Browne, Thomas

Browne, Thomas, d. 1825, Loyalist commander in the American Revolution. A resident of Augusta, Ga., he was the victim of colonist violence in 1775, when he was tarred and feathered for ridiculing the Continental Congress. Later he organized (1778) a Loyalist troop in Florida and raided settlements in S Georgia. In 1780 he captured Augusta; in 1781 he was forced to surrender to Andrew Pickens and Henry Lee. After his exchange he was a colonel in the Queen's Rangers in South Carolina and was defeated (May, 1782) by Anthony Wayne. Browne, who was fiercely hated by the colonists, escaped and lived out his life in the British West Indies.