of the gifted sons of the Old North State diving among the records and searching the traditions of the past for incidents and subjects worthy of patriotic commemoration.

No State in the Union can present a wider or more diversified field for historical inquiry than North Carolina. On her shores the first settlement of English colonists in America was established; within her borders the first resistance to British authority was organized; by her people the first battle of the American Revolution was fought; and the first actual declaration of independence was made, and some of the most brilliant and important transactions of the Revolutionary period took place upon her soil.

The "Battle of Alamance" and the tyrannical oppression and extortion preceding this most important event in our provincial history is of great moment to all liberty-loving North Carolinians. Recorded instances of oppression and extortion at the hands of all public officers, from

14 Preface

the chief magistrate down to the sheriffs, when no longer endurable called forth the spirit of successful resistance which culminated in taking up arms against the officers of the Crown. But in the study of the events before us — the causes leading up to the "War of the Regulators," the "Battle of Alamance," the first battle of the American Revolution — we see the colonists (Regulators) wearing a heavy yoke of British oppression, which they were attempting to throw off by means of arbitration, and when failing in this, although without an army, no ammunition, not organized, with no General to lead them in battle, unused to military tactics, but firmly and unitedly asserting their rights, and in their defense boldly stepping forth to meet a well-organized and properly-officered army led by Tryon, Governor-General of the Province of North Carolina.

The struggle for American Liberty and Independence which began at the "Battle of Alamance" was a momentous event in the great drama of the world's history, which led up to the signing of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. At the "Battle of Alamance" was kindled the flame, though small in the beginning, that eventually, Vesuvius-like, spread with the rapidity of a wild forest fire, until the oppressed of the thirteen colonies were aflame with righteous indignation and unitedly determined to throw off forever the YOKE of British oppression. The incidents of extortion from 1765 to 1771 were fraught with such momentous consequences upon the destinies of civilization throughout the world that we can never tire in contemplating the instrumentalities by which, under

Preface 15

Divine guidance, the liberty and independence of the Colonists were effected. The "War of the Regulators" has taught mankind that oppression, misrule, and extortion under any government tends to weaken and ultimately destroy the power of the oppressor ; and that a people united in the cause of freedom and their inalienable rights are invincible by those who would enslave them.

Being a descendant of a Regulator, and having spent his childhood and early manhood in Alamance County, North Carolina; and having practiced his profession for three years in and around the spot made hallowed by the blood of patriots shed at the "Battle of Alamance," where he has listened with enraptured delight to the narration of thrilling scenes and circumstances occurring previous to, during, and after the "Battle of Alamance' (all tending to make indelible impressions upon the tablet of memory), the author feels a willingness to "contribute his mite" to the store of accumulated materials relating to the "War of the Regulators" and the "Battle of Alamance" which at the hands of historians has never received due mention or proper credit. The author in this small volume has undertaken to prove that the Regulators were not, as Tryon and his sympathizers would have you believe, a mob made up of rowdy characters, but "the staunch yeoman of the province ;" and that the "Battle of Alamance" WAS THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. And if his feeble efforts in this undertaking shall impart additional information, assist in elucidating the justness of the cause of the Regulators, and add to the already glorious history of the Old North

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State, by causing the "Battle of Alamance" to be recognized as the first struggle for American Liberty and Independence, his highest aspirations will be amply gratified and his agreeable labors abundantly rewarded.

Many of the sketches and incidents herein recorded are original. Others, somewhat condensed, have been taken from Wheeler's "Historical Sketches ;" "North Carolina Colonial and Revolutionary Records ;" "Sketches of North Carolina," by Dr. Foote; Hunter's "Sketches of Western North Carolina ;" "Revolutionary History of North Carolina ;" Dr. Caruthers's "Life of Rev. Dr. Caldwell;" Maj. Joseph M. Morehead's "Address at Guilford Battle Ground ;" Bancroft's "History of the United States;" Mrs. Lutie McCorkle in "North Carolina Booklet;" and "Old Time Stories of North Carolina," and others when falling within the scope of this work. To the authors of the above compilations the author acknowledges his indebtedness for much valuable data gleaned therefrom. "Like Ruth following the reapers of old, he has found scattered here and there 'handsful' of neglected golden grains, and having sifted them out, herewith presents his 'ephah of barley,' hoping it may be of use mentally to the present generation, as it was physically of old to the inhabitants of Palestine."

W. E. F.

Savannah, Georgia.

October, '04.

ORIGINAL SETTLEMENTS IN THE PROVINCE OF

NORTH CAROLINA AND THE CHARACTER

OF HER PEOPLE.

In all ages and among all races there have been two elements which are well defined by the terms, when used in their broadest sense, "Cavalier" and "Puritan." The Puritan was a pessimist and represented the unfortunate, imsuccessful, unhappy and discontented of his race. The Cavalier was an optimist and represented the successful, happy, and contented of his race, and when the Roman legions could no longer successfully resist the Barbarians it was he who preserved in the dark ages the virtue and beneficent portions of the Roman civilization for the further uplifting of mankind in the Renaissance. They were both religious.

North Carolina, in the early days of her Colonial existence, was peopled by the Cavalier emigrants from the Continent and the British Isles. They were a practical people and emigrated to America, not as refugees from civil, metaphysical, philosophical, or religious intolerance incident to that bitter controversial age, but to challenge new opportunities in fresh and undeveloped fields, and in search of fertile lands, that they might cultivate and reap the fruits thereof, with the avowed purpose of building a new state upon a new continent. They were a high-spirited people, fully able to take care of themselves and to defend their rights and liberties in either the "old" or "new" world.

Later on the Province became the home of the oppressed of all nations; but Cavalier and Puritan alike prospered in this goodly land. They both came to the Province of Carolina to better their condition, and there is still and will always be in every country and in every race the Puritan element, which by its very discontent and determination to better its condition is always adding to the Cavalier element. The Puritan of today will be the Cavalier of the next decade.

The descendants of both Cavalier and Puritan have just reason to bless the kind Providence that guided their fathers in their wanderings to such a place of comparative rest, or, in the words of Governor Berkeley of Virginia, "to the land of Eden."

On the sandy banks of Roanoke Island, between Pamlico and Albemarle sounds, the English flag was first unfurled to the breeze of the new world. It was on this island the first expedition of Sir Walter Raleigh landed on July 4, 1584. "The fragrance of the flowers, as they drew near the island," says Amadas in his report to Queen Elizabeth, "was as if they were in the midst of some delicate garden, abounding in all manner of odoriferous flowers." Such, no doubt, it seemed to them during their sojourn on the island; and notwithstanding the disastrous termination of that and several succeeding expeditions, this same tidewater section of the Province of North Carolina has presented its peculiar fascinating attractiveness to many generations who have arisen, enjoyed its magnificent grandeur, and passed away. "In this same report is to be found mention of the celebrated Scuppernong grape, yielding its most abundant crops under the saline atmospheric influence and semi-tropical climate." Sir Walter Raleigh found growing on this island a vegetable of the night-shade family, the Solanum tuberosum, whose esculent tubers now form a part of the bill of fare for almost all nations — the Irish potato. It is said Sir Walter Raleigh carried a cargo of this new and strange vegetable to England in 1586 and brought them to the attention of Queen EHzabeth.

From the glowing description of the country in its primitive abundance, transmitted to Queen EHzabeth and her court, they named the new country Virginia, being discovered in the reign of a virgin Queen. But having failed in his several attempts to plant a colony on Roanoke Island, Sir Walter Raleigh surrendered his patent and gave up the problem of colonization.

In 1587, thirty years before the Pilgrims landed in New England, John White, who had visited the new world two years before with Captain Amadas of Raleigh's expedition, fitted out a colony of one hundred men with their wives and children and came to Roanoke Island. Landing on July 22, 1587, they found a few houses standing, left by the men of Sir Walter Raleigh's expedition, who had attempted a settlement two years before. They named the place "Fort Raleigh." On the i8th of August, 1587, was born the first white child of English parentage in the new world — Virginia, daughter of Annias and Elenor (White) Dare. This baby was the granddaughter of Gov. John White.

"In 1607, at Jamestown in Virginia, was established the first permanent English settlement (colony) in America. The charter of this colony contained none of the elements of liberty, not even an elective franchise, and no rights of self-government; but it was clearly stipulated that the rights and doctrines of the Church of England should be adopted as the religion of the colony. The infant colony suffered many hardships — dissensions, threatened famine, and from the fear of unfriendly Indians; but through the energy of Capt, John Smith was enabled to maintain its stand and in due time to show signs of prosperity.

"In 1619, Lord Delaware, Governor of Virginia, seeing among the new settlers an impatient desire for liberty and the rights of self-government, convoked a provincial congress, the first ever convened in America, and restored to the settlers full rights as Englishmen. This guarantee of political rights led to rapid colonization. By various modifications of their Charter, in a few years the colonists obtained nearly all the rights and privileges which they could claim as British subjects, but the Church of England was coeval with the settlement at Jamestown, and seems to have been considered the religion of the colonists and the established church." (Hunter, Sketches of Western North Carolina.) The exact date the first permanent settlement was made in the Province of Carolina has not been ascertained. It is recorded that in 1622 the Secretary of the

Virginia Colony traveled overland to the Chowan River and described in glowing terms the fertile lands, the salubrious climate, and the kindness of the natives. In 1629 Charles I granted to Sir Robert Heath, under the name Carolina, the territory between 31 and 36 degrees North latitude, in which to plant colonies.

In 1643 Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, issued an ultimatum which "ordained that no minister should preach or teach publicly or privately, except in conformity with the doctrines of the church of England, and non-conformists were banished from the colony." (Bancroft, Vol. i, p. 270.) Hunter in his sketches says it was natural to suppose that individuals as well as families, who disliked such religious persecution, would descend the streams until they found suitable soil in Carolina for locations where they could dwell in peace and happiness and serve God according to the dictates of their own conscience. In 1653 Roger Green led a company across the wilderness from Nansemond in Virginia to the Chowan River and settled near where the present town of Edenton now stands. There they prospered, and others, influenced by their success, soon followed. In 1662 George Durant purchased from the Yeopin Indians the neck of land on the north side of Albemarle Sound, which still bears his name. In 1663 Governor Berkeley, of Virginia, visited the Chowan settlement, and was so well pleased with its prosperity that he decided to take it under his government, and appointed Mr. William Drummond as Governor of the Chowan settlement. Sir Robert Heath, having failed to make use of his grant issued by Charles I, embracing the lands from "sea to sea" between 31° 36° N., it was revoked by Charles II in 1663 and patented to the Earl of Clarendon and seven other Lords Proprietors, and in 1665, upon request of the "County of Albemarle," or Chowan settlement, which wished to be out of the territory of Virginia, the territory of Carolina was increased to extend from 29° to 36° 30" north latitude, including the whole region from the present northern boundary of North Carolina to the St.

John's River in Florida, including all of the present States of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and a portion of Florida, extending from "sea to sea." These charters were liberal in the concession of civil rights and the proprietors were permitted to exercise toleration toward non-conformists if it should be deemed expedient. Flattering inducements were extended to new emigrants from abroad, and settlements steadily increased. They were allowed to set up a representative government with certain limitations, and thus a degree of popular freedom was conceded, though not intended to be permanent — but once permitted could never be recalled. It had an important influence in producing an insatiable desire for and a determination to exercise the rights of freemen; principles which caused the organization of the Regulators and the rights for which they fought at "Alamance," and which we now enjoy. In 1667 Governor Drummond died and the Colony of Carolina was without a governor. The General Assembly was convened,' the first to make laws for the Province of Carolina, and Samuel Stephens was chosen Colonial Governor. "Here," says Bancroft, "was a colony of freemen scattered among the forests, hermits with wives and children resting upon the bosom of nature, in perfect harmony with the wilderness of their gentle clime." The planters of the Albemarle settlement were men led to the choice of their residence from a hatred of restraint. Who doubts that these men were capable of self-government? Let those who do study the history of North Carolina. Its inhabitants were restless and turbulent in their imperfect submission to an oppressive government from abroad. The administration of the Province was humane and tranquil when left to themselves, but any laws not of their own making were oppressive.

"North Carolina was settled by the freest of the free and the bravest of the brave. The settlers were gentle in their tempers, of serene minds, enemies to violence and bloodshed. Not all of the successive revolutions had kindled vindictive passions. Freedom, entire freedom, was enjoyed without anxiety or without guarantees. The charities of life were scattered at their feet like the flowers of their meadows." (Bancroft, Vol. 2, p. 158.) "North Carolina was the most free and independent country ever organized by man. Freedom of conscience, exemption from taxation except by their own consent; gratuities in land to every immigrant and other equitable considerations claimed the prompt legislative action of the colonists. These simple laws suited a simple people, who were as free as the air of their country; and when oppressed were as rough as the billows of the ocean." (Wheeler's History of North Carolina, Part i, p. 30.) "In 1673 John Locke was employed by the Earl of Shaftsbury, one of the Lords Proprietors, to draft and prepare a constitution for the government of the Province of Carolina. He prepared an elaborate scheme, the 'Fundamental Constitution,' which provided for three orders of nobility and four houses of Parliament. It was never fully and successfully put into operation and was entirely abandoned in 1693." (Hunter, Sketches of Western North Carohna.)

"In 1707 a company of Huguenots, as the French Protestants were called, settled on the Trent, and in 1 709 the Lords Proprietors granted to Baron de Graffenreidt ten thousand acres of land on the Neuse and Cape Fear rivers for colonization purposes. In a short time afterwards a great number of Germans and about fifteen hundred Swiss followed the Baron and settled at the confluence of the Neuse River ; the town was called 'New Berne,' after Berne in Switzerland, the birth place of De Graffenreidt. This was the first important introduction into the eastern section of the Province of a most excellent class of liberty-loving people, whose descendants, wherever their lots were cast in our country, gave illustrious proof of their valor and patriotism during the Revolutionary War.

"On September 21, 171 1, the Tuscarora Indians fell upon the settlements along the Roanoke, Pamlico, and Neuse rivers and massacred several hundred of the inhabitants and burned their villages. For three days the savages made war with fire and tomahawk, until stopped by aid sent from Virginia and South Carolina to assist Governor Edward Hyde in subduing the Indians. In 171 8 a treaty of peace and friendship was entered into by the planters and the Tuscaroras.

"In 1729 the Lords Proprietors, with the exception of Lord Granville, surrendered to the British Government the Province of Carolina and its government with all its franchises under the patent of Charles II, and their property in the soil, for 2,500 pounds sterling. The population at that time did not exceed ten thousand inhabitants. George Burrington was governor at the time the sale was made, and on recommendation of the Lords Proprietors the Crown reappointed him the first Royal Governor of the Colony of North Carolina. In February, 1731, he officially wrote the Duke of New Castle; 'The inhabitants of North Carolina are not industrious, but subtile and crafty to admiration ; always behaved insolently to their governors; some of them, they have imprisoned; drove others out of the country and at other times have set up a governor of their own choice supported by men under arms. These people are neither to be cajoled or outwitted. Whenever any governor attempts to effect anything by such means he loses his time and labor and shows his ignorance.' "

Lord Granville's portion of the colony of Carolina was not laid out in severalty for him until 1734. His portion, being one-eighth, was adjoining the southern boundary of the Province of Virginia. At this time a strong tide of emigration was moving toward the western hills, from the Chowan and Roanoke settlements. Already adventurous individuals and even families of hardy pioneers had extended their migrations as far west as the head waters of the Yadkin and Catawba Rivers.

"In 1734 Gabriel Johnston, a Scotchman by birth, and a physician by profession, once a professor of Oriental Languages in the University of St. Andrew, a man of broad mind and liberal views, was appointed Governor, under whose prudent administration the province increased in population, wealth, and happiness. At the time of its purchase by the Crown the population did not exceed 13,000; it was now more than 45,000. About this date a tide of migration began to pour into the Province from Virginia and Maryland. A company from Virginia, headed by James Crump and his son Rowland, a mere lad, settled on the Yadkin River near the mouth of the little Yadkin. Col. Jacob Byrd, of Virginia, with a party of followers located on the Hyco in North Carolina, just across the Virginia line about twenty miles. Nehemiah Hearne, from Summerset, Maryland, emigrated to the Province and located at the junction of Rocky River with the Great Yadkin. In 1752 the Moravians from Wachovia, in Germany, settled the town of Salem. Their first settlement was called 'Bethabara;' the first house erected, however, was their church, on which they placed a bell brought from Wachovia.

"In 1754 Arthur Dobbs was appointed Governor by the Crown. His administration of ten years presented a continued contest between himself and the legislature on frivolous and unimportant matters; his high-toned-temper for Royal prerogatives was sternly met by indomitable resistance on the part of the colonists. The people were grievously oppressed by Lord Granville's land agents, Childs and Corbin. The latter was seized and carried to Enfield, where he was compelled to give bond and security to produce his books and disgorge his illegal fees. During the entire administration of Governors Johnston and Dobbs, commencing in 1734 and ending in 1765, a strong tide of emigration had been pouring into the Province of North Carolina from two opposite directions. One current from Pennsylvania, passing down through Virginia, forming settlements, and another current coming from the South, was spreading over the inviting lands and expansive domains of the Carolinas. Near the close of Governor Johnston's administration numerous settlements had been made on the beautiful plateau country between the Yadkin and Catawba Rivers. In 1756 Fort Dobbs was built, about twenty miles west of Salisbury, for the protection of settlers in this territory.

"In 1764, Governor Dobb's health beginning to fail, he was given a furlough and William Tryon was commissioned Lieutenant-Governor on October 2.'j, 1764, and on the death of Governor Dobbs, April 3, 1765, he qualified as Governor, Commander-in-Chief, and Captain-General of the Province of North Carolina. Tryon was a soldier by profession and looked upon the sword as the true sceptre of government. [See Appendix A.] He knew when to flatter and when to threaten ; he knew when discretion was the better part of valor ; and when to use such force and cruelty as achieved for him from the Cherokee Indians the bloody title of 'The Great Wolf of North Carolina.' He could use courtesy toward the Assembly, when he desired large appropriations for his magnificent palace; and knew how to bring to bear the blandishments of the female of society of his family, and all the appliances of generous hospitality." (Wheeler's History of North Carolina, part i, p. 49.)

On March 22, 1765, Great Britain passed the odious Stamp Act. This act produced great excitement throughout the Province. Meetings of the people were held, who, with a unanimity never before heard of, declared they would not submit to the law. The Speaker in the General Assembly then in session told the Governor the law would be resisted to "blood and death."

In 1765 the British sloop Viper, with the stamp paper aboard, accompanied by the British man-of-war Diligence, carrying twenty-one guns, arrived at Brunswick. Colonel Ashe, at the head of a concourse of people, proceeded to the Governor's mansion, demanded and arrested Dr. William Houston, the stamp agent for the Province, and compelled him to take oath never to perform the duties of his office. (See Appendix B.) The event of greatest historic importance during Tryon's administration was the organization and revolution of the Regulators and the "Battle of Alamance," the first battle for American liberty and independence. It is not deemed necessary here to enter into details of the circumstances leading to this unfortunate occurrence. The reader will find in the succeeding chapters a full history of the revolution of the Regulators. Many true patriots, who did not comprehend the magnitude of their grievances, fought against them. But the principles of right and justice for which they fought could never die. In less than four years all the thirteen colonies were found battling for the same principles, and borne along on the rushing tide of revolution. The men on the seaboard of Carolina, with Colonels Ashe and Waddell at their head, nobly opposed the Stamp Act in 1765, and prevented its execution. The patriotic people of

Orange, Granville, and Anson counties in 1766 organized themselves into the famous Regulators to enforce their rights and liberties. ( See Appendix C. ) The men on the seaboard looked for evils from across the waters, and were prepared to resist oppression on their shores before it should reach the soil of the State. .The western men were seeking redress for grievances that oppressed them at home, under the misrule of all officers, from the Governor down. Had Waddell, Ashe and Caswell understood all the circumstances, and the yoke of oppression which the Regulators had to bear, they would have acted like Thomas Person of Granville, James Hunter, Harmon Husband, and others of Orange, and favored the distressed, even though they might have felt under obligations to maintain peace and uphold the dignity of the law. "Harmon Husband, the leader of the Regulators, has been denounced by Tryon's apologists as a turbulent and seditious character. If such he was, then John Ashe and Hugh Waddell, for opposing the Stamp Act laws, were equally seditious and turbulent." (Hunter, Sketches of Western North Carolina.)