His aide, Sergeant Baker, grew to respect the lieutenant and to confide in him. Brown learned that he had earlier been stationed in Georgia and assigned as leader of a small group of dragoons who patrolled the outer boundaries of the colony west of the Savannah River. Disgusted with what he considered to be revolutionary sentiments, he had killed a prominent Whig settler in St. Johns Parish who publicly supported actions of the Continental Congress and then resisted an arrest ordered by Governor James Wright. Although his superiors determined that Baker had only been performing his duty and was not at fault, he became the target of abuse by Georgia Whigs and, after an appropriate interval to show that the military commander could not be intimidated, had been transferred to St. Augustine.

The lieutenant could now ride and walk without serious discomfort and increasingly was away from the military base. Usually dressed in civilian attire, he and the sergeant consulted with Indian leaders and visited the scattered settlements above and below the Georgia–Florida border, where he traded goods or exchanged British currency for supplies needed by the troops and civilian inhabitants of St. Augustine. With a friendly attitude and quiet inquiries, he soon accumulated a great deal of knowledge about the families whom he visited on his journeys, and recorded in meticulous detail in his logbook every comment that indicated the political preferences of each family. He was careful not to express his own views, except as a somewhat ignorant subordinate officer who was performing his assigned duties. During the long hours of their excursions, he was an avid student of military matters and constantly questioned his British and Indian companions about the environment within which they moved, and how they could make better use of it, especially the rivers and their tributary streams.

From a retired naval officer, Brown learned the rudiments of mapmaking, how to use an octant, and the observations of heavenly bodies that were useful in navigation. He carried a slim packet of available maps in his saddlebag and constantly corrected the errors he found in them.

CHAPTER 24

The Florida Rangers

DECEMBER 1775

One day, late in December 1775, Brown asked for private time with Major Furlong, and brought him some disturbing information.

“Some of my men have just come from Savannah and report that the Whigs are taking over the streets there. Some claim they want to continue as British subjects and just redress their imagined grievances, but the cursed Sons of Liberty are publicly calling for total independence and acting as criminals and traitors with relative impunity. It is my opinion that Governor Wright will soon be forced to leave America and return to London.”