Remembering The Past, to Move Forward

Growing up in North Carolina, we are gifted to live in a place that was around from the beginning of this great nation. We too have taken part in making the nation what it is.

Just as my earlier posts have shown, the earliest times of our nation, was shaped in large part by the people who have settled it. The Swiss,came to New Bern and settled it, the French Huguenots came and settled Bath, English settlers came south from Jamestown colony, along with Scottish, and Irish immigrants. Yes, North Carolina, as the nation was becoming a melting pot of people and ideas.

The main idea was to live in freedom, to worship, as they pleased without some King, or ruler interfering. The idea and expectation was that they might be able to make a living off the land, to grow crops to feed their families, and have enough left over to sell to make a little money for the things they could not make on their own.

The Royal Governor William Tryon had enacted aggressive taxes to pay for his lavish mansion in New Bern. He was the symbol of the rule of the Crown in the American Colony, and therefore his home should reflect his status.

When the tax collectors levied their taxes by forcing the farmers to buy Tax Stamps on their crops, the people revolted as the Governor was taking the lion's share of what they had worked hard for, in some cases they did not keep even enough to feed their families through the winter. What did Tryon's house look like? Some said that it look more like a Palace than a home.

     

The Mob gave themselves a name they were called "Regulators", and they had determined to fight rather than submit to unjust and illegal taxation in their eyes. 

For a thorough read on the Battle at Alamance, I recommend reading up on the War of the Regulators  The War of the Regulation.

Marker in Hillsborough where Tryon had Six of the Ringleaders hanged.

Hillsborough Courthouse

The thing to remember about this rebellion is that it was but the beginning of unsettling events that would lead to the War in just five more years. The same people who fought at Alamance, were some of the same farmers who would become known as Minutemen, citizen soldiers, joining the Militia in North Carolina to expel Cornwallis on his Southern Campaign. They would also do battle with the many Tories that lived here, loyal to the King.