John Hamilton (died December 12, 1816) was a military officer in the British Army, and the commander of the Royal North Carolina Regiment of Loyalist provincial volunteers during the American Revolutionary War from 1777 to 1783.
After the conclusion of the war, Hamilton was made British consul to Norfolk, Virginia, one of only three Loyalists to receive consular positions in the newly created United States.
Much of the firm's activities relied on regular trade with and credit from the rest of the British Empire, and so the beginning of the American Revolution signalled the end of Hamilton's commercial successes.
Due to the animosity against him for his Loyalist beliefs, Hamilton was forced to wind down his business activities in the state, and eventually left from New Bern on October 25, 1777 aboard a newly purchased merchant ship.
[1] Hamilton arrived in British-controlled New York and served as a courier in the British Army for Generals William Howe and Henry Clinton before being authorized a commission as an officer to recruit Loyalist soldiers in the southern theater.
[2][3] At Briar Creek on March 3, 1779, Hamilton recovered a pair of distinctive riding boots belonging to Patriot militia general and fellow North Carolinian Thomas Eaton, who had lost them in that battle.
The rallied Loyalist units were dispersed by a cavalry charge commanded by militia leader William Richardson Davie, and the Patriot forces were permitted to ransack the British camp.