Thomas Brown (loyalist)

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Thomas Brown
Born(1750-05-27)May 27, 1750
St. Vincent Island
Military career
Allegiance Great Britain (Loyalist)
Years of service1776–1781
RankLieutenant colonel
UnitKing's Carolina Rangers
Battles/warsAmerican Revolutionary War

Thomas "Burnfoot" Brown (27 May 1750 – 3 August 1825) was a

St. Vincent's Island in the Caribbean
.

Early life

Thomas Brown was born in

Orkney Islands, and emigrated with them to the Province of Georgia.[2] Financed by £3,000 of family capital, he established the community of Brownsborough and a 5,600 acre plantation northeast of present-day Augusta, anticipating life as a gentleman planter.[3]

Revolution

Brown soon found himself embroiled in the coming revolution. On 2 August 1775 a crowd of 130 Sons of Liberty confronted him at his house and demanded he pledge himself to the Patriot cause.[4] Brown requested the liberty to hold his own opinions, saying that he could "never enter into an Engagement to take up arms against the Country which gave him being", and finally met their demands with pistol and sword.[5] The crowd seized him and struck him with the butt of a musket, fracturing his skull. Taken prisoner, he was tied to a tree where he was roasted by fire and scalped before being tarred and feathered.[6] Brown was then carted through a number of nearby settlements and forced to verbally pledge himself to the Patriot cause before being released.[4] This mistreatment resulted in the loss of two toes and lifelong headaches.

The enraged Brown quickly recanted on his pledge and assumed leadership of backcountry Georgia loyalists, developing a plan to support Augusta area Tories with Indian allies from the West and a landing of British soldiers from the East. He helped bring the plan about by living with the

Creeks in 1776 and 1777, gaining their confidence, and establishing a network spreading from Florida to the Carolinas. In 1779 he was appointed Superintendent of Creek and Cherokee Indians and continued his efforts to engage them in the conflict.[7]

The King's Rangers

Brown came to lead a mounted Loyalist company styled as the

Archibald Campbell's 1778 invasion of Georgia, the 1779 Siege of Savannah, and the Loyalist occupation of Augusta in 1780 and 1781, as well as minor backcountry clashes. In September 1780, Brown maintained a stout defence against Elijah Clarke's surprise attack at the First Battle of Augusta, holding the fortified Mackay House until arrival of a relief force. On June 5, 1781, he was compelled to yield Fort Cornwallis in the Second Battle of Augusta after a spirited and creative defence.[9] Nathanael Greene arranged to have him paroled and escorted to Savannah
with his regular troops with the promise they would not re-enter war. Greene was afraid Brown would be killed by his troops in captivity.

Brown's campaign plan achieved temporary success, but ultimately failed due to tardy or insufficient support from local Tories and his Indian allies. His war career was later vilified[according to whom?], but Cashin's research found no historical evidence that he did anything beyond his duty according to the recognized rules of war. It is unlikely that he hanged thirteen prisoners at the Mackay House with savage relish, rather he imposed (or condoned) a widely approved penalty against parole breakers.[10] Brown angrily denied that he ever encouraged Indians to barbarous behaviour.

Exile to Florida and the Caribbean

In late 1782, Thomas Brown with several thousand Tory refugees from Charleston and Savannah relocated to British territory at St. Augustine, Florida.[11] Fully expecting to settle permanently, the newcomers were shocked in 1783 by news that East Florida was ceded to Spain, and British citizens had eighteen months to depart. Even here Brown struck a blow by encouraging his Creek friends to cooperate with the new Spanish authorities in controlling American westward expansion.

The British government continued to provide compensation for dispossessed Tories. In recognition of his loyalism and wartime service, Brown was awarded with extensive tracts of land on the Caribbean islands of North and Middle Caicos. Scattered over 8,000 acres and encompassing thirteen different plantations, Brown raised cattle and cotton through the forced labour of more than 600 enslaved people.[3]

Brown's next destination was

Caicos Islands
lands proved unprofitable.

In 1802 Brown returned to Britain and began petitioning for a substitute grant on

St. Vincent Island.[3] His status as a former colonizer entitled him to a grant of 6,000 acres in November 1804. Between 1805 and 1806, Brown moved over 600 enslaved people from the Bahamas to his Grand Sable Plantation.[12][13] In 1815 Brown used slave labour to construct the 360 foot long Black Point Tunnel to enable faster transport of sugar from the mills of Grand Sable Plantation to the wharf at Byrea.[14][15]

Brown resided on St. Vincent Island until his death at Grand Sable Plantation in 1825.

In popular culture

Thomas Brown appears as a prominent character in "

The Hornet's Nest," a novel written by former United States President and Georgia governor, Jimmy Carter
.

References

Notes

  1. ^ Thomas Alexander Browne Collection. Brown Family Pedigree. Georgia State Archives [GSA]. pp. MS #73-133, microfilm collection, Drawer 180, box 80.
  2. ^ "Portraits of Southern Partisans: Likenesl;lkk;bjhbvlulygvgut fofytg bot ses of Thomas Brown and Elijah Clarke". Journal of the American Revolution. 2013-04-15. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  3. ^
    S2CID 150262789
    – via Cambridge Core.
  4. ^
    OCLC 953617831.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  5. ^ Jasanoff, p.22
  6. ^ Jasanoff, p.23
  7. ^ "Thomas Brown". The American Revolution Experience.
  8. JSTOR 40579039
    .
  9. ^ Rauch, Steven (August 2006). ""A Judicious and Gallant Defense" The Second Siege at Augusta, Georgia (The Battles of Forts Grierson and Cornwallis) 22 May – 5 June 1781" (PDF). Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. 3: 32–48.
  10. OCLC 45731200
    .
  11. ^ "The Historical Unit - King's Carolina Rangers". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  12. ^ "Summary of Individual | Legacies of British Slavery". www.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
  13. JSTOR 40582271
    .
  14. ^ "Black Point Tunnel". nationalparks.gov.vc. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
  15. ^ Martin, Robert (1839). Statistics of the Colonies of the British Empire. London. p. 52.
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