```Carolina! Carolina! Heaven's blessings attend her;
```While we live we will cherish, and love, and defend her;
```Though the scorner may sneer at, the witlings defame her,
```Our hearts swell with gladness whenever wc name her.=
```Though she envies not others this merited glory,
```Say, whose name stands the foremost in Liberty's story?
```Though too true to herself, e'er to crouch to oppression,
```Who can yield to just rule more loyal submission?
````Hurrah! hurrah! the Old North State forever!
````Hurrah! hurrah! the good old North State!"
`````William Gaston.=
[Illustration: 9575]
HE settlement of the Scotch refugees at Cross Creek (now Fayetteville),
at the head of navigation on the Cape Fear Rivcr, is an important point
to be observed, in considering the history of the progress of free
principles in North Carolina. These settlers formed a nucleus of more
extensive immigrations subsequently. They brought with them the sturdy
sentiments of the Covenanters, and planted deeply in the interior of
that province the acorns of civil freedom, which had grown to unyielding
oaks, strong and defiant, when the Revolution broke out. The sentiment
of loyalty, kindred to that of patriotism, was an inherent principle
in their character, and this was first displayed when Donald M'Donald
called upon his countrymen to remember their oath of allegiance to King
George and his successors, and to assist the royal governor in quelling
rebellion.[[1776]] But as that rebellion assumed the phase of righteous
resistance to tyranny, many of those who followed their chief to Moore's
Creek, under the banner of the house of Hanover, afterward fought nobly
in defense of the principles of the Covenanters under the stars and
stripes of the Continental Congress. Other immigrants, allied to them
by ties of consanguinity and religious faith, had already planted
settlements along the Cape Fear and its tributaries, and in the fertile
domain between the Yadkin and Catawba; and in those isolated regions,
far removed from the petty tyrannies of royal instruments, they inhaled
the life of freedom from the pure mountain air, and learned lessons of
independence from the works and creatures of God around them. These
were chiefly Presbyterians from the north of Ireland, commonly called
Scotch-Irish, or the descendants of that people already in Virginia.
Their principles bore the same fruit in Carolina, as in Ulster two
centuries earlier; and long before the Stamp Act aroused the Northern
colonies to resistance, the people of Granville, Orange, Mecklenburg and
vicinity, had boldly told the governor upon the coast that he must not
expect subservience to unjust laws upon the banks of the rivers in the
upper country. There was another class of emigrants whose religious
principles tended to civil freedom. These were the _Unitas Fratrum_--the
Moravians--who planted settlements in North Carolina in the middle of
the last century.[[1749]] These, with other German Protestants, were
firmly attached, from the commencement, to the principles which gave
vitality to our
* In the upper part of the state, in the vicinity of the route traversed
by the armies of Cornwallis and Greene during the memorable retreat
of the latter, there were above twenty organized churches, with
large congregations, and a great many preaching places. All of these
congregations, where the principles of the Gospel independence had
been faithfully preached by M'Aden, Patillo, Caldwell, M Corkle, Hall,
Craighead, Balch, M'Caule, Alexander, and Richardson, were famous
during the struggle of the Revolution, for skirmishes, battles, loss of
libraries, personal prowess, individual courage, and heroic women. In no
part of our republic was purer patriotism displayed, than there.
[[[The Religious Element in our Government.--Origin of the
Scotch-Irish.--First Printing presses in North Carolina.]]]
{566}Declaration of Independence a quarter of a century afterward. * We
will not stop to examine the philosophy of religious influence in the
formation of our civil government. It is a broad and interesting field
of inquiry, but not within the scope of this work; yet so deeply are
the principles of the various phases of Protestantism--the Puritans, the
Scotch-Irish, ** and the Huguenots--impressed upon the Constitutions of
every state in our union, that we must not, we can not, lose sight of
the fact that the whole superstructure of our laws and government has
for its basis the broad postulate of religious freedom asserted by
the Puritans and the Covenanters--_FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE IN MATTERS OF
BELIEF--FREEDOM OF ACTION ACCORDING TO FAITH--FREEDOM TO CHOOSE TEACHERS
AND RULERS IN CHURCH AND STATE._
Two years after the settlement of the Highlanders under the general
direction of Neil M'Neil, the first printing-press was brought into the
province, from Virginia, by James Davis, and set up at Newbern.[[1749]]
This was an important event in the political history of the province.
Hitherto the laws had been in manuscript, and it was difficult for the
people to obtain knowledge, even of the most essential enactments. In
the course of 1751, the printing of the first revisal of the acts of
the Assembly was accomplished, and by the multiplication of copies,
the people generally became acquainted with the laws, and learned their
rights and duties. It was not until 1761 that a periodical paper
was published in North Carolina, and then the want of good postal
arrangements, and, indeed, the character of the paper itself, made it of
little service as a messenger with news. The same year another paper
was commenced, much superior in its character, and from that time the
influence of the press and popular education began to be felt in that
state. ***
In expectation of hostilities between the French and English in America,
all of the colonies turned their attention to the subject of defenses,
and pecuniary resources. Magazines were established in the different
counties of North Carolina, two or three forts were erected, and
emissions of bills of credit were authorized by the Legislature. When
hostilities commenced, and Governor Dinwiddie asked the other colonies
to assist in driving the French from Ohio, North Carolina was the only
one that responded promptly, by voting a regiment of four hundred and
fifty men,[[March 1794]] and an emission of paper money where-
* The Moravians purchased a tract of one hundred thousand acres between
the Dan and the Yadkin Rivers, about ten miles eastward of the Gold
Mountain. They gave to their domain the name of Wachovia, the title of
an estate belonging to Count Zinzendorf in Austria.--See Martin, ii.,
57. Much earlier than this (1709), a colony of Swiss and Germans, under
Baron De Graflenreidt, settled on the Neuse and Cape Fear Rivers. They
founded a city, and called it New Berne (at present Newbern), after
Berne, in Switzerland.
** Henry the Eighth of England forced the people of Ireland to accept
the rituals of the Reformed Church. Elizabeth, his daughter, pursued the
same policy, and reaped the abundant fruit of trouble brought forth by
the discontents of the Irish people. In consequence of the failure of a
rebellion against the authority of James the First, in the province
of Ulster, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, nearly six
counties, embracing half a million of acres, became the property of
the king, by confiscation. Thither James sent Protestant colonies from
England and Scotland (chiefly from the latter), hoping thereby to
fix the principles of the reformation there, and thus to subdue
the turbulence of the people. The Scotch settlers retained the
characteristic traits of their native stock, but were somewhat molded by
surrounding influences. They continued to call themselves Scotch, and,
to distinguish them from the natives of Scotland, they received the
name of Scotch-Irish. From the beginning they were Republicans. They
demanded, and exercised the privilege of choosing their own ministers
and spiritual directors, in opposition to all efforts of the hierarchy
of England to make the choice and support of their clergy a state
concern. From the descendants of these early Republicans came
the Scotch-Irish immigrants who settled in the interior of Forth
Carolina.--See History of Religious Principles and Events in Ulster
Province.
*** The first periodical paper, called The North Carolina Magazine, or
Universal Intelligencer, was published bv Davis, at Newbern, on a demi
sheet, in quarto pages. It was filled with long extracts from the works
of theological writers, or selections from British magazines. The second
newspaper was called the North Carolina Gazette and Weekly Post Boy. It
was printed at Wilmington, by Andrew Stewart, a Scotchman, and contained
intelligence of current events. The first number was published in
September, 1764. The Assembly that year passed an act for the erection
of a school-house at Newbern; the first legislative movement in the
province in favor of popular education. The Cape Fear Mercury was
established by Adam Boyd, in October, 1767. Boyd was a zealous patriot,
and was an active member of the Committee of Safety, of Wilmington.
[[[Carolina Troops in Virginia.--Governors Dobbs and Tryon.--Opposition
to the Stamp Act.--The Enfield Riot]]]
{567}with to pay them. This movement was made at the instigation of
Governor Rowan. These troops marched to Virginia under Colonel James
Jones, of Hanover; but by the time they reached Winchester, the
appropriation for their pay being exhausted, they were disbanded, and
only a few of them followed Washington toward the Monongahela.
The following year,[[1755]] North Carolina voted forty thousand dollars
as further aid toward "repelling the encroachments of the French."
Arthur Dobbs, an aged Irishman of "eminent abilities," was then
governor, but his usefulness was impaired by attempting to exercise
undue authority, and in too freely bestowing offices upon his relatives
and countrymen. He was a thorough aristocrat, but his feelings became
much softened by surrounding democratic influences, and he held the
office until succeeded by William Tryon, in 1766. Dobbs attended the
meeting of colonial governors convened at Alexandria by Braddock, in
April, 1755.
[Illustration: 9577]
Impressed with the importance of frontier defenses against the Indians,
he recommended the erection of forts on the Yadkin. Governor Glenn,
of South Carolina, at the same time caused forts to be erected on the
borders of the Cherokee country along the Savannah River. With the
exception of occasional Indian hostilities, and a sort of "anti-rent"
outbreak, * nothing disturbed the tranquillity of the province from
that period, until two or three years after the signing of the treaty of
peace at Paris, in 1763.
The passage of the Stamp Act produced great uneasiness in the public
mind in North Carolina, as well as in the other provinces. Already the
extortions of public officers in the exaction of fees for legal services
had greatly irritated the people, and they regarded the requirements
of the Stamp Act as a more gigantic scheme for legal plunder. The first
published murmurs, as we have seen, was at Nut Bush[[June 1765]]
(see page 556) then in Granville county. At about the same time, the
inhabitants of Edenton, Newbern, and Wilmington, assembled in their
respective towns, and asserted their hearty concurrence in the
sentiments expressed by the people of the Northern colonies unfavorable
to the Stamp Act. During the summer and autumn, denunciations of the
measure were boldly expressed at public meetings, notwithstanding
the presence of Tryon, the lieutenant governor. Tryon had been acting
governor and commander-in-chief of the province from the death of
Governor Dobbs, on the first of April of that year, and now began his
career of misrule in America. He was appointed governor toward the close
of the year. This was the same Tryon, afterward governor of
* The outbreak alluded to is known as the Enfield Riot. It occurred
in 1759. Extortion had become rife in every department of government.
Deputy-surveyors, entry-takers, and other officers of inferior grade,
became adepts in the chicanery of their superiors. The people finding
their complaints unavailing, and that Corbin, who had the chief
direction of the land-office, was increasing his fees without authority,
resolved to redress their grievances themselves. Fourteen well-mounted
men crossed the Chowan, a few miles above Edenton, by night, seized
Corbin, took him to Enfield, and kept him there until he gave a bond in
forty thousand dollars, with eight sureties, that he would produce his
books within three weeks and return all his illegal fees. As soon as
released, he commenced suits against four of the men who seized him,
and they were committed to Enfield jail. The next day an armed posse
cut down the prison doors, and released them. Corbin was obliged to
discontinue his suits and pay the costs. In Mecklenburg county, in May,
1765, a number of people, with their faces blackened, forcibly compelled
John Frohock, a surveyor, to leave the lands of George A. Selwyn, who
possessed large tracts in that county, and who had sent him there to
survey them.
** William Tryon was a native of Ireland, and was educated to the
profession of a soldier. He was an officer in the British service. He
married Miss Wake, a relative of the Earl of Hillsborough, secretary fur
the colonies. Thus connected, he was a favorite of government, and was
appointed lientenant governor of North Carolina, in 1765. On the death
of Governor Dobbs, lie succeeded him in office, and exercised its
functions until called to fill the same office in New York, in 1771.
The history of his administration in North Carolina is a record of
extortion, folly, and crime. During his administration in New York, the
Revolution broke out, and he was the last royal governor of that state,
though nominally succeeded in office in 1780 by General Robertson, when
he returned to England. His property in North Carolina and in New York
was confiscated. The public acts of Governor Tryon, while in Ameriea,
are recorded upon various pages of these volumes. The seal and signature
on the preceding pane are referred to on page 570.
[[[Revolutionary Proceedings at Wilmington.--Ruins of St. Philip's
Church at Brunswick.]]]
{568}New York, whom we have already met at the conflagrations of
Danbury, Continental Village, and other places. Haughty, innately
cruel, fond of show, obsequious when wishing favors, and tyrannical when
independent, he was entirely incompetent to govern a people like the
free, outspoken colonists of the Upper Carolinas. Fearing a
general expression of the sentiments of the people, through their
representatives, on the subject of the odious act, Tryon issued a
proclamation in October[[Oct 25]] proroguing the Assembly, which was to
meet on the thirtieth of November, until the following March.
[Illustration: 9578]
This act incurred the indignation of the people; and when, early in
January, the sloop of war Diligence arrived in Cape Fear River, having
stamps on board for the use of the province, the militia of New Hanover
and Brunswick, under Colonels Ashe and Waddell, marched to the village
of Brunswick, * and notified the commander of their determination to
resist the landing of the stamps. Earlier than this, Colonel Ashe, who
was the speaker of the Lower House, had informed Tryon that the law
would be resisted to the last. Tryon had issued his proclamation,[[Jan.
6, 1766]] directing the stamp distributors to make application for them,
but the people were too vigilant to allow these officials to approach
the vessel. Taking one of the boats of the Diligence, and leaving a
small party to watch the movements of the duty sloop, the remainder of
the little army of volunteers proceeded to
[Illustration: 7578]
Wilmington. Having placed a flag in the boat, they hoisted it upon a
cart, and with the mayor (Moses John De Rosset, Esq.) and principal
inhabitants, paraded it through the streets. At night the town was
illuminated, and the next day a great concourse of people, headed by
Colonel
* The village of Brunswick, once a flourishing town, but now a
desolation, was situated upon a sandy plain on the western side of the
Cape Fear, on New Inlet, in full view of the sea, fifteen miles below
Wilmington. It enjoyed considerable commerce; but Wilmington, more
eligibly situated, became first its rival. Little now remains to denote
the former existence of population there, but the grand old walls of
"St. Philip's Church, of Brunswick," which was doubtless the finest
sacred edifice in the province at the time of its erection, about one
hundred years ago. I am indebted to Frederick Kidder, Esq., of Boston,
who visited the ruins in 1851, for the accompanying drawing and general
description of the present appearance of the church. It is situated
within a thick grove of trees, chiefly pines, about an eighth of a
mile from the river bank, and its massive walls, built of large English
bricks, seem to have been but little effected by time. They exhibit
"honorable sears" made by cannon-balls hurled from British ships in the
Cape Fear to cover the landing of Cornwallis, when, in the spring of
1776, he desolated the plantation of Colonel Robert Howe, and other
Whigs in the neighborhood of that patriot's estate. The edifice is
seventy-five feet in length from east to west, and fifty-four feet in
width. The walls are about three feet in thickness, and average about
twenty-eight feet in height. The roof, floor, and windows have long
sinee perished; and where the pulpit stood, upon its eastern end, a
vigorous cedar spreads its branches. Nine of these green trees are
within its walls, and give peculiar picturesqueness to the scene. On the
top of the walls is flourishing shrubbery, the product of seeds planted
by the winds and the birds. Around the church are strewn the graves of
many of the early settlers, the names of some of whom live in the annals
of the state. The view here given is from the east. About a quarter of a
mile northeast from the church, are remains of the residence of Governor
Tryon at the time of the Stamp Act excitement.
[[[Resignation of the Wilmington Stamp Master.--Unpopularity of
Tryon.--Discontents in the Interior.--"Regulators."]]]
{369}Ashe, proceeded to the governor's house and demanded James Houston,
the stamp master. Houston appeared, and going to the market-place, he
voluntarily took a solemn oath not to perform the duties of his office.
The populace, satisfied with their triumph, gave three cheers, conducted
him back to the governor's house, and then dispersed.
Tryon was alarmed at this demonstration of the popular temper, and
endeavored to conciliate the militia of New Hanover, at a general
muster, by treating them to a barbacued ox and a few barrels of
beer.[[Feb., 1766]] The insulted people cast the ox into the river,
poured the beer upon the ground, and mocked the governor. The officers
of the Diligence espoused the cause of the chief magistrate, and a
general fight ensued. The riot continued several days, and during the
excitement one man was killed. * The Stamp Act was repealed shortly
afterward, and the province became comparatively tranquil.
For several years previous to the Stamp Act excitement rebellion had
been ripening among the people in the western counties. The rapacity
of public officers, and the corrupt character of ministers of justice,
weighed heavily upon the property and spirits of the people. The most
prominent evils complained of were the exorbitant charges of the clerks
of the Superior Courts, whereby those courts had become instruments
of oppression; and oppressive taxes exacted by the sheriffs, and the
outrages committed by those officers when their authority was questioned
in the least. These evils every where existed, and every petition of the
people (who began to assemble for consultation) for redress appeared to
be answered by increased extortions. At length the inhabitants resolved
to form a league, take power into their own hands, and regulate matters.
** Herman Husband, "one of those independent Quakers who was taught in
the honest school of William Penn, and refused to pull off his hat and
bow before the minions of despotism," *** a man of grave deportment,
superior mind, and of great influence, **** but evidently without
education, (v) drew up a written complaint. It was carried to
Hillsborough, during the sitting of the court,[[Oct. 1776]] by a number
of firm men, who requested the clerk to read it aloud. The preamble
asserted that "The Sons of Liberty would withstand the Lords in
Parliament," and it set forth that evils of great magnitude existed. It
recommended a general meeting of delegates, appointed by each militia
company in Orange county, to be held at some suitable place, _where
there was no liquor_, to "judiciously inquire whether the freemen of
this county labor under any abuse of power," &c., &c. The proposition
being considered reasonable, a meeting was appointed to be held at
Haddock's Mills, on the Eno, two or three miles west of Hillsborough.
The meeting was held on the tenth,[[October]] but not many delegates
attended. They discussed various topics fairly and dispassionately.
Another meeting was held on the fourth of April following,[[1767]] at
the same place, and the resolutions passed at that time were almost
equivalent to a declaration of independence of the civil power of the
state. From that time The Regulation was a permanent and powerful body.
(vi)
* Martin, 210-12. The man who was killed was Thomas Whitehurst, a
relative of Mrs. Tryon. He fell in a duel with Simpson, master of the
sloop of war Viper, who took the side of the colonists. Simpson was
tried for murder and acquitted. Tryon charged Chief-justice Berry with
partiality, and severely reprimanded him. The judge was very sensitive,
and, under the impression that he was to be suspended from office,
committed suicide in the most horrible manner.
** Those who associated for the purpose assumed the name of Regulators,
and the confederacy was called The Regulation.
*** North Carolina Weekly Times.
**** Caruthers, 120.
* (v) The deficiency in Husband's education, and his ignorance of the
proper construction of language, is evinced in a pamphlet prepared
chiefly by himself, entitled "An Impartial Relation of the first Rise
and Cause of recent differences in Public Affairs," which was printed
for the "compiler" in 1770. The onlv copy of this rare and curious
pamphlet which I have seen is in the possession of the Reverend Francis
Hawks, D.D., of New York City.
* (vi) These resolutions were drawn by Herman Husband. The signers
agreed to form an association to regulate public affairs in Orange
county. They resolved to pay no more taxes until satisfied that they
were legal; to pay officers no more fees than the strict letter of the
law required, unless forced to, and then to show open resentment; to
be cautious in the selection of representatives, and to petition the
governor, council, king, and Parliament for a redress of grievances;
to keep up a continual correspondence with each other; to defray all
necessary expenses; all differences in judgment to be submitted to the
whole Regulation, the judgment of the majority to be final; and closed
by a solemn oath or affirmation to "stand true and faithful to this
cause, until we bring things to a true regulation." These Regulators
were also styled "Sons of Liberty."
[[[Tryon's Request for a Palace.--Maneuvers of his Family.--Heavy
Appropriation.--View and Description of the Palace.]]]
{570}It was at about this time that the pride and folly of Governor
Tryon led him to make a demand upon the Assembly for an appropriation
of twenty-five thousand dollars for the purpose of building a palace at
Newbern "suitable for the residence of a royal governor." To obtain this
appropriation, Lady Tryon, and her sister Esther Wake, * both beautiful
and accomplished women, used all the blandishments of their charms
and society to influence the minds of the burgesses. Lady Tryon gave
princely dinners and balls, and the governor finally succeeded in
obtaining, not only the first appropriation asked, but another of fifty
thousand dollars, to complete the edifice.
[Illustration: 0580]
It was pronounced the most magnificent struc-
* Wake county was so named in honor of this accomplished lady.
Afterward, when party zeal changed the name of Tryon county, and it
was proposed to alter that of Wake also, the gallantry of the Assembly
overruled their feelings of hostility to the governor and his family,
and the name was retained.
** This picture of the palace I made from the original drawings of the
plan and elevation, by John Hawks, Esq., the architect. These drawings,
with others of minor details, such as sections of the drawing-room,
chimney-breasts for the council-chamber and dining-hall, sewers, &e.,
are in the present possession of a grandson of the architect, the
Reverend Francis L. Hawks, D.D., L.L.D., rector of Calvary Church, in
the city of New York, to whose courtesy I am indebted for their use.
With the drawings is the preliminary contract entered into by the
governor and the architect, which bears the private seal of Tryon and
the signatures of the parties, from which I made the fac simile printed
upon page 567. The contract is dated January 9th, 1767, and specifies
that the main building should be of brick, eighty-seven feet front,
fifty-nine feet deep, and two stories in height, with suitable buildings
for offices, &e., and was to be completed by the first day of October,
1770. For his services, Mr. Hawks was to receive an annual salary of
"three hundred pounds proclamation money."
** The view here given was the north front, toward the town. The center
edifice was the palace. The building on the right was the secretary's
office and the laundry; that upon the left was the kitchen and servant's
hall. These were connected with the palace by a curviform colonnade, of
five columns each, and covered. Between these buildings, in front of the
palace, was a handsome court. The rear of the building was finished in
the style of the Mansion-House in London. The interior of the palace
was elegantly finished. "Upon entering the street door," says Ebenezer
Hazzard, in his journal for 1777, when he visited it, "you enter a
hall in which are four niches for statues." The chimney-breasts for
the council-chamber, dining-hall, and drawing-room, and the cornices
of these rooms, were of white marble. The chimney-breast of the
council-chamber was the most elaborate, being ornamented by two Ionic
columns below, and four columns, with composite capitals, above, with
beautiful entablature, architrave, and friese.* Over the inner door
of the entrance-hall or ante-chamber was a tablet, with a Latin
inscription, showing that the palace was dedicated to Sir William
Draper,* "the Conqueror of Manilla and also the following lines, in
Latin, which were written by Draper, who was then on a visit to Governor
Tryon:
"In the reign of a monarch, who goodness disclos'd,
A free, happy people, to dread tyrants oppos'd,
Have to virtue and merit erected this dome;
May the owner and household make this their loved home--
Where religion, the arts, and ihe laws may invite
Future ages to live in sweet peace and delight."
** The above translation was made by Judge Marlin, the historian of
North Carolina, who visited the edifice in 1783, in company with the
unfortunate Don Francisco de Miranda. That gentleman assured Martin that
the structure had no equal in South America. The palace was destroyed
by fire about fifty years ago, and the two smaller buildings, only,
remain.
* Among the colonial documents at Raleigh is an account of this
chimney-piece. The paper bears the date of December 6, 1769. It is one
of several manuscripts deposited there by Dr. Hawks, which he found
among his grandfather's papers.
[[[Excessive Taxation.--Tryon's Proclamation against the
Regulators.--His bad Faith.--Extortions of Officers.]]]
{571}ture in America. The pride of the governor and his family was
gratified; the people, upon whom the expense was laid, were highly
indignant.
The inhabitants of North Carolina were now thoroughly awakened to
the conviction that both the local and the imperial government, were
practically hostile to the best interests of the colonists. The taxes
hitherto were very burdensome; now the cost of the palace, and an
appropriation to defray the expenses of running the dividing line
between their province and the hunting-grounds of the Cherokees, made
them insupportable. * The rapacity of public officers appeared to
increase, and the people saw no prospect of relief. Current history
reports that, among the most obnoxious men, who, it was alleged, had
grown rich by extortionate fees, ** was Edmund Fanning, a lawyer of
ability. He was regarded as a co-worker with the government; haughty
in demeanor, and if common report spoke truth, was immoral. The people,
excited by their leaders, detested him, and avoided no occasion to
express their displeasure. His first open rupture with the Regulators
was in the spring of 176 8.[[April 27]] Tryon issued a proclamation,
half menacing and half persuasive, evidently intended to awe the
_Regulation_ and persuade the other inhabitants to avoid that
association. He sent his secretary, David Edwards, to co-operate with
Fanning in giving force to the proclamation among the people. They
directed the sheriff to appoint a meeting of the vestry-men of the
parishes and the leading Regulators, to consult upon the public good and
settle all differences. Fair promises dispelled the suspicions of the
Regulators, and their vigilance slumbered while awaiting the day of
meeting.[[May 28,1768]]
They were not yet fully acquainted with the falsity of their governor,
or they would never have heeded the fair words of his proclamation. They
were soon assured of the hollowness of his professions; for, while they
were preparing, in good faith, to meet government officers in friendly
convention, the sheriff, at the instigation of Fanning, proceeded, with
thirty horse-
* The appropriations made by the province on account of the French and
Indian war had founded a heavy public debt. These, with the palace debt
and the appropriation for the boundary commission, together with the
unredeemed bills and treasury-notes, amounted to almost half a million
of dollars. This burden upon the common industry became greater in
consequence of the depreciation of the paper money of the colony in the
hands of the people, at least fifty per cent, at the period in question.
To sink this public debt, a poll tax of about a dollar and a half was
levied upon every male, white and black, between the ages of sixteen
and sixty years. This bore heavily upon the poor, and awakened universal
discontent. The running of the western boundary line was an unnecessary
measure, and the people were convinced that Tryon projected it for the
purpose of gratifying his love of personal display. Commissioners were
appointed, and at a time of profound peace with the Indians on the
frontier, Tryon marched at the head of a military force, "ostensibly
to protect the surveyors." He made such a display of himself before
the grave sachems and warriors of the Cherokees, that they gave him the
just, though unenviable title of "The great wolf of North Carolina!"
** The legal fee for drawing a deed was one dollar. Many lawyers charged
five dollars. This is a single example of their extortion. Thomas
Frohock, who held the office of clerk of the Superior Court in
Salisbury, was another extortioner, who was detested by the people.
He frequently charged fifteen dollars for a marriage license. When we
consider the relative value of money at that time, it was equal to forty
or fifty dollars at the present day. Many inhabitants along the Yadkin
dispensed with the license, took each other "for better, or for worse,"
unofficially, and considered themselves as married, without further
ceremony.
* Sir William was an excessively vain man. Upon a cenotaph, at his seat
at Clifton Down, near Bristol, England, he had this inscription placed:
"Here lies the mother of Sir William Draper."
** History of North Carolina, ii., 226.
[[[Arrest of Regulators.--Hillsborough menaced.--Forbearance of the
People.--Legal Trials]]]
{572}men, to arrest Herman Husband and William Hunter, on a charge of
riotous conduct. These, the most prominent men among the Regulators,
were seized and cast into Hillsborough jail.[[May 1, 1768]] The whole
country was aroused by this treachery, and a large body of the
people, led by Ninian Bell Hamilton, a brave old Scotchman of
three-score-and-ten years, marched toward Hillsborough to rescue the
prisoners.
Fanning and Edwards, apprised of the approach of Hamilton, were alarmed,
and released the prisoners just as the people reached the banks of the
Eno, opposite Hillsborough. Fanning, with a bottle of rum in one hand,
and a bottle of wine in the other, went down to the brink of the stream,
urged Hamilton not to march into the town, and asked him to send a
horse over that he might cross, give the people refreshments, and have
a friendly talk. Hamilton was not to be cajoled by the wolf in sheep's
clothing. "Ye're nane too gude to wade, and wade ye shall, if ye come
over!" shouted Hamilton. Fanning did wade the stream, but his words and
his liquor were alike rejected. * Edwards then rode over, and solemnly
assured the people that if they would quietly disperse, all their
grievances should be redressed. The confiding people cried out, "Agreed!
agreed!" and, marching back toward haddock's Mills, they held a meeting
at George Sally's the next day.[[May 21, 1768]] to consult upon the
public good. They drew up a petition, and sent Rednap Howell and
James Hunter to lay it before the governor, at Brunswick. It was most
respectful, yet Tryon, in imitation of his royal master, haughtily
spurned it. He commanded the deputies to return to their houses,
warn their associates to desist from holding meetings, disband the
association, and be content to pay the taxes! He then graciously
promised them to visit Hillsborough within a month, and listen to the
complaints of the people.
Tryon and some of his council met at Hillsborough early in July. He
issued a proclamation, which, for a moment, deceived the people into a
belief that justice was about to bear rule, and that the infamous system
of extortion was to be repressed. They were again deceived. Instead of
mediator, the governor appeared as a judge; instead of defending the
oppressed, he encouraged the oppressors. He went into Mecklenburg,
raised a large body of troops, and marched from Salisbury to
Hillsborough with the parade of a conqueror. But this display did not
frighten the people. He sent the sheriff to collect the taxes; that
officer was driven back to Hillsborough by the excited populace. The
governor was execrated for his false and temporizing conduct, and a
general rising of the Regulators was apprehended. From the eleventh of
August until the twenty-second of September, when Husband and others
would be tried before the Superior Court, the militia were held in
readiness to oppose any insurgents, and Tryon remained until the trials
were over. On the opening of the court, three thousand people from the
surrounding country encamped within half a mile of the town, but, true
to a promise they had made *** not to obstruct the course of justice,
they were quiet. Husband was acquitted; Hunter and two others were
heavily fined and imprisoned; while Fanning, who was tried under seven
indictments for extortion, and was found guilty, was fined one penny on
each! ***
[Illustration: 9582]
The judges upon the bench, on this occasion, were Martin Howard, chief
justice, and Maurice Moore and Richard Henderson, associates. The
governor, perceiving the indignation of the populace at this mockery of
justice, speedily issued a proclamation of a general pardon to all the
Regulators except thirteen whom he consid-
* Dr. Caruthers, in his Life of Caldu-ell, has preserved the two
following verses of a doggerel poem of eight stanzas, composed on the
occasion:
"At length their head man they sent out
With hat in hand, at our command,
To save their town from fire:
To salute us every one, sir.
To see Ned Fanning wade Eno,
And alter that, kept off his hat,
Brave boys, you'd all admire.
To salute old Hamilton, sir."
** The governor had demanded that twelve wealthy men should meet him
at Salisbury, on the twenty-fifth of August, and execute a bond, in the
penalty of $5000, as security that the Regulators should keep the peace
during the trials. This request was refused, but a promise to abstain
from violence was made and faithfully kept.
*** Statement of Herman Husband. Record of the Superior Court at
Hillsborough
[[[Tryon's Return to Newbern.--Prevalence of Quiet.--New
Outbreaks.--Riots at Hillsborough.]]]
{573}ered as the principal leaders. * By this act of apparent clemency
he hoped to pacify the disturbed public mind. Satisfying himself that
quiet would now prevail, he returned to his palace at Newbern, neither a
wiser nor a better man.
For almost two years comparative quiet prevailed; not the quiet of
abject submission on the part of the people, but the quiet of inactive
anarchy. The sheriffs dared not enforce their claims, and the evident
impuissance of government made the Regulators bold. Finally, many
unprincipled men, who espoused their cause in order to benefit by
change, committed acts of violence which all good patriots deplored.
[Illustration: 9583]
The records of the Superior Court at Hillsborough show evidence of a
lawlessness, in 1770, quite incompatible with order and justice; and
yet, from the character of some of the men engaged in breaking up the
court at the September term of that year, it must be inferred that
sufficient cause existed to warrant, in a great degree, their rebellious
proceedings.5 An excited populace gathered there at the opening of
the court, and committed acts which Husband and Howell, and their
compatriots, would doubtless have prevented, if in their power. But
reason and prudence are alike strangers to a mob. Not content with
impeding the course of justice by driving the judge from the bench and
the advocates from the forum, the Regulators severely beat a lawyer
in the street, named John Williams, and dragged Fanning out of
the court-house by his heels, beat him with rods, and kept him in
confinement dur-
* The names of these "outlaws" were James Hunter, Ninian Bell Hamilton,
Peter Craven, Isaack Jackson, Herman Husband, Matthew Hamilton. William
Payne, Malichi Tyke, William Moffat, Christopher Nation, Solomon Goff,
and John O'Neil. These were some of the "Sons of Liberty" of western
North Carolina.
** While in Hillsborough, in January, 1849, 1 was permitted by the
Clerk of the Superior Court, to make the Blowing extracts from the
old records: "Monday, September 24th, 1770. Several persons styling
themselves Regulators, assembled together in the court-yard, under the
conduct of Herman Husband, 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 the 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 till
to-morrow at ten o'clock, and took advantage of the night, and made
his escape." The court, of course, did not convene on the next day,
and instead of a record of judicial proceedings, I found the following
entry: "March term, 1771. The persons styling themselves Regulators,
under the conduct of Herman Husband, James Hunter, Rednap Howell,*..
William Butler, and Samuel Divinny, 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 continues adjourned until the next September term."
These entries are in the handwriting of Fanning.
* Rednap Howell was from New Jersey, and was a brother of Richard
Howell a patriot of the Revolution, and governor of that state. Like
his brother (who wrote the ode of welcome to Washington printed on page
245), he was endowed with poetic genius, and composed about forty songs
during the Regulator movements. He taught school somewhere on the Deep
River, and was a man of quite extensive influence. Like Freneau, at a
later day, he gave obnoxious officials many severe thrusts, he thus hits
Frohock and Fanning:
...Says Frohock to Fanning, to tell the plain truth,
Says Fanning to Frohock, 'tis a folly to lie;
When I came to this country I was but a youth;
I rode an old mare that was blind ol an eye;
My father sent for me; I wa'nt worth a cross,
Five shillings in money I had in my purse.
And then my first study was to steal for a horse.
My coat it was patched, but not much the worse;
I quickly got credit, and then ran away,
But now we've got rich, and 'tis very well known
And hav'n't paid for him to this very day
That we'll do very well if they'll let us alone."
* In a song which became very popular, Howell thus lampooned Colonel
Fanning:
"When Fanning first to Orange came,
Both man and mare wa'n't worth five pounds,
He looked both pale and wan;
As I've been often told,
An old patched coat upon his back--
But by his civil robberies
An old mare he rode on.
He's laced his coat with gold."
* In 1771, s pamphlet was published in Boston, entitled "A Fan for
Fanning, and a Touch for Tryon; containing an Impartial Account of the
Rise and Progress of the so-much-talked-of Regulators in North Carolina.
By Regulus." In this pamphlet, Tryon and Fauning were sufficiently
scorched to need a "fan.
[[[Outrages upon Fanning--Sketch of his Public Life.--Mock Court and
Trials.--Yorke]]]
{574}ing the night. On the following morning, when they discovered that
the judge had escaped, they beat Fanning again, demolished his costly
furniture, and pulled down his house. They intended to burn it, but the
wind was high, and they apprehended the destruction of other property.
* These proceedings were highly disgraceful, and the harsh treatment of
Fanning was condemned by all right-minded men.
When this violence was completed, they repaired to the court-house, and
appointed a schoolmaster of Randolph county, named Yorke, clerk;
[Illustration: 9584]
chose one of their number for judge; took up the several eases as they
appeared upon the docket, and adjudicated them, making Fanning plead
law; and then decided several suits.
[Illustration: 7584]
As the whole proceedings were intended as a farce, their decisions were
perfectly ridiculous, while some of the "remarks" by Yorke were vulgar
and profane. **
* Fanning's house was upon the site of the present Masonic Hall, a
handsome brick building within a grove on King Street. On the opposite
side of the street is his office, too much modernized for a drawing of
it to possess any interest. Edmund Fanning was a native of Long Island,
New York, son of Colonel Phineas Fanning. He was educated at Yale
College, and graduated with honor in 1757. He soon afterward went to
North Carolina, and began the profession of a lawyer at Hillsborough,
then called Childsborough. In 1760, the degree of L.L.D.'was conferred
upon him by his alma mater. In 1763, he was appointed colonel of
Orange county, and in 1765 was made clerk of the Superior Court
at Hillsborough. He also represented Orange county in the Colonial
Legislature. In common with other lawyers, he appears to have exacted
exorbitant fees for legal services, and consequently incurred the
dislike of the people, which was finally manifested by acts of violence.
He accompanied Governor Tryon to New York, in 1771, as his secretary.
Governor Marlin asked the Legislature to indemnify Colonel Fanning for
his losses; the representatives of the people rebuked the governor
for presenting such a petition. In 1776, General Howe gave Fanning the
commission of colonel, and he raised and commanded a corps called the
Kings American Regiment of Foot. He was afterward appointed to the
lucrative office of surveyor general, which he retained until his
flight, with other Loyalists, to Nova Scotia, in 1783. In 1786 he was
made lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia, and in 1794 he was appointed
governor of Prince Edward's Island. He held the latter office about
nineteen years, a part of which time he was also a brigadier in the
British armv, having received his commission in 1808. He married in Nova
Scotia, where some of his family yet reside. General Fanning died in
London, in 1818, at the age of about eighty-one years. His widow and two
daughters yet (1852) survive. One daughter, Lady Wood, a widow, resides
near London with her mother; the other, wife of Captain Bentwick
Cumberland, a nephew of Lord Bentwick, resides at Charlotte's Town, New
Brunswick. I am indebted to John Fanning Watson, Esq., the Annalist
of Philadelphia and New York, for the portrait here given. General
Fanning's early career, while in North Carolina, seems not to have given
promise of that life of usefulness which he exhibited after leaving
Republican America. It has been recorded, it is true, by partisan pens,
yet it is said that he often expressed regrets for his indiscreet course
at Hillsborough. His after life bore no reproaches, and the Gentlemen's
Magazine (1818), when noting his death, remarked, ''The world contained
no better man in all the relations of life."
** The fae similes here given of the writing of Fanning and Yorke are
copies which I made from the original in the old record book. The first
shows the names of parties to the suit entered by Fanning on the record.
The mock court, of course, decided in favor of the defendant, Smith, and
opposite these names and the record of the verdict, Yorke wrote, with a
wretched pen, the sentence here engraved: "Fanning pays cost, but loses
nothing." He being clerk of the court, and the lawyer, the costs were
payable to himself, and so he lost nothing. Yorke was a man of great
personal courage, and when, a few years later, the war of the Revolution
was progressing, he became the terror of the Loyalists in that region.
An old man on the banks of the Allamance, who knew him well, related
to me an instance of his daring. On one occasion, while Cornwallis
was marching victoriously through that section, Yorke, while riding on
horseback in the neighborhood of the Deep River, was nearly surrounded
by a band of Tories. He spurred his horse toward the river, his enemies
in hot pursuit. Reaching the bank, he discovered he was upon a cliff
almost fifty feet above the stream, and sloping from the top. The Tories
were too close to allow him to escape along the margin of the river.
Gathering the reins lightly in his hands, he spurred his strong horse
over the precipice. The force of the descent was partially broken by
the horse striking the smooth sloping surface of the rock, when half way
down. Fortunately the water was deep below, and horse and rider, rising
to the surface, escaped unhurt. It was a much greater feat than Putnam's
at Horse Neck.
[[[Military Expedition against the Regulators.--Bad Treatment of
Husband.--Tryon's March to Hillsborough.--His Officers.]]]
{575}Judge Henderson, who was driven from the bench, called upon
Tryon to restore order in his district. The governor perceived that a
temporizing policy would no longer be expedient, and resolved to employ
the military force to subdue the rebellious spirit of the Regulators. He
deferred operations, however, until the meeting of the Legislature, in
December. Herman Husband was a member of the Lower House, from Orange,
and there were others in that body who sympathized with the oppressed
people. Various measures were proposed to weaken the strength of the
Regulators; and among others, four new counties were formed of portions
of Orange, Cumberland, and Johnson. * Finally, when the Legislature was
about to adjourn without authorizing a military expedition, information
came that the Regulators had assembled in great numbers at Cross Creek
(Fayetteville), with the intention of marching upon Newbern, having
heard that their representative (Husband) had been imprisoned. ** The
Assembly immediately voted two thousand dollars for the use of the
governor. The alarmed chief magistrate fortified his palace, and placed
the town in a state of defense. He also issued a proclamation,[[Feb 7,
1771]] and orders to the colonels of the counties in the vicinity, to
have the militia in readiness. These precautions were unnecessary, for
the Regulators, after crossing the Haw, a few miles above Pittsborough,
to the number of more than one thousand, met Husband on his way home,
and retraced their steps.
The governor soon issued another proclamation, prohibiting the sale of
powder, shot, or lead, until further notice. This was to prevent the
Regulators supplying themselves with munitions of war. This measure
added fuel to the flame of excitement, and finally, the governor
becoming again alarmed, he made a virtual declaration of war, through
his council. That body authorized him to raise a sufficient force to
march into the rebellious districts and establish law and order. The
governor issued a circular[[March 18, 1771]] to the colonels, ordering
them to select fifty volunteers from their respective regiments and send
them to Newbern. With about three hundred militia-men, a small train of
artillery, some baggage wagons, and several personal friends, Tryon left
Newbern on the twenty-fourth of April. On the fourth of May he encamped
on the Eno, having been re-enforced by detachments on the way. ***
General Hugh Waddel was directed to collect the forces from the western
counties, rendezvous at Salisbury, and join the governor in Orange (now
Guilford) county. While he was waiting at Salisbury for the arrival of
powder from Charleston, a company of men assembled in Cabarras county,
blackened their faces, intercepted the convoy with the ammunition,
between Charlotte and Salisbury, routed the guard, and destroyed the
powder.
* These were Guilford, Chatham, Wake, and Surrey.
** Tryon, who feared and hated Husband, procured the preferment of
several charges against him, and he was finally arrested, by order
of the council, and imprisoned for several days. The charges, on
investigation, were not sustained, and he was released.
***Colonel Joseph Leech commanded the infantry, Captain Moore the
artillery, and Captain Neale a company of rangers.
[Illustration: 9585]
* On his way to the Eno, he was joined by a detachment from Hanover,
under Colonel John Ashe: another from Carteret, under Colonel Craig;
another from Johnston, under Colonel William Thompson; another from
Beaufort, under Colonel Needham Bryan: another from Wake, under Colonel
Johnson Hinton; and at his camp on the Eno, he was joined by Fanning,
with a corps of clerks, constables, sheriffs, and other materials of a
similar kind. The signatures here given, of two of Tryon s officers on
this occasion, I copied from original committee reports to the Colonial
Legislature, now in possession of the Reverend Dr. Hawks. Some of these
officers were afterward active patriots. Several other signatures of
North Carolina men given in this work, I copied from the same documents.
[[[Dispersion of Waddel's Troops.--Tyron's March toward the
Allamance.--Dr. Caldwell's Mediation.--Battle.]]]
{576}General Waddel crossed the Yadkin on the morning of the tenth of
May,[[1771]] intending to join Governor Tryon. He had advanced but a
short distance, when he received a message from a body of Regulators,
warning him to halt or retreat. Finding that many of his men were averse
to fighting, and that others were favorable to the Regulators, and were
thinning his ranks by desertions, he retreated across the Yadkin, hotly
pursued by the insurgents. They surrounded Waddel's small army, and took
several of them prisoners, after a slight skirmish. The general and a
few followers escaped to Salisbury.
Tryon, informed of the disaster of Waddel, broke up his camp on the Eno,
crossed the Haw just below the Falls,[[May 13]] and pressed forward
toward the Allamance, where he understood the Regulators were collecting
in force on the Salisbury Road. He encamped very near the scene of
Colonel Pyles's defeat in 1781, within six miles of the insurgents, just
at sunset, and during the night sent out some scouts to reconnoiter. *
On the fifteenth he received a message from the Regulators, proposing
terms of accommodation, and demanding an answer within four hours. ** He
promised a response by noon the next day.
At dawn the following morning[[May 16]] he crossed the Allamance, a
little above the present site of Holt and Carrigan's cotton factory,
and marched silently and undiscovered along the Salisbury Road, until
within half a mile of the camp of the Regulators, where he formed his
line in battle order. Dr. Caldwell, who was there, with many of his
parishioners, now visited the governor a second time, and obtained a
renewal of a promise made the night before to abstain from bloodshed;
but Tryon demanded unconditional submission. Both parties advanced to
within three hundred yards of each other, when Tryon sent a magistrate,
with a proclamation, ordering the Regulators to disperse within an hour.
Robert Thompson, an amiable, but bold, outspoken man, who had gone to
Tryon's camp to negotiate, was detained as a prisoner. Indignant because
of such perfidy, he told the governor some plain truths, and was about
to leave for the ranks of the Regulators, when the irritated governor
snatched a gun from the hands of a militia-man and shot Thompson dead.
Tryon perceived his folly in a moment, and sent out a flag of truce. The
Regulators had seen Thompson fall, and, deeply exasperated, they paid no
respect due to a flag, and immediately fired upon it. *** At this moment
Dr. Caldwell rode along the lines and urged his people and their friends
to disperse; and had an equal desire to avoid bloodshed guided the will
of Tryon, valuable lives might have been spared. But he took counsel of
his passions, and gave the word "_Fire!_" The militia hesitated, and the
Regulators dared them to fire. Maddened with rage, the governor rose
in his stirrups and shouted "_Fire!_ fire on them, or on me!" A volley
ensued, and the cannons were discharged with deadly effect. The fire was
returned, and the governor's hat was pierced by a musket-ball. He sent
out a flag of truce, but the bearer immediately fell. Some young men
among the Regulators rushed forward and took possession of the cannons.
They did not know how to manage them, and soon abandoned them. The
military now fired with vigor, and the Regulators fell back to a ledge
of rocks on the verge of a ravine, not, however, until their scanty
supply of ammunition was exhausted. They had no acknowledged leader;****
for as soon as it was evident
* Colonel Ashe and Captain John Walker, who were out reconnoitering,
were caught by the Regulators, tied to a tree, severely whipped, and
detained as prisoners. The great body of the Regulators in camp censured
this cruelty and disclaimed approval.
** The Reverend David Caldwell, D.D., of Orange, many of whose
congregation were with the Regulators, was the messenger on this
occasion, and received from Tryon the most positive assurances that
no blood should be shed unless the insurgents should be the first
aggressors. Dr. Caldwell was a pure patriot, and during the war which
ensued a few years later, himself and family were great sufferers for
"conscience' sake."
*** Tradition currently reported that Donald Malcolm, one of Governor
Tryon's aids, and who was afterward a very obnoxious under-officer
of the customs at Boston, was the bearer of the flag. When the
firing commenced, he retreated with safety to his person, but had
the misfortune to have the buttons of his small clothes leave their
fastenings. Trumbull, in his M'Fingall, with rather more wit than
modesty, notices the circumstance in four lines.
* Captain Montgomery, who commanded a company of Mountain Boys, was
considered the principal leader, if any might be called by that name. He
was killed by the second fire of the cannon, when most of the Regulators
fled. James Pugh, a young gunsmith from Hillsborough, and three
others, shielded by a ledge of rocks on the edge of a ravine, did great
execution with rifles. Pugh fired while the others loaded, and he killed
fifteen men. He was made prisoner, and was one of six who were hung at
Hillsborough.
[[[Flight of Husband.--Defeat of the Regulators.--The
Battle-ground.--Cruelty of Tryon.]]]
{577}that blood would be shed, Herman Husband, the soul of the
agitation, declared that his peace principles as a Quaker would not
allow him to fight, and he rode off, and was not seen again in North
Carolina until the close of the Revolution.
[Illustration: 8587]
Charity must stretch her mantle to cover this delinquency of the leader
of the Regulators; for why should he have urged the people to assemble
for resistance unless they were to fight? All was confusion when the
conflict began, and each fought for life and liberty in his own way.
Although they were defeated in that early conflict--that _first battle
of our war for independence_--they were not subdued, and many of the
survivors were among the most determined opposers of Cornwallis a few
years later. Nine of the Regulators and twenty-seven of the militia
fell in that conflict, and a great number on both sides were wounded.
* Tryon, in his report, said, "The loss of our army in killed, wounded,
and missing, amounted to about sixty men."
The admitted excesses of the Regulators afford no excuse for the cruelty
of Tryon after the battle on the Allamance. With the implacable spirit
of revenge, he spent his wrath upon his prisoners, and some of his acts
were worthy only of a barbarian. *** Having rested a few days near the
battle-ground, he went on as far as the Yadkin,
* Martin, Williamson, Caruthers, Foote.
** This view is from the south side of the Salisbury Road, which is
marked by the fence on the left. The belligerents confronted in the
open field seen on the north of the road, beyond the fence. Between the
blasted pine, to which a muscadine is clinging, and the road, on
the edge of a small morass, several of those who were slain in that
engagement were buried. I saw the mounds of four graves by the fence,
where the sheep, seen in the picture, are standing. The tree by the
road side is a venerable oak, in which are a few scars produced by the
bullets.
*** Among his victims was a young carpenter of Hillsborough, named James
Few. He was the sole support of his widowed mother, and had suffered
greatly, it is said, at the hands of Fanning. Young Few alleged that he
had not only made him feel the curse of his exactions, but had actually
seduced a young girl who was his betrothed. Driven to madness, he joined
the Regulators, was taken prisoner, and was hung on the night after the
battle, without trial, and without witnessing friends. * Justice to the
dead, and a regard for the truth of history, demand the acknowledgment
that this story, like the apocryphal one that the Regulators cut off
Fanning's ears, ** needs confirmation, and rests solely upon uncertain
tradition. It is further related that Tryon destroyed the property of
Few's mother when he reached Hillsborough! Captain Messer, who was made
prisoner, was sentenced to be hanged the day after the battle. His wife,
informed of his intended fate, hastened to him with her little son, a
lad ten years old. She pleaded for her husband's life in vain. Messer
was led to execution, while his wife lay weeping upon the ground, her
boy by her side. Just as Messer was to be drawn up, the boy went to
Tryon and said, "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," the boy replied, "if you
hang my father, my mother will die, and the children will perish." The
heart of the governor was touched, and he said, "Your father shall not
be hanged to-day." Messer was offered his liberty if he would bring
Husband back. He consented, and his wife and children were kept as
hostages. He returned in the course of a few days, and reported that
he overtook Husband in Virginia, but could not bring him. Messer was
immediately bound, and, after being exhibited with the other prisoners,
was hung at Hillsborough.
* Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, pages 61, 62.
** See Johnson's Traditions and Reminiscences of the Revolution, page
573.
[[[Tryon's Prisoners exhibited in Chains.--Execution of Six of
them.--Effect of the Regulator Movement--Career of Husband.]]]
and, after issuing a proclamation[[May 17, 1771]] of pardon to all who
should lay down their arms and take the oath of allegiance before the
tenth of July, except a few whom he named, he made a circuitous route
through Stokes, Rockingham, and Guilford counties, back to Hillsborough,
exhibiting his prisoners in chains in the villages through which
he passed. He exacted an oath of allegiance from the people; levied
contributions of provisions; chastised those who dared to offend him;
and at Hillsborough he offered a large reward for the bodies of
Husband and other Regulators, "dead or alive." * On his march he held
courts-martial for trying civil cases, burned houses, and destroyed the
crops of inoffensive people. At Hillsborough he held a court-martial for
the trial of his prisoners. Twelve were condemned to suffer death; six
were reprieved, and the others were hung,[[June 19, 1771] among whom
was Captain Messer, whose life had been spared a few days before by the
intercession of his little child. His thirst for revenge satiated, Tryon
returned to his palace at Newbern, where he remained but a short time,
having been called to the administration of affairs in the province
of New York. Joseph Martin succeeded him as governor, and acted with
judgment. He so conciliated the Regulators that many of them were firm
Loyalists when the governor was finally driven away by the Whigs.
The movements of the Regulators and the result of the battle on the
Allamance, form an important episode in the history of our Revolution.
Their resistance arose from oppressions more personal and real than
those which aroused the people of New England. It was not wholly
the abstract idea of freedom for which they contended; their strife
consisted of efforts to relieve themselves of actual burdens. While the
tea-duty was but a "pepper-corn tribute," imposing no real burden upon
the industry of the people in New England, extortion in every form, and
not to be evaded, was eating out the substance of the working-men in
North Carolina. Implied despotism armed the New Englanders; actual
despotism panoplied the Carolinians. Each were equally patriotic, and
deserve our reverent gratitude. The defeat on the Allamance did not
break the spirit of the patriots; and many, determined no longer to
suffer the oppressions of extortioners, abandoned their homes,
with their wives and children, went beyond the mountains, and began
settlements in the fertile valleys of Tennessee. As Mr. Bancroft, in a
letter to the Honorable David L. Swain, happily expressed it, "Like
the mammoth, they shook the bolt from their brow, and crossed the
mountains."
While the Regulator movement planted deep the seeds of resistance to
tyranny, the result of the battle on the Allamance was disastrous in
its subsequent effects. The people, from whom Tryon wrung an oath
of allegiance, were conscientious, and held a vow in deep reverence.
Nothing could make them swerve from the line of duty; and when
the hostilities of the Revolution fully commenced, hundreds, whose
sympathies were with the patriots, felt bound by that oath to remain
passive. Hundreds of men, with strong hearts and hands, would have
flocked around the standards of Gates and Greene, in Guilford, Orange,
and the neighboring counties, had not their oath been held too sacred
to be violated, even when it was evident that the king could no longer
protect them. Loyalty to conscience, not opposition to the principles
of the Revolutionists, made these men passive; for their friends and
neighbors on the other side of the Yadkin, where Tryon's oath was not
exacted, were among those who earliest cast off their allegiance to the
British crown.
The course of Governor Martin was generally so judicious, that the
people of North Car-
* Husband fled to Pennsylvania, and settled near Pittsburgh. He went to
North Carolina on business soon after the close of the war, but did not
remain long. In 1794 he was concerned in the "Whisky Insurrection," in
Western Pennsylvania, and was appointed on the Committee of Safety with
Brackenridge, Bradford, and Gallatin. Husband was arrested, and taken
a prisoner to Philadelphia, where he was pardoned, through the
interposition of Dr. Caldwell who happened to be there, Dr. Rush, and
the North Carolina senators. He met his wife on his return home, and
died at an inn before he reached his own neighborhood. Husband was a
member of the Pennsylvania Legislature for some years.
[[[Committees of Correspondence.--Difficulties between the Governor and
People.--Conventions of the Patriots.]]]
{579}olina were not very restive, while the Northern colonies were all
on fire with rebellion in 1774. Yet sympathy for the people of Boston,
suffering from the effects of the Port Bill, was general and
sincere, and the inhabitants of Wilmington and other towns made large
contributions for their relief. When the final decision was to be made
respecting allegiance to, or independence of the British crown, very
many remained loyal, and the ardent Whigs required the full exercise
of all their zeal to leaven the inactive population of the state. The
efficient machinery of corresponding committees was put in operation
early In December, 1773, the resolution of the House of Burgesses, of
Virginia, recommending the appointment of committees of correspondence,
was received by the Assembly of North Carolina and approved of. A
committee was appointed, and instructed to be vigilant and industrious
in the performance of their duties. * Governor Martin was then in New
York, and the duties of his office devolved upon James Hasell, the
president of the council. Hasell was rather favorably inclined toward
republicanism, and opposed the patriots only so far as his official duty
demanded action.
[Illustration: 8589]
The proceedings of that short session were quite offensive to the
governor and most of his council, as representatives of the imperial
government, and the amity of the provincial legislation was disturbed.
The governor soon returned home, and prorogued the Assembly until
March following,[[1774]] that the members might "reflect upon their
proceedings, learn the sentiments of their constituents, and adopt a
more loyal course." When they again met, strengthened by the approval
of their constituents, they were firmer than ever in their opposition to
some of the measures of government; and that the sincerity and courage
of those who professed patriotic proclivities might be tested, the
Yeas and Nays were taken upon the adoption of an important bill. ** A
committee was appointed to address the king, and on the twenty-fifth
of March the Assembly was again prorogued. Four days afterward, it
was dissolved by the governor's proclamation; an act considered
unconstitutional, and which highly offended the people.
During the summer of 1774, a majority of the inhabitants, in primary
meetings assembled, openly avowed their approval of a Continental
Congress, as proposed by Massachusetts. A general meeting of delegates
from the several towns was proposed to be held at Newbern on the
twenty-fifth of August. On the thirteenth of that month, the governor
issued his proclamation, disapproving of the district meetings, and
requiring the people to forbear sending delegates to the general
convention. The people did not heed his proclamation, and the delegates
met on that day. John Harvey, of Perquimans, the late speaker of the
Assembly, was chosen moderator. The council convened by the governor,
seeing the gathering of the people's representatives, decided that
"nothing could be done." The convention expressed its firm loyalty to
the king; claimed only the common rights of Englishmen; asserted the
doctrine that they ought not to be taxed without their own consent;
reprobated the tea and other duties; expressed great sympathy for the
people of Massachusetts; condemned the Boston Port Bill, as a "cruel
infringement of the rights and privileges of the people," and other
measures of government as unrighteous; signed a non-importation
* The committee consisted of John Harvey (speaker of the Assembly),
Robert Howe (afterward a general in the Continental army), Cornelius
Harnett, William Hooper (one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence), Richard Caswell, Edward Vail, John Ashe, Joseph Hewes
(another signer), and Samuel Johnson.
[Illustration: 9589]
* John Harvey was an active citizen in public life, before the war of
the Revolution began. He was a member of the Colonial Legislature for
a number of years, and in 1766 succeeded John Ashe as speaker of the
House. He presided with dignity for three years, and at the close
of each session received the unanimous thanks of the House for his
impartiality. He early espoused the patriot cause; was active in the
first Revolutionary movements in his state, but died before the struggle
had advanced far toward a successful issue.