Sergeant Baker had twice warned Brown about the disturbing rivalry, which resulted in almost nightly brawls in the local tavern and around campfires. The rigid discipline imposed on the Redcoats was in sharp contrast to the relative flexibility in the Ranger organization, and exaggerated reports of valuable loot secured on their forays aroused envy among the regular troops. The Rangers’ loud claims of military invincibility had been vividly disproved when McIntosh and his American forces had operated for several days with relative impunity in a region that the Rangers had claimed as British territory and under their complete protection. It was not possible for Brown to explain even to some of his own men that the woodland tactic of the Rangers was to fade away in the face of concentrated force in order to return and triumph later by stealth and surprise. Neither side was in the business of occupying territory in southwest Georgia.

Some of the Tory settlers who had come recently as refugees from north Georgia had brought distorted accounts of Brown’s humiliation in Augusta and the truth about his lack of formal military training. He noticed an increasing inclination of regular British officers to shun him in any public encounter, and he concentrated ever more time and attention on his forays into Georgia and on maintaining close relationships with Sergeant Baker (who refused further promotion), Chief Sunoma, and a growing cadre of Indian and Tory militia whom they had recruited and trained.

One of Brown’s key aides was Daniel McGirth, an American deserter who had been a loyal and effective scout and guide and extremely helpful to the Continental troops and Georgia militia in the coastal area near his home in Darien. His driving interest before the war had been the breeding and racing of fine horses, and he rode a superb iron-gray mare named Gray Goose. A wealthy young militia lieutenant named Clarke Christie, stationed at Fort McIntosh, was determined to acquire the horse, but McGirth would not sell her for any price. After he also refused to swap his mare for a commission as lieutenant, Christie began to abuse the scout, and one evening called him “a stupid son of a bitch.” They exchanged blows, and McGirth prevailed in the brief fight, leaving Christie nursing a bloody nose. McGirth was amazed a few hours later to be arrested and court-martialed for striking an officer. He was given ten lashes in front of the Darien courthouse and confined in the local jail. A sympathetic guard gave McGirth a broken trowel, and after loosening some window bars, he found Gray Goose and fled to St. Augustine. His intense hatred of the American rebels made him a natural recruit for the Florida Rangers, and he was soon one of Thomas Brown’s most valuable men.