“B” is for Brown, Thomas (1750-1825)

“B” is for Brown, Thomas (1750-1825). Soldier. Brown was among the most notorious loyalist commanders in the South during the Revolutionary War. He immigrated to Georgia in 1774. In 1775 the local Sons of Liberty seized and tortured Brown when he refused to renounce his allegiance to his king. He escaped and fled to the South Carolina backcountry where he joined an active group of loyalists. In 1779 he commanded the King's Carolina Rangers, a regular provincial corps. That same year he was appointed one of two British superintendents of the Southern Indian Department, thereby putting Creek and Cherokee relations under his control. In 1780 Brown established his headquarters at Augusta and directed the activities of Tories and Indians against the patriots. After the Revolutionary War, Thomas Brown settled on St. Vincent Island in the Bahamas.