The Narrative of Colonel David Fanning (a Tory in the Revolutionary War With Great Britain): Giving an Account of His Adventures in North Carolina, ... 1783, as Written by Himself (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from The Narrative of Colonel David Fanning (a To...)
Excerpt from The Narrative of Colonel David Fanning (a Tory in the Revolutionary War With Great Britain): Giving an Account of His Adventures in North Carolina, From 1775 to 1783, as Written by Himself
The frankness with which he narrates his adventures and speaks of the cold blooded murder of his neighbors and fell low citizens, is only equalled by the self satisfaction which he exhibits at the close of his address to the reader, in.
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David Fanning was a Loyalist leader in the American Revolutionary War in North and South Carolina.
Background
He was born at Beech Swamp, Amelia County, Virginia, the son of David Fanning. Other details regarding his origin are obscure, and the date of his birth is uncertain. His tombstone states that he died at the age of seventy (1825), but he himself stated that he was in his nineteenth year when he went to war in 1775. He was apprenticed to a Mr. Bryan whose harsh treatment induced him to run away, and little further is known of his early days.
Career
He was apprenticed to a Mr. Bryan whose harsh treatment induced him to run away, and little further is known of his early days. He is said to have been a carpenter, but in the years immediately preceding the Revolution he was trading with the Catawba Indians, and claimed to own 1, 100 acres of land in Virginia (Amelia County) and two slaves.
He received his training in cruelty and courage under "Bloody Bill" Cunningham, and not, as has usually been stated, under McGirth.
According to his own account he was several times taken prisoner in the course of the next few years, managing always, in one way or another, to be released or to escape.
Once, in June 1776, taking advantage of a proclamation of amnesty, he returned to his home, but was soon off again. Captures and escapes continued, if we can believe him, and on July 5, 1781, he was commissioned as a militia colonel by Major Craig of the British forces.
A few weeks later he is said to have taken Colonel Alston and thirty men in Alston's own house, and on September 13, 1781, he captured Governor Burke with his whole suite at Hillsboro. He finally retreated across South Carolina to Charleston and then to Florida, and at the end of the war was one of three who were excluded from pardon in the general amnesty act passed by the State, together with persons guilty of murder, robbery, and rape.
In his Narrative, written in 1790 (though it was not published until 1861), he denied that he had ever committed rape or any crime not specified by himself. His extreme cruelty may in part be accounted for by a serious physical defect.
After the war he moved to New Brunswick, where he became a member of the provincial Parliament, serving from 1791 until January 1801 when he was expelled for an unknown crime for which he was later sentenced to death.
He was pardoned, however, and moved to Digby, Nova Scotia, where for a time he was a colonel of militia.
(Excerpt from The Narrative of Colonel David Fanning (a To...)
Politics
In the dispute with England he at first took the American side, but having been robbed in his Indian trade of a considerable quantity of goods by a gang who called themselves Whigs, he went over to the British in 1775, and began his notorious career.
He signed a paper in favor of the King in May of that year and at once engaged in marauding expeditions against the Whigs.
Personality
He had a scalled head, which was so offensive that, as a youth, he was not permitted to eat with other people and when he grew up he wore a silk cap, his most intimate friends never being allowed to see his head uncovered.
Connections
According to his own statement, in April 1782 when he was on one of his expeditions, he was married to a girl at Deep River, North Carolina. Various exploits are attributed to him, such as his sudden descent on Pittsboro when a judicial court or court-martial (accounts differ) was sitting, and his capture of all the officials of the court, July 18, 1781.