Call Number:

C1559

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 1 box
• 1.25 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Title of Collection, Box and Folder Number; Manuscripts Division, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1781-1782 (inclusive)

Creator:

Great Britain. Army

Form:

Account books -- United States

Abstract:

Consists of a two-volume account book of British Army military expenditures in North Carolina, South Carolina, and St. Augustine, Florida, during the later years of the American Revolution.

The British Army is the principal land force of the United Kingdom founded in 1660 under Charles II. Along with the Royal Navy, the British Army played a key role in British colonization and empire-building efforts over the following several centuries.

Consists of a two-volume account book of British military expenditures in North Carolina, South Carolina, and St. Augustine, Florida, during the later years of the American Revolution. The accounts are dated between April 1781 and June 1782, which are presumably the dates when a written receipt of expenditure was received by the compiler of these accounts, rather than the actual date when the money was spent. They document British war efforts in the Carolinas and Florida, as well as the individuals who fought, supplied, and raised funds in the campaign against the American rebels on behalf of the British Crown. During the period covered in these accounts in South Carolina, Camden was evacuated by the British in May 1781, Georgetown in June, and Ninety Six in July. In October, the British were defeated at Moncks Corner leaving Dorchester as the only British outpost in South Carolina together with the ports of Charlestown (Charleston); Wilmington, North Carolina; and Savannah, Georgia.

The accounts are recorded under headings divided roughly into the following categories: garrisons, labor, construction, transport, and individuals or companies. The garrisons recorded are at Georgetown, Camden, Beaufort, Moncks Corner, Dorchester, Wappetaw, and Ninety Six, South Carolina; Wilmington, North Carolina; and St. Augustine, Florida. Labor includes carpenters, artificers, African American troops or laborers referred to as "negroe hire" (and "negroe cloathing"), "overseers of negroes," boatmen, chaindrivers, and sodlayers. Items listed under construction include bricks, lumber, barracks, cedar posts, tools and ironmongery, tents and marquees, and yard hire. Transport includes schooners and wagons. Among the individuals listed are Colonel James Moncrief, who commanded the Black Company of Pioneers, Scottish merchant and Loyalist leader John Cruden, Captain Robert Gray, Lieutenant Barrett, Captain John Halbert, James Borvie, Luther Honeywood, and Loyalist merchants and tradesmen, including James Cook, Abram Cohen, John Wyatt, and James Clitheral, as well as the firm Gordon, Biddulph and Gordon, among others.

The account book is bound into two volumes, one containing 51 numbered leaves written almost entirely in one neat clerical hand with debits on versos and contra on rectos, as well as another with 70 leaves written in a different, rougher hand. The first volume records expenditures of over 16,000 pounds and contra payments of over 22,000 pounds; the second volume repeats the accounts of the first with additional debits of over 18,000 pounds.