Thomas Brown Appointed Loyalist Commandant of Augusta

Following the fall of Charleston in May 1780, which opened all of Georgia and South Carolina to British operations, Thomas Brown was appointed commandant of Augusta with his King's Rangers. Brown brought with him a personal history with the Patriot cause: in 1775, a group of Patriots had tortured him, burning his feet and forcing him to walk on hot coals. His men called him "Burnfoot Brown." He was efficient and ruthless, and his use of Cherokee and Creek allies as scouts and auxiliaries gave the Augusta garrison a reach into the backcountry that pure regular forces could not have managed.

Brown's commandancy transformed Augusta into a secure British base and the administrative center of the upper South Carolina–Georgia frontier. Loyalists organized, trade with Native allies resumed, and the Patriot partisan forces found the entire interior hostile territory.