Colonial government in North Carolina was controlled by the landed gentry of the eastern seaboard. Local officials, particularly on the frontier, were thoroughly corrupt; sheriffs embezzled about half the annual tax revenue of the colony; other local magnates charged exorbitant fees for legal services. Throughout the 1760’s the frontiersmen appealed to the government for redress and reform; some took vigilante action against the officials who were defrauding them. In 1768, the sheriffs announced that they would no longer go to the farms to collect taxes; instead, farmers would have to travel the long distances to the sheriffs’ offices, or face stiff fines payable to the sheriffs. Now the farmers organized into the formal associations which came to be known as the “Regulators.” Their request for a meeting with officials was refused. The fact that the farmers had organized in opposition to the government made their actions indistinguishable, in official eyes, from sedition; Governor William Tryon ordered them to disband. Two of the leaders were arrested and the militia dispersed the organizations. In 1769 more petitions were sent to the assembly, this time asking for ballot voting, taxation in proportion to wealth, collection of taxes in commodities, the registering of votes in the Assembly journals, and the regular publication of laws. Regulators won some elections that year, and were able to enact some corrective legislation, but it proved unenforceable. Finally, in September 1770, the Regulators marched to the county seat of Hillsborough, shut down the court, and demolished the house of one of the obnoxious officials. The Colonial Assembly responded with a law which made the failure of a crowd of ten or more to disperse when so ordered punishable by death. Governor Tryon then moved to crush the uprising by force. He recruited an army of 917 men (paying them bounties since many of the regular militia refused to serve) and 151 officers, among whom were members of most of the leading families of the colony. On May 16, 1771, Tryon’s forces engaged an unorganized, poorly armed body of 2,000 Regulators at Alamance, and, making effective use of artillery, routed them. One leader of the insurgents was executed on the battlefield the next day, 6 others were executed for treason later. Thousands of Piedmont settlers were required to take an oath of allegiance to the government, though many moved further west rather than do so. The antagonism of frontiersmen against Easterners led many backwoodsmen to fight on the Loyalist side in the Revolution.
The following account of the battle is taken from Francois-Xavier Martin: The History of North Carolina from the Earliest Period (1829), II, 28–81. See Elisha Douglass: Rebels and Democrats (1955); and John Spencer Bassett: “Regulators in North Carolina,” American Historical Association, Annual Report, 1894.
On the 15th, a messenger from the regulators brought a petition to the governor; the object of it was to desire, 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.…
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 regulators were encamped at some distance; their number exceeded, in a small degree, those of the 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 petition; the purport of it was, that the governor had, in every circumstance, 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 immediate submission to government, a promise of paying their taxes, so long withheld from the public, an immediate 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; he 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 governor’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 an engagement, with the most violent imprecations. On 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.
Governor Tryon now sent a magistrate and an officer, 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!! … The enemy being tardy in their compliance, and the army complaining of the extreme heat of the sun, and manifesting great impatience 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 daring 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 advancing towards the artillery opening their breasts and defying them to begin.…
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 with half an hour. He was sent back to inform the regulators, 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 immediately 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, became 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, Captain Few, one of the prisoners made in the pursuit, was, by his orders, without a trial, hung on a tree.