Patrick Ferguson was a Scottish officer in the British Army, an early advocate of light infantry and the designer of the Ferguson rifle.
23 Facts About Patrick Ferguson
2.
Patrick Ferguson is best known for his service in the 1780 military campaign of Charles Cornwallis during the American Revolutionary War in the Carolinas, in which he played a great effort in recruiting American Loyalists to serve in his militia against the Patriots.
3.
Patrick Ferguson had numerous first cousins through his mother's family: these included Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet, Commodore George Johnstone, and Sir James Murray.
4.
Patrick Ferguson began his military career in his teens, encouraged by his maternal uncle James Murray.
5.
In 1777, Patrick Ferguson went to the colonies to serve in the American War of Independence; commanding an experimental rifle corps equipped with his new rifle.
6.
Patrick Ferguson wrote that, even if the officer were the general, he did not regret his decision.
7.
For some months after being wounded, Patrick Ferguson was at risk for amputation of his arm.
8.
Patrick Ferguson eventually recovered, although his right arm was permanently crippled.
9.
Patrick Ferguson attacked their base in what is known as the Battle of Chestnut Neck.
10.
Pulaski reported that Patrick Ferguson's Tories killed, wounded or took prisoner about 30 of his men in what the Americans called the Little Egg Harbor massacre.
11.
Patrick Ferguson said in his official report that little quarter could be given, and his men took only five prisoners.
12.
Patrick Ferguson reported that he did not destroy the three houses which sheltered the Americans because they were the dwellings of inoffensive Quakers, who were innocent civilians.
13.
Patrick Ferguson reported his losses as two killed, three wounded, and one missing.
14.
Patrick Ferguson's mission was to defeat all American forces in the Carolinas and keep the two colonies within the British Empire.
15.
Patrick Ferguson's mission was to recruit Loyalist militia in the Carolinas and Georgia and to intimidate any colonists who favoured American independence.
16.
Patrick Ferguson divided his army and gave command of one section to Ferguson.
17.
Patrick Ferguson's wing consisted of Loyalists he had recruited to fight for the British cause.
18.
The battle went badly for the Loyalists positioned high on the mountain ridge, and during the fighting, Patrick Ferguson was shot from his horse.
19.
Patrick Ferguson wrote several articles, satirical in tone, for publication in Rivington's Royal Gazette, under the pseudonyms Egg-Shell, Memento Mori and John Bull.
20.
Patrick Ferguson was survived by his mother, his brothers James and George, and sisters Annie, Elizabeth, and Jean.
21.
Patrick Ferguson is shown to be a gentleman who displays all the appropriate social graces to a lady and compassion to a family in need by giving up his personal firearm, asking only that the boy keep it always, and never use it against the king.
22.
In Steve Ressel's novel State of One, Patrick Ferguson is the main antagonist featured against James Pariah, a soldier formerly under Patrick Ferguson's command during the Battle of the Brandywine in 1777.
23.
In Sharyn McCrumb's novel Kings Mountain: A Ballad Novel, Patrick Ferguson is the central antagonist.