The Blood of Patriots is the story of Captain Benjamin Merrell of North Carolina who was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered by the Tory Court under Governor William Tryon. Capt. Merrell was head of the Rowan County Militia and became involved with the Regulators, a group that protested the unethical conduct of colonial officials and the exorbitant fees charged for official papers. Capt. Merrell and his wife Jemima moved from New Jersey to North Carolina in the mid-1750s and established a home near Salisbury. He was a planter and gunsmith, and he was executed as an example to anyone who disagreed with the colonial government. Capt. Merrell and his wife had 9 children and many Merrells throughout the United States are descendants of this couple. It is for them that this book is written. Loretta Merrell Ekis is a retired journalist and the author of "Southern Ways and Southern Days." She has devoted many years on the research of her family genealogy and this story is a result. Benjamin and Jemima Merrell are her sixth great-grandparents. She is originally from Tennessee but currently resides in Overland Park, KS.