Governor Tryon and the Militia

Governor Tryon and the Militia. . This advantageous position was held by Royal Governor William Tryon and his North Carolina militia during the Battle of Alamance. The men serving Governor Tryon were not British "Redcoats," but the citizen soldiers from the colony of North Carolina. The colonial militia law required that all able-bodied free men between the ages of 16 and 60 serve. This battle position extended across the Hillsborough-Salisbury Road (present-day N.C. Highway 62). Tryon's camp was located about five miles northeast from this point, on the banks of the Great Alamance Creek., (captions) , English architect John Hawkes constructed Tryon Palace between 1767 and 1770 in New Bern, which served as the colonial capital at the time of the Battle of Alamance. Taxes levied to pay for the building created resentment in the backcountry and energized the Regulator Movement., Governor Tryon signed and issued this proclamation on June 9, 1771, offering the reward of one hundred pounds and one thousand acres of land to anyone who brought in, dead or alive, outlawed Regulator leaders., Reenactors demonstrate cannons representative of those used by Gov. Tryon's militia. Records indicate the militia possessed two 3-pounders and six swivel guns., Claude J. Sauthier, a French surveyor and cartographer, prepared this map shortly after the battle., This display was made possible by the Alamance County Tourism Development Authority and Convention and Visitors Bureau.