THE GUNPOWDER PLOT OF 1771

The American Revolutionary War officially began in 1775, and ended in 1783. But things were already starting to heat up a few years before that, around Mecklenburg County, NC.

William "Black Billy" Alexander (1749-1836) was part of a raiding party in 1771, which managed to blow up a shipment of black gunpowder and other supplies sent from Charlestown, SC to supply the British troops in Hillsboro, NC. The munitions were meant to be used by the British against the rebellious Regulator movement in NC, but the supplies were intercepted by a group of men who lived near Rocky River. When the gunpowder exploded, everyone and everything nearby wound up covered in black soot and smoke -- which is how "Black Billy" got his nickname.

Moses Alexander was the county Sheriff back in 1771. He and "Black Billy" were distant cousins, since they were both descendants of the "Seven Brothers & Two Sisters" Alexander family of Maryland. The Sheriff offered a plea bargaining deal to the culprits, if they would turn themselves in, to face justice. The Sheriff has FindAGrave.com memorial page number 130703139.

Four ebooks are listed below. These printed books have been scanned, and are now available online at no charge. The same four books can probably be checked out at no charge from a local public library, via an interlibrary loan.

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EBOOK 1 of 4 - "WHEELER'S SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA, VOLS. 1 AND 2"

The photo image above shows pages 64 and 65 in this book. This book is no longer under copyright, since it was published over 100 years ago.

The printed pages from 65 to 68, have the story of the Gunpowder Plot of 1771 , in Volume 2 of "Sketches of North Carolina" by John H. Wheeler:

https://archive.org/stream/historicalsketch01whee#page/64/mode/2up

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Here is a link to the same ebook, listed on a different website called OpenLibrary.org:

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL6903960M/Historical_sketches_of_North_Carolina

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This entire ebook, contains three different printed books inside it:
1) the ebook begins with Volume 1 of John H. Wheeler's "Sketches of North Carolina";
2) the ebook continues with his Volume 2 of the same title;
3) there is a Catalogue listing of books, which is an advertisement from a publisher.

Full Book Title:
"Historical sketches of North Carolina from 1584 to 1851, compiled from original records, official documents and traditional statements; with biographical sketches of her distinguished statemen, jurists, lawyers, soldiers, divines, etc.". Volume 1 and Volume 2.
Author: John H. Wheeler
Publication Date: 1851
Publisher: Lippincott, Grambo and Co.
Publisher Location: Philadelphia PA.
ISBN Number: There is no known ISBN number for this book, since it was published in 1851 before ISBN identifier numbers were invented.

The copyright on this book has now expired, and it is available online as an ebook at no charge.

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Here is a link to the cover page, where Volume 1 of 2 begins, of John H. Wheeler's "Sketches of North Carolina":

https://archive.org/stream/historicalsketch01whee#page/n1/mode/2up

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Here is a link to the cover page, where Volume 2 of 2 begins, of John H. Wheeler's "Sketches of North Carolina":

https://archive.org/stream/historicalsketch01whee#page/n141/mode/2up

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Back in 1771, this part of NC was called Anson County. In 1772 part of the county split off to be called Mecklenburg County, effective as of 1773. Still later, part of Mecklenburg County split off to become Cabarrus County.

The story of how Anson County was divided over the years, is found in Volume 2, on the printed page of 21:

https://archive.org/stream/historicalsketch01whee#page/n161/mode/2up

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Here is a link to the page where the "Catalogue of Valuable Books" begins, at the end of Volume 2:

https://archive.org/stream/historicalsketch01whee#page/n623/mode/2up

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EBOOK 2 of 4 - "FOOTE'S SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA"

Rev. William Henry Foote wrote a book entitled "Sketches of North Carolina", which was originally published in 1846:

https://ia600307.us.archive.org/22/items/sketchesofnorthc00footrich/sketchesofnorthc00footrich.pdf

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Another web link in case the first one does not work:

https://archive.org/details/sketchesnorthca02footgoog

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EBOOK 3 OF 4 - "HUNTER'S SKETCHES OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA"

Mr. Hunter wrote an entertaining and opinionated book in 1877, entitled "Sketches of Western North Carolina...".

See page 54.

Source:
https://ia601405.us.archive.org/13/items/sketcheswestern00huntgoog/sketcheswestern00huntgoog.pdf

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EBOOK 4 OF 4 - "HORNET'S NEST"

Another book published in 1961 also mentions the "Black Boys of Cabarrus County".

See the online link below for Book One and Book Two of "Hornet's Nest, The Story of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County", by LeGette Blythe and Charles Brockman, 1961.

The two volumes are posted on a website, in individual chapters. See Book One, Chapter 2. Colonial Period, for more information.

http://www.cmstory.org/hornets

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