© 2024 South Carolina Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

“D” is for Deveaux, Andrew IV (1758-1812)

South Carolina A to Z larger logo

“D” is for Deveaux, Andrew IV (1758-1812). Loyalist. With the outbreak of the American Revolution, Deveaux formed a band of Loyalist ruffians that disrupted patriot meetings in Beaufort. With the arrival of British troops, he joined the invading army and was commissioned a major in the Loyalist militia unit known as the “Royal Foresters.” When the British evacuated Charleston in 1782, Deveaux left with them. In 1783 he raised a small army of Carolina Loyalist refugees in Florida and outfitted six small-armed vessels at his own expense. With this small fleet he successfully captured Nassau in the Bahamas from Spanish forces—and until peace was signed in 1783, was the de facto governor of the Bahamas. Andrew Deveaux, IV, traveled to London where he was awarded with a pension for his services to the crown.

Stay Connected
Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.