I represent William Dutton. I was a resident of West Florida during the British period. I started off in Pensacola and maintained enough business there that some records call me “a Pensacola merchant.” In 1770 I was granted 500 acres “49 miles above Mobile on the west side of the River.” A couple of years later, after exploration had revealed the much better and more fertile region of the Mississippi valley, I and a lot of other settlers headed there. I went to a place called Manchac, in Louisiana. I and my family had a plantation there. In March 1778, the American raider James Willing came down the Mississippi with his raiders and plundered all the British plantations they could find. We ran into the woods while Willing’s men did their work, then watched as Indian allies burned everything to the ground after. We went to New Orleans, the nearest place of safety, but we were expelled by Spanish authorities withing 48 hours. We fled to Pensacola, where I was commissioned as a captain in His Majesty’s 16th Regiment of Foot. I returned to Manchac, which was now garrisoned by Waldeck troops. I served as commissary to the Manchac garrison, meaning I supplied them with their rations. In the fall of 1778, I died “after suffering much.” My wife returned to England where she petitioned for relief from the Crown as a widow before the end of 1778.
Sources: 12, 65, 105