Rogue History

- In the 1760s, powerful men in the American colonies were in danger.

The working class people beneath them were sick of the corruption and bullying, and were finally ready to rebel.

All they needed was a ferocious leader willing to take on the fight.

But the man who would step up was no warrior.

Herman Husband never planned on leading a rebellion.

In fact, he was a pacifist who was wholly opposed to bloodshed.

But his fierce words in favor of the working people got ol' Herme into trouble.

And that was just the first rebellion.

I'm Joel Cook, and this is "Rogue History."

(upbeat classical music) "Rebels and revolutionaries."

So how does a pacifist end up the most wanted man in the back country of North Carolina?

What else?

Money.

Rich people bullied poor people, and Herman spoke up against it.

But the thing is, his words resulted in a little bit more than protests and boycotts.

The men Herman inspired descended on the colonial capital with guns.

So let's back up a bit.

In the mid 1700s, the American colonies each printed their own paper money.

The inconsistencies between colonies created confusion, and the British Parliament wanted to standardize the process.

But in the meantime, Parliament required all debts to be paid with gold or silver coins, which, as you might imagine, were a little scarce in the back woods.

When the Currency Act was passed in 1764, the average citizen in rural western North Carolina had less than a single bill of paper money.

And the average farm family had more debt than yearly income.

It was quite literally impossible for working class families to pay their taxes.

And when they couldn't pay, corrupt colonial officials swooped in to force them into hard labor and auction off their family farms to rich businessmen.

As if that wasn't enough, Governor William Tryon poured additional salt in the wound by forcing back country voters to pay a poll tax toward his lavish new governor's mansion in New Bern.

So who could the people turn to for salvation in these difficult times?

Surprisingly, a rich businessman, Herman Husband.

Herman wasn't a North Carolina native.

He was born into a wealthy plantation-owning family in Maryland in 1724 and purchased 2000 acres in Orange County, North Carolina, for business ventures.

He could have just ignored this whole issue because it didn't impact him.

But Herman had something most people around him didn't, spirit.

And I don't mean spirit like go-team, cheer captain spirit.

I mean, Herman Husband believed his conscience was guided by a direct connection with God.

He believed that it was his duty to bring about an equitable utopia on earth no matter what religious or political entity stood in his way.

Now, to be fair, Herman's spiritual conviction sometimes missed the mark.

He was anti-slavery but viewed black people as incapable of participating in civilized government.

And his rude behavior towards a woman eventually got him kicked out of the local Quaker meeting.

But when Herman's spirit was on, it was on.

He saw the religious dissenters and small farmers of the back country as the perfect people to enact his vision of a new government of liberty.

To help them achieve that, Herman used his words to strike a blow against government corruption.

But he didn't know just how deadly his words would be.

In August, 1766, Herman became the voice of the Sandy Creek Association, an organization intended to address the struggles of working class farmers in the North Carolina back country.

The association's first announcement, written by Herman, called for people to come to a meeting that would "cause the wicked men in power to tremble."

Now, as you might imagine, the men he was talking about didn't really like being threatened.

Local officials like Edmund Fanning, a colonial administrator, refused to meet with the Sandy Creek Association to hear their grievances.

And lawyers refused to represent the group when they tried to sue.

Though Herman preached patience to his followers throughout this period, it was kinda hard for them to take him seriously when he was also writing about making wicked men tremble.

By 1768, a neighboring group of farmers took a more aggressive stance, blatantly refusing to pay taxes until their grievances were met and warning that they would not accept defeat.

Herman recognized this for what it was, a move towards open violence.

Despite constantly writing about fighting the government, the by-any-means-necessary mentality of this new organization made him nervous.

He suggested that the new group take less militant name, the Regulators, that would emphasize their goal of regulating government corruption.

The name stuck, but the pacifism didn't.

On April 8th, 1768, about 70 regulators armed with clubs, heavy sticks, and firearms marched to reclaim a horse the sheriff confiscated over unpaid taxes.

Things might have turned out all right if they had just taken back the horse, but they also took the sheriff.

The regulators bound him and paraded him through the streets to Edmund Fanning's house where they fired guns in the air and then went home.

Of course, government officials weren't terribly happy about the whole kidnap the sheriff and shoot at a colonial official's house situation.

And their number one suspect in this violent attack on authority was Herman-I'm a pacifist-Husband.

Now, to be fair, Herman wasn't present for the April riot, but when that spirit got the whispering in his ear, and big Herm got all fired up, his words had the ability to move men to action.

When he was arrested in 1768, several hundred regulators camped outside town with a "spirit of enthusiasm," as Herman described it, to ensure he was released.

Regulator aggression continued to rise throughout the following years.

In September, 1770, they stormed the county courthouse, kidnapped and beat Edmund Fanning, and literally destroyed his house with their bare hands.

And this time, Herman was there.

His spirit and his words had manifested an army, and it was about to go on the war path.

By 1771, Governor Tryon decided that he'd had enough.

In March, a grand jury in New Bern, the colonial capital, indicted Herman and 60 other regulators for the September riot.

Two months later, Tryon assembled a force of 1000 militiamen and began marching west towards the back country.

Against his better judgment, Herman rode east with 2000 regulators to meet them.

The two armies began a standoff, and negotiators from the Regulators tried to initiate peace talks on the morning of May 16th.

When Governor Tryon arrested a negotiator and gave the Regulators one hour to disperse, Herman quickly realized that the battle was inevitable.

By the time the Battle of Alamance ended a few hours later, the Regulator Movement was broken and Herman Husband was a fugitive.

But it wouldn't be long before his crusading spirit made him a thorn in the side of government again.

Herman fled North Carolina for Pennsylvania under the very subtle pseudonym Tuscape Death.

But he made it to Pennsylvania and purchased land as Mr.

Death without anyone asking questions.

So we'll just chalk it up to that spirit of his.

By 1775, Herman had his wealth and name back.

And the battle for fair representation he helped start in North Carolina was now a nationwide revolutionary war.

And big Herm was still letting that spirit cook.

He was charged with disturbing the peace after rallying against the British government in 1775, and argued that the new American government should empower the laboring people.

When the new US Constitution was presented to the public, Herman opposed it completely.

He argued in favor of local government and for laws that may sound familiar: income taxes on the rich, public promotion of arts and sciences, rules against nepotism, anti-slavery laws, peace with indigenous people, and profit sharing for workers.

And of course, Herman received familiar treatment for promoting these worker-friendly policies.

He got called a radical.

At the same time, the actual radical French revolution was popping off across the Atlantic.

Herman's opposition accused him of being a sympathizer because he liked the people-oriented outcomes the French achieved.

His outspoken opinions would soon put him at odds with the founding fathers themselves.

Alexander Hamilton convinced Congress to pass tax laws in 1791 that Herman felt unfairly targeted working class people in the western part of the colonies.

The tax on distilled spirits, not the religious kind, impacted the westerners who produced those beverages more severely and came to be known as the Whiskey Tax.

Many western Pennsylvanians opposed the tax and organized against it.

And just like the Regulator rebellion before it, the unheard protests transitioned into violent resistance.

In 1794, 600 armed men surrounded the house of a hated tax collector and demanded that he resign his post.

When the situation turned violent and a popular rebel leader was killed, around 7,000 men gathered with plans of forming their own government, but Herman stopped them.

He warned about the danger in threatening the young federal government.

And encouraged them to fight the Whiskey Tax, yes, but do so through the proper legal channels.

Perhaps because of his experiences as a regulator, Herman's words had an impact, but it was too late.

President George Washington activated over 10,000 militiamen and marched them into western Pennsylvania to put down the rebellion.

And unfortunately, for Herman, his alter ego to Tuscape Death, failed to make another appearance.

He was arrested along with 150 other men in October.

After spending six months in a prison in Philadelphia, Herman was tried for sedition.

Fortunately, witnesses testified that he had always advocated for peace, and he was acquitted in May 1795.

But the time in prison had taken a toll on his aging body.

He died of pneumonia in a Philadelphia tavern on June 18th, 1795.

Herman Husband was an enigma.

Though a pacifist at heart, his fiery spirit and passion for justice led him into violent uprisings against the British and American governments.

Though an advocate for the rights of the common man, he failed to envision a place for non-white people or women in his perfect society.

So what can we learn from a man with so many contradictions?

Well, believe it or not, Herman left us a suggestion.

In a 1770 pamphlet, he told future generations that there are sentiments of justice so natural that they strike every man in the same light.

The definition of justice has expanded since Herman's day, but he knew the pursuit of it would always remain the same.