Alamance Battleground Staff Host Historic

Summer Edition
Upcoming Events
Volume VI, Issue 6
August 2015
Alamance Battleground Staff Host
Historic Weapons Safety Training
August 8
Descendants Gathering
—
Genealogy Workshop
September 12
“Moving Into the Carolina
Backcountry” with
Historian Tom Magnuson
October 12-16
Colonial Living Week
December 12
Christmas at Alamance
Alamance
Battleground
State Historic Site
Hours of Operation:
Tuesday - Saturday
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
5803 S NC Hwy 62
Burlington NC 27215
Contact Us
(336) 227-4785
[email protected]
Newly minted Volunteer Safety Officers, certified in 18th century
small arms. From left: Lisa Cox, Roy Timbs, Frank McMahon, Blake
Moyer, Jeremiah DeGennaro, Sally Spatz, Stuart Spatz, and
Jay Neimoller.
On July 10th and 11th, the
sounds of musket fire were heard
once again on the battlefield, as
Alamance Battleground Historic
Interpreter Bill Thompson conducted an historic weapons safety
course at the site.
Attendees included staff and
volunteers from Alamance Battleground, House in the
Horseshoe, and Fort
Dobbs, as well as members of the Guilford Militia
reenactment
group. The training included 16 hours of classroom instruction and practical training,
including studying musket nomenclature, firearm safety best
practices, drill instruction, weapon
cleaning and several other facets
of weapons expertise. Upon completion of the course, attendees
were fully certified as Volunteer
Safety Officers in the Historic
Weapons Program. Historic Sites
throughout our division rely on
Volunteer Safety Officers to help
ensure weapon safety and interpret firing demonstrations to visitors during special events. This is
the second such course to be held
at Alamance Battleground, and plans are
in the works for another volunteer safety officer course to be held
in the coming year. We
would like to thank House in the
Horseshoe Interpreter Roy Timbs,
who assisted Bill as an instructor
for the course.
Alamance Battleground will
also serve as the host site for the
next small arms certification
course, to be held in October 2016.
Warren Dixon
Board Member, Alamance Battleground Friends
Drive west of Liberty on
Old Liberty Road and you’ll
come to Sandy Creek and the
site of Samuel Walker’s Mill.
You can see the outline of a
field where the mill pond was
and in the winter, you may
catch a glimpse of the remains of the dam. Over the
years, mills there burned and
rebuilt. Browers and Yorks
had mills here. The last, Nixon’s mill, fell in the late 40’s
or early 50’s. The dam broke
during Hurricane Hazel.
It’s a historic place. Cornwallis camped there on his
retreat from Guilford Courthouse and at least one skirmish between militia occurred
there during the Revolution.
Samuel Walker’s daughter
Mary married Regulator leader James Hunter, who lived on
200 acres just northwest in
what is now Julian.
But old timers will tell
you that the site is even more
important than that. They say
that it started out as Herman
Husband’s mill and that Husband lived on the land to the
north and sold the mill to
Samuel Walker. But did he?
Analysis of land grants and
deeds tells the story. As one of
Kris Kristofferson’s songs
goes, the legend of Husband’s
mill location is “partly truth
and partly fiction.”
Husband received his 640
acre land grant of what he
termed his “Cabbin” tract on
November 14, 1755. Although
Walker’s 583 acre grant was
surveyed in 1757 and it officially became his on February
22, 1759, Husband’s 1755
grant mentions that it began
“at a white oak, Samuel
18th century property lines superimposed over a modern
satellite map give a clear indication of where Herman Husband’s property line ran.
Walker’s line…”
The two land grants fit
like a glove, Walker’s to the
west beside Husband’s, both
their north-south lines becoming one in the middle,
going straight up the “bents”
of Sandy Creek. On paper, it
appears that the site of Walker’s Mill could indeed have
originally been Husband’s.
There are several clues as
to the location of Husband’s
Cabbin grant. First, his grant
says that his north-south line
adjoining Walker goes “north
crossing the creek six times
on Walker’s line”.
The best evidence,
though, is found in two later
deeds. In one, William Husband sells 243 ¾ acres of the
“Cabbin” tract to John Brower and mentions the mouth of
Ward’s Creek. The other, in
which William Husband sells
Simon Geran another 244
adjoining acres, calls for a
corner “at the place Harmon’s Road crosses Sandy
Creek, then down the courses
of said Creek to the mouth of
Ward’s Creek…” Ward’s
Creek enters Sandy Creek
just as US 421 crosses north
of Old Liberty Road.
“Harmon’s Road”, built by
Husband as a better route to
Continued on Pg. 3
Continued: Searching for Herman Husband’s Mill
“Husbands Mill” is identified in this North Carolina map, drawn in 1770 by John Collett.
Hillsborough, is mentioned in Orange County
Court records as early as 1765. It ran from the
junction of Randolph Church Road and the
Ramseur-Julian Road east to Hillsborough.
On the map it’s the dirt road running east-west
from the end of Randolph Church Road just
above Koopman Farms Dairy, which is better
known in the area as the Meridith Dairy for its
founders. A post-Civil War map drawn for
Governor Jonathan Worth’s daughter Evelyn
shows it continuing out of Liberty as what is
now Highway 49.
Using these points and the measurements,
it’s fairly easy to plot the approximate location
of Husband’s tract on the Randolph County GIS
map. And after plotting that, Samuel Walker’s
grant falls into place to the west and Husband’s
“Thickett” and “Level” grants line up to the east,
reaching the western limits of Liberty. It’s obvious from this chart that Husband’s “Cabbin”
tract does not quite reach the location of Walker’s Mill, but Samuel Walker’s tract does.
Husband had at least ten Granville Grants on
Sandy Creek. His 640 acre tract to the south of
the “Cabbin”, which he named the “Bottom”,
gives the last clue to the mill’s ownership. The
1774 deed of this “Bottom” tract from Jacob
Gregg to Mary Husband says the line of the grant
went from the Cabbin’s southwest corner south
“across the creek in Samuel Walker’s dam” and
then “west crossing the creek below the mill.” So
the mill was always on Walker’s land.
Finally, the Orange County Court granted
Samuel Walker leave to build a mill on his own
land in 1756. It granted Herman Husband permission to build his mill in 1759.
Local historians are probably correct in their
theory that Husband lived on his Cabbin tract.
Why else would he name it as such? The legend
is that he lived on what is now termed the “Fox
Farm”, located above the dairy and on the Harmon Road. His Cabbin tract took in part of this
farm and, according to deeds, he owned the part
above Samuel Walker’s property. As a matter of
fact, Husband’s grants and land purchases almost surrounded Walker on all sides.
But where was Husband’s mill? No deed
that has been found thus far mentions it, at
least not by name. Governor Tryon made no
note of a mill when he destroyed Husband’s
property after Alamance. The only mention of
a mill is found on the two maps of the era.
More research needs to be done, but we
may never find the location of Husband’s mill.
After all, he owned at least 6,749 acres on
Sandy Creek with plenty of good mill sites. We
can safely say, however, that it was never at
the site on Old Liberty Road.
Alamance Battleground Friends, Inc. ___
is an independent nonprofit
organization whose purpose is to ___
support the preservation and interpretation of Alamance Battleground
State Historic Site. All contributions ___
are tax deductible, and go toward
educational programs, artifact Name:
acquisition, and site development.
We invite you to show your support Address:
by becoming a member of the Phone:
Alamance Battleground Friends!
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Email:
It has been an exciting time here at
Alamance Battleground, with lots of new
developments and two brand new programs
coming up!
First we have our eagerly anticipated
Descendants Gathering. This will mark the
first time that descendants of Regulators,
militia and the Allen family will congregate
together to share genealogical information.
This event has been in the making for several months now, and we are eager for the opportunity to see so many descendants together at one time! I’d like to thank Lisa Cox
for conceiving of the idea for a gathering of
Alamance Battleground descendants, and
working tirelessly to help make it a reality.
Our second program, also a new addition, is a lecture by historian Tom Magnuson of the Trading Path Association. Tom
has spent years studying the old roads of
North Carolina, including Tryon’s march
through the Piedmont to the Battle
of Alamance and
his western expedition afterwards. We
are excited to welcome Tom to the site to
share some of his insights on the old road
networks that linked the different areas of
our state.
In addition to new programs, work continues toward a renovated visitor center and
expanded gift shop. While we do not have a
final completion date set for the work, the
project is moving forward steadily. In anticipation of our new gift shop space, we have
been busy ordering new items, including
brand new t-shirt designs, historical reproductions, and posters of the 1771 Battle of
Alamance map.
Thank you for reading this edition of
The Regulator. We hope to see you soon!
Alamance Battleground Friends Welcome New
Board Member, Asheboro Columnist Warren Dixon
The Alamance Battleground Friends recently welcomed a new member to the board of directors, Mr.
Warren Dixon of Liberty, North Carolina.
Warren currently lives in Liberty with his wife,
Sandra. He has two step children. He is a graduate of
the School of Journalism at the University of North
Carolina in Chapel Hill. He is also the retired Postmaster of Julian, North Carolina.
Warren has a deep love of history, currently
serving on the Randolph County Landmark Commission. For thirty-three years he wrote, “Shade
Tree Historian”, a humor column for the Asheborobased Courier Tribune, and for other area papers.
In addition, he is the author of two humor books.
Warren has been activity involved with the creation and placement of several state highway markers dealing with the Battle of Alamance and the Colonial Period of North Carolina. He helped with the
correct placement of markers for James Hunter,
Harmon Husband, and Harmon Cox’s Mill. In addition, the got approval for the creation and placement of the marker for Rednap Howell along Deep
River on Highway 64 in Randolph County.
Highlights: Battle of Alamance Anniversary Program
We enjoyed having some
perfect weather and a
great turnout at our battle
program this past May.
Here are a few of the
people who made it a
memorable and enjoyable
program!
August 8, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Descendants of Regulators, Militia, and Allen family are invited to exchange stories and share genealogy research pertaining to their family histories and the
1771 Battle of Alamance. Guest speakers will include Dr. Carole Troxler, author of
Farming Dissenters: The Regulator Movement in Piedmont North Carolina and Chris
Laforet, director and producer of the new documentary, The Regulators. This event
is free and open to the public. Donations are appreciated.
September 12, 3 p.m.
Alamance Battleground has been the site of military action in three separate wars
due to its location along one of North Carolina's oldest roads. But why does
the road run through this area, and who else has travelled on it? Historian Tom Magnuson is one of the foremost authorities on North Carolina's road networks, and will
be discussing his work at Alamance Battleground on Saturday, September 12 at
3 p.m. Part of the North Carolina Humanities Council's "Road Scholars" program.
All of our events are free and open to the public. For more information about upcoming
events and programs, please call (336) 227-4785 or send an email to [email protected].
Intern Spotlight: Blake Moyer
This summer the staff at Alamance Battleground had the privilege of working with our
latest intern, Blake Moyer. Blake is nineteen
years old and originally from Linesville, PA,
but has lived in the Burlington area for ten
years. He graduated from Western Alamance
High in 2014 and is a sophomore at Methodist University in Fayetteville. Blake has spent
the summer assisting with historic interpretation, giving tours, and outlining a new educational activity for students. Blake’s future
plans include attending graduate school and
teaching at a post-secondary level or working
in historical interpretation.