[2] Financed by £3,000 of family capital, he established the community of Brownsborough and a 5,600 acre plantation northeast of present-day Augusta, anticipating life as a gentleman planter.

[4] Brown requested the liberty to hold his own opinions, saying that he could "never enter into an Engagement to take up arms against the Country which gave him being", and finally met their demands with pistol and sword.

The enraged Brown quickly recanted on his pledge and assumed leadership of backcountry Georgia loyalists, developing a plan to support Augusta area Tories with Indian allies from the West and a landing of British soldiers from the East.

In September 1780, Brown maintained a stout defence against Elijah Clarke's surprise attack at the First Battle of Augusta, holding the fortified Mackay House until arrival of a relief force.

Brown's campaign plan achieved temporary success, but ultimately failed due to tardy or insufficient support from local Tories and his Indian allies.

[11] Fully expecting to settle permanently, the newcomers were shocked in 1783 by news that East Florida was ceded to Spain, and British citizens had eighteen months to depart.

[12][13] In 1815 Brown used slave labour to construct the 360 foot long Black Point Tunnel to enable faster transport of sugar from the mills of Grand Sable Plantation to the wharf at Byrea.

Thomas Brown appears as a prominent character in "The Hornet's Nest," a novel written by former United States President and Georgia governor, Jimmy Carter.