PLUNDERING MURDERING TORY DAVID FANNING IN N.C.

[gldhntr]

a small excerpt from his personal journal...when fanning fled nc for his life he supposedly left much plunder buried around the deep river, thought to be in a cave, in randolph county.........

Digby 15th May 1822


‘Dear Sir

The letters you sent me appears to be a request of some gentleman in North Carolina, or elsewhere to get holt of my Journal, or the narrative of my servis, During the time of the American Revolution. I am under the necessity of saying that I would not Let any man have it on any pretense whatsoever, Unless I was well informed of the use that was to be made of it. You can say to the Gentleman that I now have a narrative of the Transactions of that war, Both of North and South Carolinas; and if any gentleman wishes to know from me of any particular transaction, or the Date, by pointing it out to me, I may give the information of it, if it Don’t operate against my Coming back to look after my property. You may say, that my Journal contains more than one Quire of Fools Cap paper Closely wrote, and it would take a good pens man a month to write it over, fit to send to the world abroad. I was offered, by Charles Cook in England fifty pounds sterling for my Journal to have it published, and I Refused him. Colonel McDougal Desired me not to Insert in it, any thing of his Servessas; as he intended going back to North Carolina to Live, and he knows that I have a Narrative of all the Transactions. If he should want any thing of the kind from me, he should write to me himself. If any person wishes to prove any thing false , respecting the conduct of the Torys, let him point what it is, and I will endeavour to give him the truth.

I am dear Sir Your obedient Servant

David Fanning.

P. S. I believe there is some more meaning in the letters than I understand; the word Memorial of my life or a word to that effect, that I don’t understand. I have hurt my ankil and knee, so I cannot come to see you. Ross said you wanted to answer them by post.



To the Rev’d Roger Veitts.

With every reader of the revolutionary history of North Carolina, so full of thrilling incidents and patriotism, I feel much gratification in rescuing from oblivion this narrative of one, about whom so much and varied tradition exists in our State; and which, from its minuteness in detail, and accuracy of dates (which have been compared with reliable authorities), may be depended upon, as a truthful record. Had the daring, desparate temper of Fanning been elevated by education, chastened by religious influences, and directed in proper and patriotic channels, his name might have been associated with that of the Marions and Waynes of the eventful epoch in which he was notorious.”



Jno. H. Wheeler



Murfreesboro’, Hertford Co., N. C.

5th June, 1861



~



The following excerpts are as written by David Fanning:



Narrative

of

COL’O DAVID FANNING

written by himself

Detailing Astonishing Events

IN NO. CA.

From 1775 to 1783



~





TO THE READER



Courteous Reader,



whoever thou art, the Author being only a farmer bred, and not conversant in learning, thou may’st think that the within Journal is not authentic. But it may be depended upon on that every particular herein mentioned is nothing but the truth; Yea, I can boldly assert that I have undergone much more than what is herein mentioned.

Rebellion according to Scripture is, as the Sin of witch-craft; and the propagators thereof, has more than once punished; which is dreadfully exemplified this day in the now United States of America but formerly Provinces; for since their Independence from Great Britain, they have been awfully and visibly punished by the fruits of the earth being cut off; and civil dissention every day prevailing among them; their fair trade, and commerce almost totally ruined; and nothing prospering so much as nefarious and rebelious Smugling. Whatever imperfections is in the within, its hoped will be kindly overlooked by the courteous Reader, and attributed to the Author’s want of learning.

I do not set forth any thing as a matter of amusement, but what is really, justly fact, that my transactions and scenes of life have been as herein narrated during the term of the Rebellion; and that conduct, resolution, and courage perform wonderous things beyond credibility, the following of which laudable deeds will give them, are exercised therein the Experience that I have gained.

In the 19th year of my age, I entered into the War; and proceeded from one step to another, as is herein mentioned, and at the conclusion thereof, was forced to leave the place of my nativity for my adherence to the British Constitution; and after my sore fatigues, I arrived at St. John River; and there with the blessing of God, I have hitherto enjoyed the sweets of peace, and freedom under the benevolent auspices of the British Government - which every loyal and true subject may enjoy with me, is the wish of the Author.

David Fanning

King’s County

Long Beach

New Brunswick

June 24th 1790.



Psalm 37 & 37.

“Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright! for the end of that man is peace.”



~



INDEX.



The narrative of David Fanning . . . . . 1

Major Robinson took the command . . . . . 3

The first time my being taken . . . . . 3

My going to the Indians . . . . . . 4

John Tork in East Florida . . . . . . 5

Colo. Mills taken . . . . . . . 7

Gilliam took me . . . . . . . 9

My wounds dressed . . . . . . . 11

Treaty with the rebel, Colo. Williams . . . . . 11

The reduction of Charleston . . . . . . 11

Colo. Innis’ Engagement in South Carolina . . . . 12

Went to Deep River North Carolina . . . . . 13

Col. Hamilton’s advertisement . . . . . . 13

A skirmish with Duck . . . . . . 14

Joined Lord Cornwallis . . . . . . 14

A skirmish with Capt. John Hinds . . . . . 15

The Three Skirmishes . . . . . . 15

The Skirmish with Collier and Balfour . . . . . 17

My appointment from J. H. Craigg . . . . . 18

A copy of the commission, I gave . . . . . 19

The names of the different Officers . . . . . 19

Chatham taken . . . . . . . 24

The Regulations of the Loyalists . . . . . 24

The oath to the Loyalists . . . . . . 27

Engagement with Col. Alston . . . . . . 27

Copy of a parole . . . . . . . 28

Major Gage’s letter . . . . . . . 29

Col. Slingsby wounded . . . . . . 31

The Engagement with Wade . . . . . . 31

McDougald and McNeal join me . . . . . 32

My advertisement . . . . . . . 32

Hillsborough taken, (Gov. taken prisoner) . . . . 33

Colo. McNeal killed, and myself wounded . . . . 34

Skirmish with O Neal . . . . . . 34

J. H. Craigg’s letter . . . . . . . 36

Colo. Edmund Fanning’s letter . . . . . . 37

Capt. John Leggetts’ letters . . . . . . 37

Colo. McDougal’s list of Officers . . . . . 37

Colo. McNeal’s do do . . . . . . 37

The Volunteers from Wilmington . . . . . 37

Different skirmishes with Rutherford’s men . . . . 38

Rebel proclamation . . . . . . . 39

& Col. Isaacs from the mountains . . . . . 39

Skirmishes with the Rebels . . . . . . 41

Golstone’s House burnt and two Rebels killed . . . . 41

Terms required by me of the Rebels . . . . . 42

Williams answer . . . . . . . 43

Ramsey’s Letters . . . . . . . 44

Williams, Burns, & Clarke’s letter . . . . . 45

Capt. Linley murdered and two men hanged for it . . . . 46

Col. Alston came to me . . . . . . 46

My articles presented again . . . . . . 47

General Butler’s letter . . . . . . 49

Walker, and Currie’s skirmishes with the Rebels . . . . 50

Balfour killed . . . . . . . 51

Bryan Killed . . . . . . . 51

Rebel Commisary hanged . . . . . . 52

Capt. Williams from Gov’r to me . . . . . 52

Griffith’s Letter . . . . . . . 53

Rosur and Goldston’s letters . . . . . . 53

Capt. Dugin’s and Guins letter . . . . . . 54

The answer from the Assemblay . . . . . 55

Myself married, & Capt. Hooker killed . . . . . 56

The forged letters . . . . . . . 57

My answer in Major Rains name . . . . . 58

My riding Mare taken . . . . . . 59

Hunter and Williams letter . . . . . . 59

My arrival in Charleston . . . . . . 61

The names of the gentlemen Committee in Charleston . . . 61

*Rebel proclamation . . . . . .

Embarked for East Florida . . . . . . 63

*Major Devoice’s Articles . . . . . .

A certificate of my Services . . . . . . 63

An estimate of my property . . . . . . 64

*King’s Speech . . . . . . .

*My speech to the inhabitants . . . . . .

*Myself and others set out for East Florida . . . .

*My arrival at New Providence . . . . . .

Col. Hamilton’s letter . . . . . . 65

My Memorial to the Commissioners . . . . . 66

Lieut. Colo. McKay’s letters . . . . . . 67

Commissioner’, certificate . . . . . . 69

Memorial for half pay to Sir George Young . . . . 67

*My letter to George Randal . . . . . .

The Rebel Act of oblivion . . . . . . 70

*Rebel Petition . . . . . . .

*Mr. Branson’s letters . . . . . .

*William Teague’s letter . . . . . .



*The subjects named in these are not to be found in the text.



~



. . . . . “The day Lord Cornwallis defeated Gen. Greene at Guildford,* I was surprised by a Captain Duck, with a company of Rebels, where I sustained a loss of all our Horses, and arms; we had one man killed on each side.

The day following, myself, and three more of the company, furnished ourselves with arms, and persued the Rebels, who we discovered had gone to their respective homes with their plunder. We visited one of their houses and found the horses which had been taken from the friends of the Government; and discovering one of the said party in an out house , I fired 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 returned back to Deep River. We kept concealed in the woods and collected 25 men, having scouts out continually until we proceeded to Dixon’s Mill, Cane Creek, where Lord Cornwallis was there encamped. On our arrival there his Lordship met us, and asked me several questions respecting the situation of the country, and disposition of the people. I gave him all the information in my power. And leaving the company with his Lordship, I returned back to Deep river in order for to conduct more men to the protection of the British arms.

Two days following, I returned to the army at Chatham Court house, after being surprised and dispersed by the Rebel Dragoons; on my bringing in 70 Loyalists. I joined my company again and went with his Lordship, to Cross Creek, and as we had lost most of our horses, we determined to return to Deep River, and join his Lordship when on his way to Hillsborough. General Green followed his Lordship as far as Little River, and then returned to Ramseys Mills on his way back to Camden; his men marched in small parties and distressed the friends to Government, through the Deep River settlement; I took 18 of them at different times, and paroled them, and after thatwe were not distressed by them for some little time; after a little while some of us had assembled at a friends house, where we were surrounded by a party of 14 Rebels under the command of Capt. John Hinds; we perceived their approach and prepared for to receive them; when they had got quite near us, we run out of the doors of the house, fired upon them, and killed one of them; on which we took three of their horses, and some some firelocks - we then took to the woods and unfortunately had two of our little company taken, one of which the Rebels shot in cold blood, and the other they hung on the spot where we had killed the man a few days before - - We were exasperated at this, that we determined to have satisfaction, and in a few days I collected 17 men well armed, and formed an ambuscade on Deep River at Coxe’s Mills, and sent out spies. In the 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 place and discovered them in a field near the house. I attacked them immediately, and kept up a smart fire for half an hour, during which time, we killed their Captain, and one private, on the spot - wounded three of them, and took two prisoners besides eight of their horses well appointed, and several swords. This happened on the 11th of May 1781. The same day, we persued another party of Rebels, and came up with them the morning following; we attacked them smartly and killed 4 of them on the spot wounded 3 dangerously and took one prisoner with all their horses, and appointments. In about an hour after that, we took two men of the same party, and killed one more of them; the same evening we had intelligence of another party of Rebels, which were assembling about 30 miles off in order for to attack us; as I thought it best to surprise them where they were collecting, I marched all night and about 10 o’clock the next morning, we came up with them; we commenced a fire upon each other, which continued for about 10 minutes when they retreated; we killed two of them, and wounded 7, and took 18 horses well appointed; we then returned to Deep River again - I still kept the company together, and waited for another opportunity, during which time, I took two Rebel soldiers and parolled them, who gave me information of a Col. Dudley coming from Gen’l Greens camp at Camden, with baggage.

I mounted my men and set forward in search of them; and 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 one man with me, and went to see if I could make any discovery. I rode a mile and a half, when I saw Col. Dudley with his baggage - I then wheeled my horse, and returned to my men; where I came within a hundred yards of them, Dudley and his Dragoons was nose and tail and snapped their pistols several times. I, then, ordered a march after them, and after marching 2 ½ miles I discovered them, and immediately took three of them prisoners, with all the baggage and nine Horses. The baggage I divided among my me Men, which agreeably to Col. Dudley’s report was valued as 1,000 [pounds sterling]. I returned to Coxe’s Mill and remained there till the 8th June; when the Rebels embodied 160 men to attack me, under the command of Cols. Collyer and Balfour. I determined to get the advantage by attacking them, which I did with 49 men in the night, after marching 10 miles to their encampment. They took one of my guides, which gave them notice of my approach: I proceeded within thirty steps of them; but being unacquainted with the grounds, advanced very cautiously. The sentinel, however, discovered my party, and firing upon us, retreated. They secured themselves under cover of the houses, and fences; the firing 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 wounded; and the guide, before mentioned, taken prisoner; whom they killed next morning in cold blood. What injury they suffered, I could not leard; As the morning appeared we retreated, and returned again to Deep River; leaving our wounded men at a friend’s house, privately.

The Rebels then kept a constant scouting, and their numbers was so great, that we had to lay still for sometime; and when Collier and Balfour left the settlement, he the said Colonel Dudley, before mentioned, took the place with 300 men from Virginia. He took a negro man from me and sold him at public auction for 110 pounds; the said negro was sent over the mountains, and I never saw him since. At length they all began to scatter; amd we to embody. William Elwood being jelous of my taking too much command of the men, and in my absence, one day, he persuaded them that I was a going to make them regular soldiers, andcause them to be attached to Col. John Hamilton’s Regiment; and vindicated it , by an advertisement, that I had handed to several of the Loyalists; that I thought had the greatest influence with the Loyalists. 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 Field Officer. The majority chose me; They, then, drew up a petition to the commanding officer of the King’s troops.” . . . . . .





. . . . . “About the 7th March1782 Capt. Walker and Currie, of the Loyal Militia fell in, with a party of Rebels, and came to an engagement, and fired for some time, ‘till the rebels had fired all their ammunition; and then, wished to come to terms of peace between each party; and no plundering, killing or murdering should be committed by either party or side; which was concluded upon by each Colonel, for such certain limited bounds; which was to be agreed upon by each Colo; and if they could not agree, each party was to remain neutral until matters was made known, respecting the term which they had to agree upon. Soon after my men came to me and informed what they had done; we received the rebel Col. Balfour’s answer; ‘there was * resting place for a tory’s foot upon the Earth.’ He also immediately sent out his party, and on the 10th, I saw the same company coming to a certain house where we were fiddling and dancing. We immediately prepared ourselves in readiness to receive them, , their number being 27 and our number only seven; We immediately mounted our horses, and went some little distance from the house, and commenced a fire, for some considerable time; night coming on they retreated and left the ground. Some time before, while, we were treating with each other, I had ordered and collected twenty-five men to have a certain dress made which was linnen frocks, died black, with red cuffs, red elbows, and red shoulder cape also, and belted with scarlet, all fringed with white fringe, and on the 12th of March, my men being all properly equipped, assembled together, in order, to give them a small scourge, which we set out for. On Balfour’s plantation, we came upon him, he endeavored to make his escape; but we soon prevented him, fired at him, and wounded him. The first 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 committing any more ill deeds.

We also wounded another of his men. We then proceded to their Colonel’s (Collier,) belonging to said county of Randolph; on our way we burnt several rebel houses, and catched several prisoners; the night coming on and the distance to said Collier’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 of his plantation. I then persued our route, and came to one Capt. John Bryan’s; another rebel officerr. I told him if he would come outof the house, I would give him a parole; which he refused, saying that he had taken parole from Lord Cornwallis, swearing ‘by God! he had broken that and he would also break our Tory parole. With that I immediately ordered the house to be set on fire, which was instantly done. As soon as he saw the flames of the fire, increasing, he called out to me, and desired me to spare his house, for his wife’s and children’s sake, and he would walk out with his arms in his hands. I immediately answered him, that if he walked out, that his house should be saved, for his wife and children. When he came out, he said ‘Here, damn you, here I am.’ With that he received two balls through his body: He came out with his gun cocked, and sword at the same time.

The next following being the 13th march, was their election day to appoint Assembly men, and was to meet at Randolph Court House. I proceeded on in order to see the gentlemen representatives; On their getting intelligence of my coming they immediately scattered; I prevented their doing any thing that day.

From thence I proceeded on, to one Major Dugin’s house, or plantation, and I destroyed all his property; and all the rebel officers property in the settlement for the distance of forty miles.” . . .



~



Note 20. Page 50.



“There was” The word “no” is evidently omitted here, as Col Balfour certainly meant to say, “There was no resting place for a Tory’s foot upon the earth.”

Balfour, Andrew, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland , of respectable parentage. He arrived in America in 1772, and settled at Newport, Rhode Island. In 1777 he went to Charleston, South Carolina, and engaged in making salt. He removed th Salisbury, North Carolina, in 1778, and purchased or obtained lands in Randolph county. He was a member of the legislature from this county in 1780. Such was his activity in the cause of his adopted country, that he was taken prisoner in the fall of this year (1780), with Jacob Shepard, father of the Hon. Augustine H. Shepard, by a party of Tories under the command of Col. Coulson. When carrying them as prisoners to Cheraw they were released by Capt. Childs, from Montgomery county. He returned to his home, when he was attacked by Fanning, and he was cruelly murdered by Fanning, his daughter and sister clinging to him in despair, on Sunday, 10th March, 1782. His widow, who came to North Carolina after his death, Dec., 1784, was much respected and held the office of Post Master at Salisbury until 1825, discharging its duties with great fidelity and acceptability. Her son Andrew married Mary Henly, and had nine children (five sons and four daughters), all of whom removed to the west except Mrs. Eliza Drake, wife of Col. Drake, of Ashboro. His daughter Tibby married John Troy, who had three children: John Balfour Troy, now of Randolph co., Margaret, who died in Davidson county in 1813, and Rachel who married Lewis Beard, now in the west. His third and remaining child, Margaret, married Hudson Hughes, of Salisbury, who had two daughters, one of whom married Samuel Reeves, of Salisbury.



(On page 17, 29th line, Elwood should be Elrod. Col. Elrod’s humanity rendered him obnoxious to Fanning. - See Caruther’s Old North State, vol. 1, 175.)



* * * * * *



The following are miscellaneous other writings with references to David Fanning as published on the Internet:



“Biographies of North Carolina Revolutionary War Participants



ALLRED/ALDRED, John

born Abt 1758 in Deep River, Randolph Co. North Carolina; died Aft April 11, 1846 in Deep River, Randolph Co. North Carolina. He was the son of William ALLRED and Elizabeth DIFFEE. He married Sarah SPENCER 1786 in Randolph Co., North Carolina. Sarah SPENCER was born Abt 1769 in Randolph Co., North Carolina.

John Allred, was born and reared in the house built by his father, William Allred. In the same home Claiborne Allred, who was the youngest son of John Allred and Sarah Spencer, and Orpha Russell settled when they first married and most of their family of seven children were born there.

When the Revolutionary war came, John Allred shouldered his flintlock rifle and fought for the freedom of the American colonies to the end of the war. As a resident of Rowan County, NC, he enlisted in the spring of 1781 as a private and volunteer in the cavalry under Capt. Thomas Doogan for the purpose of subduing and putting down one Colonel David Fanning, a Tory in the Royal Militia, who, with a band of outlaws, conducted a campaign of guerrilla warfare against the colonists in and around Randolph County, North Carolina, burning houses, pillaging and murdering, from 1775 to 1783. Allred served for approximately 12 months until the spring of 1782. The fact of his fighting against the British aroused the anger of Col. David Fanning, the leader of the Tories or British sympathizers, and he and his band of men went to the homestead in search of John, who happened to be at home. He saw them coming, snatched up his gun and secreted himself in the attic. It so happened that they did not go up there to search for him. William Allred also saw them approaching, took up his gun and ran out northwest of the house and lay down behind a large rock. He could see Fanning and his men from his hiding place when they went out to his crib, later opened the crib door and let many barrels of corn run out, did the same at another log crib, then turned their horses loose in the lot to eat and trample the corn into the red mud. When they had eaten all they wanted them to have, they saddled them up and started on towards the western part of the county. Fanning was eventually driven out of North Carolina and fled to South Carolina and then to East Florida, and from there fled with his family to New Brunswick, Canada, where he died on the island of Nova Scotia in 1825. . . .



SOURCES: (1) Family history recollections, written by Rev. Brazilla Caswell Allred in 1922, and published in "The Searcher", Vol. VI, No. 2 (So. Calif. Genealogical Society, 1969) The Reverend was the brother of William Franklin Allred of Randolph County, North Carolina. (2) Certified Statement of Mary C. Allred Jones, dated 22 Apr 1929, found among the papers of Dora Belle Jones Cross on 16 Oct 1977; (3) Rulon Allred, "Allred Family in America" (1965); (4) Revolutionary war Pension records, National Archives; (5) DAR Patriot Index, p. 12; Randolph Co. Marriage Bonds, cited in Rand. Co. Gen. Journal, Vol 1, No. 1 (Spring 1977), p. 30-31.
Submitted by: Frederick W. Ford ANURICK@aol.com”





“ Kenneth Black (1730-1781)

Kenneth Black was born on the Isle of Jura, Scotland about the year 1730. He married Miss Kate Patterson of the Isle of Jura, Scotland, and soon thereafter emigrated to North Carolina and settled in Moore County. There is no evidence that he was a refugee from The Battle of Culloden, as he was only a boy at the date of that crucial battle. All through the Revolutionary War, Kenneth Black was a staunch Loyalist. He appears to have taken only a pas

 

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"David Fanning, one of the most extraordinary men evolved by the Revolutionary War was born bout the year 1756....Gov. Swain...in tracing his career stated that he was born in that part of Johnston County which has since been embraced in Wake, and that he was apprenticed to a Mr. Bryan, from whom he ran away when about sixteen years of age....He was untaught and unlettered, and he had the scald head, that became so offensive that he did not eat at the table with the family; and in subsequent life he wore a silk cap so that his most intimate friends never saw his head naked. (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. V, p.90.)
"...His remorseless rapine and murderous execution were without a parallel. Besides individual hangings and minor encounters, he had participated in thirty-six bloody engagements; and the plantations he had ravaged and despoiled, leaving ruin and suffering in his path, were innumerable. The General Assembly extended amnesty and pardon to all Tories with the exception of three, and Fanning was among those proscribed. His crimes and butcheries were beyond forgiveness.(1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. V. p.97.)

"In September 1784, he located near St. John's, New Brunswick, and later resided at Digby, Nova Scotia where he died in 1825." (1906. Ashe, Samuel. Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. V. p.97.)



"During the Revolutionary War, and for several years thereafter, the middle and western counties of North Carolina were infested by lawless bands of Tories and ruffians, who, led by desperate men like David Fanning, pillaged the country, and often slew unprotected person without mercy. (1917. Ashe, Samuel et al in "Jacob Long," Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. VIII, p.287.)

 

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In the early morning hours of September 12, 1781, Loyalist David Fanning led 600 Tory militia on a daring raid of Hillsborough, NC where Governor Thomas Burke had taken refuge. Taken by surprise, the Hillsborough District militia and handful of Continentals offered little resistance. Fanning's men quickly captured the Governor, 71 Continentals, and a large number of whig militia while also freeing 30 loyalist prisoners held in the jail.

After their success -- in which they suffered only one wounded -- the victorious militia began to plunder the town, and after finding liquor, a number of them celebrated by becoming increasingly drunk. Recognizing that he needed to restore order and reestablish discipline, Fanning ordered his troops to form and marched out of town with his prisoners.

The next day, North Carolina Militia under General John Butler would surprise Fanning's force at Lindley's Mill.

 

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complete copy of his journal available online from ancestry.com here....... http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=BookList&dbid=10419&offerid=0:7858:0

 

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David Fanning 1754-1825

David Fanning was one of the more famous migrants from independent America to Canada. He was born in Johnston County, North Carolina and was a tradesman and planter. He was also, like many struggling colonists of that period something of a general trader with the Indians. Anything they wanted he would try to get and sell to them. During the War of Independence, Fanning led a band of brigands and has since been accused of atrocities including hanging those who had done him personal wrongs. Yet the British thought well of him and gave him the rank of lieutenant colonel in the militia. Eventually he was sentenced to death under the new administration, but escaped and eventually settled in Nova Scotia where, in 1790 he published his "Narrative of Adventures in North Carolina" and a journal, Colonel David Fanning, A Tory in the Revolutionary War with Great Britain.

 

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During the revolution, North Carolina’s backcountry (frontier) became the scene of violent clashes between groups of citizen-soldiers known as Whigs or Revolutionists and Tories or colonists loyal to Britain. At this time, the House in the Horseshoe belonged to Whig Colonel Philip Alston and his family. The 1781 battle began the morning of Aug. 5 when Alston and his band of colonial patriots camped around the house were attacked by a larger group of Tories. A loyalist named David Fanning, known for being fearless as well as a cold-blooded murderer, led the Tories. To “encourage” the colonials to give up, the Tories tried to torch the house by rolling a cart filled with burning straw against it. After several casualties on both sides, Alston surrendered.

Born in Johnston County, David Fanning led a band of outlaws allied with the Tories. Though Fanning and his followers were known for committing savage acts throughout the Carolina Backcountry (western frontier), he served the British well and was repaid by being commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the Tory militia. The colonials particularly hated Fanning because on several occasions, he hung colonials he captured merely because of personal dislike. After the Revolutionary War, Fanning was one of only three men in North Carolina to whom the new government did not grant a general pardon for offenses committed during the conflict.

 

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Bells' Mill and the life of Martha, and William Bell is perhaps,
one
of the greatest reasons to locate a Historical Museum near the mill
site, and near the family graveyard of Martha Bell.

**During their life, William Bell became our first sheriff, and some
of the first court proceedings were held on his plantation. He was a
scout for General Greene, and Martha entertained Cornwallis, and his
troops during, and right after the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.
While Cornwallis was busy grinding meal for the march to
Fayetteville, Martha was taking notes and advising General Greene of
his plans, by notes passed on through her husband, William.

She was said to have confronted Cornwallis if he was going to burn
the mill, (which he did not even entertain the thought),however she
had reason to fear this because of David Fanning.

*****A Quaker, William Millikan did not bear arms during the
Revolution, but he is listed in the DAR Patriot Index: "He was so
obnoxious to the Tories that on March 10, 1782 Colonel Fanning
burned his home and barns with all their contents. He also furnished
supplies." Nadine Holder quotes a longer version of this story on
her web site.

The fact that William Millikan was in charge of a tax district
indicates he was also a militia leader, according to North Carolina
tax records. One has to remember that the militia did not
necessarily wage war, but their duties before the Revolution
involved protection of the colonists from marauding humans and
beasts and also acting as guides to new settlers moving into the
back country.

Being a Quaker, William Millikan was a non-combatant during the
American Revolution, but his sympathies were pro-patriot which
placed him on a death list. In 1782, William was living on Back
Creek in Randolph County, near the Guilford County line. On March
10, a band of Tories came to his farm. Finding William absent, they
burned his house to the ground. Still he, himself, was never caught.
The story is given in the Millingas History as follows: "On Sunday,
March 10, 1782, Fanning went to the house of William Millikan Esq.
who lived on Back Creek, about two miles from Johnsonville, on the
old cross road. As Millikan was away (it is said that he was driving
his cows home and discovered Fanning in time to hide) from home they
burned his buildings and destroyed everything they could. While the
house was on fire, Mrs. Jane Millikan carried out a favorite feather
bed, but they carried it back and threw it on the fire. When the bed
began to burn, they twisted a stick into the feathers and scattered
them over the house. When the blazing feathers, as they flew in
every direction through the room, caught in a bundle of yarn which
was hanging on the wall, they taunted Mrs. Millikan and said: 'Look
at your yarn old woman.' When leaving Millikan's they compelled his
son, Benjamin, to go along and pilot them to the house of Col. John
Collier... . Fanning came up after night. Collier was asleep, but
before he lay down he put a young man out as sentinel on a pile of
rails a few rods from the door. Fanning made (Ben) Millikan answer
that they were friends. There is a tradition that Col. Fanning took
Benjamin Millikan and another young man out to hang them, and that
while they were stringing the other up to the branch of a tree,
Benjamin managed to escape. There are men now living (1903) who
remember having seen the stump of the tree on which the young man
was hung."

William Millikan served Randolph County, North Carolina , as a
Justice, a Register of Deeds, and Clerk of Courts.

David Fanning a Tory, was the Revolutionary War version of Osama Ben
Laden. He made it his duty to kill, and burn all Whigs and their
possessions in this part of the colony. There are numerous accounts
of his acts against the citizens of Randolph County.

Signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Revolutionary War
Soldier "Light horse" Harry Lee, was dispatched to Bells Mill
to
protect it from David Fanning. After leaving a guard of North
Carolina
Militia at Bells Mill he departed to give chase to the enemy.

Another account, of David Fanning is celebrated at "The House in
the
Horseshoe", near Sanford, and is recorded as a National Historic
Place. "the House in the Horseshoe" is by the way a tourist
attraction. David Fanning made his headquarters at yet another mill,
Cox's Mill, also here in Randolph County.
******
Col. Andrew Balfour, Patriot, was murdered by David Fanning, the
Balfour Community is named for the colonel, and is yet but another
example of how our past, has shaped in one way or another our
present.

 

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During the American Revolution, Cross Creek was a hotbed of wartime activity and home of divided loyalties. Highland Scots assembled there in 1776 and marched to Moore’s Creek Bridge, only to be defeated by the Patriots. In 1778, the county court issued orders for about four hundred citizens suspected of being Loyalists across Cumberland County, many of them Highland Scots, to take an oath of allegiance to the Provincial government. In 1788, when Charles Lord Cornwallis marched from South Carolina toward Guilford Courthouse, he and his troops passed through Cross Creek, where a battle ensued between Patriots and Loyalists. Fighting reoccurred when Cornwallis passed through again, this time following a retreat from Guilford Courthouse on April 7, 1781. On August 14, 1781, David Fanning raided Cross Creek with his band of Tories and captured several Patriots.

 

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On September 6, Tory Col. David Fanning made a call for volunteers. Within a short time, he had collected 950 men under his command. He decided on a plan to capture Gov. ?? Burke. Fanning organized his men and started his march. After marching all day and night, they would reach Hillsboro the next day.
On September 12, in the morning, Fanning attacked Hillsboro and took possession of the place after a small skirmish. Of the American prisoners was his prize, Burke himself. Along with Burke, Fanning also captured the council, several Continental officers and enlisted troops. Fanning was also able to liberate a number of Loyalist and British soldiers that had been held prisoner.
At noon, Fanning and his troops left Hillsboro. They had traveled 18 miles when they were attacked by an American force at Cane Creek. The American force comprised of 400 Continentals, commanded by Col. ?? Maybin and Brig. Gen. John Butler. There was soon a fight that would last for 4 hours. Fanning saved his expedition by his skillfull handling of the situation and eventually routed the American force. In the end, Fanning was still in possession of his prisoners but was also seriosly wounded.
While Fanning and 60 of his Tories had to be left behind, Lt. Col. Archibald McDugald, Lt. Col. Archibald McKay, and Maj. John Ranes took over command of the Tory force and succeeded in eluding the American pursuit with the rest of the expedition. Four days later, the Tories linked up with the relief column from Wilmington, commanded by Col. J.H. Craig.

 

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The North Carolina General Assembly passes the Act of Pardon and Oblivion, offering amnesty to some North Carolinians who remained loyal to Britain during the Revolution. Many notable Loyalists, such as David Fanning, do not receive amnesty. The state continues to sell confiscated Loyalist property until 1790.

Cross Creek, which merged with Campbellton in 1778, is renamed Fayetteville in honor of the marquis de Lafayette, a French general who helped Americans win the war.

 

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possibly the most used area for fanning as a camp was cox's mill........ James Lindley, son of Thomas Lindley,(son of James Lindley and Eleanor Parke) and Ruth Hadley was born 22 Sept 1735 London Grove, Chester County, Pa. and married Mary Cox in Kennett, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He is named in the will of his grandfather, Simon Hadley, who left will in New Castle County, Delaware and names all his grandchildren. He is named in the will of his father, Thomas Lindley, of Lindley's Mill,Orange County, N.C. Bk. A, p.22 who mentions Thomas Lindley, son of James Lindley, Sr., dec'd (will dated 15 March 1780 Aug. Ct.1782.
James Lindley married in 5-5- 1753 Mary Cox, the daughter of William Cox of Cox's Mill and Catherine Kanky/Kenky of the present Randolph County, N.C. James came to Orange County, N.C. by 1753-55 and had several land transactions. (OrangeCounty, N.C. Deeds.) An article by Lindley Butler states he had 1170 acres in Granville Grants in Orange County (Now Chatham County) on Terrel's Creek. From 1753 to 1766 he is mentioned in the county court minutes, and he was licensed to keep an ordinary in his home.

Deed Records in S.C. show he was there by 1767 when Peter Allen had 100 acres in Berkley County on a small branch of Reedy River, called the Reedy fork, bounded by vacant land. Survey cert. 9-367 granted 7-15 1768 Rec. 9-28-1768 James Lindley for the memorialist, Jno Caldwell, D.S. Butler states he acquired 200 acres in 1768 and another 200 in 1773.

On the 4-28-1768, Lindley was named as having land bounding W on Charles Quails received on a branch of Raybournes Creek which was also bounded by George Hollingsworth, S.E. on John Williams, w on JL granted 4-28-1768 Re. 9-30-1768, Ralph Humphrey-for the memoralist, Quit Rent begins in two years.

On the 21st August 1769 and rec. 1 May 1790, Jno. Box., planter sold Francis Moore, both of Berkley Co., S.C. 150 acres in Berkley Co. Probate made by Magneese Good 30 April 1769 before James Lindly, one of his majesty's justices to keep the peace. On 2 Dec. 1768 he was commissioned a crown Justice-of -the-peace for Granville County, and until the Revolution, he held crown commissions for Craven county, Ninety-Six District, and the Cheraws district. The State General Assembly appointed him a justice for Ninety-Six District in 1776, but Butler states that considering his loyalist sympathies, it is unlikely that he served the revolutionary government..

On 7&8 Sept 1772, James Lindley of Craven County, Esqr, and Mary, his wife, to John Williams merchant of same for 112 lbs. SC money land granted 12 Sept 1768 to Robert Briggs, on a branch of Rabins Creek adj. land of John Turk. Said Robert Briggs did convey to Ralph Humphries and said Ralph sold to James Linley, Esqr. 31 Jan. 1772. James Lindley(LS) MaryLindley (LS) Wit: Thos Cohune, Randal Hennesley, Rec. 15 Jan.1774.

On 15 Sept 1775, James Lindley, Esq, J.P., Lewis Dutarque, and John Boyd, witnessed deed of Ralph Humphreys Surveyor of Craven Co., Province of S.C. to John Williams planter for 300 lbs 100 ac on Durbin's Creek originally granted 15 July 1768 to John Humphreys & conveyed to Ralph Humphreys bounded on John Boyd's land (Laurens Co., Deeds).

Notice his land bounded John Boyd which was also the name of the Tory leader of the Battle of Kettle Creek.

Lindley was a captain in the Upper Saluda Regiment of the provincial militia. In 1775 a majority of the South Carolina backcounty settlers were loyal to the crown wnd were forcibly subdued by the Revolutionary forces under Charleston leadership. The regiment was mustered by the commanding officer in 1775, Colonel Thomas Fletchall of Fair Forest, for the purpose of determining the regiment's loyalty which unanimously supported the crown. None other than David Fanning, who later became a noted loyalist leader and led the Tories at Lindley's Mill in N.C., was a sergeant in Captain Lindley's company. In Fanning's Narrative, recorded in the North Carolina State records, he writes,"' the first day Of May,(1775), Capt James Lindley of Rabern's Creek,sent to me as I was a Sergeant of the said company, to have his company warned to meet at his house 15 of said month. I did accordingly, and presented two papers; there were 118 men signed in favour of the King, also declared to defend the same , at the risk of lives and property, in July 1775."

 

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In the South there were many ardent supporters of the loyal side. In the Carolinas a Royalist regiment was raised in a few days in 1776, and again in 1779. ‘The most obnoxious of all the Tory vagabondish leaders,’ says Justin Winsor, ‘was Colonel David Fanning, of North Carolina, whose narrative, giving an account of his adventures in North Carolina from 1775 to 1783, has twice been printed (Richmond, 1861, New York, 1865)’1

In Georgia and Carolina, the bitterest partizan warfare was carried on between the Whig and Tory bands. This is very well illustrated in Fanning’s narrative. Writing from St. John, in March, 1786, to the commissioners on the Loyalist claims, he sums up his services by saying he was engaged against the rebels thirty-six times in North Carolina and four times in South Carolina. He commanded armed parties varying in strength from a hundred to nine hundred and fifty men. He was twice wounded, and many times a prisoner. On one occasion he captured and carried off the governor of North Carolina. So exceedingly obnoxious did he become that he was declared an outlaw, and was one of three excepted by name in the act of general pardon and oblivion passed by the state.

 

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After Nathanael Greene's Retreat to the Dan, Loyalist David Fanning rode through the Haw and Deep River areas to tell the Loyalists of the enticements for any who would fight for the Royal North Carolina Regiment. Four hundred Loyalists under the leadership of Doctor John Pyle were able to be raised in that area. Colonel Pyle had been a Regulator who swore an oath of allegiance to King George after the Battle of Alamance. He became a Loyalist as a matter of conscience. After the war started Governor Josiah Martin commissioned him as a colonel in the royal militia. He raised 300 men and led them against the Patriot's at Moore's Creek Bridge. He was captured and sent to Virginia, because he was deemed dangerous to the Patriot cause. He was able to escape and Pyle returned to Chatam County, where he took an oath of loyalty to North Carolina.

When Cornwallis entered North Carolina, Pyle requested protection for the recruits. Cornwallis notified Pyle that he would meet them at John Butler's plantation, a few miles from Hillsborough. This was the same area where Pickens was in pursuit of Tarleton. With Pickens was "Light Horse" Harry Lee's detacment of cavalry and some Carolina militiamen.

In a lucky break for Lee, Lieutenant Edward Manning of Lee's Legion, had overslept while the rest of the Legion had left the camp. Manning was alone, with the exception of Stephen Craig, Captain Patrick Carne's attendant, who was carrying Carne's portmanteau. Manning and Green mounted their horses and pursued the Legion. Unfortunately it had rained throughout the night and the tracks of Lee's cavalry were obliterated. Manning took the wrong turn in a road and wound up in a house full of Loyalist militia. He rode up and asked a Loyalist rifleman if he had seen a regiment of horse and a body of infantry. The rifleman said, "I suppose you're one of Greene's men." Manning didn't lose his composure. He pointed to the portmanteau and told the Tory, "I have there what will ruin Greene. Point out the road to Cornwallis' army, for all depends upon early intelligence and its contents!"

The Loyalist rifleman told Manning that he had deserted the rebels at the right time, because in the morning the whole settlement would be joining Colonel Pyle. Manning joined the Loyalists in a drink, and toasted to the confusion of Greene, and to the success of the King and his friends. He then road off to the cheers of the Loyalists. Manning finally found Lee and told him of the Loyalist rendezvous.

 

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David Cockerham was drafted as a militia soldier in the company commanded by Capt. * Lovill of Surry County for a tour of three months. They marched to the town of Labin [?] in Surry County, where they joined General Pickins who commanded the South Carolina troops. After joining General Pickins, they marched down into Randolph County in pursuit of the Tory officer Fannin or Fanning. From Randolph they marched into Chatham County in pursuit of the same Tory officer and his party. They were not able to overtake the enemy and the whole company was discharged at a place called the [widow Deaton's ?] in Chatham County.

 

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GUILFORD DUDLEY - PENSION STATEMENT - UNKNOWN NO.
It is presented by Dann as having been a literal transcription from the original and we accept it as such.

Submitted by Charles Baxley. Transcribed by John Robertson.

In the summer of 1775, North Carolina having raised some regiments of minutemen, a species of regular troops at that day but enrolled without receiving any bounty, I entered into one raised in Halifax, my own district, composed of six large counties, commanded by Col. Nicholas Long of Halifax, my own town company by Capt. Christopher Dudley, Lt. John Geddie, and Ensign ____. And late in November or in December of that year, a detachment of that regiment (say 250) was called into actual service to march to the Great Bridge near Norfolk in Virginia, to assist some Virginians posted at its upper end in opposition to Captain Fordyce of the British grenadiers posted at its lower end under cover of a fort which Lord Dunmore, the last regal governor of Virginia, had caused to be rected there, when, after the defeat of Fordyce, who was killed on the bridge or causeway, they entered Norfolk and was there at the time the town was burnt.

In the month of February following (1776), the whole of that regiment being called into actual service again to suppress a most formidable insurrection of the loyalists (Tories) in the south and west assembled at Cross Creek on Cape Fear River, I also marched with said regiment, and after the defeat of the said loyalists as Moore's Creek Bridge, near Wilmington (sixteen miles), by Colonels Caswell and Lillington, detachments from this regiment were sent up the country in pursuit of the fugitives, when Brigadier General McDonald, their commanding officer, and many others of distinction were made prisoners and conducted to Halifax, where they were for a while shut up in the common prison with a strong guard around it, and the minutemen were, for the present, dismissed. This tour, performed in the months of February and March, 1776, continued about forty days as well as I can now recollect.

The details of my other military services during the Revolution will be seen in my answers to the interrogatories propounded by the court aforesaid, which follows here...

I was called into actual service as a minuteman in February 1776 and marched against the insurgents who had assembled at Cross Creek in great force, having belonged to a regiment of this description of troops from July 1775, commanded by Col. Nicholas Long of Halifax as already related in the first page of this declaration. I was neither drafted, nor was I a substitute, but a volunteer of said regiment and performed all the duties of a private soldier from the repeated calls of my captain and the colonel commandant for nine months, until the minute regiments were dissolved about the month of May, 1776, after the provincial Congress which sat at Halifax that spring had completed the quota of North Carolina troops (nine regiments of foot and three companies of light horse). In this service, performed by minutemen, there were no regular officers of the line with us, although North Carolina had raised two regiments the summer before. The next actual service I engaged in was in June 1780, after the fall of Charleston, in a company of volunteers raised in Halifax (mostly by myself), commanded by Lt. Col. Samuel Lockhart, lately an officer of the Continental line of North Carolina, then at home, acting as captain, Lt. John Geddie, and Ens. Dolphin Davis, having with us Capt. James Bradley, another Continental officer serving as a private soldier.

Under the direction of Captain Lockhart, the company marched into South Carolina after taking a most circuitous route for want of proper information, crossing the Yadkin first, above the narrows (a great natural curiosity), and then falling down that river to Colson's on Pee Dee and Rocky River and thence to Anson Old Courthouse, where the British had a small garrison but which was withdrawn before our arrival. Finding himself too far ahead of all other troops about to enter South Carolina and out of reach of support from any quarter, Captain Lockhart's situation became very perilous. He therefore determined to recross Pee Dee at Mask's or Haley's Ferry and fall down that river on its eastern side to Cheraw Hill, where he hoped to overtake Major General Caswell's division of militia just then penetrating into South Carolina in that direction, but who had crossed the river one day before us.

In the meantime, Lord Rawdon had broken up the post at Cheraw, commanded by Major McArthur, an experience British officer with 350 prime troops, and called them to him, as well as the small garrison at Anson Courthouse, concentrating his whole field force at Big Lynch's Creek, about forty-two miles above Cheraw Hill on the Camden road. Captain Lockhart, with his volunteers in prime order and hight spirits, by forced marches in the sultry weather of the last of July over bald sand hills and pine plains overtook Caswell's division of North Carolina militia between Brown's and Big Lynch's creeks, who were immediately sent forward to overtake (without halting) Caswell's light infantry, a few miles in front, then under the direction of Maj. John Armstrong, another Continental officer of the North Carolina line and whom we found posted at the fork of Cheraw and Rocky River roads, and remaining under his command three or four days until General Gates, who, marching by the latter road, formed a junction at that point with Caswell's division of militia, when the command of all the light troops was given to Lieutenant Colonel Porterfield, a regular officer of the Virginia line, having under him Capt. Thomas Drew with a company of regular troops of the same line.

Col. Henry Dixon of Caswell County, whom I well knew and who was at home without employment, likewise a regular officer of the North Carolina line, had the command of a regiment of Caswell's militia and who by his skill in military discipline and tactics had trained his troops to stand and to their duty in battle with great firmness and order.

Col. John Pugh Williams, Col. Benjamin Williams, and Col. Thos. Blount, also Continental officers but of lower grades, likewise took commands in the militia of North Carolina (the latter acting as adjutant general) and were of the suite of General Caswell. These were all the Continental officers then serving with us that I can now recollect, and it would be an endless business to enumerate all the names of the officer of distinction among the militia with whom I was acquainted, except I should mention the names of Brigadier Generals Rutherford and Gregory of North Carolina, both of whom were wounded in battle and the former taken prisoner. Nor will I attempt to mention the names of the Continental officers of the Maryland and Delaware lines with whom I served, except Col. Otho Holland Williams of the Maryland line, adjutant general of Gates's army and a most valuable officer, whom I happend to meet at General Caswell's quarters at Clermont (Rugeley's Mill) when sent there from the advanced corps upon business the preceding the fatal disasters of the morning of the sixteenth August, 1780, at which very time the detachment of Maryland troops under Colonel Woolford was turning out to march over the Wateree River to join General Sumter, who was then ready to strike the British convoy coming from Ninety Six to Camden, and who did actually capture the same with escort the next morning (the eighteenth) near the latter place with the assistance of the Maryland troops just mentioned.

I was in the night action of the fifteenth of August, 1780, on the plains above Camden and fought near the person of Colonel Porterfield, who was mortally wounded, and carried him off to a place of safety for the present, and remaining by his side the rest of the night. And after providing for the proper assistance to carry him further off (for I was unable to do it by myself), just at the dawn of day, left him with Capt. Thomas Drew, Lieutenant Vaughan, three surgeons, and eight or ten privates whom I caused to be searched for that night, and forming a litter and, placing the colonel upon it, was in the act of moving away with him to a place of greater safety from the enemy when the rattling of our cannon about a mile to the east of where I had lain with him that night announced the commencement of the battle, to which I hastened with all the speed in my power upon my starved, broken-down horse (for I was a light dragoon), leaving Colonel Porterfield and the party steering north to someplace where we hoped he would be safe until the battle should be over, not dreaming of a defeat. Here I encountered the difficulties and dangers of that disastrous morning, and remained on the ground, rendering my unavailing aid, sometimes nearly surrounded by the enemy, and then chased by his cavalry until our army was entirely defeated, and yet I escaped with all my arms and equipage. The result is but too well known. Then falling back with the relics of our army, first to Charlotte (North Carolina), then to Salisbury, and Hillsboro, where I remained ten days, and then finally home.

I have no written discharge to produce from my services heretofore, the proper officers verbally discharging their men when they returned hom, and it is well known that everybody, after this disastrous battle was over or during the conflict, discharged himself. I served three months, however, during this unprosperous campaign.

Remaining at home after this expedition in the prosecution of my private business until February 1781, and during the arduous and skillful retreat of General Greene across the state of North Carolina into Virginia, when I entered into the service of my country again and joined a volunteer corps of 250 mounted infantry and cavalry raised also in the town and county of Halifax and placed under the direction of Maj. James Read, a Continental officer, by the legislature then in session in that town, which corps was forthwith marched to join General Greene wherever he might be found, Lord Cornwallis with the British army then lying in Hillsboro.

This corps (after joining General Greene, whom we found posted above Reedy Fork of Haw River and a few miles below Guilford Courthouse, Lord Cornwallis lying upon Little Alamance about twelve miles southeast), serving day and night with the American army, most frequently on detachment until about seven days after the Battle of Guilford, that is on the twenty-second of March, General Greene then having his headquarters at Troublesome (Speedwell's) Ironworks, twelve miles from the courthouse, when the corps was reorganized, and instead of horse, became foot, at which time I was called from the ranks and appointed major of the First Battalion of North Carolina militia (all the field officers having at that place retired from the service with consent, and a new set through the management of General Greene was commissioned by Governor Nash, then in camp, mostly taken from the Halifax volunteers and put in their place in such regiments as could be collected there) and was in pursuit of Cornwallis down to Ramsay's Mills on Deep River, a distance perhaps from the ironworks of between ninety and one hundred miles. General Greene having at Ramsay's Mills discharged all the Virginia and North Carolina militia except one regiment of the latter commanded by Col. James Read, who had before commanded the corps of Halifax volunteers, I was promoted to the rank of (senior) lieutenant colonel of one of the battalions of that regiment about the last of March of 1781. And General Greene, after mature deliberation having determined to carry the war back into South Carolina, I marched also into that state, crossing Deep River at Searcey's Ford, about thirty miles from Ramsay's, thence to Colson's on Big Pee Dee, where the river is about 500 yards wide, which we forded, horse, foot, and artillery and, crossing a very narrow point of land, immediately forded Rocky River (of Pee Dee), also about 150 yards wide, a rapid stream with an appropriate name, and thence on to Camden, crossing Big and Little Lynch's creeks at the points where Colonel Porterfield crossed them the year before when conducting General Gates's advanced troops to the same scene of action. I should not have been so minute in describing our route, but it seems to be required in order to show my knowledge of the marches of our armies where I served and the geography of the countries through which we passed, and I am perfectly willing to be interrogated not only on all such points, but on every other within my knowledge that may tend to give satisfaction at the War Department.

In the morning of the nineteenth of April, 1781, General Greene arrived before Camden and sat down upon the beautiful eminence of Logtown, which overlooked the enemy's works three-quarters of mile north of Camden, with his little army in excellent spirits, the great Waxhaw Road passing over its eastern point, Logtown then in flames, and the houses crumbling down, the enemy having, upon our approach, withdrawn their pickets, etc., and applied the torch to that small appendage to the village of Camden. Here we lay three days in full view of the town, our militia riflemen often venturing down near the enemy's works to skirmish with the Yagers and other marksmen, who, under cover of a few trunks of pine trees left here and there and from behind their abatis, began a desultory game that provoked our men to retaliate.

Camden stands on a peninsula formed by Pine Tree Creek on the east and the Wateree on the west, the forts stretching across an open, lovely plain, divested of its timber on the north side and about three-quarters of a mile in extent every way, the forts bearing no particular names, but numbered from Pine Tree Creek in the east, 1, 2, 1, 4, 5, 6 to the Wateree in the west, under the protection of the last of which stood the British hospital on the banks of the river, the ferry one mile below the town and then covered by a fort also.

In the afternoon of the twentieth, the day after General Greene sat down on the eminence of Logtown, a most unpleasant and disgusting circumstance occurred which seemed for a moment to disturb even the equanimity of the general himself. Lieutenant Colonel Webb's battalion of militia, which with my own constituted the command of Colonel Read, insisted on their discharge, alleging that their term of service had expired. This was at first refused and the allegation denied, when they evinced a spirit of mutiny, encouraged and heightened by Captain R. of that battalion, who was their chief spokesman. Persuasion and even entreaty was used by the field officers of the regiment, pointing to the enemy's works staring us in the face at a short distance and telling them not to desert their general but have patience and wait only a few days longer, when their services might be all important to him in the plain before us. But all this only made them more eager and determined upon being discharged, and finding our entreaties unavailing, one of us went to the general and gave him the unpleasing information, when he, with great condescension, mounted his horse, and, accompanied by Col. O. H. Williams, rode into our camp on the aforesaid eminence at a short distance from the regular troops and used all his persuasion and eloquence to detain them but a few days longer, when, as before observed to them, they might be of important service to him. The general was seconded by Colonel Williams, who in the most persuasive manner reasoned with them and urged their delay, but all to no purpose. Captain R. and the others became more clamorous, and General Greene, mortified and disgusted, directed Colonel Williams to write their discharge, which done, they were instantly off, and Lieutenant Colonel Webb had the mortification to attend them back into North Carolina.

There was General Greene, in a moment, and that one of danger and difficulty too, deprived of 250 of his efficient force — men who, though but militia, he had considerable hopes from their services since the change of field officers which took place at the ironworks and their subsequent training. My battalion, with Colonel Read still at its head, were now the only militia in the southern army, and they were soon to experience the reality of uncommon active service and hard fighting.

The general having determined, for reasons too long to detail here, to shift his position from Logtown on the north to the lower side of Sand Hill Creek on the east, four miles from Camden on the Charleston road, and finding his baggage and artillery would be only an encumbrance to him when crossing the deep and muddy swamps he had to wade through, resolved to send them away to Upton's Mill on Big Lynch's Creek, twenty-seven miles from Camden and near the Cheraw Road, escorted by my battalion, having with us all the quartermasters and commissaries together with our herds of lean cattle and swine, all the provisions the southern army had to subsist upon. This movement took place on the twenty-second of April. Here (at Upton's Mill) we remained until about one or two o'clock P.M., the twenty-fourth, when unexpectedly an express arrived from General Greene ordering the whole, troops, baggage, and artillery, etc., to return with all haste to our former position near Logtown. In half an hour all was in motion again, and marching all that day and until three or four o'clock the next morning without halting, sat down about five or six hundred yards in the rear of General Greene's Continental troops, then returned from Sand Hill Creek and posted in one line upon the lofty summit of Hobkick's or Hobkirk's Hill, in the rear of Logtown, having the great Waxhaw Road running directly over it, a favorable position with a handsome rivulet running by its northern base.

On the morning of the twenty-fifth of April, 1781, after breakfast, my battalion, with the artillery in front, Colonel Harrison of Virginia at its head, slowly moved on to take our post in the line wherever ordered. Lord Rawdon finding himself more and more straitened for provisions, despairing of the safe return of Colonel Watson to the garrison, and for other cogent reasons, had determined upon giving General Greene battle that morning and accordingly made his sally about nine o'clock. We were just ascending the hill with the militia and artillery when the firing commenced by our sentries and pickets, which brought on the fierce and sanguinary Battle of Hobkick's Hill. When about halfway up, we were met by Col. O. H. Williams, adjutant general, from whom we received this very brief order, "March to the right and support Colonel Campbell," for there was no time to say more. This movement was made with great celerity, obliquely up the hill with trailed arms and open files, the deep sand sliding from under our feet at every step. But, before we had reached a third of the way to our destined post, the artillery, which had so opportunely arrived and taken its station in the road between the two wings of our army, commenced a spirited and well-directed fire with cannister shot upon the British column as it advanced, and in a moment, notwithstanding some disorder and confusion that happened at first, there was an universal blaze of musketry from left to right throughout our whole line for an hour, every officer exhorting all the bravery and energy of his soul, the general himself, with his cool intrepidity risking his invaluable person in the thickest of the battle. Yet at last a retreat became necessary, which was effected with very little loss after we fell back to the foot of the hill, although the enemy pursued our right wing for a mile through the woods, keeping up their fire upon us, whilst our flying troops, in their quarter, were repeatedly rallied by the activity of their officers, faced about, and would pour in volley after volley as the enemy rushed upon us, until we finally gave up the contest.

The left wing of our army fell back to Saunder's Creek, three and a half or four miles from Camden, whilst the right, not knowing precisely their fate, but judging merely from the awful silence that had prevailed there for an hour, nor the fate of General Greene personally, whom we knew had greatly exposed himself during the conflict, especially on the left, nor yet what had become of the artillery and baggage, shaped our course through the woods, over bog and morass, at a respectful distance from the road until we first crossed Saunder's Creek, then Sutton's, and lastly Gates's battleground on the plains above Sutton's, when it was agreed to oblique to the right, and we soon entered the great road, nearly seven miles above Camden, where we most fortunately met General Greene, who, as well as the left wing which had halted at Saunder's Creek below, were equally uncertain what had become of us.

With the general at our head, the right wing of our army then fell down and reunited with the left at Saunder's Creek about three or four o'clock in the afternoon whilst Rawdon was burying the dead on both sides on Hobkick's Hill and affording what relief he could to the wounded in the absence of four of his surgeons brought off by Colonel Washington from the enemy's rear during the engagement.

Thus the battle terminated unfavorably to the American army, though without affording the least advantage to Lord Rawdon and the British garrison. Lieutenant Colonel Kosciusko, chief engineer to the southern army, and Major Pierce, aide-de-camp to General Greene, were both separated from the general in the course of this action, probably sent with orders to Hawes and Campbell on the right about the time that wing gave way, and continued with us during the remainder of the time we were disputing the ground with the enemy, in our ultimate retreat, and until we joined the rest of the army at Saunder's Creek.

On the twenty-sixth (the day after the battle), Colonel Read of the militia (who was a Continental major) was sent back into North Carolina to attend to some matters there, when I became commandant of the remaining militia and continued so until expiration of our tour, as may be seen by my discharge from the southern army.

On the twenty-sixth also, General Greene fell back from Saunder's Creek and by a rapid march passed by Rugeley's Mill and took post that night about one and a half miles higher up the Waxhaw Road, thirteen miles above Camden. Here, on the twenty-seventh, General Greene directed a court-martial to convene near headquarters for the trial of twenty or twenty-five deserters whom we had taken in battle on Hobkirk's Hill on the twenty-fifth. They were all equally guilty as to matter of fact, but some of them were more notorious offenders than the rest. The general therefore was pleased to order the execution of five of them only. The rest were pardoned and returned to their duty in their respective companies in the Maryland line.

This and some other transaction which took place in our camp above Rugeley's being finished, and General Sumter not yet joining as was expected when we first sat down before Camden on the nineteenth, General Greene became restless for want of employment and from his too-remote position from the garrison in Camden. He therefore determined to change his position once more, from the eastern to the western side of the Wateree, and accordingly, on the twenty-eighth, broke up from that camp, and passing down by Rugeley's a mile or two, filed off from the Camden Road to the right, and soon reached the Wateree at a very rocky ford about nine miles above that town, four or five hundred yards wide, which we forded, horse, foot, and artillery, as we had done before at Colson's on Big Pee Dee, and, keeping out from the river a mile or two until we entered the main road leading down from Rocky Mount, etc., to the ferry below Camden, pitched our tents opposite to that village, in an open plain covered with pine about two miles from us and with the river interposed. This movement was made for the double purpose of more effectually cutting off the supplies coming down on that side or from Ninety Six, if that should be attempted, as well as to intercept Colonel Watson on his return to the garrison, should he evade Marion and Lee on Santee and then, crossing Congaree at Fort Motte or elsewhere, force his way to Camden on the upper road, on the west side of the Wateree.

Watson, however, at last evaded Marion and Lee and made good his passage to Camden on the eastern side of the Wateree altogether unexpectedly. It was not long, however, before General Greene got intelligence of this circumstance, and therefore was upon the lookout for a visit from Lord Rawdon with his increased force, which we were not exactly in a situation to resist with our mortified troops, whose spirits were yet rather depressed by their late repulse before Camden.

General Greene, knowing his adversary would strike at him as soon as Watson reached Camden, hastily broke up from this camp about an hour by sun in the evening of the sixth or seventh of May and, falling back by a rapid march, gained the heights of Sawney's Creek, the strongest position I ever saw anywhere in South Carolina or perhaps anywhere else, and sat down on its summit, a stupendous hill faced with rock, having a difficult pass of steep ascent to climb up, his artillery posted in the road, on the eminence, where the gap was somewhat lower than the hill on either side.

In the morning of the seventh or eighth, before day, Rawdon put his army in motion and, crossing the ferry below town, was at the dawn of day in General Greene's deserted camp, greatly disappointed by not finding his intended victim there, but still determined upon his destruction, followed him up to the lower side of Sawney's Creek, covered with lofty timber, both of pine and oak, and where his advanced troops met our strong pickets and Colonel Washington's cavalry (always their terror) judiciously posted. Instantly a handsome firing took place. Lord Rawdon paused, examined with caution the ground his adversary occupied, Washington keeping himself raised up in his stirrups, watching the exact moment when to strike with the saber his quondam friend Major Coffin, with the British cavalry in view.

In the meantime, on the upper side of the creek all was in motion, General Greene in person and the adjutant general forming our troops on the heights in battle array, my battalion ordered down the hill to cross a narrow, lengthy field in the bottom, not in cultivation that spring, and to post myself in and around sundry deserted houses near the ford of Sawney's Creek under the supposition that the enemy would force a passage, and there to maintain my post as long as I could. This order I received from the general himself on the brow of the hill. But scarcely had I reached the houses before I was recalled. At this moment the general had received information of another crossing place about two miles lower down the creek, quite convenient for the enemy's purpose of getting at him and attacking him in the rear of his present position on the lofty summits of the hill. This intelligence instantly changed the mind of the general and produced the determination to retrograde again and once more fall back three or four miles to a large creek of still, deep water (Colonel's, I believe it was called), having over it a framed bridge covered with plank. Lord Rawdon, not liking to risk an attack upon his adversary in his strong position on the heights, thought it best to retire into Camden, at the same moment Greene was retrograding, and prepare for its evacuation. On the upper side of this bridge I posted my battalion, having in charge the baggage of the army, our herds of cattle, swine, etc., whilst the general with his suite halted about a mile below and took up his headquarters in a comfortable dwelling house on the margin of the road. Here (at the bridge), I remained until the evening of the tenth, when the general rode up to visit my quarters and did me the honor to invite me to breakfast the next morning at headquarters, an occurrence, or to dine with him in rotation with other officers, not unfrequently happened. This invitation it may be easily imagined I readily accepted and, accordingly in the morn of the eleventh, at the proper hour, waited on him, when the general, who seemed to have been expecting me, came to the front door of his apartment and saw me close at hand and ready to dismount at the gate in the upper corner of the yard. At the first glance I thought I perceived in the general's countenance an expression of something of a pleasing and interesting nature, and so there was. With his accustomed politeness he stepped out of the door, his fine manly face wearing the smile of complacency and benevolence so natural to him, and met me at the yard gate, where, hardly taking time to present his hand, his invariable practice whenever an officer visited him, with apparent eagerness asked me if I had heard the news?"

Struck by the manner of his asking the question, I hastily replied, "No, Sir, what news?"

"Rawdon evacuated Camden yesterday afternoon," and added in a facetious way, "has left Capt. Jack Smith commandant of the place, in the care of his sick and wounded, as well as ours, and pushed towards Nelson's Ferry on the Santee." This pleasing intelligence the general had but just received himself, no patrols of our cavalry having been on that side of the river for several days, nor down about the ferry the evening before, nor that morning, where they must have seen the conflagration of houses, etc., which Lord Rawdon, in his clemency, thought proper to destroy by fire. Things being in the situation in our camp at Colonel's Creek before described, and Rawdon returning to Santee with great celerity as if afraid of being overtaken by General Greene, the latter ordered his army to be put in motion and directing me, while at headquarters, to bring down my battalion and the baggage. We broke up from that place and continued our march down the river a couple of miles below the ferry on the west side of Wateree and halted on the upper road leading from Camden to Friday's Ferry on Congaree, where I was, with my battalion, "discharged from the Southern army, by order of Major General Greene," as may be seen by my written discharge signed by O. H. Williams, adjutant general, now in file with other original papers of mine and left in the hands of the chairman of the Committee on Pensions, in the Senate of the United States. There were many and uncommon incidents that occurred in this Battle of Hobkick's or Hobkirk's Hill such as I never heard of before, and which I witnessed myself and was a sharer in them, wholly dissimilar, however, to anything that happened in Gates's defeat, a few miles farther off on the piney plains above Sutton's Creek, and which I must forbear to detail here because this declaration is already swelled to too great a length perhaps for those whose official business it may become to read it. I therefore forbear at this point, but I must yet go on some further with my declaratory narrative ....

Having left the southern army beyond Camden on the road leading from the ferry there to Friday's Ferry on the Congaree, and returning through that town with my battalion, marched them back into North Carolina on the road General Greene marched them out, where I discharged them at the request of my officers, that they might take the nearest routes to their respective homes, determining myself to take the road leading from Pee Dee to Searcey's Ford on Deep River (where we crossed before) and thence to Chatham Courthouse, being my nearest route home. But when I got upon Little River of Pee Dee, I found the country in my front all the way to Haw River and Chatham Courthouse (on my right down along Drowning Creek and the Raft Swamp to Wilmington, on my left to Uharie Creek and the Yadkin River) in a state of insurrection and parties of armed Tories spreading themselves in every direction before me and on either flank. I nevertheless determined to push on with my baggage wagon and its valuable contents to Chatham Courthouse, not only as my best route home, but as my nearest point of safety, with only one companion in arms, a youth of nineteen years old and a cadet in Washington's regiment of cavalry. But before I got to Searcey's Ford I found we were hemmed in on every side; yet I was still determined to go on and cut my way through if possible, for there was no alternative, and retreat in any direction was equally hazardous for want of correct intelligence from some person upon whom I could rely, for they were all Tories and in arms. Crossing the ford, and leaving the wagon to come on with all expedition, I went forward with my young friend, both of us well armed with sabers and holster pistols.

I soon fell in with the infamously celebrated Col. David Fanning, a loyalist (Tory), then and long before in the British service, and his party, lately recruited, well armed, and mounted upon the best horses the country afforded, with whom I had two rencounters [sic] in the space of little more than an hour, in the last of which I was forced to give up my baggage wagon with many valuable effects, both public and private, and retreated up the country to Randolph Old Courthouse, in a direction quite contrary to that I wished to go, and chased for about six miles by the party, when they had to decline the pursuit owing to the fleetness of our horses. Finding myself at the courthouse upon the old trading road leading from Hillsboro to Salisbury, I turned down it to the east and reached Bell's Mill on Deep River, three miles below, where I lodged in secret that night, being surrounded at that time by Tories in arms on every side, having traveled sixty miles that day, twenty of which was with my baggage wagon.

Rising at daybreak the next morning, instead of keeping the direct road down to Hillsboro, about fifty-five miles, I had to turn to my left, among three roads that centered at Bell's Mill, and, directing my course in a north direction, entered the New Garden settlement of Quakers in about sixteen or eighteen miles, considerably above Guilford Courthouse, and at last reached this latter place, where I deemed myself safe from further pursuit and molestation and where I halted to see my acquaintance Captain Barrett, who was left there in March so dangerously wounded and whom I found in a convalescent state, and from thence down to Hillsboro, about fifty or fifty-five miles, having been turned out of my proper course by Fanning and other royalists about an hundred miles. Here (at Hillsboro) I was met by Brigadier General Butler of that district and solicited to take the command, as colonel of a regiment of volunteer mounted infantry and cavalry that he was then raising, which office I accepted on the twentysecond of May, 1781, and in a few days thereafter took the field in the prosecution of my duty against the infamously celebrated Col. David Fanning already mentioned, who had free ingress and egress into the British garrison at Wilmington with his plunder and prisoners at all times. Having, after various marches and countermarches, obtained the object for which this regiment was sent into the field, to wit, either to defeat Fanning or compel him to disband his forces and quit the country, the latter alternative was his choice when he could no longer avoid coming to action and retired to Wilmington with such of his followers as chose to adhere to his fortunes, whereby peace and safety for a time at least was restored to that part of the country, and the legislature, which had convened early in June at Wake Courthouse (now the city of Raleigh), protected from certain captivity or dispersion, when I received a letter of thanks and discharge from General Butler and returned home after an absence of five months in the unintermittent and active service of my country. But here I was not permitted to remain at rest, being engaged in reconnoitering the enemy (Tarleton and Simcoe) when making their excursions into the parts of Virginia contiguous to North Carolina, from James River, and whose alarms spread over the country.

When the French fleet and army under the command of Count de Grasse and Marquis St. Simon arrived in Virginia and blocked up the Chesapeake, about the last of August, 1781, the news of which event reached Halifax on the second day of September, where the governor and his suite then were on public business, when the opinion of the executive, as well as the general expectation, was that Lord Cornwallis, of whose headquarters and movements we then knew nothing, would endeavor to save himself and his army by retreating through North Carolina to Wilmington or to Charleston. I was applied to by the governor and requested to take the command of a party of observation, consisting of light dragoons belonging to the new state legion, some recruits of which were assembled there, and proceed immediately into Virginia, search out where his lordship might be, what route he was taking, throw myself in his front, ascertain his force of every description, and lastly to give the executive information by express, from time to time, of these particulars. I accepted the command because the occasion was urgent and important, and in the space of two hours, which I waited to give Governor Burke time to draw up my instructions and write two letters, one to General Muhlenberg and the other to Colonel Parker of Norfolk or Princess Anne County, marched at the head of my party with all the expedition the nature of the service would admit.

On this service I was gone about a fortnight or upwards, my men and horses often suffering for want of food, such being the scarcity in Virginia owing to the previous marching and counter. marching of the enemy through that part of the county where my route lay, which, from the circumstances of the times and our ignorance of the movements of the British, was of necessity a devious one. At last I reached Swan's Point on James River opposite to old Jamestown, near to which I had marched before I got my intelligence of Lord Cornwallis's last movement from Portsmouth to Yorktown. Waiting here for several days without a possibility of crossing the river (three miles wide) for want of boats, and happening by mere accident to hear of the arrival of General Washington and Count Rochambeau with their respected suites at Williamsburg, where the Marquis Lafayette with his small army lay, whilst Count St. Simon had debarked his troops at old Jamestown and were in full view of Swan's Point, where I was posted, having fulfilled the governor's wishes as far as practicable by frequently conveying to him such intelligence as I could procure of the condition of Lord Cornwallis and the situation of the combined forces, I withdrew from Swan's Point on James River and returned home with my party, adding two months more service to the tours already enumerated from the time I received my discharge from General Butler in July.

I have indeed been, it may be thought, too prolix in drawing up this my declaration, but the occasion seemed to require it, and the rules and regulations adopted by the War Department in regard to applicants for pensions under the late law of Congress I hope will justify it, being, as I am, desirous of giving every evidence of my Revolutionary services and all other satisfaction in my power, but especially to avoid every imputation of suspicion of imposition.

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