Rednap Howell, Regulator Poet
Franklinville, Randolph County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Rednap Howell D. 1787. Regulator leader & poet. He wrote satirical songs motivating opposition to abusive officials. Fought at Battle of Alamance, 1771. Lived nearby.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
Rednap Howell was the balladeer of the Regulator movement, writing satirical songs that mocked corrupt officials and rallied backcountry farmers to their cause in the years before 1771. He fought at the Battle of Alamance, where the Regulators were defeated, and lived near this spot until his death in 1787.
Why it matters
His verses show how popular song and satire could fuel protest, giving voice to one of colonial America's earliest movements against government corruption.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Rednap Howell
Related events
- · Battle of Alamance
- · War of the Regulation
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Herman Husband, Regulator
Randolph County, NC
Herman Husband was a Quaker reformer and pamphleteer who became a guiding voice of the War of the Regulation (1768–1771), rallying backcountry farmers against corrupt colonial officials. Fleeing North Carolina after the movement collapsed, he later resurfaced in Pennsylvania, where he took part in the Whiskey Rebellion of the 1790s.
James Hunter, Regulator Leader
Guilford County, NC
James Hunter was a leader of the Regulators, backcountry farmers who rose in the 1760s and early 1770s against corrupt local officials and unfair taxes. After the movement was crushed at the Battle of Alamance in 1771, Hunter was declared an outlaw, and Governor William Tryon's troops burned a nearby house in the reprisals that followed.
Battle of Alamance
Alamance County, NC
On May 16, 1771, militia loyal to Royal Governor William Tryon met the Regulators — backcountry farmers rebelling against corrupt officials and unfair taxes — and defeated them at this spot. The clash ended the War of the Regulation and scattered the movement. Some have seen this frontier uprising as a prelude to the American Revolution that would follow within the decade.
Blue Star Memorial Highway – Davidson County
Davidson County, NC
This Blue Star Memorial Highway marker, sponsored by the Garden Clubs of Davidson County with the county's Veterans Council, pays tribute to the armed forces that have defended the United States. It belongs to a national program launched by garden clubs in the mid-1940s to honor World War II servicemembers and later expanded to all who serve. The blue star draws on the service banners once hung in home windows during the war.