The war of the Regulation Part fifteen- the hunt for Joseph Murphy- June 3rd – by Jim Curran

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The war of the Regulation Part fifteen- the hunt for Joseph Murphy- June 3rd

Sandy Creek, Jersey Church and Benjamin Merrill were not the only Baptist targets of Tryon. His dragoons would range into many Baptist settlements and Fanning would lead one group to capture Joseph Murphy. I suspect this was one of the prime reasons that Tryon would move his army to Bethabara. This placed them withing striking distance of several Baptist settlements immediately west. We also know the area around Abbott’s Creek was also targeted but it is not clear if that was from Jersey Settlement or Bethabara. Joseph Murphy was one of the leading preachers among the Separate Baptists. He had been the one under whose preaching Samuel Harriss had been converted. Paschal in his History of North Carolina Baptists notes:Joseph Murphy- First a member of the Deep River church in the present county of Chatham, then of the Little River church, Mr. Murphy in 1768 went to a new church at Shallow Ford in Surry County, now Yadkin, and had the same remarkable success in gathering a large membership as previously at Little River. He did not escape the notice of Fanning, who accused him of “aiding and abetting the Regulation,” though he had done nothing of the kind. When Tryon was making his triumphal tour through the Regulator Country after the battle of Alamance, Edwards says that a party of dragoons was sent to seize Mr. Murphy, and though they could not find him they “stole his papers and a new pair of stockings which were the most valuable things they saw in his little cot.”It is not known for sure where Murphy fled to. Some accounts had him fleeing to Virginia but a lot of local tradition had him hiding at Boone’s cave on the land of Daniel Boone’s parents. (Picture below) The pursuit of Murphy shows that Tryon and Fanning very much viewed this as a war on the Baptists. Had Murphy been captured it is likely that he would have been hung at Hillsborough as well. The fact that he was not a regulator mattered not- here was an opportunity to rid themselves of a threat to the state church.We should heed this as a warning- our enemies now and then will lie and take every opportunity to attack the truth. The concept of “never let a serious crisis go to waste” is far older than the liberal agenda. It has been used to attack truth under other pretense for ages. Mt 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.