The Virginia Gazette Domestic News June 6, 1771

From the different Accounts we have been able to collect, since our last, of the Battle in North Carolina, we find that the Description we then gave of it varied but in few Particulars from the Reality. We shall now mention what farther has come to our Knowledge of that Engagement: That Governour Tryon had under him a Thousand Men, and that the Regulators amounted to three and twenty Hundred; that his Excellency was much insulted by them, particularly one Fellow, whom he shot dead on the Spot, as he was approaching him; that this happened but a very short Time before the Expiration of the two Hours allowed them by the Governour, upon which the Engagement began; that both Parties fought with great Animosity, for two Hours and upwards; that the Artillery was discharged six and thirty Times, and that one Shot struck a Tree, which in its Fall killed thirty odd of the Regulators; that the Governour had his Horse killed under him, and the Breech of the Gun he had in his Hand shot away; that a Hundred and sixty of the Regulators were killed, and two Hundred wounded, forty of whom were taken Prisoners; that the Regulators were badly conducted, and fought in the utmost Confusion, their Ranks being, in some Places, a Hundred Men deep, and that many of them were unarmed; that the Governour had only two Men killed, and sixty wounded. One Man, it is said, of the Governour's Party, was so much incensed against the Regulators, by whom he had been threatened, that he was determined upon an ample Revenge, or losing his Life; for it is thought he killed upwards of thirty with his own Hands, walking backwards and forwards on the Flanks of his Party during the Engagement, and charging with as much Coolness as if hunting of Squirrels. The Regulators have lost a Number of Horses, Guns, and Carriages; to the Amount, it is said, of more than a Thousand Pounds.—The Families of these poor deluded People are much to be pitied, as they must be reduced to very great Distress. The Province likewise, in general, is in the greatest Disorder. And however faulty those who style themselves Regulators may have been, as we learn that the Cause of their Complaints has been removed (their Leaders, it is probable, being bad Counsellors, and to have urged them on from one Step of Rebellion to another) it ought to be a Lesson for all good Governments to suffer no Set of Men, under the Sanction of Authority, to fleece the People.