(176471) Vigilance group formed in the western frontier counties of North Carolina.
Opposed to the high taxes and corruption of the colonial government, the group sought vainly to obtain reforms; it then refused to pay taxes, agitated against public officials, and committed acts of violence. Gov. William Tryon sent troops to crush the insurrection at the Battle of Alamance (1771). The leaders were hanged for treason, and many followers fled to Tennessee, where they sided with the loyalist s in the American Revolution .