John Mayfield the Tory was born about 1738 in Virginia Colony, and died in March 1782 in the Ninety-Six District of South Carolina.

The identity of this John Mayfield, who resided near Browns Creek in what was then Ninety-Six District, South Carolina, during the American Revolution, has been a controversial subject among Mayfield genealogists for many years. The fact that there was also another John Mayfield (The Whig), living in the Camden District of South Carolina at about that same time, has only served to further complicate matters.

John Mayfield and his family seem to have moved to South Carolina from Virginia or North Carolina in about 1767. After leaving Virginia, they may have possibly spent a brief sojourn in the Granville County, North Carolina area where they had other Mayfield kinfolk. However, we do know that John Mayfield arrived in that area of South Carolina that later became Union County by 1767. This is because a 100-acre tract of land on Broad River was certified to John on 3 November 1767. The original survey for this land is dated 20 Aug 1763 and was performed for a certain Bernard McCaun, who had apparently assigned the property over to John Mayfield. This is the earliest documented reference to a Mayfield in South Carolina.

John the Tory acquired title to two separate tracts of land in South Carolina. He acquired title to his first tract, 100 acres on Broad River, by royal patent issued in February 1768. Subsequently, in August 1770, John purchased a 300-acre tract of land on Browns Creek from Jacob and Ruth Brown. This 300-acre tract became John's primary residence.

During the American Revolution, muster records of the South Carolina Royalist Regiment (the same regiment in which Joseph Robinson was a Lieutenant Colonel) list the names of two South Carolina Mayfields, Stephen and William, as members of the regiment. Stephen held the rank of Lieutenant and William that of Private. This William Mayfield was John Mayfield's eldest son; the same man (John Mayfield's "heir-at-law") who sold John's two tracts of land - 300 acres in 1785 and 100 acres in 1800. Lieutenant Stephen Mayfield of Browns Creek was probably John The Tory's uncle -- a brother of Robert Mayfield (d. 1816).

Strong circumstantial evidence indicates that Stephen is almost certainly much older than William Mayfield. For example, Stephen was already a land owner (or renter) who was mentioned on David George's land plat in 1774. Also, Stephen is listed as a Lieutenant in the South Carolina Royalist Regiment, having been commissioned on 13 November 1779, whereas William is listed as only a private in that same regiment in 1781. However, William Mayfield was identified in a 1785 indenture as John Mayfield's eldest son (his "heir-at-law"). We know from British and Spanish official correspondence that, in 1785, Stephen Mayfield was still alive and residing in the British Province of East Florida. Accordingly, it is unreasonable to conclude that Stephen could be both older than William Mayfield and also be a son of John the Tory.

At the beginning of the Revolution, in 1775, Thomas Fletchall was probably the most-influential man in the Ninety-Six District of SC. He was a wealthy planter, gristmill owner, justice of the peace, coroner, and the commander of the Upper Saluda Militia Regiment. It is believed that John Mayfield had a close association with Fletchall before the Revolution in two respects. First, John Mayfield was a constable working primarily under the direction of Fletchall, one of the justices of the peace for Ninety-Six District; and second, John Mayfield held the rank of Captain in the militia regiment commanded by Colonel Fletchall.

During the so-called "Winter Campaign" - on 02 December 1775 - Captain John Mayfield was captured along with several other officers at McLaurins Store in the Upper Saluda region. That same day, the commander of the Whig forces that captured Mayfield, Colonel Richard Richardson, wrote a letter describing the capture to the Council of Public Safety in Charles Town (Charleston).

On 02 January 1776, Colonel Richardson wrote another letter to the Committee listing a total of 136 prisoners, taken during the Winter Campaign, that were sent to Charleston. John Mayfield's name appears as the second name on that list, immediately after the name of Colonel Thomas Fletchall.

On 20 January 1776, 33 of the imprisoned loyalists sent a petition to the Council of Safety requesting release from prison. The first signature on the petition is that of Robert Cunningham, the second is that of John Mayfield.

On 11 April 1776, the South Carolina General Assembly issued a "Declaration of Pardon or Amnesty" for the captured backcountry Loyalists taken during the Snow Campaign of December 1775. John Mayfield was one of the men released from prison pursuant to that Declaration.

After Captain John Mayfield's release from prison in 1776, as a condition of his release, John was required to acquiesce to Whig rule in South Carolina. Even though a former Loyalist leader, John Mayfield appears to have retained his popularity among his neighbors. Indeed, there probably was still a Loyalist majority in the Upper Saluda area that became dormant until the British captured Charles Town in May 1780. He is almost certainly the same John Mayfield who was elected to the SC Assembly from the "Upper or Spartan District between Broad and Saluda Rivers." Both the 100-acre and 300 acre tracts of land owned by John Mayfield fall well within this Election District. Since Thomas Fletchall, as a condition for his release in July 1776, was not permitted to run for public office, John Mayfield may have been a proxy for Fletchall; however, this is only speculation. One fact making John Mayfield a rather important man in his election district was that he apparently operated a general store from his plantation.

After the fall of Charles Town to the British, in May 1780, General Sir Henry Clinton established two types of Loyalist militia in South Carolina: 1) a home militia composed mostly of older men with families that would operate, on an as needed basis, in the immediate vicinity of their homes; and 2) a regular militia composed mostly of younger men without families that would operate up to six months, a year in more remote areas, including North Carolina and Georgia.

Sometime in 1780, John Mayfield was appointed as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Loyalist Home Militia. His area of command was probably the Upper Saluda Militia District - the same district that he had represented in the SC Whig Legislature in February 1780. During 1780-1781, John Mayfield was apparently involved in several skirmishes with the Whigs in and around the Browns Creek area where he lived. The best known of these conflicts was the so-called Battle of Hammond's Store which took place on 30 December 1780, in what would later become Laurens County SC.

John Mayfield paid the ultimate price - his life. By the beginning of 1782, John Mayfield had sent his family to Charles Town as a safety measure, while he remained in Browns Creek to protect his farm and store. Unfortunately, during the February-April 1782 timeframe, he was murdered in his own home by several Whigs disguised as British soldiers.