USA > North Carolina > The history of North Carolina from the earliest period, Volume II > Part 19
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It being found very difficult to bring to justice per- sons, who had heretofore been guilty of any of the above offences, the attorney general was authorized to prose- cute them in any superior court or court of oyer and terminer, in the province, and, on an indictment found, the judges were directed to issue a proclamation against the defendant, commanding him to surrender himself and stand his trial, and, on failure, he was to be held guilty and outlawed, and his lands and chattels forfeited. The governor was empowered to make drafts from the militia to enforce the execution of the law; and persons found embodied and in arms, to oppose the military force, refusing, on the command of a justice or sheriff, to lay down their arms and surrender themselves, were to be treated as traitors.
With a view to encourage migration, all persons who had come immediately from Europe to the province, and such as might thus arrive thereafter, were exempted from the payment of taxes for four years. A college
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was established in the town of Charlotte: these two acts were, however, repealed by the kings in council.
Quakers were exempted from military service, except in case of invasion or insurrection.
The inspection laws were revised.
The fees of attorneys and clerks were regulated.
The chief justice was allowed a salary of six hundred pounds per annum and fifty pounds for every court, in lieu of all other fees or emoluments of office.
With a view to diminish the strength of the regula- tors, in the county of Orange, by division, three new counties were established; one consisting of parts of the counties of Orange, Cumberland and Johnston, which, in compliment to the lady of governor Tryon, was called Wake; another of parts of the counties of Orange and Rowan, which was called Guilford, and a third out of the southern part of the county of Orange, to which, the name of Chatham was given.
In order to afford some relief against the great scarci- ty of a circulating medium, a temporary act was passed, forbidding sheriffs to sell property, taken in execution, for less than two thirds of the appraised value; chattels, for which two thirds of the appraised value could not be obtained, were to be received in satisfaction of the debt, and the plaintiff was at liberty to take lands, or give fur- ther time. The king, province and British merchants were not to be affected by this act.
The northern part of the county of Rowan was erect- ed into a new county, to which the name of Surry was given.
With a view to encourage the establishment of post- offices and post roads, which had lately been established by the postmaster general, through the province, a law
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was passed, making the expense of ferrying mail carriers a public charge, and compelling persons, called upon by the rider, to carry the mail, in case of sickness or failure of his horse, and forward it to the next office, at the ex- pense of the postmaster general.
On the request of the lower house, the governor caus- ed all the books and papers of the secretary's office, to be removed from Wilmington to Newbern.
Several thousand families of the Presbyterian denom- ination, having removed from the mother country and the northern colonies, settled in the frontier counties of the province, exposed to the dangers of savage Indians, and subject to all the hardships and difficulties of culti- vating a desolate wilderness, under the expectation of enjoying, to the fullest extent, the exercise of their reli- gious privileges, as a people, attached to the doctrine, worship and discipline of the church of Scotland, as summed up in the Westminster confession of faith; and the Presbyterian ministers were prohibited, by an act passed in 1768, from celebrating the rites of matri- mony among their congregations, according to their con- fession of faith, by publication in their religious assem- blies, nor allowed, without license, unless by paying a fee to the Episcopal clergymen, the incumbent of the parish: the rigor of the law was relaxed and Pres- by terian ministers, legally called and ordained in any congregation of the province, were allowed to solemnize the rites of matrimony, according to the Westminster confession of faith, between persons of the Presbyterian denomination and members of the minister's congregation, without paying any fee to the minister of the established church of England in the parish.
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Six thousand pounds of powder and two thousand pounds of balls and shot were directed to be pur- chased by the captain commandant of fort John- son.
Just as the legislature was about to adjourn, in- formation was received, that the regulators had as- sembled, in great numbers, at Cross creek; on which the assembly voted a sum of five hundred pounds, to be at the disposal of the governor, in order to en- able him to guard against their approach towards Newbern, whither, it was reported, they intended to come and set the palace on fire.
The legislature was prorogued on the 26th of January.
With a view to prevent the regulators from being supplied with ammunition, the governor, early in the month of February, issued a proclamation, prohi- biting all merchants, traders, or others, from supply- ing any person with powder, shot or lead, until fur- the. notice.
Towards the latter part of the month, a letter fom Redmund Howell, from Halifax, to James Hun- ter, a chief of the regulators, was intercepted and forwarded to the governor. It appeared the writer had been sent into the county of Halifax, with a view to induce the people to rise and march to Newbern, in order to join the men who were gather- ed at Cross creek, and intended to proceed to New- bern; but, having been detained, by some accident, on the road, he heard, on his arrival in Halifax, of Husband's being admitted to bail, on which he judg- ed it unnecessary to stir the people. He expressed
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his belief of the facility with which this would have been effected, if it had appeared useful. Soon af -. ter, accounts reached Newbern, that the men col- lected, at Cross creek, had dispersed; they were reported to consist of a body of twenty-two hundred and to have several waggons in their train.
Early in the month of March, it was determined in council, to raise a force, from the several regi- ments of militia, and the governor was advised to march, at their head, into the settlements of the re- gulators and reduce them by force, to obedience to the laws, and while the troops were among them, to assist the sheriffs in levying the taxes, protect the election of a new member, for the county of Or- ange, in the room of Hermon Husband, and support the commissioners appointed to run the dividing line between the counties of Orange and Guilford, as none of those acts of government could be executed without the assistance of a military force.
On the 7th of March, the sheriff, clerk, register and other officers of the county of Rowan, met a committee of the regulators, consisting of James Hunter, John Inyard, William Welborn, Thomas Flake. John Cuny, James Wilson, Samuel Waggo- ner. David Gillespie, James Graham. Henry Wade. Peter Julian, Jeremiah Fields, John Vickney, Sam- uel Jones and Joshua Zagur: at this meeting the officers agreed "to settle with, and pay, every per- son in the county, any and all such sum or sums of money, as they or their deputies had taken through inadvertency or otherwise, over and above what they severally ought to have taken for fees, more
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than the law allowed them to receive, without any trouble or law for the recovery of the same." The committee, on their part, agreed, that, "when any doubt should arise, all persons within the county, should give in their demands to such persons, as should be appointed by the people, in each neigh- bourhood to receive the same, and be determined by gentlemen, jointly chosen by both parties, whose judgment should be final." The persons were Ma- thew Locke, Hermon Husband, James Smith. James Hunter, Samuel Young, Thomas Person, John Cain and James Graham; John Frohock, clerk of the county court, Thomas Frohock, clerk of the su- perior court, John Brawly, register, Griffith Ruther- ford, sheriff, William Frohock, his deputy; Benja- min Miller, Andrew Ellison, Francis Locke, Wil- liam T. Cole former sheriff's, Alexander Martin and John Dunn: they agreed to meet on the third Tues- day in May.
A special court of oyer and terminer was held at Newbern, on the 11th of March, under the late act of assembly, and bills of indictment were found against William Butler, John Gappen, Samuel De- vincy, James Hunter, Mathew Hamilton and Red- nap Howell, for riotously and feloniously breaking the house of Edmund Fanning, on the 25th of Sep- tember, 1770, and others against the same persons and Hermon Husband, John Frost, Eli Branson, Thomas H. Smith, James Lowe, Daniel Smith. Jer- emiah Fields, John Gugle, William Dunn, Henry Litterman, Thomas Welborn, Ninian B. Hamilton, Peter Craven, William Payne, Robinson Yorke,
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Reuben Sanderson, James Bignour, James Haridon, Samuel Culbertson and Patrick Crayton, for an as- sault on John Williams, at Hillsborough, on the 24th of September, 1770. Before the rise of the court, an association paper was drawn up, by which the subscribers solemnly engaged "to support govern- ment against the insurgents, at the risk of their lives and fortunes, and to adopt every salutary measure, in their power, for restoring peace and tranquility, and enforcing a due execution of the laws of the pro- vince." It was immediately subscribed by the go- venor, the members of the council, the speaker of the house of assembly, the grand jury and a consi- derable number of other persons of respectability. The paper was afterwards circulated through the county of Craven, and few persons withheld their signatures: similar papers were circulated in the neighboring counties, and they met with equal suc- cess.
On the 24th of April, governor Tryon, attended by several of the members of the council and a number of other influential characters, marched from the town of Newbern, at the head of about three hundred men, a small train of artillery and a number of baggage waggons, to the settlement of the regulators, according to the recommendation of the council. On the 3d of May, he found himself at the head of a small body of men, composed of detachments from the county of New Hanover, un- der the orders of colonel John Ashe, of the county of Craven, under colonel Joseph Leech, of the coun- ty of Dobbs, under colonel Richard Caswell, of the
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county of Onslow, under colonel Craig, of the coun- ty of Carteret, under colonel William Thompson, of the county of Johnston, under colonel Needham Bryan, of the county of Beaufort, with a company of artillery, commanded by captain Moore and a . company of rangers under captain Neale.
The army marched, on the 4th, to Hunter's lodge, in the county of Wake, where they were joined by a detachment from that county, under colonel John Hinton. A party was ordered to attend the sheriff in levying the fines, due from the men, who had at- tended a muster of the militia, without arms, on the preceding day, and in collecting the taxes due in the neighborhood, except from those who had joined the army as volunteers.
On the ninth, they marched to Enoe river, and en- camped within a few miles from the town of Hillsbo- rough, where they were joined by a detachment from the county of Orange, under colonel Edmund Fanning ; here an express arrived from general Waddle, with the information, that the regulators had surrounded him, with a force more considerable, than it was possible for them to collect, and in consequence of the deser- tion, or what was much worse, the connexion he had discovered to subsist between his own camp and that of the regulators, he had the mortification to make a re- treat to Salisbury, the only resource left him ; accounts were also received, that the regulators were advancing, with the avowed intention of opposing the governor's march, and fears were entertained, they would reach Haw river soon enough to obstruct his passage, the ford of that stream being so easily defended, that, on
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that contingency, the crossing of it must have cost a great deal of blood. The inhabitants of the neighbor- hood being generally disaffected to the government, no intelligence, that could be relied upon, was to be ob- tained, except that the regulators were in considerable numbers and determined to give battle.
The army marched through the town on the following day ; the sick were left there, as well as the carts attend- ing the army, which were found to delay the march ; waggons were substituted for them ; the governor was joined by a volunteer company of light horse, under captain Bullock.
The troops advanced to Haw river on the 13th, and on the following day reached the great Alamance ; one third of the army was ordered to remain under arms, during the whole night, to be relieved every second hour.
On the 15th, a messenger from the regulators brought a petition to the governor ; the object of it was to de- sire, that he would redress the grievances of the people, as the only means of preventing that bloodshed, which, from the ardour of the leaders and of the troops on both sides, must otherwise ensue; his answer was desired within four hours; the governor sent the messenger back, with a promise that an answer would be returned on the following day, by noon. John Ashe and John Walker, who were sent out of camp on duty, were, in the evening, seized by the regulators, tugged up to trees, severely whipped and made prisoners.
At night, the orders of the preceding evening were re- newed; the cavalry were directed to keep their horses saddled, during the whole night, and to keep a grand
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guard of ten men, at about half a mile towards the head of the camp, a little off the road to Salisbury.
The army moved the next morning, at break of day, without beat of drum, leaving their tents standing, and their baggage and waggons in the camp ; one company, from the detachment of Johnston county, with such men as were not able to march briskly, remained behind, as a guard to the camp, under the orders of colonel Bryan ; the waggon horses were kept in their geers, and the whole army was drawn into a hollow square.
At a distance of five miles from the camp, the armies being within half a mile from each other, three guns were fired, as a signal to form the line of battle, which was immediately done. The governor's men were drawn into two lines, at the distance of one hun- dred yards from each other ; the detachment of the coun- ties of Craven and Beaufort formed the right wing of the front line, and those of the counties of Carteret and Orange the left, with the artillery in the centre; the de- tachment of the county of New Hanover, and three com- panies of the county of Dobbs, formed the right wing of the second line, and those of the counties of Onslow and Johnston, with the rest of that of Dobbs, the left ; the detachment of the county of Wake, with a troop of light horsemen from that of Duplin, reinforced the rear guard ; the rangers covered the flanks on both sides, facing to the right; the troop of light horse, from the county of Orange, escorted the governor ; the detach- ment of the counties of Carteret and Onslow were di- rected, in case of an attack on the left wing, to form an angle from their respective lines, to cover the left Hank.
The regulators were encamped at some distance; their number exceeded, in a small degree, those of the
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governor ; they were headed by Hermon Husband, James Hunter and William Butler; they answered the governor's guns by three huzzas and beating to arms. A message was then sent them, in reply to their peti. tion ; the purport of it was, that the governor had, in every circun stance, both in his particular and legislative capacity, pursued every measure that was in his power, to quiet them, but without effect ; he had now nothing to offer them, but was bound to require of them an imme- diate submission to government, a promise of paying their taxes, so long withheld from the public, an imme- diate return to their respective places of residence, and a solemn assurance, that they would no longer protect the individuals who were indicted. from a fair trial for their offences ; be concluded. by allowing them one hour to consider, and if they did not then yield and accept so fair a proposal, the circumstances that would follow would be imputed to them alone.
On the arrival of the messenger at the camp of the regulators, they impatiently heard the reading of the go- vernor's answer to their petition, and bid him return to Billy Tryon, and say they defied him, and battle was all they wanted; some of their leaders, however, prevailed on them to listen to a second reading of the paper; but they again expressed their impatience to come to un engagement, with the most violent imprecations. On the return of the messenger, the army marched to within three hundred yards of the regulators' camp, and there halted. The regulators advanced also, in order of battle, to a short reach of the road, where they halted likewise, waving their hats as a challenge, to dare their opponents to advance.
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Governor Tryon now sent a magistrate and an offi. cer, with a proclamation, commanding the insurgents to disperse within one hour: the magistrate read it aloud, in front of the lines; but they disdained listening to him, crying out battle! battle !! On the return of the magis- trate, the governor understanding that the regulators proposed putting John Ashe and John Walker in front of their lines, sent a message, that, as he should keep the prisoners he had taken in a place of safety, he hoped the same care would be taken of those gentlemen. To this, they returned no direct answer; but proposed to surren- der these two prisoners, if the governor would surrender those he had taken, seven in number. The proposition of so unequal an exchange, implying a concession on the part of the governor, was, at first, rejected; but, at last, at the solicitation of his men, who were appre. hensive of the treatment that these two persons might re- ceive, he agreed to the exchange. The enemy being tardy in their compliance, and the army complaining of the extreme heat of the sun, and manifesting great impa- tience to advance, it was thought advisable to lead them
on. They marched in profound silence, till the lines of both parties met, almost breast to breast. The governor forbade his men to fire until he ordered them. The first rank were almost mixed with those of the enemy, who were stationed a little before the main body, and who now began to retreat slowly, to join their army, bellowing defiance and during their opponents to advance. The army kept on till within twenty-five yards of them and then halted. The regulators continued to call on the governor to order his men to fire: several of them ad- vancing towards the artillery, opening their breasts and
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defying them to begin. The army saw them going to the spot they had determined to occupy, and which was best calculated to secure them, and annoy it. The ground they abandoned, was the place they wished the governor to occupy, and the only one he could, with- out action, obtain. He was entirely open to their fire, and most of them were secure from his; and, as the greatest part of the artillery was in the road, they dis- posed their best troops to attack it.
. . An adjutant was now sent, to the enemy's camp, to receive John Ashe and John Walker, who brought for an answer, that they would be surrendered within half an hour. He was sent back to inform the regu- lators, that the governor would wait no longer, and that, if they did not directly lay down their arms, they should be fired on. Fire and be d-d, was the answer. The governor, ordering his men to fire, was not imme- diately obeyed ; on which, rising on his stirrups and turning to his men, he called out "fire! fire on them or on me." The action now began, and, almost instantly, be- came general. -
The insurgents, pursuing the Indian mode of fighting, did considerable injury to the king's troops; but, owing to the artillery, and firmness of the latter, were, after a conflict of one hour, struck with a panic and fled, leaving upwards of twenty dead, and a number of wounded. The fugitives were pursued, and several prisoners were made. The loss of the governor was only nine killed, and sixty-one wounded. The laurels which he gained on this day, were sullied by a vindictive and intemperate behaviour. Towards the evening, when every thing was quiet, and the regulators defeated and dispersed.
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captain Few, one of the prisoners made in the pursuit, was, by his orders, without a trial, hung on a tree.
On the following day, the governor issued a procla- mation giving notice, that every person, except those who were outlawed or prisoners in the camp, who, within five days, would come in, lay down his arms, take the oath of allegiance, promise to pay his taxes and submit to the laws of his country, would receive a free pardon. The proviso was afterwards enlarged, from time to time, to the 10th of July, but the follow- ing persons were excluded from the benefits of the pro- clamation: Samuel Jones, Joshua Geague, Samuel Wagoner, Simon Dunn, jr. Abraham Creson, Benja- min Meritt, James Wilkinson, sen., Edward Smith, John Bumpass, Joseph Boring, William Rankin, Wil- liam Robeson, John Winkler, John Wilcox, Jacob Telfair and Thomas Person.
The army marched, on the 21st, to Sandy creek, where they encamped and halted for a week. Detach- ments were sent to assist in the collection of taxes, and to disperse the regulators, who were lurking about in parties. A reward of one thousand acres of land and one hundred pounds, in money, was offered, for the apprehension of Hermon Husband, James Butler, Rednap Howel, and other chiefs of the regulators, or either of them, dead or alive. Parties were sent to lay waste their plantations. The army next proceeded to the Jersey settlements, crossing Deep river and Flat Swamp; they stopped two days and marched to Betha- bara, a Moravian town, by Reedy creek.
The army being joined by general Waddle, with a large body of men, returned on the 9th of June, by
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Black Jack, Buffalo, Big Troublesome and Back creeks, to Hillsborough, which they reached on the 14th.
A special court of oyer and terminer, was held, for the trial of twelve of the prisoners, taken in the battle: they were indicted for high treason, convicted and received sentence of death, The execution of six of them was respited, till the king's pleasure was known. On the 19th, the others were executed. The whole army was drawnout under arms, except the quarter guard and sen- tinels. They formed and marched, in a hollow, oblong square; the artillery forming the front and rear faces: the first line, the right, and the second, the left face: the main guard marching in the centre, with the sheriff and prisoners: the light horse, covering the outside of the Ranks to keep off the mob. This order of march had been sketched out, and given in general orders, by the governor, who stooped, in this manner, to point out the spot for the erection of the gallows, and to give orders for cleaning the field around, to make room for . the army. An acute writer, in the newspapers of the day, observed, that the governor's minute and personal attention to these particulars, left a ridiculous idea of his character behind, bearing a strong resemblance to that of an undertaker at a funeral.
On the following day, the army left Hillsborough, and encamped at Stone creek. The next morning, the governor took leave of them, and proceeded to New- bern. The troops moved, by slow marches, to colonel Bryan's, in the county of Johnston, near the spot, where the town of Smithfield has since been established. The different detachments separated, and took the short- est roads to their respective counties.
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On his arrival at Newbern, governor Tryon took shipping for the province of New-York, to take charge of the affairs of that government, to which he had been appointed.
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ON the departure of governor Tryon, the adminis- tration of the affairs of the province devolved ou James Hasel, the president of the council, who was qualified on the 1st of July. He did not hold long the reins of government; for on the 11th of the follow- ing month, Josiah Martin, who had been appointed governor of the province, arrived from New-York at Newbern.
This gentleman was a brother of Samuel Martin, who had been a member of the British parliament and secretary of the treasury, and who, having been reflected on, in one of the numbers of the North Briton, fought in a duel, and wounded the famous John Wilkes, the author of that paper, in the year 1763. The governor was a native of England, had hitherto followed the profession of arms, and risen to the rank of a major.
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