Born in Elgin, Moray, Scotland, Chalmers was an ambitious military strategist after the War of Independence, who immigrated to America in 1760 "with several black slaves and 10,000 British pounds in his pocket,"[citation needed] settling in Kent County and becoming "one of the Eastern Shore's most prominent landowners.
"[1] In 1776 he authored a pamphlet entitled Plain Truth, a rebuke of Thomas Paine's Common Sense, going under the pen name "Candidus.
"[2][3] After conditions grew intolerable in his home in Chestertown, Maryland, with a mob chasing him after publishing Plain Truth, Chalmers accompanied the British Army under General Sir William Howe up the Chesapeake Bay as it made its way to Philadelphia in August 1777.
[8] His regiment originally recruited around Philadelphia and later expanded its range to include Maryland's Eastern Shore.
From November 1777 until spring of the following year, the soldiers trained, then marching to Long Island where they stayed until late 1778.
[32][33] In the years that would follow, he returned to London, living out "the rest of his life, continuing to write pamphlets against the works of Paine.