page_title: Bloody Bill Cunningham
section_title: Loyalist soldier
hierarchical_section_title: Bloody Bill Cunningham / Loyalist soldier
caption_attribution_description: English: Artist's rendering of the Battle of Kings Mountain
context_page_description: William "Bloody Bill" Cunningham was an American loyalist infamous for perpetrating a series of bloody massacres in South Carolina's backcountry in the fall of 1781 as commander of a Tory militia regiment in the Revolutionary War. Though his family were loyal to the British crown, Cunningham initially enlisted in the Continental Army as part of the State of South Carolina's 3rd regiment in 1775. His tenure in the rebel army was an unhappy one and Cunningham changed sides to fight for the British in 1778. He earned the nickname "Bloody Bill" for the violent, ruthless nature of his raids on rebels and patriot civilians.
context_section_description: When the British took control of the backcountry in 1780, Cunningham signed up as a private in Patrick Cunningham's loyalist regiment. He served in the militia for over a year, fighting in the British defeat at the Battle of King's Mountain in October 1780. 
  Cunningham became a militia captain and remained with the army until the summer of 1781. After Patriot General Nathaniel Greene's siege of Ninety-Six, the British retreated towards Charleston in July 1781. On their way south, Cunningham and his men performed several minor raids on patriot camps. The British high command promoted him to major in October.
caption: Artist's rendering of the Battle of Kings Mountain
exif: {}