New Bern

Tryon Palace Completed — Symbol of Royal Authority

Construction of Tryon Palace was completed in New Bern, giving North Carolina the most elaborate colonial government building south of Williamsburg. Built at enormous cost partly through taxes resented by backcountry Regulators, the palace became a physical symbol of the eastern gentry's control of colonial government. Governor Tryon left for New York shortly after its completion.

Battle of Alamance — Regulator Movement Crushed

Governor William Tryon led approximately 1,000 eastern militiamen to Alamance Creek in the Piedmont, where he defeated roughly 2,000 poorly armed Regulator farmers demanding an end to corrupt local taxation. Six Regulators were executed after the battle. The grievances behind the Regulator movement — corrupt courts, illegal fees, unequal representation — did not disappear; many former Regulators would take opposing sides in the coming Revolution.

North Carolina Gazette Supports Patriot Cause

New Bern's press — including James Davis's North Carolina Gazette, the colony's first newspaper — became an essential channel for Patriot organization across the colony. Printers in New Bern published Provincial Congress proceedings, committee correspondence, and polemical arguments for resistance, making the town's press infrastructure a critical element of the Revolutionary movement's information network.

Governor Martin Flees New Bern

Royal Governor Josiah Martin abandoned Tryon Palace and fled New Bern after Patriot committees dismantled the colony's royal institutions around him. He took refuge first at Fort Johnston near Wilmington, then aboard HMS Cruizer in the Cape Fear River. His flight ended effective royal government in North Carolina. The Provincial Congress immediately filled the power vacuum.

Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge — Loyalist Defeat

Approximately 1,000 Patriot militiamen under Caswell and Moore ambushed a Loyalist Highland Tory column of roughly 1,500 men at Moore's Creek Bridge, twenty miles north of Wilmington. The Patriots had removed the bridge planks and greased the stringers. The Loyalists charged anyway, led by their broadsword-bearing officers, and were cut down in minutes. The defeat ended organized Loyalist military activity in North Carolina and caused the British to abandon their planned 1776 southern invasion.

North Carolina Authorizes Vote for Independence

The Fourth Provincial Congress of North Carolina, meeting in Halifax, passed the Halifax Resolves — the first official action by any colony's government authorizing its delegates to vote for independence in the Continental Congress. Though the congress met in Halifax rather than New Bern, the governing network centered on New Bern produced this action. North Carolina's delegates became the first to receive formal independence authority.

North Carolina Adopts State Constitution

North Carolina's fifth Provincial Congress, meeting in Halifax, adopted the state's first constitution and elected Richard Caswell as governor. New Bern, though it lost the formal capital designation under the new arrangement, remained the state's largest town and primary administrative center for years afterward. The constitution established democratic structures that broke explicitly from the concentrated royal power Tryon Palace had symbolized.

Cornelius Harnett Captured by British Forces

Cornelius Harnett, the principal architect of North Carolina's Patriot resistance, was captured by British forces during Cornwallis's sweep through the state. Too ill to travel but taken prisoner regardless, Harnett was held at Wilmington under harsh conditions. He died in April 1781, one of the most important Patriot leaders to be killed by the war's physical toll rather than in battle.

British Naval Raid on New Bern

A British raiding party from the coast attacked New Bern, burning several buildings and seizing supplies. Coming in the war's final year, the raid demonstrated that North Carolina's coastal towns remained vulnerable even after Yorktown. The town's relative security throughout most of the war made this late attack particularly jarring for its residents.

President Washington Visits New Bern

George Washington visited New Bern during his southern tour, staying at the John Wright Stanly house and attending a formal dinner and ball. He praised New Bern as a prosperous and handsome town. The visit confirmed New Bern's status as the cultural and commercial center of eastern North Carolina in the early national period.