page_title: Cary's Rebellion
section_title: Rebellion
hierarchical_section_title: Cary's Rebellion / Rebellion
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of a portrait of Governor Edward Hyde of North Carolina
context_page_description: Cary's Rebellion was an uprising against the Deputy Governor of North-Carolina in 1711 led by Thomas Cary, who refused to give up his governorship to Edward Hyde. The rebellion was a part of a long-standing tension between religious and political groups in northern Carolina, generally divided between the Quaker party, of which Cary was a part, and the Church of England party, to which Hyde belonged.
context_section_description: Though "Cary's Rebellion" can refer to the entire period from the ousting of Glover, it is generally used only for the period in 1711 after the Lords Proprietors chose Edward Hyde to take over the role of Deputy Governor and was resisted by Cary.  Hyde arrived in North Carolina in January 1711.  He brought with him letters from the Lords Proprietors and was supposed to receive his full, official commission from the Governor of Carolina when he arrived.  However, the governor had died when he arrived, and so his claim to the Deputy Governorship was not technically perfected.  Despite this, Cary and the Quaker party were at first willing to allow Hyde to take over, until Hyde began to clearly side with the Anglican party.  Then Cary refused to recognize Hyde until he produced his official commission and claimed that he was still the legal governor.    
  Hyde declared Cary to be in open rebellion and assembled an armed force of around 150 men to go to Bath to arrest him.  Cary fled from his home to a nearby plantation (possibly that of former governor Robert Daniell) which had been fortified and armed with cannons and several dozen of Cary's supporters. On May 29, after failing to reach an agreement with Cary, Hyde decided  to attack this fortified position and he and his men were beaten back after a short battle. Cary gathered together a larger force and armed a small brigantine with several cannons and set off to attack Hyde's fortified plantation.  On June 30, Cary's attack was repulsed after the mast of the brigantine was shot and his men fled.  Cary regrouped and fortified a small island in the Pamlico Sound and began to rearm his followers. They then sailed to mainland Carolina and met Hyde's force face to face. A fierce battle broke out. Little is known about the battle.   Quakers themselves are generally pacifists so it is unlikely that many Quakers took part in the violence themselves but rather that Cary's force was made up of Bath County men and non-Quaker dissenters. 
  Governor Alexander Spottswood of Virginia had decided to come to the aid of Hyde and began organizing a militia and dispatched a contingent of Royal Marines who had been stationed on the Chesapeake in mid-July. With the arrival of an organized military force, who represented the official power of the crown, Cary's forces disbanded and Cary himself fled.  He was arrested and sent to England for trial though he was released after a year and returned to live out his life in Bath without further incident.
caption: Edward Hyde, the first Governor of North-Carolina (January–September 1712)
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