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When Virginia Colonial Governor Lord Dunmore issued his proclamation in 1775 calling for volunteers to fight for the Crown, John Saunders of Princess Anne County didn’t hesitate. The young heir of Pembroke Manor in today’s Virginia Beach raised thirty volunteers on his own. For his actions, he was commissioned a captain in the Queen’s Own Loyal Virginia Regiment.
Unlike most of the slave-holding Virginia aristocracy at that critical time, Saunders was an ardent Loyalist even though Lord Dunmore’s proclamation promised freedom for enslaved people who joined the British side. By loudly proclaiming his unpopular political position, Saunders risked losing his estate, his reputation — even his life.
The new captain quickly saw action in the Battle of Great Bridge in December of that year, a decisive defeat for British forces.
When the British abandoned Virginia in early 1776, Saunders escaped to New York, leaving behind all he knew. New York was a Loyalist stronghold drawing men from throughout the Colonies aching to fight the rebels. By 1777, he became a member of the Queen’s American Rangers, the famous regiment of Loyalists, notable by their green coats.
Saunders proved himself a very able and brave officer. At the Battle of Brandywine, the Queen’s Rangers were placed in the vanguard of the attacking British army directly against American forces entrenched in hilly terrain. Crossing Brandywine Creek in water up to their chests, they faced unrelenting fire from the Americans and suffered devastating losses. The Rangers accounted for one-fifth of all British casualties that day. Eleven out of 31 officers in the regiment were killed or wounded, including Saunders, who was so severely wounded he took five months to recover. Despite these casualties, the battle was a strategic loss for the American army, eventually leading to the British capture of Philadelphia.
Major John Simcoe assumed command of the Rangers after the Battle of Brandywine and would lead them with great distinction. Simcoe remains a controversial figure, reviled by Americans, and celebrated by Canadians and the British. Simcoe and Saunders would become lifelong friends.
Saunders was initially an infantry officer with the Rangers, but eventually became a Huzzar, a light cavalry officer.
During the winter of 1778-79, the Queen’s Rangers encamped at Oyster Bay, Long Island. While at Oyster Bay, Saunders put his horse-riding skills to the test, drilling the light infantry and light cavalry of the regiment into a cohesive fighting force.
Back in Princess Anne County, the Committee of Safety declared Saunders a “British Subject” in 1779, leaving his lands open for confiscation. His property reverted to the commonwealth of Virginia, and two years later, the estate was sold to Capt. Henry Kellam, from a prominent Princess Anne family. Saunders’ home and his source of wealth were lost.
Ironically, Saunders returned to Virginia in October 1780 as part of an expeditionary force sent to disrupt rebel supply lines. According to a soldier in his troop, Saunders made his headquarters at Kemps Landing in Princess Anne County, just two miles from his old home. While in Virginia, Saunders recruited men for the Loyalist cause and scoured the countryside acquiring horses for his regiment. This would mark the last time Saunders saw his native Colony.
Saunders’ stay in Virginia was short; by the end of 1780, he and the men under his immediate command were sent to South Carolina to fight rebel forces there. Most of the Rangers remained in Virginia and were present at the defeat in Yorktown in October 1781.
After Cornwallis’ surrender, Saunders was ordered to rejoin the Rangers, now quartered in New York. Simcoe had returned to England due to poor health. Saunders followed him there in November 1782, leaving his native country forever.
By now, Saunders was destitute. As a defeated enemy, he couldn’t go back to Princess Anne County. He had lost his manor house, 800 acres of crop land and timber, livestock and all his possessions, including 12 enslaved people. He was living on half pay as a retired British officer.
In England, he petitioned the government for compensation for his losses while fighting for the Crown. He was generously awarded approximately £5,000, nearly the value of his lost Virginia estate, and enough to restart his life. He studied law, passed the bar, and eventually made his way to New Brunswick, Canada, where many Loyalists had settled after the war.
In New Brunswick, he acquired vast acreages of land and even built a wooden manor house similar in design to Pembroke Manor. Saunders’ dream was to establish a landed aristocracy in New Brunswick similar to the one that existed in Virginia. That dream never materialized. His greatest success, though, was in his legal career, eventually becoming chief justice of the province.
In an interesting case heard in 1800 while he served on the provincial Supreme Court, a Loyalist slave owner sued for the return of a runaway slave. The case reached a panel of four justices including Saunders; the justices were, in effect, deciding if slavery was legal in New Brunswick. The court split, with Saunders, the former slave owner, siding with the anti-slavery position.
He died in Fredericton, New Brunswick, on April 20, 1834.
Pembroke Manor today is privately owned and not open to the public but is visible from the street. The two-story, brick mansion laid out in Flemish bond with a hipped roof and two interior chimneys is an impressive structure that still conveys a sense of wealth and power. The house sits in the middle of suburban sprawl surrounded by streets with names such as Stamp Act Lane, Constitution Drive and Liberty Bell Road. Was that an intentional slight?
But look closely. A vestige of John Saunders is visible on the north side of the house, just under the belt course between the first and second floors. On an oversized brick, you can see the initials “E, I and S” and the year “1764,” which stand for Elizabeth and Jonathan Saunders, John’s parents, and the year the house was built. To the right are four stretcher bricks initialed “MS,” “IS,” “SS,” and “MS,” Elizabeth’s and John’s four children. “IS” stands for John Saunders (I and J were interchangeable in the late 18th century).
It remains the last connection to the Loyalist who once inhabited this house.
