Editing Cabarrus County, North Carolina (section)

===Cabarrus Black Boys===
Prior to the battle of Alamance, on the 16th of May, 1771, the first blood shed in the American Revolution, there were many discreet men across North Carolina opposed to British taxation and fee system imposed by colonial officials in the late 1760s. Discreet persons part of this movement in Rowan and Mecklenburg Counties (later known as Cabarrus) took part in an infamous raid against a royal governmental military convoy as part of North Carolina's Regulator Movement. On May 9, 1771, James, William and John White, brothers, and William White, a cousin, all born and raised on Rocky River, and one mile from Rocky River Church, Robert Caruthers, Robert Davis, Benjamin Cockrane, James and Joshua Hadley, William Alexander, of Sugar Creek “Captain Black Bill Alexander,” and whose sword now hangs in the Library Hall of Davidson College, bound themselves to a solemn oath of secrecy as they set out on a mission 
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The small band of Regulators, disguised themselves and made their way to Phifer’s old muster grounds on Poplar Tent Road. After nightfall, the men laid a trail of gunpowder toward the royal government’s encampment and fired a shot igniting an explosion that was reportedly heard nine miles away.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cabarrusblackboyschapterdar.org/cabarrus-black-boys-history|title=History of Cabarrus Black Boys|website=Daughters of the American Revolution |access-date= August 18, 2024}}</ref> Two gunpowder wagons, as well as blankets, leggings, kettles, and other supplies were destroyed. Some men involved in this episode wore Indian disguises while others were blacked by the gunpowder they emptied from the kegs earning them the name of the "Black Boys of Cabarrus".<ref>William S. Powell, James K. Huhta, and Thomas J. Farnham, eds., The Regulators in North Carolina: A Documentary History, 1759-1776 (1971)</ref> These young patriots remained active and in hiding until independence was declared.