Carolina, in whose fighting powers he appears to have had over-confidence (Ross, Cornwallis Correspondence, i. 59). With about a thousand of these men he accompanied Lord Cornwallis in his march through the Carolinas, during which he was severely wounded in his sound arm. Ferguson, whose recent promotion to the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel appears not to have been known in America at the time, was surprised and killed at King's Mountain, N.C., during the operations there on 9 Oct. 1780. Cornwallis says: ‘Major Ferguson had taken infinite pains with the militia of Ninety-six (a frontier post), and had obtained my permission to make an excursion into Tryon county, whilst the sickness of my army prevented my moving. As he had only militia and the small remains of his own corps, without baggage or artillery, and as he promised to come back if he heard of any superior forces, I thought he could do no harm, and might help to keep alive the spirits of our friends in North Carolina, which might be depressed by the slowness of our movements. The event proved unfortunate, without any fault of Major Ferguson. A numerous and unexpected army came from the mountains, and as they had good horses their movements were rapid. Major Ferguson was tempted to stay near them longer than he had intended, in the hope of cutting off Colonel Clarke on his return from Georgia. He was not aware that the enemy was so near him, and in endeavouring to execute my orders of passing the Catawba and joining me at Charlottetown he was attacked by a very superior force and totally defeated at King's Mountain’ (ib. i. 496–8). This disaster was a heavy blow to the royal cause. Tarleton appears to have blamed Cornwallis for not supporting Ferguson, which Cornwallis declares to be ‘a most malicious and false attack’ (ib. i. 59). Ferguson is allowed by all to have been a generous, chivalrous soldier, but the partisan warfare in which he was engaged gave rise to rancorous feelings on both sides. It is alleged that indignities were offered to his mangled corpse and great barbarities practised on the wretched militiamen under him who were taken prisoners (comp. Cornwallis Corresp. i. 67, and Bancroft, Hist. U.S. vi. 292–3). Unable to show other marks of respect to his memory, Ferguson's brother officers published a notice of him in the form of a monumental epitaph in the ‘New York Gazette,’ 14 Feb. 1781.
[A memoir of Ferguson was written by his kinsman, Dr. Adam Ferguson [q. v.], for the first edit. of Encycl. Brit. (British Encyclopædia), but as it was considered too long, and Dr. Ferguson refused to abridge it, it was omitted and afterwards published separately. Two copies will be found in British Museum under title ‘Sketch of a Memoir of Lieut.-Colonel Patrick Ferguson. By Adam Ferguson, LL.D.’ (London, 1817). Besides this work reference may be made to Ross's Cornwallis Correspondence (London, 1869, 3 vols.), i. 10, 59, 67, 70, 303–41, 486, 496–7; Banastre Tarleton's Hist. Campaigns, 1780–1 (London, 1787), pp. 164–5; Drake's Am. Biog.; Bancroft's Hist. United States, vi. 155, 270–1, 287–289, 292–3; Two Scottish Soldiers, by James Ferguson of Kinmundy, Aberdeen, 1888.]
FERGUSON, ROBERT (d. 1714), surnamed the ‘Plotter,’ was the eldest son of William Ferguson of Badifurrow, Aberdeenshire. Before he left Scotland he had received a ‘liberal education,’ possibly at Aberdeen University, where the name ‘Robertus Fergusone Aberdonensis’ appears in the rolls of 1650. He was resident in England from about 1655, and at the Restoration held the living of Godmersham, Kent. Being expelled by the Act of Uniformity in 1662, he supported himself by ‘teaching boys grammar and university learning at Islington, near London’ (Athenæ Oxon. iv. 106; Calamy, Account, ii. 327). On 16 Jan. 1662–3 a warrant was issued against him for being concerned in raising money in support of ejected ministers, and for other treasonable practices, and on the 21st he was committed a prisoner to the Gatehouse, not receiving his liberty till 12 May, when he and two others entered into a bond of 300l. for his good behaviour. He next came into prominence as a religious controversialist. In 1668 he published ‘Justification onely upon a Satisfaction; or the Necessity and Verity of the Satisfaction of Christ as the only ground of Remission of Sin, asserted and opened against the Socinians.’ It is an exposition of the usual Calvinistic doctrines, displaying a facile if somewhat superficial eloquence, but characterised by no special argumentative ability. This work, according to Wodrow, ‘did much to ingratiate him with Dr. Owen’ (Analecta, ii. 271), with whom ‘he frequently preached,’ having now ‘renounced his communion with the church of Scotland.’ According to Wodrow, though in a coffee-house he had ‘one of the glibest tongues in England upon all subjects, yet when in the pulpit he was exceedingly dry and straitened. He used his papers, and inclined to make extemporary flights, but frequently faltered’ (ib.) In his next treatise, ‘A Sober Enquiry into the Nature, Measure, and Principle of Moral Virtue,’ 1673, he characteristically alludes to Dr. Owen as that ‘great and incomparable
