page_title: Thomas Hutchins
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Hutchins / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: "A New Map of the Western Parts of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina, 1778" by Thomas Hutchins, engraved by T. Cheevers, published in 1778 in London.
context_page_description: Thomas Hutchins was an American military engineer, cartographer, geographer and surveyor. In 1781, Hutchins was named Geographer of the United States. He is the only person to hold that post.
context_section_description: Hutchins was born in New Jersey."When only sixteen years of age he went to the western country, and obtained an appointment as an ensign in the British Army." "He joined the militia during the French and Indian War and later took a regular commission with British forces. "...he fought in the French and Indian War (1754–1763). By late 1757, was commissioned a lieutenant in the colony of Pennsylvania, and a year later he was promoted to quartermaster in Colonel Hugh Mercer’s battalion and was stationed at Fort Duquesne near Pittsburgh." 
  "In 1763 General Henry Bouquet, a British officer then in command at Philadelphia, was ordered to the relief of Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh, and setting out with 500 men, mostly Highlanders, found the frontier settlements greatly alarmed on account of savage invasions. He has some fighting with the Indians along the way, but succeeded in reaching Fort Pitt with supplies, losing, however, eight officers and one hundred and fifteen men. Hutchins was present at this point, and distinguished himself as a soldier, while he laid out the plan of new fortifications, and afterwards executed it under the directions of General Bouquet."
  In 1766, he started working for the British army as an engineer. That year, Hutchins joined George Croghan, deputy Indian agent, and Captain Henry Gordon, chief engineer in the Western Department of North America, on an expedition down the Ohio River to survey territory acquired by the 1763 Treaty of Paris. Hutchins worked in the Midwestern territories on land and river surveys for several years until he was transferred to the Southern Department of North America in 1772. He spent about five years working on survey projects in the western part of Florida. During this time he also occasionally traveled north, often to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His advancements in the fields of topography and geography led him to be elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in the spring of 1772.
  In 1774, he participated in a survey of the Mississippi river from Manchac to the Yazoo River. This was a mapping expedition led by George Gauld, with Dr. John Lorimer and Captain Thomas Davey, Captain of HMS Sloop Diligence. Also along on part of the expedition was Major Alexander Dickson, commander of the 16th Regiment in West Florida. Much of the data used by Hutchins in preparing his 1784 book, "Historical, Narrative and Topographical Description of Louisiana and West Florida" came from his experiences on this expedition.
  Despite his years of service with the British Army, he sympathized with the American cause during the American Revolution. One Journal of these events, written in his handwriting in three different versions, was likely meant for the planned biography that was never finished. It indicates that Hutchins accompanied his old 60th Royal American Regiment for a brief time during the invasion of Georgia in December 1778.  Similar to other anonymous journals attributed to Hutchins, he describes the countryside while serving beside a fellow New Jersey acquaintance Lieut. Col. Mark Prevost, brother of the Gen. Augustine Prevost.  Captain Hutchins apparently accompanied his regiment just days before the Battle of Brier Creek which was fought on March 3, 1779 in Georgia. He may have served in one of his previous capacities with the Prevost's during the French and Indians War as a recorder and observer of the battle. Hutchins, although not directly in the fighting himself, witnessed and recorded cruelties that may have cemented his anti-war stance toward hostilities against the Americans.  Hutchins' veteran observations recorded some of the most vivid descriptions of the battle as the light infantry regiment, led by the infamous Capt. James "Bloody" Baird of the 71st Fraser Highlanders, started bayoneting Georgia Continentals after their surrender.  Hutchins descriptions of the 71st Highlanders seem to give hint of what may have been commonly held prejudices held by British Regular officers serving alongside Scottish Regiments.  Some days after the event, Hutchins likely s
caption: "A New Map of the Western Parts of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina, 1778" by Thomas Hutchins, engraved by T. Cheevers, published in 1778 in London.
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