Qualla: Alamance Battleground

Alamance Battleground: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hallcp, CC BY-SA 4.0. 'Our blood will be as good seed in good ground, that will soon produce one hundred fold.' James Pugh said that under the gallows at Hillsboro, North Carolina, on June 19, 1771. He was one of six men - James Pugh, Robert Matear, Benjamin Merrill, Captain Messer, and two whose names history did not preserve - hanged by Royal Governor William Tryon for taking up arms against the colonial government in what became known as the Battle of Alamance. The battle had been fought a month earlier, on May 16, 1771, on the rolling ground south of present-day Burlington, North Carolina. It is sometimes called the first battle of the American Revolution. The men who died there would have called it something simpler: the day the militia rode out to put down farmers who refused to pay taxes to officials they could not vote out.

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Image: Hallcp | CC BY-SA 4.0

Alamance Battleground: The Regulators

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 5minutes, CC BY-SA 3.0. By 1768 the back-country counties of colonial North Carolina were in open revolt against their own government. Sheriffs and court officials charged extortionate fees. Tax collectors pocketed receipts. Land titles were a tangle that benefited speculators close to the governor's ci...

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Image: 5minutes | CC BY-SA 3.0

Alamance Battleground: Two Hours and Then a Rout

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The Alliance for Historic Hillsborough from Hillsborough, NC, CC BY 2.0. About 2,000 Regulators gathered on the field south of present-day Burlington, but they had no commander, little ammunition, and a half-formed strategy of negotiation. Tryon's militia, smaller but disciplined and equipped with two three-pounder cannons, opened fire when talks brok...

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Image: The Alliance for Historic Hillsborough from Hillsborough, NC | CC BY 2.0

Alamance Battleground: First Battle of the Revolution?

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 5minutes, CC BY-SA 3.0. Whether Alamance was a precursor to the American Revolution or a separate, smaller-bore tax revolt has been argued for two centuries. The Regulators were not fighting for independence. They were fighting for honest courts and accountable sheriffs - the rule of law within the Brit...

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Image: 5minutes | CC BY-SA 3.0

Alamance Battleground: A Powder Horn and a Log House

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ecrab7, Public domain. The visitor center holds the powder horn of Harmon Cox, the only known archaeological relic recovered from the battle itself. It is a small object - a hollowed steer horn that once carried gunpowder - and looking at it is the closest a modern visitor will get to the men who carri...

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Image: Ecrab7 | Public domain

Alamance Battleground: Walking the Quiet Field

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ecrab7, CC BY-SA 3.0. The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources runs the state historic site today. A three-quarter-mile trail crosses the ground where the lines formed up. A replica three-pounder cannon, like the artillery Tryon used to break the Regulators, stands outside the v...

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Image: Ecrab7 | CC BY-SA 3.0