PropertyValue
rdf:type
rdfs:label
  • Patrick Ferguson
rdfs:comment
  • Major Patrick Ferguson (1744 – 7 October 1780) was a Scottish officer in the British Army, an early advocate of light infantry and the designer of the Ferguson rifle. He 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 aggressively recruited Loyalists and harshly treated Patriot sympathisers. Some dispute this characterization of Ferguson as showing pro-Patriot bias, however, and other accounts praise him for his humanity and unwillingness to follow orders he considered barbaric.
owl:sameAs
Unit
  • 70
  • Royal Scots Greys
dcterms:subject
dbkwik:military/property/wikiPageUsesTemplate
serviceyears
  • 1759
Birth Date
  • 1744-06-04
Commands
Branch
death place
  • Kings Mountain, South Carolina
Name
  • Patrick Ferguson
Caption
  • Anonymous miniature of Patrick Ferguson in uniform as Captain of the light company of the 70th Foot, c. 1774-77
Birth Place
  • Pitfour, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
death date
  • 1780-10-07
Rank
Battles
abstract
  • Major Patrick Ferguson (1744 – 7 October 1780) was a Scottish officer in the British Army, an early advocate of light infantry and the designer of the Ferguson rifle. He 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 aggressively recruited Loyalists and harshly treated Patriot sympathisers. Some dispute this characterization of Ferguson as showing pro-Patriot bias, however, and other accounts praise him for his humanity and unwillingness to follow orders he considered barbaric. Ultimately, his activities led to a Patriot militia uprising against him, and he was killed in the Battle of Kings Mountain, at the border between the colonies of North and South Carolina. Leading a group of Loyalists whom he had recruited, he was the only regular army officer participating on either side of the conflict. The victorious Patriot forces desecrated his body in the aftermath of the battle.
is Commander of