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AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 THE REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA 
 (1765-1771). 
 
 BY 
 
 PROF. JOHN S. BASSETT, 
 
 OF TEINITT COLLEGE, NOKTH CAROLINA. 
 
 (From the Annual Keport of the American Historical Association for 1894, pages 141-212.) 
 
 WASHINGTON : 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 1896. 
 
0, ^f 
 
XI.-THE REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA (1765-1771).' 
 
 By Prof. John S. Bassett, of Trinity College, North Carolina. 
 
 The recent publication of The Colonial Records of Korth Caro- 
 lina must lead to the rewriting of much of the State's colonial 
 history. The several writers who, before the appearance of 
 these volumes, have written on The War of the Regulation 
 have been handicapped by having to use as sources of informa- 
 tion narratives that have been prepared by one or the other of 
 the parties to the struggle. They have not had access to the 
 now published mass of documents, which, as might have been 
 exi^ected, throw new light on many features of the movement. 
 The desire to use this light has inspired the present paper. It 
 
 'The Regulation is one of the best written about subjects of North 
 Carolina history. Caruthers treats it extensively in his Life of Dr. David 
 Cakhvell (1842). He went carefully over the ground and obtained a great 
 deal of his material from old men who had once been Regulators. He is 
 entirely on the side of the Regulators. Caruthers also treats of the subject, 
 but not extensively, in his Revolutionary Incidents (tirst series), pages 24 
 et seq. Dr. F. L. Hawkes has a sketch in Cooke's Revolutionary History 
 of North Carolina (1853), pages 13 et seq. It deals chiefly with Hiisbaud's 
 Sermons to Asses. Jones treats the matter in his Defence of North Caro- 
 lina (1834), pages 34-56. Wheeler publishes Husband's book under the 
 heading of Orange County (see his History of North Carolina, Vol. II, 
 pp. 301-331), and Martin and Williamson, in their histories, have treated 
 it as fully as the nature of their works would admit. 
 
 Dr. T. B. Kingsbury published several short articles ou the subject in 
 Our Living and Our Dead (see Vol. II, p. 434 ; Vol. Ill, pp. 39, 314, and 629). 
 The subject is also treated in the North Carolina Journal of Education, 
 October and November, 1859, and in Wiley's Sketch of North Carolina. 
 
 All the above, except Martin and Williamson, ai'e aj^ologists of the Regu- 
 lation. At first in the history of the State everyone seems to have fol- 
 lowed the accounts of Tryon and his followers as set forth in these two 
 histories. It was about the time that Jones's Defence was published that 
 there came a change in sentiment. Since that time nearly everything 
 written has discovered in the Regulation a worthy struggle for liberty. 
 
 One book recently published. Colonel Waddell's Colonial Officer and His 
 Times, is an exception to this rule. Writing from the standpoint of the 
 
 141 
 
142 
 
 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 IS believed that at least two new points in regard to the Regu- 
 lation may now be taken as historical truth. 
 
 (1) The Regulation was not attempted as a revolution. It 
 was rather a peasants' rising, a popular upheaval. This is 
 a chief new point which, it seems, a study of the records should 
 reveal. A revolution involves a change of the form or prin- 
 ciples of government. It is constitutional in its significance. 
 A peasants' rising aims at a change of agents who administer, 
 or of the manner of administering-, affairs under principles or 
 forms that remain intact. It is a matter of party, chiefly. A 
 revolution may embrace a popular rising, and a popular rising 
 may run into, or in a manner partake of the nature of, a 
 revolution; but we may always find the general difference 
 just mentioned. Could it have had any other fate than it did 
 have, the Regulation might possibly have run into a revolu- 
 tion ; but at the time when it was crushed it had not reached 
 that stage. 
 
 (2) Another fact that the records emphasize is this: The 
 Regulation was not a religious movement. It was rather of an 
 economic and political nature. It was not only not religious, 
 but it had the opposition of at least four of the five leading- 
 denominations in the disaffected district. The Established 
 
 biographer of one of the chief men who joined in suppressing- the Regu- 
 Jators, Colonel Waddell has been led to form an opinion unfavorable to 
 them. Many of his points are well taken. 
 
 There are two contemporary accounts of the movement. The more 
 important of these two is An Impartial Relation of the First Rise and Cause 
 of the Recent Diflerences in Public Affairs in the Province of North Caro- 
 lina, 1770, pages 104. This work, on what seems very good grounds is 
 usually attributed to Heruion Husband. It is a well-written statement of 
 the first part of the struggle. It contains many documents and is usually 
 reliable. It is reprinted in Wheeler's History of North Carolina, II, 301- 
 331. The other book is A Fan for Fanning and a Touchstone for Tryon 
 by Regulus, Boston. 1771. The author of this work is unknown. It has 
 been ascribed to Husband, but the internal evidence is against such a 
 view. Governor Swain thought it was written by Shubal Stearns, a Bap- 
 tist preacher from New England, who was living in Orange in 1771. It is 
 not nearly so exact a statement of facts as the Impartial" Relation, being 
 characterized by wordy complaints against Tryon and the other officers^ 
 It was reprinted in the North Carolina University Magazine, Vol. VIII," 
 193 and 289. The most valuable of all sources is The ColonialRecords of 
 North Carolina, Vols. VII and VIII. They contain the documents of the 
 Regulators, the records of the courts and of the assembly, the reports of 
 Tryon to the home government, and many other documents bearing on 
 the subject. They have been freely used in this paper. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT, 143 
 
 Cliai'ch, of course, opposed it. The Pi esby teriau pastors united 
 in a letter to tlie governor, iu which they assured him of their 
 ^'abhorrence of the present turbulent and disorderly spirit that 
 shows itself in some parts of this Province." They also wrote a 
 circular letter enjoiniug- all good Presbyterians to have noth- 
 ing to do with the Regulation.' This letter was read at a muster 
 in the Presbyterian county of Rowan, and perhaps in Meck- 
 lenburg, and was of good service in securing volunteers to 
 march against the Regulators in 1708.^ It was signed by 
 David Caldwell, Henry Patillo, Hugh McAden, and James 
 Creswell, names of the highest respect in the history of this 
 denomination in North Carolina. The Baptists were perhaps 
 the strongest in numbers in the vicinity. Morgan Edwards, 
 who in ITTli traveled through this region gathering materials 
 for a history of the Baptists, could hear of but seven Baptists 
 who had joined the movement, and these, in accordance with a 
 regulation of the Sandy Creek Baptist Association, were excom- 
 municated." In 17()8 Governor Tiyou attended divine service 
 at a German church in Mecklenburg County, and the minister 
 " recommended with warmth a due obedience to the laws of 
 the country."^ This same minister a{;companied the troops to 
 Hillsboro and preached before them there. The Quakers were 
 the only other considerable sect in the vicinity, and they took 
 practically the same position that the Baptists took.^ 
 
 It is not to be thought, however, that members of these 
 separate churches did not join the Regulation. They joined 
 freely, but all the evidence goes to show that it was not from 
 religious motives. Hermon Husband declared that they were 
 of all sects, and that the leaders were of the Established 
 Church. « 
 
 To understand pro[)erly the struggle which we are about to 
 investigate, we must hrst ac(iuaint ourselves with the physical 
 
 1 Colonial Records of North Carolina, VII, 813-816. 
 
 nb., VII, 822 and 886. 
 
 3 lb., VIII, 655-656. 
 
 ^ lb., VII, 821. 
 
 ^ Dr. S. B. Weeks, whose forthcoming work on Southern Quakers and 
 Slavery is announced as this monograph goes to the press, is authority 
 for this statement. With such excellent verbal authority, the writer does 
 not hesitate to print the above assertion in advance of the published 
 work. 
 
 >* Wheeler: History of North Carolina, II, 315. See, also, Purefoy's His- 
 tory of Sandy Creek Association, pages 69-73, where Morgan Edwards is 
 freely quoted. 
 
144 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 characteristics of the locality, the social condition of the 
 inhabitants, and the political institutions of the colony. To 
 these preliminaries we turn. 
 
 THE BACK COUNTIES. 
 
 The topography of North Carolina reveals on the east a 
 broad alluvial plain. This is intersected by numerous rivers, 
 along whose banks lies much rich low ground. West of this 
 section is a broken region of red clay soil thickly netted by 
 small streams, which makes the head waters of the larger rivers 
 of the plain. Farther west are high, mountain-studded ])la- 
 teaus, which modern railroad facilities are showing to be 
 perhaps the grandest scenery on our eastern Atlantic Slope. 
 
 It was in the second of these divisions that the Eegulatiou 
 had its home. At the time of which we write this region was 
 usually known as "the back counties" or "the back country." 
 It is billy upland, and its fertile soil is well suited to the groM^th 
 of grains, grass, and fruit. At the middle of the eighteenth 
 century it was covered by large forests of oak and hickory, 
 broken here and there by open prairie-like tracts of good 
 grass. To a passing observer the country is much like that of 
 eastern Pennsylvania or central Maryland. Indeed, it is part 
 of a continuous geological formation which lies just east of 
 the Appalachian foothills and extends in a southwest direction 
 from Pennsylvania to northern Georgia. 
 
 As the Keystone State marked the beginning of this forma- 
 tion, it was also the gateway through which came most of its 
 l^opulation. The fertile soil and the liberal government of the 
 Quaker drew to his colony at an early day a strong tide of 
 immigration. So great was the stream that there was soon an 
 overflow. NcM^comers willing to pay good prices for land 
 induced the former owners to sell their holdings and seek others 
 from the cheaper lands of the wilderness. Tims began a stream 
 of humanity very much as the water in a natural depression 
 rises till at last it breaks over the hills and cuts a channel 
 through the plain. The course taken was to the southwest. 
 The Virginia valleys were tilled. Across the boundary into 
 North Carolina' poured the tide. But here there was a halt. 
 
 'Mr. WoodmasoD, who seems to lia.ve visited North Carolina in 1766, 
 writes: " Africk uever more abounded with new monsters than Pennsyl- 
 \aniawith new sects, who are continnally sending out their emissaries 
 
KEGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 145 
 
 Along the lower we-steni valleys of the Yadkin a counter car- 
 rent from the SoLitb was met. The home seekers scattered 
 themselves around in all directions, carefully picking out the 
 best land. They moved to the west till they reached the 
 mountains. A few hunters ventured across and found wide, 
 sloping stretches of luscious grass. With alacrity the monn 
 tain gates were thrown open and the conquering host marched 
 through. It was the beginning of '^ the winning of the West" 
 When viewed in its entirety the whole inovement seems a 
 
 romance. 
 
 The peoph^ who led this movement were of pioneer lineage. 
 While still in Europe they had behind them a century of 
 frontier life. Early in the seventeenth century James I moved 
 many Scotchmen to Ireland with an idea of converting the 
 country to Protestantism. In this he failed. The Protestants 
 lived sei)arate from, and often hostile to, the natives. The tide 
 of Puritanism that swept over the country leff them mostly 
 Presbyterians. The country was not a home for them. The 
 soil was poor, and conseciuently many of them turned their 
 faces to the New World. From their association with the two 
 countries they were called Scotch-Irish. They made ideal 
 frontiersmen. ' While others came in their rear and settled close 
 upon them, they were still usually the ones to push on to the 
 next stop, ever restless and fearless. 
 
 It was shortly before 1740 that this tide reached North Car- 
 olina. Coming down from Virginia, it ran along the head 
 waters of the Yadkin, Haw, Neuse, Tar, Catawba, and Deep 
 rivers, until the whole country from what is now the vicinity 
 of Raleigh on the east to the neighborhood of Morganton on 
 the west was taken up. So rapid was the movement that 
 Governor Tryou reports* that in the summer and winter of 1765 
 more than 1,000 immigrants' wagons passed through Salis- 
 bury, most of which were bound for parts of North Carolina.' 
 Among those who came one can easily distinguish Scotch- 
 Irish, Germans, Moravians, Welsh, and many Englishmen. 
 
 around." His uarrative, though utterly untrustworthy in regard to most 
 that he says, shows that it was generally understood that the newcomers, 
 especially the Baptists, were from Pennsylvania. (Colonial Records, VII, 
 286,287.) 
 
 ' Those that went on were for Georgia and Florida. Some of these came 
 back to North Carolina. (Colonial Records, VII, 248.) 
 
 H. Mis. 01 10 
 
146 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Besides tliose who came through the Penusylvauia doors, there 
 Avere considerable mimbers from New Eugland, New Jersey, 
 and Maryhmd. They came by families or by friendly bands, 
 and occasionally by congregations. They placed themselves 
 as chance or association directed. The Germans settled in the 
 district now embraced by Cabarrus and parts of the adjacent 
 (bounties. The Moravians took in common ownership the beau- 
 tiful tract near Salem which they now hold in severalty. The 
 Welsh settled chietly in Duplin. The New Jersey people 
 located in what is now Davie County, and the Quakers placed 
 themselves in what is now B-andolph and Guilford. Arouud 
 Hillsboro there were many people, but they seem to have been 
 drawn from many different localities. 
 
 The eastern plain had been the tirst part of the colony to be 
 settled. Convenience of transportation and the desire for fer- 
 tile river shores operated to group the earliest settlers along 
 the water courses. In the extreme east streams were so nnmer- 
 oiis that the whole country was practically on water routes. 
 This region was soon settled. Conditions here were favorable 
 to slave labor,' and by the end of a century's growth the coast 
 region was faiily fall of tine estates and wealthy families. 
 Although there were inany of the middle class settled around 
 them, these older families were the intiuential factors in the 
 State and in society. Old settlers, with traditions of their own, 
 and connected chiefly with the State religion, they had no 
 syn\pathy for the new men of the hills. 
 
 There was also a natural barrier between the two sections. 
 This was a sparsely settled region of pine forest, stretching 
 monotonously from the valley of the Roanoke on the north to 
 that of the Cape Fear on the south. It was so far from the 
 coast that it was ti'aversed by few rivers, and those were hardly 
 navigable. It contained but little '• bottom'' land and had to 
 wait for the day of railroads and cotton cultivation before it 
 was developed. 
 
 Cut off thus from the men of the east, the men of the " back 
 counties" felt no more sympathy for the former than they 
 received from them. The merchants to whom they hauled 
 
 ' There were very many more slaves in the east than in the west. In 1766 
 in Orange there were 33 whites to every 6 blacks. In Johnston there were 
 10 to 5. In Perquimans there were 5 to 10, and in Brunswick there were 
 2 to 11. (Colonial Records, VII, 288, 289.) 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 147 
 
 tbeir produce at Cross Creek ' were either Scotchmen or had 
 come from Peuusylvania with the rest of the <,'Oiiutry. The 
 Presbyteriaus received their first ministers from the Synod 
 of New York and Peuusylvania, and later on sent their own 
 ministerial students to Princeton College. Hermon Husband 
 corresponded with Dr. Franklin. The author of the Fan for 
 Fanning printed his work in Boston.^ Indeed, it is likely that 
 the inhabitants of this region knew more about Philadelphia at 
 tliat time than about Newbern or Edenton, 
 
 The life of the people was that of the pioneer. The neces- 
 saries of subsistence were plentiful, but luxuries were few. 
 Some old men who had been Regulators tokl Caruthers that 
 about the time of the Regulation there was not a plank floor, 
 a feather bed, a riding cariiage, or a side saddle within the 
 bounds of their acquaintance. ' Yet at this time considerable 
 advance had been made toward the cultivated habits of older 
 communities. Many churches had been built, though they 
 were often but rude structures. In Orange there was a regu- 
 larly settled parish clergyman who had his church in Hillsboro. 
 Farther out ii) the county were several cliapels which were 
 served by readers/ In Rowan a clergyman had been provided, 
 but the Dissenters were making it difficult for him to enter 
 into his living,^ Within this district the Presbyterians had 
 four pastors, each of whom had more than one charge. The 
 Germans had pastors there also.*" 
 
 The Baptists had been organized for some years. In 17.j8 
 the Sandy Creek" Association was formed. Only two of the 
 churches in it were within the district of the liegulators, but 
 
 ' NoAV Fayetteville. 
 
 -This same author shows his feeling for the east as follows: "And such 
 has been the fate of Newbern and other places in North Carolina that 
 for many years they were erected an asylum for all such as fled from their 
 creditors aud from the hand of justice, and such as would not live by work- 
 ing elsewhere, men regardless of religion aud all moral obligation. Hence 
 it was refugees from the western governments aud from Connecticut, 
 found a safe retreat in North Carolina, particularly on the seacoast and 
 places adjacent." (Quoted by Swaiu in Univ. Magazine, Vol. IX, p. 465.) 
 
 a Life of Caldwell, pp. 139, 140. 
 
 ■•The site of one of these chapels was selected afterwards for the seat of 
 the University of North Carolina. 
 
 "Colonial Records, VIII. 202-210, and 502-507. 
 
 '• lb., VIII, 727-757. 
 
 'Sandy Creek was in what is now Randolph County. It was the central 
 field of the Regulation. 
 
148 AMKKICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 there were more churches ten years later.' The Qiiakerts erected 
 their meetinghouses almost as soon as they arrived. Schools 
 were beginning to be built up. Some of the pastors were peda- 
 gogues as well. Still, 't is well to remember that these schools 
 were new and had been in operation hardly long enough to 
 influence materially the adult population. The slight glimpse 
 that we have into the religious life of all of these people shows 
 them to have been honest, sturdy, and independent, and per- 
 haps not always easily managed by their pastors. Coming 
 from a land of liberal ideas of government, they expected to 
 maintain their share in public affairs. Without broad political 
 information, without communication or sympathy with the pre- 
 dominant element in the government of the province, and with 
 strongly impetuous natures, they were just so conditioned that 
 they were likely to redress grievances by other than constitu- 
 tional measures. 
 
 The political institutions were not of a nature to suit a peo- 
 ple like these. The constitution left them a very small share 
 in government. The exercise of the executive, the judicial, 
 and, to a large extent, the legislative functions was in the 
 hands of the central royal officeholders. 
 
 The governor was appointed by the King, and represented 
 the royal prerogative. With the council, he was the chief exec- 
 utive agent. The councilors were appointed by the Crown, 
 usually on the recommendation of the governor, and they could 
 be relied on to take the side of the prerogative. The chief 
 justice was regularly named by the Crown. The governor in 
 cuuncil appointed the county justices and the chief justice, tem- 
 porarily, when there was a vacancy, and the two associates.'"* 
 Out of council he appointed the officers of the militia, and 
 selected the sheriff from three freeholders whose names had 
 been submitted by the county court. He must also approve a 
 bill before it became a law, and he was commander of the 
 militia. It was thus that his influence was paramount. Not 
 being paid by the peoiile's assembly, he was not afraid of it. 
 
 There were two systems of courts, the superior and the infe- 
 rior. The former was divided into six circuits, which were 
 traveled twice a year. The chief justice and the two associates 
 
 ' See Piirefoy's History of Sandy Creek Association, 62-65. 
 ^Colonial Records, VII, 690, 691. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 149 
 
 held it. Its miuisterial officers were appointed by some ageut 
 of the central authority. The inferior court was the county 
 court. It was held by the justices of the county and was in 
 nearly every resi^ect the sole unit of local govermiient. The 
 sheriff executed its command, usually through his deputies, of 
 which there was a liberal supply. He also collected all the 
 taxes. The county and parish taxes w ere levied by the county 
 court, and the sheriff returned the same to them. Tlie appoint- 
 ing of the clerks of countycourts was unfortunately an anged. 
 There was a clerk of the pleas, a relic of a past oflice, whose 
 position was now a sinecure, and he appointed the clerks of 
 the thirty- four county courts. The salaries of these clerks 
 ranged from £50 to £500 a year. The clerk of the pleas let 
 out the county clerkships to those who paid him the most rent 
 for them. By this means he liad an office which paid him with- 
 out the least labor £560 a year. Governor Martin said, in 1772, 
 that the county clerks used their influence to get into the 
 assembly, where they were able to keep this arrangement from 
 being abolished.^ 
 
 The assembly was bicameral. The upper house was the coun- 
 cil. The lower house was elected by the freeholders. Election s 
 were held by the sheriff, but there seems to have been no strict 
 oversight of the polls. Furthermore, there were no party lines. 
 The influential men brought out a man as candidate, and he 
 usually received the election. When a bill had been passed in 
 both houses and signed by the governor, it must be apj)roved 
 by the board of trade before it was a permanent law. 
 
 The result of all this was that in each county there were a 
 certain number of men who were likely to have in control all 
 the offices. This is suggestive of what we to-day are accus- 
 tomed to call '• court-house rings." The disadvantage was that 
 the continued effectiveness of government depended too much 
 on the personal honesty of these officeholders. In many of the 
 eastern counties this state of affairs seems to have worked 
 Avell. But in the remote sections there is much evidence that 
 the officers were selfish and mercenary, and that they were 
 mutually leagued together to forward their own selfish ends. 
 It was to try to clean out this Augean stable that Eegulation 
 had its existence. 
 
 ' Colonial Records, IX, 264-266. 
 
150 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 THE GRIEVANCES OF THE REGULATORS. 
 
 The grievances of the Regulators were excessive taxes, dis- 
 honest sberifls, and extortionate fees.' Each of these was 
 made more intense by the scarcity of money. The stamp-act 
 trouble does not seem to have had any immediate influence on 
 this movement. Tliat the people of the back country sympa- 
 thized with the Sons of T^iberty and could have been aroused 
 to help them had the discontent spread from the Cape Fear 
 inward is undoubtedly true, but this whole movement passed 
 over before the Regulation came into existence.^ 
 
 The charge of excessive taxation was only relativelj^ true. 
 Taxes were apportioned by the poll. A taxable was an adult 
 white man or an adult black man or woman. A rich man thus 
 paid no more than a poor man in actual money. This injustice 
 was emphasized as between the east and the west by the 
 fact that the wealthy gentlemen of the former section relied on 
 slave labor, while slaves were comparatively few in the west. 
 
 The manner of collecting taxes made the burden still 
 heavier. The tax bills, although qnestioned by the Regula- 
 tors, seem to have been correct.' In a frontier region, where 
 money was scarce and local trading was confined almost 
 entirely to barter, it was not always convenient for the farmers 
 to keep money in their homes. But throughout the country 
 there were men who lent small sums to the countrymen Avhen 
 there was a sudden demand for cash. Consequently, when the 
 
 ' In 1771 Goveruor Martiu vsaid that he was told on every side that a 
 chief cause of these troubles was the fact that Earl Granville had no 
 agent in the colony who would give deeds for his lands. The settlers 
 accordingly took possession of the lauds, but refused to pay taxes for the 
 same. This caused ti'ouble with the sheriffs. (Colonial Records, IX, 49.) 
 Granville's land office was closed from 1765 (lb., VIII, 195), and it is likely 
 enough that the result was as just stated, but the fact that in the many 
 statements of the questions at issue no prominence is given by either side 
 to this cause is the author's justification for not putting it into the body 
 of his text. 
 
 "^ It is well to remember, also, that the leaders of the resistance to the 
 stamp act were among those who afterwards were most active to STippress 
 the Regulation. 
 
 ' The tax bill for 1767 was 7s., besides county and parish dues. This is 
 whatTryon told the Regulators (Colonial Records, VII, 791), and from the 
 items in the bill for 1768 it foots up the same amount. (lb., VII, 772, 773.) 
 Here it seems there are two bills, the latter of which is that for 1768. The 
 items in the bills were referred to the laws authorizins: them. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 151 
 
 sheriff would coine uuexpectedly to the taxpayer, the latter 
 would propose to get the money if the officer would accom- 
 pany him to the home of this neighborhood banker. The 
 officer usually refused to do this and proceeded to distrain on 
 some i^roperty, taking a fee of 2s. 8d. for the same. The tax- 
 payer would then hasten to his neighbor's, secure the needed 
 money, and hurry after the sheriff. That officer would take a 
 different route than the one he had promised to take, and the 
 luckless pursuer would arrive m Hillsboro in time to see his 
 property sold to some friend of the officer's for much less than 
 its value. The Regulators charged that officers played into 
 each others hands for this purpose, and that there were men in 
 Hillsboro who had made large sums by dealing in such business. 
 The sheriffs were thought to have taken another step in 
 defiance of popular justice when the assembly in 1708 passed 
 a law requiring the sheriffs to attend five different places in 
 each county, at least two days in each place, during January 
 and February of each year, in order to collect the taxes. If 
 the officer found it necessary to call at the home of the rate- 
 payer for his due, he took an extra fee for doing it. The peo- 
 ple of Orange regarded this law as i>assed at the instigation 
 of the sheriffs. Husband declared ' that the sheriff insulted 
 the people in it, and added that the officer "might have said 
 the asses were obliged to bring their burdens to him in order 
 that one of his deputies might collect the whole in ten days, 
 sitting on his breech, at ease, in five places ouly."^ 
 
 ' Wheeler, History of Nortii Carolina, II, 305, aud Colonial Records, 
 
 VII, 771, 772. 
 
 '^It has been stated that the tax for the governor\s palace, which was 
 erected in Newberu in 1765-1770 at a cost of £15,000, had much to do with 
 working np the discontent that culminated iu the Regulation. There is, 
 however, no evidence that the palace deserves so much distinction. 
 Among all of their complaints the Regulators refer to it only rarely. They 
 seem to have considered this a slight abuse as compared with other mat- 
 ters. (Cf also Caruthers: Life of Caldwell, p. 106.) It is also stated at 
 times that the expense of running the Cherokee boundary line was a 
 cause of the Regulation; but there is very slight reference to it in the 
 published complaints of the Regulators. The fact that Maurice Moore iu 
 his " Atticus" letter arraigned Tryon for these two pieces of extravagance 
 seems to have led most writers to assume that these were important causes 
 of the troubles that came later. Moore served against the Regulators, and 
 his letter indicates that he hardly understood the movement. He cer- 
 tainly does not say that the Regulators couMdered the two occurrences 
 just cited as efficient causes of their oppression. (Colonial Rccor.ls, 
 
 VIII, 718.) 
 
152 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Another very ijromineut grievance was the dishonesty of 
 the sheritis, who failed to pay into the hands of the pubhc 
 treasury the money they had collected. The public accounts 
 were most inefficiently kept. There was a prevalent opinion 
 among all classes that there was fraud just here. In 1767 
 Governor Tryon declared it as his opinion that "the sheriffs 
 have embezzled more than one-half of the public money 
 ordered to be raised and collected by them." ' This, he said, 
 was due to the remissness of the treasurers, who feared to sue 
 the sheriffs, lest the friends of these latter should combine to 
 defeat the treasurers of re-election. He made several attempts 
 to secure a statement of all such arrears, and finally in 17C9 
 John Burgwin was appointed to prepare a statement of the 
 condition of the x^ublic accounts.- In the following year he 
 made his report, ' when it appeared that the several sheriff's 
 were in arrears to the extent of £411,000,^ Many counties 
 were in arrears for ten years, and some accounts reached back 
 to 1754. A good deal of this was reported as worthless. In 
 some instances neither principal nor securities were worth 
 anything, and at times they had all run away. More than 
 half of the amount in arrears, however, was reported good. 
 This was especially true of the eastern counties, which were 
 generally paid uj) until 1705. The bad debts and the long 
 arrears were mostly in the frontier counties — that is to say, in 
 Anson, Orange, Johnston, Rowan, Cumberland, and Dobbs. 
 
 The failure to i)ay into the treasury the amount collected 
 led to an irritating misunderstanding between the governor 
 and the assembly. In 1700 the provincial government issued 
 £12,000 in currency, to be redeemed by a poll tax of Is. levied 
 each year till the whole amount was sunk. The following year 
 £20,000 was issued, to be redeemed by a poll tax of 2s. In 
 1768 the assembly, after trying in vain to get a new issue of 
 
 I Colonial Records, VII, 497 ; also, VIII, 105. 
 
 •^ lb., VII, 984. 
 
 ^ lb., VIII, 278-281. 
 
 ■• This is the amount due for years preceding 1770. There was about 
 £15,000 due for that year, but the report being made out iu that year 
 many sherifl's, especially those inclined to pay slowly, had perhaps not 
 had full opportunity to settle with the treasurers when the report was 
 gotten up. To include tbe amount for this year is therefore hardly fair to 
 the sherifls. The assembly of 1771, second session, decided to distribute 
 in the counties printed copies of Burgwiu's report. (lb., IX, 124.) At the 
 same time they ordered the treasurers to prosecute the delinquents. (lb., 
 IX, 217.) As a result a fair proportion of the arrears was collected. (lb., 
 IX,r)72-576.) 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 153 
 
 paper cnriency, resolved that euongii money bad been collected 
 to redeem these two issues, and that consequently the sheriffs 
 should no longer collect these two items in the tax bill.^ By 
 this means they thought they would lessen taxation and pre- 
 vent the volume of currency from decreasing. The governor, 
 however, vetoed this resolution, because, as he said, he had not 
 seen a statement of the moneys x>aid into the sinking fund.^ 
 Two years later such a statement was prepared, and it shows 
 that at the time in question but little over £25,000 had been 
 burnt since 17(30, ' so that if they had devoted all moneys col- 
 lected for the sinking fund to redeeming the two issues just 
 mentioned there would still have been nearly £7,000 unre- 
 deemed.^ The failure of the governor to agree with the res- 
 olution to cease to collect the 3s. as indicated caused a clash 
 in the authority of government and gave rise to a great deal 
 of misgiving among the people.^ Had the sheriffs paid in 
 their arrears this trouble would have been avoided. 
 
 Extortionate fees was perhaps the greatest grievance of all. 
 Nearly all the officers were paid in fees. The people of the 
 back counties complained heavily of their offtcers, and in sup- 
 port of their complaint the Orange County Regulators pro- 
 duced affidavits sufficient to satisfy the most skeptical that 
 they were right.^ As soon as counties were organized on the 
 frontier sheriffs, clerks, registers, and lawyers swooped down 
 upon the defenseless inhabitants like wolves. Further than 
 this, the people charged that the superior and county courts 
 conspired to aid the officers in escaping punishment. The fee 
 of a lawyer was fixed by law, but, like usury laws of our own 
 day, it was difficult to enforce this law. The officers would 
 manage to resolve a service for which a fixed fee was due 
 into two or more services, and for each they would demand a 
 fee. Both lawyers and court officials were thought to be in 
 collusion to postpone cases in order that they might get more 
 fees.' The court business was sadly behind, much to the incou- 
 
 > Colonial Records, VII, 922, 923. 
 
 ^Ib., VII, 986. 
 
 ^'Ib., VIII, 213-215. 
 
 ••The sinking fund received money as follows: Is. to sink two issues in 
 1748 and 1754 ; Is. for the issue of 1760 ; 2s. for that of 1761, and 4d. a gallon 
 on imported liquors. Perhaps not more than one-half of this fund should 
 have been devoted to the sinking of the two issues in question. 
 
 ^See Husband's account, Wheeler, II, 311. 
 
 « Colonial Records, VII, 771-782. 
 
 'Governor Martin, in 1772, supports the cliarge of malpractices by the 
 lawyers. ( lb., IX, 340.) 
 
154 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 venience of the people, wlio ofteu were obliged to attend at a 
 distance of from 30 to 60 miles. This was true to sucli an 
 extent that in 1760 there were nearly 1,000 cases on the docket 
 of Halifax superior court, and no civil causes had been tried in 
 any court in the province for six months.' The governor issued 
 frequent proclamations to prevent illegal fees, but without avail. 
 
 Connected with and influencing each of these grievances was 
 that of the general scarcity of money. The English colonial 
 policy had the effect of withdrawing from the colonies as 
 much gold and silver as possible. So scarce did this money 
 become that in 1765 Governor Tryon said that there was only 
 enough of it in the colony to pay for the stamps which under 
 the Stamp Act would be required on the instruments of writing 
 used in one year in the sui>erior courts of the province.^ The 
 I)eople desired to issue a paper currency sufficient in amount 
 for the demands, but were restrained by an act of Parliament 
 made for the protection of British merchants, which forbade 
 the colonies to issue legal-tender paper. The assembly peti- 
 tioned the King for a relaxation of this injunction, but was un- 
 successful. Distress was everywhere; but in the east, where 
 there were public warehouses for receiving commodities, it 
 was less than in the west, where there were none; because the 
 l)eople used the warehouse certificates as a medium of ex- 
 change among themselves. An inhabitant of Orange related 
 that at this time he had accompanied his father with a load of 
 wheat to Cross Creek, now Fayetteville, where they received 5s. 
 a bushel for the grain, but could get only one-fifth of the price 
 in cash. His father returned home with 40s. and was able to 
 pay his tax, which was more than his neighbors could do.^ 
 
 All this was caused chiefly by a most shortsighted financial 
 policy on the part of the i)rovincial government. During the 
 times of the French and Indian war the colony had made re- 
 peated issues of currency. After peace was declared in 1 703 
 this began rapidly to be redeemed. So sudden and wide an 
 extension of the money medium was bad in itself; but when in 
 the face of an immense tide of immigration the currency began 
 rapidly to contract the effect was calamitous. An idea of this 
 
 ' Colonial Records. VII, 200, 201. 
 
 2Ib.,VII, 144. 
 
 3 Caruther.s's Life of Caldwell, page 113. Colonel Saunders, with a singu- 
 lar lack of insight, says that this wheat was sohl for a shilling a bushel. 
 Why he should have said nothing of the 4 shillings in barter given also for 
 each bushel is incomprehensible. (Cf. Coh)uial Records, VII, j). xix.) 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 155 
 
 may be gotten from the fact that in IKiS while the ay^)unt of 
 money was decreasing about 10 per cent a year the population 
 was increasing about 7 per cent a yeav." 
 
 The inhabitants of the back counties, isolated from, and out 
 of sympathy with, the dominant class in the province, were thus 
 ready material to the hand of the political agitator. Weighed 
 down by improjierly adjusted taxes, dishonest oflicers, exces- 
 sive fees, and an insufficient currency, the people only awaited 
 the appearance of a leader under whom they might range 
 themselves in opposition to their oppressors. The first man 
 to appear in this cai)acity was Hermon Husband.^ 
 
 THE LEADERS. 
 
 Husband was born in Cecil County, Md., October 3, 1724.^ 
 His familj^ were Episcopalians, but Hermon with some other 
 members of the family became Quakers.* He moved to North 
 Carolina and settled at Sandy Creek, then in Orange County, 
 but now in the northeastern part of Eandolph. Here he 
 accumulated considerable property. Our knowledge of him 
 indicates that he was industrious, shrewd, honest, and much 
 more intelligent than the average man of his neighborhood.'^ 
 By his neighbors he was reported to have been either related 
 to, or connected with, Dr. Benjamin Franklin. It is in evi- 
 dence that he kept up a correspondence with this patriotic 
 Quaker through John Wilcox, a merchant of Cross Creek, 
 who went to Philadelphia twice a year to buy goods. In this 
 way he received many political pamphlets of a patriotic char- 
 acter which he reprinted and circulated among the people. 
 He got the credit of writing some of these, but it does not ap- 
 pear that he claimed the authorshij* of any of them.^ The only 
 one of these of which we have any definite account is a collec- 
 
 1 Cf. Colonial Records, VII, 145, 288, 289, and 539, with VIII, 215. 
 
 2 This spelling is used advisedly. Mr. Jacob L. Husband, of Baltimore, a 
 relative of Hermon Husband, has a deed written and signed by Hermon 
 Husband ou January 7, 1769, in which the spelling is as here given. 
 
 sPenn. Mag. of Hist, and Biog., April, 1886, p. 119. 
 
 •'Dr. S. B. Weeks, who has examined the records of the Quakers, has 
 informed the writer that Husband was expelled from that organization, 
 not because he was immoral, but because of divergence of views. This 
 statement is also in advance of Dr. Weeks's forthcoming book. 
 
 f'The deed referred to in note 1 was written by himself and is in good 
 form, showing some legal knowledge. 
 
 ^Caruthers's Life of Caldwell, pp. 119, 120. 
 
156 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 tion called " Seinious to asses." It is adapted from a pro- 
 dactiou of an Enolish clergyman of republican tendencies and 
 was published without the name of the author or editoi." Two 
 sermons were on the nature of asses. One was from the text: 
 "Issachar is a strong ass, crouching down between two bur- 
 dens. And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it 
 was pleasant; and he bowed his shoulder to bear and became 
 a servant to tribute." The other was based on the biblical 
 story of Balaam and his ass. Each contained homely truths 
 vigorously stated.^ 
 
 Husband's part in the Regulation has been overestimated. 
 He was essentially an agitator, and his plan seems to have 
 been to effect reform by means of public sentiment. When it 
 became evident that the movement was running into violence 
 he held aloof from it, only exerting himself to restrain excesses 
 and to make peace.^ His activity as a pamphleteer had given 
 him such a reputation that it was impossible to convince the 
 provincial government that he was not the chief leader of the 
 popular side. The officeholders produced affidavits to show 
 that he was in the crowd that perpetrated the Hillsboro riots j"* 
 but whether or not he helped to administer the thrashings 
 that some received the deponents did not say. The fact that 
 when a short time afterwards he was expelled from the assem- 
 bly for printing a libelous letter to Maurice Moore no charge 
 was made in connection with this riot may, perhai^s, be owing 
 to lack of evidence on this subject.^ Had it been at all sure 
 that he was concerned in the riots, he would likely have been 
 so charged in the indictment. He was with the Regulators 
 on the morning of the battle on the Alamance endeavoring 
 to bring about an adjustment. When he saw that this was 
 impossible he mounted his horse and rode away. Some have 
 attributed this to cowardice, but it is noticeable that none 
 of the writers who have talked with surviving Regulators 
 have said that the Regulators accused him of deserting their 
 
 ' It was erroneously supposed to have been adapted from Dr. Franklin's 
 tract, " State aftairs." 
 
 2 These two sermons are abridged in Revolutionary History of North 
 Carolina (W. D. Cooke, ed.), pages 19-28. 
 
 ^ In 1768 the Regulators declared that he was a "gentleman that had 
 never joined the Regulators, had never been concerned m any tumults, 
 and whose only crime was being active in trying to bring on the intended 
 settlement." (Colonial Records, VII, 765.) 
 
 •> lb., VIII, 245-247. 
 
 -^Ib., VIII, 268,269. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 157 
 
 cause. It IS more probable that bis whole conduct was iu 
 keeping with his Quaker principles of not actively participat- 
 ing- in a tight. He was twice elected "to the assembly, being 
 expelled during his second term, and when the officers of Rowan 
 County agreed to leave the dispute between themselves and 
 the Regulators to a committee of arbitration he was put on 
 that committee.' To escape Tryon's wrath he tied the colony 
 and spent the remainder of his life in westera Pennsylvania, 
 where he was prominently implicated in the whisky rebellion. 
 He was captured, tried, and condemned to death, but was 
 released through the intercession of friends. He died before 
 he could reach his hoine.^ 
 
 There is no one who can be called a preeminent leader of the 
 Regulation. Perhaps this is one cause of its failure. On the 
 morning of the battle, when no one was found to command the 
 people, some asked James Hunter to take command. His 
 answer was characteristic both of himself and of the move- 
 ment: " We are all freemen, and everyone must command him- 
 self." ^ Rednap Howell, James Hunter, and William Butler 
 were leading spirits; yet there were, perhaps, others as prom- 
 inent as themselves. Hunter was spoken of as their "gen- 
 eral."* Rednap Howell deserves to be mentioned as the bard 
 of the movement. He was from New Jersey and was a school- 
 master. With his homely songs he soon set the entire country- 
 side singing at the expense of Fanning, Frohock, and others 
 of their associates.^ 
 
 ' Colonial Records, VIII, 521. 
 
 2 See Carutliers : Life of Caldwell, pages 166-168. 
 
 sib., p. 163. 
 
 4 Colonial Records, IX, 269. 
 
 ''The following will suffice as specimens: 
 
 When Fanning first to Orange came 
 
 He looked both pale ami wan, 
 An old patched coat upon his back, 
 An old mare he rode on. 
 
 Also this : 
 
 Bwth man and mare wa'n't worth five pounds, 
 
 As I've been often told. 
 But by his civil robberies 
 
 He's laced his coat with gold. 
 
 — Life of Caldwell, page 116, note. 
 
 Says Frohawk to Fanning, to tell the plain truth, 
 "When I came to this country I was but a youth ; 
 My father sent for me; I wa'n t worth a cross : 
 And then my first study was to steal for a horse. 
 I quickly got credit, and then ran away. 
 
 And hav'n't paid for him to this very day. — lb., page 130, note. 
 
 All that is known of the Regulators' rhymes is reprinted in the Raleigh 
 Begister, June 2, 1825. 
 
158 AMERICAN HISTORICAL AS80CIATIOX. 
 
 The most prominent leader ou tlie opj)Osite side was Gov- 
 ernor Tryon. Much has been said to this man's discredit, but 
 perhai)S not all of it lias been deserved. ^So far as the records 
 show lie was a man of decided executive ability, great tact, 
 broad ideas, and much firmness. Like Strafford, his public 
 character seems to be summed up in the word '^thorough.'' 
 Like most English gentlemen who were then sent to govern 
 colonies, he expected to make money by the office, and he 
 doubtless did it.' He was a genuine believer in the King's 
 [)rerogative, and as governor he felt bound to permit nothing 
 that would detract from it. From his standpoint it was 
 enough for the people if they submitted to the benign rule of 
 the fatherly King. He came to enforce this kind of govern- 
 ment and at the same time to build up his private fortune. He 
 found that the officeholders in the counties were the friends on 
 whom he might rdy to accomplish both ijurposes. He felt 
 drawn to them, and when the people criticised them he inter- 
 fered in their behalf. As rej)resentatives of his ideas of gov- 
 ernment he felt that they must be sustained. To accomplish 
 his object he shrewdly, and perhaps heartlessly, used the 
 means that i^oliticians of the day were accustomed to use. To 
 his mind a triumph of the Regulators would have been the first 
 step toward undermining the royal authority. He came to 
 ]S"orth Carolina with an ambition to have a tranquil adminis- 
 tration in what had hitherto been a troublesome colony. His 
 very ideas doomed him to failure. It was his misfortune to be 
 the governor Just at the time when quiet was impossible. 
 
 Edmund Fanning, the local leader of the opposition to the 
 Regulators, was born in Connecticut and was educated at 
 Yale College. He was a man of fine address and superior 
 ability. For some time he was one of the leading men in the 
 assembly, and seems to have won the confidence of such men 
 as Ashe, Harvey, Waddell, Harnet, Caswell, and Maurice 
 Moore, all men of the greatest reputation for jDatriotism, and 
 whose parts in the Revolution have secured for them considera- 
 tion as the fathers of the Republic. Unfortunately for him he 
 
 • In 1769 Lord Hillsboro told Tryon that the reason he had not named 
 him for the governorship of New York was that he had learned that he 
 (Tryon) was getting more in North Carolina than the New York place paid. 
 (Colonial Records, VIII, 190, 191.) 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA — BASSETT. 159 
 
 belonged to tbe of'tice-liolding class, and. like his associates, 
 stretched his authority as much as possible, so as to take 
 more money from the people. He said tliat he thought he had 
 a legal right to take all he did take, and when he had been 
 convicted the best experts of the law acquitted him of any 
 criminal intent. Still, it is improbable that he fooled himself 
 in such a manner as his claim would imply. He was most 
 likely a fuU-lledged office-holding bird of prey, no better and 
 no worse, except as he had more native ability, than the 
 other members of the political cliques in the back counties. 
 
 EARLY DISPT TES. 
 
 The early history of North Carolina was not a quiet one. 
 Besides the so-called Culpepper and Carey rebellions, which 
 occurred under proprietary rule, there had been several dis- 
 putes between the people and the royal authority. ' While 
 these difficulties have no direct connection with the llegula- 
 tion, they show that the spirit of independence was abroad in 
 the colony a long time before the day of the Eegulators. 
 
 A notable outbreak of this si)irit occurred in Mecklen- 
 bnrg County on the 7th of May, 1705. George Selwyn held 
 a large tract of laud in this region, on which he had settled 
 many men who had not received deeds for their holdings. In 
 1764 Henry Eustace McCulloch was appointed agent for Sel- 
 wyn, with instructions to survey these parcels of land, and 
 either to close bargains for the same or to eject those who held 
 them. McCulloch announced the price at which he would 
 receive payment for the land, and in February, 1765, went 
 up to have a settlement. The settlers indignantly refused to 
 accept the proposition, oftere<l him a smaller jjrice, and when 
 he refused to take it they forbade the surveyors to lay out the 
 holdings. They also terrorized those who were willing to pay 
 the price denumded, and declared that they would allow no 
 sheriff to eject a settler for not })aying it.- Finally, as John 
 Frohock, Abraham Alexander, and others were about to sur- 
 vey a piece of the disputed land they were beset by the 
 enraged settlers and most severely thrashed. ' This brouglit 
 
 ' See Colonial Records, VIII, pages vii-x. 
 nh., VII, 14-31. 
 ■■'Ih., VII, 32-34,37. 
 
160 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 out a pioclamatiou from the governor, which, so far as we 
 kuow, brought ([uiet, and perhaps the success of McCulloch. ^ 
 
 The evideuce we have iu this case is all ou the side of the 
 agent, aud it is accordingly uusafe to say who was iu the 
 wroug'. At its face value, it indicates that McCulloch was act- 
 ing entirely within his legal rights. - The incident is of impor- 
 tance only as revealing the turbuleut spirits of the backwoods- 
 men and their vigorous method of redressing- grievances. 
 
 This same spirit was strong in Granville and Halifax coun- 
 ties, where it was directed ag'ainst extortioning' ofiQcers. On 
 June C, 1765, it took a long forward stride when a gentleman 
 of the IS^utbush section * of Granville issued what has been 
 known as "The Nutbush i^aper." It contained "an account 
 of the deplorable situation we suffer * * * aiid some nec- 
 essary hints with respect to reformation." The grievances of 
 the people are stated as follows : 
 
 A poor man is supposed to have given bis judymeut bond for £5, and 
 tbis bond is by bis cieditor thrown into conrt. The clerk of the county 
 has to enter it ou the doclcet and issue execution, the work of one long 
 minute, for which the poor man has to pay the trifling sum of 41s. 5d. 
 The clerk, in consideration be is a poor man, takes it out in work at 18d. 
 a day. The poor man works some more than twenty-seven days to pay 
 for this one minute's writing. Well, the poor man reflects thus: At this 
 rate, when shall I get to labor for my family ? I have a wife and parcel 
 of small children sufl'ering at home, and here I have lost a whole month, 
 and I don't know for what, for my merchant is as far from being paid yet 
 as ever. However, I will go home now and try and do what I can. Stay, 
 
 neighbor, you have not half done yet. There is a d d lawyer's mouth 
 
 to stop yet — for you empowered him to confess that you owed this £5, and 
 you have 30s. to pay him for that, and go and work nineteen days more; 
 and then you must work as long to pay the sheritf for his trouble ; and 
 then you may go home to see your horses aud cow sold, aud all your jier- 
 sonal estate for one-tenth part of the value, to pay off your merchant. 
 And lastly, if the debt is so great that all your personal estate will not do 
 to raise the money — which is not to be had — then goes your lands the same 
 way to satisfy these cursed hungry caterpillars that will eat out the very 
 bowels of our commonwealth if they are not pulled down from their nests 
 in a very short time. 
 
 1 Colonial Records, VII, 38. 
 
 2 When the settlers petitioned to the governor and council for justice, 
 that body decided that the affair was not cognizable before them. (lb., 
 YII, 34,35.) 
 
 3 The name Nutbush is employed now to indicate a township, a Presby- 
 terian church, and two streams — Nutbush and Little Nutbush creeks — 
 in the northern ])art of what is now Vance and Warren counties. Nut- 
 bush Township was divided by the boundary line of these two counties. 
 It was formerly iu Granville. (See Schaeffer's map of North Carolina.) 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA 13ASSETT. 161 
 
 The autlior called <»u all the geutlemeu of Grauville to help 
 in changing' this condition of affairs. All were cautioned that 
 if they tried they must "be careful to keep sober, nor do any- 
 thing rashly'' or "against the known established laws of our 
 land."' Who this author was is not known. He succeeded in 
 getting up a petition to the assembly for redress of grievances, 
 but nothing came of it. The officers retorted by suing the 
 subscribers for libel and by having the author of the i)aper 
 indicted and imprisoned. When Husband wrote, perhaps 1769, 
 the suits were still in court.' Of so little consequence was 
 the whole affair that knowledge of it did not reach Orange, 
 the adjoining county, until 1767. It is chietiy important as 
 illustrating the political condition of the back country in the 
 time just preceding the outbreak of the Kegulatiou. 
 
 This was not the only manifestation of the spirit of discon- 
 tent. According to Husband, Brunswick, Cumberland, and 
 other counties refused to i)ay their taxes as early as 1766. Of 
 the results of these refusals we know nothing. From 1766 on 
 all minor discontent is swallowed up by the events which soon 
 called the attention chietiy to Orange and adjacent counties. 
 It is to these events that we shall direct our attention. 
 
 THE SANDY CREEK ORGANIZATION. 
 
 What is usually spoken of as the Regulation in Orange is 
 really two distinct movements. The one we may call the Sandy 
 Creek Organization because it originated chietiy with Sandy 
 Creek men; the other is the Regulation i)r(>per. The former 
 represented a mild but firm protest against the wrongdoing of 
 the officers and its transactions are summed up in the papers 
 usually known as tbe Regulators' Advertizemeuts 1, 11, and 
 III.- The latter replaced the former. It was first known as 
 "The Mob," but soon took the name "Regulation," from a South 
 Carolina organization. It grew np when the former had failed 
 and was dominated by a more turbulent spirit than was coun- 
 tenanced bj^ the Sandy Creek organization. It eventually ran 
 into such excesses that the militia of the province was called 
 out twice against it. 
 
 The Sandy Creek movement began late in August, 1766, 
 when at a county court there was issued a call for each neigh- 
 borhood to send delegates to a meeting " at some place where 
 
 1 Wheeler : History of North Carolina, II, 301, 302. 
 
 2 These are found in Wheeler, II, 302, 304 and Colonial Records, VII, 249, 
 251, 252. 
 
 H. Mis. !«1 11 
 
162 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 there is uo liquor (at Mad dock's Mill, if no objection), at which, 
 meeting let it be judiciously inquired whether the free men of 
 this county labor under any abuses of power or not, and let 
 the same be notified in writing if any is found, and the matter 
 freely conversed upon, and proper measures used for amend- 
 ment."^ This call was read in court, whereupon the officers 
 present acknowledged that it was reasonable, and Thomas 
 Lloyd, one of the assemblymen of Orange, "declared his ap- 
 probation of it '' and suggested October 10 as a convenient 
 day for the meeting.- 
 
 It is of advantage to note the relation of this movement to 
 the stam])-act resistance. The call begins: 
 
 Whereas that great good may come of this great designed evil, the 
 stamii law, while the Sons of Liberty withstood the lords in Parliament 
 in behalf of true liberty, let not officers under them carry on unjust 
 oppression in our own province. 
 
 In closing, the paper says : 
 
 Take this as a maxim, that while men are meu, though you should see 
 all those Sons of Liberty (who has just now redeemed us from tyranny) 
 set in offices and vested with power, they would soon corrupt again and 
 oppress if they were not called ujion to give an account of their steward- 
 shiy). 
 
 This passage indicates the sympathy between the Sandy 
 Creek men and the Sons of Liberty. This was possibly due to 
 the influence of Husband, whose correspondence with Franklin 
 made him a center of patriotic ideas of a revolutionary nature. 
 There is no evidence of any connection between the Regula- 
 tion proper and the stamp-act troubles. 
 
 The idea of giving an account of their stewardship gave the 
 officers an excuse for not going to the meeting at Maddock's 
 Mill; for although they had at first promised to go, yet when 
 on October 10 twelve delegates were met there the officers 
 sent a messenger to say that they had decided not to attend, 
 because the meeting claimed the authority to call them (the 
 officers) to account. The messenger further announced that 
 Colonel Fanning considered the meeting an insurrection. 
 
 The meeting, liowever, proceeded to draw up a paper, the 
 chief features of which were as follows : Since the county was 
 so large that not more than one-tenth of the voters could know 
 in a reliable manner the qualifications of any man, it was 
 
 ' Colonial Records, VII, 250. 
 'Husband. (See Wheeler, II, 303.) 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 163 
 
 deemed right that there .shoukl be au annual meeting similar 
 to the one then convened, so that the people might investigate 
 the actions of their representatives, and that the representa- 
 tives might kuosv the wishes of their constituency. Inasmuch 
 as the matter was new in Orange, " though practiced in older 
 governments," it was hoped that tlie officers would in time be 
 more willing to submit their conduct to these meetings, and 
 that the people could be brought to support the movement 
 more firmly. This paper was read to the messenger, who " said 
 that it was so just and reasonable that no man could object 
 to it."' A copy was given to him, which he agreed to deliver to 
 the officers. ' 
 
 The claim that representatives are responsible to their con- 
 stituencies was at that time an innovation in the politics of the 
 "back counties" of North Carolina. From the i^oint of view of 
 the officeholders it could not be allowed. Accordingly Colonel 
 Fanning, either at the next county or general muster, read a 
 paper "in repugnance to our requests." Husband did not 
 know its contents. Fanning claimed that he had served it on 
 the Sandy Creek men, but Husband says none of them ever 
 saw it. It was probably but a more formal statement of Fan- 
 ning's charge that the measures proposed were insurrectionary. 
 Further than this, the officers made threats against the chief 
 men of the movement, and when £50 had been collected to 
 prosecute the offending officers it was found that the only 
 lawyer on whom they could rely declined to take the case. In 
 1767 two men, one a justice of the county court, i)urchased 
 jointly a copy of the revision of the laws of the province.'^ Two 
 others copied from it the fees for registering conveyances and 
 went before the court to register some deeds. The fees charged 
 they thought to be illegal. They protested, but being threat- 
 ened with arrest for contempt of court, they thought best to 
 desist. The justice who was half owner of the law book then 
 went to his partner, who had brought the book to the court, 
 and asked him to be cautious how he lent it out. This he did; 
 because there were so few of these books in this section that 
 the court would easily know who had lent one of them. To 
 this statement Husband adds: "Thus we may see how he 
 apprehended himself under a necessity to conceal his good 
 
 ' Colouial Records, VII, 25L 252, and Wheeler, II, 304. 
 * Davis's Revisiou, 1765. 
 
164 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 offices and honesty to secure himself in office, but 1 suppose he 
 was found out, for he was soon afterwards put out of couimis- 
 sion." All these obstacles so discouraged the people that the 
 Sandy Creek men abandoned their association.' Thus termi- 
 nated the iirst movement against the officers. 
 
 THE REGULATION PROPER. 
 
 It was not till the spring of 17G8 that any further organized 
 resistance was made to Fanning and his associates. The im- 
 mediate cause of this resistance was a notice posted by the 
 sheriff of Orange, stating that he would, according to law, 
 receive taxes at five specified i)laces, and for all not paid there 
 he would distrain at a cost of 2s. Sd. for each distress.'' Many 
 people considered this a misinterpretation or a violation of the 
 law. Along witli it came the rumor that the assembly had given 
 the governor £15,000 for the purpose of building a residence.^ 
 The two affairs combined to bring about a new association, at 
 first known as "The Mob," but later called " The Eegulatiou."^ 
 The movement did not begin in the Sandy Creek neighbor- 
 hood, but it si)read rapidly. The Sandy Creek men refused to 
 join, "because it was too hot and rash, and in some respects 
 not legal." They tried to guide the movement and to modify 
 
 1 This accouut follows Husband. See Wheeler, II, 302, 303. 
 
 ^ A careful examiuatiou of the law theu iu force fails to show any 
 authority for this assertion. Laws of 1768. ch. 6. 
 
 •' Affairs were further aggravated by the fact that the sheriff at first 
 demauded 8s. 4d., which some paid. Later Fanning arrived and said that 
 the tax should be lOs. 8d. Many paid this with much complaining. The 
 people had lost confidence in their leaders, and not being able to find in 
 the law books the specified tax bills, declared they were being defrauded. 
 (Colonial Records, VII, 76.3,764.) This was an error. Colonial Records, 
 VII, 772, gives the items of this tax of 10s. 8d., and a comparison with the 
 laws in Davis's Collections of 1765 and 1771 shows that the items as given 
 iu the posted notice were correct. (Collection of 1765, Vol. 1, 146; Vol. II, 
 22, 192, and 222.) The tax to defray contingent expenses is cited incorrectly. 
 Instead of being 1748 it should have been 1767-68. It was passed in 17;")9 
 for four years. In 1761 it was supplemented by 2s. tax. The original 
 tax was continued iu 1764 (chap. 8) and again iu 1767-68 (chap. 18). 
 
 ^ The name Regulation was takfen from a South Carolina organization 
 formed to protect the people against the depredations of a lawless baud 
 known (from their leader. Colonel Schovel) as Schofilites. The aftair 
 was settled when the province established courts in the back counties, 
 thus allowing the Schofilites to be brought to Justice. (Quoted by Gover- 
 nor Swain from Johnson's Traditions and Reminiscences. University 
 Magazine, X, 134, 135.) 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 165 
 
 its iutemperauce. A violent paper had been prepared and sent 
 to the officers/ bnt these mikler men persnaded the angered 
 people to have another meeting, at which a new agreement was 
 drawn u\), as follows : 
 
 We, the subscribers, do voluntarily agree to form ourselves iuto an 
 association, to assemble ourselves for conference for regulating public 
 grievances and abuses of power, in the following particulars, with others 
 of a like nature that may occur: (1) We will pay no more taxes until we 
 are satisfied that they are agreeable to law, and applied to the purposes 
 therein mentioned, unless we can not help it, or are forced. (2) We will 
 pay no officer any more fees than the law allows, unless we are obliged to 
 do it, and then to show our dislike and bear open testimony against it. (3) 
 We will attend all our meetings of conferences as often as we conveniently 
 can, etc. (4) We will contribute to collections for defraying necessary 
 expenses attending the work, according to our abilities. (5) In case of 
 difference in judgment we will submit to the judgment of the majority of 
 our body.- 
 
 The former of these papers was received by the officers 
 with a storm of indignation, the burden of which fell on the 
 Sandj' Creek men, who, from their association with the other 
 affair, were never able to separate themselves, in the minds 
 
 'This paper read as follows: "Whereas the taxes in the county are 
 larger, according to the number of taxables, than adjacent counties, and 
 continues so year after year, and as the jealousy still prevails amongst us 
 that we are wronged, and having the more reason to think so as we have 
 been at the trouble of choosing men and sending them after the civilist 
 manner that we could to know what we paid our levy for, but could 
 receive no satisfaction. * * ■ We are obliged to seek redress by deny- 
 ing paying any more until we have a full settlement for what is past, and 
 have a true regulation with our officers, as our grievances are too many to 
 notify in a small piece of writing. We desire that you. our assembly men 
 and vestrymen, may appoint a time before next court at the court-house 
 and let us know by the bearer, and we will choose men to act for us. 
 * " ' We desire that the sheriffs will not come this way to collect the 
 levy, for we will pay none before there is a settlement to our satisfaction, 
 and as the natui-e of an officer is a servant to the publick. we are deter- 
 mined to have the officers of this county under a better and honester regu- 
 lation than they have been for some time past. Think not to frighten us 
 with rebellion in this case, for if the inhabitants of this province have not 
 as good a right to en(|uire into the nature of our constitution and disburse- 
 ment of our funds as those of our mother country, we think it is by arbi- 
 trary proceedings that we are debarred of that right; therefore, to be plain 
 with you, it is our intent to have a full settlement of you in every particu- 
 lar point that is matter of doubt with us, so fail not to send an answer by 
 the bearer."' (Colonial Records, VII, 699, 700. ) 
 
 -Wheeler: History of North Carolina, II, 306. 
 
166 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 of the officers, from tlie later movement.' The Eegnlation 
 proper was now fairly launched, and the launching was with 
 such violent language from the officers that many who had not 
 before concerned themselves with the affair joined it outright. 
 
 On April 4 the Regulators met again and requested the late 
 sheriff and a vestryman to meet a committee of Regulators, on 
 a day to be selected, with a list of the taxables for each year 
 and a list of insolvents, together with a statement of all dis- 
 bursements of the public money. They desired also that their 
 assemblymen would be at the same time and place "to show 
 us law for the customary fees that had been taken for deeds," 
 etc. Two men were appointed to convey this request to the 
 officers, but before they could set off there occurred such a 
 storm of popular fury that the whole matter took an entirely 
 different asi)ect. A Regulator's mare, saddle, and bridle were 
 seized and sold on account of one levy. A party of angry 
 Regulators at once rode to Hillsboro, where they rescued the 
 mare^ and where some of the most uncontrolled spirits fired 
 some shots into the roof of Tanning's house, by way of vent- 
 ing their spite. The Regulators claimed that they were pro- 
 voked to this by a gentleman who came to the door with a 
 pistol and threatened to tire on them.^ 
 
 Colonel Fanning was at that time attending the superior 
 court at Halifax. Lieutenant-Colonel Gray, who commanded 
 the militia in his absence, reported the matter to his senior 
 officer and was ordered to embody at once seven companies of 
 militia to oppose the Regulators. At the same time Fanning 
 sent a warrant from the chief justice for the arrest of William 
 Butler, Peter Craven, and Ninian Bell Hamilton, who had 
 been leaders of the rescuing party. ^ The militia assembled at 
 once, but it was found that of the seven companies only 120 
 men presented themselves with arms in their hauds,^ and that 
 
 ' It was perhaps due to this fact that the officei's were not able to disso- 
 ciate Husbands from the Regulation proper. 
 
 'Some old men, *'of great respectability," told Caruthers that the mare 
 was sold to an officer for the amount of the levy and that the Regulators 
 repaid this and restored the property to the former owner. (Life of Cald- 
 well, pp. 118,119.) 
 
 3 Colonial Records, VII, 764. 
 
 "lb., Vll, 705-707. 
 
 ^ The others gave as an excuse the bad weather and said they would 
 rather pay the tines than attend muster. (lb., VII, 743.) 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 167 
 
 very few of these could be relied upon to act against the peo- 
 ple. It was the opinion of the officers that not over 150 men 
 could be found in the county who could be depended on in 
 the emergency. At this time, according to Husband, not 
 more than one-half of the people had joined the Eegulation.' 
 The remainder, it seems, were so strongly in sympathy with 
 the Regulators they would not light against them. The 
 officers were also, perhaps, a little frightened. They decided 
 to make a truce. This, so they wrote Fanning, was solely to 
 gain time. They appointed three men to meet the leaders of 
 the Regulators on April 20. Whether this meeting was held 
 or not we do not know ; but through the influence of the parish 
 clergyman, Rev. George Micklejohn,^ a further meeting v.as 
 appointed for May 11, at which it was promised that matters 
 would be definitely settled. ^ 
 
 On receiving this news Fanning set off at once for Hillsboro 
 to take command of his regiment. Arriving there he reported 
 the condition of affairs to Tryon. His ideas of the Regula- 
 tors were based entirely on the paper which they had hastily 
 sent to the officers, but which they had afterwards modified. 
 He accused them of swearing to pay no more taxes, to kill all 
 officers who tried to collect taxes, to prevent the execution oi" 
 the decrees of the courts, and to arraign all officers before 
 "the bar of their shallow understanding," as well as of desir- 
 ing to become the " sovereign arbiters of right and wrong.'" 
 He thought, however, that he should be able to manage the 
 situation and said that inasmuch as the succeeding week was 
 court week he should wait till it had passed, and then on May 
 1 proceed to arrest the ringleaders of the opi)osition, sending 
 them to Hillsboro for safety. He said that the insurgents 
 had appointed May 3 a day on which they would surround the 
 town, which, if their demands were not satisfied, they would 
 burn. On this day he proposed to make a brave stand. It 
 had been reported that they could bring large reenforcements 
 from Anson, Mecklenburg, and Rowan counties. If these 
 
 1 Wheeler: History of North Carolina, II, 308. 
 
 2 The Regulators spell this uaiiie McEljohn. As a Scotchman lie possi- 
 bly had some influence over them. (See Colonial Records, VII, 764, 765.) 
 
 3 See ib., VII, 710-712, for officers' letter. 
 
 ■» Fanning said that he was informed that the movement originated in 
 Anson County. Thei'e is no evidence to support this. Fanning was loath 
 to have the governor think his county had been so badly managed as to 
 originate such resistance. 
 
168 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 should come he desired the authority to call out the militia of 
 other counties, though he was desirous of restoring order 
 if possible without going out of his owu county' for resources. 
 
 To this letter the governor replied in the most cordial man- 
 ner. He offered to go himself to aid Fanning if the latter 
 should think it necessary. He ordered the militia of Burke 
 [Bute], Halifax, Granville, Rowan, Mecklenburg, Anson, Cum- 
 berland, and Johnston, to be held in readiness to march at 
 the command of the Orange colonel, and instructed that gen- 
 tleman to call out his own regiment "to repel all insurrec- 
 tions." He inclosed a proclamation to the j)eople, which was 
 to be published before decisive measures were taken.- Along 
 with this letter came another of the same <late, butin a milder 
 tone. It was more conciliatory and was evidently intended to 
 be read to the j)eople. The council approved of this action of 
 the governor, and declared the Orange trouble an insurrection.^ 
 
 As to the charge of Tryon that the Regulators intended to 
 burn the town on May 3, it is right to say that they denied it 
 emphatically. Parson Micklejohn had induced five of their 
 leaders to sign an agreement not to go to Hillsboro until the 
 11th of May unless there should be a distress for a levy.* 
 These five had stipulated that this paper should be void if the 
 majority dissented from it. The majority did dissent, because, 
 as the Regulators declared, "it insinuated a falsity as though 
 we intended violence, whereas in fact no such thing was de- 
 signed, whatever private papers might be handed about by 
 I)articular persons." 5 It was perhaps these "private jiapers" 
 and other individual action that rashly brought the Regulation 
 into trouble, making it very difficult for its more cool-headed 
 leaders to manage it. 
 
 On April 30 the Regulators met and elected thirteen dele- 
 gates to attend the meeting on May 11. They selected men in 
 whom they could place confidence, regardless of membership 
 in the association. One of the men chosen was Hernion Hus- 
 band, who was not a Regulator at this time. The thirteen 
 "settlers" were instructed to procure a list of the taxables for 
 the terms of office of the two late sheriffs, with the number of 
 insolvents and delinquents; to procure a fair account of the 
 
 1 Colonial Records. VII, 713-716. 
 nh., VII, 717, 718. 
 'lb., VII, 719-722. 
 ^b., VII, 716. 
 nb., VII, 765. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 169 
 
 taxes collected and the citation of the laws authorizing them; 
 to obtain especially an account of the province, county, and 
 parish taxes of 17G7; to examine the fee bill to learn the cost 
 of registering- certain instruments. They were also required 
 to take an oath pledging themselves to do justice between 
 the officers and the people according to their capacity.' This 
 paper was ordered to be sent to the officers. They also drew 
 uj) and signed a petition to the governor and council which 
 they laid aside to be used in case the officers should disappoint 
 them in the proposed settlement. This petition came not as 
 from Regulators, but as from ''inhabitants of Orange County." 
 It was signed by some not Regulators, notably by Husband, 
 and there were more than 400 signatures.^ 
 
 An unfortunate event here interrupted matters. On the 
 same day the governor's secretary, one Edwards, arrived in 
 Hillsboro and set up the proclamation mentioned above. On 
 the next day Fanning put his preconceived x^lan into opera- 
 tion. Collecting twenty-seven armed men, mostly from the 
 officeholders, he set out for Sandy Creek, He arrived there 
 on the morning of the 2d of May, when the sheriff, thus sup- 
 ported, arrested William Butler, one of the Regulators, and 
 Hermon Husband, who was not a Regulator, who had not joined 
 in any tumult, and "whose only crime was his being active in 
 trying to bring on the intended settlement." ^ The charge was 
 inciting to rebellion.* The prisoners were taken to Hillsboro 
 at once, where they were thrown into prison after a trial before 
 a justice of the peace. Husband was ordered to be taken to 
 the Newbern jail for safe-keeping.^ 
 
 This so aroused the fears as well as the indignation of the 
 people, both Regulators and non-regulators, that next morning 
 700 men were on their way to the town to release the prisoners. 
 The officers, thoroughly frightened, were glad to release the two 
 men and to send them out to turn back the mob. This, how- 
 ever, was not till Husband had been terrorized into giving a 
 promise that he would not concern himself any more in the 
 abuses of the officers.*^ 
 
 » Colonial Records, VII, 731-732. 
 2 lb., VII, 733-737. 
 
 'For Husbaud's owu account of his arrest and trial see Wheeler, 11,316 
 et seq. 
 " Colonial Records, VII, 742. 
 '^^ lb., VII, 743. 
 6 Wheeler, IL 317. 
 
170 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 They also sent out Secretary Edwards, who read a proclama- 
 tion to the excited people, and delivered a verbal message from 
 the governor to the inteut that if the Regulators would petition 
 the governor for redress aud go to their homes he would see 
 that entire justice was done them. This was exactly what they 
 had decided upon as their next step in case the meeting on 
 May 11 should fail, aud they consequently gladly accepted the 
 proposition. The ofiQcers also accepted the offer, and to the 
 people the case was put as if the governor and council had 
 been called in to arbitrate between the contending parties.' 
 
 The Regulators called a meeting to prepare the proposed 
 petition. This was not in keeping with the plans of their 
 opponents. Fanning had already written to some of the most 
 pacific of the Regulators, offering, if they would meet him iii 
 Hillsboro, to prepare a petition to the next assembly for relief, 
 which petition he agreed to present himself as a member from 
 Orange.- By this it seems that he wanted to get a petition 
 worded in a manner inoffensive to his interests, which he could 
 present ns the petition of the discontented people of his county. 
 His plan was thwarted now that the petition was to be regu- 
 larly xirepared by the organization. The officers did not give 
 up hope, however: for through Ralph McXair they sent Hus- 
 band a paper of their own framing, which, it was confidentially 
 said, was the only petition that would " go down with the gov- 
 ernor."^ Husband was asked to induce the people to adopt 
 this as their petition. It was a dastardly attempt at bulldoz- 
 ing. The Regulators were, by this paper, to denounce their 
 past conduct as "illegal and unwarrantable," to declare that 
 they had been mistaken in their charges against the officers, 
 and to throw themselves entirely on the mercy of Tryon. 
 McNair wrote coaxingiy enough, but he did not hesitate to 
 employ threats. He warned Husband that if the proposed 
 petition was not adopted Fanning would represent the case to 
 Tryon as treason. At the meeting a clergyman and a mer- 
 chant * appeared, who tried to influence the people to the same 
 end. The very inexperience of the Regulators saved them. 
 
 1 Colonial Records, VII, 765, 766. 
 
 2 lb., VII, 741. 
 
 ^'McNair's letter and the petition referred to can be found in Colonial 
 Records VII, 767-771. 
 •*The names of these two men are not given. (See Wheeler, II, 309.) 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 171 
 
 Confused bj^ the threats of the officers, they appointed a com- 
 mittee, who should lay before the governor and council all the 
 ])apers of the association, and who should transmit with them 
 a statement of the history of the movement, together with a 
 request for pardon for anything they had done contrary to the 
 King's peace and government.^ 
 
 At the same meeting they procured affidavits to support 
 their charges against the sheriff, clerk, and register in twenty 
 cases of alleged illegal fees. These affidavits were most prob- 
 ably sent to the governor along with their other papers. They 
 undoubtedly make out a very strong case against the officers. 
 Moreover, we have no evidence in rebuttal of them. 
 
 The reply ' of Tryon to the Regulators was cold. He denied 
 that he had authorized Edwards to pledge his interference 
 to them. He frowned at their proceedings, darkly hinted 
 at treason and its punishment, hoped that his i)roclamation 
 had brought them to submission, indorsed the vigorous action 
 of Fanning and the loyal militia, directed the dissatisfied to 
 desist from all further meetings, and to allow the taxes to be 
 collected. Said that he had authorized Edwards to say no 
 more than this communication implied. He assured them that 
 he should order the attorney general to i)rosecute upon due 
 application all who were charged with taking illegal fees, and 
 promised for himself that a proclamation should be issued 
 against the same abuse. For their better information he told 
 them that the poll tax, exclusive of county and parish taxes, 
 was, for the year 1767, 7s. ^ The governor read this reply in 
 the council, where it was ratified. Then, at his suggestion. 
 Fanning was called into the room, and the thanks of the body 
 formally expressed to him and his men ''for their prudent and 
 splendid behavior" in the recent troubles. 
 
 While affiiirs were assuming this shape in Orange they had 
 come almost to as bad a condition in Anson. Here the office- 
 holding influence was very strong, and the people complained 
 of the same abuses that were charged against the Orange 
 officers. Abundant evidence will be forthcoming in this paper 
 to show how thoroughly county government in North Carolina 
 was then in the hands of an office-holding oligarchy. In Anson 
 
 I Colouial Records, VIL 759-766. 
 -lb., VII, 792-794. 
 
 "'This is what it was anriouuced by the sherifif for 1768, whea there had 
 beeu no change by the assembly since the previous year. 
 
172 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 the abuse was marked. Samuel Spencer was at once clerk of 
 the county, assemblyman, and colonel of the county militia. 
 Anthony Hutchins had formerly been sheriff', and as such was 
 behind with his accounts, and was charged with having fraudu- 
 lently conveyed his laiul to escape payment. He was now a 
 justice of the county court. Charles Medlock had also been 
 sheriff, and was behind with his accounts. He also was a 
 justice. These three men managed the politics of the county. 
 The sheriff, justices, and other officers were all appointed on 
 their recommendation. ' 
 
 Against these the people in 1768 formed an association, the 
 members of which agreed to unite to prevent the collection of 
 the tax for that year, which they thought unreasonably high, 
 to rescue any fellow-member who should be imprisoned, to 
 retake property distrained on account of nonpayment of taxes, 
 and to aid in repaying any member the cost in a lawsuit 
 incurred by reason of his membership in the association. 
 Leading this movement was Charles Eobinson, whom Spencer 
 described as a chronic candidate for the assembly, who had 
 worked up this movement in order to aid his political fortune. 
 Eobinson had been in the assembly once and there seems to 
 be no reason why we should not believe him an honest cham- 
 pion of the cause of the people. 
 
 In April, 1708, the discontented in Anson gathered at the 
 county court about one hundred strong and interrupted the 
 proceedings. They drove the justices off the bench, held a 
 meeting in the court-house at which Robinson was indorsed 
 for the assembly, swore to an oath of their own making, and 
 then dispersed.^ Spencer forthwith sent Mr. Hooper, possibly 
 William Hooper, to Tryon with a letter, asking for orders in 
 the emergency. The governor, in reply, gave Colonel Spencer 
 the authority to call out the county militia, in order to appre 
 heud the leaders of the insurgents. He promised that if the 
 peojde would present their grievances to him or to the assem- 
 bly they would be redressed, and pointed out that if they would 
 apply to the attorney-general that officer would prosecute all 
 persons charged with extortion. In addition to this letter the 
 council issued a proclamation against the disturbers.^ 
 
 ' Colonial Records, VII, 806-808. 
 
 2 This is Spencer's account of the affair. (lb., VII, 722-726.) 
 
 ^Ib., VII, 751. 
 
REGULATOR.s OF NORTH CAROLINA — BASSETT. 173 
 
 The Anson Eegulatois, however, wrote to their brethren in 
 Orange, asking' for information as to the methods of organiz- 
 ing. The latter responded with ahicrity, sending a copy of 
 their proceedings on May 21, "to prevent speedily their run- 
 ning into any errors," and promising to send other papers.' 
 It was, perhaps, due to this advice chat three months later 
 the Anson people changed their method from violence to the 
 friendly petition. In August they delivered to the governor a 
 statement of their grievances. They acknowledged that they 
 should have addressed him before their proceedings of the 
 past April, but pleaded that oppression had made them rash. 
 They asked that most of the justices of peace in the county 
 might be removed and others appointed in their stead. To 
 this paper 09 names were signed.- Governor Tryon replied 
 in a conciliatory tone, promising that officers charged with 
 extortion should be prosecuted, and intimating that the insur- 
 gents had been fortunate in securing lenity by their timely 
 submission." The people had not submitted to any great 
 extent, however, as we shall see them later on aiding their 
 brothers elsewhere. It seems very evident that Tryon was 
 trying to divide the Eegulators in Anson from those in Orange, 
 so as to deal more successfully with the latter. 
 
 When the Eegulators of Orange referred their case to Tryon 
 for arbitration they did so with full contideuce in his disinter- 
 estedness. The cold reply to that ai)i>eal had destroyed much 
 of this confidence. Just about this time a report was circu- 
 lated that about £30,000 had l)een collected more than was 
 necessary to sink the outstanding i^ublic currency. This was 
 given as merely a suspicion; but in popular disturbances a 
 suspicion is often as potent as a fact. The Eegulators had 
 been forbidden to assemble themselves in any more meetings,* 
 and consequently there was much i)rivate talking of no sub- 
 missive nature. A proclamation against illegal fees had been 
 set up at Hillsboro, but it had not brought relief. Husband 
 says that it was followed by higher rather than lower fees.^ 
 
 1 Colonial Records, Vll, 759. 
 a lb., VII, 806-80y. 
 3 lb., VII, 809,810. 
 
 "* Governor Tryon says they did meet in spite of this injunction. (lb., VII, 
 819.) 
 5 Wheeler: History of North Carolina, II, 311, 312. 
 
174 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Ill the meantime Tryou went to Hillsboro, arriving there ou 
 July 0. He remained until August, hoping that the country 
 would be induced to submit. The people refused as stoutly as 
 ever to pay taxes. On August 1 they met to consider, as Hus- 
 band says, the answer to Tryon's reply to their petition. At 
 this meeting there appeared the sheriff of the county, bearing 
 a letter and proclamation from the governor, the import of 
 which was that the attorney -general had been instructed to 
 prosecute officers charged with extortion, and that the Regu- 
 lators should quietly submit to the collection of taxes by the 
 sheriff". Both the sheriff and his deputy deposed that after 
 the public reading of this letter the people refused to pay 
 the taxes and threatened to take the life of the said deponents 
 if they attempted to distrain property.' Husband says they 
 merely told the sheriff that they had decided to refer the mat- 
 ter to the assembly and the whole council, and declared that 
 no insult was offered.^ They also sent a reply to Tryon's 
 answer to their formal petition, in which they claimed that the 
 officers paid no attention to the proclamation against illegal 
 fees,^ and added: "Seeing that these sons of Zeruiah are like 
 to prove too hard for your excellency, as well as for us, * * * 
 we have come to the resolution to petition the lower house, as 
 the other branch of the legislature, in order to strengthen 
 your excellency's hands." * 
 
 Immediately after this the Regulators were alarmed by 
 rumors to the effect that runners were out arousing the mili- 
 tia, and that the Indians were about to be called down upon 
 them. A great multitude of the people — over a thousand — col- 
 lected about 20 miles from Hillsboro on August 11 and selected 
 eight men to interview the governor. To these the governor 
 rei)lied that he had not had an intention of enlisting the 
 Indians or of leading the militia "to break in upon any set- 
 tlement, as has been falsely represented;" that he was ever 
 ready to do thein justice; that Fanning had agreed to submit 
 his case to the next supreme [superior] court, by whose deci- 
 sion he would abide, and finally that the sheriff''s accounts 
 with the county had been examined and approved. Try on 
 
 1 Colonial Records. VII, 798-799. 
 
 2 Wheeler, II, 312. 
 
 ^This proclamation is found in Colonial Records, VII, 795-796. 
 * Wheeler, II, 13, 14; also Colonial Records, VII, 801-803. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 175 
 
 also appointed August 17 as a day for a meeting of Eegula- 
 t<ws, when, as Husband says, the sheriff should settle with 
 them, by which he jirobably meant that on that day the sheriff" 
 would give them an opportunity of examining the public 
 accounts. ' 
 
 The governor seems not to have called together the militia 
 till the town was thought to be in danger. Then he could 
 gather only 400 men, to whom he administered an oath of 
 allegiance to the King and to the North Carolina government 
 before he dismissed them.' 
 
 On the 17th, the day set for the meeting, the old sheriff did 
 not appear, but John Lea, the new sheriff, appeared with a 
 letter from Tryon, the tone of which was unexpectedly severe. 
 This letter had been indorsed by a council of three members 
 which had been gotten together at Hillsboro. In it the Regu- 
 lators were told that their measures were criminal and illegal ; 
 that they had made every man of pro]jerty and probity in the 
 county consider them as bent on insurrection rather than as 
 desiring a legal process against those whom they accursed. It 
 was the governor's chief concern that they should not trust 
 the courts of law, and in this he felt was implied the insuffi- 
 ciency of his power to see that justice was done them. To 
 relieve him of the necessity of calling out the militia to pro- 
 tect the next term of court, at which Butler and Husband 
 were to be tried, he demanded that by the 25th of August 
 twelve of the prominent Regulators should meet him at Salis- 
 bury and become surety in a bond of £1,000 that at the said 
 court no attempt should be made to rescue the two men in 
 question.^ This letter was delivered on the 17th; on the same 
 day Tryon set out for Salisbury. 
 
 Two days later the Regulators replied that for two reasons 
 they could not enter into the proposed bond: (1) The most 
 pacific of their number were their leaders, and these could 
 goveru the men and prevent outrages, whereas if they entered 
 into such a bond it would destroy their influence over the more 
 violent; and (2) they had never intended to rescue the prison- 
 ers, but to ask the governor to dissolve the assembly, a pro- 
 cedure which they thought would stop every complaint. The 
 
 1 Colonial Records, VII, 819-821 ; and Wlieeler, II, 312-313. 
 ■^Colonial Records, VII, 804. 
 3 lb., VII, 805, 806. 
 
176 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 governor's plau.s were already made and he was acting with 
 bis customary promi)tness. His design was, if the Regulators 
 should not be submissive, to get as many forces as he could 
 raise in Rowan and Mecklenburg counties and then to march 
 back to Hillsboro just before the term of the superior court, 
 which met in September, He arrived in Salisbury on the even- 
 ing of the 18th. On the 19th he appointed a review of the 
 Rowan militia for the 26th, gave orders that ample entertain- 
 ment should be i)rovided on that occasion, and passed rapidly 
 on to Mecklenburg.' Passing through the German settlement 
 he stayed on Sunday with MaJ. Martin Phifer, a member of 
 the assembly from Mecklenburg. Here he won the people by 
 hearing a sermon by their minister, Mr. Sutlier, who "recom- 
 mended with warmth a due obedience to the laws of the 
 country ' He cajoled the Presbyterians also, whose ministers, 
 Hugh McAden,' James Creswell, Henry Patillo, and David 
 Caldwell, sent the governor a letter full of loyalty to gov- 
 ernment and maledictions for the Regulators,^ while at the 
 same time the Presbyterian pastors, presumably the same 
 ministers, wrote a letter to the North Carolina Presbyterians 
 condemning the Regulators in the strongest terms.* He also 
 utilized the feeling of respect for their neighborhood leaders, 
 which was still strong with the Scotch, by appointing as cap- 
 tains and justices of the peace the intiuential men of the differ- 
 ent communities. These were able to bring many soldiers to 
 his side.-' The organization of the Bai)tists was also against 
 them.'' 
 
 From Major Phifer\s he proceeded to review the Mecklen- 
 burg militia on the 23d. Here also he had entertainment pro- 
 vided for men and officers. Nine hundred men came to the 
 review, but when he tried to get them to take the oath that he 
 had administered to the loyal in Orange some objection was 
 made, so that, as night was coming on. it was not possible 
 to call for volunteers. He accordingly ordered the captains to 
 
 • Tryou's jourual show.s all of his proceedings ou this trip. (Colonial 
 Records, VII, 819-838.) 
 
 -The spelling in the letter is McCaddon, but Foote gives it uniformly 
 McAdeu. (Sketches, pp. 175-176.) 
 
 « Colonial Records, VII, 813-814. 
 
 "lb., VII, 814-816. 
 
 5 See ''Fan for Fanning," Univ. Mag., IX, 465. 
 
 epurefoy : History of Sandy Creek Association, pages 69-73. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 177 
 
 call for volunteers at private musters and to report the num- 
 ber they couhl furnish to their colonel by the 27th. On the 
 26th he was in Salisbury, where the reading of the letter of 
 the Presbyterian pastors and a liberal supply of beer and 
 toddy handed around in the ranks of the volunteers had the 
 desired effect. By this means he was able on the 13th of Sep- 
 tember to set out for Hillsboro with 195 men from Eowan and 
 310 from Mecklenburg.' He met with no opposition save a 
 harmless threat from the Regulators that they would, on the 
 pretense of the fear of disease, stop a drove of cattle which 
 were being driven to him, and on the 19th he arrived at his des- 
 tination. Two days later this body was joined by the Orange 
 forces, 099 strong, and by the Granville detachment of 120 
 men. These, with two small comi)anies of gentlemen, an artil- 
 lery comj)any, and the general officers, made up a force of 1,461 
 men, all called out to protect the Hillsboro court from the 
 Regulators.^ 
 
 One peculiarity of this force was the number of officers in 
 it. There were six lieutenant-generals, two major-generals, 
 three adjutant-generals, two maj ors of brigades, seven colonels, 
 live lieutenant-colonels, four majors, and thirty-one captains. 
 Of the entire force only 1,153, about three-fourths, were pri- 
 vates. Another noteworthy feature was the number of poli- 
 ticians among the officers. Robert Palmer, a member of the 
 council, was present as adjutant- general; John Rutherford, 
 president of the council and receiver- general of quit-rents, 
 was a lieutenant-general; John Sampson, Benjamin Heron, 
 Lewis H. De Rossett, and Edmund Strudwick, all members of 
 the council, were likewise lieutenant-generals;^ John Ashe, 
 assemblyman from ISTew Hanover, was a major-general, and 
 James Moore, his colleague, commanded the artillery, with the 
 rank of colonel; Edmund Fanning and Thomas Lloyd, repre- 
 sentatives of Orange, held military office, the one as colonel 
 of the Orange regiment and the other as a major general; 
 Robert Harris, representative from Granville, commanded that 
 county's militia, with the rank of colonel ; John Frohock, the 
 lieutenant-colonel of Rowan's regiment, was a member of the 
 
 1 Colonial Records, VII, 889, 
 
 2 The return of the troops is given in Colonial Records, VII, 889. 
 3Ib., VII, 833. 
 
 H. Mis. 91 12 
 
178 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 assembly, and Alexeuder Osborn, the colouel, was a justice of 
 the couuty court ; ' Martiu Phifer was an assemblyman from 
 Mecklenburg aud was here a major; Thomas Polk held the 
 same civil office from the same county and was here a captain; 
 Abuer Nash, a prominent politician of Halifax, was a major 
 of brigade; Samuel Swann, jr., assemblyman from Pasquo- 
 tank, was a captain of artillery; Alexander Lillington, an old 
 and influential politician, was a colonel; Maurice Moore, au 
 assemblyman and an associate justice of the superior courts, 
 was present as a colonel; Robert Howe, a member of the 
 assembly, was a major of brigade; Moses Alexander, an influ- 
 ential Presbyterian of Mecklenburg, was present as a lieuten- 
 ant-colonel and as commissary for his regiment ; Thomas Hart, 
 the obnoxious ex-sheriflof Orange, filled the office of commis- 
 sary of the Orange and Granville forces, and Samuel Spencer, 
 who held several offices in Anson, was present as colonel. At 
 a council of war held in Hillsboro, which no military officer 
 lower than a ma;ior attended, but to which 6 members of the 
 assembly were invited, there were present in all 34 members. 
 Of these, 18 were members of the lower house and 6 were mem- 
 bers of the upper bouse of the assembly, making a total of 24 
 out of 34.' Thus, to guard the superior court a military force 
 was called out which embraced, either as high officers or as 
 gentlemen volunteers, one-fourth of the members of that body 
 to which the Regulators had decided to appeal.^ The above 
 contrast indicates how comj)Ietely the forces of central and 
 local government, both civil and military, were in the hands of 
 a small oflficeholding class, which was distributed throughout 
 the counties. As we contemplate such a state of affairs we 
 are struck with the fact that nothing short of a popular upheaval 
 could have brought redress to the Regulators. 
 
 Before this array of force the simple farmers Avere not pre- 
 pared to make a stand. They assembled on September 22, 
 about half a mile from the town, to the number of 3,700, and 
 sent proposals to the governor '* desiring to know the terms on 
 
 'Colonial Records, VII, 856. 
 
 ^These facts have for the most part been obtained by comparing Tryous 
 journal with the list of assemblymen, to be found in Colonial Records, 
 VII, p. 342. 
 
 3Tbere were 72 members in the assembly at that time, it seems. (lb., 
 VII, 342.) 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 179 
 
 which their submission would be accepted.'" This proposi- 
 tiou was received by a council of war at which the governor, 
 who was sick, coukl not be present. The council of war pro- 
 posed to pardon insurgents if they would give bond to pay their 
 taxes and for the future not to obstruct the officers. The 
 governor suggested that the council consider the advisability 
 of sending troops "to compel the Regulators to submit them- 
 selves to government,"' but that body would modify its views 
 only to the extent that the Regulators should be required to 
 take the oaths of loyalty and allegiance which had been admin- 
 istered to the troops. Accordingly the people were told that 
 if they would surrender ."> of their leaders from Orange, 2 
 from Anson, and 2 from Rowan, lay down their arms before 
 the army, and promise to pay taxes in the future they would 
 be pardoned. Husband and Butler, it was stipulated, were 
 not to be included in the 9 excepted persons. About thirty 
 of the people accepted this offer; the others went to their 
 homes. The next day Tryon sent a body of troops to arrest 
 those who were especially wanted. Some submitted to arrest, 
 others resisted, but all who were taken were soon released be- 
 cause a true bill could not be found against them. The mili- 
 tia remained in the town during the session of the court. On 
 the 28th they began to be discharged, and on the 2d of Octo- 
 ber the last of the several detachments marched away. On 
 the 3d, Tryon, by proclamation, i)ardoned all but 13 of the 
 insurgents.' The Regulators soon subsided, and on October 29 
 Tyree Harris wrote to the governor that on visiting them in 
 in their homes but a short time before he had found them dis- 
 posed to pay the taxes.' Thus ended Tryon's tirst military 
 expedition against the Regulators. It had cost the province 
 £4,844^ and not a drop of blood, but it quieted for some time 
 the turbulent members of the Regulators and it gave the pro- 
 
 ' Husband says they offered to pay levies, etc., as usual if the governor 
 would let them come into town to testify against the officers, and if he 
 would pardon their past breaches of the peace, the cases of Butler and 
 Husband excepted. The minutes of the council, which we have followed, 
 say nothing of this, although, as they do not contain the written proposal 
 of the Regulators, it is possible that Husband is correct. (See Colonial 
 Records, VII, 840-842. and Wheeler, II, 316.) 
 
 2 Colonial Records, VII, 850. 
 
 3 lb., VII, 863,864. 
 
 "lb., VII, 887-888. 
 
180 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 vincial magnates "au easy aud safe means of acquiring military- 
 titles. 1 
 
 In the meantime the court had taken up the cases against 
 Husband and Butler as aa'cII as the cases against the officers. 
 Husband was indicted for a rout in four cases; the grand jury 
 returned three of these " ignoramus ;" on the other he was tried 
 and acquitted.^ Butler was tried on two counts and found 
 guilty on each. He was sentenced to pay a fine of £50 and to 
 be imprisoned six mouths. Two others, Phillip Hartso and 
 Samuel Devinney, were tried for the same act, convicted, and 
 sentenced to pay a fine of £25 and to be imprisoned three 
 months. Dennice Bradley, who was indicted for burning the 
 jail of Granville, was acquitted, and three true bills that had 
 been made out against the leading Eegulators who had been 
 arrested were ordered to be quashed because of irregulari- 
 ties, and the attorney- general was ordered to bring in others. 
 Tryon's policy was now to be as lenient as possible, in order to 
 bring the people back to submission, and it is doubtful if it 
 was intended that these indictments should have been revived 
 at the next court. Indeed, he wrote to Lord Hillsborough, 
 tlie secretary for the colonies, that he "imagined " that " these 
 will take'their trial next March." The three prisoners, as men- 
 tioned above, he released-' aud susj)euded the payments of their 
 fines for six months.* On September 9, 1769, Tryon, acting on 
 advice from the King, pardoned, by proclamation, all those 
 who had been found guilty on these charges.^ 
 
 'While the troops were in Hillsboro, Rev. Henry Patillo, one of the 
 leading Presbyterian ministers of the early history of that denomination 
 in North Carolina, i>reached to the troops. Mr. Suther was ordered also 
 to J) reach to the Germans in the army; whether he complied or not does 
 not appear; he doubtless obeyed. At the same time Rev. Mr. Micklejohn, 
 the parish clergyman, was "desired " to preach before the troops. The first 
 and the last were liublicly thanked for their services (Colonial Records, VII, 
 835, 836, aud 886), and the next assembly ordered the sermon of Mr. Mickle- 
 john to be printed at the public expense. (VII, 983.) This sermon was 
 preached from Romans, xiii, 1 and 2, that text which has so often been 
 made to hold up the temjjle of tyranny, and the preacher said in it that the 
 governor should hang at least twenty of the rebels, and that they could 
 not hope to escape hell. (See Foote, Sketches, p. 67.) 
 
 2 Wheeler, II, 321, 322. 
 
 ^Husband says two of them escaped and a discharge was sent after 
 them. The other, Butler, was discharged also. (lb., II, 322.) 
 
 "See Colonial Records, VII, 844-846 and 884,885. 
 
 sib., VIII, 17 and 67. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 181 
 
 The one half of the business of the court, that is to say, 
 to try Regulators, was easily accomplished; the other half, to 
 try the officers, was a harder task. Husband says the troops 
 asked the business of every man who went into the court. If 
 any owned that they came to complain of officers they were 
 bulldozed by the guards, so that many were scared away. 
 Those who persisted in staying were ordered out of town. One 
 of the prisoners, very likely Husband himself, induced several 
 to come back, and these brought charges against Fanning and 
 Francis Nash. The former was register, and on five counts 
 he was found guilty. He pleaded a misconstruction of the 
 law. For each offense he was fined 1 penny. Nash, accord- 
 ing to Tryon, was also convicted, but if he was convicted he 
 must have gotten a new trial, for the court records show that 
 he gave his bond to appear at the next court.' On being con- 
 victed Fanning at once resigned his x)Osition as register. 
 
 The case against Fanning is worthy of a fuller statement. 
 The fee bill allowed the register 2s. 8d. for registering a con- 
 veyance " or any other writing, or giving a copy thereof." A 
 deed was brought to be registered, which, besides being a 
 mere conveyance, had indorsed on it the certificate of the 
 examination of a feme covert, the certificate of the x^erson ex- 
 amining, and the oath of execution. To the people this was 
 one instrument of writing, but to Fanning it was four. Also, 
 it was in evidence that it was the custom for the officers in 
 general to consider it as more than one. Fanning claimed that 
 for registering the paper he was entitled to 6s. and some pence, 
 but charged only Os. The attorney-general, on bein g consulted, 
 gave it as his opinion that for recording every deed a register 
 was, within the meaning of the statute, entitled to 8s. 7d. 
 Fanning pleaded, also, that not being certain as to this matter 
 he had, on assuming his office, taken the opinion of the Justices 
 of the county court, who had told him that he had a right to 
 6s. and some pence for every deed. This, it was claimed, 
 removed from the defendant the imputation of a " tortious 
 taking," and so the court held. With such a ruling there was 
 nothing for the jury to do but impose a merely nominal penalty. 
 The matter was referred for an opinion to the attorney- general 
 of England, who gave it as his opinion that the deed m ques- 
 tion entitled the register to three fees. He also stated the 
 question of criminal intent so that with the facts in the case as 
 
 ' See Colonial Records, VII, 847 and 884. 
 
182 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 claimed Fauning could uot legally be held guilty of extortion.' 
 The matter was also referred to a Mr. Morgan,- of the Inner 
 Temple, whose official capacity, if he had any, is not given. 
 He gave a decided verdict in favor of Fanning, stating that 
 the latter was entitled to four fees, and that he could not be 
 guilty any way ; because he took 6s., " not with intent to extort, 
 but through an involuntary mistake."' He closed by advising 
 that Fanning move for a new trial. ' The whole matter was 
 in a sad state, and the best remedy was, as the English attor- 
 ney-general suggested, to pass an explanatory act to the fee l)ill. 
 
 At the next superior court at Hdlsboro, March, 1769. there 
 were no troops in the town and many Regulators came to prose- 
 cute the officers. We have no official records of this court, 
 but Husband tells us that the people met with small success. 
 Husband himself was tried and acquitted, while Hunter's case 
 was continued.^ Fanning was tried on the same old charge. 
 As the oft'ense was committed before the previous trial, he 
 made the same plea he had formerly made and was, no doubt, 
 formally convicted. If we make full allowance for any exag- 
 geration tbat Husband's bias may have led him into, it will 
 still appear that the condition of affairs in the courts of Jus- 
 tice must have been far from good. The judge's charges were 
 partial, and the jury was unreliable.^ 
 
 In Rowan County, in the same year, the Regulators at- 
 tempted to prosecute the officers for extortion. When the 
 plaintiffs arrived at court they found that the grand jury was 
 composed of their enemies, there being not more than three 
 men on it who were uot officers. They applied to William 
 Hooper, recently appointed deputy attorney-general, who drew 
 up a bill against John Frohock for extortion. This was re- 
 turned ignoramus. Three other indictments were made out, 
 but they met the same fate. The Regulators learned on good 
 authority that the grand jury had been packed, the membeis 
 sitting not being those who had been at first chosen.*^ 
 
 1 Colonial Kecords, VIII, 27-29. 
 
 - Morgan seems to have been merely a consulting attorney retained in 
 bebalf of Fauuiug. 
 
 3 Colonial Records, VIII., 33-36, 223, and 225, 226. 
 
 * lb., VIII, 32. 
 
 nVheeler, II, 323. 
 
 « Colonial Records, VIII, 68-70. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 183 
 
 The next step taken by tbe Regulators was in the line of 
 practical politics. Until recently no suspicion had been cast 
 upon the members of the assembly. The people were accus- 
 tomed to leaders and willingly trusted their affairs in their 
 hands. With no widely circulating newspaj)ers and no polit- 
 ical aptness, they formed themselves into no parties, but 
 usually accepted the candidate put forward by the ofiflcehold- 
 ers, who was generally either a member of or closely associated 
 with the oflflceholding class. When they first began their 
 agitation the Regulators had been content to aim at the local 
 officers. They were told to apply to the courts, where justice 
 should be done them. They complied, and found that the laws 
 were in favor of the officers. They concluded that the laws 
 should be changed. At the same time, since the issue had 
 been sharply defined, they saw that the assemblymen were 
 ranged on the side of the county officers. They now determined 
 to attack this office, and here they were more successful than 
 they had been in any of their other undertakings. 
 
 In the summer of 1700 ' the governor dissolved the assem- 
 bly and ordered the election of a new one. Immediately there 
 came out in Orange an address, written perhaps by Husband, 
 though not signed, which recounted the wrongs of the people, 
 declared that the remedy lay with the people themselves, and 
 called on all to arouse themselves from their '^own blind, stu- 
 pid conduct." - This idea, as we have seen, had taken shape in 
 Anson when the Regulators had nominated Charles Robinson 
 as their candidate for the assembly, making, perhaps, the first 
 political nomination in America. 
 
 The Regulator spirit was not confined to Orange, Anson, 
 and Rowan. In other counties it was strong enough, Tryon, 
 in 1768, stated to Lord Hillsborough that a party of 30 men 
 from Edgecombe County had tried to release from Halifax jail 
 an iusurgent leader who was confined there, but that they had 
 failed. In August of the same year a party of 80 had tried to 
 break up the court of Johnston County, but they were repulsed 
 also.^ These were attempts by the rasher element of the peo- 
 ple. That they were supported by such small numbers indi- 
 cates that violence was not countenanced here as much as in 
 
 • Husband says July 10, 1768, but this is an error. The new election 
 was held on July 18, 1769. (Cf. Colonial Records, VIII, 54.) 
 - Wheeler, II, 325-327. 
 » Colonial Records, VII, 884, 885. 
 
184 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Orange. That there was a strong feeling against the officers 
 throughout tlie x^rovince is attested by the results of the elec- 
 tion for assemblymen. Carteret, Beaufort, Anson, Halifax, Bla- 
 den, Edgecombe, Tyrrell, Orange, Granvdle, and Hyde changed 
 their entire delegations.' Other counties changed their delega- 
 tions in part. Out of the 78'^ members of the new house, 43 
 were new men.^ That all these new men represented a change 
 in the political sentiments of their electors is not probable. 
 Not in all the counties was the issue made. In Orange, Gran- 
 ville, Anson, and Halifax, where the Eegulator sentiment was 
 strong, the change was complete. In Eowan, a strong Regula- 
 tor county, Griffith Rutherford, considered a moderate friend 
 of the people, was retained, but his yokefellow, Frohock, was 
 dropped and in his place Christopher Nation, an ardent Regu- 
 lator, was returned. Perhaps the opinion of Henry Eustace 
 McCuUoch was but representative of the ideas of eastern 
 families when he wrote from London soon after the election: 
 "The madness of the people must be great, indeed, to trust 
 such wretches as Hermon Husband and Christopher Nation 
 as their representatives.''^ 
 
 The cause of this political change is to be found in the action 
 of the assembly that met in November, 1768. This session left 
 as a memorial of its incompetency several defunct bills. One 
 of these was a bill to allow the recovery of debts of less than 
 £5 in value before one justice merely. This measure had been 
 asked for in a petition from Orange,' and it was approved in 
 the address to the Orange voters already mentioned. By order 
 Fanning brought in the bill in the lower house, and it safely 
 passed its several readings, until finally on its third reading 
 in the upper house it was attempted to add a "rider" to the 
 effect that persons indicted for riot might be tried in any one 
 of the superior courts of the province, whereupon the other 
 house objected, and as each party remained steadfast the bill 
 
 ' The list of assemblymen in Colonial Eecorrls, VIII, 106, 107, should be 
 exchanged for that on pages 303, 304, as may be readily seen by compar- 
 ing pages 303, 304 with pages 145-147. 
 
 2 There were 80 members in the new house, but two of these represented 
 Tryon, a county erected after the former assembly met, and they are, of 
 course, not competent in such a comparison as we are now making. 
 
 3 Husband says thirty-odd were left out this time, and he hoped to lose 
 more the next election. (Wheeler, II, 330.) 
 
 •» Colonial Records, VIII, 183. 
 
 6 lb., YU, 874 and 929, 911-912, 914, and 91.5. 
 
EEGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 185 
 
 fell tlirougli, Otlier rejected measures that the Eegulators 
 Avoald liave welcomed were bills to erect a new county out of 
 Orange and Johnston, and another out of Orange and Eowan; 
 a bill for triennial assemblies, which was rejected in the upper 
 house,^ and a bill to relieve taxation. The last was intro- 
 duced by Fanning, passed its first reading, but was killed on 
 its second reading in the lower house. ^ The bills to erect 
 new counties were especially desired by the peoi^le, many of 
 them, as they said, having to go as far as 60 miles to attend 
 court as it was. An act, however, to erect Tryon County out 
 of Mecklenburg was safely passed. The assembly was also 
 concerned with i)roviding i)ay for the forces that had gathered 
 at Hillsboro in the preceding autumn. The province had for 
 some time been trying to get an issue of pai)er money, but had 
 been prevented by orders from the English Government. It 
 now occurred to them that this was their opportunity. A bill 
 was brought in voting an issue of £30,000 in paper to be used 
 in paying the troops and for other purposes. The cost of the 
 preceding campaign had been only £4,844.^ The vigorous 
 protest of the governor and the upper house caused the bill 
 to be recast, and it finally passed as an act authorizing the 
 issue of £20,000 to pay the troops collected at Hillsboro, to 
 provide for the pnblic claims, and for the easier collection of 
 taxes.^ It was thus that the governor was induced to allow 
 the jjassage of a bill that increased the paper currency of the 
 colony to a large extent. There was one proviso, however, 
 which robbed the victory of half of its fruits; it was provided 
 that this paper should not be a legal tender. In writing to the 
 English authorities Tryon confessed that he had been induced 
 to sign this bill because the militia declared that if their pay 
 was not forthcoming they would not assemble again at the call 
 of the government. For this same reason the British Govern- 
 ment a])proved the bill.^ It has been claimed that the cost of 
 the campaign of 1768 was a great burden to the i)rovince. So 
 
 1 Colonial Records, VII, 911. 
 
 2 lb., VII, 908, 961, and 962. 
 3Ib.,VIT,888. 
 
 ^ lb., VII, 915, 916, and VIII, 5 and 6. This amount was to pay the troops, 
 to pay for running the Cherokee boundary line, to pay the charge for a 
 garrison at Fort Johnston, to pay arrears of salaries, to pay the salaries, 
 etc., of the assemblies of 1767 and 1768, and to provide £1,200 due for 
 bounties on hemp. (lb., VII, 916.) 
 
 "lb., VIII, 266, 267. 
 
186 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 far from this being true, it may be asserted with coutideiice 
 that it was considered by a hirge class of people as a posi- 
 tive blessing-.' It afforded a welcome opportunity to increase 
 the volume of currency. This assembly also voted to repay 
 Eev. George Micklejohn, the Orange clergyman, for printing a 
 sermon which he had preached before the troops at Hillsboro, 
 and in which he had declared that the governor ought to have 
 executed at least twenty of the Regulators. Such actions as 
 these were calculated to arouse the opi^osition of those who 
 were dissatisfied with the officers throughout the colony. This 
 class protested. That protest was measured by the political 
 change in the composition of the assembly. 
 
 Pending the meeting of the new assemblj^ there was but 
 little activity on the part of the Regulators. A few of the 
 leaders, however, were not subdued. In the spring of 1769, 
 when John Lea, the sheriff of Orange, went to serve a capias 
 on Kinian Hamilton and others, he was taken by Hamilton, 
 Samuel Devinney, Jesse Pugh, and their friends and severely 
 thrashed.'^ The parties who did the whipping were indicted, 
 and the council instructed the attorney general to use all legal 
 means to x)unish them.' In Rowan all was not serene. The 
 sheriff appointed in 1769 could get no one to go on his bond, 
 his friends giving the unsettled state of the county as their 
 justification.^ 
 
 The Anson Regulators prepared a petition to the assembly. 
 It contained a remarkably well-prepared statement of their 
 grievances, and to it were more than two hundred and fifty 
 signatures. It recounted seven kinds of political hardships 
 and proposed seventeen points of redress. The former are but 
 the grievances we have seen alleged all along. The noteworthy 
 items of the latter are as follows: At all elections the vote 
 should be given by ballot ; taxation should be apj)ortioned on 
 a property basis and not per capita; taxes might be paid in 
 commodities; paper money should be issued and loaned on 
 land; debts above 10s. and under £10 should be sued for with 
 out lawyers, and before a county ju.stice and a jury of six; the 
 chief justice should have no fees, but should be given a salary; 
 
 ' Colonial Records, VTII, 9. 
 2Il).,yiII, 32. 
 ni)., VIII, 37. 
 ^Ib., VIII, 64. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 187 
 
 the fees of the cleiks should be restricted, and the asseinbly 
 should inform the King that the governor and council granted 
 laud without regaid to the legal "head rights,"^ by which 
 means it had come about that all the best land was in the hands 
 of a few j)eople, aud poor men were obliged to cultivate i)Oor 
 land. By this means, it was alleged, members of the council 
 aud their friends had gotteu large tracts. They asked for 
 reforms in regard to quitrents, the issuing of land warrants, 
 and the valuing of the improvements on land. They also 
 asked that all denominations have liberty to conduct the mar 
 riage ceremony according to their respective rites; and, finally, 
 that Dr. Benjamin Franklin, or some other known patriot, be 
 ai^pointed agent of the colony in London.^ 
 
 This petition, it may be said, is the nearest approach of the 
 Begulation to the Revolution. Several of its proposed reforms 
 hinted at a decided change in government, and its hitting on 
 Franklin for an agent looked toward bringing it into close re- 
 lation with the larger movement, which it is well known that 
 Franklin was then leading. The mention of this patriot's name 
 was perhaps due to Husband, who, though not a Eegulator, 
 was doing all he could to spread among the people a greater 
 love of liberty, and who was in frequent communication wjth 
 Franklin. . It is a tribute to the wisdom of the Anson Regula- 
 tors that many of these reforms were afterwards, when North 
 Carolina had become a State, put into laws. 
 
 Orange and Rowan united in another x'etitiou. It asked 
 that lawyers and clerks of the court should not be allowed to 
 become members of the assembly; ^ that clerks and other offi- 
 cers should be paid a salary; that lawyers should be made to 
 take only their legal fees, which were to be reduced to one-half 
 in compromised cases; that all clerks should be removed and 
 "gentlemen of probity and integrity" put into their places; 
 that ministers of all denominations might perform the marriage 
 ceremony; that taxes be based on property; that small debts 
 be recovered before one magistrate and a jury of six, from 
 
 ' Fifty acrea for each person brought into the colouy was the legal 
 amount that could be granted. By law, unless in special cases, only 640 
 acres could be granted to one party. (See the author's Constitutional 
 Beginnings of Noi'th Carolina; .Johns Hopkins University Studies, 12th 
 series, p. 110, note 1.) 
 
 ' For the petition see Colonial Records, VIII, 75-80. 
 
 ^ Sheriti's were already forbidden to be asseml)lynien. 
 
188 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 whom there should be no appeal ; that inspectors' certificates 
 for the storage of imperishable commodities be made legal 
 tender; that the county be divided; that the public accounts 
 be iuvestigated; and, lastly, that the "yeas" and "nays" in 
 the assembly should be recorded.^ Besides this petition the 
 Rowan Regulators sent Husband a statement of their wrongs, 
 and begged him, ns a representative, to do what he could to 
 obtain relief for them. 
 
 A very significant petition on the other side came from the 
 Presbyterians of Mecklenburg. They declare themselves a 
 thousand freemen, " who hold to the Established Church of 
 Scotland, able to bear arms;" that they are faithful and loyal 
 subjects; that they " uphold the courts of justice that the law 
 may have its free course and operation;" and, they add, " We 
 appeal to his excellency the governor how ready and cheer- 
 ful we were to support government in time of insurrection." 
 They then go on to demand for the counties of Mecklenburg, 
 Rowan, and Tryon the repeal of the vestry and marriage acts, 
 so that in this region the Scottish church may be on the same 
 footing with " our sister church of England."^ 
 
 Two other petitions are worthy of note. One came to Tryon 
 from the Presbyterians of the new county of Tryon, and asked 
 that the ministers of that faith be allowed to perform the mar- 
 riage rites.^ The other came from twenty-five "friends of 
 government," as Tryon had called them on a former occasion, 
 and asked that an inspector of hemp and tobacco be appointed 
 for Hillsboro. It was signed by such antiregulating spirits 
 as Francis Nash, Rev. Henry Patillo, Ralph McNair, and Capt. 
 James Thackston.* 
 
 The assembly met on the 23d of October.^ In his message 
 the governor informed them that a petition of the former 
 assembly to the King, asking for an issue of paper money, had 
 
 1 Colonial Records, VIII, 81-84. 
 
 2 lb., X, 1015-1017. 
 
 3 lb., VIII, 806. 
 <Ib., VIII, 80a. 
 
 ^ Fanning was recognized as a member of this assembly, but by -^hat 
 right it is difficult to imagine. (Colonial Records, VIII, 107.) He had been 
 defeated in the preceding election, and although Tryon created the bor- 
 ough of Hillsboro that he might be returned from it, this was not done 
 until 1770. (lb., VIII, 215-217.) His connection with this assembly was 
 short, however, for he soon set out on ai visit to New York. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 189 
 
 been unsuccessful, and urged them to regulate in a business- 
 like manner the method of keeping the public accounts.' The 
 upper house kissed the governor's hand with accustomed focil- 
 ity, but the reply of the lower house was curt and a little 
 surly. ^ Bills to regulate attorneys' fees and to provide an 
 easy means of recovering small debts were introduced at once, 
 but their course was cut off by an event unrelated to them. 
 On November 2 the lower house passed unanimously some 
 spirited resolutions on the questions then at issue between the 
 Colonies and the Koyal Government.^ On November C Tryon, 
 who had been ill, called the assembly to him, expressed his 
 disapproval of the resolutions, and dissolved the body. Only 
 five bills were passed, and tliese were of no constitutional sig- 
 nificance.* Just before it adjourned the lower house passed a 
 resolution declaring that any person who opijosecl the due col- 
 lection of taxes should be rigorously prosecuted as an enemy 
 of the country; and at the same time it declared in another 
 resolution that any officer who should take more than the law- 
 ful fee should have the censure of the house.^ Four days later 
 the council decided to issue writs for a new election in the 
 following March." 
 
 The result of the elections of 1770 shows a slight reaction in 
 favor of the friends of government, although it seems that the 
 majority of the assembly were of Eegulatiug spirit.^ Husband 
 and Pryor were reelected from Orange, and to repair the loss 
 of Fanning, the governor erected Hillsboro into a borough, 
 from which Fanning was promptly returned.'' 
 
 As soon as the assembly met it took up the work of reform. 
 Some progress was in a fair way of being made when the whole 
 legislative l)ody was thrown into terror by news from Hills- 
 boro. The Regulators in that section had become well-nigh 
 
 1 Colonial Records, VIII, 86-89. 
 
 2 lb., VIII, 91, 92 and 113-115. 
 
 ^ For tliese resolves see Colonial Records, VIII, 122. 
 
 * lb., VIII, 139-141 and 170, 171. 
 
 6 lb., VIII, 139. 
 6Ib., VIII, 150, 151. 
 
 7 lb., VIII, 270. 
 
 * lb., VIII, 215. The Regulators claimed that it was due to Thomas 
 Hart that Fanning was elected. Hart was rewarded by having a bill 
 passed giving him £1,000 for losses, which, it was said. Hart never sus- 
 tained (Caruthers's Life of Caldwell, p. 117; see also Colonial Records, 
 VIII, 230). 
 
190 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 desperate. They bad tried petitions to tlie governor and the 
 assembly, and they bad tried the courts. From neither bad 
 tbey gotten relief. During the summer of 1770 tbey prepared 
 a petition to the officers of tbe superior court in which tbey 
 again recounted their wrongs.' They prayed for unprejudiced 
 juries, for fair trials of the extortionate officers, and for a 
 proper settlement of tbe i^ublic accounts by tbe sheriffs. Tbe 
 frame of mind to whicb they bad come is best shown by the 
 following sentence : 
 
 Our only crime with which they cau charge us is vertue iu the very 
 highest degree, namely, to risque our all to save our country from rapine 
 and slavery in our detecting of practices which the law itself allows to he 
 worse than open robbery. "^ * " As we are serious and iu good earnest, 
 and the cause resjiects the whole body of the people, it would be a loss of 
 time to enter iyto argument on particular points, for though there is a few 
 men who have the gift or art of reasoning, yet every man has a feeling 
 and knows when he has justice done him as well as the most learned. - 
 
 Tbis bad an ominous sound. 
 
 Tiie suj)erior court at Hillsboro met on September 22, which 
 was Saturday. On that day James Hunter presented tbe 
 above-mentioned petition to Richard Henderson, tbe (mly 
 justice who was on tbe bench at that term. The matter was 
 deferred till tbe following Monday. On Monday tbe court bad 
 hardly met when about 150 Regulators, among whom were 
 Hunter, Howell, Husband, Butler, Hamilton, and Devinuey, 
 crowded into the room. Jeremiah Fields, one of their number, 
 rose and asked the court for leave to speak. Permission was 
 given, and Fields began by saying that the Regulators had 
 understood that the Judge had decided not to try their causes 
 at that term ; that tbey were determined to have them tried, 
 and that if the court would take them up it might prevent 
 mischief. Tbey insisted, also, that the jury that had been 
 selected by the county court should be changed. After about 
 half an hour of this talk, during which the judge tried to 
 l^acify them, they retired from the room for consultation. 
 Tbey nearly all carried switches or sticks, and while they stood 
 around the court-bouse an unfortunate lawyer, John Williams,^ 
 
 ' Colonial Records, VIII, 231-234. 
 
 2 lb., YIII, p. 234. 
 
 3 Williams, judging by entries on the docket, received a good share of 
 the business at this court. He was probably the same lawyer with whom 
 we afterwards find Nash transacting business ( ib. , IX, 363), when he appears 
 as Col. .John Williams. If so, he made his home in Surrey, and later moved 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 191 
 
 started to enter the building. This was too much for the 
 angered crowd. They fell upon him and administered a severe 
 thrashing- until he took refuge in a neighboring house. Peace- 
 ful methods were now cast aside. The crowd rushed into the 
 court-house for Fanning, who, in terror, sought for i)rotection on 
 the bench. This did not help him. They seized him, dragged 
 him into the street, and beat him until he, as Richard Hender- 
 son said, "by a manly exertion mirax-ulouslj'^ broke holt and 
 fortunately jumped into a door that saved him from immediate 
 dissolution." From this retreat he was brouglit out, but was 
 allowed to go to his home on liis i^romise to surrender himself 
 the following morning. Thomas Hart, Michael Holt, Alex- 
 ander Martin, " and many others'' were also whipped. Several 
 who were wanted saved themselves by tlying. 
 
 The next morning Fanning gave himself up. The Regula- 
 tors, after some deliberation, announced to him that they would 
 release him on condition that he would agree to take the road 
 and keep running till he was out of sight, conditions with 
 which he most likely complied in a satisfactory manner. They 
 then repaired to his new and pretentious dwelling, which was 
 especially detestable to them as being built out of what they 
 held to be illegal fees. They surrounded it, burned the papers, 
 broke the furniture found in it, and finally demolished the 
 structure. It was charged that they took a sum ( f money from 
 it, but this they emphatically and indignantly denied.^ 
 
 Xo indignity had been offered to the judge, except some 
 threats by the more unruly of the crowd. In the beginning 
 James Hunter had assured him he should be protected. In the 
 afternoon of Monday he was allowed to adjourn court until 
 next day, and was then escorted, with some parade, to his 
 lodging. The Regulators demanded that he should proceed 
 
 to Tennessee. (lb., IX, 370, and Wheeler, II, 409. ) His going to Tennessee 
 was due to his appointment as agent for the company which in 1774-75 
 was attempting to organize the Transylvania tract. (Colonial Records, X, 
 256, 382.) 
 
 ' Colonial Records, VIII, 260. In 1773 Fanning was suing to recover 
 damages for this loss. He was induced by Governor Martin to withdraw 
 his suits and trust to an appeal to the assembly. Martin made the ap- 
 peal. The lower house replied that to pay the claim would create discon- 
 tent in the back counties, and refused to vote indemnity. The governor 
 protested, pleading his promise to Fanning, but the assembly remained 
 unmoved. (Colonial Records, IX, 548, 551-552, 560-562.) 
 
192 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 with their cases, without allowing any lawyers but the attorney- 
 general in the court room, and that the jury should be changed. 
 The judge promised this with alacrity, but about 10 o'clock at 
 night he mounted a fast horse and quietly stole away, leaving 
 the court adjourned in course.' After venting their fury on 
 Fanning's property, the crowd, seeing that the judge was 
 gone, went to the court room, secured the docket, and called 
 over the cases, entering their own judgment or comments 
 on each case. There on the pages one finds to this day the 
 memorials of their futile i^rotest against what they knew was 
 wrong, but knew not how to remedy. One reads such expres- 
 sions as the following: ''Damned rogue;" "Fanning must 
 pay;" " Hogan pays and be damned;" "Fanning pays, but 
 loses nothing; " "Judgment by default, the money must come 
 of the officers."^ 
 
 Whatever we may think of the justness of the cause of the 
 Regulators, we must readily agree that their conduct on this 
 occasion was illegal. As it turned out, they could do nothing 
 but obstruct the court. The fault lay in the system of govern- 
 ment in force in the colony. With such a strongly centralized 
 government, tliere was no avenue by which the people had 
 access to reform. The ideas of government held by the royal 
 agents and their numberless hangers-on who swooped down on 
 the defenseless colonists made it impossible that these agents 
 should ever understand even the point of view of the protest- 
 ing people. Their action here can but seem like a mad rush 
 against fate. The people seem so to have regarded it. In 
 1708 from three to four thousand had come down to rescue the 
 two prisoners, but now not so many hundred took jjart in the 
 proceedings. 
 
 News of this trouble sent a chill of fear throughout the 
 province. Tlie offlcers in Orange asked that the assembly be 
 convened at once,^ and the attorney-general advised the same 
 thing,^ but inasmuch as that body was already to meet on 
 November 30, and as Fanning reported the country quiet, the 
 council decided that there was no need for an extra session. 
 
 ' We have here followed chiefly the narrative of Richard Henderson, 
 which bears evidence of being impartial in its essential points. (Colonial 
 Records, VIII, 241-244.) 
 
 '^Ib., VIII, 236-240. 
 
 3 lb., VIII 246, 247. 
 
 " lb., VIII, 252. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 193 
 
 The governor asked tlie attorney-general to say whether or not 
 the action of the Hillsboro mob could be dealt with as treason. 
 The reply was in the negative. All that could be made of the 
 case was a riot and, because it was an insult to the court, a 
 misdemeanor. It was pointed out that, under existing law it 
 was necessary to try the offenders in the superior court district 
 in which they resided, where, it was evident, no process could 
 be served on account of the feeling of the country. It was 
 suggested that in each county the militia be mustered in 
 order to learn who would serve against the insurgents.^ This 
 suggestion was adopted by the council.^ Also the justices of 
 the peace throughout the province were commanded by proc- 
 lamation to take and transmit to the governor all depositions 
 that might be had in connection with the above disorders. 
 
 To add to the alarm felt by tiie government at Newbern 
 there came the tidings of another outrage. In Granville, on 
 the night of the 12th of November, Eichard Henderson's barn 
 and stables were burned, and two nights later his dwelling was 
 also destroyed. It was believed by the government party that 
 the Regulators had fired these buildings. Straight upon the 
 heels of this report came the rumor that the insurgents were 
 preparing to come down to Newbern at the coming session 
 of the assembly in order to overawe it. The panic-stricken 
 council offered a reward for the discovery of the incendiaries 
 and called on the counties intervening between Hillsboro and 
 Newbern to hold their militia in readiness to intercept the 
 threatened march.^ Eleven days after this happened the assem- 
 bly was called to convene, but it was only on December 5 that 
 a quorum was present. On the day before this a report came 
 from Pitt County that the Regulators of Bute and Johnston 
 were marching on Newbern to prevent Fanning from taking- 
 Ms seat for the pocket borough of Hillsboro. The council, 
 trembling with terror, called out the Craven regiment to guard 
 the town. "* 
 
 While these reports were flying the assembly met.^ Born as 
 
 • Colonial Records, VIII, 251, 252. 
 
 2 lb., VIII, 253. 
 
 3 lb., VIII, 258-260. 
 
 '' lb., VIII, 262. Newberu was in Craven County. 
 
 s Caruthers prints a story, which is possibly true, though the records do 
 not mention it. It was to the effect that when Husband went to the 
 assembly he carried with him the amount which the Regulators claimed 
 was their just taxes. When his name was called the governor asked why 
 
 H. Mis. 91 13 
 
194 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 it was in terror, it is not surprising tliat it should have passed 
 away in blood. Its first object of vengeance was Husband, 
 who was one of the members from Orange. He was pounced 
 on for a circular letter addressed to Maurice Moore, one of the 
 associate justices of the superior courts and a member of the 
 assembly. This letter was signed "James Hunter," but Hus- 
 band was declared to have written it. It was branded as "a 
 false and seditions libel," and Husband was charged with pub- 
 lishing it. Other charges against him were falsehood before 
 the committee on propositions and grievances, and a threat that 
 if imprisoned he would bring down his friends to release him. 
 The result was that Husband was expelled tbe house.^ The 
 council thereupon sent for the minutes of the assembly, and, 
 satisfying themselves as to the expulsion of Husband, unani- 
 mously resolved that it would be disastrous for him to rejoin 
 the Eegulators. They requested the chief justice to have him 
 arrested, which was accordingi}" done.^ 
 
 This was not what had been expected. Iredell says that on 
 December 15 the "majority of the house Avere of Regulating 
 principles."-' Then why were tbey so easily influenced? This 
 change was wrought by two agencies: (1) Fear, incident to the 
 alarming reports that, whether true or false, were brought to 
 Xewbern; and {"2) an agreement with the Presbyterians by 
 which a college was to be chartered in Mecklenburg County, and 
 by which Presbyterian ministers might perform the marriage 
 ceremony,'' in exchange for the support of that denomination 
 in measures against the Regulators.^ The majority did not go 
 over entirely to the other side. They still held to their position 
 of regulating the abuses of government, but they joined the 
 
 the King's subjects in Orange had not paid their taxes. Husband replied 
 that the people owed his excellency, as they believed, so much butter, but, 
 as that was apt to stick to the fingers to prevent waste they had sent it by 
 their representative, who was ready to pay it to the treasurer if he could 
 get the proper receipt. He then walked to the speaker's table and, placing 
 a bag of coin on it, said: "Here are the taxes which are refused to your 
 sheriff." (Cf. Life of Caldwell, pp. 134, 135.) 
 
 1 Colonial Records, VIII, 268, 269. and 330, 331. 
 
 2Ib., VIII, 269, 270. 
 
 3 lb., VIII, 270. 
 
 ■'Ib.,YIII,486and526. 
 
 '•This is generally charged by all the writers on the subject, and the facts 
 of the case make the charge a probable one. (See Colonial Records, VIII, 
 527.'* 
 
EEGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 195 
 
 governor's side in passing- a bill against the illegal acts of the 
 Regulators. On this point tlieir position was enunciated in 
 their reply to the governor's message. They said: "The late 
 daring and insolent attack made on the superior court at 
 Hillsboro by the i^eople who call themselves Regulators we 
 hold in the utmost detestation and abhorrence." ' 
 
 On December 15 Samuel Johnston, of Chowan, one of the 
 oldest counties, brought in a bill for suppressing riots. It was 
 an emergency law and was to expire in one year. It gave the 
 attorney-general authority to try charges of riot in any supe- 
 rior court as he saw fit, declared outlaws those who avoided 
 for sixty days the summonses of this court,^ and authorized the 
 governor to call out the militia to enforce the law. ^ As soon 
 as this bill was read it was tabled, and the house immediately 
 appointed a committee to prepare a bill regulating officers' 
 fees. * All efforts were then bent to passing reformatory laws, 
 until, on December 31, the Regulators themselves precipitated 
 action. On that day it was reported that a large body of Regu- 
 lators were assembled with wagons and provisions at Cross 
 Creek preparatory to marching on Xewbern. The governor 
 asked for an, appropriation to meet the attack and received 
 £500 to protect the town.^ Two days later the lower house 
 took from the table Johnston's riot bill and pushed it so rap- 
 idly that Just a week later it was passed for the third time by 
 the upi^er house and ordered to be engrossed.'' At the same 
 time the committee on propositions and grievances reported at 
 length on the state of the country. They condemned extor- 
 tionate fees, denounced as "a real grievance'' the o^jposition of 
 the Regulators to the sheriffs and the courts, and recom- 
 mended that the leaders of the insurgents be brought to sum- 
 
 1 Colonial Recorrls, VIII, 312. 
 
 2 Such an outlaw might be killed with impunity. It was this feature, 
 and not, as Saunders seemed to have thought, the entire law, that the 
 English Government objected to. They declared that it was not lit for 
 the British Kingdom, and, although they thought some severe law might 
 be justified in the condition of aftairs in North Carolina, they still advised 
 the assembly, if it intended to reenact the law, to leave out this clause. 
 (Colonial Records, IX, 238, 248,285, 289, and 366.) The law expired in a 
 year and was not renewed. 
 
 3 The text of the act is given in Colonial Records, VIII, 481-486. 
 
 * lb., VIII, 319, 320 and 270. 
 
 •-^Ib., VIII, 345-346. 
 
 « lb., VIII, 356, 388 and 390. 
 
196 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Diary panislimeut.' The legislature tbeu weut on to pass a bill 
 to amend the act for appointing- sheriffs and to direct their 
 duty ill office; a bill to ascertain attorneys' fees; an act more 
 strictly to regulate officers' fees; an act for the more sjieedy 
 collection of debts under £5; an act to grant the chief justice 
 a salary, and acts to erect the counties of Wake, Guilford, 
 Chatham, and Surry, ail lying in the region infected with the 
 Regulator spirit. All these laws contained reforms sought by 
 the Regulators.^ 
 
 Tryon did not wait to see what effect these laws would have. 
 The first law he signed was the riot law. He at once ordered 
 the arrest of the leaders of the mob concerned in the Hillsboro 
 riots. Had he waited for a time the new laws might have 
 worked the reform that was necessary to quiet the discon- 
 tented. Four days after the act was ratified he informed the 
 council that the Regulators were still assembling in Orange, 
 and asked for counsel. He was advised to call a special term 
 of the court of oyer and terminer at Xewbern under the recent 
 act. This court met on February 2, 1771. It first took up the 
 case of Husband, who had lain in the jail at Kewbern since 
 his arrest on December 1*0, 1770, no one, as Tryon said, offer- 
 ing to go on his bond.^ The case went to the grand jury, who 
 found "no bill," and the prisoner was released.^ 
 
 Tryon's procedure in this matter has been pronounced ex post 
 facto. There is in his favor this modifying circumstance: The 
 act in question was not a new law in the strict sense; it was 
 merely an attempt to make more effective the English riot law, 
 which held in all the British colonies. No new offense was 
 created by it, but only the method of procedure was changed. 
 The fact that the whole provincial judiciary supported the 
 governor in his ftosition indicates that it was generally con- 
 sidered a good law at that time. The point at which the gov- 
 ernor is most at a disadvantage is that he should have kept 
 Husband in prison for so long a time on a charge which the 
 grand jury at once pronounced insufficient.^ The people of 
 
 1 Colonial Records, VIII, 388, 389. 
 
 2 For list of bills passed see Colonial Records, VIII, 428, 429, and 477, 478. 
 
 3 lb., VIII, 494. 
 
 4 lb., VIII, 511, 546. 
 
 5 The records sliow plainly that Husband was imprisoned really to keep 
 him away from the Regulators. The charge of libel was merely a subter- 
 fuge, (lb., VIII, 269.) 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 197 
 
 Orange were conviuced of the injustice of the imprisonment, 
 and when the prisoner was released they had already assembled 
 to march to Newbern m order to liberate him. When they re- 
 ceived the news that he was at large they quietly dispersed. ^ 
 This had caused a paroxysm of terror, and the government had 
 hastily called out the regiments of Dobbs, Johnston, and Wake 
 counties. 
 
 Tryon, as he says, was not satisfied with the temper of the 
 grand jury just mentioned and Avas " uupleased with the 
 discharge of Husband." He dismissed that term of the court 
 and called another for March 11. The sheriffs of the several 
 counties in the district were directed to select as jurymen only 
 " gentlemen of the first rank, jiroperty, and probity in their 
 respective counties."'^ This the governor admits with the 
 frankness that indicates that he considered his attempt to 
 influence the course of justice as within his prerogative. By 
 strenuous efforts witnesses were also brought down from 
 Orange. As a result everyone of the sixty-two indictments 
 that were presented was returned "a true bill."^ The wit- 
 nesses that went before the grand jury in these cases were all 
 on one side, most of them being officers. The riot law declared 
 that these defendants would be considered outlaws if they did 
 not appear for trial within sixty days. Accordingly another 
 court was called for two months later, and to it these bills 
 were made returnable. 
 
 This grand jury was composed, as Tryon wrote, "of the most 
 resj)ectable persons," that is to say, of the colonial aristocracy. 
 They met the governor by ai^pointment in the i)alace and 
 " unanimously and thankfully accepted" his offer to go at the 
 head of an armed force to suppress the insurgents. At the 
 same time they signed the "^association'"* themselves. The 
 gentlemen on the Cape Fear Eiver entered into " an associa- 
 tion of similar purpose and intent." ^ 
 
 In the meantime energetic jjreparations were made for a 
 
 " ' Colonial Records, VIII, 500. 
 
 -Tho juries of the superior court were ulioseu from names seut in by the 
 sheriffs of the counties iu the superior court district. 
 
 "'For lists of iudictiueuts and of witnesses see Colonial Records, VIII, 
 530-532. 
 
 * The association was an agreement of loyalists, bound by oaths, that 
 they would support the King's Government in the colony. (Cf. Colonial 
 Records, VIII, 549.) 
 
 •'lb., VIII, 546-548. 
 
198 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 military expedition to Orange. Two columns were to move at 
 once on Hillsboro. One of these was to be composed of tlie 
 men of the Cape Fear section under the command of Gen. 
 Hugh Waddell. It was to march first to Salisbury and thence 
 to Hillsboro, where it was to be joined to the second column, 
 which was to be commanded by the governor in person, and 
 was to march directly from Newbern to that place. Tr^^on was 
 distinctively a military man and no doubt delighted in the 
 work now before him. He was the more anxious to make the 
 expedition a success inasmuch as it was likely to be his last 
 official action in the province. In February he had been ap- 
 pointed governor of New York, with instructions to j)roceed at 
 once to his new post of duty. • 
 
 Love of campaigning was not Tryon's only reason for this 
 expedition. During March a letter from Kednap Howell to 
 James Hunter, both leading Regulators, had been intercei^ted. 
 In this it was stated that it would have been no trouble to 
 raise the country in the region of Halifax for the release of Hus- 
 band; that the Regulation was about to be established there, 
 and that if once there it would soon run into Edgecombe, Bute, 
 and Northampton counties. Howell also wrote that he was 
 told that the militia of Craven and Dobbs would not fight 
 against the Regulators.- He had heard that the clerks' places 
 in the new counties "are parceled out among the quality; 
 * * * but if you suffer any rascal to come there may eter- 
 nal oppression be your lot." He closed by saying: "However, 
 if this be true, the day is ours in spite of Lucifer. I give out 
 here that the Regulators are determined to whip everyone that 
 goes to law, or will not pay his just debts,^ or will not agree to 
 leave his cause to men where disputes [sic]; that they will 
 choose representatives, but not send them to be put in jail; in 
 short, to stand in defiance, and as to thieves, to drive them out 
 of the country." However friendly one may be to the Regu- 
 lators, he must see in this a movement which the British Gov- 
 ernment of the time could not allow to proceed. At the same 
 time the chief justice and his associates in reply to an inquiry 
 reported: "We submit it to your excellency as our opinion 
 
 1 Colonial Records, VIII, 498. 
 
 -He was misled in tliis respect, as these counties fiiiuisbed considi?ral)le 
 detachments iu the campaign that was then beginning. 
 
 ■'An illustration of the Regulators' method of doing justice may be had 
 by consulting the Colonial Records, X, 1018, 1019. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 199 
 
 that we cau not atteud" the March term of the Hillsboro 
 court "with any hopes of trausactino- the business of it, or, 
 indeed, with any jirospects of personal safety to ourselves." 
 These two letters were read to the council, and it was resolved 
 that the governor should immediately raise a body of militia 
 and march against the insurgents.' 
 
 As indicated by Howell's letter, the spirit of the Eegulators 
 was more defiant than ever. Their meetings Avere kept up 
 with much restlessness. On March G Waighstill Avery, a 
 lawyer of note, came upon one of these assemblages, contain- 
 ing more than 200 men, in liowan. These people, disapi)ointed 
 in the revenge they had exr)ected in releasing Husband, had 
 now turned their steps toward Salisbury court.^ Avery was 
 arrested and held some hours in their camp. He heard their 
 dire threats against the officers. They swore that since the 
 riot law was passed they would kill every clerk and lawyer. 
 They declared that the governor was a friend of the lawyers, 
 that the assembly had worsted the Regulation and that they 
 would pay no fees. They seemed especially angry at Maurice 
 Moore and Richard Henderson, and declared that after the 
 22d of March Fanning should be considered an outlaw, whom 
 any Regulator might kill on sight. To all these statements 
 Avery made affidavit.' 
 
 Rowan court was then in session and it was so alarmed that 
 it adjourned and the loyal militia of the county was called 
 out. Three companies responded, and these were afterwards 
 joined by 70 or 80 men from Mecklenburg. This was a snmll 
 defense against the force the Regulators could bring, and the 
 neutrals cried out for relief from this constant recurrence of 
 terrorism. The officers decided to capitulate. It was agreed 
 to leave the matter at issue to arbitrators, and that if these 
 should decide that illegal fees had been taken the officers 
 should refund the excess. The Eegulators chose as referees 
 Hermon Husband, James Graham, James Hunter, and Thomas 
 Person. The other side chose Matthew Locke, John Kerr, 
 Samuel Young, and James Smith. Alexander Martin and 
 John Frohock reported the matter to Tryon. Their eagerness 
 to put the matter before him in a favorable light is apparent. 
 
 1 Colonial Records, VIII, 536-539. 
 
 2 lb., VIII, 534. 
 
 2 For Avery's affidavit see Colonial Records, VIII, 518-520. 
 
200 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 They said they felt coufideut of his approval.^ If they meant 
 this they were rudely disapi)oiiited. Tryou wrote with fine 
 sarcasm that of course if they had abused their trust they 
 ought to make restitution. To that he was entirely willing, 
 but he did not approve of their action in entering into nego- 
 tiations with insurgents and binding officers who were respon- 
 sible to government alone. He added that he was about to 
 march with an army into the country of the Regulators, and 
 he thought this would be a more effective means of settlement 
 than the Eowan agreement.^ The arbitrators were to have 
 met on May 21, but the battle of Alamance coming on the 
 ICth, the result was in favor of Tryon's method. ^ 
 
 The Eegulators for their part protested to the governor 
 against raising an army to produce commotions. They said 
 they had resolved that if he did come every man would take 
 his horse from his plow and meet the governor " to know for 
 certain whether you are really determined to suppress all the 
 disturbers of the public peace and to punish according to their 
 deserts the original offenders in government." If so, they 
 would help him, but if he designed to support "that tyranny 
 which has so long been liremeditated by some officers of the 
 province we will contend for our just rights and humbly entreat 
 you, sir, to return with your men where there may be more 
 need of them — our civil liberties are certainly more dear to us 
 than the good opinion of a ruler, though both are desirable." 
 They accused the assembly of violating the British constitu- 
 tion in that they " paid very little regard to that bulwark of 
 life, the habeas corpus, when they enacted for a law the court 
 of oyer, to be held at Newberne for the trial of riots, where the 
 accused persons must attend, though living in the most remote 
 parts of the province." ^ 
 
 Tryon paid no attention to this protest, but continued to levy 
 troops. On March 19 he called on the colonels of the counties 
 to secure volunteers. He gave orders to raise 2,550 men.-^ 
 
 ' Colonial Records, VIII, 533-536. 
 
 -lb., VIII, 545. 
 
 3 It was told to Caruthers that such a meeting did actually take place 
 in West Guilford and that restitution was made there. Another meeting 
 was arranged for East Guilford, hut failed to occur for the same reason 
 that the Rowan meeting failed. (Cf. Life of Caldwell, p. 143.) 
 ■> Colonial Records, VIII, 543, 544. 
 
 6 lb., VIII, 697. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 201 
 
 To get these was uot an easy thing. In Bute not a man could 
 be enlisted.! According to Howell other counties were reluc- 
 tant. A bounty of 40s. was offered to each volunteer, and this 
 had its effect. The !20th of April was fixed as the day on which 
 the eastern column should leave Newberu.^ Three days later 
 than that the march began. When the body had reached 
 Johnston Court House there were present detachments from 
 Craven, Carteret, Orange, Beaufort, ITew Hanover, Onslow, 
 Dobbs, and Johnston,^ besides an artillery company. At this 
 place the Wake militia presented themselves, but with no 
 arms. This seems to have been a ruse to keep from serving. 
 A smaller detachment, however, joined the army next day and 
 was detailed to assist the sheriff in collecting taxes in Wake." 
 The majority of this force came from Orange and Dobbs, each 
 having four companies. Craven came next with three. In all 
 there were 917 rank and file and 151 ofticers,^ The western 
 column, which at that time was going its allotted course under 
 General Waddell, contained 230 rank and file and 48 officers, 
 besides an artillery company. They came from Anson. Rowan, 
 Mecklenburg, and Tryon counties.*^ 
 
 On May 9 the governor reached Hillsboro without any 
 inconvenience. On the same day General Waddell, who had 
 just left Salisbury, crossed the Yadkin, where he was met and 
 stopped by a large body of Eegulators. ' ^ council of officers 
 decided that in view of the numerical superiority of the enemy, 
 and because their own men could not be relied on to fire on 
 
 1 Colonial Records, VIII, 552. The colonel was removed from command 
 of this militia because he did not raise volunteers. (lb., 671, 672.) 
 
 ^Ib., VIII, 540,541. 
 
 "lb., VIII, 574. 
 
 ^Ib., VIII, 577. 
 
 ■^ After the battle of Alamance the detachment from Wake and a com- 
 pany of light infantry rejoined with 100 rank and iile and 16 officers. 
 (Colonial Records, VIII, 677.) The order of battle seems to contradict this, 
 (lb., 583-584.) 
 
 «Ib., VIII, 607. 
 
 ^Caruthers says that the Regulators surrounded Waddell and took many 
 of his men and that he iinally escaped across the Yadkin to Salisbury 
 with but few followers. (Life of Caldwell, p. 145.) Neither Waddell's 
 own journal nor Tryon's reports of the campaign mention anything 
 which could be construed into such an occurrence. Caruthers's informa- 
 tion was verbal and was secured seventy years after the events described. 
 He was doubtless misinformed. 
 
202 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 them, it would be prudent to fall back to Salisbury. This they 
 did.' This column liad been seriously hampered by the loss 
 of its ammuuition. Nine young men, later known as "The 
 Black Boys of Cabarrus," disguised themselves and fell upon 
 a convoy that was taking some powder from South Carolina to 
 General Waddell, beat oft" the guards, and burnt the powder.^ 
 
 On May 11 Tryon moved from Hillsboro in order to relieve 
 his beleaguered lieutenant. His route took him through the 
 heart of the country of the Regulators. He halted on Sunday 
 at Colonel Mebane's for divine service and then marched to 
 Haw River, where he was joined by 23 mounted men under 
 Captain Bullock. This constituted his sole cavalry.^ For the 
 sake of justice or of discipline, or for policy, he issued strict 
 orders against the taking of jjroperty by the soldiers, an abuse 
 that was getting frequent now they were among their foes. 
 On the nth he reached the banks of the Alamance. Here he 
 rested a day, and on the 16th formed his army in line of battle 
 and marched to find the enemy, who Mere assembled about 
 5 miles farther on. He had formed his army into two lines 
 about 200 yards apart. In the first were the companies from 
 Carteret, Orange, Beaufort, and New Hanover, and three com- 
 panies from Dobbs, as well as the artillery. In the second 
 were the companies from Onslow and Johnston and the remain- 
 ing company from Dobbs.* Two companies from Orange and 
 a number of sick had been left at Hillsboro, and a small com- 
 pany had been left to guard the camp on the Alamance. It is 
 likely, therefore, that the army contained on that morning 
 some less than 1,000 men and officers. 
 
 The Regulators in the meantime had assembled to the num- 
 ber of 2,000. It is difficult to say how many of these had 
 arms. Caruthers thinks that not over 1,000 had them. They 
 had neither definite aims nor efficient organization. Their 
 leaders seem to have thought that by making a show of force 
 they would frighten the governor into granting their demands. 
 They had much trouble in holding the people under restraint. 
 There w as a considerable element in their camp that could 
 
 ' Colonial Records, VIII, 608 and 610. 
 
 "lb., VIII, 622; Wheeler, II, 65. 
 
 •'lb., VIII, 581. 
 
 ^ lu this arrangement the company from Pitt was mentioned. This must 
 have been aa error, as the return shows no such company in the expedi- 
 tion. (See Colonial Records, VIII, 583, 584, and 677. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 203 
 
 not be kei^t quiet. These, against the wishes of the leaders, 
 caught Col. John Ashe and Captain Walker on tlie morning 
 of the 15th, while they were out scouting, and whipx)ed them 
 severely. This action, says Caruthers, "was strongly cen- 
 sured by the great body of the Regulators, and some of them 
 were so much disgusted that they threatened to give up the 
 cause entirely if such acts were repeated."^ The two men 
 were, however, held prisoners. 
 
 On the same day Dr. Caldwell, who had come along in the 
 interest of peace, went to Tryon in reference to an agreement 
 on the points at issue. A petition was also sent. Possibly 
 Dr. Caldwell carried it.^ He was promised a reply the next 
 morning. On the 16th, as the army was put into motion to 
 move up to the Regulators, the reply was sent. It offered no 
 concession, but required that the people should submit to gov- 
 ernment and disperse, and gave them an hour in which to 
 comply with the conditions.'' The ill-fated people seem not to 
 have realized their position. They remained waiting while 
 Dr. Caldwell again sought the governor. They had not the 
 least idea of what a battle was, and when their envoy returned 
 to report his failure and to advise them to go to their homes 
 they stood stolidly in their i)laces. Hnsband, who, true to his 
 attitude as peacemaker, had come along hoping to help make 
 a compromise, now saw that there was no hope and quietly 
 rode away.^ Dr. Caldwell sadly did the same. So uncon- 
 scious were the men of their danger that they were engaged 
 in wrestling matches, when an old soldier who happened to be 
 among them advised them to look out for a volley. It was but 
 a few minutes before the firing began. Just how the first 
 shot was fired is matter of dispute. All agree that it came 
 from the governor's side. ' 
 
 •Life of Caldwell, p. 147. 
 
 2 Colonial Records, VIII, 610, 641. 
 
 ^b, VIII, 642. 
 
 '♦Knowing his dauger, Hnsband fled to his old home in Maryland. Not 
 stopping long there, he went on to Western Pennsylvania, where he made 
 his future home. He was concerned in the whisky rebellion and was 
 taken and condemned to death for his part iu it. Through the interposi- 
 tion of friends he was pardoned, and died a few day afterwards at a 
 tavern in Philadelphia. (Caruthers's Life of Caldwell, pp. 167, 168.) 
 
 6 The story of the battle as told by Tryon's friends may be found iu 
 Colonial Records, X, 1019-1022. This account seems to have been inline 
 with that of the earlv historians of the State. 
 
204 AMEKICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 The Eegulators had no officer higher thau captain, and each 
 coiupany now took command of itself. At first there was 
 much confusion on their side, the artillery tire being very 
 effective. Some hardy nwin, however, crouched behind rocks 
 and trees and managed to drive away the gunners and to take 
 the guns. They were not supported by their own party, and 
 when the troops rallied against thera they abandoned the pieces, 
 which they had not been able to work. Long before this the 
 remaining Eegulators had taken to flight, and now the field 
 was clear.^ The action had lasted two hours, and the loyalists 
 had lost 9 killed and Gl wounded,^ while the loss of the Regu- 
 lators was 9 killed and a great number wounded.^ About 15 
 were taken prisoners. One of these, James Few,^ was executed 
 on the spot. He was a visionary man, who had been active in 
 the Eegulatiou. His execution was ordered with the idea of 
 striking terror to the country. It was needlessly summary, as 
 the movement was already crushed. 
 
 On the 21st the troops marched to Sandy Creek, where the 
 governor remained a week collecting su^jplies from the people 
 and imx)Osing an oath of allegiance on them. On the day after 
 the battle he i^ardoned by proclamation all those who should 
 submit themselves to government and take the oath of alle- 
 giance, except those who were already cai)tured and those who 
 had recently been outlawed.^ This proclamation was for four 
 days, but it was extended at various times until all the country 
 had an opportunity to take it.^ The British Government gave 
 its heartiest approval to the course that Tryon had pursued, 
 
 1 We have followed for the chief events of the battle Caruthers's Life of 
 Caldwell, pp. 145-158. 
 
 ^The Regulators put this number higher, but these ligures are official. 
 (Colonial Records, VIII, 634. ) 
 
 ^ This is the Regulators' own statement. Others vary. (See Lile of 
 Caldwell, p. 157.) 
 
 ^Fewhad been indicted and consequently outlawed for participation 
 in the Hillsboro riots. He was a carjienter, and lived just outside of 
 Hillsboro. It is said that his mind had become unbalanced because 
 Fanning had seduced the young woman to whom he was affianced. 
 (Caruthers's Life of Caldwell, p. 1.58.) Fanning insisted that he shoxild be 
 executed on the spot because he had taken part in the destruction of his 
 (Fanning's) house. The Regulators claimed that Few was not present 
 when the house was destroyed. This claim, however, was not advanced 
 by the most reliable authority. (Cf. Colonial Records, VIII, 648.) 
 
 ■"^Colonial Records, VIII, 608, 609. There is no evidence that any of the 
 cixty-two indictments of the court held at Newbern had come to trial. 
 
 6Ib., VIII, 613. About 6,000 had taken it on July 4; lb., IX, 9. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 205 
 
 aud directed liim to tender publicly the King's tliauks to the 
 troops for their loyal conduct during the campaign. 
 
 On May 29 the army moved westward. On June 4 it was 
 joined by General Waddell's column, aud ou June 6 the united 
 forces celebrated at the Moravian settlement the King's birth- 
 day and the recent victory.' On June 9 they marched away 
 to Hillsboro, where they arrived on the 14th. Four days later 
 a court-martial tried the prisoners. Some were convicted' of 
 treason. On the next day the army was drawn up to wit- 
 ness the execution of six of these. The other six were par- 
 doned by the English Government at the request of Tryon.-' 
 On the 8th of June General Waddell had led his forces back 
 by the way he had come, and now, with the ]>risoners hanged 
 as an example, nothing remained to be done but to march the 
 governor's column back to Newbern.^ This task Tryon left 
 to Ashe. He himself hastened to Newbern, where on the 30th 
 of June he embarked for his new government, and with his 
 exit there disappeared the w^ar of the Regulation. 
 
 Two features of this campaign should have further notice. 
 One relates to the trial and execution of the six prisoners. 
 This has been called cruel. All punishment is cruel. Looked 
 at from Tryon's standpoint the prisoners were rebels. They 
 were executed as traitors. It was hoped that their death 
 would strike terror to the Regulators, aud this seems to have 
 been accomplished. They were tried at a special term of the 
 sui^erior court.^ Two were acquitted and twelve condemned. 
 One of those executed was Benjamin Merrill, formerly a 
 captain in the Rowan militia. He died repenting his con- 
 nection with the Regulation, and asking that his wife and 
 children might retain his lands. ^' Tryon recommended that 
 the request be granted. James Pugh, however, died stead- 
 fast in his principles. He read the governor a lecture from 
 the barrel which served as a scaftbld, and was going on to 
 speak to Fanning when the barrel was overturned aud the 
 prisoner was strangled.' 
 
 1 Colonial Records, VIII, 592, 593. 
 
 2 There had been several courts-martial for the trial of prisoners. (Cf. 
 Colonial Records, VIII, 587, 594, aud 598, 599.) 
 Hh., VIII, 635, aud IX, 274. 
 -»Ib„ VIII, 649-650. 
 ^Ib., VIII, 650, 712. 
 
 6Ib, VIII, 650 aud 656. The request was granted (lb., IX, 65-66.) 
 ''Caruthers's Life of Caldwell, pp. 165, 166. 
 
206 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 The other incident relates to Thomas Person, whose later 
 prominent life demands that his connection with the Regula- 
 tors be more fully stated. Just what this relation was does 
 not appear. He was certainly a Regulator in spirit. He seems 
 to have been such a one as Husband, not actively participating 
 in the movement, but sympathizing with it and seeking to 
 guide it. We usually find his name associated in it with 
 Husband's. The two were appointed referees by the Regula- 
 tors of Rowan when the officers there agreed to arbitrate,' 
 and they were members of the assembly on behalf of tlie 
 Regulators. Both were persecuted by the assembly, and some 
 of the Regulators thought that both were expelled.^ This 
 statement is not true as regards Person. He was arraigned for 
 perjury at the instigation of Richard Henderson, before the 
 short assembly of 1770, but the matter was not decided.^ The 
 case was revived and the charge of extortion added in the 
 assembly of 1771.* The matter was referred to a committee, 
 which entirely exculpated Person, and declared that the pros- 
 ecution was due to envy and malice.^ The report was ordered 
 to be printed, and Henderson was commanded to pay the cost 
 of the prosecution, which was £117.*^ This action was taken 
 just before adjournment. Tryon said that it was in a thin 
 house, and that the verdict would be reversed by the next 
 assembly," and it is true that at the next meeting of the 
 assembly that part of the above resolution which taxed the 
 costs on Henderson was rescinded. ^ When Tryon was march- 
 ing through the country he took Person and carried him a 
 prisoner to Hillsboro. Whether he was tried there or not does 
 not appear. There is a story ^ to the effect that evidence of 
 his guilt was removed through the destruction, either by him- 
 self or by Rev. George Micklejoiin, of certain papers at his 
 house, '" 
 
 ' Colonial Records, VIII, 533. « lb., VIII, 461, 467. 
 
 2 lb., VIII, 646. ' lb., VIII, 525. 
 
 3 lb., VIII, 118. « lb., IX, 196, 208. 
 
 * lb., VIII, 326, 333. « lb., VIII, p. xxviii. 
 
 5 lb., VIII, 448, 449. 
 '" A letter was published in the Boston Gazette, August 11, 1771, in which 
 an unnamed prisoner was said to have been taken to Wilmington and 
 there released on bail. Saunders supposed that this prisoner was Person 
 (Colonial Records, VIII, pp. xxviii, and 635,636). This is an error. The 
 letter itself contains the strongest evidenre that the prisoner resided at 
 Cross Creek (Fayetteville), and Tryon's letter book makes it certain that 
 it was John Wilcox, a merchant of that place. (Ih., VIII, 718.) 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA — BASSETT. 207 
 
 Josiah Martin succeeded Tryon as governor. When he 
 arrived iu the colony he found that the work of his predeces- 
 sor in subduing resistance had been effective. By July 4, 
 6,409 persons had taken the oath of allegiance.' The com- 
 pleteness of the change in Orange is shown by the election of 
 1771. Jolin Pryor was dead and Husband was expelled, two 
 vacant seats being thus created. To till these the county 
 cboose Ealpli Mcl^^^air and Francis Nash, both strong anti- 
 Eegulators.'^ Most of the outlawed leaders were in hiding, 
 some being in South Carolina.^ Husband had tied to Mary- 
 land first and then to Pennsylvania.^ They now begged for 
 mercy. Either through friends or in person Jeremiah Field,^ 
 Ninian Bell Hamilton,'^ Matthew Hamilton,'' James Hunter,*' 
 Thomas Welborn,^ William Butler, '" and John Fruit, " peti- 
 tioned the governor for pardon. Martin was unwilling to act 
 on the matter, inasmuch as Tryon had referred the whole affair 
 to the Crown. '^ He recommended waiting, although the as- 
 sembly had asked for the pardon of all but Husband, Butler, 
 and Howell.'^ 
 
 In 1772, when the governor made a visit to the back counties, 
 the outlawed leaders surrendered themselves, quietly giving 
 bond for their future appearance at Hillsboro court.'* This 
 was, perhaps, not as submissive as it may seem. The riot law, 
 having been made for one year only, was already expired, and 
 it was a question whether or not the defendants could be tried 
 under it. Martin called on the chief justice and the associates 
 for an opinion on the matter. The consensus of the replies 
 was that the defendants could not be treated as outlaws under 
 the above act, but that they could be tried under any other 
 law, as the law of treason.'^ This discouraged further pros- 
 ecution of the suits, and so far as the courts were concerned 
 
 ' Colonial Records, IX, 9, 78. 
 
 '2 lb., IX, 177. Fanning seema to have left the province by this time. 
 He went to New York, where he was a Loyalist in the Revolution, and after 
 the war removed to British America, where he waa much honored as the 
 ;;overnor of Prince Edwards Island. (Cf. Wheeler, 11, 331.) 
 
 -Colonial Records, IX, 20. '" lb., IX, 99, 100. 
 
 Mb., IX, 14. "lb., IX, 93. 
 
 sib., IX, 40, 41. '-lb., IX, 57. 
 
 6 lb., IX, 38, 39. '3 lb., IX, 169 and 173. 
 
 ' lb., IX, 84. n lb., IX, 313, 314, and 348. 
 
 "lb., IX, 37, 85, 86. '^Ib., IX, 333-339. 
 
 « lb., IX, 25-27. 
 
208 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 the matter stopped there. A general amnesty act by the 
 colonial assembly was all that was needed to close np the 
 case. The British Government advised such an act, but in 
 1773 the provincial upper house rejected it because the i)ro- 
 posed bill did not contain enough exceptions.' When the 
 Eevolution was beginning the King, as a matter of policy, had 
 the governor to issue a proclamation of pardon for all who had 
 been concerned in the Regulation, with the single exception of 
 Husband.^ 
 
 The attemi)t to secure reform in local government had thus 
 failed most signally. The people had now either to submit or 
 to move out into the wilderness again. Many of them choose 
 the latter alternative. It was just at the time Avhen the tide 
 of immigration had broken over the mountains into that fertile 
 part of North Carolina which afterwards became Tennessee. 
 The hopelessness of their condition was to many a greater 
 evil than the dangers of the western forest. Accordingly they 
 joined the wagon trains for the west. A number left before 
 the battle of Alamance, and many more after it. Morgan 
 Edwards visited the country in 1772 and wrote: " It is said 
 1,500 departed since the battle of Alamance, and to my knowl- 
 edge a great many more are only waiting to dispose of their 
 l>lantations in order to follow them."^ 
 
 The immediate remedial efi'ect of the Eegulation was slight, 
 although some bills were passed that were in line with the 
 purposes of the movement. The oflFeusive county officers re- 
 mained and in some cases the Regulators lost the representa- 
 tives they had gained. It was abroad that the movement had 
 its greatest effect. In Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, where 
 the i^eople were on the verge of revolution, lurid pictures 
 of the struggle of the oppressed J^orth Carolinians were given 
 in the press." For example, the Boston Gazette published the 
 judicial sentence,^ " That you, Benjamin Merrill," be carried 
 to the place from whence you came, that you be drawn from 
 thence to the place of execution, where you are to be hanged 
 by the neck; that you be cut down while yet alive; that your 
 bowels be taken out and burnt before your face; that your 
 head be cut off; your body be divided into four quarters, and 
 
 ' Colonial Records, IX, 621, 622. nb., VIII, 635-648. 
 
 ^ lb., X, 90 and 405. b Hj.^ yill, 643. 
 
 => lb., VIII, 655. 611,,^ X, 90 and 405. 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 209 
 
 tliis to be at His Majesty's disposal ; and the Lord have mercy 
 on your soul."^ This was but the formal sentence for treason 
 and does not indicate any particular cruelty in Tryon's official 
 yet it was doubtless published for effect. A short while later 
 the same paper said that a certain '• glorious triumvirate should 
 
 consist of Bernard, H n, and Tryou."^ 
 
 It has often been thought strange that the Eegulators had 
 but little to do with the Revolution. They were mostly Tories. 
 Jeremiah Field was in the habit of saying in his old age that he 
 had fought twice, once for his country and once for the King, 
 and been defeated each time, and that he would fight no more.^ 
 This loj'alty has usually been attributed to the Eegulators' 
 idea of the sanctity of an oath. They have been supposed to 
 have realized in this the biblical ideal of the man who swears 
 to his own hurt and changes uot.^ That the oath of Tryon had 
 an influence on their conduct is very likely; but another strong 
 influence was their distrust for the men who led the Eevolu- 
 tion. The same men who had oppressed them, whom they had 
 tried to turn out of office, whom they had fought, by whom they 
 had been defeated, and who still kept the offices through which 
 theyhad received their wrongs — these mennow came to the Eeg- 
 ulators asking aid in a movement which, to say the least, was 
 of doubtful issue.^ Among those who led the new movement 
 only one man could be found who was of note among the 
 Eegulators: this was Thomas Person, a member of the pro- 
 vincial council. Many of the Eevolutionary officers had led 
 troops at Alamance. In 1775 two regiments were raised for the 
 American service; of the first James Moore was colonel and 
 Francis !Xash lieutenant-colonel ; of the second Eobert Howe 
 was colonel and Alexander Martin was lieutenant-colonel. 
 
 1 Colonial Records, VIII, 643. 
 
 211)., VIII, 639. 
 
 ^Caruthers's Life of Caldwell, p. 177. 
 
 4 lb., p. 172. 
 
 "In January, 1776, Governor Martin reported that from 2,000 to 3,000 of the 
 Regulators had given him assurance that they were ready to march to the 
 aid of the King's Government wherever it was necessary. (Col. Recs., IX, 
 1228, and X, 406.) A mouth later they were preparing to join the governor, 
 who was then on a ship at the mouth of the Cape Fear. (lb., X, 4.52.) A body 
 of Regulators and Highlanders was assembled and marched down the 
 bank of the river. They were intercepted just before they reached Wil- 
 mington, at Moores Creek, and entirely defeated. Among the prisoners 
 were several jirominent Regulators. (lb., X, 465, and 485, 486.) 
 H. Mis. 91 14 
 
210 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 In each superior court district a battalion of militia was 
 formed. In Hillsboro district James Thackston was made 
 colonel and John Williams lieutenant-colonel; while Adlai Os- 
 borne was made lieutenant-colonel of the Salisbury district. 
 Caswell was colonel of the Newbern district and Edward Vail 
 of the Edenton district. All of these had been prominently- 
 opposed to the Regulation. In civil affairs it was the same 
 story. Samuel Johnston, the author of the riot law, exhibited 
 himself at Hillsboro in 1775 as j)resident of the provincial 
 congress. This was a remarkable object lesson.^ In the pro- 
 vincial council there were Samuel Johnston, who j)resided; 
 Samuel Ashe, Abner Nash, Samuel Spencer, and Waighstill 
 Avery, while William Hooper was a prominent member of 
 the provincial congress and a representative of the State in 
 the Continental Congress. All these the Regulators were ac- 
 customed to look upon as enemies.'^ The entire government 
 was in the hands of the ofiflceholding aristocracy of the sev- 
 eral counties. For these the mass of the Regulators had little 
 sympathy and less confidence, certainly not enough to induce 
 them to break an oath which both x^olicy and religious ideas 
 prompted them to keep. In view of their past experience 
 they doubtless asked themselves what good it would be to 
 overthrow the existing government and set up another in 
 which Samuel Spencer, James Thackston, Francis JSTash, John 
 Williams, Thomas Polk, John Ashe,^ and Samuel Johnston 
 were ruling elements.^ 
 
 Did the Regulation begin the Revolution ? Was Alamance 
 the first battle of the struggle for American independence? 
 
 'The Regulators were not indifferent to the sight. It seems that the 
 congress actually apprehencled violence at their hands. (See Waddell: 
 A Colonial Officer, p. 155.) 
 
 2 Wheeler, I, 71-82. 
 
 3 Thomas Polli was a colonel and John Ashe was a brigadier-general. (lb. 
 75 and 79. ) 
 
 "•In 1775 William Hooper and his associates in Congress wrote from 
 Philadelphia to the provincial council of North Carolina, suggesting that 
 two ministers be employed to go among the " Regulators and Highlanders" 
 to teach that the cause of the Colonies was the cause of God and to neu- 
 tralize, as far as possible, the effects of Tryon's oath. Congress had 
 directed that this be done and had offeied to pay the expenses. This, 
 however, was before the American cause meant an assertion of indepen- 
 dence, and Hooper appears to have contemplated only joining the Regu- 
 lators with the others in a protest against British misgovernment. (Cf. 
 Colonial Records, VIII, p. xxiii.) 
 
REGULATORS OF NORTH CAROLINA BASSETT. 211 
 
 We ought now to be able to answer this question. This inves- 
 tigation leads to the view that the Eegulation could have no 
 direct connection with the Eevolution. I can see no conti- 
 nuity of influence. The Regulation did not make the later 
 struggle inevitable. If it had never happened, the armies of 
 Washington and Clinton, of Greene and Cornwallis, would 
 have fought out their battles much the same as they did fight 
 them. As was remarked at the beginning of this paper, the 
 Eegulation was aimed at agents of government; the Eevolu- 
 tion struggled for princii)les. The one was organized and led 
 by men who were almost entirely hostile to the leaders of the 
 other. It is true that some Eegulators were in the armies of 
 the Eevolution, but the great majority of them were Tories. 
 
 There is a sense, however, in which the Eegulation influ- 
 enced the Eevolution. The struggle was a grand object lesson 
 to the whole country. It set the people to thinking of armed 
 resistance. Failure as it was, it showed how weak the Britisli 
 army would be in a hostile country.^ It taught the Xorth 
 Carolina troops who served with Tryon to appreciate the feel- 
 ings of such an army. The two cami)aigns of Tryon devel- 
 oped the military organization of the i^rovince. When the 
 Eevolution began, it was only necessary that this organization 
 should be put into motion. It was thus that the brilliant lit- 
 tle victory at Moores Creek was secured, with the result that 
 the most loyal section of the South was kept from joining the 
 British and thus opening a way to cut off from the Federation 
 the three southernmost colonies. 
 
 History will often be questioned as to the justness of this 
 matter. The answer will be chiefly on the side of the Eegula- 
 tors, The opinion cf Governor Martin is worth quoting. He 
 is generally conceded to have been an honest and sensible 
 man, although he was, by unfortunate conditions, inevitably 
 condemned to defeat. In 1772 he took a journey through the 
 back counties, and while at Hillsboro wrote to the British 
 Government: "I now see most clearly that [the people] have 
 been provoked by insolence and cruel advantage taken of the 
 people's ignorance by mercenary, tricking attorneys, clerks, 
 and other little oflticers, who have practiced upon them every 
 
 ' It is worthy of note that when the Revolutionary struggle was about 
 to open. Tryon was one of the few British officials in America who warned 
 t le Home Government that to reduce the colonies was a serious task. 
 (Sie Tudor s Life of Otis, p. 428.) 
 
212 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 sort of rapine aud extortion," and who Lad enlisted tlie aid of 
 government in order to cover tlieir own transgressions. This 
 exasperated the people and "drove them to acts of despera- 
 tion and confederated them in violences which, as your lord- 
 ship knoyrs, induced bloodshed, and, I verily believe, necessa- 
 rily." 1 Three months later, after he had returned to ISTew- 
 beru, he modified his opinion slightly. He then wrote that 
 he was fully convinced that the people had been — 
 
 grievously oppressed by the sheriffs, clerks, and other subordinate 
 officers of government, and exceedingly moved my compassion; but, on 
 the other hand, I can assure your lordship there was not wanting evi- 
 xlence of most extravagant licentiousness and criminal violences on the 
 part of that wretched people, which [being] provoked by the abuse I 
 discovered, or by other causes that might be inscrutable to me, seems 
 at length to have urged matters to a crisis that necessarily terminated in 
 bloodshed. Upon the whole, I am not without li0j)es, my lord, that the 
 vigorous measures taken by my predecessor under those circumstances 
 may have a tendency to keep under the disorderly spirit.- 
 
 This view seems eminently correct, and with it we may rest 
 our case. 
 
 1 Colonial Records, IX, 330. 
 2 lb., IX, 357-358. 
 
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