Chronology

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1. Colonial and Regulator years · 1680–1774

2. 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.

3. 1772
   Law, policy or court · Hillsborough At Governor Martin's urging, Edmund Fanning drops his riot damage suits

   After the matter was raised with Governor Martin in March 1772, he urged Fanning, by then surveyor general of New York, to drop his suits over the destruction of his Hillsborough property, and Fanning had them discontinued, leaving his 1,500 pound claim to the Assembly. The House refused to pay it in March 1773.

4. 1772
   Publication, speech or performance · Orange County Governor Josiah Martin complains about Orange County's roads

   On his time in the backcountry in 1772, Governor Martin wrote of how poor the roads in Orange were.

5. July to September 1772
   Hillsborough Governor Josiah Martin spends the summer at Hillsborough

   Governor Martin dated his dispatches to London from Hillsborough through the summer of 1772, and in August the Rev. Charles E. Taylor wrote that the governor had gone up to Hillsborough to spend the summer.

6. August 25, 1772
   Hillsborough Governor Martin and his council at Hillsborough forbid the export of wheat, rye and flour

   Told of a long drought and failing corn crops in the western parts of the province, the council sitting at Hillsborough advised an embargo, and Martin proclaimed a three-month ban on shipping wheat, rye or flour out of the province.

7. 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.

8. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799

9. August 25, 1775
   Hillsborough Provincial Congress at Hillsborough orders Governor Martin's proclamation burnt by the hangman

   The congress read a proclamation Martin had issued on August 8 from HMS Cruizer in the Cape Fear, addressed to the "Provincial Convention of Hillsborough", and resolved unanimously that it was a seditious libel to be burnt by the common hangman.

10. 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 3, 2026.