CO L DAV D EANNNG S

NAR RA T VE
O F H IS

E x ploi
ts and Adv entures

as a

Ameri
can R evoluti
on
copy

i
n th
e

i
mp ortant omi
ssi
ons i
n
t ed States
i
n the U ni

ng
pplyi

su

the

L oyali
st o f N
na
ort h C aro li

shed
p ubli

Wi
th an hitroductin and Note s by
o

A W ! AV AR Y
.

M A
.

Nov a Scoti
a Hi
st ori
e ty
and C o rrespo ndin g
cal Soci
cal and Bi
o grap hica l
M ember of the New York G enealo gi
S oc i
e ty ;
author ol the Se v aty G ene alogy

M e mber

of the

'

'

f the C ounty of

A nnap oli
s

n te d from T H E C ANA D IA N MA G AZ
R epr i
T oro n t o

1 9 08

ti
Di
zed by M orosoft
gi

NE

Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

IND E !

Con ti
n u ed
PAG E

req u i
re d by m e of the R e b el s
ll i
\V i
a m s a n sw er
R am se y s L etter s
Wi
a m s B u rns
C l a r k e s letter
l li
C ap t L i
n le y m u r d ere d an d two m en h a ng e d for i
t
C ol A l sto n c am e to m e

T erm s

28

29

3o

30

30
G e neral

B u tler

etter
W a l k er a n d C u rri
e s sk i
rm i
shes wi
th th e R e b els
B a l fou r k i
ll e d
l le d
B r yan k i
R e b el C o m m i
sary h a n g e d
ll i
am s fro m G ov t to me
C ap t W i
G ri
mth s L e tt er
R osu r a nd G ol d st o n s l etters
C ap t D u g i
n s a nd G u i
n s l etter
T h e an swe r fro m the A sse m b l y
M yse l f m a rri
e d a nd C ap t H oo k er k i
l le d
T he forg e d letter s
M y a n swer i
n M a j o r R ai
ns nam e
M y ri
di
ng M a re t a k e n
l li
H u n ter s an d W i
ams l etter
M y a rr i
val i
n Ch arl eston
T h e nam es of the g e n tl em e n C o mm i
ttee i
n Ch a rl e sto n
R eb e l p rocl a m a t i
on
da
E m b ar k e d for E a st F lor i
M aj or D evoi
ce s A rti
cl e s
A cert i
c a te of m y S e rv i
ces si
n E a st F lor i
da
g n ed by ofcers i
A n e st i
m a te o f m y p rop ert y
Ki
n g s S p eech
n h a bi
tan t s
M y sp eech to the i
da
M ysel f a n d others set o u t for E a st F l ori
val at New P rovi
de n ce
M y a rri
l t o n s L etter
Col Ham i
a l m th e C om mi
M y M e m ori
ssi
o n ers
eu t C ol o M c Kay s l et t ers
Li
on ers certi
c ate
ssi
C o mm i
M em ori
a l for h a lf p a y to S i
r G eor g e Y o u n g
M y l etter to G e org e R a n d al
T he R e b el A c t o f o b l i
vi
on

31
3x
32

32
33

33

35

37
37
38

38
40

42
46
46

Di
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zed by Mi
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48

Narrati
ve

T he

I n tr odu cti
on by A

O L O NE L DAVID FANNIN G , of
North C arolina , was one of the

most remarkable characters develop ed

by the American R evolution
His own
narrative of his sufferings exploits mar
v ellou s adventures and
hairbreadth es
capes during the war has for years p ast
been an obj ect of quest by writers and
students of American and C olonial his
tory especially in the Maritime Provinces
It was n ot until quite lately that I suc
ceeded in tracing and getting temporary
p ossession of the manuscrip t and to my
sur p rise afterwards discovered that it
had been printedrst at R ichmond

Virginia in 1 8 6 1
in the rst year of
the Independence of the C onfederate

S tates of America in an edition of fty

c opies for private distribution only

with a preface signed
and an
introduction by John H Wheeler author
History of North C arolina and
of a
that it was reprinted in New York in
T he fact of
1 8 6 4 in an edition of 2 00
these publications is not generally known
to American and still less known to
Neither
C anadian readers of to day
the rst c opy nor the reprint is entire
quite faithful to the original and
or
both are out of print and a comp lete
and true copy will I am sure be valued
b oth in C anada and the U nited States
Not only are the incidents related of
thrilling interest but the n a rrative is a
self vindication of one whom American
writers of every grade have agreed in
.

C o l Fanni
ng

of

S A VA R Y

execrating as the very incarnation of

wickedness and ferocity It was not
until about the middle of the last century
that the A m erican public awoke to the
fact that there could have been any
p atriotism or p ublic or p rivate virtue in
the breast of any one who espoused the
loyal side in the American R evolution
It was the melancholy fate of a L oyalist
to be written down a villain before the
eyes of p osterity ; and it has been labor
cult to uncover and bring
i
ons and di f
to li ght the real characters of many wor
thy men fro m under the vast load of
obloquy with which American writers
had overwhelmed them As an American
Zi
ttrateur of note once re m arked to me

Sabine s Am erican L oyalists was a

revelation to the American peop le

who had never b efore known that there
could p ossibly be two sides to the ques
tion Here then rests a T ory and you

say judge that he was a good man

exclaimed Sabine himself in surp rise
when the grave of the R ev R oger Viets was
Sabine
p ointed out to him in D i gby
no doubt was as impartial as he dared
be in view of the public to which he was
catering and he ventured to record and
c ondemn many of the violent excesse s
of the Whigs but often fails to connect
cause and e ffect in relating the reprisals
on the part of outraged L oyalists which
those excesses naturally provoked and
he enters no extenuating plea for Fan
ning while as to Moody whose similar
.

Di
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NAR R AT IV E O F CO L

TH E

n arrative in full the reader will nd in

the History of Annapolis and who

was pursued in his own State by the
same vindictive hatred that followed
Fa r ming in his he di
i
dently c oncludes

that evidence is wanting to show that

he violated to a serious extent the rules

of civilised warfare
B oth these men
desired to remain at peace but like
n
many and many another similarly i
cli
ned were driven into the war by the
homicidal or predatory violence of their
rebel neighbours
As the numerous
town histories of New E ngland show

it was the function of the C ommittee

of C orrespondence and Safety

organ
ised as a sort of Inquisition in every
township to visit every man in the town
ship and compel him to sign or refuse
to sign a pled ge to sup p ort the C ontin
ental cause with his life and prop erty
Any who declined from conscientious
religious scruples as a ! uaker mi ght
be excused and such was the number
who sought i m m unity u nder this p lea
that the R everend Jacob Bailey* wrote
that he expected that at the close of the
war if the result should be favourable
to the British cause the Society of Friends
would be found to have very largely
increased
T hose
however who re
fused ou any other ground were sub
j ected to treatment in contrast to which
the modern boycott were mercy itself
T he cases of Moody B udd 1 Fanning
and T homas Brown are only examples
of an immense number whose story
never ha s been and now never can be
told T arrin g and feathering a neutral

a
T
o
y
and carrying him astride
r
or
a fence rail was a favourite pastime of

patriots all over the c ountry B e

sides pending the achievement of
their independence the various State
governments assumed the prerogatives
of rec ognised nations in respect to the
s
and tried and
cri
men lwsce ma j estati
executed as rebels against the State those
who refused to be rebels against their
king Men who were unwilling to j oin
,

'

F A NNI NG

in subverting by force the government

de j ure were thus held guilty and made
pay the fatal penalty of treason against
the usurped government de facto: T wo
instances unrecorded in history come
readily to my mind as I write : A brother
of the father of the Honourable James
W Johnstone the eminent Nova Scotian
statesm an and j urist a mere boy was
so put to death in Georgia * and one
Hutchinson son of the second wife of
the R ev John Wiswall loyalist R ector
of Aylesford and Wilmot N S was
hanged by the rebels when attempting
to visit his p arentsj T hese two cases
are not mentioned by Sabine and his

book abounds in such

Proscribed

and banished is the sentence he con

and the banishment
ti
nu ally records
was usually on p ain of dea th I Impar
tial historians cannot but put down

these deeds as c old blooded murder

to use the exact ter m a p p lied to Fan
ming s acts in the preface b efore me
Nor does Sabine deal much more
j ustly with the memory of C ol E dmund
Fa r min g and R ichard L ippincott known
in this country after the R evolution as
most worthy and estimable as well as
able men and as late as 1 8 79 on the
occasion of the bicentennial celebration
Mas s one of the orators
of R ochester
of the day branded with shame the
memory of General T imothy R uggles
a native of the town whose talents and
virtues would probably have made him
P resident perha p s the rst President of
the U nited States as he had been of
the rst C ongress of the disa ffected col
oni
es
if his c on science and j udgment
could have permitted him to espouse
what proved to be the winning side
He fell politically in a lost although an
honourable and chivalrous cause But
more recent American writers have been
fairer than sabine and more cou rag
eous and many of them are now treat
,

ecollec t i
a L oyal i
st e d i
te d
on s of a G eorgi
by R ev A W H E aton New Yor k 1 901
l ey
TM S L etters of R ev J a co b B ai
nct i
i
i
n were
* M a n u scrit letters of R ev
es
of
so
al
d
st
o
T
h
ree la d i
ci
i
aco
b
B
a
le
I
y
J
p

slat u re
n te d of h i
st R ec tor of Ann ap ol i
s S ee A att a i
gh treason by the L egi
L oyali
n of d eath
of New York an d b ani
she d on p ai
D ut
er M i
ssi
onary
B o ston : Ide
Fron t i
the only i
n stan ce w h ere wo m en were so
ton 1 8 53
le
treate
d
sh
eo
i
n the hi
st ory of t he E n gl i
4
H
st
r
nn
a
o
l
i
3
0
p
p
s
o
o
f
A
i
p
p
1
y
Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi
*R

NAR R A T IV E O F C O L

TH E

ing the events of the American R evo

lu ti
on
and the characters and motives
of its actors in a j u di
D octor
ci
al sp irit
Hosmer in his life of G overnor Hutch
inson does full j ustice to his worthy and
distinguished subj ect but we are sur
prised that he j usti es the expulsion
of the L oyalists
not apprehending that
the same spirit of chivalrous and relig
ious delity that marked their dutiful
allegiance to the old government would
have been transferred to the new once
the terrible struggle in which they had
fought and lost was over ; and that the
ability and patriotism of their leaders
would have been of immense value in
helping to overc ome instead of as he
suggests promoting or accentuating the
i
cu lti
es and troubles that u m
initial di
avoidably beset the new republic Syd
ney George Fisher w ith obvious p ro
ety
e ntitles his most valuable book
p ri
whic h has been very recently p ublished

A true History of the American R evo

on
lu ti
He faithfully exposes and ac
counts for the sup pression and di
stor
tions of the truth by the earlier writers
but entirely misunderstands the modern
c olonial policy of E ngland and traduces
her conduct of the B oer war A p erusal
of his b ook is absolutely necessary to
a fair understanding of the facts of the
revolutionary period
In Fanning s original manuscript the
chirography is excellent but there is
little or no punctuation and the orthog
rap hy and too free use of initial ca p itals
is perhaps a little more irregu lar than
was c ommon in those days and these
errors are aggravated and a distorted
punctuation introduced in the printed
edition In fact there is reason to sus
p ect that the R ichmond editor tried to
make Fanning appear a m ore illiterate
man than he really was * It is better
I think that all these eccentricities
should be recti ed in the present re
print as manuscripts of that period are
usually so dealt wi
It
th in these days
is satisfactory to note that Mr Wheeler
,

,
,

'

ts
nstance : T he word pu rsue an d all i
i
n
d eri
v at i
v es are always sp elled correct ly i
n t he
t he m an u scri
p t an d always persu e i
r
te
d
co
b
u t I ha v e change d wa s to were
n
i
py
p
n m an y p lace
i
* For

F A NNING

declares that the narrative from its

minuteness of detail and accuracy of
dates (which have been compared with
reliable authorities ) may be depended

on as a truthful record and quotes the

testimony of the historian Bancroft to

its
authenticity delity and value
But the author of the p reface starts
with an error as to Fanning s birthplace
which he says wa s in Johnston C ounty
North C arolina whereas Fanning de
clares in his will that he was the son of
David Fanning and was born at B eech
Swamp in Amelia C ounty Virginia
where his father left a considera b le
estate of which he was the rightful

heir and which he still hoped at that

date ( 1 8 2 5) that his family mi ght re
cover althou gh he had evidently given
up as irretrieva b ly lost his former p os
sessions in North C arolina T he ho p e
of recoverin
g his Virginia p rop erty it
is clear led hi
m to refuse* to a llow his
narrative to be p ublished lest it should
weaken his claim in that regard O ther
statements of the writer of the p reface
respecting Fanning s boyhood and p hy

si
ca l
idiosyncrasies given as princi

pally traditionary
such as his being

a ficted with scald head

and unt
to sit at table with his fellows or to sleep
in a bed and designed to stigmatise him
as a degraded character belon ging to
the dregs of society are evidently un
reliable and of doubtful good faith

He speaks of the
self satisfaction

with which after relatin g his cold

blooded m urder of his nei ghbours and

fellow citiz ens he ap p lies to himself at

the close of his Address to the R eader

the words of the Psalmist : Mark the

p erfect man and behold the upright for

the end of that man is peace

But
this text is not in Fanning s handwriting
and was no doubt written there after
his death by his widow or son As to

the alleged cold blooded murder it

will be seen that in every case Fanning
specically mentions the offence which
the victim was conde m ned to expiate
always the coldblooded murder by the
victim himself sin gly or with others
,

nt d
n 1 8 22 p ri
letter from hi
m d ate d i
e
n ts to thi
on p oi
s
n tr od u c t i
n M r Wheeler s i
i
concl us i
on
Di
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zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi
*A

NA R R A T I V E

THE

O F CO L

of one of Fanning s men or some other

For instance we nd in his
L oyalist

index :
L indley murdered and
C ol
two m en hanged for it I will itali
cise this and several other instances in
the narrative I refer also to Fannin g s
account of the barbarous treatment b y
the insurgents of his c omp anion T homas
B rown whose terrible re p risals on his
p ersecutors are fully related by Sabine
Mr Wh eeler has not a word of condem
nation for these atrocities ; they do not
shock him in the least ; W hile the deeds
of their avenger excite in him the most
intense horror He says in his copious
and doubtless l ocally valuable b iograph
ical notes that C ol Balfour was

cruelly m urdered by Fanning al

though he had read i
n the narrative
that in a previous negotiation as to the
term s of a p rop osed peace between
the contendin g factions B alfour had

laid it down that there was no resting

place for a T ory s foot on the earth

showing that a cessation of hostilities could
only be sec u red by Fanning s surrender
and execution T he conict therefore
was renewed with m ore desperate and
fatal fury and seeing that certain death
awaited hi
m at B alfour s hands in the
event of his ca p tu re it is hardly to be
wondered at that at their next encounter
Fannin g shou ld try to get in the rst
shot or should seek the rst op p ortunity
of slaying his intended slayer
I conclu de that Fanning has been
grievously m ali gned b y A m erican writ
ers w ho have been unable to v iew his
career with other than the j aundiced
eyes of the p artisan If he had done
h
j ust what he did in the Americ a n i
stead of the loy al cause he would have
been acclai m ed as one of the bravest and
b est of their heroes Mr Wheeler says :

Had the darin g desp erate te mp er of

Fanning been ele v ated by edu cation
chastened b y religious inuences and
directed in p ro p er and p atriotic ch annels
his na m e mi ght ha v e been a ssociated
with that of the Marions and Waynes
of the eventfu l e p och in which he was
notori ous T o this I wou ld say that
if he had fou ght on the re v ol u tiona ry
inste a d of on the l oyal side Mr \Vheeler
a n d e v ery other American w riter wo u ld

FA NNI NG

have described him as a man whose

daring desperate te m per was emi

nentl
elevated by education
and
y

chastened by religious in u ences

as
well as directed in p ro p er and p atriotic

channels
and tru ly illustrious among
the Waynes and Marions of that event
ful ep och His enemies reports of his
n u
character and conduct probably i
enced the British government , by whom
he was not treated with the sa m e gener
ty as others who had done and s u ff ered
osi
less M ob violence and outra ges on
* with the
erson
and
roperty
be
an
p
p
g
insur gents ; wrong begets wrong and
Fa r ming resolute daring and resource
ful fou ght his enemies with their ow n
methods the only methods available
to hi
m in a war that set family against
fa m ily and neighbour against neighbour
and was waged by small irresponsible
bands all through the Province over
which a reign of terror appallin g to c on
temp late made wreck of the humane
sentiments that cast a gla m our o v er the
o p erations of regu lar warfare between
As each petty leader
C hristian nations
red with p arty rage or thirstin g for re
venge gained a temp orary adv anta ge
over his op p onents
H o p e wi
theri
ng
e d a nd m e rc y s i
ghe d
fa rewe ll
He was animated by a chivalrou s loyalty
to his lawful soverei gn an d the idea of a

united E mpire at least as disinterested

and quite as c o mm enda b le as the si m ilar
sentiments which red the breast of the
m ost faithful soldier of the U nion w ho
fought in the great A m erican C i v il War
and he was patriotically devoted to the
interests of his cou ntry as he saw the m
T he author of the p reface asserts that

the p eople of the Southern States

ere
the actors in the old stru ggle had all
p assed away were obli ged to a gain draw
,

was n ot t i
ll aft er th i
s p a p er was wri
tten
1 ha t I fo u n d a c om l et e c o n r m a t i
o n o f these
p
on s
c oncl u si
i
n a n o ther fa i
r and i
al
m p art i
A m eri
c an b ook recen tly p u b l i
shed V an

n hi
T yn e i
s
sts o f t he A m eri
c an
L o yal i
R ev ol u t i
on
n g of
p 1 8 4 says tha t t he h an gi
v e L o yal i
st p r i
soners o f w a r by the re bel s
i
n No rth C a r oli
n a le d t o r e p r i
sal s wh i
ch were
co n t i
n u ed i
n th a t r eg i
on th r o u h t he war
g
cl earl y r eferri
n g t o the ev en t s r ec o rd ed by
* It

ng
F an n i

Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

NA R R A T IV E O F C O L FA NNI NG

T HE

the

sword to protect their homes and

c onvinced that he had been falsely accused
r esi
des from an oppressor the North
(
and
wrongly
)
c onvicted and did all he
who attempted to imp ose on them burdens
could
in
such
a
case
by
exercising
the
more odious than those they refused to

royal
in his favour After
p rerogative
bear from that nation to which they
he* removed to D igby Nova Scotia
this

owed
their
existence
as
a
people
that
;

on a farm at the base

near
which
he
lived

the mad eff orts of the North to subdue of the picturesque

mountain
that
lifts
its
the S outh had brought about the re
lofty head between the town and the
e nacting of scenes such as disclosed by
our veracious chronicler ; scenes at
Here
still
nestles
cosily
the
the recital of which decency revolts and old
farmhouse
in
which
he
restfully
passed
b efore the perpetrators of them even the
the
declining
years
of his chequered life
T ories of the rst revolutionary war might

and
here
lived
his
son
R oss C urrie C arr
hide their diminished
Ameri
Fanning when the writer knew him from
c ans of the present day will consider him
of the last century till
the
early
sixties
a s wrong in these extravagant pronounce
his death
ments as we consider him in his estimate
In New Brunswick his name is per
of Fanning
p etuated in a stream known as Fanni
ng s
Sabine who strange to say knew Brook forming part of the boundary line
n othing of this narrative says that Fan
between
Kin
s
and
ueens
ounties
on
C
g
!
ming s corresp ondence although where
(
the west side of the R iver St John O n
and how he got access to it is hard to this stream he built a mi
ll part of the
c onj ecture and he c ould have seen but dam of which still exists and the cellar
little of it ) a ffords am p le evidence that of his house can be seen about half a

he was often involved in quarrels with mile di

stant
In his will besides the

j
his neighbours which is scarcely c om
mention of his inheritance in Georgia
patible with the fact that he was chosen he spoke of the claim his family had
on
three times to represent them in the the generosity of the British G overnment
P rovincial P arliament in which he sat as but although that G overnment ranted a
g
member for ! ueens C ounty from I 79 1 pension to Moody s widow nothing was
to January 2 7th 1 8 0 1
His w ill how
ever done for the widow or children of
ever dated at D igby March roth 1 8 2 5 Fanning
four days before his death shows him to
In the cemetery of Holy T rinity C hurch
have had at that time some difference with D i by is a stone with the following i
n
g
E lkanah Morton the Judge of P robate
scri p tion :
a widely known and esteemed* but some
I n m em ory o f
what p unctilious and stern magistrate
C ol D a v i
d Fan ni
ng
who d e p art e d thi
s li
fe
and ofcial for he ex p resses a wish that
M arch 1 4 th 1 8 25
he should have nothing to do with the
i
n t he
probating of the will but that some
sev ent i
eth year of hi
s a ge
other j ud ge should deal with it
H um an e affa ble gen tle a nd ki
nd :
A sad and most extraordinary episode
A p lai
n honest o p en m or a l m i
nd ;
H e li
e i
n G od he p u t hi
v e d t o di
put an untimely end to his career in the
s tru st
T o ri
u m p h a n t wi
se tri
th the j u st
legislature by calling for the vacation of
his seat he being the only member of a
O n another stone near by evidently
B ritish coloni al legislature ever so erected by himself is the following

a ffected A black woman of bad repute

epita p h curious for its minuteness of
known as Sall L ondon charged him with detail : In memory of David William
an o ffence for which a t that day there was son of David and Sarah Fannin g who
n o alternative but the death pen alty T o
the astonishment of the public he was
* Not i
n 1 7 9 0 as W i
lson i
st ory of
n hi
s Hi
c onvicted on her unsup p orted evidence
Di
n 1 799 a s stat ed b S a b i
ne
g b y says n or i
y
but the j udgment was p romptly nullied
one d i
n t he p rec ed i
ng
TFor the facts m en t i
n d eb t e d t o D r
t er i
s i
by the G overnor of the P rovince who was p aragra p h the wri
H ann ay the a ble h i
st ori
an and a rchaeol ogist
* S ee H i
of New B run s w i
story of Anna p ol i
s p age 426
ck
Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi
,

NAR R A T I V E

THE

died

O F CO L

July 1 5 1 8 1 0 aged 1 6 years I I

months and 1 day and 1 1 hours and 3 7
minutes
He left a daughter Ferebee who mar
ried rst Simeon Smalle of Maine ;
ker of a New
second P eter H anselp i
York Dutch L oyalist family and left
issue His only surviving son R oss C
C Fanning lived and died on the p aternal
homestead where he conducted the farm
and op erated a carding mill He it was
who permitted Mr Porter C B liss on
behalf of the Massachusetts Historical
Society to cop y the manuscript probably
not long after his father s death It is to be
hop ed he never saw the printed version

with its
Introdu ction and Preface
He was a burly looking man with a some
what austere asp ect and long a much
resp ected and ei
ci
en t
Justice of the
P eace In the G eneral Sessions of the
P eace which for m erly re gulated municipal
affairs he was recognised as a man of
good j udgment b ut of very deter m ined
will He was born May 30 1 79 1 mar
ried Sarah Woodm an of D i gby and died
S ept 8 1 8 7 1 leavin g an estate of
about
to b e divided amon g ve
daughters Mr Wheeler states that R ev
E
W C arruthers D D
in a work

entitled
Inc idents and Sketches of

C haracter C hi
ey in the O ld North State
1 8 54
has devoted more than 1 50 pages
to the life and character of Fannin g and
quotes Dr C arruthers as saying that this
son was a R uli
ng E lder in the C hurch
But he was a member of the C hurch of
E ngland until about ten years before he
died when he united himself to the
Methodist Society in neither of which
,

A N N A P O L I S R O Y A L NS
J u n e I O 1 9 08
,

FA NNI NG

such an of ce a s

C hurches is there
R uli
ng E lder *
.

I prop ose to omit the Address to the

R eader
and the instructions to the
printer at the end and to insert all t hat
wa s omitted by Mr Wheeler including
the adventurous escape to Florida and
the West Indies and the p roclamation of

amnesty or Act of P ardon and O blivion

of the State of North C arolina

the latter
to show how limited and illiberal was its
scope
,

o ,
n
A M Hi
l, i
il

C ap
i
n t he H i
D
i
s
y
g y, p
n
i
u m o ou
n
e
n
i
gi
i
ng
i
ng,
eli
i
on
Un
t he
g

H ow R
u
i
m
M
i
he
C
,

a l tt e b o k
h ters
stor of
b
rofesse
a h
r s v e to v e the r aso for
th s cha e of r
der
head
oss rr e b eca e a ethod st
e was
says that M r Curri
a p erfec t p i
ct ure
of a p rosp erou s con t en ted farm er bu t not
t he gen tlest of m ort a ls or the m ee kest of m en
for the law of here di
t y had m a de hi
m obst i
n
a te
d ogm at i
c and strong wi
lled
H e was
t he own er of a p ew i
n T ri
ni
ty Chu rch It

cam e to p ass that t he la d i

es c on si
d ere d that
m ore of t he E arth s su rfac e shoul d b e cov ere d
by the m
a n d a d o p te d ho o p s k i
rts T hey
th them t olera bl y well i
n t he
go t al ong wi
n ex trem e cases m a ki
streets by i
n g d et ours

n g a seri
or d escri
bi
es of sem i
ci
rcl e s i
n m eet
i
n g each o ther
T he p ro j ec t i
on o f s o m e of
n t o t he a i
the p ews i
sles am on g them M r
e s
a ec t ed t he g r a cefu l carr i
C u rr i
age of
t he fa i
r d am es an d threaten e d t he cru shi
ng
a n d d estr u ct i
on of t he cheri
shed garm ent
Ap p eal ed to to allow a p a rt of hi
ou s
s cap aci
a nd co m f orta b le p ew to b e cu t away
Mr

n di
C u rri
ei
som e
gnan tl y refu se d an d when
of t he Ward ens p rob ab ly hen p e cked hu s
b an d s arm ed wi
th a sa w acc om p l i
shed the

on
w or k of d em ol i
ti
e ren ounce d
M r C u rri
a ll c onn ect i
on w i
th the E p i
sc op al Chu rch
con si
rt y ni
n e art i
cles t o ob l i
vi
on
gn e d t he thi
forg ot i
n hi
s wr a th A p ostol i
c S u ccessi
on and
b ecam e a n arden t d i
sci
p le of Wesley S t yles
fashi
on s hoop s and ski
rts ha d carri
e d the
n T ri
ni
ty
day i
*T he

ev

Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

Narrati
ve

T he

of

Fanni
ng

Co

companies
and
continued
for
C
several days under arms and then both
tains to c all musters and present two parties were determined on this condition
p apers for the inhabitants to sign
that neither party should intercept each
was to see wh o were friends to the King other T his continued for some ti m e
and G overnment and the other was to see until the rebels had taken T homas Brown
w ho would j oin the rebellion
who after that had the honour to be
T he rst day of May C apt James
C olonel of the regiment of the E ast
L indley of R aebern s C reek sent to me
Florida R angers at Augusta burnt hi
s
as I was a Sergeant of the said comp any
m and cu t
feet tarred and feathered hi
to h ave his company warned to meet at hi
s hai
r
After he got so he was able to
his house 1 s th of said month I did sit on horseback he came to our p ost and
accordingly and he presenting the two the rebels then began to embody again
papers there were 1 1 8 men signed in C ol Fletchall found a large camp and
favour of the King also declared to de
marched from L iberty Sprin gs to Mill
fend the same at the risk of lives and C reek on our way towards Ninety Six
property
T welve miles from N i
nety Six the rebels
In July 1 7 75 there were several found that they were not strong enou gh
advertisements set up in every part for us and sent an express to C ol Fletchall
of the said district
t hat there was a to come and treat with them which said
very good P resbyterian minister to call at Fletchall did But the terms of their
the di fferent places to preach and baptise treatment I don t know We were all
children
dismissed until further orders In a
B ut at the time appointed instead of short ti m e after the rebels took C apt
meeting a minister we all went to meet R obert C unningham and carried hi
m off
tw o Jews by name of S i
lv edoor and
to C harlestown O ur p arty was then
R apely who after making man y speeches
informed of his being taken off in the
in favour of the rebellion and usin g all night ti m e and by makin g inquiry after
their endeavours to delude the p eop le him we got information of a large quantity
away at last presented revolution papers of am m unition that was there on its way
to the C herochee Nation for C apt
to see who would sign them ; they were
severely reprimanded by Henry O Neal R ichard P aris to bring the Indians down
and many others It came so high that into the settlement where the friends of
they had much ado to get off with their the Government lived to murder all they
lives T he rebels then found that we could We intercepted the ammunition
and took C apt R Paris who swore to
were fully determined to oppose them
d these facts We then formed a large
T hey began to embody in the last of sa i
month ; to compel all to j oin them or to camp and C ol Fletchall being so heavy
he gave up the command to Maj or Joseph
cers got
take away our arms O ur oi
word of their intentions I then got R obinson
In the month of November 1 775 the
orders from the C aptain to warn the
militia to assemble themselves at Hugh S outh C arolina Militia of which I was
at that time Sergeant under the com
O Neal s mill ; which was done by several
Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
9
gi
OL
TH O MAS F L E T C H A L L , of
F airforest , ordered the different C a
p
.

C aptains

THE

10

NA R R A T IV E O F C O L FA NNING
.

mand of Maj or J oseph R obinson laid

siege to a fort erected by the rebels
at N i
nety
Six c ommanded by C ol Mason ;
which continued for the space of three
days and three nightsat the expiration
of which time the rebels were forced to
surrender and give up the fort and
Maj or R obinson then ordered
artillery
the militia to the north side of S aluda
R iver and discharged them for eighteen
days Afterwards orders were issued for
all C aptains t o c ollect their respective
c ompanies at Hendrick s M i
ll
about
twenty m iles from Ninety S ix ; the rebels
having recei v ed intelligence of our ln
tended m otion they immediately marched
before us and took p ossession of the
ground which p revented our asse mblin g
there But about 300 of ou r men met at
L ittle R iver and marched thence to R eedy
R iver and encamped at the B ig C ane
B reak for several days T he rebels being
informed of our situation m arched u m
expectedl y up on us and made prisoners
of 1 3 0 of our men ; the re m ainder ed into
the woods and continued there with the
C herochee I n dians until the 1 8 th January
1 7 76 when I was made a p risoner by a
party of rebels commanded by a C ap t
John Burns who after detaining me four
days and repeatedly urging me to take
the oath of allegiance to the U nited States
stripped me of everything and m ade me
give security for my future good behaviour
by which m eans I got clear O n the roth
1 7 76
of May
hearing the rebels had
issued a p roclamation to all the friends of
Govern m ent offerin g them pardon and
protection provided they would return to
their resp ective habitations and remain
neutral induced me to return to my home
where I arrived on the I 5th of June
O n the 2 0th the rebels bein g app re
v e of the C herochee Indians breaking
hensi
ou t dis p atched several of their emissaries
among the L oyalists to discover their
intentions one of which was C apt R itchie
who came to me and told me he was a
friend to Government and some time
before left the Indian Nation and then
wanted a pilot to conduct him to the
Indian Nation again I agreed to con
duct him to any part of the country he
wanted to go to p rovided he would keep
,

it secret T his he p romised to do B ut

immediately he went and lodged informa
tion against me and swore that I then had
a company of men ready in order to oin
the Indians In c onsequence of this I
was made prisoner again on the e sth
by a C apt J ohn R ogers and thrown into
close connement with three sentinels
over me O n the I st of July the Indians
c ame down into the back c ountry of S outh
C arolina and killed several families at
which time the rebel c amp being in great
c onfusion I m ade my escape and went to
my ow n house at R aebern s C reek ; but
nding a number of my friends had
and more
al ready gone to the Indians
disposed so for to do I got twenty v e
men to j oin m e and on our arrival at
on R eedy R iver
P ari
sher s p lantation
in the Indian land we for m ed a j unction
with the Indians O n the 1 5th inst in the
evening the militia and the C herochees
to amount of 2 60 surrounded the fort
built with logs containing 4 50 of the
rebels and after a smart re on both sides
for two hours and a half we retreated
W ithout any injury excep t one of the
Indian C hiefs being shot through the
hand I then left the Indians and pur
sued my way to North C arolina where
on my arri v al I was taken up again and
close conned but was rescued by my
friends three di fferent ti m es after which I
made my escap e good I then endea v our
ed to go ho m e again and after ex p eri
enc
ing numberless hardships in the woods
I arrived the roth of March 1 7 7 7 at
R aebern s C reek S outh C arolina
I was made prisoner again on the r 1 th
by a C ap t Smith bound hand and foot
and carried under guard towards Ninety
Six gaol ; after marching twelve miles
the comp any halted for the evening and
watchin g an opportunity I cut the ropes
I was bound with and stripped myself
when the guard was aslee p ; I threw
myself out of the window and returned
back to R aebern s C reek by a di
erent
way from that which they had carried me
prisoner I was obliged now to secrete
m yself in the woods and was su p plied
with p rovisions by some ! u akers and
other L oyalists in the neighbourhood
A company of L oyalists of which I was
.

Di
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NAR R A T IV E

TH E

O F COL

FA NNING

11

one was then raised by 3 R ichard P arish

without either bread or salt upon what
and it was determined to
we killed in the wilderness We deter
go to Mobile
and j oin the B ritish army
but one of the mined let the consequences be what they
c omp any proving treacherous gave i
n
would to proceed to the settlement of
formation to the rebels who raised a body Green R iver North C arolina where we
of troop s to suppress us They took me
rested ourselves at a friend s house about
w ith v e more prisoners and carried us a week Here we parted I then pro
to Ninety S ix gaol on the 5th August
ceeded to Tigo R iver
where I arrived
1 7 77
C aptain P arish escaped with some
safe on the I st of June 1 778 Myself and
L oyalists belonging t o the comp any and one S amuel Smith now associated and
made his w ay good to the B ritish army at were taken by a company of rebels com
M obile in West Florida Myself with m anded by a C apt Going We made our
v e others who were taken remained
escap e the second night by bribing the
i n close c on nement until November sentinel and parted company I met
f ollowi
ng and we were tried for our lives
with one of the horses belonging to the
on a charge of high treason for rising in rebels about a mile from the house I had
arms against the U nited States of America
escap ed from and mounted him T hey
but were acquitted and went home T he pursued me thr ough the woods by the
fee s and expenses of my connement horse s tracks upwards of seventy miles
amounted
to 300 Virginia money
and came to R aebern s C reek where I
allowing dollars at
six shillings each
lived T hey were anxious to rec over their
which I paid and was then ordered back horse from me and promised to return one
to the gaol for the rent of the room
of four they had taken from me if I would
O n the rst of March 1 778 C apt John deliver up the said horse T his being
York of E ast Florida received orders agreed upon I went with them to receive
from the C ommander i
n C hief for the
my own horse back again ; when we had
L oyal Militia of Georgia and South advanced thirty miles we came near to
C arolina to assemble themselves
Ac
where a rebel fort was I desired the m to
cordi
ngly
they were embodied T he go a little out of the way and avoid it
maj ority of the people chose me their which they had promised to do before we
cer
We took a number proceeded on our j ourney O ne of them
commanding oi
of prisoners
furnished ourselves with laid hold of my horse s bridle and told me
to surrender myself a prisoner for t hey
horses and marched to S avannah R iver
were determined to conne me in the fort
on the borders of Georgia ( two miles
or carry me to Ninety Six gaol
about
C apt York who was
above Augu sta )
eighty miles off T hey said I was not
our pilot then got discouraged and would
in that damned tory country at that
not sner any of the militia to proceed
time I therefore after some conversa
with him back to E ast Florida except
three men ; we were then under the tion c oncluded to submit to be disarmed
upwards at the time as they threatened blowing a
nec essity of re turning home
ball through me every instant if I did not
of one hundred miles through the rebel
and betake ourselves to the surrender which I did O n my arrival
country
During our retreat at the fort I was stripped of my clothes
woods as formerly
and conned close till morning when they
we were pursued by three hundred of the
rebels but we got back home to R aebern s tied my legs under a horse s belly and took
When the rebels found we me before a magistrate to commit me to
C reek safe
w ere returned they raised a body of men gaol However I was admitted to bail
to tak e us and for the space of three for my good behaviour O n my return
months kept so constant a look ou t that to the people who took my horse and
clothes upon asking for them I was
we were obliged to stay in the woods ; S I!
retaken before another magistrate and
weeks of which time I never saw a man
committed
to
gaol
under
a
strong
guard
w
h
o
xcept
S
amuel
Brown
was
after
e
(
O n my proceeding towards the gaol the
wards killed at T igo R iver ) who shared
areful
uard
was
c
about
cularlv
arti
and
we
lived
entirely
s
n
r
i
s
u

e
p
g
my
g
,

Di
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NA R R AT IV E

TH E

12

O F CO L

F A NNI NG

securing me ; and in order to do it the bern s C reek and after remaining some
more e ffectually tied me with a rope to a time in the woods there I was advised by
stout fellow who was one of them When friends to make peace with C apt Gillian
I found him asleep I took the op portunity who commanded a company of rebels on
the Indian lines As I durst not be seen
to cut myself loose with a knife ( or rather
with a p air of horse eames) which was by any of the rebel party I got one of my
accidentally left lying in the road and friends to go to him desiring him to meet
throwing m yself ou t of the window made me alone at a particular place and give
my escape and took to the mountains for him my word I would not inj ure him
We met accordingly and passed o ur
shelter I continued there for some time
when C ol Mills of the L oyal Militia on words n ot to disturb or inj ure each other
knowing where I was proposed at several We continued our meetings in the woods
generally every day or two for the space
meetin gs we had to raise a comp an y
which we did of 500 m en for the purpose of a month until we were discovered by
Augustine O ne of the some of hi s company who threatened to
of going to St
n
have him punished for treating with me
compan y proved faithless and gave i
formation to the rebels who immediately H owever he still met me now and then
embodied themselves and took C ol Mills and introduced a friend of his to me
prisoner with sixteen of the com p any and who he told me I might depend upon
carried them off to Salisbury gaol M y
O ne day I observed an alteration in their
self with fourteen m ore p ursued about behaviour and asked them when at some
twenty miles with an intention of rescuing distance if he meant to keep his word

them until w e were in sight of G ilbert with me ; he replied

by all means
town where the re b els had a guard ; and We were all on horseback and I had my
ndin g we could not effect our purp ose rie across my saddle When we were
at that time ou r n u m bers being so small going to part as I expected he suddenly
and theirs increasing we retu rned back
sei z ed my rie and the man wh o was
T he re b els pursued us all night and in
with him laid hold of my horse s bridle
the morning we p erceived the m within shot He presented his rie to my breast and
we red upon them which they told me I was his prisoner or a dead man
of us
returned and continued skirmishing with I was under the necessity to surrender and
them in the woods about an hour when they carried me again to m y old quarters
they retreated Wh at inj ury we di
d
at Ninety S ix where we arrived on the
them w e could not tell ; on our part we r 1 th of O ctober 1 778 I was strip p ed
suffered no loss Here our p arty se p ar
entirely naked thrown into irons and
ated and I made way for Holsten R iver
chained to the oor and remained in that
abo u t I 4 O miles through the woods I situation until the 2 0th of December
had proceeded about forty m iles on m y following when I again made shift to get
w ay when I was met by three men one of
my irons off and having sawed one of the
who m knew me He came to me with grates some time before I again escap ed
seeming friendshi p and on taking my by means of a fellow prisoner who sup
hand called his companions to assist him p lied me with some old clothes of which
in sec uring m e which they did and m ade I made a rope to let me down I re
me a p risoner T hey tied my hands cei
v ed a fall in getting down
but lucki ly
behind my back and feet to each other did not hurt myself T he gaoler heard
under the horse s belly and took me me fall and presented a musket at me ou t
to Ninety Six gaol again where I was of a window but I avoided him He
closely conned for seventeen days Dur
alarmed the guard and they p ursued me ;
ing my c onnement I got acquainted with but however I got clear off I found
a friend to Government who lived there
myself much hurt by a fall I got in their
by talking to him through the gates ; he chasing me I got back to R aebern s
furnished me with two les and a knife
C reek but was taken in three days and
by which means I cut through the iron bars again introduced at Ninety Six I was
I returned again to R ae
and escaped
chained and ironed as before in the

Di
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NA R R A T IV E

THE

O F CO L

centre of a room thirty feet square

forty v e from the ground the snow beat
i
ng i
n through the roof w ith four grates
open night and day I remained in this
state eleven days I got my chains off in
the night of the twelfth T he gaoler did
not chain me down again
but I had
still p art of them remaining on one of my
legs which weighed seven p ounds and
three quarters I continued loose in gaol
until the 1 3 th of February 1 7 79 when I
took a bar ou t of the window in the night
and pried one of the planks ou t of the oor
of the room and thence went down stairs
I found the door fast secured but I went
to a breach I had formerly made in the
back of the chimney and got out and
o ne of my fellow prisoners escaped w ith
me and we kept together for some time
after We found a number of horses
graz ing in a eld belonging to a co m pany
of rebels
under the command of C ap t
F arr who had th at night co m e into town
We mounted each of us one and rode
o to R aebern s C reek
O n our way we
stopped at a house and furnished our
selves with a rie and a pair of pistols ;
we also supplied ourselves with clothing
By this ti m e the neighbourhood was
alarmed and the rebel militia sent in
pursuit of us T hey laid several ambus
cades but without e ect and continued
embodied for six months But however
I w as so fortunate as to esca p e ; but my
comp anion was taken T he day after he
was taken I was riding thro ugh a p iece of
timbered woods when I discovered a
party of men they discovered m e and
pursued on full speed for seven miles but
I was lucky enough to escap e them but
my horse falling threw me and I unfor
An advertisement
tu nately lost my rie
was then made public for apprehending
me and a reward of seventy silver dollars
and 3 00 p ap er ones was offered as a
reward to take me T his made me very
cautious notwithstanding which I was
betrayed and red upon by a p arty of
rebels in number sixteen ; I received tw o
bullets in my back one of which is not
extracted I luckily kept my seat in the
saddle and rode off After proceeding
ab out twelve miles I turned my horse
into the woods and remained there eight

FA NNING

13

days having no support but herbs except

three eggs my wounds at this time being
very troublesome and o ffensive for the
want of dressing I got my horse again
and moved about twelve miles to a friend s
house where on my arrival I made a
signal which they knew to acquaint them
of my being alive
and a young girl of
fourteen years old came to me ; but when
she c ame near enough to see me she was
frightened so at the sight she ran o I
pursued after her on horseback telling
her who I was She said she knew it was
me but I was dead ; that I was then a
sp irit I was a lon g time before I could
get her to come to me I looked so m u ch
like a rack of nothing but skin and b ones
and my wounds had never b een dressed
and my clothes all bloody My misery
and situation was beyond explanation and
no friend in the world that I could de end
p
u p on However these peop le seeing me
in that distressed situation took the
greatest care of me and dressed my
wounds I then got assistance and sup
p ort and my wounds dressed and taken
good care of My horse having been seen
by some of the rebel p arty they concluded
I was not killed and wrote se v eral letters
which they gave one of my friends offer
ing to treat with me and ad v isin g me to
surrender threatenin g at the same time
in c ase I did not to banish ei ght families
of m
A
y friends ou t of South C arolina
limited ti m e was given for my answer but
it had expired before I received the letters ;
in consequence of which their threats were
p u t in execution and the people s proper
ties were taken from them and themselves
conned O n the recei p t of my letters
the people were li b erated but their prop er
ties were still detained
T he second day after I tre ated w ith the
C olonel of the rebel militia and had an
express sent off to Gov R utledge at
About a week after his
C harlestown
answer came back with a conditional
pardon that which I had done should
be forgotten and that I should live quietly
and peaceably at home and be obliged to
pilot parties through the woods as occa
sion might require
Before I accepted of these conditions
I advised with my friends and compan y
,

Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

'

TH E

ll.

NA R R A T IV E

all appr oved of it as it c onduced

both to t heir ease and safety
I remained at home a year and twelve
da y s and was repeatedl y urged to accep t
of a company in the C ontinental servic e
w hich I always refused
After the reduction of C harlestow n.
one William
C unningham and I con
cluded to embody a party of men w hich
we e ec ted
We determined to take C ol Williams
of the rebel militia prisoner and then to
j oin C apt P arish who was to raise a
company and assist us C ol Williams
got notice of it and pushed off and th ou gh
we got sight of him he escaped us
We now found ourselves grow ing
strong and numbers ocking daily to us
I then t ook the King s proclamations and
distributed them through the country for
upwards of a hundred miles
C apt P arish had the comman d of the
par ty and marched up to Ninety Six
w hich he took possession of without
ring a shot ; where I found him again
T he day after we marched about twelve
tehall
miles to Gen Williamson s at \Vhi
w ho co m manded a fort with fourteen
swivels and two companies of provincial
troop s O n our approach he met us
ab out t hree miles from the fort attended
by se v eral ofcers requesting that he
might di scharge the troops and have
protection for himself and them
We granted him what he requested
and took possession of the fort and their
arms which they piled up ; after that they
marched ou t of the garrison
T hree days after that C ol P ickins
with 3 00 men marched in and laid dow n
their arms
G eneral R obert C unn ingham of the
L oyal M ili tia now took the c ommand
and f o med a camp
We kept scouting parties through the
c ou ntr y and had many skirmishes but
none of c onsequence
After the British American troops had
taken pos session of Ninety S ix I con
tinned scouting on the Indian lines until
C ol Innis forwarded his march up to
M u sgrov e s Mill on the Innoree R iver
ied them with a party of four
I then j oi
teen men

who

FA NNI NG

O F COL

morning following the pickets were

attacked by a party of rebels C ol Innis
ordered us to advance and support them
which we did and followed them until
we arrived where the main body lay in
ambush under the c ommand of C ol
Williams C ol Innis was unfortu nately
wounded with several other o fcers
We engaged them for some t ime and
then retreated about a mile and a quarter
where we encamped and in the night
marched off towards Ninety Six under
the command of C apt D eP eyster and
the next morning I and my small p arty
returned back t o the Indian lines We
c ontinued scouting on the lines for some
time until I met w ith C apt P arish of the
B ritish American S outh C arolina R egi
ment who gave me a list of several
soldiers that had permission to visit their
friends in the c ountry O n the return
from Florida to Ni
S ix I was desired
nety
by him to go to give them notice to j oin
their regiments ; and on this expedition I
fell in with Maj or Furgesson s party
which was defeated v e days afterwards
T he rebels after that began to be nu mer
and little or no
ou s and troublesome ;
regulation amongst us I made the best of
my way to Deep R iver North C arolina
where I remained until the month of
F eb ruary 1 78 1
I was during this time discovering the
disposition of the people B eing informed
that L ord C ornwallis was m arching that
way I kept my intentions secret until I
received certain acc ounts I then caused
this adv ertisement to be published and
used all my inuence to get all the L oyal
i
sts to j oin me and defend ourselves when
occasion might require A true copy
is here set forth :
T he

,
.

AD V E R T IS E M E NT

s loyal and fai

thful
n t he
su b j ec ts ab le an d wi
ll i
ng to ser ve i
na R egi
R oyal North C arol i
men t comm an d e d
lt on are here b y req u este d to
by C ol H a mi
r e p ai
r to hi
T he B oun t y
s enca mp m ent
n eas ; a nd
allowed for each man i
s three G ui
the t erm s of t he en gagem en t are that he shall
n the
serv e duri
ng the re bell i
thi
on an d wi
n a an d
n ces of North and S ou th Carol i
P ro v i
ng hi
ce he
rgi
a onl y ; that duri
ni
s servi
Vi
shall be en ti
tled to clothi
ng p ay p ro vi
si
ons
the a dvantages of hi
s M a j es t y s
al l
an d
n ci
al T roop s an d a t the
R egu lar an d P rov i
of

A ny

hi
s M a j est y

Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

NA R R A T IV E O F CO L

THE

re b el l i
on when he b ec om es di
s
c har g e d o i
s to r ece i
cou rse he i
v e as a reward
s s er v i
ces d u ri
for hi
ng t he war a free gran t of
lan d agreea b le to hi
on
s M a j est y s
p rocla m at i
end

o f t he

O f his pursuing Gen Greene as far as

H illsb oro this struck such a terror on the
rebels and w as so pleasing to us that we
immediately disarmed the disaffected
and embodied about 300 men under the
c ommand of C ol P yles He fell in with
a p arty of rebels ( C ol L ee s dragoons )
and lost twenty men killed besides the
w ounded that died afterwards At this
time I was with a small p arty at Deep
R iver where I took two rebel of cers
prisoners and several soldiers I then
directed my march to the p lace where I
left C ol P yles and came within a little
distance of the dragoons that had cut him
up when I was informed of his m i
sfor
tune by some of his party that had ed ;
w egthen sep arated into small parties and
took to the woods for some time
T he day L ord C ornwallis defeated Gen
Greene at G u ildford I was surprised by a
C aptain Duck w ith a c omp any of rebels
where I sustained the loss of all our horses
and arms ; we had one man killed on
each side
T he day following myself and three
more of the company furnished ourselves
w ith arms and pursued the rebels who
we discovered had p arted and gone to
their respective homes with their plunder
We visited one of the houses and found
fourteen horses which had been taken
from the friends of the Government ;
and discovering one of the said party in an
outhouse I red at him and wounded him
in the neck with buckshot but he escaped
We then mounted ourselves and turning
the other horses into the woods we re
turned back to Deep R iver We kept
c oncealed in the woods and c ollected
twenty v e men having scouts out con
nu ally until we proceeded t o Dixon s
ti
M ills C ane C reek where L ord C ornwallis
was then enc amped O n our arrival
there his L ordship met us and asked me
several questions respecting the situation
of the country and disp osition of the pe op le
I gave him all the information in my
p ower and leaving the company Withhis
L ordship I returned back to Deep R iver
.

'

FA NNING

15

in order to conduct more men to the pro

tecti
on oithe B ritish arms
T w o days following I returned to the
army at C hatham C ourt House after
being surprised and di persed by the rebel
dragoons on my bringing in seventy L oyal
i
sts
I j oined my comp any again and
went with his L ordship to C ross C reek
and as we had lost most of our horses we
determined to return to Deep R iver and
j oin his L ordship when on his way to
Hillsboro
General Greene followed
his L ordship as far as L ittle R iver and
then returned to R amse y s Mills on his
way to C amden ; his men marched in
small parties and distressed the friends to
G overn m ent through the Deep R iver
settlement I took ei ghteen of them at
different times and paroled them and
after that we were not distressed by them
for some little time After a little W hile
so me of us had asse m b le d at a friend s
house where we were surrounded by a
p arty of eleven rebels under the com
m and of C ap t John Hinds
We per
cei
v ed their a p proach and pre ared to re
p
c ei
v e them
When they had got quite near
us we ran out of the doors of the house
red up on them and killed one of them ;
on which we took three of their horses
and some relocks We then took to the
woods and unfortunately had two of our
little comp any taken one of whi
ch the
n cold blood a nd the other they
rebels shot i
ha nged on the spot where we had ki
lled
the man a few da ys before
We were so
exasperated at this that we determined
to have satisfaction and in a few davs I
c ollected seventeen men well armed and
formed an amb u scade on Dee p R iver at
In the
C oxe s Mills and sent out spies
course of two hours one of my spies gave
me information of a party of rebels
plundering his house which was about
three miles off I instantly marched to
the p lace and discovered them in a eld
near the house I attacked them i
m medi
ately and kept up a smart re for half an
hour during which time we killed their
C aptain and one private on the spot
wounded three of them and took two
prisoners besides eight of their horses
well appointed and several swords T his
happened on the r 1 th May 1 78 1 T he
'

Di
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zed by Mi
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gi

16

NAR R AT IV E O F CO L

THE

s ame day we pursued another p arty of

rebels and c ame u p with them the morning
following ; we attacked them smartl y and
killed four of them on the sp ot wounded
three dangerously and took on e prisoner
with all their horses and ap p ointments
In about an hour after that we took tw o
men of the sa m e party and killed one
m ore of them T he same evening we had
intelligence of another p arty of rebels
which were assembling about thirty miles
of
f in order to attack us
As I thought
it best to surprise them where they were
c ollecting I marched all nigh t and ab out
ten o clock next morning we c ame up
with them We c ommenced a re up on
each other whic h continued for about ten
minutes when they retreated We ki lled
tw o of them wounded seven and took
eighteen horses well app ointed We then
returned to Deep R iver again
I still
kept the comp any together and waited
for another op p ortunity during which time
I took two rebel soldiers and paroled
them who gave me information of a C 01
D udley coming from G en G reene s ca m p
at C am den w ith b aggage
I mounted my men and set forw ard in
search of the m I concealed my men by
the side of the road ; and I thought the
time long according to information I had
from the soldiers I took on e man with
me and went to see if I c ould m ake any
discovery I rode a mile and a half when
I saw C ol Dudley with his baggage I
then wheeled my h orse and returned to
my men When I came within a hundred
yards of the m Dudley and his dragoons
were nose and tail and snapped their
pistols several ti m es I then ordered a
march after them and after marching
two and a half miles I discovered the m
and i mmediately took three p risoners
with all the ba ggage and nine horses
T he bag ga ge I divided among my m en
which according to C 01 Dudley s rep ort
was val u ed at
sterling I returned
to C oxe s Mill and remained there till the
8 th Ju n e when the rebels embodied 1 60
men to attack me under the com m and of
C ols C ollyer and B alfour
I determined
to get the advantage of attacking them
which I did with forty nine m en in the
night after marching ten miles to their
,

,
,
.

F A NNI NG

encampment T hey took one of my

guides which gave them notice of m y
approach ; I proceeded to within th irty
step s of them ; b ut bein g unac q uainted
with the ground advanced very cautiously
however discovered my
T he sentinel
p arty and ring upon us retreated in
where they secured themselves under
cover of the houses and fences T he
ring then began and continued on both
sides for the space of four hours being very
cloudy and dark during which time I
had one man killed and six w ounded
and the guide before mentioned taken
lled n ex t morni
prisoner w hom they ki
ng
Wh at inj ury they suffered
n cold blood
i
I could not learn ; as the morning appeared
we retreated and returned again to Deep
R iver leaving our wounded men at a
friend s h ouse privately
T he rebels then kept a c onstant scout
ing and their number was so great that
we had to lie still for some time ; and
when C ollier and B alfour left the settle
ment the said C ol Dudley before men
ti
oned took the p lace with 300 men from
Virginia He took a negro man from me
and sold him at public auction among
themselves for 1 1 0 ; the said negro was
sent over the mountains and I never saw
him since At length they all began to
scatter and we to embody William
E lwood being j ealous of m y taking too
much co m mand of the men in my
absence one day persuaded them that I
was going to make them regular soldiers
and cause them to be attached to C ol
cat
ndi
John Ham ilton s R egiment and v i
ed i
t by an advertise m ent that I had
handed to several of the L oyalists that I
thought had the greatest inuence with
the L oyalists He so prevailed with the
common sort that when I came to camp
I found most of my men gone ; I then
declared I never would go on another
scout until there was a eld o fcer T he
m aj or ity chose me ; they then drew up a
p etition to the commanding of cer of the
King s troop s
A general meeting of the L oyalists w as
now called
in order to a pp oint a c om
mandin g o fcer of the militia ; it was still
determined that I should be the p erson I
acc ordin gly set off for Wil m in gton 1 6 0
.

,
.

Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

TH E

miles

N A R R A TIVE OF C O L

w ith

a petition of the people to the

oi
cer c ommanding at that p ost for his
approbation O n my arrival there Maj or
C rai
gg who was commander treated me
w ith every respect in his p ower and ap
proved of said petition and gave me a
commission as C olonel of the R andolph
and C hatham Militiaa copy of which
i s hereunto annexed :
,

T he

names

the O fcers

n g the Ki
n g s T roop s
M a j or C omm a n di

ti
Ca
li
a of No
L oya l M i
ng
G reet i
To
m o n y of
H a vi
v e d suf ci
en t test i
n g recei
hIS M aj est y s ser
you r loyalt y an d z eal for
vi
ce , a nd rel yi
ng on y ou r courage an d goo d
nt you t o be
c on d u ct , I d o here b y a p p oi

C olone l

f the

n the d i
of a com p any i
stri
ct of
li
You are therefore d i
gen tly an d carefull y
to di
scharge the d u t y of such ; o b eying al l
ch you m a y re ce i
or d ers and di
rect i
on s whi
ve
cers
m e from any su p erior oi
m e to t i
fro m t i
ce and all others ; the
s M aj est y s ser v i
n hi
i
nferi
or oi
s M a j est y s su b j ec ts of
cers of hi
i
tha t an d e v ery other comp any are d i
rected
of
a n d re q ueste d to o b e y you as
,

O n the 1 2 th July I returned from Wil

mingto u and ordered a general muster
and then gave the following commission
to the gentlemen hereinafter named of
their respective companies :
n g E sq
d Fanni
B y D a vi
,

ph

moted Maj or 1 3 O ct 1 78 1
William R ains L ieut ( in N
p ro
moted C apt 1 3 O ct 1 78 1
T homas Donnelly E nsign died in
C harleston L ieut 1 O ct 1 8 1
3
7
John S p inks Ser Maj promoted
E nsign
2
G eo R ains C a p t
In C harleston at
the peace
E benez er
Wollaston
In
L ieut
C harleston at the peace
R o b t R ains E nsign
In N C
ncannon
C apt zu d Aug
3 Wm Fi
1 78 1
In N C now
R ichard B ird L ieut
2 nd Au ust
g
1 78 1
In N C now
C ornelius L atham E nsign 2 nd Aug
1 78 1
In N C now
4 Michael R obens C apt last account
in N C
William Hillis L ieut Went to E ast
Florida at the p eace
D aniel Brown E nsign Killed in
N C by the rebels
L ast ac
C ap t
5 R obert T urner
nNC
counts i
L ieut
In E ast
Absolem Autrey
Florida
Wm King E nsi gn Joined the
rebels
1 7
Sep t
6 Ste p hen Walker C apt
shot caught wounded and
1 78 1 ;
murdered
Hanged at
Frederick Smith L ieut
Hillsboro for his loyalty
Wm Hunsucker E nsign Hanged
at Hillsboro for his loyalty
In Florida at the
7 J O S C urrie C ap t
p eace
B enj Shields L ieut In N C
Jas R ains E nsign In S C
,

andol

en ry Crai
n hi
s
gg E sq r ; M a j or i
M a j est y s 8 2d R eg co m m an d i
n g a de
t ac hm en t of t he K i
ng s T ro op s i
n North
C arol i
na &c
&c
T o D a vi
d Fan n i
n g E sq r
T hese are to a p p o i
nt you to b e Colonel of
the L o yal M i
n R an d ol p h a n d Chat ham
li
ti
ai
C ou n t i
es
w ho are d i
rec te d to ob ey you as
su ch
i
n a ll lawful co m m an d s whatsoe v er
a n d you are au thori
se d to gran t com m i
ssi
on s
t o the n ecessary p ersons of kn own attach
m en t to hi
s M a j est y s p erson a n d G ov ern
m ent to ac t as C a p tai
n s an d su b altern s to the
fferen t co m p an i
di
es of m i
li
ti
a aforesai
d As
C ol on el you are here b y ful l y e m p owere d to
a sse m b le t he m i
li
ti
a an d lea d them agai
nst
a n y p art i
e s of r e b el s o r others the K i
ng s
en e m i
es as often as necessaryto com p el all
n you to sei
ze a n d
p erson s whatsoe v er to j oi
di
sarm a n d when necessary to d etai
n i
n c on
n em en t all re b els or others a ct i
n st
n g a g ai
hi
an d to d o a ll other
s M a j est y s G o v t ;
a cts
ng a Ki
becom i
ng s of c er an d go o d
su b j ect
v e n a t Wi
lm i
s 5th J u l y 1 7 8 1
ng ton thi
Gi
J H CR AIG O
H

J am es

By

17

C ou nty, as they were commi

ssi
oned i
n
thei
r dierent com a ni
es:
ff
p
1
John R ains , C apt , 1 6 July pro

F AN NI NG

cers of the di
T he n ames of the O ffi
fferent
n C ha tha m C ounty:
es i
C ompani

D ark C ap t 1 6 July 1 78 1
Hanged at Hillsboro for his loyalty
Wm H oocker L ieut Murdered by
sal d co m an )
C
the
rebels
after
promoted
apt
i
s
l
M
i
x
C
n
l th
m y ha d at o e s
n d;
v en
Gi
C har
Henry
In
R amsour E nsign
1 78 1
ING
D A V ID FA NN
le
at
the
peace
ston S C
&
c
i
i
t
i
a
M
l
a
l
o
s
L
s
t
i
e
s M aj e
y
C ol C om o hi
Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

T h omas
.

'

'

F A NNING

NA R R A T IVE O F C O L

TH E

18

Alex M cL ou d L ieut Went to

E urop e
n A nson C ou nty:
i
cers i
T he na mes ofthe O ff
Killed by the
20
Wm Price C ap t
rebels
Wm Fanning L ieut Ha n ged by
the re b els
1 6 th July
Wm M c Kni
21
ght C a p t
Murdered by the rebels
1 78 1
Stephen Phillips L ieut In
Abner S m ally C a p t In B urke
22
C ounty N C
J as H odge L ieut Murdered by the
rebels
T hese gentlemen had their appoint
ments from Maj or Ferguson in S outh
C arolina in July 1 78 0 but j oined all
according to the dates opposite their
names
mmedi
O n my return to D eep R iver I i
ately caused a general m uster of the
loyalists which I c ollected to the amount
of 1 50 men but nding the m dec ient in
arms I discharged all of them except fty
three which I ap p ointed fully ; out of
which I c ollected from the w h ole and
ordered the rest to be ready t o j oin me
when I called for the m I als o gave the
foregoing com m issions to the di fferent
oi
cers set forth w ho rendered many ser
vices to the B ritish Government during
the late war who signalised themselves
with m e in the interior p arts of that rebel
liou s country and su bdued the greatest
part of the province ; so far that the w orst
of rebels came to me
begging p rotec
tion for the m selves and p rop erty T he
exertions of myself and the other of cers
The na mes of the O ffi
cers i
n the di
fferent had the whole country under the rotec
p
es i
n C u mberla nd C ounty:
C ompa ni
tion of the B ritish Government until long
16
John C agle C ap t Hanged by the after the surrender of L ord C ornw allis
rebels at P D
and the evacuation of Wilmington ; and
Jac ob M au ness L ieut In N C
after all the British troops were c alled to
Wm Dunn E nsign In N C
their di fferent p osts on the seashore I
1 7 M eri
day E dwards C apt I st Sept
c ontinued acting in the interior parts of
1 78 1
In E ast Florida
North C arol ina and w as like to obtain a
R euben Shields L ie u t
In N C
truce with the rebels in the heart of the
Wm Hancock E ns i gn In N C
c ountry T hose p eop le have b een ln
18
Alex M cIv er C ap t 2 md of Au g
du ced to brave every dan ger and di fculty
1 78 1
In N C
during the late war rather than render
Murdock Martin L ieut 2 nd of Au g
any service to the re b els had their p ro p
Went to E n gland
1 78 1
erti
es real and p ersonal taken to su p ort
p
19
Wm M cL ou d C apt 2 md of Au g
their enemies the fatherless and widow s
Went to E urope
1 78 1
stri pp ed and every manner of su p p ort
Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

Wm L indley C apt Murdered by

the rebels after evacuation
Wm Piles L ieut Went to Penns
Wm M cPherson E nsign In C har
leston at the evacuation
Samuel D ark C apt At last ac
10
n NC
c ount i
James E llett L ieut Drowned in
E ast Florida
1 78 1
I st S ept
T hos E llett L ieut
In E ast Florida
B enj U nderwood C apt L ate in
1 1
New B runswick
In N C
Fred Smith L ieut
Adam S mith E nsign In N C
Wm D eaton C apt Killed in
1 2
battle on the day after the rebel G ov
B urke was taken
Wm C arr L ieut P romoted C apt
In New Passadena West Indies
John E rv in E nsign In Florida
Martin Kendrick C apt In N C
13
T hos M cD ow ell
Now ( 1 78 9 ) rebel
C apt
Wm Brown Joined the rebels
cers i
n O range C ounty:
N ames of O i
14
R ichard E dwards C a p t 1 6 th July
1 78 1
Killed in battle
E dward E dwards L ieut
Pro m oted
Killed 1 3 th Se p t
C ap t
T hos
E strich
E nsign
Promoted
C ap t
1 5 Ste p hen
Holloway C apt Killed
in battle
John Hastings L ieut Now in N C
Ab m Nelson E nsign Wounded
and now in N C
9

NA R R A T IV E

THE

O F COL

FANNING

19

taken from them their houses and lands eral muster at C hatham C o urt House
and all personal property taken
and no about twenty v e miles from where I had
resting plac e c ould be found for them As assembled and the day follow ing were to
to p lacing them in their former posses
c all a C ourt Martial for the trial of several
sions it is impossiblestripped of their loyalists who had refused to bear arms in
p roperty driven from their homes de
opposition to Government U pon recei
v
v ed of their wives and children robbed
p ri
ing this intelligence I proceeded towards
of a free and mild government betrayed
the C ourt House 1 7 miles that night
and d eserted by their friends what can with the men I had armed and the morn
repay them for the misery ! Dragging ing following by seven o clock I arrived
out a wretched life of obscurity and want
there I surrounded the place where I
H eaven only which smooths the rugged expected to nd members of the C ourt
p aths c an reconcile them to misfortune
Martial but they had dispersed the even
Numbers of them left their wives and ing before and were to meet at 8 o clock
children in North C arolina not being able I then p osted pickets on every road and
to send for them owing to the distresses
within the space of two hours took fty
and n ow in the West Indies and other three prisonersamong them the C olonel
parts of the world for refuge and not Maj or and all the militia oi
cers of the
returned to their families yet S ome of county except two who had not attended
them that returned under the Act of and also one C ontinental C ap tain with
O blivion p assed in 1 7 8 3 were t aken to three of the dele gates of their General
H illsboro and han ged for their past ser
Assembly I immediately marched them
vices that they rendered the Government to C oxe s Mill and p aroled all except
whilst under my command I am fully fourteen who I knew were violent against
the Government T hose I conducted to
sensible of the good designs that Govern
Wilmington and delivered to Maj or
ment intends for the l oyalists in so repeat
I then re p resented to Maj or
edly renewing the Act
If the inability C raig
and distressed situation of those people
C raig that with his ap probation I would
establish certain regu lations for the con
w ho have su ered and experienced every
duct of the militia which he approved of ;
thin g but death to support B ritish G ov
and he was obligin g enough on my giving
ernment c annot reap the fruits of their
lab ours and now j oin under every species them to him to correct and conrm the
of morti
cati
on
I c an solemnly declare following rules which were p rinted and
distributed in the country :
th at I think Maj or John R ains and C apt
G eorge R ains two of the most deserving R U L E S a nd R E G U L A T I O N S for the
a of
li
ti
ng of the L oyal M i
well gov erni
o fcers that ever acted in America during
na:
nce of N orth C aroli
the P rov i
the late w ar either in the provinc ial or
N0 person to be admitted a militia
I st
militia ; and to my certain knowledge
J ohn R ains had two mills burnt three man until he takes the oath of allegiance
dwelling houses and besides a barn and to His Maj esty which is always to be done
property totally taken away
I h ave before the senior o cer of the R egiment
on the spot
given as direc t account of the o fcers op
persons once enrolled in a
2 nd All
their
names
as
I
possibly
can
also
i
t
os
e
;
p
their promotions and deaths What I militia company and having taken the
oath above mentioned will be considered
h ave set forth I will forever vindicate
rotec
as
entitled
to
every
privilege
and
p
o
f
B esides other of cers
other counties
on
l
tion
of
a
British
subject
and
wi
l
;
t
eren times and
th at j oined me at di
places as I shall refer to in other p arts of being detected j oining the rebels be treat
ed as a deserter and traitor
my j ournal in p articular C ol Arch
to repai
ve
y
militia
man
is
r
r
E
r
d
and
Samuel
Andrew
s
who
3
l
M cD ouga d
without
fail
or
excuse
except
sickness
at
j oin ed me several times
o the place assigned
the
time
appointed
t
Given at King s C ounty New B runs
s arms
by
his
olonel
or C aptain with hi
C
wick Nov 2 9th 1 78 9
s
i
hi
and
accoutrements
and
is
not
to
qu
t
T he rebel s on the same day held a gen
cro so ft
Di
zed by Mi
ti
gi
,

20

NA R R A T IV E

T HE

O F CO L

company on any p retence whatever with

ou t the knowledge and permission of his
C aptain or C ommanding O fcer
4 th T he C olonel of every c ounty has
full p ower to call his R egiment to gether
and march them when necessary for his
M aj esty s service ; the C aptain of each
comp any has also p ower to asse m ble his
c ompany w hen any sudden emergency
renders it necessary and which he is to
report as soon as possible to his C olonel
5th Mutual assistance is to be given
on all occasions but as it is impossible to
give positive directions on this subj ect it
is left to the discretion of the C olonels of
R egiments who must be answerable that
their reason s for not a ff ording assistance
when required are su f cient
6 th Wh en the militia of different c oun
ties are emb odied the senior oi
cer is to
command ; C olonels of R egiments are
immediately to determine the p resent rank
of their C a p tain s
in which regard is to
be had to seniority of c ommission or ser
vice In cases of vacancies the C olonels
may gr ant tem p orary commission s till
recourse can be had to the C ommanding
O cer of the King s troops
7th T he men are to understand that
in what relates to the service they are
bound to obey all oi
cers though n ot i
m
mediately belongin g to their own com
pani cs
8 th C ourts Martial may sit by the ap
p oint m ent of the C olonel or C ommanding
om
cer ; and m u st c onsist for the trial of
an o f cer of all the o fcers of the R egi
ment he belongs to except the C olonel or
C o m manding O fcer ; and for the trial of
a non co m missioned O fcer or Private
of two C a p tai n s tw o Su b alterns and three
Pri v atesthe latter to b elong to the same
c o m p any as the person to be tried ; the
el dest C a p tain to p reside ; and the sent
ence of the C ourt to be determined b y
p lurality of votes and a p p ro v ed b y the
C o m m anding O fcer
9 th No C olonel is to s u p ersede an
O l C E I witho u t trial ; bu t he m ay sus p end
him till he can be tried
ro th ! uitting cam p without p ermis
sion disobedience of orders ne glect of
dut y p lunderin g and all irre g ularities
and disorder to b e p unished at the dis ere
,

F A NNI NG

tion of a C ourt Martial constituted as

above mentioned ; and by the ap p roba
tion of the C olonel or C ommanding O i
cer who has p ower to p ardon or remit any
p art of a p unishment but not to increase
or alter it
1 1 th
E very man must take the greatest
care of his arms and ammunition ; and
have them always ready for service
When the militia is n ot embodied
1 2 th
they are at all times to be attentive to the
m otion s of the rebel s ; and immediately
cer of anything
to acquaint the nearest offi
he m ay disc over who i s to c ommunicate
it to his C olonel or other o fcers as may
be requisite
1 3 th
It is the duty of every person
professing allegiance to His Maj esty to
communicate to the C ommanding O i
cer
of the neare st B riti sh p ost any intelligence
he c an procure of the assembling or m ov
ing of any bodie s of rebels Persons em
p loyed on thi s occasion shall alw ays be
paid
1 4 th
C olonels of R e giments may as
semble any number of their men they
think necessary to be p osted in p articular
spots of their districtstheir time of
service on these occasions is to be limited
and the y are at the ex p iration of it to be
relieved by others G reat c are i s to be
t aken that no p artiality is shown but that
each take an equal p roportion of duty ;
for which purp ose alphabetical rolls are
to be kept by which the men are to be
warned E very C a p tain is to keep an
account of the number of days each man
of his company serves
T he strict observance of the above
regulations is stron gly recommended as
the best means of giving to the King s
faithful su bj ects a m anifest superiority
over the rebel militia ; and to insure them
that success their z eal and sp irit in the
cause of their c ountry entitle the m to
ex p ect
H ea d ! ua rters Wi
l mi
ngton 2 5th S e t
p
,

78 1

I then thou ght p rudent to ad minister

the following oath of alle giance unto those

I A B do
p eo p le I was d u b ious of :
swear on the Hol y E v an gelists of Almi ghty
G od to bear tru e alle giance to our S o v

Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

THE

NA R R AT IV E O F C O L F A NNING

i
gn L ord King George the T hird and
to uphold the same I do voluntarily
promise to serve as militia under any
of the o f cers appointed over me ; and
that I will when lawfully warned by our
said oi
cers
assemble at any place by
them directed in case of danger in the
space of eight hours I w ill go with my
arms and accoutrements in good order
to sup p ress any rebels or others the King s
enemies ; that I will not at any time do
or c ause to be done anything prej udic ial
to Hi s Maj esty s Government ; or suffer
any intercourse or c orresp ondence with
the en emies thereof ; that I will make
kn own any plot or plots anywise inimical
to His Maj esty s forces or loyal subj ects
cers
by me discovered to His Maj esty s oi
c ontiguou s and it shall not exceed six
h ours before the same is discovered if
health and di stance permit T his I do
solemnly swear and promise to defend in

!
o
all cases what soever S o help me G d
I then returned to the head of L ittle
R iver on my way to C oxe s Mill where
I was met by tw o men who informed me
that the rebels had separated into two
th inking I should never
small p arties
return from Wilmington I p assed on
and got intelligence of C ol Alstine lying
on the b an k s of D eep R iver with a party
of twenty v e men We marched all that
day and night following and j ust as the
day dawned we advanced in three divi
sions up to a house they h ad thrown them
selves i
nto O n ou r approach we red
ned to
upon the h ouse as I was determi
n
ng i
make ex amples of them for behav i

ere

to proceed immediately to my plantation

on Dunham s C reek C umberland C ounty
( or elsewhere ) in North C arolina there
to remain or within ve miles thereof
and that I shall not in the meantime do
or cause anything to be done prej udicial
to the success of His Maj esty s ar m s ;
nor have intercourse or hold correspond
ence with the enemies of His Maj esty and
that up on a summons from His E xcel
lency or other persons having authority
thereto I will surrender myself up to him
or them at such time and place as sh all
hereafter be required
PH IL IP AL sr rNE
C olonel
C umberland C ou nty
1 78 1
v er J uly 2 9 th
D eep R i
Witness : D AVID FA NNIN G C olonel C om

l
a
o
a
l
M
i
i
t
i
ng L y
mandi

r we had two
In the c ourse of this a ai
men killed and four wounded who after
wards recovered A party of rebels ap
p eared in sigh t a little time after the ring
began but they did not ap proach to afford
When the ac
C ol Alstine any su p port
tion was over they ran off and our horses
m p os
being quite fatigued rendered it i
sible for me to pursue them and I then
pursued my route to C oxe s Mill where
on my arrival I gave twelve hours leave
to the men ( after detaining a su fcient
number for the necessary guard ) to go
to their resp ective homes Im m ediately
after that I heard that a waggon loaded
with salt for the use of the rebel army had
assed
about
twelve
hours
before
I
took
p
ei ght men with me and after a chase of
sixteen miles I overtook it and conducted
it back to C oxe s Mill O n m y return I
found that Maj or R ains had been at
tacked by a p arty of 1 50 rebels who had
attempted to secure the fort of Deep
R iver at C oxe s Mill ; however it was
without success He had one man
wounded and several horses in the attack
and on my ap proach they retreated
T hey then sent a ag with offers of peace

I returned for answer I was determined

or other
make
peace
with
the
sword
to
wise they should become subj ects of
Great Britain My men now being c ol
lected to the amount of 1 4 0 who by this
t ime were well armed and hearing noth
,

f my
T hey
p
returned ou r re and the action continued
upwards of three hours when after kill
ing four of them and wounding all the
rest except three they sent ou t a ag to
ne s lady begging
surrender C ol Alsti
their l ives ; and on her solicitation I con
cluded to grant her request After the
capit ulation I gave the followi ng p aroles to
C ol P hilip Alstine and his men :

I do hereby acknowledge myself a

prisoner of war up on my parole to His
E xcellency Sir Henr y C linton and that I
till I shall be ex
am hereby engaged
ch anged or otherwise released therefrom
Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi
the manner they had done to one
lots, by na me K enneth B lack
i

21

,
.

22

NA R R AT IV E O F C O L

T HE

ing further from them the next morning

we m arched to the p l ace where I had been
informed they were b ut found them gone
o
I discovered some of their scouts
but on ring on them they took to the
w oods I he ard that they had marched
an d j oined another party of 2 50 men
comm anded by C ols Paisley and B alfour
up on which I returned to C oxe s Mill ; I
sent ou t sp ies that night who returned
before morning and informed me that the
tw o rebel p arties h ad j oined b eing about
4 00 in number and enc a m ped at B rown s
plantation about tw o miles up the river
on the opp osite side
I disp atched a ag
to them ac quainting them as before of
my determination in support of Govern
ment and prop osed a meeting of both
p arties t o determine the matter by forc e
of arms ;
a t the sa me ti
me acqu ai
nti
ng
ll
trea tment ofso me pri
soners
them that the i
ttle ti
they had taken a li
me before ha d de
ned me to reta li
a te i
n case a n end wa s
termi
not put to i
t shou ld a ny i
n future hav e ca use
n
I direc ted the ag to M aj or
to complai
C age w ho c ommanded at the time before
and I received the follow ing answer :

SIR I received yours by a ag and

c an assure you that I should b e as sorry
as any person livin g to mi suse a p risoner ;
but at the same t ime I think it is m y duty
to opp ose my ene m ies and if any of your
men sh ould fall into my hands I shall
endeavour to use what inuence I can to
have them treated as p risoners ; and I
hope you will do the same I m ust also
infor m you that I am not the command
ing o fcer ; if I w as I should i m mediately
ret u rn you an answer and as your letter
w as not directed to the co m m anding
ofcer he will not undertake it withou t
C ol O Neal is
you will direct to him
C ommander at present
I am yours & c & c
WM C AG E
,

Aug

2n

d,

78 1
T o C ol

FA N NI NG

n telli
they had m arched off From i
gence I had procured I had re ason to
sup p ose they had gone to S alis b ury to
be reinforced by General R utherford
I then concluded to go t o Wi lmington
ng my
for a su p ply of ammunition di
stock be gan to grow l ow I got to C ross
C reek on the r 1 th of A u gust ; and early
in the mornin g followin g crossed C ape
Fear R iver when Maj Samuel Andrews
j oined me with his c o m pany and scouted
through all the re b el settlements on the
north side of the river and took a number
of prisoners arms and horses I also dis
c overed where twenty
v e b arrels of
salt were concealed designed for the
reb el army I destroyed it and then
marched down the side of the river and
c ame to a plantation b elonging to a
C apt R obertson which I burned T hence
I marched to his brother s C ol R ob
ertson which I served in the same man
ner O n my m arch I took several pris
oners whom I paroled except twenty ;
those I delivered t o C apt L egett then
c o m manding at Wilmington where I
arrived on the 2 4 th Having got sup
plied with a m munition I proceeded up
the c ountry on the 2 6 th on my march to
E li z abethtown where on my arrival I
found C ol Sli
ngsbee of the L oyal Militia
of B laden C ounty with a number of
paroled rebels in his camp I dis
approved of keep ing them there and
told him I th ought it imprudent and
unsafe T he event p roved so ; for that
n i ght they h aving arms c oncealed red
u p on his c amp and wounded him m or
tally Five captains also were wounded
some of wh om died afterwards of their
wounds T he day follow in g I arrived
at M cFall s Mills about sixty miles
where I di sp atched n inety of my men
back t o render assistance on receiving
the unfort u nate acco u nt o f C ol Slings
bee s m isfortune ; but it w as too late as
the rebels had taken to the woods and got
.

'

D av id Fanning
I also recei v ed a m essage fro m C ol
off
O Neal th at wherever they m et m e they
I here h ad infor m a tion that the rebel
would ght m e bu t not by an im m edi ate C ol Wade with 4 50 militia was then
ap p oint m ent I directly ordered a march on his m arch to attack C o l M cNeal
and p roceeded to the p lace where I w as wh o had asse m bled seventy of the L oyal
infor m ed by the b earer of the ag they M iliti a of Bladen and then lay on the
lay encamped ; b ut on my arrival there
side of D rownin g C reek I inst antly
Di
ti
zed by Mi
cros o ft
gi
.

THE

N A R R A TIV E O F C O L

desp atched

an express to know his situa

tion and offering assistance ; in three
hours I received for answer he w o u ld be
glad to see me and my p arty I marched
direct and by daylight arrived there
with 1 55 men O ur p ickets were red
up on and retreated into c amp having
exch anged several shots with those of
the rebels We had information they
were crossing a bridge on Drowning
C reek about three miles of when the
p ickets red on them and retreated to
the c amp who in formed me that 4 2 0
men crossed that bridge I immediately
ordered all my men to arms and count
ed them ; which ln number was 2 2 5
horse and foot I then marched imme
ately to attack them
di
When I formed
my little party I left great vac ancies in
order to appear as numerous as p ossible
and t o prevent their turning my anks
We attacked them at 1 1 o clock and en
gaged them an hour and a half when on
my ordering a charge they retreated We
pursued them seven miles and took
fty four prisoners four of whom died
th at night O n ou r return we found
nineteen dead and the next day several
came in and surrendered all of who m
were wounded and we had reason to
supp ose that several died in the swamp s
by accounts we received from those who
c ame in afterwards O ur loss was only
ve men wounded one of wh om died
and ve horses killed beside a few
wounded We took 2 50 horses most
of which were loaded with eff ects they
had plundered from the friends of G ov
ern m en t ; and as I had for m erly ordered
that whoever found concealed goods of
any kind should hold them I also n ow
ordered that every man should keep that
he had taken that day after mounting
and equ ipping those fty who were n ot
mounted in the action I then paroled
the prisoners except thirty of them wh om
I sent to Wilmington under a guard of
T hen
with my
C ol M cNeal s men
party I m arched that evening to l it tle
R iver sixteen miles from M cFall s Mill
where the party returned who had gone
,

FA NNING

23

C 01 Sli
ngsbee s

to
assistance T he day
following I arrived at C oxe s Mill thirty
miles where I issued the following ad
v erti
sement
and circulated it through
the country :
.

ADVE R TIS E M E NT

,
.

'

T his

is to let all persons know that

do not make ready and re p air immediate ~
ly to camp that their p roperty shall
be seiz ed and caused to be sold at pub
lic sale ; and if they are taken and brought
into camp they shall be sent to Wil
mingto u as prisoners and there remain
as such in the p rovost and be consider
ed as rebels ; also i
f any rebel is willing
to surrender and co m e in he shall reap
the benet of a subj ect
D AVID FA NNI N G
C a mp C ox e s M i
ll
C ol C om g L oyal

6 th S ept 1 78 1
Mi
li
a
ti
O n the 9 th of Se p t I was j oined by
C ol M cD ougald of the L oyal Militia of
C umberland C ounty
with 2 00 men ;
and C ol Hector M cNeal* with his p arty
fro m B laden of seventy men ; and in
consequence of my advertise m ent I had
also 4 3 5 who came in ; and m any j oined
me afterwards
I had p reviously determined within
myself to take the rebel Governor Burke
of North C arolina and I had a conversa
tion with Maj C raig on the subj ect
I now thou ght it a favourable opportunity
as I found m yself at the head of 9 50
men of my ow n R egi m ent exclusive of
M cD ou gald and M cNeal s re giments
I acquainted Maj R ains of m y resolu
tion wh o a p p roved of it T he rebel
G eneral John Butler and C ol R obert
Maybin of the C ontinental l ine lay
within forty miles of our encampment
on the C a p e Fear R iver
with 4 00 C on
ti
nenta l
soldiers and Butler s militia
It was su p posed by my oi
cers that I
intended to attack them After march
ing sixteen miles to R ocky R iver I went
a little distance out of my road to a
friend s house for intelli gence of the
situation of the rebels ; during which
time the guide led my little army about
,

rd
a p tai
n D ani
el
de
A th i
s nam e, on e on ea ch si
den t that th ere w ere tw o ol on e l s of th i
It IS e i
ov a.
c m a n of
ci
an a nd p u bl i
ort h Caroltna was the ma terna l g ran dfa ther of th e l a te abl e h ysi
l l , of
M cNei
s th e correct ap e l i
ng
No doub t the l atte r i
l] Park er, M L C
a , R on D M cNei
Scoti

v
N

i
.

Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

24

T HE

N A R R A TIV E O F C O L

F ANNING

tw o

mi le s out of the w ay towards G en

I received a shot in m y left arm wh ich
eral Butler O n m y retu rn above to them broke the bone in several p ieces and
I w as under the above necessity of making
the loss of blood was so great th at I was
my intent ion s known ; and i mm edi ately taken off my horse and led to a secret
d irected my march for Hillsboro I p lace in the woods I then sent L ieut
pushed on all that day and the follow ing Woleston to my little army for C ol Arch
night ; at seven o clock on the mornin g M cD ou gald and Maj or J ohn R ains and
of the 1 2 th w e entered the town in three
L ieut
C ol Arch M cKay to take c om
divi sion s and received several shot s mand ; to send an exp ress to Wilmin gt on
from di fferent hou ses H owever we for assistance as I was not able to take
lost none and su ered no damage ex
any command I also desired that
cept one man wounded We killed Maj or R ains shou ld return as soon as
fteen of the rebels wounded twenty
h e c ould leave C ol M cD ou gald as I
and took u p w ards of tw o hundred pris
thought he might be the means of sav
oners ; a m o ngst whom were the G overn or
i
ng me from the hand of my enemies
his C ounc il and p art of the C ontinental T hese gentlemen conducted themselves
C olonel s
several c aptains and subal
in such a manner th at I think they de
tern s and seventy one C ontinental sol
serve the applause of every loyal subj ect
diers ou t of a church We proceeded both for their valour and good conduct
to the gaol and released thirty loyalists
as C ol M aybin and General Butler
and B ritish soldiers one of w hi
ch wa s to
pursued them all the w ay until they
Abou t 1 2 met Maj or C raig coming to their assist
ha v e been hanged that day
o clock I left Hillsboro and proceeded ance T hey made their march good
eighteen miles that night towards C oxe s for 1 60 miles and n ever lost one prisoner
Mill ; in the morning I pursued my march but introduced T hos Burke their G ov
about eight miles further to L indsey s ernor an d h is regiment of rebels to
Mill on C ane C reek where General Maj or C raig who very well accepted
B utler and a p arty of rebels had con
them ; and Maj or C raig introduced His
C ol M cNeal w ho
E xcellency and regiment to the Provost
cealed the m sel v es
had the advance guard had neglected Master I am informed by letters from
to t ake the necessary precautions for ou r C ol Arch M cD ou gald dated 6 th Aug
safety ; and by information of C ap t
1 78 9
that no provision has been made
C umberland C ounty
L ittle
Also Maj or R ains the 2 nd
M cL ean
for him yet
1 78
R i v er as soon as I had discovered the
of O ctober
B ut I am in hopes
9
n
situation we were in and having so great when the G overnment c omes to be i
a number of p risoners I left my station formed of the m any serv ices that they
and p ushed for the advanced guard ; on h ave done they will c onsider them and
n
my comin g up with C 01 M cNeal I i
make so m e allowance for them I am
quired the reason of hi
s neglect and be
p ersonally acquainted with their ser
fore he could answer we were red upon vices M aj or John R ains was the rst
b y the re b el s T hey killed ei ght m en
man that e v er took u p ar m s with me in
amon g who m was C ol M cNeal who North C arolina and the last man with
recei v ed t hree balls throu gh hi
m and
me in that country and took an active
v e thr ou gh his horse I then ordered p art in c ommand in six and thirty skir
a retre at b ack to w here I left the prisoners
mi
shes
in N C ( also C a p t Ge orge
and after sec u ring t he m I made the R ains )
necessary p rep arations to attack the
At the de p arture of my little army I
enemy which we did ; and after engag
was left with three men ; and in four days
they retreated I seventeen more came to my assistance
i
n g them f o u r h ours
lost twenty sev en m en killed and sixty I made enquiry resp ectin g the loss of the
so b a dly wo u nded that they co u ld not be
r ebels in the late action
and found that
m o v ed b esides thirty sli ghtly bu t so
the inhabitants had buried twenty four
that the y c ould kee p u p with our m ain and that the wounded they had left be
bod y At the conclusion of this action hind were ninety besides those that went
Di
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,

THE

N A R R A TIV E O F CO L

F A NNING

O ff,

and that my p arty had taken ten

prisoners O f the number of the killed
w as C ol G u ttrell and Maj or Know les
wh o were inveterate enemies to the
loyalists
T he party we had engaged I fou nd
t o h ave c onsisted of 4 00 C ontinentals
under the c ommand of C ol Maybin
and G eneral Butler s militia In twenty
four days I found myself able to sit up
and then disp atched four of my cap tains
Hooker R ains Knight and L indly to
Wilm ington for a supply of ammunition ;
and before their return I had sent ou t
and e m bodied I 4 O m en during which
t ime I heard of a q u antity of leather
which was pre p aring for the use of the
rebel army and w as ordered for General
G reen s quarters at C amden
I went
to the place and ndin g the leather
agreeable to my information I took
enough thereof to equi p the comp any
c om p letely and ordered the rest to be
destroyed O n my return to B rush C reek
n ear where I h ad been secreted durin g
my illness occ asioned by my wounds I
sent ou t sp ies for discovery T w o of
them returned in less th an an hour with
in form ation o f six hundred rebels who
were advancing to attack me but they
proved n o more than I 7O T hese ac
counts disheartened a number of my
men F ro m m y being in so w eak a
state they apprehended I would not be
able to command them However they
lifted me on my horse and I formed my
men then in two ranks and showed two
fronts as they ap peared both in my
front and rear T he re continued for
n ear an hour I lost three m en killed
and three badly wounded T he rebels
had one killed and several wounded
Then they retreated and rallied and
attacked again after retreating about a
mile which was so unexpected that I
concluded they had been reinforced I
then retreated but without loss except
my b aggage which they made a pri z e of
I then separated my m en into sm all
p arties until the arrival of the four
cers I h ad dispatched for ammunition
oi
t o Wilmington who brought the follow
i
ng letter from Maj or C raig with
c artridges :
.

Wilmington

D E AR SIR

25

3 th

O ct

I 8 71

Your letter gave me innite sati

sfac
tion from the favourable accounts it
c ontained of your health and the p rob
ability of your soon being restored to
that service in which you have done so
much to your honour I beg you to
accept for yourself and convey to those
of your o fcers whom I have not yet
seen my warmest thanks for their gal
lantry and good behaviour I enclose
you the commission you desired for
M aj or R ains who I am persu aded will
endeavo u r to answer your w arm recom
m endati
on s
I have been unfortunate
enou gh to lose the list of medici nes you
sent for ; however I will desire the su r
geon to send you such as he thinks most
likely to be serviceable to you ; tho u gh
from his not bein g acq u ainted with your
c ase is all by gu ess I am m uch c on
cerned to nd the p robabil ities of so
many of your p eople su ffering from want
of attendance
or necessaries
Nothin g
shall be wantin g in my p o w er either in
that respect or that of salt for their re
lief I am not at liberty to e x p lain m y
n a letter bu t I ho p e I sh all very
self i
soon have it in my p ower to assist you
w ith greater care than at p resent T he
n
m oment I ret u rned here and w as i
formed of the circumstances of the stal
n
lion you m ention I determi ned i
t i
your favour and took him a w a y from
Mr C amp bell or rather fro m a gentle
m to
man whom he had sold hi
He has
been with my horses e v er since and
m to v ou b y
I now send hi
n ever rode
v ele
C ap t L i
y
T he long northerly winds has pre
vented any arrivals from C harleston so
that we are totally without ne w s
I wish I h ad got Mr B u rke s pa p ers
I am with mu ch reg ard
Your most ob t faithful serv ant

J H C R AI G
T he followin g is a co p y of the letter
I received of C olonel E dmond Fanning
of King s Americans :
n the ma nu scri
pt)
( Blank i
T he na mes of the O f
cers of C u mberland
,

C ou nty who acted u nder C ol M cD on

r
n thei
ssi
oned i
l
s they w as commi
a
a
d
,
g

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26

THE

N A R R A TIV E O F CO L

di
es , w ho w ere w i
th me
erent compani
a t the ta ki
ng of H i
llsboro:

Archibald M c D ougald C ol
Archibald M cK ay L ieut C ol
.

( A nother

( A n other bla nk)

G entlemen O f
cers w ho
ca me a s
Vol un teers from Wi
lmi
ngton
on a nd to ex
for recrea ti
plore the country,
a n d w as a t the ta ki
ng of H i
llsboro
wi
th m e:
Alexan der M c C raW , C apt of Gov

M artin s R egt
D aniel M cD onald, L ieut of Gov

M artin s R egt
M alcol m M c Kay, E nsign of G ov

Martin s R egt
J ohn M cKenz i
e , C apt
Hec tor M cNeal
C h arles C ampbell

f the

J ames D awson

after the receipt of the

foregoing letter from C ol E dmond
F anning I intercepted an express from
Virginia bound for Gen Greene s c amp
which w as at that time near the lines
n ot far from C harleston ; amongst which
w as L ord C ornwallis s capitulation which
I hav e since l ost We c ontinued in small
p arties until Maj or C raig evacuated
Wilmington when one day I t ook a man
with me to go for intelligence and to
provide oats for the p arty I kept with
me
When at a house I sp ied a party
of thirty
rebels c omin g towards said
h ouse where I was We instantly m ount
ed and rode off
O n my return to my
men I ordered sixteen of them to mount
and went b ack to the house we had left
but found them gone off I p ursued
them about sixteen miles when we came
up with the m We killed three of them
and Wounded two who m I took p rison
ers I had no lo ss or accident on ou r
p art
I had n ow certain intelli gence of Maj or
.

S om e t i m e

na mes o

T he

C raig s evacuating Wilmin gton ; and that

the re bels in c onseq u ence of it had
separated into s m all parties and were
returnin g toward their homes and for
the sp ace of fourteen or fteen days I
fell in with and took more or less of
them every day during which time I had
information of a C ap t Kennedy and his
party who had taken a number of
horses and a quantity of household fur
ni
ture
I followed him about ve miles
and after a smart ring took him and
eight of his p arty with the b ooty they
had plundered He gave intelligence
that a C ap t L opp with a party of sixty
men who had been dischar ged by Gen
R utherford were on their way home up
the c ount ry T he said C apt Kennedy
( C annady ) all the time of our attacking
L op p stood and looked on ; and as he
declared that he would not make his
escape neither would he let any of his
men if we beat and drove off C a p t L o p p
I left him in a house with only tw o men
to guard eleven and found them all
there T he guard informed me that he
would n ot let any of his party make
their escape He p roved so much to
his honour that I gave him up one of
his horses saddle and bridle ; and par
oled him with all his men I at this
time had but thirteen men with me at a
h ouse near the road not far from where
they were to pass I mounted my men
and placed them in concealment along
the road O n their c omin g up I or
dered them to re and then to charge
which we did three times through them ;
they immediately dispersed through the
woods ; it being nearly dark we c ould
n ot tell what injury they su ffered
O n the ro th of December C ol Isaacs
came down from the mountains with a
party of three hundred men and formed
his camp at C oxe s Mill in the settle
ment I had formerly ranged in in order
to take me ; where he c ontinued nearly
three months durin g which time the
foll owin g p roclamation was issued :

ST ATE O F N O R TH C A R O LI N A
By the Hon Alexander Martin E sq
S p eaker of the Senate C aptain G ener
a l G overnor and C ommander i
n C hief
in and over the said State
,

T he na m es of the O i
cers of B la den C ounty
who a cted u n der L t
C ol H ector M C
N ea l :
Hector M cNeal, L t C ol
John I Vatson , Maj or
.

F ANNING

bl ank)

Di
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T HE

N A R R A TIV E O F C O L

Whereas divers of c iti z ens of this State

have been deluded b y the wicked arti
ces of ou r enemies and have revolted
and withdrawn themselves from the
faith and allegiance which before G od
they plighted to owe their c ountry and
treacherously have taken up arms against
the same ; being c onvinced that they
h ave been betrayed by false h opes sup
p orted by deceit and n ow nd them
selves deserted by our feeble and de
sp ai
ri
ng enemy
and left unprotected to
the vengeance 0f the State t o inict
those p unishments due to their crimes
in tender c ompassion to the feelings of
humanity to spare such who are willing
to return and to stay the hand of ex ecu
tion in the unnecessary effusion of the
blood of c iti z ens wh o may be reclaimed
I h ave thought t to issue this my p roc
lam ati
on of p ardon of such of the above
p ersons wh o may surrender themselves
before the ro th day of March next on
this express c ondition that they i m me
a tel
di
y enlist in the C ontinental bat
talions and there render a p ersonal
service for twelve months after the time
of
their rendez vous at headquarters
and h aving faithfully performed the
same for the said term it shall be deemed
as having exp iated their offences and be
entitled to and be restored to the privi
leges of c itiz ens All o fcers nding men
o f this class
guilty of murder robbery
and house b reaking to be precluded
from the a b ove not withstanding ; and I
do hereby require the Honourable the
Judges of the Sup erior C ourts of law
and general j ail
o f oyer and terminer
delivery and all o fcers c ivil and mili
tary within the State to take notice of
this my p roclamation and govern them
selves accordingly Given under my
hand and seal a t arms at H alifax this
and in the sixth
2 5th of December I 78 1
year of our Independence
ALE ! AND E R M AR T IN
By his E xcellency s command
J OH N H AWKI NS D Sec y

F ANNING

27

houses belon ging to the friends of G ov

ernm ent
T hey frequently ap p lied to
me privately for advice I reco m mended
it to them if p ossible to re m ain neutral
and make their peace ; as it was entirely
out of my p ower to protect or relieve
them A C apt Stinson of this party
took one of my men named D avid Jack
son a nd hung hi
m u p wi
thout ceremony
A few days before C ol Isaac s de p arture
from C oxe s Mills he sent ou t notice
for the friends of G overnment to meet
him and he w ould give them protection
agreeable to p roclamation ; but on the ir
assembling he made them p risoners of
war and marched them under a stro ng
guard to S alisbury gaol
Not many
days after they broke ou t and knocking
down the sentinels made their escap e
except one who was shot in the attempt
T w o C aptains in each county were
appointed by C ol Isaacs on his leaving
C oxe s Mill to kee p the friends of G ov
ern ment
down ; and were going with
their own men c ontinually throu gh the
country
During all this time I was in the woods
and kept moving with a small p arty as
occasion required O ne evening I had
assembled thirty men at a friend s house
and sent out sp ies ; they soon returned
with accounts of a p arty of rebels within
four miles of us distressing and p lu n
dering our friends We im m ediately set
forward to render our assistance and got
within half a mile of them I then sent
ou t to get information how they were
situated and receiving intelligence by
break of day came upon them We re
took seven horses which they had car
ried off with a large quantity of bag
gage We wounded two of them mor
tally and several slightly ; we came off
without injury excep t two horses wound
ed T he day following we p ursued them
to C umberland county and on my way
I burnt C ap t C oxe s house and his
father s I had also two skirmishes and
killed two of the rebel p arty O n my

return to little R iver I heard of a C apt

God sav e the S tate
G olson who had been distressing the
During C ol Isaac s stay at C oxe s loyalists and went in search of him my
self but unfortunately I did not meet
Mill he ravaged the whole settlement
him but fell in with one of his men wh o
and burnt and destroyed a number of
.

Di
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NAR R A TIV E O F CO L F A NNI NG

TH E

28

had been very assiduous in assisting the

rebels I killed him I mounted a man
of my own on h is h orse and returned
back I then took C apt C urrie and the
man of m y own before mentioned and
went w ith a design of burning C apt
G olson s house which I did ; and also
tw o others
In my way I fell in with a
man w ho had been v ery anx i
ous to hav e
some of m
I sent him
y men ex ecuted
word to m oderate and he should h ave
nothing to fear but if he persisted I
w oul d certainly kill him He took no
notice of this but persisted for several
months and on observing me th at day
he attempted to escape ; but I shot him
T w o days after C apt Walker j oined
me which made four of us and hearin g
that one T homp son a rebel magistrate
had taken up a h orse belonging to one
of my men I went to claim him ; he gave
him up without hesitation and upon
examining what arms he had he owned
to one rie which I took from him ; he
also informed me that the rebels were
willing to make peace with me on my
ow n terms
and would allow me any
limited bounds I would require pro
vi
ded I would not be troublesome to
them I therefore c oncluded after c on
ng C apt
Walker and C urrie to
su lti
demand the following terms which I
for warded by a prisoner I had taken ;
and in order to convince them that my
m
intentions w ere sincere I released hi
for that purpose though he had been the
ng sev eral
means of murderi
T erms required by C ol D avid F an
nin g from Gov Burke forwarded to
m by L awyer Williams and C ap t
hi
R amsay of I st battalion of North C aro
lina C ontinentals :
I
That every friend of the G overn
ment shall be allowed to return to their
resp ective homes unmolested
2
T hat they shall be under no re
strictions of doing or causing to be done
any thing prej udicial to his Maj esty s
service
3 T hat they shall not be under any
obli gation to act in any public station
or be com
or ever to take up arms
p elled to do anything injur ious to his
Majesty s good government
.

they shall not pay or c ause to

be paid any taxes or money so levied by
your laws during the c ontinuance of the
present war to support your army by
their industry If these terms are grant
ed I request that they may b e imme
ately c onveyed t o me at my quarters
di
by a ag of truce app ointed for that
cers as I c an
p ur p ose and by such oi
rely upon from your hands and seals
If these terms are not granted you
may depend upon my sword being con
ti
nu ally unsheathed ; as I am determined
I will not leave one of your old offenders
alive that has inj ured his M aj esty s
G ove rnment
and friends who would
have been of service to your country i
n
a future day and I do hereby recom
mend i
t to you to govern yourselves
acc ordingly
Jan 7th I 78 2
D AVID FANNI N G
4

T hat

C olonel

J O S E PH C U R R I E
S T E PH E N WAL KER
ns
C aptai
T o Mr J a me s William s and Ca pt Mat
thew R a msay
T o be forwarded by them to the C omma nder
n C hi
i
ef for the ti
me bei
ng
Hi
llsboro
di
stri
ct
I received the following answer from
L awyer Williams :
C H AT H AM Jan 8 th 1 78 2
SIR I received yours by Mr R iggin
at the C ourt House on Sunday last and
immediately wrote to Gen B utler on
the subj ect of your surrender as men
ti
oned in yours
His answer is that he
cannot receive you himself but will di
rec tl
y write to the G overnor and as soon
as he receives his answer he w ill transmit
it to Maj Gri fth who will send it to
Winsor P earce s on Deep R iver If I
obtain liberty I will bring it myself In
the meantime I would rec ommend a
moderate conduct as the best step to
bring matters to an accommodation
T he bearer Mr R iggin has executed
the trust you reposed in him ; I therefore
hope you will restore to him his property
F or your ci
vi
li
ty to me w hen I was a
soner
ll do anythi
ng I can i
I wi
n
pri
honou r
your surrender
C oncerning
C ol R ay and C ol M cD ougald have
,

Di
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T HE

NA R R A TIVE 0F C O L FANNING

surrendered and gone to C harleston

I am informed by C ol Thackston I am
exchanged with a nu mber of other pris
oners at C harleston under a cartel
which is renewed You may de p end as
soon as I get the Governor s answer
you shall know it
I am S ir your most obedient servant
J AM E S WI LLIAM S
C O L D AVID FANN IN G
I also received another letter from
C apt R amsay by another conveyance :
J an 8 th 1 78 2
Sm I saw a letter to Mr Williams
and observed what you say concerning
my c ase As to breaking my p arole
th at I am clear of ; as Maj or C raig a few
days before he left Wilmington sent a
p arty of dragoons to where we were
paroled at the S ound and ordered us
under the main guard whence I made
my escape ; which I am certain you will
not blame me for as you are well ac
nted w ith my honour ; when I was
q u ai
taken prisoner I had it in my power to
escape many a time but as long as I
was treated like a gentleman or agree
ably to the rules of war I would rather
su ffer death than forfeit my honour I
observe what you say concerning your
v ed
nd treatment I recei
p arole ; for the hi
t an y
a t your hands you may rely on i
ll i
a ms or myself ca n do
Wi
ng M r
thi
n honour shall not be wanting
for you i
Your letter I understand is transmitted
to the G overnor who I make no dou b t
will c omply with your request For
my p art I wish for nothing else but peace
I am S ir your humble servant
M ATTH EW R AM S A Y
I lay neutral until I got further ac
1 78 2
c ounts and on the 1 s th Jan
Messrs Williams C lark and Burns
were kind enough to wait on me at Mr
Winsor P earce s with respect to my
former proposals which I had requested
:
of them with the letter as follows
I 78 2
1 s th Jan
Agreeable to your request I
SIR
have received order to offer you a parole
on the terms you desired thirty miles
east and west fteen miles north and
south H ammond C oxe s mill to be the
centre of your bounds Should you incline
.

to go to C harleston at a future day let

me know it and I will endeavour to get you
that liberty when I see the Governor
You mentioned being waylaid ; you
may be assured that I know nothing of it
Mr Williams Mr C lark and John Burns
are the gentlemen that are kind enough to
wait upon you with this ag and a blank
p arole for you to sign and they will give
you a certicate for your security against
any of the American troops to remain as
p risoner of war in the bounds specied
You may rely on it nothing dishonourable
Shall be done on my part ; and I have the
greatest reason to believe that you will
act on the same principles No inhabit
ants of this c ounty shall be molested
either in person or property who have
not been guilty of wilful murder or p lun
dering ; it is the duty of every honest man
to bring al l such to j ustice in order t o
restore harmony and peace once more to
ou r country
I am your obedient humble servant
M ATTH EW R AM S AY
,

d Fanni
ng
T o C ol D av i
.

per ag

29

Also the following letter was left at Mr

P earce s by the three gentlemen before
mentioned :
T U E S D AY M O R NING
Agreeable to C apt R amsay s let
SIR
ter left for you we came up to Mr P earce s
when we made no doubt of seeing you I
have seen his instructions to parole you
and you may depend no trap is meant for
you to any of our knowledge R ay and
M cD ou gald were received in the same
manner and no man offered to molest
them O ur orders were to have returned
last night and the L ight Horse under the
command of C apt R amsay kept back
until our return ; therefore we cannot
If you incline
p ossibly stay any longer
to acce p t the terms offered which C apt
R amsay cannot alter you will meet us at
B a alam T hompson s with as many of
your men as you please such as can be
received according to the terms you pro
pose and are your obedient servants
JAM E S WILL IAM S
A C LAR K
JNo B U R NS
T o C O L D AVI D FANNING
.

Di
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30

NA R R A TIVE O F CO L F A NNING

T HE

In the course of this corresp ondence

endeavouring to make peace I had reason
to believe they did not intend to be as good
as their words ; as three of their people
followed C apt L inley of mine who had
moved to Wi
ttogu ar and cut him t o
p ieces w ith their swords I was i
m m edi
ately informed of it and kept a look
ou t
for them F ive days after their return I
took tw o of them and hung them by w ay
of retaliation both on a limb of one tree
they being deserters from the British ( C ol
H amilton s R egiment ) ; the third made his
escape After this C ol Alstine wh o w as
a p risoner of war at this time came to
me at Gen Butler s request to know if
I w as willing to c ome to any terms I
asked the reason why the G overnor had
not answered my letter and what was the
cause of their behaviour to C apt L inley I
then with a number of my ofcers sat
down and wrote the foll owing letter to
General B utler :

S IR O n Friday the 7th of J anuary

l ast I wrote t o Mr Williams the terms I
w as willing to c ome under ; he wrote for
a nswer that he could not c omply w ith my
terms until he had the approbation of the
G overnor
O n Wednesday the n th
January a flag was to meet me at Winsor
P earce s with a letter B ut ou its ap
proach it was waylaid by C apt G olston
with a p arty of men wh ich h ad more the
appe arance of treache ry th an a wish for
peace had n ot the gentleman ( Mr Baalam
Thompson ) acted as h onourable ; for the
minute he arrived he let me know it and
declared himself innocent This gave me
reason to think he would act with honour
Still on the I s th J anuary Messrs Willia ms
C lark and B urns the three gentlemen
that were kind enough to wait up on me
w ith a blank parole and letter from C apt
R amsaywho mentioned in his letter
that my request was granted by the G ov
in the meantime the gentlemen
ern or ;
waitin g on me at the place appointed
there ca m e around a company from the
H aw elds commanded by C apt Scorely
which p lainly and evidently appeared t o
me there was nothing but treachery

meant
O n Sunday the roth of Febru
ary I fell in the rear of C apt C oleston s
and C ap t Hinds and following their trai
l
,

,
.

c ame on them at dark After some ring

that night I rode off and c ame on them
next morning and we c ame upon terms
of
peace till I could write to their
sup erior o f cer for which I consulted
my of cers and we j oined hand and
heart to c omply w ith the terms here
under written

We the Subscribers do ackn owledge

ourselves subj ects to his B ritan nic Maj esty
as you are well assured of our delity
z eal and loyalty to his Maj esty s G overn
ment as it has been daily the case that
we h ave been destroying one another s
property to support and uphold our opin
ions and we are hereby willing to c ome to
a cession of arms not under six months
nor exceeding twelve ; c onditions under
written
1
O ur request is from C umberland
twenty miles N
S and thirty miles
E
W to be totally clear of your L ight
Horse
2 nd R equest is for every man that has
been in actual arms in a permanent man
ner in order to establish a British G ov
ernm ent ( except those wh o have deserted
from a regular troop that has voluntarily
listed themselves) them we do obligate
to deliver up and each and eve ry man that
are at liberty Shall have a right to with
draw themselves in said district
3 rd If any of our men sh ould go out of
said district to plunder or distress or
murder any of the Americ an p arty we will
by information made to me Maj or R ains
or any of the C aptains return their names
m
( if the request is granted ) ; they Shall i
mediately be apprehended and sent by
any o f cer appointed by you to be tried by
your own laws
4 th If any of your party shall be caught
plundering stealing or murdering or
goin g private paths with arms signifying
as if they were for mischief these are to
be left to our pleasure to deal with as we
see cause agreeable to our laws All
public roads to be travelled by any p erson
or comp any
unmolested if he behave
himself as becomes an h onest man or any
army or company or waggons keeping the
public roads
5th E very person that has been in ac
tual ar m s in manner aforesaid in order to
.

Di
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gi

T HE

N A R R A TIVE O F C O L FANNINGr

su p p ort or establish a B ritish G overn

ment shall not be interru p ted of their
arms provisions person or property If
any one residin g within the said district
who are subj ects to the States that you
should want provisions or any other
article from by sending to either of the
officers that I shall appoint for that pur
pose or use we will send a su mci
ent
guard to see them safe in and out u n
molested ! uakers excepted from any
thing whatever
oth T hat I will not in the meantime
disturb or distress any person or persons
ab iding by your laws in said district All
b ack plundering shall be void as it is i
m
p ossible to replace or restore all the p lu n
der on either side
7th O ur request is to have free trade
with any p ost with waggons or on horse
b ack without arms ; with a p ass from any
cer for salt or any other
app ointed oi
necessaries and use exce p t the two C oxe s
mills to be free from any incumbrance of
all armies bel onging to the Americans
8 th Any of my men that has been re
turned a C ontinental without taking the
b ounty that has been in actual service as
mentioned Shall return in said
ab ove
district
oth If our request is granted as above
w ritten I request it may be sent to me by
as I may forward my
8 th of March
fur ther determinations ; if I cannot have
my request granted I shall exact and
p oint ou t every feasible measure In
order to suppress every person l n arms
against his Britan nic Maj esty I am
your m ost obedient humble servant
G iven under my hand at arms as afore
d
sa i
a
li
ti
D AVI D FA NNI N G C ol C om L oyal M i
li
a
ti
J OH N R AINS M aj or L oyal M i
n
WI LLIAM R AI NS C aptai
n
J OH N C AG LE C aptai
n
WM PR I C E C aptai
n
A B N E R S M A LL Y C aptai
eutenant
J AC O B MANNI E S L i
,

'

stri
ct
llsboro D i
l ofH i
ne
li
of C ol P hi
p Alsti

B utler, Gen

T o John
P r fav our

A c op y of a letter received from Gen

Butler :
M O U NT P LE AS ANT s th March 1 78 2
,

31

DE AR SIR :
Your letter of 2 6th of last month was
handed to me last night I have observed
the contents Had you p rop osed that
you and the men now in actual service
with you would have taken a parole to
some certain bounds until you could have
been sent to C harleston to be exchanged
I should have entered on that business
B ut as your propositions are many and
some of them uncustomary in like cases
I conceive it out of my power However
his E xcellency Governor Burke is now at
Halifax and I will send him your letter
with the p rO p osals to him by exp ress
T his is now the s th day of March ; of
course it m ust be several days after the
8 th before his answer can come to hand ;
in the meanti m e it may be as well to post
pone the desperate m easures you have in
contemplation
I am your obedient servant
J OH N B U T LE R B G for
Hi
llsboro D i
stri
ct
P S
If you would not choose to be
c on ned to b ounds any len gth of time it
might be contrived so that you might be
sent off immediately under an escort of
my ap pointing to General G reene He
has promised m e to have all such ex
changed which I send to his quarters
J OHN B U TLER B G
About the 7 th of March 1 78 2 C apt
Walker and C urrie of the L oyal Militia
fell in with a party of rebels and came to
an engage m ent and red for some time
till the rebels had red all their ammuni
tion and then wished to come to terms of
peace between each party ; and no p lun
derin g killing or murdering should be
committed by either p arty or side which
was to be concluded up on by each C olonel
for such certain limited bounds which
were to be agreed upon by each C olonel ;
and if they could not agree each party
was to lie neutral until matters were made
known respecting the terms which they
W ished to agree upon ; soon after which
my men came to me and informed what
they had done ; we received the rebel C ol
B alfour s answ er that there was no
resting place for a T ory s foot upon the
earth He also immediately sent out
his party and on the roth I saw the same
.

,
.

Di
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cro s o ft
gi

NAR R A T IVE O F CO L F ANNING

T HE

32

company coming to a certain house where

we were ddl ing and dancing We i
m
mediately prepared ourselves in readiness
to receive them their nu m ber being
twenty seven and our number only seven ;
we immediately mounted our horses and
went some little distance from the house
and com m enced a re for some consider
able time ; night coming on they retreated
and left the ground
O n the 1 2 th of March my men being all
p roperly equip p ed asse m bled together in
order to gi v e them a small scourge which
we set out for O n B alfour s p lantation
W here we came up on him he endeavoured
to make his esca p e ; but we soon p re
vented hi
m having red at him and
w ounded him T he rst ball he received
was through one of his arms and ranged
through his body ; the other through his
neck ; which put an end to his c om m it
ting any more ill deeds
We also w oundedzanother of his men
We then proceeded to their C olonel s
( C ollier ) belonging to said c ounty of
R andol p h ; on ou r way we burnt several
rebel houses and caught several prisoners
the ni ght comin g on and the distance to
said C ollier s was so far that it was late
before we got there He made his escape
having received three balls through his
shirt but I took care to destroy the whole
I then pursued our
of his plantation
route and came to one C a p t John Bryan s
c er
another rebel oi
I told him if he
w ould come out of the house I would give
him a p arole which he refused saying
that he had taken a parole from L ord
C ornwallis swearin g by G od h e had
broken that and that he would also break
our T ory parole
With that I i
mm edi
ately ordered the house to be set on re
which was instantly done and as soon as
he saw the ames of the re increasing
he c alled ou t to me and desired m e to
sp are his house for his w ife s and chil
dren s sake and he would w alk out with
his ar m s in his hands I immediately
answered him that if he walked out his
house should be saved for his wife and
children He came ou t and when he

c ame ou t he said Here da m n you here

I am With that he received tw o balls
on e through his head and one through his
.

body ; he came out with his gu n c ocked

and sword at the same time
Next day I proceeded to one Maj or
n s house or plantation and I de
D u gi
stroyed all his p ro p erty and all the rebel
cers property in the settlement for the
of
distance of forty miles
O n our way I cau ght a c ommissary from
S alisbury who had some of my men
prisoners and almost perished them and
wanted to hang so m e of them I carried
him immediately to a certain tree where
they had hung one of my men by the na me
of Ja cks on and delivered him up to some
of my men whom he had treated ill when
prisoners ; and they immediately hung
him Afteer han ging fteen minutes thy
cut him down In the meantime there
was ab out 300 rebels who had embodied
the m selves and came after us ; on acc ount
of the rainy weather ou r guns would not re
on either side We were obliged to retreat
on account of their numbers being so much
superior We had received no damage
A bo u t the 8 th of April a certain
C apt Williams c ame into the settle
ment and sent an old woman to me t o
inform me that he had arrived from G ov
ern or Burke that instant
and had come
in order to see m e ; by her descri p tion I
and my little party i mm ediately met
m and he informed me that he had
hi
c ome to know if I was willing to come
u p on those terms I h ad already pre
sented ; and requ ested to have from under
m y ow n hand a true copy of the m and
that Governor Burke would do every
n his power to have the same
thing i
agreed up on by his C ouncil and Assem
bly ; for which purpose the said Wil
liams was sent from the Governor He
also told m e that the G overnor had said
that anyth ing I Should d o or cause to be
done from the character he had heard
fro m the British at C harleston th at
he had not the least doubt they w ould
assent to any p roceedings I sh ould u n
dertake to do ; he wished to m ake p eace
with me ; and also saying if I w as taken
p risoner and killed t hat 1 0 0 would cer
nly lose their li v es for it and he l ooked
tai
upon it much better to com e u p on terms
of peacethat he heard in C harleston
that I was killed which occ a sio ned him
,

Di
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THE

N A R R A T IV E O F C O L

to run away from C harleston ; upon

which I gave hi
m a c o p y of the articles
which I w ished to c o m p ly to ; with which
he ordered the L ight Horse to de p art to
their di fferent stations till they had re
cei
v ed
orders fro m the Governor and
C o u ncil
As I w as obliged to lay neutral until
I received their answer which was to
be u p on terms of honour between both
sides with which the different c aptains
c ommanding the L ight Horse wrote to
me resp ecting the same ; w hich ap pears
by the following letters :
SIR I received a few lines this day
fro m C a p t E dward Willia m s infor m
ing me th at you and he had come down
yesterday and signied that you and
he are up on terms of c omp ro m isin g
matters on condition that I will sto p the
C ounty L ight H orse from p ursuing you
You m ay rest assured that it i s my de
sire to be at peace with all m en C ap t
R iddl e and h is c ompany are at the C ou rt
H ouse I have ordered him to stand
there until further orders and will send
after C apt Golston and desire him in
also I sh all set off this morning to the
Asse mbly and if it is in my p ower to
do or cause anything to be done that
S hall c ause peace and har m ony over
the land you may rest assured I will do
my best and second C apt Williams
th ough he gave me no account of your
prop osals ; and am
With respect your humble servant
R O G ER G R I FFI T H Maj or
Apri
l oth 1 78 2
.

ng
d Fanni
T o C ol D av i

C AM P AT M R C AR R S , Apr 1 0 , I 78 2
SI R , I received orders from Maj or
Gri fth c oncerning some terms between
.

h im and you and shall withdraw my

men and C ap t G olston s as we are b oth
together and will not proceed any fur
ther after apprehending you or yours
unless you come into our c ounty do ing
mischief until further orders
From your humble se rvant
J O S E PH R O S U R

ng
d Fanni
T o C ol D avi
H oping ou nor yours Will

F ANNING

not inter

33

rupt any of the inhabitants of C hatham

until matters are further settled
WI LLIAM G O L S T O N
SIR I received your letter which
gives me great satisfaction to hear that
cers have co m e
you and some of the o ffi
u p on term s of peace which is all I would
crave ; but I should be glad with one o f
the o fc ers in comp any to meet you an d
have some conversation together and
be upon honour and if we can come
upon terms agreeable to both I should
immediately m arch my company home ;
so I Shall be at Mr Mullins this evening
at two o clock ; and if you can m eet
and converse across the river or any
oth er p lace you wi
ll choose
I am si
r your obedient
T HO M A S D O U G A N
n of L i
C a ptai
ght H orse
Ap ril 1 2 th 1 78 2
T o C ol D av i
d Fa nn i
ng
Ap ril 1 7th 1 78 2
S IR I as an oi
cer in behalf of the
State of North C arolina have turned
ou t in order to su pp ress any p ersons dis
turbi
ng the p eace of said State ; but when
I arrived at D eep R iv er I unders tood
that you and C ap ts Willia m s and Dougan
were about to m ake a treaty of peace
( which I app roved of very well ) and W ith
drew my troop towards home But to
my surp rise on my way I understood
that your men were robbing the p eaceful
and inoffensive peop le of C ane C reek
and R ocky R iver which wicked conduct
and the great desire I had for the welfare
induced m e to s tay a
of m y c ou ntry
little lon ger and endeavour to stop such
robbery I therefore wish to inform
you that I did not pretend wi
th any view
of making you any way dishonourable
but many p ersons not ow in g a true alleg
i
ance to the laws of this State are run
ning at large and call you their ofcer
As I hope you are a gentleman and will
not protect any vagabond I will thank
you to let me know every p articular of
your treaty or W hat bounds you have ;
and upon the honour of a gentleman I
will not interrupt any p erson w i
thin
said bounds that is of good character
with you I would recommend th at
Joseph C urrie and Blair to
you order
.

ti
ze d by Mi
cro s o ft

NAR R A TIVE O F CO L F A NNI NG

T HE

3 4,

retu rn the widow D ixon s property

I caused them all to stand in a
one
which they robbed her of and I w ill not row to examine them to see if I knew
w rite to the Governor c oncerning it as
any of them that were bad men * I
He would think very found one by the name of William
you w ant peace
little of your honour if he heard that D ou dy concealed upstairs O ne of my
your men w ere robbing his peop le aft er men red at him as he was running
you had petitioned to him
from one house to the other ; he received
I am sir in behalf of the State
the ball in his shoulder I then having
n
my pistols in my hand discharged them
E D WAR D G U IN C aptai
T o C ol D avi
d F anni
ng
b oth at his breast with which he fell
Ab out the 1 8 th of April C apt Wil
and that ni ght exp ired
I then paroled
liams c ame to me again at Fo rt C reek
the rest on the 2 5th
and informed me that the ori gin al ar
I concluded within m yself that it was
ti
cles of treaty had been laid before the
better for me to try and sett le myself
G overn or and Assembly and they were being weary of the disagreeable mode
up on a conclusion of granting me the of living I had borne with for some con
terms I w ant ed ; but were p revented by si
derable time ; and for the m any kind
a C olonel wh o came from over the moun
nesseS and the civility of a gentleman
tains and was one of the Assembly who who lived in the settlemen t of Deep
R iver I was induced to pay my addresses
did everything against it T heir obj ec
tions were the articles respecting the to his daughter a young lady of sixteen
C ontinental soldiers to be taken off
years of age T he day of marriage be
and al so that they could n ot think of ing appointed on making it known to
lf eo le C apt William Hooker an d
myi
a llowing any passports for any of the
p p
C aptain William C arr agreed to be mar
friends of Government to have any cor
respo ndence or connections with the ried with me T hey both left me to
British E very other article they were make themselves and their i ntended
wives ready and the day before we were
willing to grant
T heir Assembly con
ti
nu ed on the business for three days
to be coupled the rebels before men
oned with those good horses came upon
as Mr Williams informed me My ti
answer was that I would forfeit my life them C apt Hooker s horse being tied
before I would withdraw any one of the so fast he could not get him loose they
as I still caught him and murdered him on the
articles that I had presented
wished to hold the same c onnection spot Myself and C a p t C arr were
w ith the British as formerly ; I likewise married and kept two days merriment
told him that I understood that they T he rebels thought they were sure of
had picked ou t twenty four of their best m e then ; however I took my wife and
horses an d men from Virginia in order concealed her in the woods with C apt
C arr s ; and caused an oration to be put
to p u rsue me and my answer to Mr
In
Williams was that they might do their out that I was gone to C harleston
order to be c onvinced the rebels sent a
best and be danm ed as I was fully de
man in as a sp y with two letters from
ned t o still support my integrity
term i
and to exert myself in behalf of the King Gen L eslie with instructions for me to
and country more severely than ever I enlist men for the service which I knew
was forged in order to betray me and
With this Mr Willia m s dep arted
di
d
I then set ou t for C hatham where I from the person or commandin g o f cer
learned that a weddin g was to be that of the rebel L ight Horse T he followin g
day
O n my way I took one p risoner is one of which I g ave G en L eslie that
had his name S igned to it :
befo re I c ame to the house There be
ing but ve of us we im m ediately sur
T h i nd the h t in g o f C p t B y n su p a
n full charge
rounded the hou se i
I
b d m n
bl ; bu t by
nj u ti
F nni
ng
ppe
d e d L y li
i
d ntl y m
n m n wh h d m
s ts
ordered them i m mediately out of the
k en h i
l e B o t h o c u ed
nd B y n h d b
s p
n u n e m ent i
n the n eg t iti
fte B l f ou s p
house T hree of my men went into the
on

th
w
no e ti
ng p l
fo p e
th t
e (
a
t
rc
house and drove them all
S ee l so n te to p p 1 7 1 8 i
s t
To
nf
n a th
Bpgi
g a
Mi
crdsoi
li

s a

ar u

ev

r a

a ce

'

ea

'

ere

r a

ur

a ro

ro

ro

oo

re

as

ac

rr

or

NAR R AT IV E OF COL F ANNING

TH E
C H AR LE S T O N ,
C O L O N EL ,

J an

2 0th

78 2

T o C ol Fanni
ng

i
n No C a
A letter from the traitor who brought
these tw o letters from Gen L eslie :
DEAR SIR
I would come to see you myself but
am afraid of the rebel L ight Horse 1
have a great many things to acquaint
you with and a good deal of good news
scar
but dare not write for fear of mi
ri
If you have any desire of seeing
age
me you must come soon , nay instantly
D on t let the bearer know the contents
of the letters
the fewer trusted the bet
ter In the meantime
I am your friend and servant
J O S E P H WI L S O N
April 29th I 78 2
ng
T o C ol Fanni
My answer was in Maj or R ains name
as follows :
SIR I am very sorry to think that
there is so many damned foolish rebels
in the world as to think C ol Fanning
would be ever deceived by such damne d
infernal writing as I have received from
you C ol Fanning is gone to C harl es
ton and is not to retur n here till he
comes with forces sufcient to defend
this part of the country and I would
m
have you to disband and be gone i
mediately ; for if I ever hear of any of
your people coming with anything of
the sort I will come and kill him myself
I am in beh alf of his Majesty s armies
J OH N R AINS
a
li
ti
M aj or of the L oyal M i
lson
T o J as Wi
O n the rst of May 1 78 2 I heard a
waggon going in the road ; I imagin ed
she was going down to market as I
heard of a number of waggons which
were to proceed down with liquors to
the market O n the 2nd I mounted
and p ursued the waggon which I heard
the day before and as I was about set
ting out for Charleston I concluded to
have a frolic with my old friends before
we parted After riding about ten miles
I overtook the said waggon which be
longed to a certain man who had been
taken prisoner and paroled by the Brit
ish and h ad broken his parole In
s
I was examining hi
the me antime
p apers I set a sentinel over him He
.

D E AR
Alth ough I have not as yet the happiness
of bein
g acquainted with you yet I can
but ap p laud you very much for your
sp irited c onduct and activity T he only
obj ection I have to your c onduct is your
being too strenuous w ith those who
h ave been sub j ects t o h is Maj esty and
whom the rebels have overcome and
If
forced them to comply with their laws
you w ould let them alone the severity
of the rebels woul d cause them to return
to their allegiance again But sir since
you h ave made so brave a stand already
pray stand steadfast to the end and we
sh all be well rewarded at the l ast T ry
to sp irit up your men and enlist if p os
sible three hundred men this spring
ready to j oin three hundred more ; w hich
sh all be put under your com m and and
you be B rigadier Gen er al of them and as
We shall
m any more as you c an get
I hope in the month of May land
troop s i
n North C arolina 3 00 for you to
j oin your c orp s
in the whole to
the defensive u ntil you are
act upon
reinforced
Keep good discipl ine among your
tr oop s and keep out fellows who will
do nothing but plunder from amongst
your peopl e They ar e but false de
and
w
il
l not ght but only
nce
e
n
e
d
p
c orrupt good men E very man you en
list for twelve mont hs shall receive ten
u
ine
as
and
a
fu
l l suit of clothes as soon
g
as we l and our troop s and they appear
under your command ready for action
I c an assure you tis your fame and
by
actions
has
throu
h
and
g
w orthy
s Maj es
hi
a
j
or
raig
given
reached
C
M
ty s e ars and I ex p ect perhaps by the
next packet b oat you will get a genteel
i
S
overe
gn
us
m
c
ra
u
r
o
from
g
present
i
n the way
that
you
ll
be
i
W
S o hoping
of your duty I will take leave of you
your name or sub
mentioning
wi th out
arry
i
mine
lest
this
might
m
sc
scribing
entrusted
th
the
c
are
Wi
the man who is
ot at present be seen in it
n
dares
of this
i
t IS
send
the
man
o
t
i
t
n
d
but a friend a
directed to
r yours
Si
,

35

,
,

cro s o ft
Di
zed by Mi
ti
gi

36

THE

N A R R A TIV E O F CO L

knowing himself guilty ex p ected nothing

but death He took an op p ortunity and
Sp r u n g upon my own ridin g mar e and
went o w ith m y saddle holsters p i
s
tols and all my p ap ers of any c onsequence
to me
We r ed two gu ns at him ; he
received two balls throu gh his b ody bu t
it did not p revent him from S ittin g the
saddle and he made his escap e I took
the other m an and c aused hi
m to take
m e to the m an s p lan tation where I
took his w ife and three ne gro boys and
ei ght head of horses I ke p t h is w ife
in the woods for three days and sent the
other m an to see if he would deli v er up
my m are and prop erty containing my
p ap ers for which he wrote me the fol
lowing answer or letter :
SIR C ol F anning I h ope that you
do n ot blame me for what I did
H op
ing you w ill have mercy on me as I am
wounded and let my wife c ome to me
Your mare shall be returned to you
without fail
Your mare I don t crave
and I h ope you don t covet mine I beg
that you will have pity on my wife and
childr en T he negroes and horses I am
willing you shall keep until you get your
mare I have sent to a doctor But
the mare w ill be back to
night No
more but you may depend upon my word
AN D R E W H U N T E R
ng
d Fanni
T o C ol D av i
I also received the foll owing letter from
the subj ect of
E dward Williams on
the mare :
SIR T hese few lines comes to let
you kn ow that I have this day seen Mr
Hunter and he is badly wounded and
desires you w ould let his wife come to
him im m ediately As to the rest of the
property you are welcome to kee p until
such time s you get your mare returned
which will be as soon as p ossible as she
has gone at this ti m e after the doctor
B ut she shall be returned to you with all
speed as soon as S he ret u rns Mr Hun
ter is also very ill
I am your obedient hu m ble servant
E D W AR D WI LLI AM S
ng
d F anni
C ol D av i
O n the 7th of May nding I c ould see
n o o p portunity of getting m y mare n ot
withstanding she was one of my p rinci p al
,

F ANNING

creatures and a mare I set great store by

and gave one hundred and ten guineas for
I was obl iged to let loose all his horses
exce p t one as they were of no acco u nt to
m e in the sit u ation I was in ; the negroes
I kep t I then proceeded on to Maj or
G ainer s truce land on Pedee in S outh
C arolina where he had made a tr u ce with
the rebels som e time before and I c on
ti
nu ed there u ntil June when I left my
wife horses and ne groes and then as I
was entirely a stranger to the situation of
the country and roads I was o b li ged to
p rocure a p ilot to proceed to C harleston ;
I c ould not get one for less than twenty
guineas After my departure I fell in
with the rebel dragoons commanded by
e
from Virginia
I was with
C ol B alli
them for about an hour ; and informed
them that we were some of the rebel party
then on our way to G eneral Marion s head
quarters T hey never discovered u s as
otherwise than such it being in the dusk
of the evening We fell into the rear and
went into the woods and struck our camp
and promised them we would see them
next morning However we proceeded
on that night and arrived at Herald s p oint
on the 1 7 th of June and im m ediately
proc ured a passage to C harleston where
I immediately applied for a ag to send
after M rs Far ming and p roperty T he
ag had left C harleston two days when
she came in as Maj or Gainer had applied
to General Marion for a pass for her to
proceed to C harleston but would not
let her have any of our property or even
a negro to wait on her
In a short time l oyalists that had got
into C harleston from different p arts of
the world hearing that the Southern C ol
ou ies were to be evacuated by the British
forces c alled a meeting to p oint out some
measures to try to hold some foothold in
the country until we had got some part
payment for our p ro p erty which we were
obli ged to leave if we left the c ountry
Handbills were struck and stuck up
thro u gh the town for the loyalists to
choose their rep resentatives to re p resent
ou r situation and the desire we had to sup
It was p ro
p ort oursel v es and p rop erty

v e gentlemen S hould
osed
that
twenty
p
be chosen a co mm ittee for that p urp ose
,

Di
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zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

THE

N A R R A TIV E O F C O L

T he

days were app ointed to take votes

I was chosen amongst others ; and drew
up a petition and sent to S ir G uy C arleton
C ommander i
n C hief praying the l iberty
of kee ing the town and artillery as they
p
stood on the w orks and despatched two
gentle m en off with our p etition ; our re
quest w as n ot granted I have hereunto
set forth the names of the gentlemen rep
resentati
v es :
C ol B alli
n all
Jas Johnston E sq ;
g
R obert Williams E sq ; L t C ol Dupont
C ol R ob t Wm P owell C ol Gray John
G ailliard E sq ; C ol C assels John R ose
C ol Pearson Maj Wm Greenwood C ol
Philips Maj Gabriel C apers C ol Ham
ilton L t C ol T hos Inglis Wm C arson
J ohn Hopton E sq ; Dr Wm C harles
Wells R obt J ohnston E sq ; C ol T homas
E dgehill John C ham p ni
ss Andrew Millar
E sq ; C ol S amuel Bryan C ol D avid
Fanning D octor B aron
I remained in C harleston until the
s th of September and my horses having
got recruited and one of my negroes hav
ing made his way good through the coun
try c ame down to me ; I then set out for
the c ountry agai n on account of my mis
fortune oilosing my mare which was of
great value to me I went up to the set
tlem ent again to the man I sent to Hunter
before and he informed me that Hunter
refused ve negroes for the m are and
w ould not return her He also went to
where I left one of the negroes and took
hi m and sent him over the m ountains to
keep him out of my way I c ontinued
ab out in the settlement until the z and of
the month tryi
ng to get her but was dis
app ointed i
Knowin g tha t
n my hopes
C harleston was to be evacuated I was
obliged to return ; and as I was on my
w ay I understood my mare was at a cer
tain place ab out 1 2 5 m iles from C harles
ton being about half the distance from
where I then was toward C harleston
I
pursued
on my j ourney to the
instantly
place where She then wa s I came W ith in
a mile of Where I heard she was and my
riding horse was so part icularly known
I s ent a man up to the house and he w as
known and they directed us the wrong
to where
sent
word
and
immediately
way
ou t we were
mare
was
I
found
my
.

37

F ANNING

wrong ; and took throu gh the woods and

to a house within a half a mile where
they bad word of my coming and were
making ready to go to their assistance
but seeing us come up he immediately
left his horse and was running off through
a eld and turned rou nd and p resented
his piece and snapped but she missed re ;
with this I ordered one of my men to re
at him who shot him through the body
an d despatched his presence from this
world T he other two men that was at
the house that did not run informed m e
that they had received word of my coming
a half an hour before I arri v ed and also
that there were men lying in am b ush
ready to attack me With this the man
who had m y mare went O ff with her and
having only two men and my negro that
set out with me from C harleston also
two little negroes that I had for my mare
I thought it was my best way to p roceed
to C harleston and on the 2 8 th Septem
ber I arrived at C harleston where the
Shipping was ready for me to embark for
St Augustine
T he following is a Proclamation which
I got when I was out in the country
nailed to C oxe s Mill :
S T AT E O F N O R T H C AR O L I N A :
By his E xcellency Alexander Martin
Governor C ap tain G eneral and
E sq
n C hief in and over the said
C ommander i
State
A P R O C L AMAT I O N
Whereas divers citiz ens of this State
have withdrawn themselves from their
allegiance and j oined the enemy of this
and the U nited States seduced by their
wicked arti
ces now nd their hopes sup
p orted by deceit totally blasted and left
un p rotected to the Justice of their coun
try ready to inict those just p unishments
due to their crimes But in compassion
to such who are truly penitent and to stop
the further effusion of the blood of citiz ens
who may be reclaimed by and with the
advice and consent of the C ouncil of
State I have thought proper to issue this
my proclamation of pardon to all such of
the above p ersons who shall within ten
days after the date hereof surrender them
selves to any c ommanding o f cer of any
troops of the State or any of the U nited
,

Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

38

THE

N A R R A TIV E O F C O L

States acting in conj unction with the same

on this express condition that they renew
the oath of allegiance and enter into one
of the C ontinental battalions of this S tate
and there serve twelve months after the
time of their rendez vous which service
being faithfully performed shall expiate
their oences and entitle them to the res
torati
on of their property and every other
privilege of a c itiz en precluding all those
guilty of murder robbing house break
ing and crimes not j ustiable by the laws
of w ar from the above pardon
n otw i
th
standing notifying all such persons that
unless they su rrender at the time afore
said those taken prisoners shall be
deemed prisoners of war and liable to
exchange excep t as above provided T he
enemy will exchange the same otherwise
they shall be subj ected to the penalties of
the said law which will be inicted upon
them
By O rder of his E xcellency ALE ! A ND ER
M AR TIN E so
B E NN E TT C R O FT O N M aj or

F ANNING

I al so agr eed to j oin hi

m and too k a c opy
of the Article s and went ho m e and rais ed
thirty young men for that expedition and
had them in r eadiness to emb ark and
w ait ed for Maj or D eav oc e arriv al at
the inlet of Halif ax until I heard he w as
gone A true copy of the original is here
unto set forth :
Articles of Agreement between Maj or
D eav oce and the Volunteers for an ex
ti
on imm ed iately a ainst New P rov
p edi
g
idence :
Article I st I do en gage on my part
to furnish the men with provisions ar ms
and ammunition for the expedition
2 nd T hat the men shall be altogether
under my command and not to be trans
ferred to any other after the exp edition
and that they rendez vous on the fteenth
of this month in town and be ready to go
on board on three hours
notice being
given them
3rd T hat all or any of the men who
shall desire to settle in that c ountry after
the reduction of it shall be provided with
S tates L egi
on
land
J une the 1 s th 1 78 2
4 th T hat all priz es taken by land or
During my absence from C harleston
sea shall be equally divided among the
the loyal ists were signing to go under my ofcers and men according to their resp ec
direction s to E ast Florida and as soon as tive ranks rst deducting the expense of
I came to town I ordered them all to get the expedi tion
s th T hat in case of mutiny or dis
on b oard and on the oth of November I
went on b oard the transp ort ship the obedience of orders the man or part y con
cerned shall forfeit the whole of their priz e
ng commanded by Thomas
N ew B lessi
money and be subj ect to con nement for
C raven where I continued on b oard the
said transp ort for eight days before she the offence according to the nature of the
set ou t for St Augustine
Arrived the crime
1 7 th
said month where we c ame to
oth T hat a certain number of dead
anchor and there laid eight days more ; at Shares shall be reserved for the support of
the expiration of that t ime I went on sh ore all wounded men widows and orphans of
and three days after had my pro p erty men that may unfortunately fall on this
landed about twenty seven miles distance expedition T en dead Shares Shall be
from St Augustine upon the M atanzeys at the disp osal of C ap t Wheeler and my
where I had some thou ght of settling I self for deserving men
continued there for some ti m e and from
7 th T hat the p erson who raises the
thence p roceeded to Halifax R iver being most men shall be second in command
ab out fty v e miles from St Augustine
and I do engage if any person or p ersons
T here I undertook to settle myself and t o
should not be willing to remain in the
m ake a cro p thinkin g to begin the world B ahamas to furnish them with a p assage
bein g tolerably well provided for to Jamaica or back to St Au gu stine
anew
with ne groes
ST A U G U S TIN E 3 rd of March 1 78 3
In the last of Febru ary I met Maj or An
We who have subscribed our names as
drew D eav oce who was beating up for under do hereby agree to go with Maj or
volunteer s to go to t ake New P rovidence
Andrew D eav oce on the W ithin expedition
Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi
,

NA R R A T IVE O F CO L

T HE

39

F ANNING

as volunteers c omplying w ith the within j ustice He lived ti ll the next day and
ru les and to hold o u rselves in readiness at the same hour the next he was sitting
for embarking on said expedition on the eating and all of a sudden he fell dead
i
fteenth
of
this
inst
E ither of us refus
In
a
short
ti
m
e
after
I
heard
peace
was
f
m
comply
w
ith
the
a
b
ove
and
proclaimed
and
for the loyalists to send an
g to
Wi
th in rules and articles shall forfeit to estimation of their losses and services ;
M aj or Andrew D eav oce h is heirs or as
also that the Province of E ast Florida
srgns the sum of ten pounds sterling money
was to be immediately evacuat ed and the
of Great Brit a in
ships came to take all the p rovincial
cers that
After this I began to notice my negroes troops to Nov a Scotia ; the oi
b eginn i
ng to get sick and six of them died
were acquainted with me insisted for me
to go with them but I had not time to
S om e t ime after I went to St Augustine
get my family and property to town in
I was taken sic k and lay at the point of
death for three weeks I then beg an at time and as it was uncertain where I
should go to some of the gentlemen
last to w alk and one day I went to my
ofcers desired to gi v e me a certicate to
eld to where I had a young negro ab out
twenty ye ar s of age at work I took my let my services be known let me go where
rie with me as usual ; I set her down by a I woulda true copy of w hich is here
tree
I felt v ery sick and weak ; I laid unto set forth :
E A S T FL O R I D A
myself dow n on some grass and my negro
We whose names are hereunto sub
took up my rie and c am e within ten yards
and set himself down and took aim at my scribed do hereby certify that C ol David
head but luckily the ball missed my Fanning late of the Province of No
C a acted in the station of C olonel of
head about one inch but it split my hat
Militia of that P rovince and was of the
m when
I then got up and went towards hi
he ran at me with the gun and struck at greatest service to his Majesty in sup p ress
ng the rebels durin g the late rebellion in
my head B ut I fended it off with my i
North America and that he is worthy of
arms He however broke the stock for
and
every
loyal
su
b
j
ect
both
for
his
valour
ward oithe lock I know ing myself weak
I turned and ran sixty yards but found good conduct ; that after he with his men
myself not able to run I got my feet took the town of Hillsborough disp ersed
entangled in some vines and unfortunately the rebel council and took a great num
on that day
ber
risoners
he
was
o
f
fell and he came to me and with the barrel
p

wounded
in
the
left
arm
that
nding
the
m
es
of my rie he struck at me many ti
I lay on my back and fended his strokes town of Wilmin gton evacuated by the
not yet
British
troo
s
and
his
wound
p
with my heels until he had knocked all the
well
he
for
the
safety
of
his
people
b ottoms of my feet to blisters His great
divided
them
into
small
parties
and
con
t
eagerness to kill me p u him much out of
n
ed a long time in the back woods ; that
i
n
u
u
t
got
hold
of
the
g
wind I accidentally
C arolina
after
many
skirmishes
in
North
barrel and he tried to bite my hand for
in the month of June 1 78 2 he with the
of his trying
During
the
time
some time
utmost di
cu lty made his way through
i
all
his
fore
teeth
out
to bite me I knocked
many
interruptions
of the enemy to the
At last he ru n for his hoe and made one
P rovince of South C arolina where his
and
broke
one of the b ones
stroke at me
Maj
esty
s
troo
s
then
lay
and
that
he
;
p
But
I
took
the
o
portun
p
arm
left
of my
r e he
was
obliged
to
leave
the
province
whe
him
a
stroke
on
his
tem
p le
m
v
i
ity of g
g
n
i
lived
and
his
pro
erty
which
we
are
p
him down I then
which
I
brought
with
formed was considerable ; and that he is
until
he
a
peared
to
be
p
men ded my blows
now without the means of subsistence
W l fe
got
him
down
my
dead As I had
r and on account of
having
lost
his
all
f
o
of me and he lay for some
in
sight
c ame
h is services and attachment to his Ma
dead
unt
i
l
two
men
time to ap p earance
esty s person and government
had
heard
me
hollow
j
to me as they
C ame
AM I L T O N
J
OH
N
H
come
to
and
walked
length
He
at
ng
i

ol C om R N C R egt
C
L
L
him
to
take
him
to
I
conned
ho me
Dii
ti
zed b Mi
cro s o ft
.

40

T HE

N A R R A TIV E O F C O L

L E G E T T , C apt R N C R a t
g
C AM P B ELL , C apt S C R e t
g
G E O D A WKI NS , C a t S C R e t
p
g
D ANIE L M C NE I L ,* C apt R N C R egt
eu t S C
M O S E S WHI T LE Y , L i
R egt
S t Augu stine , 2 0th Se p tember , 1 78 3

J OH N
ALE !

O n the 2 s th November following I

drew u p an estimate of the loss I had sus
tai
ned during the late war in A m erica a
true c opy Of which I hereto set for th :
S chedule of the prop erty Of C ol D a v id
Fannin g late resident of the Pro v ince
of North C arolina but now of the Prov
ince of E ast Florida lost to h im on ac
c ou nt O ihis z eal and attachment to the
B ri tish G overnment and never received
any part or p arcel thereof or an y res
torati
on Of the same v i
z:
550 acres of land in Amelia C ounty
in the Province O f Virginia with
a dwelling h ouse and other nec
essary bu ildings a large apple
and p each orchard and large ,5
; s
enclosed improve m ents
550 acres of land near said planta
tion as heir to the estate O f my
father and some i m provement
with a dwelling house
3 saddle h orses
1 2 plantation do three unbroke do
2 negro slaves
1 00
289
D ebts in n otes b onds etc
.

St Augustine the 2 5th Nove mb er 1 78 3

before me
J OH N MI LL S J P
D AVID FA NNIN G
Personally appeared before me one of
his Maj esty s Justices of the Peace in St
Augu stine Province Of E ast Florida
L ieutenant C harles R obertson Neill Mc
Innis and P hilip Whisenhunt refu gees
Of said E ast Florida who being called
up on by the within mentioned C ol D avid
Fanning to v alue the within mentioned
prop erty who being duly sworn make
oath upon the Holy E vangelists of Al
mighty G od that the within mentioned
are well worth the sums
p roperties
affixed to each article as near the value
as p ossible if the same was to be sold to
their ow n knowledge and the best i
h
for m ation they could get
C H AR LE S R O B E R T S O N
NE I L M cINNI s
P H I LI P W H I S E N H U N T
Sworn at St Augustine this 2 5th Novem
ber 1 78 3 before me
J OH N M I LL S J P
( Here follows notarial certicate by John
Mills )
After my m any sc enes an d p as sages
through and dur in g the la te war and
often he aring the Americans had got
the ir re quest I never c ould put any faith
in it until I saw the King s speech of
which I have hereunto set forth a true
c opy for the better satisfaction of those
loyalists that p erhap s ha ve never seen it
yet
New York Februar y 9th 1 78 3
el
By the brigantine P eggy C apt M cNi
i n n ineteen days from T ort ola we have
rece ived the followin g copy o f h is Majes
ty s most graci ous S p ee ch to both houses
Of P arliament on T hursday Dece mber
s th I 78 2
which w as brought to T ortola
from Windward by C apt R odney son of
L ord R o dney :
M Y L O R D S AND GE N T LE M E N :
S ince the close Of the last session I
have employed my whole t ime in the ca re
a nd attention which the i mp ort ant and
c ritic al conjun cture of p u bl ic a ffairs re
quired of me
I lost no time in giving the necessary
orders to prohibit the fu rther p rosecution
.

F ANNING

Personally appeared before me one of

his M aj esty s Justices Of the Peace St
Augu stine and Province of E ast Florida
the ab ove mentioned C ol D avid Fannin g
who being duly sworn and maketh oath
o n the Holy E vangelist O f Almighty G od
that he lost all and eve ry part Of the above
mentione d p rop erty on account of h is
z eal
and attachment to his Maj esty s
cause durin g the late war a gainst the re
v olted col onies in North America
and
that he has not let sold bargained bar
tered or dis p osed or i m p owered any p erson
or p ersons to let sell bargain b arter or
disp ose Of any p art or parcel Of the same
in any manner whatsoever nor received
any restitution for the same Sworn at
,

t h e B ra n dfat her of t h e recen tl

a n a nd p u bli
c m an ,
n en t p h y si
ci
ceased emi
l]
co ti
a
D a ni
ark er M D , o f
ov a
el M c Nei
s

de

as

Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

T hi w

THE

NA R R A TIVE O F C O L FANNI NG
.

i war upon the conti

nent of
North America adopting as my i
nclination
Wi
ll always lead me to do w ith decision and
effect Whatever I collect to be the sense of
my P arliament an d my people
I have
p ointed all my views and meas ures as well in
E urope as in North Am erica to an entire
and cordial reconciliation with those col

0f

o ens v e

oni
es

Fin ding

it indispensable to the attain

ment Of this obj ect I did not hesitate to
go the full length of the powers vested in
me and o ered to decl are them free and
i
ndependent States by an article to be inserted
in the treaty of peace P rovisional articles
are agreed upon to take eect whenever
terms of peace shall be nally settled with
the court of France
In thus admi
tti
ng
their separation from the crown Of these
ki
ngdoms I have sacri
ficed every consi
d
cration of my own to the wishes and Opinion
of my people I make it my humour and
ever my prayers to Almighty G od that Great
Britain may not feel the evils which might
result from so great a dismembe rment of
the E mpire and that America may be free
from those calamities which have form erly
pr oved in the mother country how essential
monarchy is to the enj oyment Of consti
tu
i
ti
on al liberty
i
nterest
R eligion language
affections may and I hope will yet p rove
a bond of permanent union betw een the
two countri
esto this neither attention
nor d i
sposition shall be wanting on my
part
While I have carefully abstained from all
Offensive operations against Am erica I
d
have directed my whole force by land an
sea against the other powers at war Wl th
as much vi
gour as the situation of that force
at the commencement of the campaign
would permit I trust that you must have
seen with pride and sat isfact ion the gallant
defence of the Governor and garr ison of
Gibraltar and my eet after hav mg effected
the obj ect of their dest inat ion Offering bat
France and
force
Of
combined
t
o
the
tle
Spain on their own coasts ; those of my
rema
n
me
i
ed at the sa e t i
have
kingdom
m
r
lomestl c
perfectly secure and You
i
resp ec a l e

s
h
u
un
nterr
pted
i
ty
li
q ui
t
under
the
b
l
essing of G od I attribute
sta
i
s be
con
de
ce
wh
i
ch
subs
st
n

e
entire
tcit i
readi
me
my
people
and
to
the
d
a
n
tween
,

gi

i
n my city of

ondon and in other parts

of my kingdoms to stan d forth in the gen
eral defence Some proofs have lately
been given of public spirit in private men
which would do honour to any age and any

country having manifested to the whole

world by the most lasting examples the sig
nal spirit and bravery of my peop le I
conceived it a moment not unbecoming my
dign ity and thought it a regard due to the
lives and fortunes Of such brave and gal
lant subjects to shew myself ready on my
part to embrace fair and honourable terms
O f accomm odation with al l the powers at war
I have the satisfaction to acquaint you
that negotiations to this effect are consi
d
erably advanced the resul t of which as soon
as they are brought to a conclusion shall
be immediately commun icated to you I
have every reason to hope and believe that
I shall have it in my power in a very short
time to acquaint you that they have ended
cati
in terms O f paci
on which I tru st
you
will see just cause to approve I rely how
ever with perfect condence on the wis
dom Of my P arliament and the spirit of my
people that if any unforeseen change in
the disposition of the belligerent p owers
should frustrate my condent expectations
they will approve of the preparations I
have thought it advisable to make and be
ready to second the most vigorous efforts
in the further prosecution of the war
G E NTLE ME N O F TH E H OU S E O F COM MO NS :
I have endeavoured by every measure in
my p ower to diminish the burthens of my
peo p le
I lost no time taki
ng the most
decided measures for introducing a better
n the expenditure of the army
economy i
I have carried into strict execution the
several reductions in my civil list exp enses
directed by an act of the last session I
have introduced a further reform into other
departments and suppressed several sine
cure places in them I have by this means
so reg ulated my establishments that my
expense shall not in future exceed my income
I have ordered the esti
mate of the civi
l
list debt laid before you last session to be
completed The debt proving somewhat
greater than could be then correctly stated
and the proposed reduction not immediately
taking place I trust you wi
ll provide for
.

Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

THE

42

NA R R A TIVE O F C O L

deciency securing as before the repayment

out of my annual income
I have ordered enquiry to be made into
the application of the sum voted in support
of the American suerers and I trust you
will agree with me that a due and generous
attention ought to be shown to those who
have relinquished their properties or pro
fessions from motives of loyalty to me and

attachment to the mother country

O n the roth of March I had some busi
ness to St Augu stine the inhabitan ts Of
Musqueto asked the favour of me to hand a
p etition to his E xcellency the Gove rnor
and knowing the situation of the petitioners
I spoke in their behalf ; asked his E xcellency
what answer he sent to the people he sa id
he should send for none of the m and if
they were a mind to remove they must get
to the shipping as they could for he said
he had no vessels at that time in G overn
ment s services

T o his E xcellency P atrick T onyn E sq

C apt General Governor and C o mm an der
and Chief in and over his Majesty s prov
ince O f E ast Florida and vice adm iral of the
same : whereas your hu mble petitioners
show eth that they are rendered very poor
and unable to remove ourselves to be in
readine ss to receive the Opportunity Offered
for our removement from his Maj esty s prov
ince O f this E ast Florida which is to be
evacuated ; here is several poor widows as
well as poor men of his Majesty s loyal sub
jects ; we pray his E xcellency would send a
schooner to remove us to the vessels prov ided
for our passage when his E xcell ency sees that
this p rovince will be given up ; we would wish
to tarry here where we have good warm
houses till his E xcellency sees the time
draws nigh ; howev er we would wi
sh to
refer it to his E xcellency s opinion upon the
matter and in granting O f your petitioners
humble petition your humble petitioners
n duty bound to pray
ever will be i
At the M usqueto this 2 6th of J anuary
,

78 4

FA NNING

My good and worthy friends : I am now

goi
ng to make some rema rks as to your
disagreeable situation The distresses to
which the unfortun ate loy alists in Ameri
ca
are now reduced are too poign ant not to
comm and the pity and commiseration of
every friend to human nature T he man
that is steeled agai
nst such a forcible i
mpres
sion is a monster that should be drove from
the circle O f cultivated society In most
situations when calamities and misfortunes
press upon our minds hope buoys us up
and keeps us from sinking into the ocean
Of despondency and despair but the nu
fortunate loyal ists have no hopes to cheer
up their spirits ; even thi
s last refuge of the
af icted is denied us of enj oying peace and
hap piness whi
ch our forefathers and our
selves were born under Duri
ng a seven
years war we have been induced to brave
every danger and di
i
culty in support of the
Government under which we were born in
hop es that we and our children would reap
the fruits of our labour in peace and seren
ity Inste ad Of that reasonable exp ecta
tion we nd ourselves at the conclusion of
a war sacri ced to the indignation of our
enemies expelled our native country and
thrown on the wi
de world friendless and
un supported It is needless to repeat the
m any promises of support and protection
held out to the public by the King and those
acti
ng under his authori
ty These prom
isas have been violated in every inst ance
and that national faith which we had b een
accustomed to look upon as sacred basely
b artered for an inglorious peace even to
this province which the loyali
sts from
the other colonies have ed to for shelter,
now denied us
The Sp aniards are in a
short time to take possession of this provi
nce
and whilst we are together we had better
draw up a decent petition to have protec
tion and throw ourselves on their mercy
If they deny us we wi
ll have few to condemn
us for what cruel and relenting necessity
may compel us to adopt Innumerable are
the difficulties at present to encounter
Stripped Of our property drove from our
homes excluded from the company and
care of our dearest connections robbed
of the blessi
ng of a free and mild govern
ment betrayed and deserted by our friends
what is it can repay us for our misery
.

'

T HOM AS YOU NG , Capt S C

Abrah am Floyd, Joseph C urrie ,

Mil
Magee
Black Agnes Wilson Moses B arn es
Jacob B arns Joseph R ogers
I left St Augustine the 1 3 th O f said month
and retu rned to the Musqueto and made the
following speech to the i
nhabi tants
.

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dragging out a wr etched life of obscurity

and w ant !
Heaven only that smooths
the rugged paths Of life can reconcile us to
our m isfortunes Also my hopes of ever
rece iving anything from G overnment for
losses or servi
ces are van ished as I cannot
support any other opinion th an whenever
Great Britain sees it her i
nterest to with
draw her force and protection from us let us
go where we will we never can say we are
i
cu lti
safe from such di
es as we have been
i
nduced to brave since the commencement
of the late war and for the same reason I
shall in a few days get out in Open boats
to West Florida to settle myself at or near
Fort Notches on the Mississippi R iver
O n the 20th of March myself an d seven
other families set ou t all i
n open boats
We kept company for 1 60 miles I then
left them and went forward to get to better
hunting ground and proceeded until I
bi
rsken where I wait ed for
got to the Sci
the rest O f my company twelve days ; but
not seeing them come I concluded they
had passed me and must have proceeded
I hoisted sail and stood
on their j ourney
on until I came to Key West and seeing a
lar ge schooner I stood for her She hove
to and when I came alongside She informed
me that I was then on the edge Of the G ulf
of Mexico and then I turn ed an d sto od for
I got to the key at three O clock
that key
and the wind blew a gale for fteen days
and whilst on board the before mentioned
schooner who belonged to the Spaniards
T hey had some C reek Indians on board and
then boun d to Havana ; the Sp an iards I
could not understand but they understood
the C reek l angu ag e and my speaking to
the Indi ans and informing of the Indi ans
that I was going to Mi ssi ssippi he told me
that my boat was too small and it would be
im possible for me to make the main land
ak e
as it was three days sail before I could m
T he Sp an iards un derstood all my
land
discourse and upon ndi
ng where I was
n Indi
boun d they spoke to me i
an and told
me that there were six or seven families of
the E nglish had left St August ine sp ine
time before and that they were all killed
except the negroes and they thought we
would stand a poor chance to escape them
as I should be obliged to keep the Shore
m
hou
after
I
made
the
key
there
ca
e
r
In an
.

,
.

FA NN ING

43

another Sp anish schooner to an chor that

I had pas sed the day before T hey could
not speak any E n glish but n ding that the
others could sp eak C reek I also sp oke to
them in the same language which they un
derstood very well and inform ed me as
the other schooner had done T hey were
windbound for fteen days and treated
me wi
th every civility I had one white
lad O f eighteen years Of age and by the
different accounts we had Of the Sp an iards
he got scared I told him not to lose his
life on my account He then went on board
O f the schooner and on the night the wind
abated the S p aniards ca m e on shore and
took the most Of myself and wife s weari
ng
app arel and bedding
T hey informed me before their dep arture
that they looked upon it that we cou ld not
proceed with our small Op en boats the dis
tance Of the bay where we had to cross being
about 36 leagues to a key called Sandy Key
which is nine leagues from the ma i
n lan d
which in case of our not hitting that key
the distance would be about 1 00 leagues
before we should make land agai
n U pon
which I turned and went b ack ab out twelve
leagues to Key Bockes and steered due
north till we made the key bein g about
ei ght hours out of sight of land When we
m ade the key being r9th Of said m onth
I got to said land the 20th I saw a small
schooner standing for the land ab out four
leagues distance from us and cast anchor
n
where the aforementioned S p aniards i
formed us that the Indians were very bad
in killi
ng the E nglish p eop le that crossed
the Bay of T omp ay as the m an that started
with m e being m uch alarmed at the be
hav iour of the Indians set O ff back ag ain
th the Spaniards to the Havana
I
wi
then with my little family consisti
ng Of my
v
wife self and two little negroes I percei
ing it might be dangerous for me to pro
ceed went on board the little schooner that
lay at anchor abou t four leagues from me
I immediately took my boats and went on
board of him enqui ring of one Baptist who
comm anded her I found he was an It al
ian ; asked him where he was from he in
formed me from New Providence I then
ap plied to him to get a p assage with
He told me he could not tell me at that t ime
whether he could c ar ry all my prop erty or
.

,
,

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4%

N A R R A TIVE O F CO L

not desired me to p ay my boats off that

ng he told me he
night T he next morn i
could not give m e a p assage for less than
T he next day he fell to 1 50
2 00 dollars
doll ars T hen the wind blowing very fresh
I went on board my boat and hoisted sail
and went Off for the land again In the
course of two or three hours he came round
a p oint with a schooner to the land in order
to mend some turtle nets which were m uch
broken He duri
ng the time Of his layi
ng
there gave us liberty to come and sleep on
board and on the 2 3rd of the m onth I asked
m if he would not take less than 1 50 dol
hi
lars to carry m e to Prov idence as I told
m so m uch
m I could not a ord to give hi
hi
as it was m ore than I was a b le to give him
as I was entirely robbed O f what little I
had He said he wou ld not take less T he
next morning I set O ff in my boat and sent
my girl along shore to catch some fowls I
had on Shore where I w as to com e b ack
again to the p lace as soon as I got the dis
tance Of about three miles round a poin t
When I got to the point I left my boat as hore
and went b ack i
n order to meet the girl
where I ex p ected to see her I got about
half the distance but did not meet her
ng her I
and coming there and not n di
went some little distance back to where
the schooner lay As I ex p ect ed they were
n the same manner the
going to use m e i
Spaniards had done before when I saw
them take my negro girl and carry her on
board with them I then sat down for the
space O f a half hour and considering within
myself what I had best do and seeing the
said Baptist comm an der ofthe said schooner
and his m an T homas comin g ashore again
after carr yi
ng my negro girl Off into the
woods and hid her I then saw them com
ing out O f the woods T hinking within
m yself that they intended to kill me
with which I looked and examined my
gun and p owder ; nding I had only one
c ha rge with me or nigher than my boats
and considerin g the p resent distressed
situation I was in obli ged me to con
sider what was my best m easure to p u r
sue and I immediately advanced to
wards them they parting one turned
back to where the girl was the other
coming on a small distance went from
the be ac h and turned O ff into the woods
,

F A NNING

I i mmediately ran and called to him

and asked him concerning what he had
done with the girl with wh ich he denied
having seen her I then told him he
need not deny it for I had seen him with
her and Offered him four dollars if he
would inform me where she was so that
I could get her He immediately said
that Mr B ap tist had the command of
the schooner and that I had better go
back and speak to him myself I also
went back to where their boat lay and
c ontinued there for the sp ace of fteen
minutes then I turned and walked back
fro m the p lace I started from During
the course of m y walking I looked be
hind and saw the said B aptist about
1 50 yards in my rear his gun lying across
his left arm I turned around and ad
v anced to h im
and when near him I
Observed his gun cocked I asked him
at rst what he had his gun cocked for ;
his answer was in order to re at any
thing that came With that I told him
that he had better uncock his gun as I
did not see anythin g to re at there I
m several times ; he re p lied he al
told hi
ways carried his gun c ocked and kept
her cocked for the sp ace Of fteen min
utes I asked if he had not seen my
He told me no
girl co m e t hat way
m that he need not deny it
I then told hi
for I had seen her on b oard his boat he
b ein g in the boat at the same ti m e
carrying her O to the schooner not men
n g to him that I saw him bring her
ti
oni
back I then told him I c ould carry
him back and sh ow him the gir l s tr ac ks
where he had c arried her along and took
her on board I then Offered him four
dollars to give her up as I told him my
present S ituations would not admit of
my giving him as much m oney as he asked
to carry m e to P rovidence He told me
I talked like a boy as no person would
carry m e to P rovidence under ve hun
dred dollars and he only asked one hun
dred and fty and also alluded to my
going O ff and not speakin g to him any
more and that if he had my girl he would
kee p her as he had lost a boy that cost
him eight hundred dollars and that he
must make somethin g before he returned
to Providence I asked him if he would
,

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N A R R A TIV E O F C O L

c arry me for either the boy or girl al

low i
ng me fty dollars He told me no
I told him that it was but little less than
the half I w as worth ; he told me he
w ould carry me for one O f them or fty
dollars In my distressed situation and
my wife being pregnant I thought I
h ad best endeavour to get a p assage
w ith him I told him that I would
sooner than to lose my negro girl give
him one hundred and fty dollars than
either the girl or the bO y as I was con
nced I should have justice done me on
vi
my arrival at New P rovidence as I should
see some persons wh o were acquainted
with me in P rovidence ; he told me he
would I then told him I wanted him
to drop his schooner down to where my
boats were in order to get my p roperty
He told me he could
ou t Of the boats
not as he was going round the Key to
turtle I then going back I met with
the other man and wanted to hire him
He told me he could not unless I had
With that I
got liberty from B aptist
w ent myself and came to my boats and
told my wife the situation O f matters
and we immediately started with only
my b oy s assistance and rowed back
against the wind blowing fresh for seven
miles ; then c oming very near the schooner
I threw ou t my anchor and lay there all
night and the next morning I called to
them several times and asked the m if
they had seen my girl After so m e ti m e
they answered me Ay Ay! and told us
I told them I wanted
to c ome alongside
my girl to come and assist me in taking
T hey answered me
ou t my property
they w ould assist me in taking them out
With that I weighed anchor and went
alongside Of the schooner and told my
wife to go on b oard When on board
she wen t and called the girl several
times My wife then went down into
the hold w ith a stick and she said that
she found the girl hid amon g the sails
being stripped O f all her clothes she had
on the day when she left me I had my
and soon after
on board
I set Off to the shore and anchored my
large boat some little distance from the
shore where I lay till some time in June
round the p oint where I came from as
,

F ANNIN G

+5
)

the wind was blowing fresh O n the

1 5th O f June he got his turtle and water
on board where he had his turtle in a
crawl in the B ay O f Fundy where he had
su p p lied himself with wood and water
and all his turtle on board where he then
drew a note of hand for me to Si gn for
two hundred pieces of eight
for my
passage I immediately answered him
I would sooner suer death than to sign
any instrument of writing He then
wished himself damned before I should
m and ordered me to haul
go with hi
up my boat and put W hat I could in her
and go on shore with my family My
boat being so small would not carry one
fourth part of my p roperty off As there
lay a large boat alongside that they had
brou ght Off their turtle wood and water
on board in I asked them for the loan Of
her T hey told me they could not as
they were going to get under way With
that I brought my boat alon gside and
they in the meantime took their two
b oats and went on shore
My wife being in a bad situation fell
a crying and begged of me to do any
thing to get away for fear we might meet
with others who mi ght distress us of
everythin g AS I found that I should
lose the greatest p art in case I went on
shore as I had left my large boat at C ap e
Sa b le on the mainland and my little
boat not being large enough to c ontain
over the one fourth Of my p roperty for
which I told hi
m to draw a note for one
hundred and fty dollars for which I
S igned the note bein g dated 1 s th July
and was to be paid after my arrival in
Providence to have thirty v e days after
my landin g there before p ayment was
to be made
O n the 3 oth of June as we were lay
ing at New M adamcumba after our
havin g several words he told m e that he
understood by my ne groes that I intended
to have him hung after my arrival at
New Providence if he had turned my
wife on shore and in case she had died
that I should do my endeavour s to hang
him in Providence and told me if it
.

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46

O n the

N A R R A TIV E O F C O L

July 21 C apt Bunch

C lu tsam and C apt Wm Smith
of New P rovidence appeared and C apt
Bunch ca m e on board the small schooner
comma nded by the said B ap tist T he
said Mr Bunch asked me my reasons for
staying so long on board that small
schooner and why I gave the said B ap
ti
st my note Of hand for one hundred
and fty dollars O f which Mr B unch
infor m ed me that it was contrary to the
laws of the G overnment of New P rov
idence to make any agreement with
any person or persons fou nd in distress
but to render ev ery assistance With
this I found Mr Bunch wished to render
me a service in my distressed situation
m all former proceed
and I Opened to hi
ings respecting the ill treatment and be
hav iour of the said B ap tist O n the same
accou nt every gentleman of them offered
me any assistance I wanted and Mr
Bunch told me that in case I did not get
a p assage with C ap t C lutsam which he
did not do u bt bu t what I should he
wo u ld give me a passage himself H O W
ever I p rocured a p assage from C apt
C lu tsam for fty dollars durin g which
passage I was in e v ery respect used and
treated like a gentleman by the said
C apt C lu tsam and on my arrival at
New Providence the said C apt Clu tsam
behaved with so m uch honour that
instead of tak ing fty dollars O f me he
deducted twenty and only charged m e
thirty and u p on nding who I was
would not take but twenty dollars and
he at the same time refu sed takin g any
more Of m e Durin g the course Of m y
being on b oar d of C ap t C lu tsam he
found m e in every necessary and made
no charge for any provisions or anything
m
I received from hi
His humanity
was so great that i
f ever in my p ower to
render any service to him or any of
those gentle m en nothing sh al l ever be
wanting on my p art to do the m service
I continued in Nassau for twenty days
and then took my p assage with C apt
Jacob Bell to New Brunswick where
we cast anchor 2 3rd of Se p t 1 78 4 and
c ontinued until the 2 5th Of O ctober and
then set ou t for Halifax to his E xcellency
G ov er nor Parr to know how I should

wife
C apt
.

1 2 th

,
.

,
.

get land

F A NNING

as I got to Halifax his E x

cellency Governor C arlton arrived
and
I could do nothing so I returned on
the 7th November and in August I
received the following letter from C ol
John Hamilton in answer to mine in
regard to my claims :
DE AR SIR I received yours of the 9th
February 1 78 5 a few days ago and notice
the contents I am sorry to inform you
that you r clai m s are not yet given in but
I exp ect the o f ce for receiving clai m s will
be opened again by act Of Parliament this
session when you m ay depend proper
care shall be taken O f your s I am sorry
to hear Of your losses I hope you are now
agreea b ly settled and making so m ething
for you r family I think if you can leave
your b usiness in p rop er hands a trip to
this c ou ntry w ould be of service to you
though I don t think you would get half
G overnment would settle an an
p ay
nu i
ty on you for life ; which cannot be
done without your co m ing here
If you come you m ay de p end on all my
interest in you r favour and I cannot help
thinking it worth your while to co m e home
I am dear sir your humble servant
J OH N H AM I LT O N
L ondon May roth 1 78 5
In a short time after I heard that there
was another act Of Parlia m ent p assed to
receive claims for losses and services al so
that the C om m issioners had ar rived at
Halifax and on the 2 oth March I set out
for Halifax and p resented a copy of my
clai m from E ast Florida w ith the Me
m orial as follows :

T O the Honourable C ommissioners

app ointed by act of Parliament further to
enquire into the losses and services of the
Am erican L oyalists
T he Memorial Of D avid Fanning late
C olonel of the North C arolina Militia
humbly sheweth : T hat your Memorialist
is a loyalist from North C arolina who
uniformly and religiously adhered to his
duty and loyalty to the best of Sovereigns
for which he suffered p ersecution and
many other inc onveniencesthat your
Memorialist by a warrant from Maj or
C raig Of the 8 2 nd R egi ment then com
manding at Wilmington was placed at the
head of the militia of that province ; that
,

bu t

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N A R R A TIVE O F CO L

your M emorialist during the late war did

c ommand from one to nine hundred and
fty men with whom he was engaged i
n
Si
x and thirty skirmishes in North C aro
lina and four in South C arolina ; all of
w hich were of his own planning and in
which he had the honour to command ;
that your Memorialist killed many Of the
rebels and took many of them prisoners ;
among the latter of whom were Governor
B urke his council and many Ofcers Of
distinction in the rebel army ; that your
Memoriali st during that time was twice
w ounded and fourteen times taken pris
oner ; that on the conclusion O f the late
peace your Memorialist settled two hun
dred and fty souls in E ast Florida ; and
himself having taken refuge in several
p arts of his Maj esty s remaining p osses
sions in America nally settled in the
P rovince of New B runswick where he is
in great distress with his family T hat
your Memorialist in consequence Of his
said loyalty to his S overeign the many
services rendered him and attachment to
the British G ove rnment had his prop erty
real and personal seiz ed conscated and
sold by rebel authority Your Memorial
ist therefore prays that his case may be
taken into c onsideration in order that he
may be enabled under your report to re
v e such aid or relief as his case may be
c ei
found to deserve
D AVI D FANNIN G
S t John March I st 1 78 6
I also took the following oath before
P eter Hunter Secretary to the C o m mis
:
o ners in favour Of my claim at Halifax
si
T own of Halifax !
S S
Nova Scotia
D av id F an n ing late of North C arol ina
C olonel O f Militia but now Of Kings
C ounty in the Province O f New Bruns
w ick maketh oath and saith that he
res ided in E ast Florida and the B ahama
Islands from the 1 5th day Of July I 78 3
to the 2 5th Of March 1 78 4 and this de
p onent further saith that he was utterly
inc apable of preferring or deliver ing to the
O fParl i
ap
ointed
by
Act
a
ommi
ssioners
C
p
ment p assed in the twenty third year of
c t for
A
Maj
esty
entitled
an
his present
i
i
ommissioners
to
enqu
re
nto
C
appointing
the losses and services of all such p ersons
,

'

F ANNING

47

who have sn ered in their rights prop er

t ies and p ossessions durin g the late u m
hap p y dissensions in America in cou se
q u ence Of their loyalty to his Maj esty and
attachment to the British G overn ment or
ce any Memorial C laim or re
at this O i
quest for aid or relief on account of this
deponent s losses during the late unhappy
dissensions in A merica within the limited
time by the said Act for the receiving of
such claims by the reason that this dep onent
during all such time v i
Between the
z
1 s th July
1 78
3 and the 2 5th March
1 78 4 lived or resided in E ast Florida and
the B ahama Islands ; that this deponent
did however send a claim to C ol John
Hamilton of the North C arolina V olun
teers in E ngland Of his losses but that
by a letter that this deponent received
from said Hamilton heari
ng date l o th
May 1 78 5 he is informed that his claims
were not then given to the C ommissioners
in E ngland and that this de p onent be
li
ev es his s aid claim must have arrived in
L ondon after the time app ointed by the
late Act of Parliament for receiving such
claims had exp ired or that the C olonel
ns to whom I had entrusted the
H u tclii
delivery Of the said claim had neglected
the trust rep osed in him in giving in
my claim
day of March 1 7 8 6
Sworn this
before me
D AVID FA NNING
When I p resented my Me m orial and
esti m ate of claim to P eter H u nter Secre
tary to the C o m missioners he gave me no
manner of satisfaction and on my askin g
hi
m if I c ould come under an examina
tion he told me to be gone he did not
think the C ommissioners would receive
my claim When I found I could get no
hearing at Halifax at that time I returned
home with a full resolution nev er to
trou b le m yself any more At the time Of
bein g in Halifax I met my Old friend
C apt John L egett Of the R oyal North
C ar olina R e gi m ent who said he would
sp eak to the C o m m issioners in my fav our
He al so gave me a cop y O f the following
letter from L ieut C ol Arch M cKay:
L O ND O N Nov I 5th 1 78 5
DEA R C APTAIN
E ver mindful O f your good will and the
,

Di
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zed by Mi
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gi

THE

48

N A R R A TIV E OF C O L

kindness you showed unto me since I had

the pleasure O f being acquainted with
you induces me to write you a few lines at
present informing you Of my success since
I came to E ngland knowing you would
be glad to hear O f the provision made for
me When I came to E ngland I got a
hearing by the C ommissioners Of Ameri
can C laims and they granted me thirty
pounds yearly for temporary subsistence
I then laid in a memorial to Sir George
Young for C aptain s half
pay ; but I
must confess I thought my chances for
that bad enough as I was not acquainted
with any of the Generals who commanded
in America ; but since it was only amuse
ment to try I got a certicate from C ol
C raig and another from C ol Hamilton
an d laid them in with the me m orial
It
was with a good many others a long time
from ofce to O i
ce ; at length they have
allowed me seventy p ounds ste rling
ye ar ly for life for my serv ices in America
excl u si v e O f the other thirty pounds
U pon the whole I do not repent coming to
L ondon as things have turned out
I wrote to C apt M cNei
ll this morning
not thinking I should have time to write
to you before the ship sailed and I had
not time to write to him so fully as I could
wish but I will mind better next ti m e
I intend to spend next summ er in Scot
ieve rything turns out here to my
land i
expectations and I would be glad to get
a long letter fr om you concerning your
new settlements You will p lease to
w rite to me under c over to Messrs John
and Hector M cKay NO 5 C rown C ourt
Westminster ; and if I am in B ritain I
shall be sure to get any letter that may
come for me After my j aunt to Scotland
I hop e to do myself the honour to call and
see you on my way to New Providence
where Alexander and Malcom M cKay
are gone I am sir with due respect
Your sin c ere friend and humble serv ant
AR CHI B ALD M C KAY
,

tion I still retain ed my Op inion but on

informing C ol J oseph R obinson he pre
vailed with me after a long persuasion to
call and see the C ommissioners which I
did in company with C 01 R obinson
where I was treated with every civility and
all attention paid to me After my ex
amination they gave me the following
certicate :
.

,
.

T o C apt John L egett

.

I return ed home and continued until

the 2 7th June 1 78 7 When I was enter
ing the suburbs of the city of St John I
accidentally met E nsi gn Henry Niss with
a letter from the C ommissioners desiring
me to attend immediately for an examina
,

O FFI C E

OF

AM E R I C AN

S t John ,

F A NNING

2 nd

C L A IM S ,

F ebru ary,

78 7

We do hereby certify that D avid Fan

ning has undergone an examination on
oath before us as an Americ an sufferer
from North C arolina We are satised
by his own account and by the evidence
he has produced that his exertions in sup
p ort O ithe British G overn m ent as C olonel
of the C hatham and R andolph C ounty
Militia during the late troubles in Am
erica have been very great and exemplary ;
that he has been severely wounded in
several engagements and has in other
respects been a great sufferer ; though
from particular reasons it will not be in
our power to m ake him any considerable
allowance under our rep ort We there
fore recommend him as a prop er person
to be put on the half pay list as C aptain
and to have an annual allowance from
G overnment equal to that half pay
T HO M A S D uND As
J P EM B ER T O N
I then em p owered G eorge R andall
E sq Whitehall L ondon to act for me
I sent the original certicates and me
morial in c omp any with the letter
T o the R i
r G eorge
ght H onou ra ble S i
,

Younge, B aronet, S ecretary

at

War

etc

etc :
.

Memorial of D avi
d Fanning late
C olonel of the C hatham an d R andolph
C ounty Militia in North C arolina hum
bly sheweth :
T hat in the year 1 78 1 under an ap
pointment from Maj or Hen ry C raig then
commanding the B ritish troop s in North
C arolina your Memorialist embodied ne ar
one thousand men Of the loyal inhabitant s
of that P r ov i
nce and with them performed
singular se rvice to the British Govern
ment ; that he has been twice severely
wound ed in the course Of the war ; he has
T he

Di
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gi

NA R R A T IV E O F C O L

T HE

been fourteen times taken prisoner and

has been tried for h is life by the rebels
and has ever exerted his utmost endeav
ours in support of the c ause of Great
B r itain ; he is disabled by w ounds he has
received and has no means of support
For the t ruth of these alle gations he begs
to refer to his appointment of C olonel t o
the certi cates of several o fcers under
who m he se rved and to the certicates of
the C ommissioners of American C laims
forwarded herewith
Your Memorialist most humbly prays
that he may be put on the Provincial hal f
pay list as C aptain fully c on dent that
his p ast services and present necessitous
situation will be th ought deservin g Of that
app ointment and your Memorialist as in
duty bound shall ever pray
,

ty of S t J ohn,
Ci

Februa ry, 1 78 7
advice of L ieut - C ol
.

P ursu an t to the
J oseph R obinson I have transmitted a
power of atto rney to you in order to re
v e half p ay w ith a certicate from the
cei
P emberton and
n 1
Li
C ommissioners
C olonel D und as E sq ; G eneral Al exander
L eslie C ol Nisbet B alfour L ieut C ol
Henry
raig
of the r6th R egiment and
C
J
L ieut
C ol J ohn Hamilton of the North
C arolin a R egiment are w itnesses of my
services If you will be so good as to
accept the p ower and grant me your as
i
ll
in
Obtaining
the
same
you
w
n
c
e
i
s sta
highly oblige
Sir your most obedient humble serv an t
D AVID FANNING
ck
New B runswi
1 78 7
h
t
r
u
a
J
e
b
r
F
n
o
h
7
t
y
o
S
ty f
Ci
R
WE
S
T
M
I
NS
T
E
E
S
A
!
A
N
D
GE OR G E R
LL
WHI T E H ALL L O ND O N
oll owmg
f
1
8
ceived
July
the
t
h
2
0
7 7
Re
from my agent :
WHI T E H ALL 1 s th M ay I 78 7
O u the 31 d inst in a letter to
SIR
C ol R ob inson I desired he would
L ieut
your
nform
you
of
my
h
aving
received
i
the
erti

cate
M emorial C
half p ay of a C aptain or a mil itary p ension
S
ince
then
I
have
qual
the
rank
to
e
duplicates O f the
your
letter
with
rec eived
5
r bill of z o 1
papers
and
you
ab ove
and
ou des i
presented
as
red
y
has been
cro s o ft
Di
zed by Mi
ti
gi
.

z ud

FANNI N G

as I was also much disposed to do I

gave the holder a favoura b le answer and
the t rue one that you had reason to ex
p ect that I should have e ffects in hand
su ci
ent to p ay the bill when it became
due but that a delay in settlin g your
business and which you could not foresee
would for a time prevent my accepting
your bill
I must now inform you that I took the
earliest Op p ortunity of presenting your
memorial and the certi cate of the C om
missioners b eing highly honourable to
you and recommending you for an allow
ance or the halfpay O f C aptain I
think there is no reason to doubt you will
have a sum equal to that rank allowed you
by Govern m ent You had omitted to re
quest that the grant might take place from
the a4 th of O ctober 1 78 3 bu t I added a
paragraph to the memorial for that pur
pose but whether you will be al lowed
from that period is doubtful I am sorry
at the same time to acquaint you that it
may be some months before the deter
mination of Government is known but
c
you may be sure that I shall pay a p arti
ular attention to your business and give
T he
the
ea
rliest notice of the event
o
u
y
certicate you sent though ve ry regular
as to the periods I think would not entitle
me to receive the m oney from the p ay
o ce on yo u r account as I am inclined
to believe your allowance will be a military
allowance an d not half pay and for that
reason I send you a printed certicate
which you can keep as a precedent and
desire you will transmit to me a sett
copied from it for the same periods as
them you hav e already transmitted tak
ing p ar tic ul ar care that there be no bl ot
alteration or eras ure in the dates I will
be much obliged to you if you will ac
quaint C hillas that the answer O f G overn
ment to his memorial is that he cannot be
placed on the half
pay establishment the
commission he held being only in the
militia of the town Of New York
i

packet
you
sent
with
the
cert
cate
T he
amounted to 1 2 shillings postage and your
single letter to one shilling
I am sir your most obed ient humble
servant
G E O R G E R AND A LL
,

D AVID

49

F ANNI NG
.

T HE

50

NAR R A TIVE O F C O L F A NNI NG

.

ng
d Fa nni
T o D av i
WHI T E HA LL , I st August , 1 78 7
SrR , O n the 1 s th May , I acknowl
edged the receipt O f your letter and dupli
cate containing memorials , certi cates an d
.

other papers relating to y our claim of

half pay or a military pension and ac
nted you that having presented those
q u ai
papers I thought you had a very fair
prospect of success I am still of that
opinion but am sorry to acquaint you
that the consideration of half pay claims
is again deferred and that it may be some
months longer before I c an acquaint you
with the results I conclude therefore
that the bill you drew on me for 260 I s
must be returned
I have received from the Treasury the
sum granted to you by Government on
account of your losses for which I gave a
receipt in the annexed form and am
ready to accep t your bill for 2 2
as
after deducting agency and p ostage etc
and abstract herewith sent
C opy of a recei p t :
T he 2 4 th day Of July 1 78 7 received of
n by order of the L ords
M r T homas C oi
of the T reasury and according to a dis
on under the direction of the C om
bu ti
tri
missioners of American C laims app ointed
by an Act Of the 2 3rd of his present Ma
jesty the sum of 2 4 as a payment for
present relief and on account of the losses
during the late d issensions in America
Sign ed for David Fanning
G R AND ALL Attorney
2 4 05
After this I received the letter from my
Agent and found I had lost property to the
acc ording to an
amount of
1 05
appraise m ent Of three men a cquainted
with the prop erty But as it was not like
a coat taken ou t of my hand or gold taken
ou t of my p ocket I could not get an y thing
for my losses although I did not give in
anything like the amount of my losses I
lost twenty four horses and only reported
fteen One of which cost more than all
I ever got fro m Government and six
head of cattle 2 8 9 for property S old at
the commenceme nt of the war and the
land which I was heir to and for wh ich I
refused many ti m es .6 3 000 Virginia cur
But because I turned out in
rency
the service Of my King and country in the
-

2 0th

year of my age and my exertion s

were very exempl ary in support of the
British Government I have lost my all
for and on account of my attachment to
the British G overnmentonly 60 which
would not p ay the expenses I have been at
to Obtain it
I can prove what I have here w rote to be
facts and the world wi ll be able to j udge
after reading this narrative and observe
this Act of O blivion passed in North
C arolina in the year 1 78 3 which is here
m
with set forthwhich is enlarged and i
ne which
proved i
n the L ondon M aga zi
will be found on p age 60 7 Vol I from
July I to Dec I 1 78 3
An Act O f P ardon and O blivion by the
State of North C arolina
Whereas it is the policy of all wise
States on the termination of all C ivil
Wars to grant an Act of Pardon and O h
li
vi
on for past Of
fences and as divers of
the citi z ens of this State and others the
inhabitants thereof in the course of the
late unhappy war ha v e becom e liable to
great p ains and penalties for offences com
mi
tted against the peace and government
of this State and the General Assembly
ou t O f an earnest desire to observe the
ar ticles of peace on all occasions disposed
to forgive Offences rather than punish
where the necessity for an exemplary
punishment has ceased B e it therefore
enacted by the Gener al Assembly of the
State of North C arolina and it is hereby
enacted by the authority of the same that
all and all manner of treasons misprisions
of treason felony or misdemeanour com
tted or done since the 4 th day of J uly
mi
1 7 76 by any persons wh atsoe v er be par
domed released and put in total Oblivion
P rov i
ded always that this Act or any
thing therei n contained shall not extend
to pardon or discharge or give any bene t
whatsoever to persons wh o have t aken
commission or have been denominate d
ofcers and acted as such to the King O f
Great Britain or to such as are named in
any O f the laws c ommonly called cons
cation laws or to such as have attached
themselves to the B ritish and c ontinued
without the limits of the State and not
returned within twelve months previous
to the p assing Of this Act
,

Di
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gi

T HE

N A R R A T I VE O F CO L F A NNI NG

P rovided further that nothin g herein

contai
ned sh all extend to pardon Peter
M allet D avid Far ming and S a m uel
Andrews or any person or persons guilty
of deliberate and wilful murder robbery
r ap e or h ouse breaking or any of them
anything herein c ontained to the contrary
P rovided nevertheless
notw ithstanding
that nothing in this Act shall be construed
z en of this State fro m their
to bar any c it i
vil action for the recovery of debts or
ci
P rovided also that nothing
damage
herein c ontain ed shall e ntitle any person
by this law to be relieved to elect or be
elected to any O mce or trust in this S tate
ce civil or military
or to h old any O i
And whereas by an Act passed at Wake
cers civil and mi l itary
C ourt House all oi
who have taken p arole were susp ended
from the ex ec ution of their respective
O fces and required to appear at the next
Gener al Asse mbly to shew cause if any
they c ould why they should not be re
ce ; and whereas
moved from the said of
of the officers aforesaid have
several
neglected to appear agreeably to the re
B
e
it
i
i
t
on of the Act of Assembly
u
s
i
q
enacted by the General Assembly of the
State O f North C arolina and it is hereby
enacted by the authority of the same that
cers both civil and military are
all such o i
hereby decl ared to stand suspended from
ces unti l
the execution of their several oi
m
they sh al l appear at some future Asse b ly
and be restored t o the execution of their
ces or removed agreeable to
resp ec tive oi
P
rov
ded
that
i
heir
merits
or
demerits
t
nothin herei
n contained shall be const rued
t o exclude a J ustice of the P e ace fro m ex
o sh all
h
w
f

the
duties
of
his
o
ce
ng
ecuti
,

51

'

CO L

make it appear to the satisfaction of the

C ourt of his C ounty by oath or otherwise ;
that he was taken prisoner without his
consent and privily and that after his cap
ture he had not voluntarily stayed with
the enemy nor taken an active part in any
manner by furnishing them willingly with
provisions bearing arms or accepting any
appointment in their civil regulations
R ead t hree times and ratied in Gener al
Assembly the 1 7th May 1 78 3
R IC CAS WELL S S enate
E S T AR KE Y S C ommons
,

Man y people are fools enough to think

bec ause our three names are particularly
put in this Act that we are all guilty Of
the crimes set forth but I defy the world
to charge me with rape or anything more
than I have set forth in this Journal
All his Maj esty s subj ects or others that
w ish to know the truth of anything further
than I have set forth let them make en
quiry Of those gentlemen whose n ames I
have struck in ; examine the letters of the
rebels and the recommendations of the
o f cers who have been acquainted with
me in person and with my services in the
time of the late war
Although I have been prohibited from
receiving any benet from the laws of the
State all that I desire is to have the liberty
of
men
in
favour
of commanding
the British Government I atter myself
that there would be no doubt of my put
ting many of them to swing by the neck
for their honesty as John White did after
stealing 1 50 horses in North C arolina
the
follows
a
short
address
to
Here
printer signed
,

N
ID E R A B L
S
C
R
T
E
A
U
N
I
G
S
N
G
S
FA NNI
'

Di
ti
zed by Mi
cro s o ft
gi

R E D U CE D

NO T E S
P A GE 1
In S a b in s D ictionary of Books R el a tin g to A meric a Vol V I
it
a t p a ge 3 52
is st at ed tha t the origina l ma nuscript b elonged to a Mr D ea ne of C am b ridge who lent
it to a friend who in turn re lent it to a S outhern gentlema n who printed it This is a
mista ke The o riginal ma nuscript has never yet left D igb y N ova S cotia M r S abin s
sta tement can b e t rue o nl y of the copy m a de b y M r Bliss for the Ma ss achusetts H isto rica l
S ociety of whic h M r D e ane w as some time C o rresponding S ecreta ry a nd which copy is
not in the Lib r ary of the S ociety

P AGE S 5 a n d 8
M
fe
Wheeler gets hi
s story of F a nning s repulsive physic a l af ictions a n d e arly li
from D r Ca ruthers b ook who sa ys he received various a n d di
ermg a ccounts from severa l
sources and selected those which seemed most li
kely to b e t rue ; b y which he ev i dently
me ans those most da m aging to Fann ing He s ays F a nn ing seldom murdered a ny ex cept
those who ha d proved tre acherous to his c a use a nd those who ha d e cite d his wr a th by
uttering threa ts or b y resisting his progress T o kill those who resisted his pro gress
in other w ords opposed him on the eld of b attle wa s murder i
eyes as
n D r Ca r u thers
well a s to sho ot deserters and he may h ave thought of B alfour i
n co nnection with utterin g
threa ts N evertheless he sa ys l ater on tha t Fanning pursued the s ame course of rapine
murder a nd deva sta tio n The murder of a woma n which he so p a thetic ally rel ates on
p a ge 254 is a pocryphal on its f a ce for if it ha d taken pla ce there could h ave b een no one
b ut F a nning himself to tell the tale It is evidentl y a m al icious ction H ow an intelligent
ma n like D r Ca ruthers could have b een impo sed on b y such a sto ry a s he rel ates on pa ges
28 4 to
it is dif cult to conceive Having he a rd of Fanning s tria l in S t John the
while the fa cts coul d h ave b een ea sily
a b surd det ails a e l led up fro m im agin a tion
o b tained b y writing for informa tion to N ew Brunswick

r.

PAGE 9
T H O MA S FL E T CH AL L wa s a ma n of conside ra b le impo rta nce in South C arolina b efore
the R evolution L i
ke his older an d more fa mous contemp or ary pa triot G eneral Ru ggles
of M ass achusetts his symp athies were with the cl a ims of the C oloni
sts b ut he refused to
b e dra gooned into re b ellion H e was therefore imp risoned b y order of the P rovincial
s property
C ongress in 1 7 7 6 a nd hi
which included F air F orest hi
s home in U nion
D istrict S C wa s consca ted in 1 7 8 2
R aebu n s C re ek wa s a b ra nch of R eedy R iver and in L a ure ns Co S C
R ev Will i am
Tennent a nd W H D r ayton travelled through the country together the l att er a s an
emissa ry of the C ommittee of C orrespondence a nd S a fety of S outh Ca roli
na t o stir
the people a ga inst the G overnm ent ; the fo rmer to perform C hristia n rite s a s well H e
w as pro b a b ly a son of R ev Willi am Tennent D D
a colo ni al cler yma n o f s ome note
g
b orn in Ire land
The Americ a n Editor says the na me wa s S alva dor a nd attrib utes Fan
S IL V E D O O R
ni
n g s error to illitera cy b ut it is no proof of illiter a cy to missp ell an u nf ami
liar fo reign
surn ame
P AGE S 4 an d 9
T H O MA S BRO W N w as of A ugu sta G eorgi a
The re a der is referred to Sabine s account
of this m an a nd his c areer H e is s aid to h ave b e en one of the most ma ligna nt and
vindictive a mong the S outhe n Loy alists and to ha ve b een ma de so b y the illega l and
unj usti ab le me ans employed b y the P a triots to m ake him othe rwise The v e v icti
ms
who the A meric an Editor s ays were taken from the j a il a nd e x ecuted by his orders at
a tion for the v e Loya lists
August a pro b ab ly sn ered in direct retali
whose murder V an
Tyne says led to repri sa l s through the whole w a and were pro b ab ly dese rters from the
.

r,

D igitized by Micro s o ft

Con ti
n u ed

NO T E S

53

r i ti sh forces M a ny of the tal es q uoted a gainst him by Sa b ine are evi dently le gend ary
or f a b ulous
a n d he pu b l ished a n able vindi ca tion of his conduct
Acc ordi n to S ab ine
the Br i t i sh G overnment g ave him
as compens ation for his losses
H e di
ed a t S t
V i ncent W I in 1 8 25 the s ame ye ar th at Fanning died in Digb y
B

o
a

,l

P AGE S 9 a nd 1 4
R O BE R T CU NN I N G H AM wa s an Irishma n of ab ility and i n uence as was also his b rother
Pa trick
H e wa s comrm ss oned a J udge and the l atter S urveyor G enera l b efore the war
,

P AGE 1 2
C OLO N E L M IL L S was one of the twelve b arba rously put to dea th by the vict o rious

rev olu ti
oni
sts a f ter the b a ttle of K ing s M ount a in
cold b loo ded murders A lthough
rm
ra nk he must ha ve b een a ma n of position and in uence
he is not mentione d
y ; athmi s e
P AG E 1 4
A BRA H AM D E P E YS TE R and his two b rothers JAME S and FRE DE RI C came to N ew
Brun swi ck where Ab r ah a m died F e b rua ry 1 7 9 8 aged 4 5 All three held high oices in
the new P ro v i nce P ortr aits of Ab rah a m a nd Frederic with e tensive notic es of them

a ppe ar in L a wrence s
F ootprints of S t John ( S t John J
A M cM i
l l an
ne
S ee also S abi
They were like m any other of the best f amilies of N ew Y ork de scended
from a F rench P rotes t a nt who ed to H olla nd in the da ys of persecution The des cend
a nts of these m en a re now for the most p a rt in N ew York
S ome of them rendered good
service to the U nion during the C ivi
l War professing to act on the same principles a s their
a ncestors di
d in the R evolution
C o l o n el Johnston D eP eyst er A pril 3 1 8 6 5 hoisted the
G ener al Georg e Wa tts D eP eyst er of N ew
rst U nion ag on the Ca pitol in Richmond
Y ork a gra ndson of F rederic delivered a nota b le a ddress b efore the H istoric al S ociety
n
of N ew Brunswick July 4 1 8 8 3 the centena ry ye a r of the l an di
ng of the Loyalists i
which he shows the an al ogy b etween the position of the Loyali
sts in the Ame rica n R evo
who fought for a U nited Empire an d the U nion Loya lists o f the C ivil War The
lu ti
on
which is o f much historic value wa s pub lished in New York b y C ha rles H
a ddress
cer
Ludwig 1 0 a nd 1 2 R ea d S treet 1 8 8 3 Although the production of an America n oi
s Loya list a ncestors
of high ra nk it glows with the spirit of hi

'

m es s

14

a nd

18

M aj or P A TRIC K F ER GU S O N a promising British oi killed

the b ttl of
M ount ain O cto b er 7 1 7 8 0 was a na tive of S cotl and son of J amss F erguson the eminent
Jurist and nephew of Lord E li
Fa nning wa s with him on his retrea t from G il b ert
bank
town to K ing s M ounta in C olonel Willi ams who fell in this b a ttle wa s
na tive of
G r anville N O
PAGE 1 5
The Americ an E ditor co rrects D r C aruthers sta tement tha t Fanning was with Pyles
when the la tter was defea ted b y Lee A ccordi
ng to his own st atement he was then at
dl e ta k
D eep R iver But t o co rrect all the sta tements of C a ruthers in detail were a n i
s
F or re al histo rica l pu rposes his b ook is of little va lue b ut it served to help keep al ive in
the minds of A meric an people th a t unrelenting hostility to G re a t B ri tai n whi ch was so
long the settled policy of the U nited S ta tes sta tesmen a n d p ubhc sts S ee p age 3 33 of
his bo o k; T o m ak e the memory of the Loyalist s odio us wa s his unworthy im if a b and
f a b dy
al m a ss acre ; i
a
w
a
a
Loy
lists
m
de
g
ll
nt
successful
a
tt
a
ck
it
d
i
b
ol
i
c
an d
a a
a
a
a
of
did
higs
s
me
thing
it
a spl endid fea t of a rms whi ch enti tled i ts heroes
w
as
a
h
e
t
W
of
H is bo ok w as j ust such as the A meric ans used to love
t o i m mort ality
P AGE 1 6
er
the
ar British C onsul at N orfolk
w
ft
n
a
a
d
a
J O H N H AMI LT O N a n a tive of S cotl nd
died
very
highly
esteemed
H
e
n
d
a
n
d
a
Virginia wa s a ma n of gre a t ab ility
culture
m E ng l a nd in 1 8 1 7
ra
a noke
g
d
niece
of
John
R
a
ndolph
of
R
o
whose
b
i
o
phy
G U IL F ORD D U D L E Y m a r rie a
m eri c an Edi tor refers to
pu
b
lished
b
y
D
r
J
B
D
dley
The
A
a son of G uilford
u
was
t h e S outhern Liter ary Messenger Vol 2 pp 1 4 4 257 28 1 3 7 0
PAG E S 1 7 a nd 1 8
a t Ma j or J O H N
ets
it
from
C
th
a ruthers
h
o
Ed
t
or w g
We ga ther from the Ameri ca n
R
I C H ARD ED W A RD S wa s killed
1
9
1
8
i
n
R A I N S was a miller in Tennessee and very poor
,

K ing s

at

cer

'

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NO TE S Con ti
n u ed

54,
Ki
rk s

Fa rm
week b efore the b attle of C ane C reek and his b rother EDW ARD who
s ucceeded him in comm and was kill ed the nex t week at Li
n dley s Mi
ll s ; ME RE D IT H ED W ARD S
T H O M AS D ARK T H O M AS E A STRIDGE a n d T H O M AS R ICH E TT S were all e x e cuted for their
loyalty under a conviction fo r a lleged trea son a ga inst their S ta te in Ja nu ary 1 78 2
J O H N RA I N S S r was kil led at Lindley s M ills and J O H N C A GLE and J A M E S R ICE we re
hanged at P ee D ee a nd D AVI D JA C K S O N met the sa me fa te in Ran dolph ; S TE P H E N WALKE R
w as shot in Ap ril 1 7 8 2 b y C olonel G holson on D eep River a nd J A M E S a nd S IM O N LI N D LE Y
were shot in the mounta ins T H O M AS B L AIR settled a t N ew River b ui
l t iro n work s
who had cha rge of G overnor Bu rke when a priso ner
a n d prospered a n d J O H N M CL E A N
AL E !
was through f avor o f a Wlhi
g frien d all owed to settle on the Lower D eep R iver
a
AND E R M CK AY died rich i
es a n d C ol D U N CA N R AY went to N ova S coti
n the West I n di

A ct of
H e al so s ay s th at P E TE R MA LLE T ex cluded with F a nning and A ndrews in the
Pa rdon w as the v ict i
m of prej udice H e might h ave s aid th at most of the others kill ed
otherwise tha n in ba ttle were the victims of diab olic al m alice a n d the barba rous methods
of wa ging war employed b y th eir enemies who ha nged for trea son a gainst their country
men who loved their c ount ry] a s well as they th emselves did and conscienti ously sought to
promote its h ighest interest s as they saw them and moreover had l aw on their side
D octor Ca ruthers pu b lishes p a ges 24 4 5 the repo rt of John Willi ams the Ju dge of
the C ourt to the G overnor in which he s ays : M eredith Edwa rds and T homa s E astridge
were also indi
cted for t rea son They a re b oth men who a ppear ed to b e e qu ally popul ar
a mong the Tories
a n d men of F a nning s ga ng
though generally ki
nd
a n d v ery a ctive
a n d huma ne to prisoners while i
n their custody
A s t o the general moral
ch ara cter of these men it se emed to b e pretty good only grea t T ories Then he pu b li sh es
Fa nni
ng s letter of F eb ruary 26th 1 7 8 2 to the G overnor threa tening reprisals if any
more were hung I understa nd you h ave hung three of my menone C apta in a nd two
private s an d h ave a Ca pta in and si
x
men under sentence of de ath If the re quisitions
of my articles do not arrive to sa tisfa ction a nd the e ffu sion of b loo d stoppe d a nd the
lives of these men sa ved I will retali ate b lood for b lood a n d tenfold fo r one and there
sh all never a n oicer or priva te of the Re b el pa rty esc ape th at falls into my ha nd here
a f ter
Al as they were h an ged ! an a trocity which a ft er his ca ution n atur al ly ex as
ng to the highest pitch of fury an d the killing of B alfour D ou dy and
p era t ed F a nni
B rya n a n d the dest ruction of a numb er of pl an t ations followed in q uick and gha stly
succession A s q u aint old Thoma s Ful ler in his Worthies of Engl and sa ys A sol
n g of a f riend s de a th in wa r is in revenging it
dier s most proper b em oani
C olonel A RC H IB AL D M CD OU GA LL w as in N ova S cotia some yea rs then in Engla nd
where he o b ta ined a pension a nd nally settled in N orth Ca rolina where he w a s popul ar
an d useful citi z en
a s the Loya lists g ener a lly would h ave b een
a n d were in the B riti sh
P rovinces to which they were e x i
led
P AGE 22
C apt J O H N L E GGA T I in C olonel Hamilton s No rth C arolina R e giment was one of
th os e with Fanni
ng a t S t Augustine in 1 7 8 3 b ut na lly returned to N orth C a rolina
at

at

P AGE S 4 and 25
E DM U N D F AN N I N G was bo n on Long I sl a nd N Y
Much a bu sed by some A meri can
writers q u oted with ap p arent approval b y S abi
ne he w as a m an of much ab ility ex cellent
ch ara cter a nd high ide als H e was Lieutena nt G overnor of N ova S cotia an d assum ed the
duties of G overnor of Prince Edward Isl and in 1 7 8 6 and was an a b le energetic and p at
ri
oti
c a dministr a tor
a nd ma na ged p e culi a r dif culties with ta ct a nd rmn ess
lea ving a
la sting impress for good on the history of the P rovince S ee Wa rburton s H isto rica l
S ketch of P rince Edward Isl and pp 3 5 et seq H e att ained the r ank of General i
n
the B ri tish A rmy a nd died in London in 1 8 1 8 A la rge a nd b e autiful la ke in Ya rmouth
C ounty N S is na med L ake Fa nning in his hono r
r

G iv en

an d arm ,

PAGE 3 1
under my! h and a t ar ms The at is perfectly pla in ; it cert ainly is not
a s the A me ric a n Editor prints a n d ridicul es it
.

PA GE S 3 1 and 3 2
A N DRE W BA LFO U R lik e Hami
lton who espoused wi
th equa l z ea l the other side of the
unh appy c ontroversy wa s a S cotsm an b orn in Edinb u rgh and ca me to Am erica i
n 1 772

Hi
s rema rk to Fa nning tha t th ere w a s
no resting pl ace for a Tory s foot on the earth
which led to his own de ath M a rch 1 0 1 7 8 2 a s rel ated in the narra tive p roves hi
m to hav e
b een among the more intolera nt a nd uncompromising spirits who in the b eginn ing of the
D igitized by Micro s o ft
,

n u ed
NO TE S Con t i

55

Wa r

were so l argely responsib le for the ex cesses on both sides and which re ach ed thei r
cl i m ax a s the struggle wa s d ra wing to a close N oth i
ng is recorded a gainst him ex cept
th i s uttera nce a n d Fa nning s reference to his i
l l deeds
H is posterity are numerous
and
respec ta b le H is killing w as simply an ex ample o f the way the war was ca rried on
b y b oth p arties b e ginning with the ha nging of v e Tories mentioned b y V an T yne
an d the ta rring an d fe a therin g of Brown It followed close upon the ex ecution of a
num b er o f F a nnin g s o fce rs and men H is brother John Ba lfour wa s a Loy alist
,

AGE S

23 , 24 , 4 0

S ee fo otnote to p age 4 0 C olonel HE C TO R M C NE ILL who comm anded a regim ent of

C ap e F e a r S cots wa s a n uncle of Ca pt D AN IE L M C NE ILL C ol onel HE C TO R M cNE rL L who
succeeded to the comm a nd
w as a b rother of Da niel
D aniel w a s a son of A rchiba ld
a n d J a net M cNei
l ] a n d w as b orn in 1 7 52 at Lower Little R iver C umb erla nd C o
NO
H e es pouse d the Loya l c a use on the out b re ak of hostilities and for a time served as
L i eut en ant in a regiment of the line a nd was a fte rwa rds a ppointe d C aptain in a No rth
Ca rolin a regiment o f Loya lists b y Lord C o rnwallis June 24 1 7 8 0 b ut his co mmi
ssion
In the N o rth C arolina Volunteers comm anded b y Lieut
C ol John Ha mi
lton b ea rs date
A ugust 20 1 7 8 1 H e served b ra vely and honor ab ly throughout the wa a nd wa s wounded
a t le a st once
A b ullet consisting of a rough slug of rolled l ea d wa s emb edded i
n hi
s
ll wa s in Ha lif ax N S
thigh b one Ca pt M cNei
in N ove mb er 1 7 8 3 in connection with an
a pplic a tion for gra nts of la nd to Loy alists of the two C aro lin a s
a nd on M ay 1 3 th f ol
lowing a g ra nt w as ma de to a b out 4 00 oi
cers an d men from thos e S ta tes a t C oun try
Ha r b or now a p a rt of the C ounty of Guysb orough N ov a S co tia T hey cal led the settle
ment S to rmont b y which a district in th a t C ounty is sti
H e ma rried in N o va
l l known
S coti a Ma ry dau ghter of C apt John N utting of the R oy al Engi
neers in the B ritish
A rmy of M a ss achuse tts Loya list a nce stry H er mother w as M ary Walton who wa s b o rn
of Loya list pa rents a t South R ea ding Ma ss From her f a ther the vill age of Whlton

in H a nts C o N S w as na med C apt M cNei

Loyal
ll n ally removed to a pla ce ca lled
H ill on the A von River ab out eight miles below Windsor N S an d died of apoplex y
H is only son A r chib a ld John died young His daught er Ma ry Ja net
M ay 5 1 8 1 8
ma rried a t Winds or a b out 1 8 1 7 Fra ncis Parker a gr andson of a na tive of Yorkshire
who with three b roth ers had mi gra ted to N ova S cotia in 1 7 7 5 a n d w a s the mo ther of
H on Da ni el M cNei
who as a physicia n of g re a t le arning and skill a
l ] P a rker M D
mem b er of the Le gisla tive C ouncil of N ova S coti a a holder of ma ny importa nt honorary
n the B a ptist C hurch w as rightly esteemed a s a n ex a ple
ces a n d a religious l ea der i
oi
m
of a ll th a t is j us t t rue an d hono ra b le in professional politica l soci al and p rivate hfe
s
s property c
I t a pp e a rs tha t Ca pt M cNei
ll s fa ther was not e x iled nor wa s hi
on
s will
to rea lise which he vi s i ted
ca ted a s he left the C a pt a in consider ab le property b y hi
tig ation whi ch he was
N orth C arolina in 1 8 1 1 H e met with di
f culties reso rti
ng to li
o b liged to compromi
se b y a ccepting a numb er of sl aves These to his g rea t loss nea rly
m on his a rrival in N ova S coti a encour aged by pub lic s entim ent in the
a l l dese rted hi
P rovince
m a nd his heirs one in C ha th am C oun ty nea r
T wo pl a nta tions de v ised to hi
th e mouth o f N ew H ope the other on M cK ay s Cr eek Cum b erla nd Co N O w ere never
m or his d aughter s to whom be dev ised them Even the d aughters coul d not
r ec ove r ed by hi
be f or g iven f or their f a ther s loy al ty
'

r,

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