The War of the Regulation Part 1 Introduction by Jim Curran

Jim Curran Admin 05/02/21 Facebook

The War of the Regulation Part 1 Introduction

Just south of Burlington North Carolina lies a beautiful green field punctuated by a few rail fences, a smattering of buildings, and a couple of monuments. Most people driving through the road that bisects the property probably never give it a second glance. A couple of handfuls of people each day may visit the site. Even more obscure is a little fenced memorial that lies behind the board of education building in Hillsborough- most people looking at the art galleries and cafe’s in this tiny touristy town don’t even know it is there. A tremendous contrast is the Minutemen National Historic Park where the battles of Lexington and Concord were fought and the shot heard round the world echoed. The park sees over a million visitors a year. Most all today proclaim Lexington and Concord as the first battles of the American Revolution. BUT WERE THEY? The events that unfolded in that verdant green field at Alamance 250 years ago on May 16th 1771 south of Burlington were echoed four years later at Lexington and Concord. The complaints were largely the same- taxation without representation, tyrannical British rule, and government corruption. The principle player on the British side was William Tryon the same tyrannical man that would govern New York during the Revolutionary War and would turn his cannons on civilian targets along the coast of Connecticut. The Regulator War is a largely forgotten part of American history. A inscription on the side of one of the memorials from 1880 as well as a column placed by The Daughters of the American Revolution declares this the first battle of the American Revolution. Docents at the site largely downplay these. Even more forgotten is Tryon’s campaign of destruction waged at several sites in western North Carolina after this where he burned houses and fields and dragged men off in irons. Why in the world is this forgotten? Even at that the visitor center the movie only tells part of the story largely centering on a Quaker Herman Husband and ignores the ravage waged upon communities afterward. Why is this? At another historical site where a tribunal was held they were completely unaware. I would suggest that in many ways the reason that this is ignored is the fact that this was very much on Tryon’s part a religious war. Indeed it was a WAR LARGELY AGAINST BAPTIST PEOPLE!! Tryon’s armies after Alamance encamped at Sandy Creek and near Jersey Church and decimated the surrounding areas. Two of the principle targets for capture were Captain Benjamin Merrill, a deacon at the Jersey Baptist Church and Joseph Murphy- a Baptist preacher. Much of the Regulator movement were Baptists however to be fair there were many others involved including Quakers and many that were just farmers that were fed up. On the other side the Presbyterians split evenly on the issue and the full force of Tryon’s actions was to advance the Anglican Church. Indeed the vestry tax for the support of the “Church of England’s” “ministers” was one of the main complaints of the Regulators. We will examine the problems that led to the rise of the Regulator movement (Regulator being the term for those that wanted to curb the power of government and were opposed to Tryon) in the next installment.