The Tories Fled Precipitately

While on a visit in 1781 to her [Nancy Craighead Richard Dunlap] sister, Rachel, wife of Dr. [David] Caldwell of Guilford, the latter's house was surrounded by armed Tories, for the purpose of seizing the Doctor, who was an ardent Whig and taking him to the British camp.

As they were about to leave the house with their plunder and their prisoner, Mrs. Dunlap, coming from another room, stepped up behind Dr. Caldwell leaned over his shoulder, and whispered to him, as if intending the question for his ear alone, asking him if it were not time for Gillespie and his men to he there. A soldier standing near heard the words, and in great alarm, demanded what she meant. The lady replied she was merely speaking with her brother.

In a moment all was confusion, the whole party were panic-stricken and in the consternation produced by this ingenious manoeuvre the Tories fled precipitately, leaving their prisoner and plunder. [Source]

Thomas Brown, The Worst Georgia Tory

Source

"The worst of these Georgia Tories was a man by the name of Thomas Brown."

My Cameron Collections blog post, Heirs Of Captain Donald Cameron, featured a document that mentioned his (Donald Cameron's) late father-in-law Col. Brown.

The Benedict Arnold Of Western Pennsylvania

A Picture From Western Pennsylvania

John Connolly was also known as A Tory of the Revolution....in the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society...:

John Connolly was born at Wright's Ferry, York County, Pennsylvania. His mother, Susanna Howard, was married three times. Her first husband was James Patterson an Indian trader...in 1741 [she] married John Connolly an Irishman who had been an officer in the British service.

Here Dr. John Connolly was referred to as the Benedict Arnold of Western Pennsylvania.  For an explanation of this characterization see Dunmore, Connolly, and Loyalism at Fort Pitt.

[Connolly] once had a virtual appointment as commandant over the post at Detroit where he intended to effect a union of the British forces and the Indians, but he never filled the position. Connolly, a friend of Washington's and a relative of Colonel Croghan and Alexander McKee, was nevertheless one of the most troublesome characters produced in that class of men known as Tories. [Source]

See A Narrative of the Transactions, Imprisonment and Sufferings of John Connolly..., for his perspective.

John Griffith's Tory Plot

Source

[1780]
5QQ27
Preston, William

Statement giving an account of the Tory plot, mentioning particularly the activity of one John Griffith in the King's behalf.  Auto, draft, 1p.

Item #5QQ27:

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Where's The Beef?

From The Historical Picture Gallery, Or, Scenes and Incidents in American History ...

Stephen Ball made a bad decision.  Or perhaps a couple of bad decisions.  He decided to sell beef to the British who were occupying Long Island "for British gold [rather than] the almost worthless paper money of Congress."  Rather than going straight home "for fear he might be observed" "and his object suspected by some of  his friends," he didn't leave until near dark.

Ball was found by foes instead of his friends, who stripped him of his profits and then took Ball "to General Patterson for trial as a spy."  Since no officer wanted to hang him, the robbers conducted a kangaroo court and hung him themselves.

Source

Tories Near Gunpowder (Maryland)

Source - Map of the General Area

During the Revolution one of the largest landholders in this region was John Paul, the Tory. When the British naval forces sailed up the Chesapeake to the Gunpowder, he and a man named Pickett piloted them to the mills, where they took several scow-loads of flour and floated them out to the vessels in the bay.

Shortly afterwards Lafayette's forces occupied the country, and the two Tories were seized and condemned to death for giving aid and comfort to the enemy. The night before they were to be executed John Paul asked the guard if he might be allowed to smoke. The guard consented, and partially freed Paul's hands, whereupon the latter burst his bonds, and in the darkness, aided by a thorough knowledge of the country, he managed, to make his escape.

Pickett was hanged the next morning on the gallows-tree at Joppa, which stood very near the present gate of Mr. Murray's farm. The popular indignation against Paul was so strong on account of his Toryism that he was obliged to lie concealed in I a cave, which bears his name to this day, and in a few years death came to his relief. To save his large estates from the confiscation which was decreed for the property of all Tories he assigned them to a trustee, and in some unknown manner they were lost to him and to his heirs. [Source]

The Infamous Tory Doanes

From the book, Stagecoach And Tavern Days :

Among those who allied themselves on the side of the King was a family of notorious scoundrels, five brothers named Doane [Moses, Joseph, Aaron, Levi and Mahlon].

The story of the Doanes is both tragic and romantic. They were sons of respectable Quaker parents of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and during the Revolutionary War became celebrated for their evil deeds. They were all men of remarkable physical development, tall, strong, athletic, and all fine horsemen.

Before the war they were of good reputation, and it is said proposed to remain neutral; but the Doanes were not permitted to take a middle course, and soon enrolled themselves as Tories, which at once engendered a bitter feeling between them and their Whig neighbors. They began their career of infamy by robbing and plundering in the neighborhood, gradually extending their field of operations into neighboring counties.

Sabine’s Loyalists gives the names of three* other Doanes—kinsmen who were allied with the five brothers in their evil deeds. Their place in historical books and history comes to them through their services to the British officers during the war. In a dingy chap-book entitled Annals of the Revolution, or a History of the Doanes, full credit is assigned to Moses Doane for giving information to General Howe**, and planning with him the stratagem which led to the victories of the British on Long Island. The Edge Hill skirmish, laid out by Doane and agreed to by Howe and Lord Cornwallis, was to be an important move of the British. The move was lost by the prompt and brave action of Mrs. Lydia Darrach, who overheard the plot and carried news of it to Washington. In the terrible massacre at Wyoming the Doanes took prominent part.  *Rachel Doane in Sabine's; **Dubbed "Eagle Spy" as a result

The close of the war seemed but to increase their career of crime. Each brother had a sled drawn by four horses. There was heavy snow and a long season of sleighing in 1782, and they fairly raided the entire state, robbing again and again on the highway. At last an act was passed by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania “to encourage the speedy apprehending and bringing to justice of divers Robbers, Burglars, and Felons,” naming the Doanes, and offering a large reward for their capture and a gift of £150 to any person injured in helping to arrest them, or £300 to the family of such a helper should he be killed while aiding the cause of justice.

Joseph Doane was finally secured in prison. He broke jail, however, and escaped to New Jersey, where, like many another thief and rogue of his day, he found occupation as a school-teacher. He then fled to Canada, and died peacefully at an advanced age.

Two brothers, Abraham and Mahlon, were hanged in Philadelphia.

Moses, the leader of the outlaws, had the most tragic end. He was the most cruel and powerful of them all; of famous athletic powers, it was said he could run and jump over a Conestoga wagon. In the latter part of the summer of 1783, the Doanes went to the house of one Halsey who lived on Gallows Run, and asked for something to eat, and Halsey sent his son to a neighboring mill to get flour for them. The boy told that the Doanes were at his father’s house, and the miller sent the word to a vendue in the neighborhood. A party of fourteen armed and mounted men promptly started to capture them. The house was surrounded. On approaching the men saw through the clinks of the logs the Doanes eating at table, with their guns standing near. William Hart opened the door and commanded them to surrender, but they seized their arms and fired. Hart seized Moses Doane, threw him down, and secured him. Then Robert Gibson rushed into the cabin and shot Doane in the breast, killing him instantly. Colonel Hart sent the body of the dead outlaw to his unhappy father, who was also tried for sheltering the robbers, and burnt in the hand and imprisoned.

My Doane line ended with Rebecca (John2, John1) who married Elisha Paine.  The Doane brothers' lineage: Joseph 5 Israel 4 Daniel 3 Daniel 2 John1.