Revolutionary war, principally under the direction of Presbyterian
clergymen. These early efforts in the cause of a sound and liberal
education, constantly mingled with patriotic teachings, made a telling
impress upon the Revolutionary period, and greatly assisted in
achieving our independence.

CHAPTER II.

CABARRUS COUNTY.

Cabarrus county was formed in 1792, from Mecklenburg county, and was
named in honor of Stephen Cabarrus, a native of France, a man of
active mind, liberal sentiments, and high standing in society. He
entered public life in 1784, and was frequently elected a member from
Chowan county, and, on several occasions, Speaker of the House of
Commons.

The Colonial and Revolutionary history of Cabarrus is closely
connected with that of Mecklenburg county. No portion of the State was
more fixed and forward in the cause of liberty than this immediate
section. In the Convention at Charlotte, on the 20th of May, 1775,
this part of Mecklenburg was strongly represented, and her delegates
joined heartily in pledging "their lives, their fortunes and most
sacred honor" to maintain and defend their liberty and independence.

The proceedings of that celebrated Convention, its principal actors,
and attendant circumstances, will be found properly noticed under the
head of Mecklenburg County. But there is one bold transaction
connected with the early history of Cabarrus, showing that the germs
of liberty, at and before the battle of Alamance, in 1771, were ready
to burst forth, at any moment, under the warmth of patriotic
excitement, is here deemed worthy of conspicuous record.

THE "BLACK BOYS" OP CABARRUS.

Previous to the battle of Alamance, on the 16th of May, 1771, the
first blood shed in the American Revolution, there were many discreet
persons, the advocates of law and order, throughout the province, who
sympathized with the justness of the principles which actuated the
"Regulators," and their stern opposition to official corruption and
extortion, but did not approve of their hasty conduct and occasional
violent proceedings. Accordingly, a short time preceding that
unfortunate conflict, which only smothered for a time the embers of
freedom, difficulties arose between Governor Tryon and the Regulators,
when that royal official, in order to coerce them into his measures of
submission, procured from Charleston, S.C., three wagon loads of the
munitions of war, consisting of powder, flints, blanket