So Obstinately Loyal: James Moody, 1744-1809

Graham Adams, Jr., is a professor of American history at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick.

America’s war for independence created hardships and disrupted
families. James Moody’s biography shows how this political upheaval
profoundly affected the life of one man; it also sheds light on the
outcome of the struggle.

When hostilities erupted, Moody, a prosperous farmer in New Jersey,
remained staunchly loyal to the Crown. American Patriots regarded
Loyalists as traitors. In danger of arrest, Moody fled behind British
lines. He then recruited other Loyalists, gathered intelligence, and
raided Patriot homes. Revolutionary soldiers captured him when he tried
to kidnap the American Governor of New Jersey. Traditional rules of war,
observed by both sides, provided for humane treatment and periodic
exchange of prisoners. Since neither the Americans nor the British
treated Loyalists as army regulars, they did not receive the same
protection. Although shackled and manacled in a cell, Moody broke these
restraints, smashed his way past guards, and gained his freedom.

For several months afterward Moody performed the assignment of
intercepting Washington’s dispatches. A daring attempt to steal the
papers of the Congress in Philadelphia failed disastrously. At the end
of the fray, Loyalists could not recover their property, which Americans
had confiscated.

In England, Moody wrote a book detailing the contributions and the
suffering that Loyalists had endured in their service to the Crown. His
widely read work finally awakened both the public and Parliament to the
plight of the Loyalists. Moody received compensation for his lost
holdings and was granted a pension. He returned to Nova Scotia where he
founded a highly successful shipbuilding company. England’s war with
France in 1793, however, ruined his business and he eventually died in
debt.

Author Susan Shenstone writes with great verve and holds the reader’s
attention throughout her exciting story. She also demonstrates how
British indifference to their Loyalists supporters contributed to their
defeat. Her work makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of
the revolutionary conflict.