Here in 1771, an armed rebellion of backcountry farmers called Regulators battled with royal governor William Tryon's militia. The spark for this conflict was growing resentment in the Carolina colony against the taxes, dishonest sheriffs, and illegal fees imposed by the British Crown. In response, the Regulators were formed and began to fight back. Though the rebellion was crushed, a few years later their tactics became a model for the colonists fighting the British in the American Revolutionary War.