The Regulator Movement and the Revolution in the North Carolina Backcountry

The Chatham County Historical Association continues its celebration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Join us on Sunday, February 1, at 2:00pm in Pittsboro’s Historic Courthouse as Carole Troxler, Professor Emerita at Elon University discusses “The Regulator Movement and the Revolution in the North Carolina Backcountry.” In the years leading up to the American Revolution, yeoman farmers in North Carolina’s Piedmont farmland became increasingly angry about the corruption and dishonesty among the colonial officials who collected their taxes and enforced their laws. A wave of popular support for stricter regulation of these laws slowly spread throughout the Piedmont, resulting in years of minor clashes between the farmer ‘Regulators’ and the royal militia. Although the militia finally defeated the Regulators at the Battle of Alamance in 1771, the seeds of revolt were planted. This little-known rebellion in North Carolina highlighted the growing discontent with colonial rule among American colonists, and helped to set the stage for the American Revolution.

When: Sunday, February 1 , 2:00pm Where: Pittsboro’s Historic Courthouse, 9 Hillsboro St., Pittsboro 27312 All are welcome. Admission is free.

Our presenter will be Carole Troxler, Professor emerita of Elon University, where she taught history for 33 years. She is the author of five books, including the 2011 work, Farming Dissenters: The Regulator Movement in Piedmont North Carolina. The North Carolina Society of Historians has honored Professor Troxler with a 2017 Historical Book Award for her newest book and first work of fiction, The Red Dog: A Tale of the Carolina Frontier (Lizzy’s Yarn), a work also set in the 1760s in the Piedmont region of central North Carolina. Dr. Troxler delights in the study of “obscure people”--people who left little in the way of letters and private papers and who haven’t been considered “important people.” 

This program will be the first in CCHA’s 2026 Gene Brooks lecture series, which honors the contributions to Chatham history of the late Gene Brooks through his teaching and advocacy for the preservation and sharing of Chatham history.