[RAYMOND] PRE-LOYALIST SETTLEMENTS OF NOVA SCOTIA 93 
Afterwards we find him supporting as a “free lance” the celebrated 
Baron de Kalb in the Carolinas and witnessing the surrender of Corn- 
wallis at Yorktown. To the late Senator Wm. A. Glasgow’s facile pen 
we are indebted for the following imaginative picture of McNutt’s 
feelings at this juncture. The picture may or may not have been true 
to life and the sentiment too isa little unusual in a citizen of the United 
States. 
“When he considers that under these British colors, now trailed 
in the dust, his fathers had rallied at Runnymede, at Marston Moor, at the 
Boyne and Londonderry, battling for English liberty, and that in an 
evil hour, a moment of rashness, he had cast in his lot with a movement 
the triumph of which dishonoured all that he had been reared to rever- 
ence, what must have been the conflict of his emotions! The British 
Lion, no longer rampant, doing obeisance to the American eagle that 
not yet fully fledged was nestling among the Fleurs de lis—unwelcome 
reminders of unforgotten conflicts. The war ends, partisan service is 
crowned with victory, American independence assured, citizenship in 
a confederacy of States won, allegiance renounced and protection sur- 
rendered of the grandest power in time—all—all for a bubble!”’ 
As to his private fortunes in Nova Scotia McNutt deemed his rights 
forfeited for, alas for him the colony for whose advancement he had 
labored, remained under the British flag. Not caring to return to a 
land where he might be charged with treason he repaired to the home 
of his brother John at “The Forks,” in Lexington, Virginia. Here he 
passed the remainder of his life, taking an interest in the passing events 
of his generation, but never again playing the conspicuous part that 
once he had done in affairs of national import. He formed pleasant 
relations with General Andrew Moore and with Thomas Jefferson, whom 
he sometimes visited at Monticello, always travelling afoot, appareled 
in court dress with King George’s sword at his side. He took an 
interest in the affairs of the Presbyterian church, of which in his declin- 
ing years he is said to have been a devout member. He also took an 
interest in the Liberty Hall Academy ! of Rockbridge County, Virginia, 
then under the control of the Presbyterians, and to show his good will 
made a proposal to the trustees to endow it with a gift of 100,000 acres 
of land on the River St. John in the Province of New Brunswick. The 
original deed of conveyance signed by Alexander MeNutt, with his 
seal affixed, and witnessed by Andrew Alexander, Conrade M. Speece 
and Archibald Alexander, is on file in the archives of the Washington 
and Lee University, and a certified copy is in the hands of the writer 
* This institution originated in a classical school established by Robert Alex- 
ander in 1749, known as Augusta Academy. Out of this grew “ Liberty Hall,” which 
has since developed into the Washington and Lee University. 
