With blackened faces, the Cabarrus boys set off at dusk.
Tar Heel History
By Billy Arthur
Doers Of A Daring Deed
Nine patriots known as the ‘Black Boys of Cabarrus’
performed what may have been the first act
of Tar Heel rebellion against the British crown.
The first overt art against the
British crown government in
North Carolina may have been
perpetrated by nine young Cabarrus
(липну
patriots on May 2. 1771 — M
days before the Battle of Alamance.
Their faces blackened for disguise, by
night they stealthily sought, found, sur¬
prised and demolished Governor
William Tryon’s munitions wagon train
three miles west of Concord on the
( '.harlotte-Salisbury road.
Hunted by the Tories for four years
until it was sale to surface at the begin¬
ning of the war. they became known as
the "Black Boys of Cabarrus,” and later
were the subject of a book, '/Tic
'Шаек
Rays' of Cabarrus — Doers of a Daring
Deed, published in 1909 by the Concord
limes. Accounts ol their valor also were
contained in John Hill Wheeler's
Historical Sketches of North Carolina
(1854) and Cyrus Lee Hunter's Sketches
oj Western North Carolina (1877).
In the last hall ol the 18th century,
farmers of the Piedmont and back
country had long complained bitterly
of tlu- royal government's excessive
expenditures, which had included
Tryon Palace at New Bern, unjust taxa¬
tion. excessive fees and ruthless collec¬
tion methods of dishonest sheriffs and
other officials. For example, it was
claimed that when possessions of a fam¬
ily were sold to satisfy a tax levy or debt,
officials kept the surplus due the owner.
It was also stated that beds, bedclothes
"and even their wives' petticoats" were
being seized and sold.
When the colonial assembly failed to
correct or respond to the problems.
"groups of citizens" favoring law and
order joined together to “regulate" the
government and remedy the abuses.
They resorted to violence in Orange
and Anson counties and elsewhere,
removing officials from office and dam¬
aging property. Governor Tryon com¬
plained to the crown that the citizens
“would not be obedient" and ordered
the militia to Hillsboro (now
“Hillsborough") to put down the move¬
ment. He also ordered three wagon
loads of gunpowder, flints, blankets and
other military supplies from
Charleston. South Carolina, to be deliv¬
ered to Hillsboro.
They made it without incident to
Charlotte where, because there was
very little loyally to the king, no wagons
were readily available to continue trans¬
porting the supplies. So, Colonel Moses
Alexander, the royal magistrate, used
his right of impressment to seize some.
That whetted the "vigilance of jealous
Whigs" who were 16 miles to the north¬
east in the Rocky River section of what
is now Cabarrus County. There, accord¬
ing to Wheeler, “not a Tory was ever
born or breathed." and nine deter¬
mined young men met in the spring
house of Rocky River Church and plot¬
ted to destroy the munitions. “By
solemn oath" they bound themselves to
secrecy and the task.
They were: James, William and John
White, brothers; a second William
White, a cousin; Robert Caruthers.
Robert Davis, Benjamin Cochran (or
Cockranc), James Ashmore and Joshua
Hadley.
Historian Hunter adds William
Alexander of Sugar Creek to the list of
patriots, making 10 in all. and credits
him with being their leader. All were
residents of Mecklenburg County,
Cabarrus County and the Rocky Rivet-
area.
About dusk of May 2 they blackened
their faces, presumably with chimney
soot, and went looking for the muni¬
tions train. Except for the White broth¬
ers, whose father had gone
to mill that day with the
horses loaded with grain to
be ground, all were on
horseback. But the brothers
met their father coming
home', look his horses and
rode away, leaving him
standing beside the road
with his meal. They even
denied his requests to take
the load home before sur¬
rendering the horses.
Despite the makeup, it’s
difficult to believe he didn't
recognize at least one or both of his
sons by manner, speech, clothing or
some other characteristic. Possibly he
did, but being caught up in the patriot¬
ic spirit of the times, he did not choose
to challenge them.
According to the Concord limes book,
lilt* Black Boys “came upon the wagon
train encamped on Phifer’s Hill. They
surprised and captured the guards,
stove in the heads of the kegs, tori- the
blankets into shreds, collected the pow¬
der and ilinLs and placed it all in a pile.
They made a fuse of powder leading
from the pile, fired a pistol into the
fuse, which ignited the powder, causing
a tremendous explosion.”
Everything was destroyed. All the
king’s men from Colonel Alexander in
Charlotte to Governor Tryon at his
summer place at Hillsboro were
angered and determined to catch and
to hang anyone who would "commit so
foul a deed against his majesty."
Governor Tryon offered a pardon to
any of the group who would turn trai¬
tor. Ashmore and 1 ladley, half-brothers,
were frightened and moved by the par¬
don offer, and turned themselves in to
Magistrate Alexander.
He remarked significantly that they
were pardoned "but that they were the
first that ought to Ik* hanged."
iauui.1... I. |im Hum
The Statc/Miy 1996
16
