They would also request other changes, like secret ballot voting, progressive taxation, land reform, and more transparent government.

In the spring of 1771, North Carolina Governor William Tryon left New Bern, having mustered 1,000 militia troops and 8 cannons.

The colonial government chose to act after a group of Regulators in September 1770 attacked the superior court in Hillsborough, NC.

As a result of their acts of resistance, such as not paying fees and taxes, and minor violence, the Regulators were declared to be in a state of rebellion and insurrection.

As the army neared the Regulator positions he ordered the militia to form two lines, and divided his artillery with the 2 3-pounders on the flanks and the 6 swivel guns at the center.

At about 11:00 Tryon sent one of his aides-de-camp, Captain Philemon Hawkins II, and the Sheriff of Orange County with a proclamation ahead of the advancing army to be read to the Regulators.

To require you who are now assembled as Regulators, to quietly lay down your arms, to surrender up your leaders, to the laws of your country and rest on the leniency of the Government.

By accepting these terms within one hour from the delivery of this dispatch, you will prevent an effusion of blood, as you are at this time in a state of rebellion against your King, your country, and your laws.

Soon after at about 11:15 Tryon's army arrived, formed along the slope of the adjacent hill, and proceeded to wait for the deadline with weapons loaded.

Possibly during the hour or at the end, one Regulator who had been taken prisoner earlier in the day, Robert Thompson, decided to seize the moment to escape.

According to Tryon's journal, the following men served under his command:[3] The following individuals were numbered as members of the Regulators: The following were excepted from pardons by Tryon: Six men were found guilty of treason, but were pardoned at Tryon's behest: Six men were found guilty of treason and were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, although in practice, they were only hanged: Some local historians in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries believed the battle to be a forerunner to the American Revolutionary War,.

[7] During the American Revolution, many prominent Regulators became Loyalists, like James Hunter who fought at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge.

All of North Carolina's continental army generals were with Tryon at the Battle of Alamance, and one was in command of the artillery that fired on the Regulators.

The battle features in the Diana Gabaldon novel, The Fiery Cross, and is depicted in the television adaptation, Outlander, in the fifth season's episode "The Ballad of Roger Mac" which first aired in 2020.;[8][9] however, there are many historical inaccuracies.