USA > North Carolina > Alamance County > 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 > Part 10
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Creek. I assure you, my dear Sir, you will find Coll. Fanning quite different from what he has been repre- sented, and I'm certain he would find you very different from the accounts he has heard of you. The stories that have been told backwards and forwards are really amazing, and I am now convinced that nothing but downright mistake has been the cause of all the late dis- turbances ; I therefore beg leave to return my request- nay, I conjure you, as you love yourself, as you love the peace and happiness of your country-to come down be- fore you go to the meeting. For until the Coll, and some of the principal men meet face to face, nothing much to the purpose can be done; this I am sure of- that the Governor's reception of the Petition will depend greatly upon the Coll.'s account of the situation of things, for as he is the Chief Officer appointed by His Excellency, as he is the Representative of the County chosen by ourselves to watch over our interests, and as the Governor himself knows and was an eye witness how he labored for our Good at the last Assembly (as the Laws and Minutes of the House, I'm sure, will show us when they arrive), he undoubtedly will not attend to complaints against him till he hears what he has to say in his own vindication; but of this no more, as I expect to see you so soon & have the pleasure of seeing you in Town. This must also serve for an ex- cuse for my not sending you the Laws by this oppor- tunity; however, if it will afford you satisfaction, you shall carry the book home with you. The Book I spoke of borrowing for your perusal is too bulky and cum- bersome for transportation ; I have not, therefore, spoke of it. You see. Sir, by my taking no pains in writing to you that I treat you like my best friend ; you have my thoughts just as they occurred, and every word, I assure you, is warm from my heart. My best wishes
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are for the welfare of you and your Family, and you may rest assured that no man more ardently wishes the real good, peace, happiness and prosperity of this Coun- try, or would do more to serve it according to his abil- ities, than, dear Sir,
Your most Obed' Servant,
RALPH MCNAIR. (See Col. Rec. of N. C., Vol. VII, pp. 767-770.)
The above petitions contain the complaints of the Regulators, couched in their own language. Do they give any indication of a want of educa- tion, a want of patriotism. or a want of regard for the law? Verily, the Regulators might well be content to rest their case, if any need there was for it, upon these two petitions, one from the inhabitants of Anson County and Regulator Petition No. II.
In the matter of the complaints against the lawyers of that day, it will be well enough for those of the present day, and for others, to re- member generally that while, as a rule, lawyers have been among the boldest and best patriots and the earliest and most earnest advocates of civil liberty, there is no rule without its excep- tion, and specially that the lawyers of that day were made such by license from the Governor, who received for his own use a fee for license issued. It must be remembered, too, that in those days the principal remuneration of the
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Chief Justice arose from fees in suits originat- ing and pending before him.
But it is said the "Regulators were men of low degree, ignorant, depraved. violent, lawless, opposed to all taxes, hostile to all government. and without property or other stake in the Prov- ince." But this sweeping denunciation is sim- ply untrue.
In the matter of taxes and government, the Regulators not only made no opposition to the payment of taxes lawfully levied and honestly applied, but, on the contrary, they publicly and officially declared it to be the duty of every citi- zen "to give part of his substance to support rulers and law."
But they say "the Regulators beat the law- yers." And so they did; that is to say, they beat Fanning and Williams. Who "Lawyer" Williams was, or how he had made himself spe- cially odious, the records do not show. But Fanning was an extortioner and an odious county official, as well as a lawyer; and will any one say that he did not richly deserve every stripe that was laid upon him? Be it remem- bered, too, that the Legislature was the same one that passed the Johnson Act, absolutely re- fusing to compensate Fanning for his losses, the destruction of his house by the Regulators being an admitted and undeniable item among
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those losses. Can any one say a word in de- fense of Fanning ?
It is said also that "the Regulators broke up the courts," and so they did, but were the courts blameless ? Were the Regulators with- out the gravest provocation? Had not the court severely and promptly punished the Reg- ulators for rescuing a mare levied on by the Sheriff for taxes, at the same term that it re- fused to pass sentence upon their oppressor, Edmund Fanning. a duly convicted extor- tioner? What respect could a court command while it refused to purge itself of corrupt and extortionate officers in its daily presence? Fan- ning, the oppressor of the people, was an officer of the court and a convicted criminal in its dock; but not only did the court refuse persist- ently to punish him, but the Governor forced him upon the people as their representative in the legislature.
In the matter of education and social culture, in the question of morals and property, the Reg- ulators were quite as other people of their day and generation ; nor were they a class to them- selves in the community which they inhabited ; on the contrary, as oppression increased, they constituted the greater mass of the population. Will any of Tryon's or Fanning's apologists dare to say that the great body of the inhabi-
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tants in the Central and Western portion of the Province, were men of low degree or ignorant or lawless or opposed to government, no matter how honest, or that they were poverty stricken, or even that they were in sympathy with such men? Certainly no one familiar with the his- tory of the settlement of the magnificent valleys of the Yadkin and Catawba Rivers, and in the portions of the State west of Raleigh generally, and the character of the splendid settlers there, will accuse the great body of the people thereof with special ignorance.
If the grievances were redressed the peti- tioners said it would "heal the bleeding wounds of the Province; would conciliate the minds of the poor petitioners to every just measure of government; would make the laws what the constitution ever designed they should be, their protection and not their bane, and would cause joy and gladness, glee and prosperity diffu- sively to spread themselves through every quar- ter of this extensive Province, from Virginia to the South, and from the great Atlantic to the western hills."
Bancroft says "that the Regulators' petition was signed by about five hundred men and for- tified with a precise specification of acts of ex- tortion, confirmed in each instance by oath." He further states they "asked no more than that
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the extortioners be brought to fair trial and the collectors of public money be called to proper settlement of their accounts." It is a fact beyond dispute, "that a long concourse of years past great sums of money have been lost by negligence or insolvency of the sheriffs and other collectors, with their sureties, and it pre- sumed that in the same course of time consider- able sums have sunk after they were lodged in the treasury, whereof no account hath hitherto been made." ·
In reply to the petition of the Regulators, Tryon made promises only to break them, until the people found to their sorrow that his "Ex- cellency" was determined not to lend a kind ear to their just complaints.
Mr. Bancroft says, "Such was the craft and cunning of Fanning and the lawyers who aided and abetted his rascalities that the Regulators were doomed to disappointment in the sanguine 'hope that naked truth and native ignorance' would poise the superexcellent flourishes and consummate declamation of their powerful ad- versary." Bancroft and other historians have given their verdict, which is not likely to be changed by the writings of those whose meth- ods and animus compel them to become the apologists and coadjutors of the tyrannical Tryon and the infamous, haughty Fanning.
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No wonder that Harmon Husband found it an easy undertaking to organize men like him- self into the famous Regulators ( "Sons of Lib- erty,") whose policy was mutual protection against unlawful taxation, and the villainous demands of county officers and rulers. At their organization, April, 1767, they passed resolu- tions "to pay only such taxes as are levied by law and applied to the purpose therein, and to pay no officer more than his legal fee." ( Col. Rec., Vol. 8, pp. 14 to 17, Pref. Notes.) This was the first time in this country that a body of men breathed and echoed the free spirit of liberty and independence.
The following was the form of oath admin- istered to Regulators ( Col. Rec. of N. C., Vol. 7, p. 726) :
I, A B, do promise and swear that if any sheriff, county officer, or any other person, shall attempt to col- lect taxes unlawfully levied, or make distress on any of the goods or chattels or other estate of any person sworn herein, being a subscriber, for the non-payment of said unlawful tax, that I will, with the aid of other sufficient help, go and take, if in my power, from said officer, and return to the party from whom taken; and in case any one concerned should be imprisoned, or under arrest, or otherwise confined, or if his estate, or any part thereof, by reason or means of joining this company of Regulators, for refusing to comply with the extortionate demands of unlawful tax gatherers, that I will immediately exert my best endeavors to raise as
-
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many of said subscribers as will be force sufficient, and, if in my power, I will set the said person at liberty ; and I do further promise and swear that if, in case this, our scheme, should be broken or otherwise fail, and should any of our company be put to expense or under any confinement, that I will bear an equal share in pay- ing and making up said loss to the sufferer.
All these things I do promise and swear to do and perform, and hereby subscribe my name.
- - (SEAL.)
Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina.
It was perfectly natural that this sturdy mid- dle class, with honorable character, respected homes, country gentlemen-proprietors of their own holdings, seeing the darkening clouds of oppression gradually growing deeper and darker, with critical eye began to look for relief from such a formidable future; and they thought as well as looked. At last they de- termined to give their energy and manhood to suppress oppression. If there had been among them one great leader the history of the Revo- lution might have been different.
Harmon Husband, as leader of the Regula- tors, with James Hunter, James Pugh, Rednap Howell, Thomas Person, Daniel Gillespie, Jacob Byrd, and others as his allies, soon had an organization numbering more than two thousand offended farmers ensconced around
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Some Neglected History
the little nestful of oppressors at Hillsborough headed by Edmund Fanning.
Bad laws unjustly executed were the greatest trials the people of Orange and adjoining coun- ties had to endure. Besides, they had suffered grievous oppression from Lord Granville's land agents, which alone was sufficient cause for complaint.
When the oppression from this state of af- fairs became no longer endurable, redress was sought; at first, in the courts. They had the sheriffs and other county officers indicted for extortion. In many cases they were found guilty and fined a penny and costs. 'The pun- ishment was not in accordance with the crime, and in fact all resort to the courts ended in a mockery of justice.
"When there is no good
For which to strive, no strife can grow up from faction."
The following, copied from the docket at Hillsborough, will throw some light on the sub- ject, so that the reader can draw his own con- clusions as to the justice for the actions of the Regulators :
HILLSBOROUGH, Orange County, North Carolina. March term of Court, 1770. Judge Richard Henderson, presiding.
J
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Of North Carolina
No. 38.
James Hunter et als. -
US. Debt.
Edmund Fanning.
Nill debit and issue plead.
John Nunn. Thos. Donaldson, Gilbert Strayhern, Jos. McAlister, John Bartell, Thos. Wilburn, Hugh Barnet, Jeremiah Horton, Henry Groves, Thos, Bradford and Ralph Williams impanelled and being sworn on their oath to speak the truth on the issue pending say that the defendant oweth nothing.
No. 39. King George vs. Indictment for extortion.
Edmund Fanning.
Same jury impanelled and being sworn, listen to Fanning plead "not guilty," bring in a verdict of guilty of extortion. Judge Henderson imposed a fine of one penny and costs. (Col. Rec. of N. C., Vol. 8, pp. 184, 185.)
Same vs. Same Indict. for extortion Same plea Same fine.
¥
66
66
66
66
66
and many others of the same class.
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Some Neglected History
No. 52. Harmon Husband
vs.
Debt. Abner Nash
Same jury as above being impanelled and sworn, find that there was no Duress and assesses the plaintiff with damages and costs.
Frances Nash,
Abner Nash and
Debt.
Edmund Fanning
US. KING GEORGE III.
Same jury as above being impanelled and sworn to speak the truth on the issue pending, listen to the plead- ings, each of the three come into open court and ac- knowledge themselves severally indebted to King George in the sum of 500 pounds sterling. The jury bring in a verdict accordingly. Judge Henderson ruled that verdict of the jury be void on condition that they each make their personal appearance at the next session of the court to be held for Hillsborough district.
Jas. Hunter
VS.
Debt.
Michael Holt.
Same jury. Find defendant owes fifty pounds. Or- dered later that a commission De bene esse be issued for the examination of. . in the suit Butler vs. Holt.
Ordered that the sheriff of Orange take Jas. Hunter into custody until he pay the fees due to the Crown office.
Ordered that William Payne appear at next court to show cause if any he hath why he doth not pay the sev- eral fees due the Crown office.
.
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Next day.
The indictment preferred against James Hunter, Nin- ion Hamilton, Isaac Jackson, John Phillips Hartsoe, William Moffitt, John Pile and Francis Dorsett for a Rout, having been returned by the grand jury "a true Bill as to all except John Pile." It is ordered by the Court that the Bill be squashed, by reason of the irregu- larity of the return and that the Attorney-General pre- pare a new Bill.
Another Indictment prepared against James Hunter, . William Butler, Ninion Hamilton, Peter Craven, Isaac Jackson, Peter Julian for a Rout, having been re- turned by Grand Jury "a true Bill as to all except Peter Julian." This Bill was also squashed because of irreg- ularity and Attorney-General to prepare a new Bill.
The same proceedings against Wm. Payne, etc.
At this wholesale miscarriage of justice ( Col. Rec. of N. C., Vol. 8, pp. 235, 241) the Regula- tors assembled in the Court House yard under the leadership of Harmon Husband, Rednap Howell, James Hunter, William Butler, Jacob Byrd. Samuel Divinny, and many others, and forcibly entered the Court House, carried out several of the attorneys, and whipped them; after which they requested Judge Henderson to proceed with the docket, assuring him of his personal safety. But under pretense of ad- journment until 10 o'clock the following day, he dismissed the court for the day, and at night, . under cover of darkness, he took his departure before dawn of the next day. (Col. Rec. of N. C., Vol. 8, p. 243.) Before leaving the bench
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Some Neglected History
he wrote on the docket that he adjourned court because he was convinced that he could not hold the court with "honor to himself and justice to the county." The reader must form his own opinion as to the "justice" meted out at this court from the proceedings given herewith. But that the people were driven to desperation by the oppression and extortion of county officers, and their inability to get justice at the sittings of the courts, together with insults from the Government's officials, for which they had no redress, is plain to the most casual observer.
When they had finished chastising the law- yers, they proceeded to take summary justice upon those who had been most obnoxious to them and who had been running the courts to their own advantage, regardless of justice. Ed- mund Fanning was, of all, the most contempt- ible in their eye, because, in addition to his ex- tortions, by which he had become rich and was living in splendor at their expense, "his general conduct was marked with the most disgusting hauteur, they laid hands upon him and proceed- ed to give him a flogging that he always re- membered."
The next morning they learned that Judge Richard Henderson had taken himself away during the night, instead of remaining and fin- ishing the "docket," as he had led them to be-
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Of North Carolina
lieve he would do, after being assured by James Hunter and Harmon Husband that his per- sonal safety would not suffer any indignities. Certainly no insult was offered Judge Hender- son, which would seem clearly to prove that Hunter and Husband had the crowd well in hand. Judge Henderson leaving them with the "docket" unfinished, they went into the Court House and appointed Francis Yorke, a school teacher from Randolph County, to act as clerk of the court, and set up a "mock" judge, before whom they compelled Fanning to plead law in his official capacity, and thus dismissed the "docket" of a number of cases. (Lossing, Field Book of the Revolution, Vol. 2, p. 575.) Their decisions were ridiculous, as they in- tended them to be. They intended the whole proceeding to be a farce; as an expression of their contempt for the authorities who were pretending to administer the law of the land. The following, copied at random from the "docket." shows the proceedings of the Regula- tors' Court (Col. Rec. of N. C., Vol. S. pp. 235 to 240) :
Peter Noay vs. E. Fanning. Fanning must pay.
John Childs vs. Richard Simpson.
You keep that to yourselves to rogue everybody.
Wm. Brown vs. John Brown. A shame.
-
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Some Neglected History
Isaiah Hogan vs. Harmon Husband.
Hogan pays and be damned.
Eziekiel Brumfield vs. James Ferrell. Slander.
Nonsense, let them agree, for Ferrell has gone hell- wards.
Michael Wilson vs. David Harris.
All Harrises are rogues.
John Edwards vs. Phillip Edwards.
Damned shame.
Thos. Frammel vs. Wm. Dummegan.
Dummegan pays.
Thos. Richards vs. Robinson York.
Plaintiff pays all costs and gets his body scourged for blaspheming.
Abner Nash vs. John Crooker.
Nash gets nothing.
Valentine Bruswell vs. Dunan McNeal, Administrator of Hector McNeal.
File it and darned.
Silas Brown vs. William Lewis.
The man was sick and it is darned roguery.
Solomon Pernil vs. James Ferril.
Executed on two negroes. Negroes not worth a damn, cost exceeds the whole.
The Regulators were so outraged at Fan- ning's overbearing persecutions and his insult- ing demeanor toward them that they dragged him from the court-room by his heels and again severely whipped him, after which they demol- ished his home, broke up his costly furniture, and would have burned his house, but it being
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Of North Carolina
a windy day they were afraid the fire would spread to adjoining property and cause a con- flagration. After having his fine house and costly furniture destroyed, total loss about £1,500, which they (the Regulators) proposed to make good to him, if he would repay the money he had unjustly taken from them, to which he answered that "he only wanted revenge and revenge he would have." (Col. Rec. of N. C., Vol. 8, p. 645.) He was feel- ing very sore, both in mind and body, the latter particularly. He was now beginning to realize that he would soon need the assistance of the Governor's strong arm to protect him from further attacks at the hands of the Regulators ; whereupon he at once dispatched messengers to the Governor at Newberne, petitioning his assistance, and advising him of the Regulators' recent actions and the disruption of Hills- borough Court, and their actions toward the Governor's appointed officers, their strength and influence in the county, etc.
Edmund Fanning was a native of Long Island, New York, the son of Col. Phineas and Hannah ( Smith) Fanning. He was edu- cated at Yale and graduated with honor in 1757, and in 1766 he received the degree of "Master of Arts" from that institution, and from Har- vard in 1772, and the same degree from Colum-
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Some Neglected History
bia College in 1774. About 1760 he went to North Carolina and began the practice of law at Hillsborough. In 1803 his alma mater con- ferred the degree of LL. D. In 1763 he was appointed Register for Orange County, and in 1766 a judge of the Superior Court, and at a later date he was appointed Colonel of Orange County (Col. Rec. of N. C., Vol. 7, p. 199) and in 1765 he was appointed clerk of the County Court at Hillsborough. He was also a mem- ber of the Colonial Legislature from Orange County. After the Battle of Alamance he accompanied Tryon to New York as his secre- tary. At the assembling of the legislature in the fall of 1771 Governor Martin asked that the legislature indemnify Colonel Fanning for the loss of his property. The representatives of the people severely rebuked the Governor for presenting such a petition.
Fanning's demeanor toward the colonists was spiteful, revengeful and haughty. He extorted from them the most exorbitant fees and persecuted them with most outrageous, unreasonable taxes.
The King had entrusted the Royal Governors with extensive power, which was exercised to depress and crush the spirit of freedom and independence. The absolute veto which the Governor had over the acts of the General
Edmund Fanning.
Facing page 17h.
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Of North Carolina
Assembly, and the power to dissolve it at will, made him for the time being practically an absolute monarch of the Colony of North Carolina. In addition to this illegal "taxation without representation." always a fruitful source of war, Lord Granville's land agents- Childs and Champion-were perpetrating gross frauds upon the colonists, contriving by villain- ous means to extort money from those who had already bought and paid for their property (lands). One, being an attorney, pretended to find fault with their titles, urging them to take out new patents, for which they charged double fees, beside a charge of five pounds sterling for having the titles recorded.
In addition to all this burdensome, unlawful extortion of money, a standing army had to be maintained. "For a country still in the swaddling bands of infancy, with limited resources and a constricted currency-to a people struggling for existence, these burden- some lazoful ( ?) taxes were unbearable." Added to all this unlawful extortion, all public officers-county clerks, registers, sheriffs and others-exacted the most exorbitant fees. Fanning and Frohock were charging as high as from three to five pounds sterling for mar- riage licenses. When you compute the relative value of money at that time, as compared with
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Some Neglected History
the value of money today, it was equal to forty- five or fifty dollars. Many inhabitants along the Yadkin River (Jersey Settlements) in Rowan County, who could not afford such luxuries as a fifty-dollar license as a prerequisite to having the nuptial knot tied, are said to have dispensed with a license altogether, and took each other for "better or worse," unofficially "just so," and were married in the sight of God just as much as if all the law had been complied with. (Lossing, Field Book of the Revolution, Vol. 2, p. 571. )
The law prescribed the charges for all fees to be paid clerks of the court, recorders of deeds, entry takers, land surveyors and lawyers for certain specified services; yet Fanning at Hillsborough was charging many times the legal fees. For a minute's copying he was accus- tomed to charge as much as a farmer could earn all day long. For making entries for which the law allowed ten shillings, he would charge two, three, or five pounds sterling, as he saw fit. Taxes were also fixed by law, but these several officers were charging, demand- ing, and exacting two or three times as much as they were entitled to; and the tax gatherers, whenever they thought they could get it, would demand double fees. All officers were ap- pointed by the Governor and were his personal
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Of North Carolina
friends and allies. At this date the limited circulation of the public press made it impos- sible for the majority of the people to see and read the laws and familiarize themselves with such matters, so they were grievously op- pressed.
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