You know, even when I blow it up:
and I just glance at it, it still looks like "Herrill".
But then if I stare real hard, it starts to look like Merrill.
I think some moss or some mold [or some copper oxidation] must be growing in the "V"-shaped part of the "M", and that dark spot makes it look more like an "H".
Sorry about that.
Hey - what are your original sources for the Battle of Alamance?
I once read about the Regulators from a book published by some fellow who lived in Hillsborough, circa 1900, and who had written up some of the local legends and tawdry gossip about them.
Many of the bawdy songs and tales seem to have been inspired by Ninian Hamilton, lol. What a figure he must have cut, an aged old Scot in a kilt, wielding a saber in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other. I recall one being something about him and Fanning at the Eno, I’ll have to look for the source.
There are several good sources footnoted at the bottom of my profile page, too. My html skills were not so great when I signed up, and they’re still only so-so. Apologies for the mass of text with no graphics.
As far as the name, I’m very certain it’s Benjamin Merrill, from a settlement near Salisbury, known then as “The Jerseys.” That monument is fairly old, and the lettering is beginning to be a little indistinct in places.
Speaking of Salisbury, another good source for information on the Regulator War, and participants, would be records from the Court Of Oyer And Terminer that was held there, when Salisbury was the county seat for quite a large area, prior to Rowan being divded up into so many other counties.