Chronology

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1. Colonial and Regulator years · 1680–1774

2. 1757
   Property or economic transaction · Stinking Quarter Creek James Hunter holds land on Stinking Quarter and Sandy creeks

   Hunter, later a leader of the Regulators, had land on these creeks in western Orange by 1757.

3. May 21, 1768
   Protest or organizing · Orange County Regulators meeting at George Sally's appoint a committee of eight to petition Governor Tryon

   Having agreed after the May confrontation to submit their case to the governor, the Regulators met at George Sally's in Orange County, declared their loyalty to King George and named William Moffitt, William Cox, Harmon Cox, John Low, John Marshall, James Hunter, Rednap Howell and George Hendry to gather the complaints into a petition and to implore the governor's pardon in the most submissive manner.

4. June 20, 1768
   Protest or organizing · Brunswick James Hunter and Rednap Howell present the Regulators' petition to Tryon at Brunswick

   The petition, Advertisement Number Nine, carried 474 names, 31 of them written in German. Tryon told the Regulators to give up their name and pay their taxes, but he also warned officers against excess fees and had the lawful fees published.

5. August 5, 1768
   Protest or organizing · Hillsborough James Hunter and John Low deliver a Regulator letter to Governor Tryon at Hillsborough

   Hunter and John Low waited on Governor Tryon at Hillsborough with a letter from the Regulators. Tryon told them he would answer it on August 17, after consulting his Council.

6. September 29, 1768
   Law, policy or court · Hillsborough Grand jury indictments for rout against James Hunter are quashed at the Hillsborough superior court

   The grand jury returned three indictments for rout naming James Hunter with William Butler, Ninian Hamilton and other Regulators. The court quashed all three for an irregular return and ordered the attorney general to prepare new bills.

7. October 3, 1768
   Law, policy or court · Hillsborough Tryon pardons the 1768 protesters except thirteen named leaders

   His proclamation left out men including James Hunter, Herman Husband, Ninian Bell Hamilton and William Payne.

8. March 1769
   Law, policy or court · Hillsborough The March 1769 superior court at Hillsborough hears the Regulators' cases against the officers

   With no troops in town, many Regulators came to the March 1769 court to prosecute the officers, with little success. Herman Husband was tried and acquitted, James Hunter's case was continued, and Fanning was tried again on the old fee charge and formally convicted.

9. September 22, 1770
   Protest or organizing · Hillsborough James Hunter presents a Regulator petition to Judge Henderson on the first day of the Hillsborough court

   On Saturday, the first day of the September 1770 Hillsborough superior court, James Hunter presented Judge Richard Henderson with a petition signed by many Regulators. Henderson put off his answer until Monday, the day the Regulators crowded the courtroom and broke up the court.

10. December 20, 1770
    Law, policy or court · New Bern The Assembly expels Orange County's member Herman Husband and the Council orders his arrest

    The House of Assembly resolved that Husband, a principal promoter of the late riots in Orange County and publisher of a seditious letter printed over James Hunter's name, be expelled. The same day the Council unanimously advised his arrest and the Chief Justice issued a warrant; he lay in the New Bern jail until a grand jury found no bill on February 8, 1771.

11. later 1771
    Law, policy or court · Orange County Outlawed Regulator leaders petition Governor Martin for pardon

    From hiding, some in South Carolina, Jeremiah Field, Ninian Bell Hamilton, Matthew Hamilton, James Hunter, Thomas Welborn, William Butler and John Fruit asked the new governor, Josiah Martin, for pardon. The Assembly asked mercy for all but Husband, Butler and Howell, but Martin waited because Tryon had left the matter to the Crown.

12. February 1771
    Protest or organizing · Haw River Regulators marching on New Bern turn back at Haw River

    Regulators from Rowan, Orange and Granville gathered under James Hunter to march on New Bern, where Herman Husband was jailed. They broke up at Haw River on hearing that a grand jury had declined to indict him and he had been released on February 8.

13. March 15, 1771
    Law, policy or court · New Bern A special court at New Bern presents and indicts Husband, Hunter, Butler and Howell for the Hillsborough riot

    Sitting under Chief Justice Martin Howard with Maurice Moore and Richard Henderson, the special court of oyer and terminer at New Bern received a grand jury presentment against the Regulators who in September last 'broke up that Court' at Hillsborough, and returned indictments for riot against Herman Husband, James Hunter, William Butler and Rednap Howell among others.

14. March 1771
    Protest or organizing · Hillsborough Regulator threats keep the Hillsborough superior court from sitting

    At the March 1771 term the Hillsborough District superior court recorded that the Regulators led by Herman Husband, James Hunter, Rednap Howell, William Butler and Samuel Devinney, who had broken up the September court, were still threatening judges, lawyers and officers, so none attended. The court was continued to September 1771.

15. June 9, 1771
    Law, policy or court · Bethabara Tryon offers 100 pounds and a thousand acres for Husband, Hunter, Howell and Butler, dead or alive

    Marching back toward Hillsborough, Tryon proclaimed from Bethabara that Herman Husband, James Hunter, Rednap Howell and William Butler stood outlawed and liable to be shot by anyone, and offered one hundred pounds and one thousand acres of land to whoever brought any of them into his or General Waddell's camp.

16. August 1772
    Hillsborough Governor Martin summons the judges to Hillsborough over the cases of the outlawed Regulators

    After Regulator leaders offered to surrender, Martin called the judges to Hillsborough and asked in writing whether their outlawry could be completed and whether they could still be tried. Writing from Hillsborough on August 30, he told London the troubles had been provoked by extortion from attorneys, clerks and other officers.

17. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799

18. February 1776
    Law, policy or court · Orange County Michael Holt turns back from the Loyalist march and later takes the Whig oath

    Holt took a commission from Governor Martin and started for the Loyalist gathering at Cross Creek, but turned for home with some of his men. After his arrest he was permitted to take the Whig oath of allegiance, as James Hunter later was.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 2, 2026.