The same records present the following entry, at the next term of the court in March, 1771.

"The persons styling themselves Regulators under the conduct of Herman Husbands, James Hunter, Rednap Howell, William Butler, and Samuel Divinny, still continue their riotous meetings, and severally threatening the judges, lawyers and other officers of the court, prevented any of the judges or lawyers attending. Therefore the court continues adjourned till next September term."

The Superior Court at Salisbury was also impeded.

To these open and public acts of violence, were added acts of personal outrage. John Williams, one of the lawyers, was seized and severely beaten in the streets; Edmund Fanning was dragged out of the court house, and severely beaten. His house (where the present Masonic Hall in Hillsboro' is located) was torn down and his furniture destroyed.

The General Assembly met at Newbern on the 5th December, 1770, and the Governor received them in his magnificent palace, then just finished. Among other matters, the Governor urged the raising of a body of men, under the rules and discipline of war, to march into the settlements of the insurgents, to aid and protect the civil officers.

Herman Husbands was a member from Orange. An article in the Gazette, addressed to Judge Moore, was attributed to him, and in consequence, he was expelled from the house.

This Legislature passed an act prohibiting any number of persons above ten, assembling, for the disturbance of the peace; and in order to weaken the power of the Regulators, Orange County was divided, and three new counties erected,* one, of parts of Orange, Cumberland, and Johnston, called WAKE, in honor of the wife of Governor Tryon; another of Orange and Rowan, called GUILDFORD, and the southern part was cut off and called CHATHAM.

To prevent the Regulators from being supplied with ammunition, the Governor, in February, issued a proclamation (1771), prohibiting all merchants and others from supplying any person with pow der, shot or lead, until further notice.

In March, the Council determined to raise a force of several regiments of militia, and the Governor was advised to march at their head into the settlements of the Regulators, and reduce them by force.

In April, Governor Tryon left Newbern, with about three hundred men, and some artillery.

In May he was joined by a detachment of men from New Hanover, under Colonel John Ashe, also from Craven, under Colonel Joseph Leach; from Dobbs county, under Colonel Richard Caswell; from Onslow, under Colonel Craig; from Carteret, under Colonel Wm. Thompson; from Johnston, under Colonel Needham Bryan; a company of artillery, under Captain Moore; a company of rangers,

* Martin, ii. 271.

under Captain Neale; a detachment from Wake, under Colonel John Hinton; a company of cavalry, under Captain Bullock.

Governor Tryon and these troops crossed Haw River on the 13th, and on the 14th, encamped on the banks of the Alamance. The next day, on the banks of the same stream, the royal army encamped near the Regulators, who had assembled in great force.

On the 15th, a petition was brought to the Governor, from the Regulators, praying a redress of grievances, as the only means to prevent bloodshed. He replied that he would answer next day by

noon.

This petition and Tryon's reply, as well as many other original documents procured from the offices in London, never before published, the reader will find under the chapter (I) on Alamance County.

By dawn the next day the royal forces left the camp, and within half a mile of the Regulators, formed the line of battle, 16th May, 1771.

The Governor in reply to the petition, informed them by a messenger, that he had pursued every measure to redress their grievances without success. Nothing now was left but an immediate submission; a promise to pay taxes; a return to their homes; and a solemn assurance that they would no longer protect those indicted from a fair trial. He allowed them one hour to consider this reply.

The royal forces, according to Governor Tryon's own report (now for the first time published, in the following pages, see Alamance), amounted to upwards of eleven hundred; the Regulators under Husbands, Hunter, and Butler, to two thousand.

The Regulators told the messenger of the Governor to return and say that they defied him, and battle was all they wanted."

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The Governor then sent a magistrate and officer with a proclamation, commanding them to disperse within one hour.

The Regulators refused to listen to him, and cried out for battle, and advanced on the royal forces.

The Governor then sent his aid, Philemon Hawkins, to inform the Regulators that unless they delivered up Husbands, Hunter, Howell and some others, and disperse, he would fire upon them.

The regulators replied, "Fire and be d-d."

The Governor then ordered his troops to fire, which was not immediately obeyed. Rising in his stirrups, inflamed with anger, he again orders"Fire-Fire on them or fire on me.”

The action became general, and for a few moments was warm. After a conflict of two hours, the Regulators fled, leaving twenty dead and several wounded. The loss of the royal forces in killed, wounded, and missing, was sixty-one men. One officer was killed, and one dangerously wounded.

Thus ended the battle of Alamance. Thus, and here, was the first blood spilled in these United States, in resistance to exactions of English rulers, and oppressions by the English government.

"The Great Wolf of North Carolina" showed his blood-thirsty

temper, by acts of revenge, cruelty, and barbarity. He hung Captain Few the next day, without a trial, on a tree.

Tryon marched on the 21st to Sandy Creek, where he encamped for a week. Crossing Deep River and Flat Swamp, the army marched to Reedy Creek. Here being joined by General Waddell, Governor Tryon returned on 9th June by Black Jack, Buffalo, Big Troublesome, in Rockingham County, and Back Creek to Hillsboro', which he reached on the 14th.

At a special court held for trial of the prisoners for high treason, taken in the battle of Alamance, they were convicted. and sentenced to death. The execution of six of them was delayed until the king's pleasure was known. On the 19th the others were executed.

After this, Tryon dismissed his army and returned to Newbern on the 24th, and on the 30th took shipping for New York, to which colony he had been appointed Governor.

Herman Husbands, although a reward was offered for him by Tryon, escaped. He settled in Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. He returned to North Carolina after the Revolutionary War, on business, but remained only a short time. His two sons settled on a large tract of land on Deep River, near the Buffalo Ford. His daughter married a man by the name of Wright.

He is stated to have been concerned in the Whisky Insurrection of Pennsylvania, in 1794, and associated with Gallatin, Brackenridge and Bradford, on a Committee of Safety. For this he was apprehended. From the influence of his friends, among whom was the Rev. David Caldwell, of Guilford county (who happened at this time to be at Philadelphia), Dr. Benjamin Rush, and others, Husbands was released. On his way home, he died at a tavern near Philadelphia.

Under the head of Alamance County, in this work, many rare, valuable and interesting documents will be found, never before published, which place the objects, end, and intents of the Regulators in a true color. The curious will examine carefully these records, as they throw a flood of light upon the history of our State, which has been obscured by misrepresentation and neglect.

They were copied under the eye of the Hon. George Bancroft, from originals on file in London, in the Office of the Board of Trade and Plantations. By his kindness they are here presented to the people of the State. I feel the deep obligations that I am under to Mr. Bancroft, and the State of North Carolina deeply feels her obligations to him as the only historian who has done her justice.

CHAPTER IX.

FROM 1771 TO JULY 4, 1776.

Administration of Josiah Martin, November 1771 to 1775-Last of the royal governors in North Carolina-His life and character-Parliamentary usages of "the olden times"-The powers of the governor-" A king, aye, every inch a king"-Difficulties arise between the governor and the Assembly, as to the attachment laws and appointment of judges-Courts of law closedFirst popular Assembly meets at Newbern, on the 25th of August, 1774John Harvey, Moderator-Names of the members-Its resolves-It adjourns and another is called in April, 1775-Governor Martin fulminates a procla mation against "such disorder and anarchy," March 1, 1775-The Colonial and the Popular Assemblies meet at the same time and place-" Passage of arms" between the Governor and the Assembly-The Governor, in his speech to the Colonial Assembly, denounces these meetings of the people and particularly the unwarrantable appointment of delegates to attend a Continental Congress, at Philadelphia, then in agitation, as highly injurious and "particularly offensive to the King"-The Assembly reply that "the right of the people to assemble and remonstrate is not to be doubted," and pass resolutions "approving of the General Congress at Philadelphia, to assemble September 4, 1774"Whereupon, Governor Martin dissolves the Assembly The last which ever sat under the royal government in North Carolina-Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, May 1775Governor Martin retreats on board of his Majesty's ship-of-war Cruiser, in the Cape Fear River; and the royal government terminates forever in North Carolina-Provincial Congress meets at Hillsboro', August, 1775-Troops raised for military operations-Civil government exercised by a Provincial Council-District Committees of Safety; and County Committees-Names of the committee-men in each district-Battle of Moore's Creek, in New Hanover County, February 27, 1776-Tories defeated under Gen. McDonald -Provincial Congress meets at Halifax, April 4th, 1776-Names of members-Names of general, field, battalion, and county officers-This body instruct their delegates in the Continental Congress, in April, 1776, to vote for Independence-Committees of Safety appointed-Adjourned on the 14th of May, 1776-Provincial Council of Safety meets at Wilmington, on the 6th of June, 1776-General Rutherford, of Rowan, marches with one thousand nine hundred men, against the Overhill Cherokees (now Tennessee), reduces them, burns their towns, and destroys their crops-Provincial Council of Safety meets in July, at Halifax-The national Declaration of Independence reaches them while in session-Their proceedings, and some account of the first celebration, in North Carolina, of the Declaration of Independence.

JAMES HASEL, being the first named of the Council, on the departure of Governor Tryon, qualified as Governor in July, 1771. He soon resigned the reins of government to JOSIAH MARTIN, who had been commissioned by the crown, and who arrived in North Carolina, at Newbern, on the 11th August.

Like his predecessor, Governor Martin was by profession a soldier. He had risen, in the British Army, to the rank of Major;

and was an Englishman by birth. He was brother to Samuel Martin, a member of the British Parliament, who was distinguished by a duel, in 1763, with the celebrated John Wilkes. His character was not deficient either in firmness or talent.

In his administration of the colony, he seems to have found himself too strictly fettered by his instructions from the crown to be of service to the country. In endeavoring to carry out the one, he lost the favor of the other. He misconceived, when the storm of popular feeling was raised, both the means of calming its anger and averting its fury.

Had he lived in less troublesome times, his administration might have been peaceful and prosperous. But Providence had decreed that this country should be free from all foreign dominion, and that Martin should be the last of the royal governors in and over North Carolina.

Governor Martin met the legislature, for the first time, in the town of Newbern, in Nov., 1771.

To this age, the forms of electing and assembling the legislative body, the homage paid to the Governor, as the representative of the Sovereign, and the power and influence of the governor are curious, and useful to show the improvements that our free institutions have suggested and carried out.

The Governor had the power with advice of his council, to convene the legislature, at pleasure, the upper branch of which was called the council, appointed by the crown; the speaker, or president of which was the first named in the list, and was, in the absence of the Governor, the executive of the colony. The council was the mere echo of the Governor, since they were both appointed by the same authority; their records show few instances where they ever differed from the Governor on any question of policy. The Governor had the power to prorogue, or dissolve the Assembly, and had an unqualified veto on all their acts. The Governor had also the appointment of the associate judges of the superior courts, the sheriffs of the courts, and the clerks of the superior courts. He was indeed a sovereign, "aye, every inch a king." By his order, writs were issued by the clerk of the crown, to the sheriffs of the several counties, directing them to hold elections in each county, and the number to be elected; and the place of assembling; which writs were duly executed, and returns made of the persons elected, to the clerk of the crown. At the time and place appointed, the members assembled, their credentials were read, and qualification took place, which was done in the presence of two of the council, appointed for this purpose by the Governor. Two of the members then waited on his Excellency, to say that the house was organized, and awaited his commands. The Governor then summoned the members to the palace; then, he directs them to return and elect a Speaker. This being done, two members then wait on his Excelleney, to know when he would receive them, to present their Speaker. The house is summoned by the private secretary of the Governor, to make their immediate