David Fanning ( loyalist ) David Fanning ( c . 1755 – March 14 , 1825 ) was a Loyalist leader in the American Revolutionary War in North and South Carolina . Fanning participated in approximately 36 minor engagements and skirmishes , and in 1781 , captured the Governor of North Carolina , Thomas Burke , from the temporary capital at Hillsborough . Additionally , Fanning was captured by Patriot forces 14 times throughout the war , each time escaping or receiving a pardon . After the British defeat in the war , Fanning fled to Canada , where he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1791 to 1801 representing Kings County . After being convicted of rape in 1801 , Fanning was expelled from New Brunswick , and settled in Nova Scotia , where he lived the remainder of his life . Early life . Fanning was born October 25 , 1755 in Amelia County , Virginia . His father was David Fanning , and he grew up in Johnston County , North Carolina . He developed a childhood scalp condition which , according to oral traditions collected by early North Carolina historian Eli Caruthers , resulted in long - term baldness . Fanning and his sister were orphaned in 1764 by the death of their father , and in 1773 , David settled on a tributary of the Reedy River in South Carolina . At the onset of the Revolutionary War , Fanning was also an officer in a local militia unit in the South Carolina upcountry . In 1775 , that region leaned in favor of the Loyalists , and Fanning lent himself to that cause . American War of Independence . Fanning initially participated in the Snow Campaign of 1775 , which proved to be a setback for the Loyalists in South Carolina . After a particular disaster at the Battle of Great Cane Break on December 22 , 1775 , Fanning avoided capture by Patriot forces by taking refuge among the Cherokee nearby . Fanning was arrested by the Patriots one month later , which would prove to be the first of fourteen times he would be made a captive during the ensuing war . He managed to escape and flee again to the Cherokee , and was arrested three more times in North Carolina , each time being rescued by sympathetic forces . Fanning then returned home , and was subsequently arrested several more times before being acquitted at a treason trial in November of 1777 . At some point during this time , Fanning was harassed by Patriot sympathizers , and had trade goods stolen from him by them . In March 1778 , Loyalist activity again swelled in South Carolina , and Fanning raised a company of Loyalist militia which raided Patriot sympathizers on the Georgia border . After being wounded and nearly captured , Fanning accepted a pardon from South Carolina Governor John Rutledge in August 1779 . After accepting the pardon , Fanning agreed to serve in the Patriot militia , but after the British success in the Siege of Charleston , Fanning took up the Loyalist banner once again and began recruiting men to his cause . After the Battle of Kings Mountain in October 1780 , Fanning traveled to Chatham County , North Carolina , where he intended to recruit loyalist soldiers in anticipation of the British entry into that state . In February of 1781 , General Charles Cornwallis , 1st Marquess Cornwallis occupied Hillsborough , and Fanning was let loose against Patriot targets in the region , sparring with local Patriot militia , but not taking part in any substantial engagements . After suffering a Pyrrhic victory at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in March 1781 , Cornwallis and the British Army were forced to march to Wilmington , leaving Fanning to recruit more Loyalist militia and stir up trouble in the North Carolina backcountry . Fanning asked for , and received a commission as a colonel of the Loyalist Militia in Randolph and Chatham counties on July 5 , 1781 . Fanning would often conduct raids with fewer than 12 men , and would capture and ransom or parole leading Patriot sympathizers and political figures . It has been estimated that he fought approximately 36 skirmishes during that year . Among these included a raid on a session of court in Chatham County , during which engagement Fanning took 53 prisoners , among them court officials , militia officers , and several members of the North Carolina General Assembly . Fanning was also the principle commander of the Loyalist militia involved in the battle at the House in the Horseshoe in the late summer of 1781 , in which engagement Fanning forced the surrender of a force of Patriot militia . By the end of the summer of 1781 , Fanning ' s infamy had attracted a force of approximately 950 Loyalist men to his command . On September 12 , 1781 , Fanning commenced a daring morning raid on Hillsborough , North Carolina , where the Patriot government of that state was based at the time . Fanning was able to capture North Carolina Governor Thomas Burke , along with 200 other Patriot prisoners , and escaped on the way to Wilmington . Brigadier General John Butler , the commanding officer of the Hillsborough District militia , was alerted of Burke ' s capture , and attempted to stop Fanning from continuing on to British - controlled Wilmington at the Battle of Lindley ' s Mill on September 13 . In that engagement , Fanning ' s militia , along with a unit of Highlanders commanded by Hector McNeill and Archibald McDugald , attempted to cross the Cane Creek , a tributary of the Haw River , and were surprised by Butler ' s men . Although Fanning had superior numbers with him , the battle lasted nearly four hours before Butler was dislodged from his position . Fanning was able to continue on to Wilmington , although suffering a grievous wound at Lindley ' s Mill , and delivered Burke to the British Army . In January 1782 , the larger course of the war had turned against the British , and Fanning found himself forced to request terms of surrender from his adversary , General Butler . In April 1782 , he married Sarah Carr , and the two escaped to South Carolina . A legislative act in North Carolina in 1783 which granted pardons to former Loyalists specifically exempted Fanning from its terms , along with only two other men . Post - war political career and death . After the recognition of American independence , Fanning moved to Florida and then the Bahamas before settling in the newly created British colony of New Brunswick . Fanning was elected to the 2nd New Brunswick Legislative Assembly in 1791 , although he was disliked by many of the more privileged former Loyalists of New Brunswick . Fanning represented Kings County , New Brunswick until 1801 . In 1800 , he was accused of the rape of 15 - year - old Sarah London , and was found guilty and sentenced to death despite his protests that the evidence against him was flawed . Fanning was pardoned but exiled from New Brunswick , and expelled from the provincial assembly . Fanning settled in Digby , Nova Scotia where he owned several merchant ships , and later died in 1825 . He left behind a daughter and two sons . Controversy . In 1790 , Fanning wrote " The Narrative of Colonel David Fanning " , which would first see print in 1861 in Richmond , Virginia , then the capital of the Confederate States of America . North Carolina historian Samuel A ' Court Ashe wrote that Fanning was " one of the most extraordinary men evolved by the Revolutionary War " , but Fanning ' s calculated and sometimes brutal methods during that conflict have left him with a controversial legacy .