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Alamance County, North Carolina
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==History== Before being formed as a county, the region had at least one known small [[Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands|Southeastern tribe]] of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] in the 18th century, the [[Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas#S|Sissipahaw]], who lived in the area bounded by modern [[Saxapahaw, North Carolina|Saxapahaw]], the area known as the Hawfields, and the [[Haw River]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/northcarolina/index.htm| title = John R. Swanton, "North Carolina Indian Tribes"| date = July 9, 2011}}, ''Indian Tribes of North America'', 1953, at Access Genealogy, accessed March 25, 2009</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/siouan/sissipahawhist.htm| title = "Sissipahaw Indian Tribe History"| date = July 9, 2011}}, John R. Swanton, ''Indian Tribes of North America'', 1953, at Access Genealogy, accessed March 25, 2009</ref> European settlers entered the region in the late 17th century chiefly following Native American trading paths, and set up their farms in what they called the "Haw Old Fields," fertile ground previously tilled by the Sissipahaw. The paths later became the basis of the railroad and interstate highway routes.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.tradingpath.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=28| title = "The Trading Path in Alamance County, a Beginning"}}, Alamance County Historical Association, Trading Path Association: Preserving our Common Past</ref> Alamance County was named after [[Great Alamance Creek]], site of the [[Battle of Alamance]] (May 16, 1771), a [[American Revolution|pre-Revolutionary War]] battle in which militia under the command of Governor [[William Tryon]] crushed the [[War of the Regulation|Regulator movement]]. Great Alamance Creek, and in turn Little Alamance Creek, according to legend, were named after a local Native American word to describe the blue mud found at the bottom of the creeks. Other legends say the name came from another local Native American word meaning "noisy river," or for the [[Alamanni]] region of [[Rhineland]], [[Germany]], where many of the early settlers came from.<ref name="NC Counties">{{Cite web|title=North Carolina Counties - List of all and Alamance County |url=http://www.geocities.com/isleyfamilies/NCCcounties.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091021182953/http://geocities.com/isleyfamilies/NCCcounties.html |archive-date=October 21, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> During the [[American Revolution]], several small battles and skirmishes occurred in the area that became Alamance County, several of them during the lead-up to the [[Battle of Guilford Court House]], including [[Pyle's Massacre]], the [[Battle of Lindley's Mill]],<ref name="Battle of Lindley's Mill">{{cite web|url=http://www.hadleysociety.org/photo_gallery/signs_gallery/index602.html|title=Hadley Society Photo Gallery|work=hadleysociety.org|access-date=January 31, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929180342/http://www.hadleysociety.org/photo_gallery/signs_gallery/index602.html|archive-date=September 29, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the Battle of Clapp's Mill.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.revolutionarywar101.com/battles/810302-clapps-mills/|title=The Battle of Clapp's Mills|work=revolutionarywar101.com|date=November 19, 2017}}</ref> In the 1780s, the [[Occaneechi]] Native Americans returned to North Carolina from [[Virginia]], this time settling in what is now Alamance County rather than their first location near [[Hillsborough, North Carolina|Hillsborough]].<ref name="southern neighbor">{{Cite news|title= Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation |publisher=Southern Neighbor |date = November 2009}}</ref> In 2002, the modern Occaneechi tribe bought {{convert|25|acre|m2}} of their ancestral land in Alamance County and began a Homeland Preservation Project that includes a village reconstructed as it would have been in 1701 and a 1930s farming village.<ref name="southern neighbor"/> During the early 19th century, the [[textile]] industry grew heavily in the area, so the need for better transportation grew. By the 1840s, several mills were set up along the [[Haw River]] and near [[Great Alamance Creek]] and other major tributaries of the Haw. Between 1832 and 1880, at least 14 major mills were powered by these rivers and streams. Mills were built by the Trollinger, Holt, Newlin, Swepson, and Rosenthal families, among others. One of them, built in 1832 by Ben Trollinger, is still in operation. It is owned by Copland Industries, sits in the unincorporated community of [[Carolina, Alamance County, North Carolina|Carolina]] and is the oldest continuously operating mill in North Carolina.<ref name="Textile History">{{cite web|url=http://www.textilehistory.org/AlamanceCountyNC.html |title=Alamance County, NC |work=textilehistory.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216031225/http://www.textilehistory.org/AlamanceCountyNC.html |archive-date=February 16, 2012 }}</ref> One notable textile produced in the area was the "Alamance plaids" or "Glencoe plaids" used in everything from clothing to [[tablecloth]]s.<ref name="Textile History"/> The Alamance Plaids manufactured by textile pioneer Edwin M. Holt were the first colored cotton goods produced on power looms in the South, and paved the way for the region's textile boom.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?sp=search&k=Markers&sv=G-82|title=Marker: G-82|work=ncmarkers.com|access-date=June 14, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150711131343/http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?sp=search&k=Markers&sv=G-82|archive-date=July 11, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> (Holt's home is now the Alamance County Historical Society.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.alamancemuseum.org/portal/| title = Alamance County Historical Museum, Burlington, North Carolina| access-date = June 14, 2010| archive-date = April 15, 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100415062407/http://www.alamancemuseum.org/portal/| url-status = dead}}</ref>) But by the late 20th century, most of the plants and mills had gone out of business, including the mills operated by [[Burlington Industries]], a company based in [[Burlington, North Carolina|Burlington]]. [[File:Alamance Cotton Mill Edwin M Holt photograph 1837.jpg|thumb|Alamance Cotton Factory, built by [[Thomas M. Holt|Edwin M. Holt]]. It was the first manufacturer of colored cotton fabrics in the South on power looms. Photograph taken in 1837]] [[File:Official Bill Establishing Alamance County, NC.png|thumb|A bill establishing an Alamance County as presented and published to the North Carolina House of Commons, January 1, 1849.]] By the 1840s, the textile industry was booming, and the railroad was being built through the area as a convenient link between [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]] and [[Greensboro, North Carolina|Greensboro]]. Efforts to split a new county off from [[Orange County, North Carolina|Orange County]] began in 1842. A bill to form the county from [[Orange County, North Carolina|Orange County]]. was filed by [[Giles Mebane]] on January 1, 1849, which passed the legislature later that month. An election was held on April 19, 1849 and the split was approved by the voters, with the new county being established officially on April 24 by Governor [[Charles Manly]]. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kindredtrails.com/NC_Alamance.html|title=Alamance County North Carolina Genealogy - Family History Resources|work=kindredtrails.com|access-date=January 15, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130329061143/http://kindredtrails.com/NC_Alamance.html|archive-date=March 29, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Whitaker |first=Walter E. |url=https://archive.org/details/centennialhistorwhit/page/92/mode/2up |title=Centennial history of Alamance County, 1849-1949 |last2=Cook |first2=Staley A. (Staley Albright) |last3=White |first3=A. Howard |last4=Alamance County Historical Association |date=1974 |publisher=Burlington, N.C. : Alamance County Historical Association |others=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Library}}</ref> ===Civil War=== In March 1861, Alamance County residents voted overwhelmingly against North Carolina's secession from the Union, 1,114 to 254. Two delegates were sent to the [[North Carolina in the American Civil War|State Secession Convention]], Thomas Ruffin and [[Giles Mebane]], who both opposed secession, as did most of the delegates sent to the convention.<ref name="Secession Convention Delegates">{{cite web| url = http://members.aol.com/jweaver303/nc/convvote.htm| title = Reference at members.aol.com}}</ref> At the time of the convention, around 30% of Alamance County's population were slaves (total population around 12,000, including roughly 3,500 slaves and 500 free Black people). North Carolina was reluctant to join other Southern states in secession until the [[Battle of Fort Sumter]] in April 1861. When Lincoln called up troops, [[John Willis Ellis|Governor John Ellis]] replied, "I can be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of the country and to this war upon the liberties of a free people. You can get no troops from North Carolina." After a special legislative session, North Carolina's legislature unanimously voted for secession on May 20, 1861. No battles took place in Alamance County, but it sent its share of soldiers to the front lines. In July 1861, for the first time in American history, soldiers were sent in to combat by rail. The 6th North Carolina was loaded onto railroad cars at Company Shops and transferred to the battlefront at [[Manassas, Virginia]] ([[First Battle of Manassas]]). Although the citizens of Alamance County were not directly affected throughout much of the war, in April 1865, they witnessed firsthand their sons and fathers marching through the county just days before the war ended with the surrender at [[Bennett Place]] near [[Durham, North Carolina|Durham]]. At Company Shops, General [[Joseph E. Johnston]] stopped to say farewell to his soldiers for the last time. By the end of the war, 236 people from Alamance County had been killed in the course of the war, more than any other war since the county's founding.<ref name="Civil War Totals">{{Cite web |url=http://www.alamance-nc.com/Alamance-NC/The+Community/War+Memorial/Civil+War/ |title=Civil War - Alamance-nc.com |access-date=August 13, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704124831/http://www.alamance-nc.com/Alamance-NC/The+Community/War+Memorial/Civil+War/ |archive-date=July 4, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ===Kirk–Holden War=== {{Main|Kirk–Holden war}} Some of the Civil War's most significant effects were seen after it ended. Alamance County briefly became a center of national attention when in 1870 [[Wyatt Outlaw]], an [[African-American]] town commissioner in [[Graham, North Carolina|Graham]], was lynched by the [[Ku Klux Klan]]. He was president of the Alamance County Union League of America (a progressive reform branch of the Federal Government), helped to establish the Republican party in North Carolina, and advocated establishing a school for African Americans. His offense was that [[William Woods Holden|Governor William Holden]] had appointed him a [[justice of the peace]], and he had accepted the appointment. Outlaw's body was found hanging 30 yards from the courthouse, with a note pinned to his chest reading, "Beware! You guilty parties – both white and black." Outlaw was the central figure in political cooperation between blacks and whites in the county. On July 8, 1870, Governor Holden declared [[Caswell County]] to be in a state of [[insurrection]] and sent North Carolina militiamen to Caswell and Alamance Counties, under the command of Union veteran George W. Kirk, beginning the so-called Kirk–Holden war. Kirk's troops ultimately arrested 82 men. The Grand Jury of Alamance County indicted 63 klansmen for felonies and 18 for the murder of Wyatt Outlaw. Soon after the indictments were brought, Democrats in the legislature passed a bill to repeal the law under which the indictments had been secured. The 63 felony charges were dropped. The Democratic Party then used a national program of "Amnesty and Pardon" to proclaim amnesty for all who committed crimes on behalf of a secret society. This was extended to the klansmen of Alamance County. There would be no justice in the case of Wyatt Outlaw. Holden's support for [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]] led to his [[Impeachment in the United States|impeachment]] and removal by the North Carolina Legislature in 1871. ===Dairy industry=== The county was once the state leader in [[dairy]] production. Several dairies including Melville Dairy in Burlington were headquartered in the county. With increasing real estate prices and a slump in milk prices, most dairy farms have been sold and many of them developed for real estate purposes. ===World War II and the Cold War=== During [[World War II]], [[Fairchild Aircraft]] built airplanes at a plant on the eastern side of Burlington. Among the planes built there was the AT-21 gunner, used to train bomber pilots. Near the Fairchild plant was the [[Western Electric]] Burlington works. During the [[Cold War]], the plant built radar equipment and guidance systems for missiles and many other electronics for the government, including the guidance system for the [[Titan (rocket family)|Titan]] missile. The plant closed in 1992 and sat abandoned until 2005, when it was purchased by a local businessman for manufacturing. The [[USS Alamance|USS ''Alamance'']], a [[Tolland-class attack cargo ship|''Tolland''-class attack cargo ship]], was built during and served in and after World War II. ===21st century=== Alamance County's population has grown significantly, with the city of [[Mebane, North Carolina|Mebane]] tripling in size between 1990 and 2020. The county has seen significant business and industry growth, including the additions of the North Carolina Commerce Park and the North Carolina Industrial Center, as well as new retail opportunities near [[Interstate 85 in North Carolina|Interstates 85]] and [[Interstate 40 in North Carolina|40]] on the eastern (Tanger Outlets) and western (University Commons and Alamance Crossing) sides of the county.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Economic Development|url=https://www.cityofmebane.com/business/resources/economic_development|access-date=November 10, 2020|website=www.cityofmebane.com|language=en-US}}</ref> Some growth has been attributed to illegal immigration, which has led to ongoing legal issues. In 2012, the Department of Justice found the Alamance County Sheriff's Office to use discriminatory policing,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-releases-investigative-findings-alamance-county-nc-sheriff-s-office|title=Justice Department Releases Investigative Findings on the Alamance County, N.C., Sheriff's Office|date=September 18, 2012}}</ref> however the case was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge [[Thomas D. Schroeder]], finding that the government failed to demonstrate that the ACSO had engaged in discriminatory policing.<ref>{{Cite web|last=sarah.williamson@greensboro.com|first=Sarah Newell Williamson|title=U.S. District Court judge dismisses lawsuit against Alamance County sheriff|url=https://greensboro.com/news/u-s-district-court-judge-dismisses-lawsuit-against-alamance-county-sheriff/article_c06a1d4e-c214-5a9d-9fed-8776b28c00bd.html|access-date=November 10, 2020|website=Greensboro News and Record|language=en}}</ref> Beginning in 2014, the county has been home to a number of political demonstrations.<ref>{{Cite web|date=November 25, 2019|title=9 arrested while protesting Alamance County's contract with ICE, organizers say|url=https://myfox8.com/news/9-arrested-while-protesting-alamance-countys-contract-with-ice-organizers-says/|access-date=November 10, 2020|website=myfox8.com|language=en-US}}</ref> In October 2020, during a demonstration prior to the [[2020 United States presidential election]], Alamance County sheriff's deputies and Graham police used pepper spray against crowd members.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.newsobserver.com/article246861942.html| title = Reference at www.newsobserver.com}}</ref> Law enforcement reported that pepper spray had been deployed to disperse the crowd following an assault on an officer who was trying to shut down a generator the march organizers had brought, in violation of a signed agreement.<ref>{{Cite web|last=WRAL|date=November 2, 2020|title=Alamance sheriff's office: Gas can, generator created danger during march to polls|url=https://www.wral.com/alamance-sheriff-explains-pepper-spray-response-to-disperse-crowd-during-weekend-march-to-polls/19367378/|access-date=November 10, 2020|website=WRAL.com|language=en}}</ref>
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