David Fanning (loyalist)

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David Fanning (October 25, 1755 – March 14, 1825) was a Loyalist leader in the American Revolutionary War. He represented Kings County in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1791 to 1801.

He was born in Amelia County, Virginia, the son of David Fanning, and grew up in Johnston County, North Carolina. Fanning claimed to have been originally a Patriot. However, he said that mistreatment by Patriots caused him to change sides. In the latter part of the war, he was commissioned colonel of a regiment of Loyalist militia.

In 1782, he married Sarah Carr. After the recognition of American independence, Fanning moved to Florida and then the Bahamas before settling to New Brunswick. In 1800, he was accused of rape. He was found guilty and sentenced to death despite contradictions in the evidence against him. He was pardoned but exiled from the province and expelled from the provincial assembly. Fanning settled in Digby, Nova Scotia where he later died in 1825.

Fanning remains a controversial figure in history. In 1790, he wrote The Narrative of Colonel David Fanning, which ironically would first see print in 1861 in Richmond, Virginia, then the capital of the Confederate States of America.