“Henry, I think you’re making a mistake with the gathering on the Alamance and are exaggerating your strength. There is no way you’ll ever get two thousand men to come out for anything, much less to an out-of-the-way place like that. The most important thing is to keep it all peaceful.”

“Ethan, we’re trying to get people to join us who are known to be in favor of a peaceful resolution of our differences. You saw the way we handled the meeting at the mill, because we had folks like you and Maddock there. I really want you to ride over to Alamance Creek with me.”

“We stay pretty isolated out here, and that’s the way I want to live, but if you can guarantee it’s going to be a peaceful assembly, I’ll go along with you.”

Henry was obviously delighted and assured his brother that the Regulators would avoid any military confrontation.

Ethan went into the cabin and returned after a few minutes.

He said, “It’s time for us to leave if we’re to be there by midday. Epsey doesn’t want me to go, but she’s fixed some sweet potatoes, biscuits, and side meat to take with us.”

They saw a surprising number of men on the trail as they approached the assembly grounds, most of them carrying a musket or rifle, as was the custom whenever there was any travel away from home. Even while working in one’s own fields, there was always a weapon at hand, because of constant threats from bandit groups or Indians, and the chance of a good shot at a deer or turkey. Despite Henry’s urging, Ethan had decided not to bring a gun in order to emphasize his desire to avoid any violence.

Henry said, “You can see already that we’ll have more men here than you thought. There will be two or three speakers, who will mostly explain the situation in New Bern and pass around a new petition that will also go to London. We understand there have been some great changes in King George’s ministry. Lord North has been made prime minister, and he is very much concerned about dissension in the colonies. Tryon knows this and is determined to prevent our communicating with Parliament.”

Ethan looked around at the crowd and said, “I see a lot of guns, and some of the men seem to be in organized groups. Are they looking for trouble?”

Henry laughed. “No. They and the rest of us are trying to avoid trouble, but we want to make damned sure that Tryon sees that we are ready to defend ourselves, and to discourage any plans he might have to launch an attack. If we get our two thousand men, as seems likely, we’ll have twice the number that he has. We’ve all agreed not to start any trouble, but we won’t be scared off.”