Alamance Battleground is a North Carolina State Historic Site commemorating the

Battle of Alamance The Battle of Alamance, which took place on May 16, 1771, was the final battle of the Regulator Movement, a rebellion in colonial North Carolina over issues of taxation and local control, considered by some to be the opening salvo of the Ameri ...

. The historic site is located south of Burlington,

Alamance County Alamance County (), from the North Carolina Collection's website at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved September 18, 2012. is a county in North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 171,415. Its county seat ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

History

The Battle of Alamance was fought in May 1771 as part of the

War of the Regulation The Regulator Movement, also known as the Regulator Insurrection, War of Regulation, and War of the Regulation, was an uprising in Provincial North Carolina from 1766 to 1771 in which citizens took up arms against colonial officials, whom they v ...

between the forces of Royal Governor

William Tryon Lieutenant-General William Tryon (8 June 172927 January 1788) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as governor of North Carolina from 1764 to 1771 and the governor of New York from 1771 to 1777. He also served durin ...

and a band of

settler A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settl ...

s from western North Carolina who were dissatisfied with the leadership provided by the royal governors. Archaeological studies begun in 2009 have also found evidence of a Revolutionary War skirmish that occurred between the Delaware Light Infantry and British General Charles Cornwallis' forces on March 5, 1781, one of several small battles to occur in the area prior to the

Battle of Guilford Courthouse The Battle of Guilford Court House was on March 15, 1781, during the American Revolutionary War, at a site that is now in Greensboro, the seat of Guilford County, North Carolina. A 2,100-man British force under the command of Lieutenant General ...

. Evidence was also found of a

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

era encampment of the 3rd North Carolina Junior Reserve unit under the command of Col. John Hinsdale, who camped on the site shortly before surrendering near High Point to Union forces.

Alamance Battleground State Historic Site

The state historic site belongs to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources was established to preserve part of the battleground and provide historical interpretation of the lifestyle of the settlers in 1770s north central North Carolina. Family papers, books, and documents relate the story of the era, providing authentic examples of living on the frontier during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Grounds

A visitor center at the site allows visitors to view a film and several historical items - including the powder horn of Harmon Cox, the only known surviving archeological relic from the Battle of Alamance, in a small museum. Outside the visitors center is a 3-pounder cannon replica and a map of the battleground site. Outside the visitors center, the grounds are marked with 2

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

s. The smaller monument was given as a memorial in 1880 while the larger monument featuring a statue of James Hunter, the so-called "General of the Regulators", was erected in 1901. The grounds are crossed by a ¾ mile trail, and key battle positions are marked with pennants as is the Regulator

campsite A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using te ...

. A

smokehouse A smokehouse (North American) or smokery (British) is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke. The finished product might be stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more.

also stands on the grounds. There is a plaque that commemorates the deaths of the six men who were hanged as traitors by decree of Governor Tryon following the defeat of the Regulators: James Pugh, Robert Matear, Benjamin Merrill, Captain Messer, and two others. Alamance Battleground State Historic Site also includes the John Allen House, which family sources suggest was constructed around 1780. John's sister, Amy, was the wife of Herman Husband, an

agitator Agitator may refer to: Politics *A person who carries out political agitation; see agitation *A member of the Agitators, political movement and elected representatives of soldiers during the English Civil War * Levellers, also called Agitators ...

and

pamphleteer Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore inexpensive) booklets intended for wide circulation. Context Pamphlets were used to broadcast the writer's opinions: to articulate a poli ...

prominent in the Regulator movement who was present at the Battle of Alamance. Donated by descendants of the family and moved from nearby

Snow Camp Snow Camp is an unincorporated community in southern Alamance County, North Carolina, United States, noted for its rich history and as the site of the Snow Camp Outdoor Theater. The community has a large Quaker population centered on the pre-revo ...

to the current site, the frontier style, one room

log home A log house, or log building, is a structure built with horizontal logs interlocked at the corners by notching. Logs may be round, squared or hewn to other shapes, either handcrafted or milled. The term "log cabin" generally refers to a sma ...

is furnished with restored, original pieces from the period.

Visitors

Guided tours of the Allen House are provided upon request. The visitor center has several exhibits and hosts a twenty-five-minute audio-visual program about the battle, the War of the Regulation and what life was like on the frontier of North Carolina. The battleground is largely handicapped accessible. Ten picnic tables are available for use by visitors. A gift shop is located within the visitor's center.

References

External links