The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-07-19
HERMAN HUSBANDS AND
WAR OF THE REGULATORS
Thomas E. Watson Deyotes Whole Chapter to That
Early Struggle for Liberty in His Life and
Times of Thomas Jefferson.

clared outlaws. Their property was con-
fiscated and seized The holder spirits
finally mustered at Great Alamance creek
to await the Governors little army. They
had no artillery, not much ammunition,
and many of them had no guns. 1t was a
struggling, unorganzed crowd, not an
army. Again they prayed for the redress
of their grievances, the righting of their
wrongs The Governors reply was that
he had done all he intended to do; and
that they must submit, pay taxes and
return to their homes.
] Tryon was a man of energy of charac
! ter. and his subsequent career in New
York demonstrated it, and he felt that
with his artillery and superiority of ma
terial and equipment, his success was
certain. He gave the patiots one hour
to consider There were two thousand of
these regulators, and they had passed be-
yond the stage Of wisdom. For four or
| five years the people had endured wrongs,
had protested, had been promised reforms,
and had been deceived. Those who OPP
pressed them could neither be checked nor
punished. II convicted the evildoers were
let go, unwhipped of Justice. Leaders of
the people who rose against law breakers
! had languished in prison, while the law
| breakers. duly convicted in open court,
escaped justice by reason of Tryon's pro-
| lection. And now after all these years of
misrule came the Governor with arms in
his hand. and a one hour limit on his
! tongue. saying to the freemen of North
Carolina. disperse. submit, pay taxes, or
he would fire upon them. No wonder the
/ hot IF An0 Cos lod
within them: no wonder that their rash
| reply was, FIRE AND BE DAMNED"
| Not at once did the royal troops obey
Governor Tryons order to begin battle.
They were North Carolnians also and
they shrank from this brother-k killing
strife. But no promptings of humanity
can resist military discipline, and when
Tryon, inflamed with anger, rose in his
stirrups and shouted again:
FIRE! FIRE. on them or on mel" his
! troops opened fire upon the regulators
The result could hardly be in serious
doubt. The regulators were broken, and
they fled the field, leaving twenty of their
number dead, besides the wounded and
those captured The ropal forces lost nine
killed and sixty-one wounded. "a Cap
tain Few one of the leaders of the regu-
lators, was strung up to the limb of a
tree the next day, without trial, and
strangled with a rope. Others were tried
for high treason, convicted and put to
death
Upon the head of Herman Husbands, a
price was set-$500 and thousand acres
of land! A royal proclamation authorized
any citizen to shoot him on sight. But he
escaped and made his way to Pennsyl
vania. Tryon and his henchman, Tanning
soon went back to the north, their peck
cts full; leaving one of the fairest
portions of North Carolina picture of
desolation, and leaving the taxpayers to
groan under a heavy load of illegally made
public debt
Fugitives fleeing from the misgovern
ment and the merciless persecution of
this royal Governor Tryon passed over
the mountains, and rested their tired feet
in the pleasant valleys beyond-in the flu
ture Tennessee.
OF all the colonial Governors, Tryon is
said to have been the most popular with
the authorities in England: and yet Mr..
Sydney George Fisher marvels at the lack
of love shown by the colonists for their
mother country.
Is it true that the royal government was
corrupt, oppressive? Is it true that Fan
ming was naughty, cruel, cxhorbitant? Is
it true that he. and the Governor were
but accomplices in plundering the people
over whom they had been put?
Long after the butchery at Alamance
and the burnings in Orange, this official
report was made to Lord Dartmouth in
London by Tryon's successor, Martin: IT
can assure your lordship that these people
We're grievously oppressed"
Tryon and Tanning were tories, despis-
ing the North Carolina Wings. They had
gone down there to make money: and they
made it.
When the Revolutionary War broke out,
they fought the Americans as they had
done in North Carolina.
flaming, the arch-oppressor, raised
Tory regiment in New York; and, after
the war, became a general in the British
army, and Governor of Prince Edward
Island
Tryon was the author of the New York
plot to kidnap Washington, and if neces-
sary, assassinate him. He was the soul
of Tory resistance in the North
To what extent were these insurgents
of 1771 the forerunners Of the men of
Lexington and Concord? Remember that
North Carolina had taken up arms to
oppose the landing of the stamps; remem-
Der that this instruction had been sue
cessful.
That was in 1865. Who can doubt that
the example sunk deep into the hearts of
the people?
Therefore, when Tryon taxed them to
build his extrvagant palace, when Of
ficers of the law practiced extortion and
fraud, when money raised for one purpose
was used for another is it any wonder
that the people should agitate tks ques-
ton. should assemble for discussion,
should pass resolutions, and should en-
deavor to bring popular pressure to bear
upon the Governor?
Listen to the declaration drawn UP by
Herman Husbands, and read to the court
of Orange county at its August session,
1766-the year following the stamp act
tumults:
While the sons of liberty had with
stood the lords of parliament in behalf