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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

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An authentick relation of the Battle of Alamance
In Revolutionary North Carolina, page 1.11
Contemporary newspaper account of the Battle of Alamance, fought between Regulators and militia led by Governor William Tryon on May 16, 1771. Includes historical commentary.
Format: newspaper
The battle begins
The battle begins
In a reenactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, Continental soldiers watch while British troops fire at American militia. The militia were ordered to fire twice, then break formation. Since militia were not professional soldiers, how well they obeyed...
Format: image/photograph
David Fanning and the Tory War of 1781
In Revolutionary North Carolina, page 5.10
During the American Revolution, Patriots and Loyalists fought in the North Carolina backcountry. In 1781, David Fanning, commanding the Loyalist forces of five counties, terrorized residents of the Piedmont.
Format: article
Governor Holden speaks out against the Ku Klux Klan
In North Carolina in the Civil War and Reconstruction, page 10.4
Speech by North Carolina Governor William Woods Holden to the General Assembly, December 1869, asking for the power to declare martial law where needed to stop the violence of the Ku Klux Klan. Includes historical commentary.
Format: letter
The Kirk-Holden War
In North Carolina in the Civil War and Reconstruction, page 10.5
In response to Ku Klux Klan violence during Reconstruction, North Carolina Governor William Woods Holden declared martial law in Alamance and Caswell counties in 1870. The militia, led by former Union Col. George W. Kirk, rounded up Klan leaders in what opponents called the "Kirk-Holden War."
Format: article
Nat Turner's Rebellion
In North Carolina in the New Nation, page 9.1
In 1831, Nat Turner, an enslaved man in Southampton, Virginia, led an insurrection in which a small band of slaves and free African Americans killed fifty-five whites. After the revolt, white militias and mobs hunted down blacks suspected of taking part in this or other insurrections, and southern states passed harsh new laws restricting the freedoms of both slaves and free blacks.
Format: article
By L. Maren Wood and David Walbert.
Overmountain Man statue at Sycamore Shoals
Overmountain Man statue at Sycamore Shoals
This statue of a Patriot militiaman stands at Sycamore Shoals State Park in Tennessee, site of a militia muster prior to the Battle of King's Mountain.
Format: image/photograph
The Overmountain Men and the Battle of Kings Mountain
In Revolutionary North Carolina, page 5.4
In October 1780, in response to a British threat in the Carolina backcountry, Patriot militias gathered in the mountains of present-day North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. They marched southeast to a site near present-day Morganton, joined forces, and proceeded to defeat Loyalist militias at the Battle of King's Mountain in South Carolina. The battle helped turn the tide of the war for independence.
Format: article
By Randell Jones.
Running for cover
Running for cover
Continental soldiers watch as American militia retreat for cover in the woods in a reenactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.
Format: image/photograph
The Rutherford Expedition
In Revolutionary North Carolina, page 4.3
The Cherokee, hoping to protect their lands from white settlement, sided with Britain in the American Revolution. In 1776, responding to Cherokee attacks, General Griffith Rutherford led an expedition against the Cherokee, taking slaves, burning villages, and destroying crops and food stores.
Format: article
"Some grievous oppressions"
In Revolutionary North Carolina, page 1.4
Excerpt of a sermon published by Herman Husband, Regulator leader, in 1770. Husband argued that North Carolina's colonial government was unfair to small farmers. Primary source includes historical commentary.
Format: pamphlet
Violence in Wilmington
In Revolutionary North Carolina, page 2.11
In the spring of 1775, Janet Schaw, a Scottish lady visiting family in North Carolina, described the "shocking outrages" committed by revolutionary militia and mobs. Includes historical commentary.
Format: letter
By Janet Schaw.