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More Members of the Loyalist Rogues Gallery – Part Three of Three
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
As Lorenzo Sabine compiled his dictionary of Loyalist biographies in 1864, he included those whose behavior was less than honourable during the American Revolution. His “robbers and marauders” not only included men whose exploits were widely known, but also those who were on the fringes of Loyalist history.
Men such as Claudius Smith, John Farnham, James (Bonnell) Moody, and Lewis Fenton were among the infamous “Pine Robbers” who hid out in the barrens of New Jersey’s Monmouth County. Their exploits have appeared in earlier editions of Loyalist Trails. ***
Other rogues were summed up in only a few sentences. William Hooghteling (also rendered as Hooghtelin, Hooghtelingh, Hooghtelyn, and Hooghtyling) is remembered as deserting from a New York rebel regiment that was formed by his stepfather and other members of his family. In Sabine’s words, he then “became a marauder or Tory robber”. His career did not last long. In May of 1779 he was hanged in Albany, New York.
Sabine’s research provided fewer than 280 words to describe the exploits of Lt. Colonel John Boyd. Despite having a military rank, Boyd was said to be “in command of a corps of Tories, who were robbers rather than soldiers. What they could not consume or carry off, they burned. Boyd himself was bold, enterprising, and famed for his dishonesty.”
In early 1779, Boyd was at the head of 600 Loyalists marching through South Carolina toward Augusta, Georgia. The men “destroyed life and property by sword and fire” along the way, emboldening Loyalists and angering Patriots along their way. According to Sabine, by the time Boyd was ready to cross the Savannah River at Cherokee Ford, his force had swelled by more than a third.
Anxious to be on his way, Boyd offered not to attack the Patriot blockhouse that guarded the ford if its commander would allow his men to cross in peace. The rebels delayed making a reply and sent for reinforcements.
On February 14, 1779, Boyd took his men five miles up the river, divided them into groups, and sent them across Vann’s Creek on rafts. Rebel soldiers under the command of Andrew Pickens later came upon the Loyalists at their encampment on Kettle Creek.
The two armies fought for over 90 minutes in what became known as the Battle of Kettle Creek. The Loyalists had erected a breastwork of fencing and fallen trees at the rear of their camp, and they had hopes that the swamp near their camp would slow the enemy’s advance. In crossing the creek to engage the enemy, some of Boyd’s men abandoned their equipment and horses.
During the course of the battle, Boyd received three fatal wounds. One hundred Loyalists were killed, wounded or missing in action. 270 of Boyd’s men escaped and later joined the Royal North Carolina Regiment. Others, described as “a significant number”, were captured or surrendered themselves to the Patriots. In the weeks that followed, only 20 had survived their wounds. Although some Loyalist prisoners of war were paroled by Pickens, five were later hanged in April of 1779. They were charged with committing “cruel and unforgivable acts” against their Patriot counterparts.
Following the Loyalists’ surrender, Pickens came upon Boyd as he lay dying on the battlefield. The two men had known each other before the beginning of the revolution. Pickens recommended that the Loyalist officer prepare himself to meet his maker.
Appreciative of Pickens’ consideration, Boyd asked that two of his men be allowed to stay with him, give him water, and –when the time came– bury his body. In addition to asking that a letter be written to his wife to recount the details of his death, Boyd took a brooch out of his pocket and asked Pickens to give it to his wife -– a last wish that the rebel officer eventually fulfilled.
The Battle of Kettle Creek is important as being the first major victory for Patriots in Georgia. It is said to have destroyed Loyalist morale in South Carolina, encouraging more to join the local rebel militias.
The last of Sabine’s Tory rogues is John Moore, the man who was second-in-command of the Loyalist troops at the Battle of Kettle Creek. Moore was born in what is now Lincoln County, North Carolina. Over time, he became the owner of extensive tracts of land in three of the colony’s counties. Because he was a Loyalist, the colony’s assembly confiscated his property in 1774. He later joined Lt. Col. Boyd’s militia, and then served with the North Carolina Loyalist Regiment following the defeat at Kettle Creek.
Lord Cornwallis sent Moore back to his home county to organize those who remained loyal to the crown. As it was then June, Cornwallis wanted Moore to have a Loyalist corps ready for battle after the crops were harvested so that there would be provisions to feed the army. Moore initially met with 40 Loyalists at his father’s home on June 10th, telling them to “hold themselves ready”.
But within 3 days’ time, Moore had 200 men join him at Ramsour’s Mill. A week later, the Loyalist numbers reached almost 1,300. Having so many men ready to fight for the crown must have emboldened Moore to ignore his commander’s orders. He began to arm and train his recruits. So large a group also attracted the attention of local Patriots.
Within 6 days of receiving intelligence of the Loyalists gathered at Ramsour’s Mills, 350 rebel militiamen attacked. The battle which began at sunrise on June 20, 1780 pitted neighbours and relatives against one another. The rebel Thomas Costner killed his Loyalist brother Peter, and buried his sibling’s body after the smoke of battle had cleared.
As neither side was in uniform, the Loyalists put a green pine twig in the front of their hats, and the Patriots identified themselves with a badge of white paper in their hats. Despite the fact that the white marker made the rebels easy targets for Loyalist marksmen – and despite the fact that Moore’s men outnumbered the Patriots five to one– the rebels won the battle. In just one hour of fighting, 70 men died in the encounter; 200 were wounded, “the loss being shared equally by the respective sides”. Moore and 30 of his men escaped to nearby Camden. According to Sabine, Moore was then “treated with disrespect by the British officers, and threatened with a trial by court-martial, for disobedience, and the consequences of it. Lord Cornwallis deplored Moore’s conduct years afterward.”
By calling out the Loyalists of North Carolina prematurely, John Moore had —in the words of historian Diane Siniard—“utterly vanquished and annihilated” the loyalist cause in Lincoln County. British Lieutenant Colonel George Turnbull wrote to Cornwallis concerning the Battle of Ramsour’s Mills, saying “had it not been for the Weak Silly man Moore who led a Parcell of those poor Innocent Devils of North Carolina into a Scrape, we should have been now in Perfect Peace on this Frontier.”
After surviving the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780, John Moore disappears from the records of the era. One legend had him sail to Carlisle, England (the birthplace of his father), never to be heard from again.
Moore’s name was mentioned at the hearings of the loyalist compensation board when it convened in Halifax, Nova Scotia on October 6, 1788. Margaret FitzSimmons, who had once been the wife of Thomas Evans, had Samuel Machydew (McIndoe?) give evidence concerning her first husband’s service to the crown. Machydew testified that Evans had been wounded at the “time of Colonel Moore’s’ defeat”.
Remembered for his errors, John Moore was more of a “weak silly man” than a Loyalist rogue – a detriment to his own cause more than that of his enemy’s.

***(Editor’s note: You can read about the Pine Robbers in these back issues of Loyalist Trails:
Lewis Fenton: <https://uelac.ca/loyalist-trails/loyalist-trails-2012-43/>
John Farnham: <https://uelac.ca/loyalist-trails/loyalist-trails-2012-44/>
Claudius Smith: <https://uelac.ca/loyalist-trails/loyalist-trails-2007-13/>
James Bonnell Moody: <https://uelac.ca/loyalist-trails/loyalist-trails-2012-46/>)
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

In Search of Black Loyalist Graves in Annapolis NS
‘What Lies Beneath’ is an important and recurring theme with Mapannapolis.
Finding the unmarked graves of Black Loyalists and Black Loyalist Descendants was a day-long project at Fort Anne National Historic Site of Canada’s Garrison Graveyard on October 24, 2022, as our committee lead, Micha Cromwell and Boreas Heritage Consulting Inc.’s Sara Beanlands, led the search using ground-penetrating radar.
Cromwell’s Mapannapolis committee is looking into what happened to the many Black Loyalists after arriving in the Annapolis Royal area in the late 1700s and into the early 1800s. While there are records that suggest burials at Garrison Graveyard, the exact location isn’t known. Working with Parks Canada Halifax, Mapannapolis, and Boreas Heritage searched a 14 by 19 metre section of the graveyard in a criss-cross grid fashion. While some anomalies showed up on the instrument screen, nothing will be certain until Boreas Heritage analyzes all the data, which will take several weeks.

Also a news item by Alex MacIsaac 26 Oct for CTV News “Group using radar to find unmarked graves of Black loyalists at historic Annapolis Royal graveyard”
Noted by Stephen Bowley

One Man’s Campaign against Smallpox: James Thacher, M.D., Continental Army Physician
by Charles DePaolo 27 October 2022 Journal of the American Revolution
James Thacher’s contribution to the history of smallpox and to the Revolutionary War has not been fully appreciated. In the historical scholarship, his tireless efforts against the disease have been acknowledged but only in passing. Under extremely trying conditions, Thacher and his colleagues cared for those stricken with the virus and inoculated both combatants and civilians against it.
Eventually, in his 1823 Military Journal, Thacher recorded his clinical experiences with smallpox. A continuous eye-witness account, this text established his reputation as an historian of the American War. Several entries describe how outbreaks constituted strategic and health emergencies. When entering Boston, on March 22, 1776, after the British evacuation, Thacher recalled the “friendly solicitude” of the people as they greeted Washington’s army upon its return; but the lingering presence of smallpox dampened the sense of relief. Read more…

‘The ship was not the only “she” at sea’
Jenny Newbold 24 October 2022, All Thnings Georgian
When you envision the eighteenth century British navy, I can guess what you might see in your mind’s eye. Noble, self-sacrificing officers. Hardy tars with hearts of oak. The triumph of The Nile, the glory of Trafalgar, wreaths of laurel and cypress for the honour rolls of the wounded, dead, and missing. You could be forgiven for thinking that the Royal Navy during the heroic Age of Sail was exclusively a man’s world. After all, that’s what the Admiralty Board wanted you to believe.
There are no official records of women serving aboard warships in the Georgian Royal Navy, because officially, women were not allowed on board. With the possible exception of the captain’s wife (at his discretion), according to the Admiralty the only woman to be found on one of its ships would be the occasional passenger.
Reality, however, is a different story. Read more…

The Motion to End the War with the American Colonies, February 22, 1782
by Bob Ruppert 25 Oct 2022 Journal of the American Revolution
On December 12, 1781, a motion to end the war with the American colonies and to grant them their independence was introduced in the House of Commons. In the debate which followed, twenty-three men spoke. The debate did not end until 2:00 in the morning. A vote was then called; the outcome was 220 against the motion and 179 for the motion. Later that day (December 13), the pro-American members in the House of Commons were already working on another motion that contained different wording but the same objective. How the pro-Americans advocated for the new motion is unknown but it must have been difficult because the House of Commons was in recess for a majority of the interim. The new motion would be introduced on February 22, 1782….
…The Motion
General Henry Seymour Conway (MP for Thetford, former Secretary-of-State for the Southern Department, former Secretary-of State for the Northern Department, and former member of the Privy Council):
rose to make the motion of which he had given notice . . . “That a humble Address be presented to his Majesty, that taking into his royal consideration the many and great calamities which have attended the present unfortunate war, and the heavy burthens thereby brought on his loyal and affectionate people, he will be pleased graciously to listen to the humble prayer and advice of his faithful Commons, that the war on the continent of North America may no longer be pursued for the impracticable purpose of reducing the inhabitants of that country to obedience by force . . . In the present moment, when there were certain indications of a design to continue that war . . . When, as he had been credibly informed, there were preparations making for the next active, offensive campaign; in this moment he thought it necessary to ask of the new Secretary, what was the design of government, not with regard to particular operations, but to the general system . . . He wished to know what were the principles, what [were] the sentiments of this new minster respecting the American war? He trembled . . . lest he should another phoenix, sprung from the ashes of his predecessor [Lord George Germain]; and from him the American war should be renewed in all its former vigour . . . Were we with a new conductor to have a new plan, or were we to go on in the same manner as we had begun and continued so long, in the obstinate rejection of all advice which we could derive either from experience or disaster. Read more…

Ben Franklin’s World: Possession and Exorcism in New France
Mairi Cowan, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, joins us to investigate the life of a young French woman named Barbe Hallay and her demonic possession and exorcism.
Using details from her book The Possession of Barbe Hallay: Diabolical Arts and Daily Life in Early Canada, Mairi reveals the layout of Quebec City in 1660 and what it looked and sounded like; Catholicism in early New France and how it was practiced; And, the case of Barbe Hallay and her demonic possession. Listen in…

Borealia: De-sanctifying Written Constitutions
Review of Linda Colley, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern World (New York: Liveright Publishing Company, 2021) 502 pp. $35.00.
Review by Elizabeth Mancke and Adam Nadeau
In the conventional metanarrative of modernity, written constitutions symbolize progressive trends, political events that were considered “benevolent and normally acted as a liberating force (p. 277).” In The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern World, Linda Colley seriously qualifies this characterization, arguing that written constitutions emerged as a “political technology” in the mid-18th century, were often associated with warfare, and “can appear to offer, the prospect of benign and exciting transformations (p. 9).” In Colley’s assessment, however, for individuals seeking governmental power, they could also provide “valuable performative and presentational opportunities” that could cause exploitation and chaos as often as deliver political stability. They can be a technology of exclusion and marginalization, particularly “in regard to Indigenous peoples. . . [and] less lethally with women (p. 277).”
Rather than assuring political stability and rights, written constitutions, Colley argues, can be “protean and volatile,” a characterization that she reinforces with the unsettling statistic that in 1991, of the 167 single document written constitutions in existence, “only about twenty . . . were more than forty years old (p. 412).” For historians who have held up the 235 year-old United States Constitution as a model of political modernity, it is far from historically normative…
…Linda Colley’s serious qualifications about written constitutions in The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern World allows us to recognize how much written constitutions have been used to strip rights as well as extend rights, even here in Canada. It is a critical intervention on constitutional scholarship that is now more important than ever and deserves more critical engagement. Read more…

In the News

Welland Then and Now: Welland law firm held court for more than a century
by Mark Allenov, 28 Oct 2022 in Niagara Falls Review
Many of Welland’s houses and business establishments bear amazing stories that serve to show how colourfully varied the city’s past history is. Even the history of a law firm, which operated for well more than 100 years, is no exception.
The law firm of Raymond, Spencer, Law & MacInnes has its beginnings outside of Welland, being founded in 1835 by Lorenzo Dulmage Raymond, Welland County’s first clerk of the peace, Crown attorney and county solicitor. Raymond’s father, Dr. Truman Raymond, was a native of Massachussetts who emigrated from the United States to Upper Canada early in the 1800s.
Dr. Raymond’s wife was Elizabeth, youngest daughter of John Dulmage, another United Empire Loyalist who supported the British during the American Revolutionary War and emigrated to Grenville County in Canada at its close. At the outbreak of the War of 1812, Dr. Raymond joined the militia, being stationed at Gananoque as a surgeon for the duration of the war. Read more…

UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions
Entries which have been added, or revised, this week, with thanks:

  • Kevin Wisener has a particular interest in Loyalists of Prince Edward Island. For some time he has provided information about people who received Loyalist Land Grants there. Here are three recent additions:
    • Robert Fox was in New York during the war. Granted 50 Acres on McNutt’s Island in Port Roseway Harbour NS in 1785. Received a land grant for 200 acres on Pell’s Road, Shelburne County, N.S. in 1786. Arrived in Prince Edward Island in 1785, initially a warrant of survey for 100 acres at Lot 65 and petitioned for a town and pasture lot in Charlottetown in 1787. Granted 400 acres at Elliott River (Rocky Point, lot 65), Queens County, Prince Edward Island. He was Deputy Surveyor General of Prince Edward Island.
    • Cpl John Long was from Rhode Island. He served in the 1st & 2nd Brigade of DeLancey’s Regiment, and in the Kings American Dragoons. John settled in Passamaquoddy Bay, NB and then Kings County, PEI
    • Pvt Thomas Trott (Tratt) was granted land in the Township of Conway at a place called Musquash Cove or River in the County of Sunbury NB. Also Thomas Tratt received a land grant in St. John County, NB. Received a 100 acre land grant at Pownal, Lot 50, Queens County, Prince Edward Island.

If you are willing to submit some information, send a note to loyalist.trails@uelac.org
All help is appreciated. …doug

Upcoming Events

Gov. Simcoe Branch Meeting “The English Language Goes To War” Wed. 2 Nov. 7:30 ET

Attend in person; Join by Zoom. The first hybrid meeting by the Branch.
This presentation will discuss how monarchs, government ministers, the armed forces and the media have used the English language throughout the history of war to initiate, communicate, celebrate and commemorate conflicts, both positively and negatively, in praise and in sorrow, and how wars have in turn left a legacy on the idioms and usages of the language itself. A topic relevant to the upcoming Remembrance Day.
Garry Toffoli is Vice-Chairman & Executive Director of the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust and the Toronto-Hamilton Chairman of the English Speaking Union of Canada. He is author or co-author of several books.
See details and registration.

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

  • Rare Orange Lodge Certificate on Front Cover of my new book “1892”. Book is available now on Amazon in kindle and paperback format. It includes location of more than 1,600 lodges, names of thousands of members & historical reports made in 1892 which provide insight into the operation of Loyal Orange Association in Canada.
  • A meeting of two historic ships. Jamestown Settlement’s Godspeed sailed Tuesday afternoon in the mouth of the Patuxent River with the newly re-created Maryland Dove from Historic St Marys, later docking and rafting together at Solomon’s Island.
  • This week in History
    • 26 Oct 1774 First Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia.
    • 26 Oct 1774, the shadow government of Massachusetts ordered town militias to stockpile arms and “use their utmost diligence to perfect themselves in military skill.”
    • 24 Oct 1775 British naval attack on Norfolk, Virginia ends in humiliation at hands of Patriot riflemen.
    • 25 Oct 1776 King George III issues proclamation urging able seamen to enlist in Royal Navy.
    • 26 Oct 1776 Benjamin Franklin sets sail from America to serve as Ambassador to France. With him as his secretary was his 16-year-old grandson, William Temple Franklin. They lived in the Parisian suburb of Passy. Read more…
    • 27 Oct 1776 Royal Navy forcibly impresses 1,000 sailors from boats on the Thames for service against America.
    • 28 Oct 1776 Battle of White Plains ends in Washington retreating to New-Jersey.
    • 22 Oct 1779
      New-York legislature seizes property of 60 Loyalists, including Governor Lord Dunham, General Tryon.
    • October 24, 1781, Gen. Henry Clinton, British commander-in-chief, and 7,000 redcoats arrived on ships in Chesapeake Bay, only to learn that Gen. Cornwallis had had to surrender Yorktown five days before. Clinton’s fleet sailed back to New York.
    • 23 Oct 1783 Virginia frees slaves who fought for the Americans in the Revolution.
    • 28 Oct 1800, Artemas Ward died in Shrewsbury, a month shy of age 73. A war veteran, he was the first commander of the New England army besieging Boston, in charge during the Battle of Bunker Hill. He proposed the move onto Dorchester Heights.
  • Clothing and Related:
    • You know there has to be a story lurking in this surviving fragment of hand painted dress weight silk, mid to later 18thc Maker & wearer unknown Will be sharing with my museum studies students next semester — asking despite the unknowns what can this textile reveal?
    • At the Peabody Essex Fabulous Rococo shoes by London cordwainers Ridout & Davis, who carried on their trade near Aldgate Mid 18thc, silk brocade buckle shoes. ‘Treasures Afoot’
    • 18th Century folding fan, leaf of vellum painted in watercolours with carved mother-of-pearl sticks, leaf design after Jean-Baptiste Pillement, France, 1760-70
    • The skill of the dressmaker could not be more obvious than here, when you take a moment to look more closely at the point where bodice and skirt meets in many pleated profusion. The matching and sculpting of fabric is exquisite, 1770s gown
    • 18th Century dress. This plain white cotton gown embodies the ideals of neo-classicism in dress. Inspired by images of Greek and Roman dress published in the mid-18th century. 1797-1805
    • 18th Century dress, robe à la française of beige silk satin with thin stripe and dot pattern; “compères” front; matching petticoat; padded three-dimensional decoration; trimmed with fly fringe and chenille. C.1775
    • 18th Century waistcoat, silk fronts, linen back and the neo-classical design is printed by engraved copperplate, 1795
    • 18th Century mens 3 piece matching suit of wine-red wool; coat and waistcoat decorated with gold braid and buttons wrapped with gold threads; sleeved waistcoat. 1750’s
    • Detail of an 18th Century Court suit, silk embroidery, metal thread and paste detailing, 1790’s
  • Townsends:
  • Miscellaneous

Happy Hallowe’en

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