The land of William Allred was located at the mouth of Bush Creek as it leaves Deep River in today’s Randolph County, North Carolina.   (Farm Creek Drive runs across William's land and ends at the approximate site where his house was located.)  

The Rock is still clearly visible on Google Maps - circled in red:

Tory Activity and some Allred Responses

Colonel David Fanning was loyal to the King of England and despised all men who sought to become independent of
English sovereignty. He and his militia were active in Randolph County and the surrounding areas from the summer of 1781 through September 1782. Even though the victory at Yorktown, Virginia was in October of 1781, the British
continued their efforts in many parts of the country until 1782.  Randolph County, NC was no exception.

Fanning was born in North Carolina in 1754. He went to South Carolina after the beginning of the Revolution. He became a Tory in South Carolina and fought there until 1781 when he returned to North Carolina. His headquarters were in Randolph and Chatham Counties, in the Bush Creek—Deep River area.

John Allred (1764-1849) and his father William Allred (c1742-1825) and the Tories

The following is an incident that William Allred and his son, John, had with Colonel Fanning and some of his troops:
When the Revolutionary war came, John Allred shouldered his flintlock rifle and fought for the freedom of the American colonies to the end of the war. As a resident of Randolph County, he enlisted in the spring of 1781 as a private and volunteer in the cavalry under Capt. Thomas Doogan for the purpose of subduing and putting down one Colonel David Fanning, a Tory in the Royal Militia, who, with a band of outlaws, conducted a campaign of guerrilla
warfare against the colonists in and around Randolph County, North Carolina, burning houses, pillaging and  murdering, from 1775 to 1783. Allred served for approximately 12 months until the spring of 1782.

His fighting against the British aroused the anger of Col. David Fanning, the leader of the Tories or British sympathizers, and he and his band of men went to the homestead in search of John, who happened to be at home. He saw them coming, snatched his gun and secreted himself in the attic. It so happened that they did not go up there to
search for him. William Allred also saw them approaching, took up his gun and ran out northwest of the house and lay down behind a large rock. He could see Fanning and his men from his hiding place when they went out to his crib,
later opened the crib door and let many barrels of corn run out, did the same at another log crib, then turned their horses loose in the lot to eat and trample the corn into the red mud. When they had eaten all they wanted them to have, they saddled their horses and rode towards the western part of the county.

Fanning was eventually driven out of North Carolina.  He fled to South Carolina and then to Florida. From there he fled with his family to New Brunswick, Canada. He died on the island of Nova Scotia in 1825.

Note: The property of William Allred is still a farm. His original log home where his son, John, hid is gone. However, the large rock William hid behind is visible on the property. Fortunately relatives of William and John Allred knew the story and recorded it. It is likely that similar incidents happened to the families of Thomas and John Allred because they and their families were active Patriots. Tory Colonel Fanning and his troops often burned and pillaged homes of Patriots.

SOURCES:(1) Family history recollections written by Rev. Brazilla Caswell Allred in 1922, and published in “The Searcher”, Vol. VI, No. 2 (So. Calif. Genealogical Society, 1969). The Reverend was the brother of William Franklin Allred of Randolph County, North Carolina. Click Here to see Rev. Brazilla Allred's Memoirs.  (2) Certified Statement of Mary C. Allred Jones, dated 22 Apr 1929, found among the papers of Dora Belle Jones Cross on 16 Oct 1977.