First ones in the colonies were in NC and SC. The name and the concept spread westward with the pioneers I guess, many former Regulators went over the Blue Ridge into what later became Tennessee to escape royal warrants after the Regulator War in NC. They played a major role in the Overmountain Men who were instrumental in defeating Ferguson and the British at Kings Mountain.
The ones I have read about were involved in the Johnson County War (in Wyo.).
They played a major role in the Overmountain Men who were instrumental in defeating Ferguson and the British at Kings Mountain.
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IIRC they were mad at the Brits for their barbarity in hunting down the American survivors of the disaster at Camden. The Brits searched, found, and executed the remnants of the Southern Army.
The men who had gone west came back across the river with their long rifles and destroyed the”untouchable” fortress the Brits had atop King’s Mountain wiping out the Brits. Their job done they went back across the river and fought no more. Thy had “evened the score.”
Thanks for that tid bit of history.
The Colony was Carolina; there wasn’t a NC or SC then.