TOWN & COUNTRY
By Gregory DL Morris
Columnist
At the time of the Declaration of Independence, Hillsborough was already a well-established town. Founded in 1754, it is the oldest European settlement in what is today Orange County. It is also one of the oldest in North Carolina.
As is properly recognized in the land acknowledgments that have become more common around the area, the land on which Hillsborough sits was inhabited by First Nations for millennia. The home area of the Occaneechi is the greater historic Orange County, which includes present-day Orange County, as well as parts of Alamance and Caswell counties.
The site of Hillsborough was an important village where several key trading paths intersected the Eno River. A recreation of the Occaneechi village, a short walk from the Orange County Historical Museum in Hillsborough, is well worth the visit.
Spanish explorers came through the area in the middle of the 1500s, followed by English traders in the middle of the 1600s. The Province of Carolina was chartered by King Charles II in 1663, comprising all the land south of Virginia and north of Spanish Florida. The province was divided into northern and southern parts in 1691.
The second half of the 1700s brought turbulent times across the continent, within the Carolinas, and among the colonies. In 1754, the same year Hillsborough was founded, a joint expedition of British soldiers and Virginia militia, including a young officer named George Washington, skirmished with French and Native forces in disputed territory in what is now western Pennsylvania.
That was the spark that ignited the Seven Years’ War between France and England (1756-1763; known in the US as the French & Indian War). It is widely considered the First World War—fought in North America, Europe, and Asia—and ended with England victorious but deeply in debt.
Hillsborough was surveyed and, at first, owned by William Churton. It went through several name changes first Orange, then Corbin Town, then Childsburgh, until the current name was adopted in 1766. It was named after Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough, who was in the House of Lords, and president of the Board of Trade in London. Two years later, he was named secretary of state for the colonies and, in that position, opposed all concessions to the colonists as disputes between the colonies and England escalated in the aftermath of the French and Indian War.
Also in 1766, “residents in Orange County formed the Sandy Creek Association,” according to the American Battlefield Trust. “The association presented a manifesto to the court at Hillsborough, petitioning for reforms to the system that would address corruption and extortion. Eastward, New Bern was made the colonial capital the same year.
“The petition had little effect, but it marked the beginning of political activism in the Piedmont that would eventually turn into armed resistance. In 1768, a new movement began to organize. In Orange County, but also in neighboring Anson, Rowan, and Mecklenburg Counties, colonists who sought to address the ongoing corruption began to form groups called Regulators.”
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/regulator-war
The Regulator Movement ended when the royal militia under Governor William Tryon won the Battle of Alamance on May 16, 1771. Today, there are several historical markers around Hillsborough.
In 1765, the year before Hillsborough was founded, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, imposing the first direct tax on the colonies. Parliament felt strongly that the colonies should bear part of the costs of their defense during the Seven Years’ War.
Colonists, all of whom considered themselves loyal British subjects who had been equal partners in the war, were not unwilling, but insisted that their own colonial legislatures should levy the taxes, as they had since the colonies were founded. Hence the expression, ‘no taxation without representation.’
The Stamp Act was repealed, but Parliament imposed other direct taxes, including on glass, lead, and tea. Smuggling to circumvent the taxes was rampant, especially in the many small harbors of New England. In March 1768, about the same time as the Regulators began organizing around Orange County, about 4,000 British troops—several fully armed battalions—occupied Boston to suppress smuggling and to remind the restive colonists of their king’s love.
Following the Boston Tea Party in December 1773, British authorities closed that port, and discussions about independence began in earnest within each colony. The First Provincial Congress of North Carolina met in August 1774 in New Bern. The second met April 3rd through 7th, also in New Bern. Just 12 days later, fighting commenced at Lexington and Concord, Mass. The third NC Provincial Congress removed to Hillsborough for its third meeting in August and September 1775.
Hillsborough was also the site of five state General Assemblies (1778, 1780, 1782-1784). and was the base of operations for the Continental Army led by General Horatio Gates. After the Battle of Cowpens, British General Charles, Lord Cornwallis raised the royal standard in Hillsborough in February 1781.
His campaign to subdue the Carolinas failed, and Cornwallis retreated to the fortified port of Yorktown, Virginia, to receive fresh supplies and troops from the Royal Navy. But that relief squadron was driven off by a French fleet at the Battle of Virginia Capes in September 1781, one of the very few times the French Navy won a large engagement against the Royal Navy. The surrender of that British army on October 19 effectively ended the fighting in the War of Independence.
Gregory DL Morris is a business journalist and historian who reports regularly for TLR.
This reporter can be reached at Informaion@TheLocalReporter.press
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