18 Facts About Thomas Hutchins

Thomas Hutchins was an American military engineer, cartographer, geographer and surveyor.

In 1781, Hutchins was named the first geographer of the United States.

Thomas Hutchins has some fighting with the Indians along the way, but succeeded in reaching Fort Pitt with supplies, losing eight officers and one hundred and fifteen men.

Thomas 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.

That year, Thomas 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.

Thomas 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.

Thomas Hutchins spent about five years working on survey projects in the western part of Florida.

Much of the data used by Thomas Hutchins in preparing his 1784 book, "Historical, Narrative and Topographical Description of Louisiana and West Florida" came from his experiences on this expedition.

Similar to other anonymous journals attributed to Thomas Hutchins, he describes the countryside while serving beside a fellow New Jersey acquaintance Lieut.

Some days after the event, Thomas Hutchins likely sailed for Great Britain from Savannah, Georgia to print cartography materials of frontier America.

Sometime during the preceding weeks, a secret investigation of the activities of Thomas Hutchins was apparently set in motion.

An agent had discovered that Thomas Hutchins had been using a secret mailing address and sending coded dispatches.

Thomas Hutchins was considered one of Britain's leading authorities on the western frontier lands, this left him in the unusual position of being an important consultant about lucrative future Native American land acquisitions.

Likely suspecting his investigation, Thomas Hutchins tried to sell his captaincy in the Regiment.

Thomas Hutchins was arrested, charged with treason, and imprisoned in a mostly secretive set of events.

Thomas Hutchins is believed to be the only British Regular Officer to have switched to the American side during the war.

Thomas Hutchins became an early advocate of Manifest Destiny, proposing that the United States should annex West Florida and Louisiana, which were then controlled by Spain.

When DeWitt became the surveyor-general of New York in 1784, Thomas Hutchins held the prestigious title alone.