[660] Story, in Dillon, iii, 335-36.
[661] As an example of the number and nature of these soldier petitions see Journal, H.D. (Spring Sess., 1784), 7, 9, 11, 16, 18, 44.
[662] See chap, VIII and footnote to p. 288.
[663] Williamson was a Tory of the offensive type. He had committed hostile acts which embittered the people against him. (See Cal. Va. St. Prs., ii. And see Eckenrode: R. V., chap, xi, for full account of this and similar cases.)
[664] The gentle pastime of tarring and feathering unpopular persons and riding them on sharp rails appears to have been quite common in all parts of the country, for a long time before the Revolution. Men even burned their political opponents at the stake. (See instances in Belcher, i, 40-45.) Savage, however, as were the atrocities committed upon the Loyalists by the patriots, even more brutal treatment was dealt out to the latter by British officers and soldiers during the Revolution. (See supra, chap. IV, footnote to p. 116.)
[665] Journal, H.D. (Spring Sess., 1784), 19.
[666] Journal, H.D. (Spring Sess., 1784), 23, 27.
[667] Ib., 45. For thorough examination of this incident see Eckenrode: R. V., chap. xi.
[668] Journal, H.D. (Spring Sess., 1784), 57.
[669] Ib., 14.