'Bloody' Bill Cunningham redux

"Bloody" Bill Cunningham appeared briefly in my last post because records show he was responsible

William Cunningham

for the death of one of Sharon's distant cousins, Dannett Abney, during the American Revolution. I didn't really have space to go into much of his background but wanted to return to his story. 

Imagine my surprise when I found that Cunningham had also participated in a battle involving another of Sharon's ancestors, Capt. John Weir, at the Battle of Kings Mountain. (See "Kings of Kings Mountain, published on April 9.) I suppose that shouldn't surprise me, but it was a serendipitous coincidence.

Remember that  the Revolution went beyond the war against Britain and was very much a civil war as well, pitting American loyalists, or Tories, against revolutionaries -- Whigs or patriots. Much of Cunningham's involvement, and the worst of his behavior lies in this civil war aspect.

Cunningham originally enlisted in a South Carolina Whig militia regiment in 1775. He claimed that he was promised a quick promotion to first lieutenant and given the right to resign if his unit moved to the low country -- pretty much the area of the state along the Atlantic coastline.

Despite participating in a battle that marked S.C.'s entrance into the war, he did not receive a promotion, and a year after his enlistment, his unit was sent to Savannah. He initially refused to go, relented and went, and attempted to resign a couple of times. His commander accused him of insubordination, court martialed him, and had him whipped. 

After his discharge, he intended to return home, in the northwestern part of the state, but that area had become firmly Whig, and he found he was not welcome. He returned to the southern part of the state -- where is not certain -- until he heard that a Whig militia had tossed his father from his home and whipped an invalid brother to death.

Cunningham trekked north, confronted the captain of the militia unit in his home and shot the man to death in front of his family. You may guess this was the time when his loyalties changed. 

His family was solidly Tory, and in 1778 he joined a British regiment led by another of his brothers, where he fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain. His subsequent actions led to the British promoting him to captain and later major. 

In the fall of 1781, Cunningham took command of a regiment composed of Tory sympathizers and began a series of raids on Whig militias. In almost every case, the militias surrendered but Cunningham had them slaughtered, fully participating in the killing. He is also credited with murdering several prominent Whigs, including the lieutenant governor.

By December a patriot unit formed with the sole purpose of stopping Cunningham. The Whigs came close, capturing some of Cunningham's forces, but he escaped to Charleston. He didn't do much after that and eventually fled to Florida, which had reverted to Spanish control in 1784, and became an outlaw. 

The Spanish captured him and his band, sent them to Havana for trial, and banned them from Spanish territories. Despite that, Cunningham returned to Florida and began looting. After being caught and expelled again, he made his way to Nassau, where he died in 1784.