Although known to have Loyalist sentiments, South Carolina’s Henry Rugeley has been an enigma for most historians. For instance, he accepted a commission as colonel in the royal militia but later found himself held in contempt by the British officers with whom he served while retaining the respect of his Whig neighbors. Based on letters and papers shared by a descendant of Rugeley’s almost two decades ago, Jim Piecuch provides the most comprehensive study of this man deemed “more a gentleman than a fighter.”
