"Fanning Loses the Bay Doe"

During the summer of 1782, although the majority of the King’s Men had been driven from the Carolinas, David Fanning continued his assault against North Carolinians. “Good men were either shot or hanged with as little show of feelings as if they had been dogs, while women and children, escaping for their lives from their burning homes often sought refuge in the forests and swamps or in the cabins of their faithful slaves” (Hill, 251).

This photograph, “Fanning Loses the Bay Doe,” is often attributed to be David Fanning. However, William Hill in his 1913 book The Master of the Red Buck and the Bay Doe: a Story of Whig and Tory Warfare in North Carolina in 1781-83 relates the image to the escape of Andrew Hunter from the hands of Fanning and his men.

Hunter is claimed to have been hidden in the cart of another Patriot when he was discovered by Fanning. When Fanning made it clear that he planned to hang Hunter, Hunter jumped on the back of Fanning’s prized bay doe horse and sped away. Fearing harm of his horse, Fanning commanded his men, “Kill the rascal, but don’t kill my horse. She’s worth a dozen of sich [such] as he” (254).

Did Hunter escape? Was the horse returned? To find out what happened to Hunter and the bay doe, read the rest of the story in chapter 22, "Fanning Loses the Bay Doe,” in The Master of the Red Buck and the Bay Doe by William Laurie Hill (pages 254-259), online at https://archive.org/details/masterredbuckan00compgoog.

References:

Hill, William Laurie. "Fanning Loses the Bay Doe." Illustration located between pages 254 and 255. The master of the Red Buck and the Bay Doe; a story of Whig and Tory warfare in North Carolina in 1781-83. Charlotte: Stone Publishing Co., 1913. From Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/masterredbuckan00compgoog.