The Boy Spies with the Regulators
In this we were doomed to disappointment, however.
Waddel also had skirmishers in advance, and immediately his men came in touch with ours they retreated, and soon word was brought that the entire force was retreating across the river again.
Now began a chase, when our horses were fresh, but handicapped considerably by the loads of powder they carried, and we were positive success would be ours whenever we could come within range of the foe.
All evidence of military formation was lost sight of as we forded or swam our horses across the river, and in less than half an hour we were among the rear guard; but even this did not satisfy Master Howell. He believed the time had come when we might make prisoners of the entire force, and panted for the glory of capturing General Waddel himself.
To effect this fifty of us whose horses were fleetest, and among the number Sidney and I, were directed to make a detour across the country in order to strike the enemy in front before he could gain shelter in Salisbury, holding him there at whatsoever cost until the force was absolutely surrounded.
How we rode that day! The horses were sent forward at racing speed, regardless of the danger that they might be foundered by carrying such a weight, and Sidney and I were among the foremost when we broke cover directly in advance of the retreating column.
"Look after the general!" Sidney shouted as we pressed on, our horses running neck and neck. "Now has come the time when we can make names for ourselves which will not soon be forgotten!"
We could see the leader and his officers plainly, and rode directly toward them without taking heed as to whether we were followed; but there yet remained a sufficient number of the men who were loyal to the king to prevent us from carrying out the plan.
We speedily found ourselves confronted by a squad of twenty or more who stood bravely in line while their officers rode swiftly away, and this little party must be attended to before it might be safe to push on in pursuit of the prize.
We drew back within the shelter of a clump of trees, where we were joined by a dozen or more of our men, and then began the first real fight in which I ever took part.
There was no room in my mind for fear. I thought only of what might be done if we could disperse the party, and I fired and reloaded without realizing that my one desire was to take human lives.
The militia held their ground well, and both sides were at a disadvantage because of trying to take aim while in the saddle. With such marksmen as we had among us that squad of the king's men should all have been disabled within ten minutes, and yet half an hour passed without any perceptible advantage on either side.
Three of our men were down, and four of theirs had dismounted or been knocked out of the saddle; but by such time the general and his officers had surely succeeded in making good their escape.
From the sounds of firing which came from every direction we knew full well that all our party was engaged, and the question had just come into my mind as to whether this force of Waddel's had been as badly demoralized as we were led to believe, when I heard shouts in the rear, and a moment later saw Master Howell ride up with eight or ten men at his back.
"Throw down your arms, and surrender!" he cried to our adversaries. "The remainder of the command have yielded, and you can do Tryon no good by holding out longer!"
In a twinkling the men came forward empty-handed, and the fight was won; but I failed to feel any great elation because of what we had lost, while Sidney was furious with rage.
"But for their holding out, we two might have captured Waddel with, perhaps, some of his officers. It is a clear case of cheating, and we have got the worst of it!"
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," I cried laughingly, for my sorrow was dissipated by Sidney's rage. "We never counted very surely on capturing the general, and should thank our lucky stars that we have deprived him of his force, for thus have we weakened Tryon."
He would not be consoled for the lost opportunity of distinguishing himself, and for a moment I really believed he was on the point of striking the disarmed men who had baffled his desires.
There was no reason why we should not feel proud of our work. We had captured the ammunition, which was the first task set us, and, in addition held as prisoners a force which Governor Tryon counted on as adding to his own. Surely we had done well, and if the remainder of the Regulators could do as much, then was it certain Tryon would be driven in shame from this portion of the colony.
Now it was that we had more prisoners than were convenient. As a matter of fact it would be impossible to feed them during the march to the Alamance where we counted on meeting our companions-in-arms, to say nothing of providing them with horses, for not more than half the number were mounted, therefore Master Howell called for a consultation in which all hands were to take part.
It was not necessary to spend very much breath over the question as to whether we would try to hold them captives. They must be disposed of in some manner, and without loss of time; but yet our duty was to make certain they did not join Tryon.
After hearing such propositions as our people had to make, and some of them were wild indeed, Master Howell raised the question as to whether it would not be wise to release them on parole?
This was the solution to the whole matter, and if he had so stated it at first, we would have decided within a few seconds.
On being consulted, our prisoners declared that they would readily take an oath not to bear arms against us until after having been properly exchanged, and all seemed pleased at being able to get out of the scrape so easily.
The men were formed in a hollow square, and each was required to repeat the oath Master Howell administered, after which we parted company, the paroled force going toward Charlotte, and we riding at full speed toward the Alamance, for it was to be expected that Tryon would go there to seek us.
I would it were possible for me to set down all the details of our movements; but the yarn has already been spun out to such a length that much which might, possibly, be interesting to strangers must be omitted.
It suffices to say that within three days after this encounter with General Waddel's force, we of the two hundred which had been sent out to gather in a supply of ammunition rejoined the main body of Regulators, and much rejoicing was there in camp after our story had been told.
It was as if each of us had done something remarkable, to judge of the treatment we received, and certain it was that those who had been weak-kneed regarding our chances of a successful opposition to Tryon, straightway became convinced that we could force him to retreat when the two forces came together.
During our absence it had been decided by our leaders that we would await the enemy on the banks of the Alamance, and there was no good reason to change the plan after we returned. We now had plenty of powder, and the women from roundabout melted lead into bullets until our wants were fully supplied.
We had already fought and captured a full third of the force Governor Tryon counted on bringing with him, and this was done by only two hundred of our people, therefore it seemed positive that when we met them, a thousand Regulators against no more than fifteen hundred militia and a few companies of soldiers, the result would be in our favor.
Twenty men or more were sent out as scouts and the remainder of our company lounged idly in camp, when, as a matter of fact, every moment should have been spent in fortifying the position.
More than one of our people suggested that it would be a good plan to throw up breastworks, but our leaders gave no heed to the suggestion, and for the reason that they were suddenly plunged into distress not unmixed with dismay.
Our old commander, the man upon whom all relied at such a time, was taken with a most serious illness, and it was believed that his days on this earth were few.
It was necessary to carry the old gentleman to a dwelling, and half a dozen of our best men undertook this duty, leaving the command of the force to Herman Husband, that member of the force in which we placed implicit confidence.
As I look back upon that time, when all were confident regarding the future, it seems indeed strange that we should have selected as Master Hamilton's successor the only member of our company who would play us false.
It was as if the gallant Master Hamilton had but just been carried away from us, when the scouts came in with the news that Tryon was approaching, having heard of General Waddel's defeat.
Then it was we leaned upon Master Husband, that man for whom we had risked our lives three several times in order that he might be spared imprisonment, and learned in the end that he was no more than a broken reed.
CHAPTER XV
THE BATTLE
It was as if we had no sooner learned that Tryon was near at hand than he came almost upon us.
Just at sunset on the 13th day of May in the year of grace 1771, our scouts came in with the report that the governor's force was encamped hardly more than six miles away, and was sending out skirmishers to ascertain our position.
Master Husband's opinion was, and now he had become the leader we learned that he could be very obstinate once his mind was made up, that our scouts should be drawn in lest, peradventure, some of them be captured.
Thus it was we remained all in ignorance of what the enemy might be doing until, at about eight o'clock in the evening, our sentinels captured two of the king's men who were out reconnoitering, bringing them into camp.
These were none other than Colonel John Ashe and Captain John Walker.
Now has come the moment when I must write of what we did to disgrace the Regulation, because surely it was a disgrace for civilized men claiming to be at war, to act as did the Regulators through the advice, or, I might almost say, the commands of, Master Husband.
As we learned afterward, our new leader fancied he had cause for enmity against the two gentlemen whom our sentinels had taken prisoners, and within half an hour after they were brought into camp, he ordered both tied to a tree and severely whipped.
It was an outrage which cannot be excused, however partial one may feel toward that organization which first nourished the spirit of liberty among the American people. Yet it was done, and to Master Husband must be given the blame.
In the Carolinas Colonel Ashe and Captain Walker were looked upon as worthy gentlemen even by those whose politics were of a different complexion, and that we should flog them like slaves, nay, even in a more brutal fashion than one would whip his own chattels, was dire disgrace.
Had Master Husband delayed even ten minutes after making the proposal for punishment, our people would have cried out against the outrage; but it seemed almost as if the Regulators were paralyzed by the mere suggestion of such an act as had never before disgraced them, and a few of the meaner spirits carried the order into execution while the remainder of the company were literally stupefied.
This was the first wrong done, so far as I knew, by the Regulation, and nineteen out of every twenty condemned it as brutal and uncalled-for.
When the punishment was concluded, however, kindly hands took charge of the unfortunate gentlemen, and if words could have soothed their wounds, then of a verity had they been made whole while yet the sting of the lash was upon their flesh.
Master Husband knew full well that he was censured by the majority of the company, and it was as if from that moment he took the entire command into his hands, determined that we should have no voice in whatsoever was done.
Thus it was that that brave company of gentlemen followed blindly a leader who was very shortly to prove himself a rank coward, raising no mutiny as would have been done under other circumstances, because we were facing the enemy and bickerings might bring about a disaster.
When some of us would have accompanied Colonel Ashe and Captain Walker to Tryon's camp under a flag of truce, Master Husband sternly forbade any such procedure, and declared that he should hold the gentlemen prisoners until after the enemy had retreated, or been whipped in battle.
Next morning, instead of sending out skirmishers, our leader appeared to think that a written notice from him would be sufficient to disperse the king's men, and accordingly he wrote what it pleased him to call a "proclamation," setting forth the fact that the governor had come contrary to law into counties over which he had abandoned control, and demanded that he should send answer within four hours explaining when it would please him to retreat.
We had among us the Reverend David Caldwell of Orange, that good minister who followed such of his congregation as belonged to the Regulation, knowing full well a battle was imminent, and believing he might acceptably serve God and his fellow-man at the time when death was about to seize upon some of us.
Master Caldwell had been among those who spoke the loudest against Master Husband's brutality of the previous evening; but now he accepted the position of messenger in the hope that he might prevail upon Tryon to draw off and thus avert bloodshed.
The good man disdained to use a flag of truce; but set off trusting that his cloth would protect him, as indeed it did, for he was speedily given audience with the enemy.
Governor Tryon received the clergyman graciously; but excused himself from making a reply to the ill-advised proclamation until noon of the following day, because, as he said, until then there would not be time to discuss the matter with such of his officers as were entitled to consideration.
However, he gave the parson the most positive assurance that no blood should be shed unless the Regulators began the battle; in other words, he bound himself to keep his force in leash unless we made an unprovoked assault.
When Master Caldwell came within our lines again, he had a long interview with Master Husband, the substance of which none of us knew thoroughly; but it was whispered among the more knowing, that the parson had insisted on liberty being given to the two prisoners, and our leader had flatly refused.
Master Howell and a dozen others who had shared the command of the company with General Hamilton, were loud in their complaints because Master Husband refused to send out scouts, and, finally, after no little bickerings which would have swelled into open mutiny but for the situation of affairs, they left the bigoted man to himself, and sent secretly a dozen or more to spy upon the enemy.
By this means we knew that during the night Governor Tryon's force had crossed the Alamance and marched silently along the Salisbury road until within half a mile of our camp, where they were formed in battle order by daybreak.
All this we of the rank and file knew; but our leader remained in ignorance, and had no suspicion that Parson Caldwell paid a second visit to the governor before breakfast was served our men, receiving from him another promise that blood would not be shed by his force without provocation; but now, having gained the position he desired, Tryon demanded as the price of peace, that the Regulation should surrender unconditionally.
This he charged Master Caldwell to repeat to our leader, and when Master Husband heard it he showed himself, for a short time, as one who understood somewhat of warfare, for as soon as might be thereafter he marched us down the road until we were halted within three hundred yards of the governor's army.
Now did it appear as if the battle was to be fought by words rather than bullets, for Tryon sent forward under flag of truce a magistrate from Orange County, who read a lot of high-sounding words to the effect that we were ordered by the chief ruler of the colony to disperse within an hour.
Then was come the time when we should have set spurs to our horses and dashed into the king's lines, for of a verity could we have put them in full flight within ten minutes; but Master Husband, beginning to feel the influence of that cowardly fit which so beset him shortly afterward, ordered Robert Thompson, a gentleman well known among us all as being of a most peaceful and amiable disposition but prone at all times to speak his mind, to go into the governor's lines and learn what arrangements might be made for the settlement of the difficulty.
This command was given secretly, else would Master Thompson never have been allowed to go forth on such an errand when we were prepared and eager to measure strength with the enemy.
However, he went, and we remained in the saddle mystified, wondering why any parley should be held, until we saw our comrade halt in front of the governor himself.
Now this which I am to about to relate was afterward told me by a member of Tryon's force. As a matter of course all that we of the Regulation could see was the movements of the men.
When Master Thompson advanced to the governor, he was told abruptly, and without even the ordinary civility which is due from one gentleman to another, to make his way to the rear as a prisoner.
Indignant because of such perfidy, he told the brute Tryon some very plain truths regarding his actions in the Carolinas, and wheeled about to return to our lines.
My eyes were upon him at the moment, and Sidney had expressed his satisfaction at seeing Master Thompson coming toward us in such a resolute manner, when I saw Tryon seize a musket from the hands of a militiaman, and shoot the Regulator dead.
At the same instant it was as if the governor realized what he had done, for the smoke of the musket had hardly more than cleared away before we saw a flag of truce advance; but the murder of Robert Thompson was sufficient to arouse us all, and an hundred rifles were immediately emptied upon the bearer of the flag.
Then it was that we would have advanced without waiting for orders from Master Husband, but that Parson Caldwell rode swiftly up and down the line between us and the enemy, imploring the Regulators to disperse rather than bring civil war upon the colony.
We could not fire upon a man like Master Caldwell, neither was it in our hearts to ride him down, as we must have done had a charge been made at that moment; but Tryon, losing his senses through rage, as it seemed to me, gave the word for the militia to fire.
Not a man obeyed the order.
Parson Caldwell continued to urge that we have forbearance, and again Tryon called out for his men to shoot, this time addressing the artillery as well as militia.
It was as if both sides were listening to the entreaties of the clergyman, when the bully Tryon, maddened with rage, rose in his stirrups as he shouted frantically:
"Fire! Fire on them or on me!"
This order was given to the entire force, and the men obeyed.
How many of our people fell I know not. On the instant there came before my eyes a red mist; my brain swam, and I only know that there was but one desire in my heart, which was to kill – to kill the brute who had neither the instincts of a man nor the courage of a woman!
We Regulators fired rapidly as we could load and discharge our pieces, and then suddenly Sidney shouted:
"Come forward, lads! Spur your horses hard and we may take those cannon, for the men who work them act faint-hearted! Follow me!"
An hundred or more of us responded to this call. Riding forward at full speed we literally swept the cannoneers from their pieces, and this done, after many lives had paid the price, we saw that man to whom General Hamilton had entrusted the command of the gallant Regulators, ride like a coward down the road a short distance, and then into the thicket.
Verily I believe there was not one among us save he who would have shown the white feather even in order to save his own life, and we cursed him – while we battled against the enemy we cursed him!
What followed I know not of my own knowledge. It was as if a fever had seized upon me, and when reason returned Sidney and I were in the jail at Hillsborough, where we remained many a long, dreary month before finally being allowed to return to our homes under parole.
Here is an account as I have seen it set down by another who wrote at a later day, when all the facts were known, and in his words shall be told the remainder of the distressing story which began so bravely, and ended in shame and in death. 3 "Some young men among the Regulators rushed forward and took possession of the cannons. They did not know how to manage them, and soon abandoned them. The military now fired with vigor, and the Regulators fell back to a ledge of rocks on the verge of a ravine, not, however, until their ammunition was exhausted.
"Nine of the Regulators and twenty-seven of the militia fell in that conflict, and a great number on both sides were wounded. Tryon, in his report, said, 'The loss of our army in killed, wounded, and missing amounted to about sixty men.'
"The admitted excesses of the Regulators afford no excuse for the cruelty of Tryon after the battle on the Alamance. With the implacable spirit of revenge, he spent his wrath upon his prisoners, and some of his acts were worthy only of a barbarian. He exacted an oath of allegiance from the people; levied contributions of provisions; chastised those who dared to offend him; and at Hillsborough he offered a large reward for the bodies of Husband and other Regulators, 'dead or alive.'
"At Hillsborough he held a court-martial for the trial of his prisoners. Twelve were condemned to suffer death; six were reprieved, and the others were hung. His thirst for revenge satiated, Tryon returned to his palace at Newbern, where he remained but a short time, having been called to the administration of affairs in the province of New York.
"The movements of the Regulators and the result of the battle on the Alamance form an important episode in the history of our Revolution. Their resistance arose from oppressions more personal and real than those which aroused the people of New England. It was not wholly the abstract idea of freedom for which they contended; their strife consisted of efforts to relieve themselves of actual burdens. While the tea-duty was but a 'pepper-corn tribute,' imposing no real burden upon the industry of the people in New England, extortion in every form, and not to be evaded, was eating out the substance of the working men in North Carolina. Implied despotism armed the New Englanders; actual despotism panoplied the Carolinians. Each were equally patriotic, and deserve our reverent gratitude. The defeat on the Alamance did not break the spirit of the patriots; and many, determined no longer to suffer the oppressions of extortioners, abandoned their homes, with their wives and children, went beyond the mountains, and began settlements in the fertile valleys of the Tennessee."
THE END1
Benson J. Lossing, "Field Book of the Revolution."
2
Lossing's "Field Book of the Revolution."
3
Lossing's "Field Book of the Revolution."
