E. Alfred Jones
Published: 2015-06-30
Total Pages: 188
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Excerpt from The Journal of Alexander Chesney, Vol. 26: A South Carolina Loyalist in the Revolution and After The Journal of Alexander Chesney may be divided into four parts, namely, (1) the account of Mr. Chesney's family connections and of the migration of his father, Robert, with wife and children, from county Antrim, Ireland, to the Pacolet river, South Carolina (pp. 1 to 5); (2) Alexander Chesney's' experiences in the Revolution to April 5, 1782 (pp. 5 to 28); (3) his life, after his return to Ireland, as a loyalist applicant for relief and compensation (pp. 27 to 36); and (4) his career as a revenue officer at Mourne, Ireland, to about 1821 (pp. 36 to 56). In many respects the vicissitudes through which Alexander Chesney passed are typical of the experiences of numerous other American loyalists. His story, briefly sketched, is that of an adherent of the British crown who, as a youth, served as a guide for Tory refugees. For this he was imprisoned for a few days and then given the alternative of joining the Whigs or standing trial. As his father's family had been threatened with ruin for harboring some of these refugees, Alexander joined the Whigs in the hope, he says, of protecting his kindred. He served with them as a private from April, 1776, in campaigns against the Creek and Cherokee Indians and was at Augusta, Georgia, with them in the summer of 1779. Between these expeditions he engaged in conveying produce by team to Charleston, South Carolina, which was then in the possession of the Whig forces. When, at length, the British troops captured Charleston, May 12, 1780, and General Sir Henry Clinton issued a proclamation summoning the king's friends to embody, Mr. Chesney went within the lines, June 25, and became a lieutenant in the loyal militia. From this time on he served the crown faithfully in various capacities and quickly won the confidence of Major Patrick Ferguson, who was placed in command of Fort Ninety-Six. On August 9, 1780, Mr. Chesney was appointed captain and, after participating in a few minor engagements, was in the defeat and surrender of Ferguson's force at King's Mountain, October 9. Soon after this Chesney escaped and reached home, October 31. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.