Small acts of violence had been taking…

Small acts of violence had been taking place in North Carolina for some time, mainly out of resentment, but the first organized conflict had been in Mecklenburg County in 1765.

Settlers in the region, there illegally, had forced away surveyors of the region assigned with designating land.

Minor clashes had followed for the next several years in almost every western county.

Governor William Tryon raises a militia in March 1771 to put down the long running uprising of back-country militias against North Carolina's colonial government.

The governor and his forces, numbering just over a thousand, with roughly one hundred and fifty officers, arrive at Hillsborough on May 9.

At the same time, General Waddell, supporting Governor Tryon, en route with his contingent of two hundred and thirty-six men, is met by a large contingent of Regulators.

Realizing his force is numerically outnumbered, he falls back to Salisbury.

Having received word of the retreat from a messenger, Tryon sends the force on May 11 to support General Waddell, intentionally choosing a path that will lead his forces through Regulator territory.

He had made strict mention that nothing is to be looted or damaged.

His troops had reached Alamance and set up a camp by May 14.

Leaving about seventy men behind to guard the position, he moves the remainder of his force, slightly under a thousand men, to find the Regulators.

About ten miles (sixteen kilometers) away, a force of approximately two thousand Regulators (by some accounts, six thousand) without any clear leadership or supplies is gathered mainly as a display of force, and not a standing army.

The general Regulator strategy is to scare the governor with a show of superior numbers in order to force him to give in to their demands.

The first clash of the battle is on May 15 when a rogue band of Regulators captures two of the governor's militia soldiers.

Governor Tryon had informed the Regulators that they are displaying open arms and rebellion and that action is to be taken if they do not disperse.

The Regulators do not understand the severity of the crisis they are in and ignore the warning.

Despite hesitation from his own forces, Governor Tryon allegedly initiates the main battle of Alamance on May 16 by shooting Robert Thompson, who is the first death of the battle.

The Regulators resistance crumbles somewhat quickly.

Captain Merrill, a Regulator, is supposed to arrive on the battlefield but is delayed.

The battle is over with nine deaths for the governor's forces and about the same for the Regulators.

Virtually everyone captured in the battle will be fully pardoned in exchange for an allegiance to the crown; however, seven Regulators will be executed for their part in the uprising.

Tryon's militia army, following the battle, travels through Regulator territory where he has Regulators and Regulator sympathizers sign loyalty oaths and destroys the properties of the most active Regulators.

He also raises taxes to pay for his militia's defeat of the Regulators.