May. CHAP. sent to Salisbury, while Tryon himself, having writ XLVI. ten a harsh rebuke of the agreement in Rowan 1771. County for arbitration, marched into Orange County. His progress was marked by the destruction of wheat fields and orchards, the burning of every house which was found empty; the seizure of cattle, poultry and all the produce of the plantations. The terrified people ran together like sheep chased by a wolf; while Tryon crossed the Eno, and the Haw; and the men who had been indicted at Newbern for felonies, were already advertised as outlaws, when on the evening of the fourteenth, he reached the Great Alamance. The little army under his command was composed of one thousand and eighteen foot soldiers, and thirty light horse, besides the officers.1 The Regulators, who had been drawn together not as insurgents but from alarm,-many, perhaps most of them without guns, may have numbered rather more, and were encamped about five miles to the west of the stream. They gathered round James Hunter as their "general;" and his superior capacity, and dauntless courage, won from the unorganized host implicit obedience and enthusiastic reverence. They were almost in despair, lest the Governor "would not lend a kind ear to the just complaints of the people." Still on the evening of the fifteenth they entreated, that harmony might yet be restored, that "the presaged tragedy of warlike marching to meet each The number of the army of Tryon is given exactly according to his own statement in a letter from New-York, 1 August, 1771. As the Regulators were not counted, their number is a matter of mere conjecture. Tryon puts it at two thousand. One newspaper account at the time says but three hundred took part in the battle. Compare the judicious Caruthers, Life of Caldwell, 147. Gov. Martin to Hillsborough, 8 March, 1772. XLVI. other might be prevented;" that the Governor CHAP. would give them leave to present "their Petition," and to treat for peace. The next day Tryon crossed Alamance River, and marched out to meet the Regulators. As he ap proached, James Hunter and Benjamin Merrill,1 a captain of militia, "a man in general esteem for his honesty, integrity, piety and moral good life," received from him this answer: "I require you to lay down your arms, surrender up the outlawed ringleaders, submit yourselves to the laws, and rest on the lenity of the Government. By accepting these terms in one hour, you will prevent an effusion of blood, as you are at this time in a state of war and rebellion." 2 The demands were utterly unjustifiable. No one of the Regulators had been legally outlawed; or even legally indicted. The Governor acted against law as against right; and by every rule deserved to be resisted. Yet the Regulators reluctantly accepted the appeal to arms; for they had nothing to hope from victory itself. Their courage was the courage of martyrs. The action began before noon, by firing a fieldpiece into the midst of the people. Many of the Regulators, perhaps the larger number, retired; but those who remained, disputed the field for two hours, fighting first in the open ground and then from behind trees, till at last having nearly expended their ammunition, Hunter and his men were compelled to 8 1 Letter from North Carolina, 24 July, 1771. 2 Tryon to the people now assembled in arms, who style themselves Regulators. 3 Tryon to Hillsborough, "They left behind them little ammunition." Compare Caruthers. 1771. May. XLVI. CHAP. retreat. Nine of the King's troops were killed, and sixty-one wounded.2 Of the Regulators, above May. twenty fell in battle, besides the wounded." 1771. June. Some prisoners were taken in the pursuit. Before sunset, Tryon had returned in triumph to his camp. The next day James Few, one of the prisoners, was by the Governor's order, hanged on a tree as an outlaw; and his parents ruined by the destruction of their estate. Then followed one proclamation after another, excepting from mercy outlaws and prisoners, and promising it to none others but those who should take an oath of allegiance, pay taxes, submit to the laws, and deliver up their arms. After this Tryon proceeded to the Yadkin to join Waddel, who had incurred some danger of being cut off. Waddel then moved through the Southwestern counties, unmolested, except that in Mecklenburgh his ammunition was blown up,5 while Tryon turned back, living at free quarters on the Regulators, forcing them to contribute all kinds of provisions, and burning the houses and laying waste and destroying the plantations of every outlaw." On the ninth of June he arrived at Hillsborough, where the Court awaited him. His first work was a proclamation inviting "every person" to shoot Herman Husbands, or James Hunter, or Redknap 1 Letter from North Carolina, 24 July, 1771. 2 Official return of the killed and wounded. 3 Martin's Hist. of North Caro- Proclamation of Tryon, 17 Tryon's Proclamation of 11 "all concerned in blowing up General Waddel's ammunition in Mecklenburgh. Tryon to Hillsborough, 1 August, 1771. "The commissary had not occasion to purchase any provision for the troops, from the 16th of May, till they quitted their settlements the 20th of June." 'Postscript to the same letter. XLVI. 1771. Howell, or William Butler; and offering a hundred CHAP. pounds and a thousand acres of land, as a reward for the delivery of either of them alive or dead. Then June. twelve men, taken in battle, were tried and brought in guilty of Treason; and on the nineteenth of June, six of them were hanged under the eye of the Governor, who himself marked the place for the gallows, gave directions for clearing the field, and sketched in general orders the line of march of the army to the place of execution, with the station of each company round the gallows. The victims died bravely. It is yet kept in memory, how Benjamin Merrill met his fate in the most heroic manner, sustained by the pious affection of his children, and declaring that he died at peace with his Maker, in the cause of his country.1 2 The next day Tryon, having gratified himself with the spectacle, and taking care to make the most of the confiscated lands, which were among the best on the continent, left Hillsborough, and on the thirtieth sailed to take possession of the Government of New-York, leaving the burden of an illegally contracted debt of more than forty thousand pounds. So general was the disgust, that his successor dared not trust the people with the immediate election of a new Assembly, though terror and despair had brought six thousand of the Regulators to submission.4 8 XLVI. 1771. June. CHAP. were requested not to harbor the fugitives. But the A far wilderness offered shelter beyond the mountains, and the savages seemed comparatively mild protectors. Without concert, instinctively impelled by discontent and the wearisomeness of life exposed to bondage, men crossed the Alleghanies and descending into the basin of the Tennessee, made their homes in the valley of the Watauga. There no lawyer followed them; there no King's Governor came to be their Lord; there the flag of England never waved. They rapidly extended their settlements; by degrees they took possession of the more romantic banks of the broader Nollichucky, whose sparkling waters spring out of the tallest mountains in the range. The climate was invigorating; the health-giving westerly wind blew at all seasons; in spring the wild crab apple filled the air with the sweetest of perfumes. A fertile soil gave to industry good crops of maize; the clear streams flowed pleasantly without tearing floods; where the closest thickets of spruce and rhododendron flung the cooling shade furthest over the river, trout abounded. The elk and the red deer were not wanting in the natural parks of oak and hickory, of maple, elm, black ash, and buckeye. Of quails and turkeys and pigeons there was no end. The golden eagle built its nest on the topmost ledge of the mountain, and might be seen wheeling in wide circles high above the pines, or dropping like a meteor upon its prey. The black bear, whose flesh was held to be the most delicate of meats, grew so fat upon the abundant acorns and chestnuts, that he could be run down in a race of three hundred yards; and sometimes the hunters gave chase to the coward panther, strong enough to beat off twenty dogs, yet flying from |