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which two managed to escape, and all were soon pardoned by the governor.
Fanning was found guilty on a number of charges, and fined one penny on each.
After this display of justice, the governor issued a proclamation of a
general pardon to all who had engaged in riotous activity, except thirteen
Regulators whom he designated by name: James Hunter, Ninian Hamilton, Peter
Craven, Isaac Jackson, Harmon Husbands, Matthew Hamilton, William Payne,
Ninian Bell Hamilton, Malachi Tyke, William Moffat, Christopher Nation,
Solomon Goff, and John O’Neil.
On 24 September 1770, at superior court in Hillsborough, several Regulators
under the conduct of Harmon Husbands “in a riotous manner went into the court
house, and forcibly carried out some of the attorneys, and in a cruel manner,
beat them. They then insisted ... that the jury should be taken out of their
party.” The judge adjourned the court. In March 1771 a similar riotous mob,
again under the conduct of Husbands, severely threatened the judges, lawyers,
and officers of the court, and prevented them from attending. Again, the
judge adjourned the court, barely making his escape.
Immediately afterward, a lawyer named John Williams, on his way to the
courthouse, was severely beaten in the streets. Edmund Fanning, the person
most obnoxious to the community, was seized in the court house, dragged out
by his heels, severely beaten, and kept in confinement overnight. In the
morning, when it was discovered there would be no court, Fanning was beaten
again; his house was torn down, his elegant furniture destroyed. Soon after,
the house, barn, and out-buildings of the judge were burned to the ground.
Judge Henderson called upon Governor Tryon to restore order in his district.
The governor resolved to use military force to subdue the Regulators. He
deferred operations, however, until the December meeting of the state
legislature. Harmon Husbands, a member of the Lower House, gathered support
from enough sympathizers that the legislature adjourned without authorizing
a military expedition. The governor soon issued another proclamation,
prohibiting the sale of powder, shot, or lead, until further notice. This was
to prevent the Regulators from supplying themselves with munitions of war.
On 19 March 1771, Governor Tryon issued a circular to the colonels and
commanding officers, ordering them to select fifty volunteers from their
respective regiments and send them to Newbern to march against the
Regulators. On 24 April 1771, the governor left Newbern with about three
hundred militiamen, a small train of artillery, some baggage wagons, and
several personal friends. On 9 May 1771 he was encamped on the banks of the
Eno, having been reinforced by detachments on the way. General Hugh Waddell
was directed to collect the forces from the western counties, rendezvous at
Salisbury, and join the governor in Orange (now Guilford) county. While
Waddell was encamped at Salisbury, waiting for the arrival of ammunition
from Charleston, a company of men lying in wait in disguise, with blackened
faces, intercepted the convoy of ammunition between Charlotte and Salisbury,
routed the guard, blew up the powder, and escaped unhurt.
The Regulators gathered their forces, about 2000 in all, on Alamance Creek,
on the route to Salisbury. The governor, much alarmed, crossed the Haw River
on 13 May 1771, and the next evening was encamped within six miles of the
Regulators. On 15 May 1771 the Regulators sent a message to the governor
making propositions of accommodation. The governor promised an answer by
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