Most people consider the Battle of Yorktown as marking the end of the American Revolution, but some historians have called the Battle of Beaufort, North Carolina, the last battle of the war. (Beaufort is in Carteret County on Beaufort Inlet, across from Shackleford Banks and near Cape Lookout.)
In early April 1782, a wily party of raiders began a devastating attack on Beaufort. They were made up of mostly Tory militia and British dragoons (fighters expert on both horse and on the ground) based in Charleston, South Carolina. The British still held Charleston, and would not evacuate it until December 1782.
The battle of Beaufort occurred from April 4–17, 1782. The Army of British General Charles Cornwallis had surrendered to the Continental Army on Oct. 19, 1781.
Although British Major Andrew DeVeaux is often considered the leader of the raid, its “mastermind” was undoubtedly John Cruden, the British army’s commissioner of sequestered estates. He was responsible for managing lands and property that had been confiscated from the Americans. Based in Charleston, he had serious difficulties finding supplies for the growing population in and around the estates.[1]
Thus, the raiders in the Beaufort harbor were in search of necessary supplies such as grain, salt, and other stores.
They came in four British sea vessels. Initially, they encountered whalers based at Shackleford Banks and lied convincingly that their main ship was a Patriot privateer vessel and that the other vessels were “prizes.” The raiders said that they needed help crossing the shoals into the harbor.
Soon, men from Beaufort arrived in pilot boats to assist—and they were taken captive. Other rowboats also arrived, only to be taken hostage as well. A local militia captain rowed out to see what was going on, and he was captured, too.
Captain John Easton, the local militia leader, became alarmed and put out a call for assistance from around Carteret County. Meanwhile, on the morning of April 5, landing parties from the Tory force came ashore in the town and began plundering people’s homes. The frightened citizens began running for safety.
In spite of earlier evidence that a raid was imminent, North Carolina’s top Continental officer, Jethro Sumner, does not seem to have taken it seriously. There were not enough militiamen to head off the British force, and the shocked townspeople were on the run.
Colonel John Easton later wrote a devastating report to the new governor of North Carolina, Thomas Burke, saying:
I have heard of cutting open of Beds, strowing the feathers over the floors, and in the Streets, and destroying every Article of furniture they could not bear off, taking the Clothes from Women’s backs, searching of their pockets, and otherwise abusing them in a very cruel manner, not leaving many a mouthful of provisions to Eat.[2]
The townspeople and the militia fell back to a point across what was then Town Creek Bridge (when Town Creek was much wider). There the militia made a stand, with townspeople setting up camp behind them on what is now Live Oak Street. Once enough militiamen arrived to counter the British force, the Loyalists made their way back to the ships. After a few days of exchanging cannon and musket fire, back-and-forth prisoner swaps, and waiting for the wind to change, the British sailed out of Beaufort harbor back to Charleston.
All Patriot prisoners except for a few enslaved people were eventually released, while the invading force acquired much of the provisions they came for before setting sail under pressure from the Patriot militia. The British forces suffered one dead, several wounded, and a few captured. No militiamen were killed.
Beaufort Today
The Fort Macon Visitor Center (near Beaufort) has a museum display that tells the story of the battle. A visitor to Beaufort who wants to get an idea of where the skirmishes of the battle occurred can start at the waterfront between Fulford and Gordon Streets, where the militiamen had a small earthen fort. Then make your way up toward the point where Live Oak Street splits to the left to become NC Highway 101. There the citizens camped behind militia lines. Right past the Beaufort Fire Department where you see guardrails on the sides of the road is Town Creek, which was a much larger creek in 1782.
Most of the area where shops and stores are today (and where the Rachel Carson Reserve lies across Taylor’s Creek) was open harbor in the late 1700s. The marauding ships would have been in plain view of the townspeople. Carrot Island at the east end across Taylor’s Creek does appear on old maps and was a factor in the skirmishes.
[1] See Jeffrey Crow, “What Price Loyalism? The Case of John Cruden, Commissioner of Sequestered Estates,” North Carolina Historical Review 58, no. 3 (July 1981), 215–233.
[2] Quoted by Jeffrey Crow, 227.