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CAPTAIN John Abraham Collet
may well he deemed the villain of this phase of the story, for, though
possessing many natural gifts, he was domineering and unprincipled and
has received little commendation from either party in the struggle. He
has, however, been treated more harshly than was necessary by North
Carolina historians who, following contemporary revolutionary opinion,
have given him no credit for his successful handling of a difficult
situation. Furthermore, North Carolina owes him something for the
excellent maps that he prepared of the province—maps not generally known
and never reproduced to our knowledge. One was engraved and published;
the other two, now in the British Museum, with photographic copies at
Raleigh and in the Library of Congress, still remain in manuscript. Of
the latter, the smaller covers the lower Cape Fear; the larger,
Albemarle and the back country.
Captain Collet before
coming to North Carolina had served six campaigns in Germany and later
for four years studied mathematics, engineering, and drawing. On May 27,
1767, he was commissioned commander of Fort Johnston, and in August
embarked for North Carolina, delivering his credentials to Governor
Tryon in December. He was discouraged at the miserable condition of the
fort and the insufficient allowance made for its maintenance, and as an
ad interim employment accepted Tryon's invitation to accompany him as
his aide-de-camp on the expedition against the Regulators in 1768. In
December of that year he returned to England, having in the meantime
surveyed the province and completed a map of it, "which he afterward had
the honour of presenting to His Majesty and upon the publication of
which he actually lost £500." (Testimony before the Loyalist Claims
Commission.) This mar), engraved by Bayley, was published May 1, 1770,
by S. Hooper, Ludgate FIjI!, London.
Though Collet carried to
England recommendations from Tryon to Hillsborough, he was unsuccessful
in obtaining preferment. While in England he was employed in drawing
until In 1772 he was ordered by the secretary of state for the colonies
to return to America and take up his post at Fort Johnston. In the
meantime Governor Martin had endeavored to impress upon the assembly the
necessity of making an adequate appropriation for charges and
maintenance of the fort, but with slight success. Collet reached the
country in 1773, and with the governor's approval "spared neither time
nor pains to put [the fort] into substantial repair" and, according to
his own statement, continued to maintain it at his own expense up to
1775. Martin and Collet were in fact on the horns of a dilemma: the
assembly would do nothing because Collet was a British officer; and
Secretary Dartmouth would do nothing because the fort "seemed calculated
merely for the security and convenience of the commerce of the colony"
(N. C. R. IX, 1008).
From the end of 1774 Collet was harassed "in every way the Americans
could devise; they cut off his usual channels for provisions, and by
great premiums and promises seduced his men to desert and after the
first bloodshed at Lexington they declared open hostilities and more
destruction to the garrison." As early as March, 1775, the rumor spread
that the fort was to be attacked and Collet and his lieutenant, Richard
Wilson, prepared for its defence. This activity, coupled with other
rumors, true and false, convinced the Wilmington committee that it would
be necessary to capture the fort and if possible to take Martin and
Collet into custody. The attacking force numbered five hundred; for
defence Collet had twenty-five men, reduced by desertion to less than
half that number, of whom only three or four were to be depended on. The
artillery was useless for want of powder. When it became evident that
the fort could not hold out, Martin retired on board the man-of-war and
ordered Collet and Wilson to dismantle the fort, save the guns, and
embark for Boston. This they did, July 21, 1775, delivering to General
Gage "a very valuable and costly set of artillery, arms, stores, and
ammunition belonging to the Crown."
While waiting on the
transport, Collet saw his own property destroyed, losing, according to
his own estimate, in house and stable, horses, cattle, carriages, hay,
liquors, and furniture upward of £5900, with a total loss of "at least
£10,000" (Audit Office Papers). Wilson, likewise, lost a house and
stable, three saddle horses, and other property worth £400 (Second
Report, Ontario Bureau of Archives, p. 1207). The attacking party, not
content with the destruction of the fort and the houses belonging to it,
shortly afterwards tarred and feathered the gunner "for expressing his
loyalty," and "so grossly insulted Mr. Mulligan in particular, surgeon
to the forts and garrisons in this province [South Carolina], that he
was under necessity of taking refuge on board the King's ship till the
packet boat sailed" (Lord William Campbell to Lord Dartmouth, South
Carolina, August 19, 1775). Collet, after his arrival in Boston,
continued in military service till the end of the war. He joined the
Royal Fencible Americans, a loyalist regiment, served under Lieutenant
Colonel Gorham at Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia, 1777-1780, and at Fort
Howe, 1781 (Loyalist Muster Rolls, MSS., 1777-1783). Of his career after
his return to England we know nothing.
Collet had conspicuous
faults and Governor Martin made no effort to minimize them. He charges
Collet with extravagance and with conduct based upon his own gain rather
than "upon any principles of justice, equity, and charity." He says that
Collet was heavily in debt and contemptuous of the efforts which his
creditors made to secure payment; that he was hot-headed and impetuous
and so scornful of the colonials generally as to exasperate them against
him. Though Martin did not believe, and probably with reason, the report
that Collet was harboring and arming negroes at the fort and inciting
them to insurrection, he was convinced that Collet was the wrong man for
the place and hoped that he would never return to the colony. |
