Otis James
The Boy Spies with the Regulators
CHAPTER XV
THE BATTLE
It was as if we had no sooner learned that Tryon was near at hand than he came almost upon us.
Just at sunset on the 13th day of May in the year of grace 1771, our scouts came in with the report that the governor's force was encamped hardly more than six miles away, and was sending out skirmishers to ascertain our position.
Master Husband's opinion was, and now he had become the leader we learned that he could be very obstinate once his mind was made up, that our scouts should be drawn in lest, peradventure, some of them be captured.
Thus it was we remained all in ignorance of what the enemy might be doing until, at about eight o'clock in the evening, our sentinels captured two of the king's men who were out reconnoitering, bringing them into camp.
These were none other than Colonel John Ashe and Captain John Walker.
Now has come the moment when I must write of what we did to disgrace the Regulation, because surely it was a disgrace for civilized men claiming to be at war, to act as did the Regulators through the advice, or, I might almost say, the commands of, Master Husband.
As we learned afterward, our new leader fancied he had cause for enmity against the two gentlemen whom our sentinels had taken prisoners, and within half an hour after they were brought into camp, he ordered both tied to a tree and severely whipped.
It was an outrage which cannot be excused, however partial one may feel toward that organization which first nourished the spirit of liberty among the American people. Yet it was done, and to Master Husband must be given the blame.
In the Carolinas Colonel Ashe and Captain Walker were looked upon as worthy gentlemen even by those whose politics were of a different complexion, and that we should flog them like slaves, nay, even in a more brutal fashion than one would whip his own chattels, was dire disgrace.
Had Master Husband delayed even ten minutes after making the proposal for punishment, our people would have cried out against the outrage; but it seemed almost as if the Regulators were paralyzed by the mere suggestion of such an act as had never before disgraced them, and a few of the meaner spirits carried the order into execution while the remainder of the company were literally stupefied.
This was the first wrong done, so far as I knew, by the Regulation, and nineteen out of every twenty condemned it as brutal and uncalled-for.
When the punishment was concluded, however, kindly hands took charge of the unfortunate gentlemen, and if words could have soothed their wounds, then of a verity had they been made whole while yet the sting of the lash was upon their flesh.
Master Husband knew full well that he was censured by the majority of the company, and it was as if from that moment he took the entire command into his hands, determined that we should have no voice in whatsoever was done.
Thus it was that that brave company of gentlemen followed blindly a leader who was very shortly to prove himself a rank coward, raising no mutiny as would have been done under other circumstances, because we were facing the enemy and bickerings might bring about a disaster.
When some of us would have accompanied Colonel Ashe and Captain Walker to Tryon's camp under a flag of truce, Master Husband sternly forbade any such procedure, and declared that he should hold the gentlemen prisoners until after the enemy had retreated, or been whipped in battle.
Next morning, instead of sending out skirmishers, our leader appeared to think that a written notice from him would be sufficient to disperse the king's men, and accordingly he wrote what it pleased him to call a "proclamation," setting forth the fact that the governor had come contrary to law into counties over which he had abandoned control, and demanded that he should send answer within four hours explaining when it would please him to retreat.
We had among us the Reverend David Caldwell of Orange, that good minister who followed such of his congregation as belonged to the Regulation, knowing full well a battle was imminent, and believing he might acceptably serve God and his fellow-man at the time when death was about to seize upon some of us.
Master Caldwell had been among those who spoke the loudest against Master Husband's brutality of the previous evening; but now he accepted the position of messenger in the hope that he might prevail upon Tryon to draw off and thus avert bloodshed.
The good man disdained to use a flag of truce; but set off trusting that his cloth would protect him, as indeed it did, for he was speedily given audience with the enemy.
Governor Tryon received the clergyman graciously; but excused himself from making a reply to the ill-advised proclamation until noon of the following day, because, as he said, until then there would not be time to discuss the matter with such of his officers as were entitled to consideration.
However, he gave the parson the most positive assurance that no blood should be shed unless the Regulators began the battle; in other words, he bound himself to keep his force in leash unless we made an unprovoked assault.
When Master Caldwell came within our lines again, he had a long interview with Master Husband, the substance of which none of us knew thoroughly; but it was whispered among the more knowing, that the parson had insisted on liberty being given to the two prisoners, and our leader had flatly refused.
Master Howell and a dozen others who had shared the command of the company with General Hamilton, were loud in their complaints because Master Husband refused to send out scouts, and, finally, after no little bickerings which would have swelled into open mutiny but for the situation of affairs, they left the bigoted man to himself, and sent secretly a dozen or more to spy upon the enemy.
By this means we knew that during the night Governor Tryon's force had crossed the Alamance and marched silently along the Salisbury road until within half a mile of our camp, where they were formed in battle order by daybreak.
All this we of the rank and file knew; but our leader remained in ignorance, and had no suspicion that Parson Caldwell paid a second visit to the governor before breakfast was served our men, receiving from him another promise that blood would not be shed by his force without provocation; but now, having gained the position he desired, Tryon demanded as the price of peace, that the Regulation should surrender unconditionally.
This he charged Master Caldwell to repeat to our leader, and when Master Husband heard it he showed himself, for a short time, as one who understood somewhat of warfare, for as soon as might be thereafter he marched us down the road until we were halted within three hundred yards of the governor's army.
Now did it appear as if the battle was to be fought by words rather than bullets, for Tryon sent forward under flag of truce a magistrate from Orange County, who read a lot of high-sounding words to the effect that we were ordered by the chief ruler of the colony to disperse within an hour.
Then was come the time when we should have set spurs to our horses and dashed into the king's lines, for of a verity could we have put them in full flight within ten minutes; but Master Husband, beginning to feel the influence of that cowardly fit which so beset him shortly afterward, ordered Robert Thompson, a gentleman well known among us all as being of a most peaceful and amiable disposition but prone at all times to speak his mind, to go into the governor's lines and learn what arrangements might be made for the settlement of the difficulty.
This command was given secretly, else would Master Thompson never have been allowed to go forth on such an errand when we were prepared and eager to measure strength with the enemy.
However, he went, and we remained in the saddle mystified, wondering why any parley should be held, until we saw our comrade halt in front of the governor himself.
Now this which I am to about to relate was afterward told me by a member of Tryon's force. As a matter of course all that we of the Regulation could see was the movements of the men.
When Master Thompson advanced to the governor, he was told abruptly, and without even the ordinary civility which is due from one gentleman to another, to make his way to the rear as a prisoner.
Indignant because of such perfidy, he told the brute Tryon some very plain truths regarding his actions in the Carolinas, and wheeled about to return to our lines.
My eyes were upon him at the moment, and Sidney had expressed his satisfaction at seeing Master Thompson coming toward us in such a resolute manner, when I saw Tryon seize a musket from the hands of a militiaman, and shoot the Regulator dead.
At the same instant it was as if the governor realized what he had done, for the smoke of the musket had hardly more than cleared away before we saw a flag of truce advance; but the murder of Robert Thompson was sufficient to arouse us all, and an hundred rifles were immediately emptied upon the bearer of the flag.
Then it was that we would have advanced without waiting for orders from Master Husband, but that Parson Caldwell rode swiftly up and down the line between us and the enemy, imploring the Regulators to disperse rather than bring civil war upon the colony.
We could not fire upon a man like Master Caldwell, neither was it in our hearts to ride him down, as we must have done had a charge been made at that moment; but Tryon, losing his senses through rage, as it seemed to me, gave the word for the militia to fire.
Not a man obeyed the order.
Parson Caldwell continued to urge that we have forbearance, and again Tryon called out for his men to shoot, this time addressing the artillery as well as militia.
It was as if both sides were listening to the entreaties of the clergyman, when the bully Tryon, maddened with rage, rose in his stirrups as he shouted frantically:
"Fire! Fire on them or on me!"
This order was given to the entire force, and the men obeyed.
How many of our people fell I know not. On the instant there came before my eyes a red mist; my brain swam, and I only know that there was but one desire in my heart, which was to kill – to kill the brute who had neither the instincts of a man nor the courage of a woman!
We Regulators fired rapidly as we could load and discharge our pieces, and then suddenly Sidney shouted:
"Come forward, lads! Spur your horses hard and we may take those cannon, for the men who work them act faint-hearted! Follow me!"
An hundred or more of us responded to this call. Riding forward at full speed we literally swept the cannoneers from their pieces, and this done, after many lives had paid the price, we saw that man to whom General Hamilton had entrusted the command of the gallant Regulators, ride like a coward down the road a short distance, and then into the thicket.
Verily I believe there was not one among us save he who would have shown the white feather even in order to save his own life, and we cursed him – while we battled against the enemy we cursed him!
What followed I know not of my own knowledge. It was as if a fever had seized upon me, and when reason returned Sidney and I were in the jail at Hillsborough, where we remained many a long, dreary month before finally being allowed to return to our homes under parole.
Here is an account as I have seen it set down by another who wrote at a later day, when all the facts were known, and in his words shall be told the remainder of the distressing story which began so bravely, and ended in shame and in death. 3 "Some young men among the Regulators rushed forward and took possession of the cannons. They did not know how to manage them, and soon abandoned them. The military now fired with vigor, and the Regulators fell back to a ledge of rocks on the verge of a ravine, not, however, until their ammunition was exhausted.
"Nine of the Regulators and twenty-seven of the militia fell in that conflict, and a great number on both sides were wounded. Tryon, in his report, said, 'The loss of our army in killed, wounded, and missing amounted to about sixty men.'
"The admitted excesses of the Regulators afford no excuse for the cruelty of Tryon after the battle on the Alamance. With the implacable spirit of revenge, he spent his wrath upon his prisoners, and some of his acts were worthy only of a barbarian. He exacted an oath of allegiance from the people; levied contributions of provisions; chastised those who dared to offend him; and at Hillsborough he offered a large reward for the bodies of Husband and other Regulators, 'dead or alive.'
"At Hillsborough he held a court-martial for the trial of his prisoners. Twelve were condemned to suffer death; six were reprieved, and the others were hung. His thirst for revenge satiated, Tryon returned to his palace at Newbern, where he remained but a short time, having been called to the administration of affairs in the province of New York.
"The movements of the Regulators and the result of the battle on the Alamance form an important episode in the history of our Revolution. Their resistance arose from oppressions more personal and real than those which aroused the people of New England. It was not wholly the abstract idea of freedom for which they contended; their strife consisted of efforts to relieve themselves of actual burdens. While the tea-duty was but a 'pepper-corn tribute,' imposing no real burden upon the industry of the people in New England, extortion in every form, and not to be evaded, was eating out the substance of the working men in North Carolina. Implied despotism armed the New Englanders; actual despotism panoplied the Carolinians. Each were equally patriotic, and deserve our reverent gratitude. The defeat on the Alamance did not break the spirit of the patriots; and many, determined no longer to suffer the oppressions of extortioners, abandoned their homes, with their wives and children, went beyond the mountains, and began settlements in the fertile valleys of the Tennessee."
