I represent Thomas Hutchins. I was a captain in His Majesty’s 60th (Royal American) Regiment of Foot. I was a military engineer employed by General Gage, the commander of British forces in North America. I was the brother of Anthony Hutchins. I found myself in the colony of West Florida twice. I came in 1766 as an assistant to Captain Harry Gordon, coming down the Ohio River from Ft. Pitt, to New Orleans and thence to Pensacola. This was an inspection tour of the fortifications; I was in Pensacola only a few days. In 1772, I came back and stayed until 1776. I engaged in a “minute examination” of the coasts, harbors and waterways of West Florida. I returned to England in 1776, but three years later I was caught corresponding with Americans in Paris. I was arrested for treason but I managed to flee to America where, with Benjamin Franklin’s support, I got a position as a geographer to the United States, a position I held until my death in 1789. In 1784, I published An Historical Narrative and Topographical Description of Louisiana and West Florida, a work of some importance to Gulf Coast historians.
Sources: 3, 35, 82