The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Vol. 2 (of 2) / or, Illustrations, by Pen And Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for Independence

by Benson John Lossing

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 proclamationMay 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."