The Battle of Hillsborough occurred in the latter stages of the war. It was 6 months after Guilford Courthouse. The British were in Wilmington and Greene and the Continental army were in South Carolina. This left a void in the Hillsborough area.
Patriot Governor Thomas Burke was headquartered at Hillsborough with his state government officials. He had less than 100 soldiers and militiamen providing security. They were not expecting trouble.
Loyalist militiaman Major David Fanning entered the void with about 600 Loyalist militiamen. They overwhelmed the town, capturing the governor and 200 state and local officials and 71 soldiers. Walter Burnside would have been one of those captured soldiers.
Fanning then led a fighting withdrawal all the way to Wilmington. He was wounded at the Battle of Lindley’s Mill.
Fanning’s capture of the governor and his entourage, and the withdrawal to Wilmington are regarded as one of the most dramatic feats of the war. If Fanning had been a Patriot, books and movies would have celebrated this event.
After Wilmington the prisoners were then transported to Charleston.
I study massacres and atrocities in the American Revolution. The greatest atrocity of all occurred on those British prison ships in New York and Charleston harbors.
In Charleston, the prison ships were the Torbay, the Success-Increase and the Packhorse. Disease was rampant in these ships. The bottom six inches of the holds were covered in human filth and sloshing bilge water.
The fact that an ancestor could survive these conditions for 11 months is a huge testament to his strength and endurance.
Survivors of those prison ships are American heroes.
Posted to Facebook 2/15/2025