The Regulator War Part sixteen- judging at Bethabara June 4th- 9th – by Jim Curran
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The Regulator War Part sixteen- judging at Bethabara June 4th- 9th
On June forth Tryon’s forces would arrive in the Moravian settlement of Bethabara after stopping in Salem in the middle of the day. His arrival in Bethabara was the complete and total opposite of what happened in the Baptist settlements. Here instead of a conquering army he was a guest. Instead of worthless tickets that were only occasionally handed out here he paid handsomely for the Moravians to take care of his army and horses. He gave them 75 pounds in cash, the equivalent of $13,600 dollars today. Indeed one wonders if some of the money may have been plundered from the Baptist settlements. For the waning community of Bethabara this must have been a massive boost. Perhaps the reception of Tryon was so warm because of a prior visit he had made in 1767 in which the Moravians had entertained him and he was pleased with their settlement.This time his purpose was much more sinister. He would set up a large field tent and judge those that were hauled in from the surrounding settlements. Three branches of the Shallow Fords Baptist Church where Joseph Murphy pastored were directly west as well as other Baptist settlements. His dragoons would again range throughout demanding his oath of loyalty and hauling in “offenders.” Officially the Moravians had been “neutral” in the conflict but such an action as to allow this certainly showed them as turncoats when they had enjoyed good relations with the Baptists before. However in their favor some accounts seem to show they may have tempered Tryon’s judgement here as fewer were hauled into Hillsborough from here. In our visit here I talked with the volunteer in the visitor’s center. I was surprised to hear that they had no idea that this tribunal happened here even though it is in the Moravian diary. The remains of Bethabara are located in a city park in Winston-Salem. There is a darkness here as there is in Hillsborough and all places where persecution happened. There is little left except the Moravian Church a log house and many foundations (and a reconstructed common garden.) In many ways the Moravians were cultic in their beliefs separating even married couples and children in living arrangements. Yet I remember in missions class in Bible College hearing that the Moravians were at the forefront of missions and actually started modern missions. I beg to differ. Waldensian Barbas and Anabaptist Preachers (and our other groups before them) spread the Gospel long before they did. We may have done it underground but we did it long before them. (Indeed we probably do not and never will know the extent of these underground missionary efforts- I remember a missionary in China in the late 80’s telling of finding some evidence that Waldensian missionaries had been there)As a note there will be a little bit of a gap and we will resume on the 14th.
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