The Boy Spies with the Regulators

This command was given secretly, else would Master Thompson never have been allowed to go forth on such an errand when we were prepared and eager to measure strength with the enemy.

However, he went, and we remained in the saddle mystified, wondering why any parley should be held, until we saw our comrade halt in front of the governor himself.

Now this which I am to about to relate was afterward told me by a member of Tryon's force. As a matter of course all that we of the Regulation could see was the movements of the men.

When Master Thompson advanced to the governor, he was told abruptly, and without even the ordinary civility which is due from one gentleman to another, to make his way to the rear as a prisoner.

Indignant because of such perfidy, he told the brute Tryon some very plain truths regarding his actions in the Carolinas, and wheeled about to return to our lines.

My eyes were upon him at the moment, and Sidney had expressed his satisfaction at seeing Master Thompson coming toward us in such a resolute manner, when I saw Tryon seize a musket from the hands of a militiaman, and shoot the Regulator dead.

At the same instant it was as if the governor realized what he had done, for the smoke of the musket had hardly more than cleared away before we saw a flag of truce advance; but the murder of Robert Thompson was sufficient to arouse us all, and an hundred rifles were immediately emptied upon the bearer of the flag.

Then it was that we would have advanced without waiting for orders from Master Husband, but that Parson Caldwell rode swiftly up and down the line between us and the enemy, imploring the Regulators to disperse rather than bring civil war upon the colony.

We could not fire upon a man like Master Caldwell, neither was it in our hearts to ride him down, as we must have done had a charge been made at that moment; but Tryon, losing his senses through rage, as it seemed to me, gave the word for the militia to fire.

Not a man obeyed the order.

Parson Caldwell continued to urge that we have forbearance, and again Tryon called out for his men to shoot, this time addressing the artillery as well as militia.

It was as if both sides were listening to the entreaties of the clergyman, when the bully Tryon, maddened with rage, rose in his stirrups as he shouted frantically:

"Fire! Fire on them or on me!"

This order was given to the entire force, and the men obeyed.

How many of our people fell I know not. On the instant there came before my eyes a red mist; my brain swam, and I only know that there was but one desire in my heart, which was to kill – to kill the brute who had neither the instincts of a man nor the courage of a woman!

We Regulators fired rapidly as we could load and discharge our pieces, and then suddenly Sidney shouted:

"Come forward, lads! Spur your horses hard and we may take those cannon, for the men who work them act faint-hearted! Follow me!"

An hundred or more of us responded to this call. Riding forward at full speed we literally swept the cannoneers from their pieces, and this done, after many lives had paid the price, we saw that man to whom General Hamilton had entrusted the command of the gallant Regulators, ride like a coward down the road a short distance, and then into the thicket.

Verily I believe there was not one among us save he who would have shown the white feather even in order to save his own life, and we cursed him – while we battled against the enemy we cursed him!

What followed I know not of my own knowledge. It was as if a fever had seized upon me, and when reason returned Sidney and I were in the jail at Hillsborough, where we remained many a long, dreary month before finally being allowed to return to our homes under parole.

Here is an account as I have seen it set down by another who wrote at a later day, when all the facts were known, and in his words shall be told the remainder of the distressing story which began so bravely, and ended in shame and in death. [3 - Lossing's "Field Book of the Revolution."] "Some young men among the Regulators rushed forward and took possession of the cannons. They did not know how to manage them, and soon abandoned them. The military now fired with vigor, and the Regulators fell back to a ledge of rocks on the verge of a ravine, not, however, until their ammunition was exhausted.

"Nine of the Regulators and twenty-seven of the militia fell in that conflict, and a great number on both sides were wounded. Tryon, in his report, said, 'The loss of our army in killed, wounded, and missing amounted to about sixty men.'

"The admitted excesses of the Regulators afford no excuse for the cruelty of Tryon after the battle on the Alamance. With the implacable spirit of revenge, he spent his wrath upon his prisoners, and some of his acts were worthy only of a barbarian. He exacted an oath of allegiance from the people; levied contributions of provisions; chastised those who dared to offend him; and at Hillsborough he offered a large reward for the bodies of Husband and other Regulators, 'dead or alive.'

"At Hillsborough he held a court-martial for the trial of his prisoners. Twelve were condemned to suffer death; six were reprieved, and the others were hung. His thirst for revenge satiated, Tryon returned to his palace at Newbern, where he remained but a short time, having been called to the administration of affairs in the province of New York.

"The movements of the Regulators and the result of the battle on the Alamance form an important episode in the history of our Revolution. Their resistance arose from oppressions more personal and real than those which aroused the people of New England. It was not wholly the abstract idea of freedom for which they contended; their strife consisted of efforts to relieve themselves of actual burdens. While the tea-duty was but a 'pepper-corn tribute,' imposing no real burden upon the industry of the people in New England, extortion in every form, and not to be evaded, was eating out the substance of the working men in North Carolina. Implied despotism armed the New Englanders; actual despotism panoplied the Carolinians. Each were equally patriotic, and deserve our reverent gratitude. The defeat on the Alamance did not break the spirit of the patriots; and many, determined no longer to suffer the oppressions of extortioners, abandoned their homes, with their wives and children, went beyond the mountains, and began settlements in the fertile valleys of the Tennessee."

THE END

notes

1

Benson J. Lossing, "Field Book of the Revolution."

2

Lossing's "Field Book of the Revolution."

3

Lossing's "Field Book of the Revolution."