James Moody (loyalist)

James Moody (c. 1744 – April 6, 1809) was a loyalist volunteer during the American Revolution who became a farmer and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Annapolis County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1793 to 1806.[1]

He was born in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, on January 1, 1744, the son of John Moody. His first wife was Elizabeth Brittain. James and Elizabeth had three children including a son John born 6 March 1768 and a daughter Maria born on 28 February 1775. Records for the other child have been lost. His father-in-law was an outspoken Loyalist.[2]

By 1777, James and his family were living on a 500-acre farm owned in his father's name, but for his use. On Sunday, March 28, 1777, a Patriot militia came to his house to arrest him because he refused to give up his allegiance to Britain and swear loyalty to the United States. Shots were fired, but he managed to escape. In April 1777, he joined the New Jersey Volunteers under the command of General Cortlandt Skinner.[2] In 1780, Moody led several men to free eight Loyalist prisoners held in the Sussex County Courthouse in Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey. Moody freed the men and fled with them. Despite a pursuit lasting several days, Revolutionary forces failed to capture them.[3]

He was captured in 1780 but managed to escape to New York City. After that, for a time, he was put into service intercepting rebel correspondence. A measure of his success was that George Washington, whose dispatches he successfully intercepted, referred to him as "that villain Moody"[4]. Following a betrayed attempt to steal the papers of Congress, Moody escaped, but his brother was captured and hanged. In 1782, Moody went to England where he married Jane Lynson, his second wife, that same year.

Also that year, he published an account of his experiences during the American Revolution.[5] This paints a unique and gritty picture of how what was effectively the first American civil war played out at the personal level. Unique because the loyalist side is rarely heard from in literature. (Although Canada, the Bahamas and elsewhere benefited greatly from the diaspora, which included a third of the living graduates of Harvard at that time).

While Moody described himself as reluctantly becoming a soldier, a 20th century American study of spies and saboteurs on both sides of the conflict credited him with being the most remarkable agent of the war. [6]

He went to Nova Scotia in 1782 and settled at Sissaboo (later Weymouth). Moody built ships there and also constructed mills. He served as a captain in the Royal Nova Scotia Regiment, a colonel in the local militia and road commissioner. He died in Sissaboo.

References

  1. ↑ Sutherland, Stuart R J (1983), James Moody in Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
  2. 1 2 Shenstone, Susan Burgess (2000), So Obstinately Loyal, James Moody, 1744-1809, (McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal).
  3. ↑ [http://www.newtonnj.net/Pages/sussexcourthse.htm Newton, NJ - The Sussex Court House
  4. ↑ Fitzpatrick, John J. The Writings of George Washington, vol 23, p. 444
  5. ↑ Moody, James (1783) Lieut. James Moody’s narrative of his exertions and sufferings in the cause of government, since the year 1776 (London).
  6. ↑ Bakeless, John (1998), Turncoats, Traitors and Heroes ( New York, NY : Da Capo Press)
  • Sutherland, Stuart R J (1983). "James Moody". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
  • McNutt, W S (1972). "Diary of James Moody". Acadiensis. Fredericton, NB: Acadiensis. p. 19. Retrieved 2016-12-17.
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