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Orange County Indexed

Chronology

Key events from Orange County history: 100 highlights to start, then the full chronology of 6,171 dated events and 63 storylines, each connected to the index. A storyline gathers many dated events into one history, such as the Regulator crisis.

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3 dated events match your filters.

Searched the full chronology of 6,171 dated events and 63 storylines, not only the highlights. Showing 1–3.Back to highlights

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3 dated events
1781Revolution and early republic
  1. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799
  2. David Fanning raids Hillsborough and captures Governor Burke

    Violence or armed conflict · Hillsborough

    Fanning’s Loyalists captured Governor Thomas Burke during a surprise raid on Hillsborough.

    Part of David Fanning’s raid on Hillsborough, September 1781

    People: David Fanning · Thomas Burke

  3. Butler's militia ambushes Fanning's Loyalists at Lindley's Mill

    Violence or armed conflict · Lindley's Mill, Cane Creek

    The day after David Fanning's raid carried Governor Thomas Burke out of Hillsborough, John Butler rode with about four hundred militia to the ford where the Wilmington road crossed Cane Creek at Lindley's Mill and laid an ambush with Colonel Robert Mebane. The opening volley killed Colonel Hector McNeil, but Fanning organized a flanking attack that drove the militia from the field, and the prisoners went on to Wilmington.

    Part of David Fanning’s raid on Hillsborough, September 1781

    People: David Fanning · Thomas Burke

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

    Appointment, election or service · Hillsborough

    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

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A dated event is a fact, filed on the page of the subject it belongs to: a person, a place, a theme, or a named event or history. Pages are subjects, with their own works and sources; the Place, community, or institution filter also gathers the institutions that recur in the entries without a page of their own. The page opens on the highlights; a search or any filter looks through every dated event and storyline, and each filter’s counts say how many entries choosing it would show alongside the others. A storyline is a longer history that gathers related dated events, and each storyline’s page lists its own. Counts give dated events and storylines separately. Dates come from the sources named on the cards and from the index’s event pages; where sources disagree, the card follows the county records. Entries marked approximate or needing research say so on the card; the rest were checked against the source named on it. The correction link under the entries opens the contact form; name the entry and its date and the Friends will check the source. Suggest an event →

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.

Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026