Even before what is now Martin County was first visited by English explorers, it was inhabited by Native Americans who were adept at satisfying their needs from the richly supplied forests and streams. In 1774, Martin County was formed from Tyrrell and Halifax Counties in the midst of one of the most turbulent periods of American history. It was less than three years after the Battle of Alamance near Hillsborough, between the “Regulators” and North Carolina militia called up by Royalist Governor Tryon – generally considered one of the first skirmishes of the American Revolution -and only a few months before the first meeting of the North Carolina Provincial Congress independent of royal authority in August, 1774.Attempts to establish a new county for the territory which eventually became Martin…