John Hamilton (d. 1816) was a prominent merchant in Virginia and North Carolina. In 1777 he refused to sign the oath of allegiance to the State of North Carolina as was required by the North Carolina General Assembly, and as a result he had to leave the state within 60 days, leaving all his property behind. Hamilton and other loyalists fled the state in October 1777 via a ship at New Bern often called the "Tory Brig." It is possible that Hamilton might have met William Brimage, a Gourd Patch co-conspirator that tried to flee once his role in the plot was discovered, while preparing to board the ship. Hamilton then went to New York, where he obtained a military commission where he recruited and then commanded a group of North Carolina loyalists, called the Royal North Carolina Regiment. He served as a Lt. Col. with distinction throughout the course of the war before going to London, where he petitioned the American Loyalist Claims Commission for compensation for the financial losses he sustained as a result of the American Revolution. He also vouched for other loyalists pursuing claims, including William Brimage.