Chronology

The Saponi scatter between Virginia and the Catawba and a group settles in Granville County

After living briefly with the Catawba the Saponi returned to Virginia in 1733 and had to petition Lieutenant Governor Gooch for leave to resettle. Over the next twenty years they broke into small groups and moved south to the Catawba and back again, and by 1754 about twelve or fourteen Sapona men with as many women and children were living on Colonel William Eaton's land in Granville County, North Carolina.

John Patterson is named one of the first vestrymen of St. Matthew's Parish

The act of the 1752 Assembly that created Orange County and the Parish of St. Matthew named John Patterson among the twelve vestrymen who were to serve until the first vestry election.

People: Alexander Mebane · James Watson · Mark Morgan · John Gray

Subject: St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church

The act creating Orange County names James Watson a boundary commissioner and vestryman

The 1752 act that created Orange County named James Watson one of three commissioners to run the dividing line between Orange and Granville, Johnston and Bladen counties, and one of the twelve first vestrymen of St. Matthew's Parish. Another act of the same session made him the county's receiver of the impost duty.

Part of Creation of Orange County and Hillsborough, 1752–1766 · 33 events

Subject: St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church

Alexander McCulloch gives up his commission in the Orange County militia

The 1754 return of the colony's militia records that McCulloch gave up his commission for Orange and recommended Sheriff John Gray as colonel. NCpedia says he resigned because he lived too far from the county.

People: John Gray

The Granville District land office is closed

The office that granted land across Orange County for the Granville proprietary stayed shut from about 1765. Governor Tryon wrote in 1770 that it had been closed for more than five years and that newcomers to Rowan and Orange, finding no land to buy, settled on vacant land, which fed their discontent.

Orange County's 1766 tax return counts 3,324 white and 649 Black taxables

The return of taxables for 1766 counted 3,324 white men and 649 Black and mulatto men and women in Orange County, 3,973 taxables in all. These were people liable for the poll tax, not the whole population, and the returns do not show the Black population growing faster than the white.

Orange County's first Regulator paper invokes the Stamp Act resistance

An Orange County notice of August 1766, later called Regulators' Advertisement No. 1, praised the Sons of Liberty for resisting the Stamp Act and asked each neighborhood to send men to a meeting at Maddock's Mill to question local officers.

Part of Maddock’s Mill organizing, 1766–1768

Hillsborough is made the seat of a superior court district

An act dividing the province into six districts and establishing a superior court of justice in each set the court for the District of Hillsborough at Hillsborough, for the counties of Orange and Granville, on the twenty second day of March and September, each term to run ten days. Nash records that no superior court sat at Hillsboro until March 1768, the town having belonged first to the Halifax and then to the Salisbury district.

Settlers west of the Haw River call Orange County's representatives and vestry to a settlement at the courthouse

Inhabitants on the west side of the Haw River addressed Orange County's Assembly men and vestrymen, asking them to fix a day before the next court to meet at the courthouse and settle accounts of taxes and officers' fees, and declaring they would pay no more taxes until they had a full settlement.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

Subject: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough

A general Regulator meeting agrees to send twelve men to meet county officials at Thomas Lindley's

The meeting agreed to send twelve men and then named thirteen, among them Herman Husband, James Hunter and Rednap Howell, to gather at Lindley's on May 11 in hope of meeting representatives of the officers. The arrests of Husband and William Butler broke up the plan.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: Herman Husband · William Butler (Regulator) · Rednap Howell

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.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: James Hunter · Rednap Howell

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.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: William Tryon

Eight Regulator leaders meet Governor Tryon at Hillsborough and are refused a committee to examine the county's taxes

A week after their letter was delivered, eight principal Regulators met Tryon in Hillsborough and asked that their grievances be settled by a committee reviewing the county's tax accounts. Tryon refused, telling them the law was the only channel for redress, and the next day sent a letter to the inhabitants south of the Haw.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: William Tryon

At the Hillsborough camp, Robert Palmer is named one of six lieutenants general

Palmer, whom Governor Tryon had made adjutant general of the militia marching on Hillsborough, was named a lieutenant general of the army in orders issued at the Hillsborough camp on September 20, 1768. The same orders posted a town guard of a hundred men, with the court house and market house as guard rooms.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: William Tryon · John Rutherford · John Sampson · Benjamin Heron · Samuel Strudwick · John Ashe

Chief Justice Martin Howard and two associate justices hold the Hillsborough superior court term

Martin Howard, Maurice Moore and Richard Henderson sat at the Hillsborough District Superior Court term in which Edmund Fanning was found guilty and Regulators including William Butler were tried.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: Maurice Moore · Richard Henderson · Edmund Fanning · William Butler (Regulator) · Herman Husband

Eight hundred Regulators gather within a mile of Hillsborough, face Tryon's militia and disperse

With the superior court sitting under guard of more than a thousand militia, upwards of eight hundred Regulators appeared within a mile of Hillsborough on September 22. A council of war set terms: surrender nine leaders, lay down arms and promise to pay taxes. The Regulators asked for the night to answer and by the next morning had dispersed, about thirty coming in to give up their arms.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: William Tryon · Griffith Rutherford

Tryon hands John Rutherford command of the army at Hillsborough

Made a lieutenant general on September 20 to lead the right wing, the Orange Brigade, Rutherford took command of the whole army at the Hillsborough camp when Tryon's illness worsened, and ordered the next day's sermons to the troops.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: William Tryon

A Hillsborough jury finds Edmund Fanning guilty on an indictment

In the same superior court term that tried the Regulator leaders, the King's indictment against Edmund Fanning went to a jury on September 27, which found him guilty. The day before, Herman Husband had surrendered William Butler to the court, and both men entered 500 pound bonds to abide its sentence.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: Edmund Fanning · Herman Husband · William Butler (Regulator) · Richard Henderson · Maurice Moore · Martin Howard

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.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: William Butler (Regulator) · Richard Henderson · Maurice Moore · Martin Howard · Peter Craven

Orange County inhabitants petition for a public inspection at Hillsborough

Francis Nash and twenty five other inhabitants petitioned Governor Tryon and the legislature for a public inspection station at Hillsborough. They argued that having to haul tobacco and hemp at least a hundred miles overland to be inspected discouraged farmers from growing crops their soil suited.

People: Francis Nash · William Tryon

Orange voters elect Regulators Herman Husband and John Pryor to the Assembly

In the elections set for July 18, 1769, Orange returned the Regulators Herman Husband and John Pryor to the Assembly over Edmund Fanning.

People: Herman Husband · Edmund Fanning · John Pryor

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.

Part of Hillsborough court riot, September 1770

People: Richard Henderson

Ralph McNair's house is attacked on the night of the Hillsborough court riot

On the night after the Regulators broke up the superior court, parties of them patrolled Hillsborough's streets, and McNair's house was attacked and its windows broken along with those of several other houses. McNair gave a sworn account on October 9, 1770.

Part of Hillsborough court riot, September 1770

Regulators pull down and plunder Edmund Fanning's house in Hillsborough

The morning after the court broke up and Judge Henderson slipped out of town, the Regulators went to Fanning's house, smashed the furniture, emptied the cellar, carried his papers into the street and left the house almost demolished. Witnesses also heard them drink damnation to King George and success to the Pretender.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: Edmund Fanning · Richard Henderson · Ralph McNair

Hillsborough's leading men write to Governor Tryon for protection after the riot

James Watson, Francis Nash, Thomas Hart, Robert Lytle, William Johnston, James Thackston and James Monro wrote from Hillsborough describing the Regulators' insolence at the superior court, said they stood hourly in danger of their lives and estates, and asked Tryon to adopt whatever measures he judged proper.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: Francis Nash · Thomas Hart · William Johnston · James Thackston · James Watson

Tryon's Council orders a proclamation against the Hillsborough rioters and defers the Assembly

Meeting at New Bern on the Hillsborough dispatches, the Council heard the Attorney General's opinion that pulling down Fanning's house and the assaults amounted to a riot, and ordered a proclamation requiring every justice of the peace to pursue the persons who assembled at Hillsborough on September 24 and 25. It advised putting off the Assembly to November 30.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: William Tryon · Edmund Fanning

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.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: Herman Husband · James Hunter · William Tryon · Martin Howard

Guilford County is formed from Orange and Rowan

Governor Tryon assented to the act creating Guilford County from parts of Rowan and Orange, a bill Edmund Fanning had brought in. Tryon told the Earl of Hillsborough the new county was meant to divide the Regulator districts.

People: William Tryon

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.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: Richard Henderson · Herman Husband · James Hunter · William Butler (Regulator) · Maurice Moore · Martin Howard · Rednap Howell

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.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: James Hunter · Herman Husband · Rednap Howell · Samuel Devinney

Thomas Hart contracts to supply provisions for Tryon's campaign against the Regulators

Hart accepted Governor Tryon's offer to victual the militia raised to suppress the Regulators, on the terms on which he had supplied the troops at Hillsborough in 1768. His department covered nearly a thousand men from eleven counties including Orange.

Part of Battle of Alamance, May 1771 (site now in Alamance County) · 15 events

People: William Tryon

Robert Howe serves as quartermaster general of Tryon's army against the Regulators

Governor Tryon's order book for the 1771 campaign against the Regulators, which took his army through Hillsborough to the Battle of Alamance and back to the Hillsborough camp, names Colonel Robert Howe quartermaster general.

Part of Battle of Alamance, May 1771 (site now in Alamance County) · 15 events

People: William Tryon

Tryon proclaims a pardon for Regulators who come into camp, lay down their arms and take the oath

From the camp Tryon offered the King's free pardon for all treasons and rebellions to anyone who came in by May 21, surrendered his arms, swore allegiance, promised to pay his taxes and submitted to the law, excepting the outlawed leaders and the prisoners already in camp. Further proclamations on May 21, 24 and 31 and June 11 extended the terms.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: William Tryon · John Rutherford

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.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: William Tryon · Herman Husband · James Hunter · William Butler (Regulator) · Rednap Howell

Tryon takes leave of his army at Hillsborough and hands the command to Colonel Ashe

Having received at Hillsborough camp the King's command to go at once to govern New York, Tryon thanked the officers and men for their conduct through the campaign, gave the army to Colonel John Ashe to march to Colonel Bryan's and disband by counties, and ordered the artillery escorted to New Bern and the horses taken in battle sold for the public. He reached New Bern on June 24 and sailed on the 30th.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: William Tryon · John Ashe

Tryon, now governor of New York, asks the King's free pardon for the six reprieved Regulators

Writing from Fort George in New York, Tryon named the six men convicted of high treason at the Hillsborough court in June whose executions he had suspended at the army officers' request, James Stewart, James Emmerson, William Brown, Forester Mercer, James Copeland and Harmon Cox, and repeated his request that the King grant them a free pardon.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: William Tryon

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.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: Edmund Fanning · Josiah Martin

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.

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.

People: Martin Howard · Samuel Strudwick · Alexander McCulloch

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.

Part of The Regulator crisis, 1766–1771 · 116 events

People: Richard Henderson · Martin Howard · James Hunter

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough orders its journal printed by James Davis

The congress meeting at Hillsborough directed that its proceedings be delivered to James Davis, the province's printer and a delegate for the town of New Bern, who was desired to print them and send a copy to each member. It also named a committee to state and settle his account for services done as printer to the province.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

People: Willie Jones · Thomas Person

George Micklejohn opens the Provincial Congress with prayers

At the request of the congress, delivered by Francis Nash, Micklejohn attended and opened the Provincial Congress by reading prayers in the church at Hillsborough.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

People: Francis Nash

The Provincial Congress at Hillsborough adopts a test for its members to sign

On August 21, 1775 the congress sitting at Hillsborough named Allen Jones to a committee of seven to prepare a Test to be signed by its members. The committee reported on August 23 and the Test was read, approved, ordered entered on the journal and signed. Subscribers professed allegiance to the King while denying that Parliament could tax them.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

People: Thomas Burke · William Hooper · Willie Jones · John Penn · Maurice Moore · Robert Howe

Congress at Hillsborough appoints a committee to address the inhabitants of the province

The same day the congress named Maurice Moore, William Hooper, Robert Howe, Richard Caswell and Joseph Hewes to prepare an address to the inhabitants of North Carolina, stating the controversy with Great Britain in plain language and calling on them to unite in defence of American liberty. Doctor Burke was added to the committee on August 24.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

People: William Hooper · Richard Caswell · Maurice Moore · Robert Howe

Henry Pattillo is asked to read morning prayers to the Provincial Congress

The congress at Hillsborough asked the Rev. Henry Pattillo, a delegate from Bute County, to read prayers to it every morning, and Charles Edward Taylor every evening.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough names a Committee of Secrecy to procure arms

On August 23, 1775 the congress sitting at Hillsborough resolved that its president, Mr. Harnett, Mr. Caswell, Mr. Hewes, Mr. Nash, Mr. Willie Jones and Mr. Young be a Committee of Secrecy for procuring arms and ammunition. The committee was to report what sums of money would be needed for the purpose.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

People: Richard Caswell · Willie Jones · Cornelius Harnett

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough names a committee to confer with inhabitants who had scruples about the American cause

The congress sitting at Hillsborough appointed thirteen of its members, among them Memucan Hunt of Granville County, to confer with inhabitants of the province who held religious or political scruples. They were directed to use argument and persuasion to bring those inhabitants into support of the American cause.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

People: Thomas Burke · Richard Caswell · John Penn · Thomas Person · Henry Pattillo

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.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

Congress at Hillsborough names Francis Nash lieutenant colonel of the 1st North Carolina Regiment

On September 1, 1775 the Provincial Congress meeting at Hillsborough appointed the officers of the first of its two new regiments: James Moore, colonel, and Francis Nash, lieutenant colonel. On the congress's opening day Nash had been asked to bring the Rev. George Micklejohn to open it with prayers in the church at Hillsborough.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

People: George Micklejohn

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough appoints Benjamin Williams a lieutenant in the second regiment

Williams sat for Johnston County in the Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough. On September 1 the Congress named him one of the lieutenants of the second regiment, and on September 9 it made him a member of the committee of safety for the New Bern district.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough names Alexander Martin lieutenant colonel of the Second North Carolina Regiment

Alexander Martin attended the Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough as a delegate from Guilford County. On September 1, 1775, the Congress named the officers of its two new regiments of Continental troops, with Robert Howe as colonel and Martin as lieutenant colonel of the Second Regiment.

People: Robert Howe

Adam Boyd lays the Philadelphia synod's pastoral letters before the Provincial Congress

At the Provincial Congress meeting in Hillsborough, Boyd presented two hundred pastoral letters from the Synod of Philadelphia addressed to the inhabitants of the province, and they were handed out to the members. The congress voted to pay him for them.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

Congress at Hillsborough appoints Hooper, Hewes and Caswell to the Continental Congress

Meeting at Hillsborough on September 2, 1775, the congress thanked William Hooper, Joseph Hewes and Richard Caswell for their service as the province's delegates at the last Continental Congress and appointed the three delegates for a further year, each to be paid five hundred pounds proclamation money.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

People: William Hooper · Richard Caswell

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough names Samuel Johnston treasurer for the Northern District

Meeting at Hillsborough, the Congress appointed Samuel Johnston treasurer for the Northern District and Richard Caswell treasurer for the Southern District, giving them the powers the colony's treasurers had held under a 1773 act of Assembly.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

People: Richard Caswell

The Provincial Congress at Hillsborough appoints John Penn to the Continental Congress

Richard Caswell told the congress at Hillsborough that his new duties as treasurer for the Southern District and as a signer of the public bills of credit left him unable to serve in the Continental Congress. The congress resolved the same day that John Penn take his place beside William Hooper and Joseph Hewes, with the same powers and allowance.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

People: Joseph Hewes · Richard Caswell · William Hooper

John Butler is commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Orange County militia

The Third Provincial Congress named John Butler to the committee of safety for the Hillsborough District and on September 9, 1775 made him lieutenant colonel of the Orange County militia under Colonel John Hogan. Minutemen officers were named by district, not county. Butler went on to lead the county's militia in the Moore's Creek Bridge campaign and became its colonel in April 1776.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

People: Colonel John Hogan

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough elects a Provincial Council to govern between sessions

On September 9, 1775, the Congress at Hillsborough elected a thirteen-member Provincial Council to direct the army and militia during its recess: Samuel Johnston for the province at large and two members for each of the six districts, among them Abner Nash and James Coor for New Bern and Thomas Person and John Kinchen for Hillsborough.

Part of Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough, 1775 · 22 events

People: Samuel Johnston · Samuel Ashe · Willie Jones · Waightstill Avery · Thomas Person · Cornelius Harnett · John Kinchen · Samuel Spencer

Provincial Congress at Hillsborough makes Thomas Benbury a Chowan militia major and a district committee of safety member

Thomas Benbury sat for Chowan County in the Third Provincial Congress at Hillsborough. On September 9, 1775, the Congress named him first major of the Chowan County militia under Colonel Thomas Bonner and a member of the committee of safety for the Edenton District.

General Assembly charters an academy near Hillsborough named Science Hall

Meeting at Halifax, the General Assembly passed an act to establish an academy in the neighborhood of Hillsborough, naming William Hooper, Thomas Burke, Nathaniel Rochester, James Hogg and others as trustees. The act named the school Science Hall and gave its trustees the same powers as those of Liberty Hall in Mecklenburg County.

People: Alexander Martin · Nathaniel Rochester · Thomas Hart · James Hogg · Thomas Burke · William Hooper · William Johnston · John Kinchen

Subject: Hillsborough Academy

Horatio Gates, on his way to the Southern Army, presses the governor for supplies from Hillsborough

Writing from Hillsborough, Gates told Governor Abner Nash that the army's commissary and quartermaster departments were in a deplorable state, asked the state to set up magazines of provisions and forage and to supply 700 tents for its militia, and urged Nash to come to Hillsborough himself.

People: Abner Nash

Barnaby Cabe takes a wagonload of flour to General Gates's army

Thomas Burke of Hillsborough wrote to Horatio Gates that his neighbor Cabe was bringing a load of flour to the southern army and would hand it over only on Gates's order, having been put off by the commissaries. The former Tryon wagoner had come over to the patriot side.

People: Thomas Burke · Barnaby Cabe

Gates regroups the defeated southern army at Hillsborough after Camden

After the American defeat at Camden, South Carolina, on August 16, 1780, Gates gathered the remnants of his army at Hillsborough. On September 3 he reported from the town that the Maryland division and the artillery were there being refitted and that nearly 500 regulars were marching from Petersburg to join them.

General Assembly meets at Hillsborough and creates a Board of War

Meeting at Hillsborough under Governor Abner Nash, the Assembly levied a provision tax in kind to supply the army and navy, passed acts on treason trials and confiscated property, and created a five-member Board of War. The Board of War held its first meeting in Hillsborough on September 14, 1780.

People: Alexander Martin · Abner Nash · Thomas Benbury

Board of War, led by Alexander Martin, directs the war effort from Hillsborough

The Board of War created by the General Assembly first met at Hillsborough on September 14, 1780, with Alexander Martin, John Penn and Oroondates Davis present. Through the fall it issued orders for arms, provisions and militia from the town and ran a shoe factory there for the army, then rose in late November to sit at Halifax from December 1.

People: John Penn

From Hillsborough, Gates thanks the victors of Kings Mountain

On receiving the news of Major Ferguson's defeat at Kings Mountain, Gates wrote from Hillsborough thanking the commanding officers and ordering the prisoners sent under guard to Fincastle Court House, Virginia. The same day he told Governor Thomas Jefferson he would move the whole army to the Yadkin once supplies arrived.

People: Thomas Jefferson

Cornwallis calls loyal subjects to the Royal Standard at Hillsborough

From his headquarters at Hillsborough, Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis issued a proclamation inviting loyal subjects to come without delay, with their arms and ten days' provisions, to the Royal Standard erected in the town and help restore royal government in North Carolina.

People: Charles Cornwallis

Alexander Martin takes the oath as acting governor while Burke is in enemy hands

Three weeks after Fanning carried Governor Burke out of Hillsborough, Alexander Martin, Speaker of the Senate, qualified before the Council of State at Colonel Williams's in Granville County and took up the administration. He told the council that the government must be supported and the most vigorous and decisive measures taken against so daring an enemy.

Part of Capture of Governor Thomas Burke, 1781

People: Alexander Martin · Thomas Burke

Burke is admitted to parole as a prisoner of war on James Island

Held first as a prisoner of state after Fanning's men delivered him to Major Craig at Wilmington, Burke was admitted to parole on James Island outside Charleston. Loyalist refugees on the island, outlaws from the state he had governed, left him in what he called hourly danger of assassination.

Part of Capture of Governor Thomas Burke, 1781

People: Thomas Burke · James Henry Craig

The General Assembly names Hillsborough its meeting place until a seat of government is fixed

An act of the April 1782 session, held at Hillsborough, directed that future General Assemblies meet there until a proper place was fixed for the seat of government. With the war over, the April 1783 session, also at Hillsborough, repealed it.

Burke escapes from his parole on James Island

Having written General Leslie on December 30 asking for a parole within American lines, Burke slipped off James Island on the night of January 16. Two days later he offered Leslie to return within British lines if guaranteed the treatment of a Continental officer, and on January 19 he asked Greene that men of honor judge the act.

Part of Capture of Governor Thomas Burke, 1781

People: Thomas Burke · Nathanael Greene

General Assembly at Hillsborough elects Alexander Martin governor and grants western land to Continental soldiers

The Assembly met at Hillsborough, heard Governor Thomas Burke's message about his capture, and elected Alexander Martin governor on April 22. Its laws granted land in a western military reservation to officers and soldiers of the Continental line and directed the sale of confiscated Loyalist estates.

People: Alexander Martin · Thomas Benbury · Hugh Williamson · Thomas Burke

The General Assembly at Hillsborough votes its thanks to Thomas Burke

A day after choosing his successor, both houses resolved that the thanks of the General Assembly be given to Burke for his steady and constant attention to the duties of his office and his vigorous dispatch of the public business while he was governor. The resolution passes over his capture and parole in silence.

Part of General Assembly sessions at Hillsborough, 1778–1784

People: Thomas Burke

Assembly at Hillsborough elects Abner Nash and Hugh Williamson delegates to Congress

On May 3, 1782, a joint ballot of the General Assembly at Hillsborough elected Abner Nash, Hugh Williamson, Benjamin Hawkins and William Blount as the state's delegates to Congress for the year. Nash had been returned to the House for Jones County, and Williamson sat for the town of Edenton.

People: Hugh Williamson · William Blount · Benjamin Hawkins

General Assembly at Hillsborough opens the western land office and passes an act of pardon

Meeting at Hillsborough, the Assembly re-elected Alexander Martin governor and chose Hugh Williamson, Benjamin Hawkins, Abner Nash and Richard Dobbs Spaight as delegates to Congress. Its laws opened a land office for western lands to redeem specie certificates and pay army arrears, and an Act of Pardon and Oblivion covered wartime offenses, with exceptions.

People: Alexander Martin · Abner Nash · Hugh Williamson · Richard Dobbs Spaight · Richard Caswell · Benjamin Hawkins

General Assembly at Hillsborough cedes the state's western lands to Congress

The spring 1784 Assembly at Hillsborough passed an act ceding to Congress the state's claim to lands west of the Appalachian Mountains and an act giving Congress power to levy import duties. The House of Commons chose Thomas Benbury as speaker and elected Hugh Williamson and Richard Dobbs Spaight as delegates to Congress.

People: Alexander Martin · Hugh Williamson · Thomas Benbury · Richard Dobbs Spaight

The convention adjourns sine die after fixing the seat of government at Isaac Hunter's in Wake County

With the Constitution neither ratified nor rejected, the convention turned to its second charge, the seat of government. A ballot on August 2 fixed it at Isaac Hunter's in Wake County, and on Monday, August 4, after approving the ordinance for it, the convention adjourned sine die.

People: Samuel Johnston

The House pays the men who carried the state treasury out of Hillsborough

On November 10, 1789 the House of Commons voted to pay John Armstrong of Orange County three pounds for taking the Treasury's books and papers from Hillsborough to Fayetteville, and five pounds each to nine men of the Orange Company of Horse who guarded the money on the road. The treasurer's office had been kept in the town since 1786 in the confiscated store known as the Blue House, and its records had already been carted to Tarboro and back in 1787 and 1788.

People: John Armstrong (active 1764)

A second convention at Fayetteville ratifies the Constitution 195 to 77

Sixteen months after the Hillsborough convention withheld ratification, a second convention that opened at Fayetteville on the third Monday of November 1789 voted to adopt and ratify the Constitution, 195 to 77, and adjourned the next day. Congress had by then sent the states the amendments that became the Bill of Rights.

People: Samuel Johnston · Willie Jones

General Assembly orders a new district courthouse built at Hillsborough

Alexander Mebane of Orange brought in the bill, and the act named William Watters, Absalom Tatom and Jeduthan Harper commissioners to raise a courthouse on the lot where the burned one had stood and to sell off its brick and remains. It was paid for by a poll and land tax on Orange and by lighter taxes on Wake, Chatham, Caswell, Granville and Randolph, the counties of the Hillsborough district.

People: Alexander Mebane · Absalom Tatom

Subject: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough