Chronology

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1. Colonial and Regulator years · 1680–1774

2. November 1767
   Property or economic transaction · Hart's Mill, Eno River west of Hillsborough Thomas Hart buys Joseph Maddock's mill on the Eno

   Joseph Maddock, a Quaker who had run the grist mill on the Eno west of Hillsborough since 1755, sold it to Thomas Hart, a friend of Governor William Tryon, who built it up with a sawmill, oil mill, fulling mill, distillery, tannery and other works. This is the mill, known as Hart's Mill, that a British guard held in February 1781.

3. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799

4. February 18, 1781
   Violence or armed conflict · Stony Creek, Orange County Lee's Legion joins Pickens's militia camp after the Hart's Mill raid

   Later the same day as the Hart's Mill raid, Henry Lee's Legion, returning from beyond the Dan River with Greene's army, reached General Andrew Pickens's militia at a farm up Stony Creek, where the camp at first took the horsemen for Tarleton's cavalry. The combined force then went after Tarleton west of the Haw, the movement that led to Pyle's defeat.

5. February 18, 1781
   Violence or armed conflict · Eno River Patriots and Loyalists clash at Hart’s Mill

   At daybreak about 45 North Carolina cavalry under Captain Joseph Graham and mounted riflemen under Captain Richard Simmons, sent out by General Andrew Pickens, surprised the British guard of about 26 regulars and two Loyalists that was keeping Thomas Hart's mill on the Eno grinding for Cornwallis's army. Graham's accounts report the whole guard killed, wounded or captured with no Patriot dead, and the party reached Pickens's camp with its prisoners ahead of pursuing British cavalry.

6. February 20, 1781
   Law, policy or court · Hillsborough 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.

7. February 20–26, 1781
   Violence or armed conflict · Hillsborough Cornwallis occupies Hillsborough

   After driving Nathanael Greene's army across the Dan River, Lord Cornwallis reached Hillsborough on February 20, 1781, raised the royal standard and issued a proclamation calling loyalists to join him. Short of food and forage, and told that Greene had recrossed the Dan, he left on February 26, crossing the Haw toward Alamance Creek.

8. February 25, 1781
   Violence or armed conflict · Hillsborough Cornwallis marches his army out of Hillsborough

   With his commissary reporting that town and county could no longer feed the army, Cornwallis left before his proclamation's deadline and camped on Alamance Creek between the Deep and Haw rivers.

9. February 25, 1781
   Violence or armed conflict · Hillsborough Pyle's defeat near the Haw River

   Henry Lee's Legion and Andrew Pickens's militia attacked a few hundred Loyalist recruits under Dr. John Pyle who were riding to join Cornwallis at Hillsborough. Mistaking Lee's men for Tarleton's cavalry, the Loyalists were cut down, with more than 90 killed, on Michael Holt's land, then in Orange County and now in southern Alamance.

10. February 1781
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough British soldiers pave the crossing of King and Churton streets

    To keep his men busy and away from plunder, Cornwallis had stone laid near his artillery park for 150 yards in each direction from the intersection of King and Churton streets.

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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 1, 2026.