The township library will host Bennett Carlton and reenactor Emory Dawes for a discussion of Carlton’s book about the division among Colonists during the Revolutionary War.
Local author Bennett Carlton will join reenactor Emory Dawes for a presentation at the Mullica Hill library on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m.
They will focus on Carlton’s book, “King of the Tories: John Hatton and the American Revolution in Swedesboro and Woolwich Township,” about the division among Colonists during the Revolutionary War. The divide pitted American patriots who wanted independence from Great Britain and those who remained loyal to the crown.
A resident of the area, Carlton based his story on research he did for his book, which also examines John Hatton, a loyalist known as a tory, who were conservative supporters of the monarchy and the Church of England. Hatton was also a lieutenant in the New Jersey Volunteers, a regiment of Colonists who served the British.
“John Hatton was known as King of the Tories because he kept an open house for any disaffected person who was against the revolution and sought a safe haven in John Hatton’s home, which was in Swedesboro,” Carlton explained.
Hatton – whom Dawes will portray at the library – was also an unpopular customs officer and a close ally of New Jersey’s last loyalist governor, William Franklin, the illegitimate son of Ben Franklin. After Philadelphia was liberated from England in 1778, Hatton went with British troops to New York City, their headquarters during most of the war.
When the British soldiers left America for good in 1783, Hatton returned to England with them and spent the rest of his days there as an officer in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
“Had Hatton returned to his property as some loyalists did after the war,” Carlton noted, “he may have ended up swinging from a tree. But that didn’t happen, as many loyalists had to flee their homes and had to either go to Canada, Great Britain or to British holdings in the Caribbean.”
The library’s presentation was made possible through the Rev250 grant – which commemorates the 250th anniversary of the start of the Revolutionary War – that was provided by the New Jersey State Library.
Registration for the event is required online at the GCLS website. There is no fee.
