Early Visits by
Foreigners to the Coast of South Carolina.
AS EARLY as 1520, thirteen
years after the passing of Christopher Columbus, two Spanish ships entered
a wide bay on or near the coast of the present state of South Carolina. A
point of land near the bay was given the name St. Helena by the Spanish
sailors. A river in the vicinity they called "Jordan." They found,
moreover, that a portion of the country on one side of the bay was called
by the natives, Chicora. A large number of these natives, yielding to the
persuasions of the Spaniards, went on board the two ships. When the decks
were crowded with them the sailors suddenly drew up the anchors, spread
their sails and headed the ships out into the open sea. Not long
afterwards, one of the vessels went down and all on board perished. The
other vessel sailed to the island of Hispaniola (now known as Haiti) in
the West Indies. There the captive Indians, as many of them as survived
the hardships of the voyage, were sold as slaves. The responsibility for
this cruel treatment of some of the redmen of America rests upon a
Spaniard named Vasquez de Ayllon, who had fitted out the two ships and
sent them to capture Indians. A few years later De Ayllon himself sailed
with three vessels to the river which had received the name Jordan. He
expected to conquer all the country near the river, and to rule over it in
the name of the Spanish sovereign. This expectation was not realized.
According to the stories handed down to us in the old Spanish records, the
natives of the country, filled with hatred on account of the treachery
shown by the previous company of explorers, slew so many of De Ayllon's
men that his expedition ended in failure.
In the year 1524 Giovanni
Verrazano, a native of Florence, Italy, was sent across the Atlantic by
Francis I., of France. Verrazano reached the American coast at a point
near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, North Carolina. He coasted thence
southward "fifty leagues" in search of a harbor. This voyage, of course,
brought him to the region now known as South Carolina. "The whole shore,"
runs Verrazano's description of the country, "is covered with fine sand
about fifteen feet thick, rising in the form of little hills about fifteen
paces broad. Ascending farther, we found several arms of the sea, which
make in through inlets, washing the shores on both sides as the coast
runs." He speaks, also, of "immense forests of trees, more or less dense,
too various in color and too delightful and charming in appearance to be
described. They are adorned with palms, laurels, cypresses and other
varieties unknown to Europe, that send forth the sweetest fragrance to a
great distance."
Settlement at Port Royal
by the French.
Because of the discoveries
made by Verrazano, France laid claim to a large part of the continent of
North America. From King Charles IX., of France, therefore, Admiral
Coligny, a leader of the Huguenot party, obtained permission to establish
in America a colony of French Protestants. Two of the King's ships, filled
with veterans and with French gentlemen, set sail in February, 1562, under
command of an old Huguenot sea-captain, Jean Ribault. After crossing the
Atlantic, Ribault landed on the shore of a river which he named the May
River, because he discovered it on the first day of the month of May. This
stream is now known as St. John's River, in Florida. From the mouth of the
St. John's, Ribault sailed northward along the Atlantic coast. After a
voyage of several days his two vessels entered the mouth of a wide bay on
the coast of the present state of South Carolina, and there he cast anchor
in a depth of sixty feet of water. On account of its size and the beauty
of the scenery around its shores, the sailors named this bay Port Royal,
or royal harbor, and by this name it is called to this day.
When Ribault and his men
landed on the banks of the harbor they found a region filled with stately
cedars, magnolias and wide-spreading oaks. The air, moreover, was sweet
with the fragrance of the rose and the jasmine. As the men walked through
the forest, wild turkeys in large numbers flew above their heads;
partridges and stags were seen on every hand, and the sailors imagined
that they heard the cries of bears and leopards and other beasts of prey.
When they cast a net into the waters of the bay they found so many fish
that two draughts of the net furnished a day's food for the crews of both
vessels.
Ribault next steered his
ships up the stream that flows into Port Royal and took his men ashore,
probably upon an island now known as Lemon Island, in Broad River, a few
miles from the present town of Beaufort. Upon that island he set up a
stone pillar, engraved with the arms of the King of France, thus claiming
the entire country in the name of the French sovereign. Ribault and his
followers then laid the foundations of a fort on Parris Island, and gave
it the Latin name Arx Carolana, that is, Fort Charles, after King Charles
(Carolus) IX., of France.
Having thus, with due
ceremonial, taken possession of the country, Ribault determined to leave a
garrison in the fort while he himself returned to France to seek
additional settlers. He therefore made a stirring appeal to his men and,
as a result, twenty-six of them volunteered to remain at Port Royal until
his return. Ribault left them a supply of tools, guns and provisions, and
on the morning of July 11, 1562, having fired a salute to the flag of
France which was waving over Fort Charles, he set forth on the voyage
across the Atlantic.
The soil around Fort
Charles was fertile, but the men of the garrison, having been trained as
soldiers, did not think it necessary to plant corn. First of all, they
completed the fort which Ribault had begun. Its dimensions, according to
the old records which we have, were ninety-six feet in length by
seventy-eight feet in width, with flanks in proportion. After their cannon
had been set in position a party of men from the garrison sailed in a
pinnace up the Broad River to seek the friendship of the Indians. Upon the
invitation of some of the red chieftains, the Huguenots went ashore and
watched the strange ceremonies conducted by some of the Indian priests and
warriors, the peculiar rites connected with a religious festival.
The supply of food left by
Ribault was soon consumed. Some of the Frenchmen sailed, however, to the
river now called the Savannah, and the Indians of that region filled the
pinnace with a supply of millet and beans. Fire then broke out in a small
house within the fort, and their provisions stored therein were destroyed.
The Indians generously helped to rebuild the house and also gave the
soldiers another supply of food. Liberal presents were made to the redmen,
and the latter pointed to the fields of growing corn as indicating the
certainty of a future supply of bread.
The men of the garrison
soon became filled with the spirit of unrest. When the Indians gave them
some pearls and some silver ore, accompanied by the statement that the
silver could be found among the mountains to the northward, the soldiers
were eager to set out in search of the white metal. The commander, Captain
Albert, who, from the first, had been rigid and harsh in enforcing
discipline, grew more stern and severe. Then the garrison broke out in
open mutiny, murdered Captain Albert and appointed Nicholas Barre as
commander.
The Huguenots were now
anxious to return home, and as the return of Ribault was delayed, they
determined to build a small boat and sail back to France. Resin from the
pine and moss from the oak were used in calking the little vessel. Grass
and the inner bark of trees were twisted together to make ropes.
Bedclothes and old shirts were used in making sails. The cannon and other
warlike implements were placed on board the boat, but, strange to say,
only a small supply of food was taken. The sails were raised and, with a
favorable breeze, the vessel was soon one-third of the way across the
Atlantic. Then the wind dropped and for many days the boat drifted with
the tide. The supply of food and water failed and the men began to eat
their shoes and leathern jackets. Some of them died of hunger. A storm
burst upon them and wrought so much harm to the vessel that they gave up
hope of making further progress in the voyage. As a last resort, to
prolong the life of the majority of the crew, one of their number, chosen
by lot, was slain and eaten. Shortly after this an English vessel came
that way, picked up those who were still alive and carried them back to
England.
Two years afterward another
company of Huguenot colonists under the command of Laudonniere came to the
St. John's River in Florida and there built another Fort Charles. Then, in
1565, Ribault brought a third group of settlers to the fort on the St.
John's. A Spanish fleet immediately followed across the Atlantic in
pursuit of Ribault. When the Spaniards arrived at St. John's River they
fell upon the Huguenot settlers, killed all of them because of their
hatred towards Protestants, and then built the town of St. Augustine on
the Florida coast as an indication of their claim to all of the territory
adjacent to the South Atlantic Ocean. Thus failed the Huguenot plan to
establish a settlement on the South Carolina coast. The name Carolana, or
Carolina, however, was bestowed by them upon a part of the country near
Port Royal. This name remained in that region as a memorial of the French
King for a hundred years, until English settlers came to lay there the
foundation of a great American state.
Occupation of South
Carolina by English Settlers.
In the years 1663 and 1665
King Charles II., of England, gave to eight of his friends the territory
now embraced in the states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and
the northern part of Florida. These Englishmen, called the Lords
Proprietors of Carolina, were the following: Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord
Ashley, the Earl of Clarendon, Sir John Colleton, the Duke of Albemarle,
the Earl of Craven, Sir George Carteret, Sir William Berkeley and John,
Lord Berkeley. The vast region thus transferred by charter was named
"Carolina" in honor of the King's father, King Charles I., of England.
In pursuance of the
authority given by King Charles II., the Proprietors sent out from London
in the year 1669, the good ship Carolina, and two other small vessels,
filled with emigrants. In March, 1670, these settlers went ashore at Port
Royal. The proximity of the Spaniards in Florida led them, however, to
abandon Port Royal as the site for a colony. The prow of the Carolina was
turned northward and the vessel soon cast anchor in the Ashley River. In
April, 1670, the emigrants began to build a fortification and dwelling
houses at Albemarle Point on the western bank of the Ashley, about three
miles from the mouth of the stream. The settlement was called Charles Town
in honor of the King of England. Col. William Sayle, former governor of
the island of Bermuda, was made governor of the new colony. The forests
were filled with wild game and the river furnished an abundance of fish
and oysters; corn and venison were bought from the Indians, and thus, for
a short time, the people secured food. When the Indians were no longer
able to offer a supply of corn, the Carolina sailed to the colony of
Virginia to buy both wheat and corn. Meanwhile the fortifications were
thrown up as high as a man's breast. When, therefore, a Spanish ship came
up from Florida with hostile purpose, the English defenses seemed to be so
strong that the Spaniards returned without making an attack.
In 1671 Governor Sayle died
and was succeeded in office by Joseph West. At that time about 400
settlers were living at Charles Town. They had already begun to send
shiploads of pine, oak and ash logs to Barbadoes in exchange for supplies
of guns, hoes, axes and cloth. Another company of settlers came from
England; some Dutch farmers sailed from the Hudson River to join the
colonists at Charles Town; moreover, a great many English people came from
Barbadoes to make their homes on the Ashley. Among the latter was Sir John
Yeamans, who brought into the colony from Barbadoes a number of negro
laborers, the first slaves to enter the province. Yeamans was a man of
great energy, and soon became rich through his traffic in cedar logs and
the skins of wild animals. During a period of two years Yeamans was
governor and then Joseph West was appointed for a second term. In 1672 the
streets of a new town were laid out on the point of land between the
Ashley and Cooper rivers, and in 1680 the settlement called Charles Town
was formally removed by Governor West from Albemarle Point to its present
location. At that time there were about 1,200 people in the province. In
the same year (1680) a shipload of Huguenots was added to the inhabitants
of Charles Town. A year later (1681) a body of about 500 English settlers
came to the shores of the Edisto River. Other colonists from England,
Ireland and Barbadoes established themselves in such numbers in Charles
Town that by the close of the year 1682 about 2,500 people were living in
the province. some Scots came to Port Royal in 1683, but soon afterwards
their settlement was destroyed by the Spaniards. The year 1687 brought a
company of Huguenots who built homes at Orange and Goose Creek on the
Cooper River ; still another body settled on the southern bank of the
Santee River. So extensive were the settlements along the coast, not only
in Charles Town but also in the regions north and south of that place,
that in 1691-1693, during the governorship of Philip Ludwell, men began to
give to the province the name South Carolina.
The Plan of Government
Proposed by Shaftesbury and Locke.
Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord
Ashley, was a very active member of the body of men known as the Lords
Proprietors of Carolina. He was afterwards given the title of Earl of
Shaftesbury, and by that name he is usually known. Shaftesbury secured the
aid of the great English philosopher, John Locke, in preparing a plan of
government for the province of Carolina. Working together they wrote out
an elaborate scheme called the "Fundamental Constitutions" which was
formally adopted by the Lords Proprietors in July, 1669.
According to this system of
rule, one of the Proprietors was chosen governor of the province with the
title of palatine. At his death the oldest of the remaining Proprietors
was to be his successor. Two orders of hereditary nobility were created,
called landgraves and cassiques. Large grants of land were to accompany
the bestowal of one of these titles. The territory of the entire province
was divided into counties; each county was subdivided into eight
seigniories for the eight Proprietors, and into eight baronies for the
provincial nobility. Four precincts were reserved for the settlers.
Shaftesbury and Locke made provision for a parliament, or legislature,
consisting of the Proprietors or their deputies, the landgraves and
cassiques,. and one citizen from each precinct of the province. A system
of courts was involved in the plan, and the chief executive authority was
lodged in a grand council, composed of men who represented the Proprietors
and the nobles. It was provided in the Fundamental Constitutions that no
one should hold an estate nor dwell within the province who did not
acknowledge the existence of God. It was ordered, further, that "No
person, whatsoever, shall disturb, molest or persecute another for his
speculative opinions in religion, or his way of worship."
This elaborate plan of
government was never carried out in all of its details. Most of the
Proprietors were selfish men and wished to extort money from the
colonists; some of the governors whom they appointed sought in every way
to oppress the people. The latter knew how to uphold their rights, and
they made difficult the pathway of these unjust officials. Through a
legislature chosen by the settlers and known as the Commons House of
Assembly, the Proprietors were forced to make to the people one concession
after another. From time to time the Fundamental Constitutions were thus
modified and changed. When Thomas Smith, who was made landgrave in 1691,
was appointed to the governorship (1693-1694), the Commons House of
Assembly was given the right to originate all legislation. In 1697, during
the second administration of Gov. Joseph Blake, the Huguenots of the
province were given the privilege of citizenship. The number of voters
among the colonists was thus so largely increased that in the following
year (1698) the Fundamental Constitutions were virtually laid aside. By
this time there were about 6,000 colonists living in Charles Town and
along the adjacent coast, and thenceforth they ruled themselves through
their own chosen representatives.
Trouble with Indians and
Spaniards.
About twenty-eight large
families, or clans, of Indians lived in the territory of South Carolina.
Two groups of these families held the upper part of the country; these
were the Cherokees on the Broad and Saluda rivers, and the Catawbas on the
Wateree. The Creeks dwelt in the region beyond the Savannah River. From
some of these red people the English settlers bought lands and received
written deeds containing the marks or signs made by the Indian chieftains.
Near the Ashley dwelt the
Kiawahs, who manifested a spirit of friendliness toward the colonists. The
Kussoes of the Combahee River were, in the beginning, ready to furnish
food to the settlers. Later they became hostile, and an armed force of
white men marched into their country and compelled them to agree to remain
peaceful. In like manner the Westoes also were forced to make a treaty of
peace. Some of these Indians helped the white settlers to conduct their
first important military campaign against the Spaniards. This was in the
year 1702. Prior to that time the Spaniards had sent two expeditions from
Florida to assail the Carolina settlements. In 1702, therefore, Gov. James
Moore led a body of 600 white soldiers, with an equal number of friendly
Indians, against the Spanish town of St. Augustine. The Spaniards were
aided by the Appalachian Indians of Florida. Governor Moore seized the
town of St. Augustine, but he was not able to capture the strong fort
known as the Castle. Two warships sent from Spain came near the harbor of
St. Augustine, and Moore was thus forced to give up his plan of conquest.
In the year 1706 five
warships manned by French and Spanish sailors came up the coast from
Florida for the purpose of capturing Charles Town. Sir Nathaniel Johnson,
who was at that time governor of South Carolina, was ready to meet the
enemy. He had already built a number of forts called bastions, and upon
these as many as eighty-three heavy guns were mounted. Moreover, Col.
William Rhett, a bold seaman, went out with six small sailing vessels to
attack the foreigners. When the latter saw the heavy cannon in the fort
and also the guns mounted on the decks of Rhett's vessels, they sailed
back again toward Florida. Rhett followed swiftly in pursuit, however, and
captured one of the French warships. Thus failed the first attempt made by
a fleet of war vessels to capture the beautiful city by the sea.
A fierce struggle with the
Yemassees broke out in 1715. These Indians lived in the region near Port
Royal and the lower Savannah River. Persuaded by the Spaniards, who
furnished the redmen with guns and knives and hatchets, the Yemassees
attacked the homes of the settlers on the Pocotaligo River and killed
every person whom they could find. They rushed up the coast towards
Charles Town, burning houses and murdering men, women and children. The
Governor, Charles Craven, with a force of 250 men, met the savages at the
Combahee River and routed a large body of them. He then captured the chief
town of the Yemassees on the Pocotaligo.
The Yemassees had secured a
promise of help from all of the other savage tribes of South Carolina.
From the northern part of the colony, therefore, a body of 400 Indians
marched towards Charles Town, pillaging and murdering as they advanced.
Captain Chicken led a force of riflemen to meet the Indians, and after a
severe struggle the latter were repulsed.
Near the close of the year
1715 the Yemassees called together a large force of savage warriors and
again assailed the settlements in South Carolina. Governor Craven was able
to lead only about 1,200 armed settlers into the field. With these he
marched southward across the Edisto, and near that stream, in a desperate
battle, defeated the redmen, who fled across the Savannah River to find
refuge among their friends, the Spaniards of Florida. About 400 white
settlers lost their lives in this great struggle, but the colony was
saved, and thenceforth the Indians who dwelt near the coast gave no
further serious trouble. The Spaniards soon afterwards turned their
attention to the new colony of Georgia. At a later time, not long before
the Revolution, the Carolinians again manifested their courage and
endurance in a serious struggle with the Cherokee Indians of the upper
country.
Relation Between
Settlements in Southern and Northern Carolina.
As early as 1653 some
settlers from Virginia built homes on the Chowan River. The Lords
Proprietors afterwards named this region Albemarle county in honor of the
oldest member of their company, and appointed William Drummond first
governor of the settlement. The region about Cape Fear was called
Clarendon county, and a number of English people was sent there as
colonists in 1664. In the following year Sir John Yeamans was given a
commission as governor, with the boundaries of his jurisdiction
established in a southward direction as far as the land of Florida. In the
autumn of 1665 Yeamans brought a number of settlers from Barbadoes to the
southern bank of the Cape Fear River. Yeamans himself was soon afterwards,
as we have seen, made governor of the settlement at Charles Town on the
Ashley River. The colony at Cape Fear was gradually abandoned, and by the
year 1690 all the settlers had departed to other localities. From that
time there were only two governments in Carolina, namely, that at
Albemarle and that on the Ashley River, and the names North Carolina and
South Carolina began to come into use, although the two provinces were not
by law thus set apart until 1729.
The settlers in the two
provinces had a strong sentiment of friendship towards one another. In
1711 the Tuscaroras, a cruel tribe of Indians dwelling in North Carolina,
fell upon the settlers there and murdered more than 200 of them. The
people of South Carolina at once offered aid, and Col. John Barnwell
marched northward with a body of South Carolina riflemen. He drove the
Tuscaroras into one of their own towns on the Neuse River and forced them
to make a treaty of peace. Soon afterwards (1713) the Indians again
attacked the North Carolina settlers, but Governor Craven, of South
Carolina, sent a military force under James Moore, the son of a former
governor. Moore marched as far northward as the Tar River, and there
administered to the Tuscaroras a defeat so severe that the remnant of the
tribe left the Carolinas and joined the Iroquois Indians known as the Five
Nations, in New York.
On the other hand, when the
South Carolina people were in the midst of the struggle with the Yemassees
in the autumn of 1715, some riflemen from North Carolina and Virginia went
to give assistance to their fellow colonists.
In 1719 the people of South
Carolina resolved to cast off the authority claimed by the Lords
Proprietors. On December 21 in that year a convention of the people met in
Charles Town and elected one of their own number, James Moore, to the
governorship of South Carolina. The government was at once organized in
the name of the King of England. This course was sanctioned by the English
King and Parliament, and Sir Francis Nicholson was sent over to rule the
province in the King's name (17211729). During the chief part of
Nicholson's governorship, however, Arthur Middleton, as president of the
council, managed the affairs of the province.
In 1729 the English
government paid the Proprietors for their claim to the soil of South
Carolina, and about the same time also bought the proprietary claim to
North Carolina. Until this time the two colonies were considered, under
the forms of law, to constitute only one province, owned by the
Proprietors. After this period, however, until the Revolution, they were
administered as two separate royal provinces, having their governors
appointed by the King of England.
Charles Town in the
Colonial Days; Her People and Her Trade.
Throughout the colonial
period Charles Town constituted the heart and the life of the province of
South Carolina. As early as the year 1700 there were about 6,000 white
colonists in the province, and most of these were living in Charles Town.
The dwelling houses in the town, made of both wood and brick, were then
located between the bay and the present Meeting Street. The only public
buildings were the churches. A line of stout boards or palisades was
constructed around the town, and six small forts were erected with cannon
placed in position to command the approach from the ocean. A roadway
called the Broad Path ran from the town up the centre of the narrow neck
of land between the Ashley and Cooper rivers, and Gov. John Archdale
declared this highway to be so beautiful and so full of delight all the
year with fragrant trees and flowers that he believed "that no prince in
Europe with all his art could make so pleasant a sight."
From the first, many of the
people of Charles Town were actively engaged in sending the products of
their forests and of their soil across the seas. Cedar logs were sent to
Barbadoes; pitch and tar were shipped to England ; oak boards, pine
shingles and tar were sent to the West Indies, and the skins of wild
animals formed an important part of the export trade. The swamps and
forests of the province contained deer in large numbers, and along the
rivers and creeks were found the beaver and the otter and other
fur-bearing animals. The Indians shot the deer and caught the smaller
animals in traps, and sold their skins to the colonists. Many of the early
settlers at Charles Town became rich through this traffic in furs, since
they were sold again in England at a large profit. As early as November,
1680, there were sixteen trading vessels at anchor at one time in Charles
Town Harbor, but the number of such vessels was soon largely increased.
From about the year 1693, when Thomas Smith was governor, rice became the
chief article that was sent out of South Carolina. Cattle and hogs became
so numerous that they ran wild in the woods. The luxuriant grass of the
forests kept these animals in such good condition that they were killed by
the colonists and the cured meat was sent away in trading vessels to be
sold in the West Indies. During a brief period much attention was given to
the growing of mulberry trees and the manufacture of silk from the cocoons
spun by silkworms. Sir Nathaniel Johnson, who was governor of South
Carolina from 1702 to 1708, called his plantation Silk Hope. For a long
time he made large sums of money each year from the sale of his silk. By
the year 1730 the people of the province were sending across the ocean
large quantities of raw silk, lumber, shingles and cowhides. At that
period they were also selling every year about 52,000 barrels of pitch,
tar and turpentine, and 250,000 deer skins.
About the year 1737 Col.
George Lucas, an English army officer, established a home on Wappoo Creek,
west of the Ashley River, about six miles from Charles Town. When he left
his family at Wappoo and returned to the West Indies his daughter,
Elizabeth Lucas, took charge of his lands in South Carolina. She gave her
personal attention to the crops of rice and corn and the exportation of
lumber. Colonel Lucas sent from the West Indies some Indigo seed, and this
was planted by his daughter on the plantation at Wappoo. The first plants
were withered by frost and the second crop was cut down by a worm, but the
third planting furnished a good crop of seed, and most of this was
generously given to neighboring land owners. Large fields were planted
with indigo seed, and in the year 1747 more than 100,000 pounds of blue
dye were sent across the sea to England. From that time onward, for many
years, indigo became the most valuable product of the province. Just
before the Revolution the annual crop of indigo amounted to more than
1,100,000 pounds.
When the Revolutionary
struggle began, South Carolina's trade in rice and indigo was worth about
$5,000,000 each year. Besides these two articles of traffic large
quantities of lumber, tar, deer skins and cattle were still sent out. A
large fleet of vessels was necessary to carry this vast amount of
merchandise across the ocean or along the coast to the ports of the other
American colonies. South Carolina had at that time five shipyards and some
of her own vessels were engaged in the coastwise and the foreign traffic.
About 15,000 people were
dwelling in Charles Town when the Revolution began. She was the largest
and wealthiest city in the Southern colonies. Beaufort and Georgetown were
seaports, also, and from their harbors many vessels went out with their
freight of rich merchandise, but Charles Town surpassed every other port
on the Atlantic seaboard. The old records tell us that just before the
Revolution one could stand on a wharf at the edge of the bay and count as
many as 350 sail vessels, great and small, coming in or going out, or
lying at anchor in the harbor of Charles Town. This city was then sending
out the largest volume of trade that went out from any one of the seaports
of America.
Settlements in the Middle
and Upper Country.
As late as 1733 all of the
settlements in the province of South Carolina were limited to the region
near the seacoast. In that year all that portion of the territory of South
Carolina that lay west of the Savannah River was organized as the separate
province of Georgia. Robert Johnson, then royal governor of South
Carolina, wished to open up for settlement the lands that lay in the
interior of the province at a considerable distance from the seacoast, and
he therefore marked off the entire province into twelve townships and
offered a tract of fifty acres of land to each new settler who entered the
colony. The first people to accept this offer was a company of Scots. They
had dwelt for so long a period in the north of Ireland that they were
called Scotch-Irish. Under the leadership of one of their number, John
Witherspoon, these colonists went up the Black River in small boats and
established their homes in the pine forest in Williamsburg township, near
the present town of Kingstree. They cut down the trees and planted crops,
and through industry and frugality became a prosperous community.
A little later than the
time of the settlement of Williamsburg, some Welsh families built homes in
"Welsh Neck," a region located in a bend of the upper Pee Dee River. Later
still, some Scotch Highlanders established themselves in the present
Darlington county.
The region now known as
Orangeburg county was occupied soon after 1730 by some Scotch-Irish
families. Two years later about 200 German and French colonists came to
the same part of South Carolina. A company of German and French-Swiss
settlers, led by John Peter Purry, established a town called Purrysburg on
the Savannah River, about forty miles from the mouth of that stream. From
Orangeburg the German settlers moved up the banks of the Congaree River
and established themselves among the hills of the Fork country, between
the Broad and Saluda rivers, where, through honesty and patient toil, they
soon became prosperous. About the middle of the Eighteenth century a great
multitude of settlers began to pour into the Upper Country of South
Carolina. Nearly all of these were Scots from the north of Ireland, that
is, Scotch-Irish, who came first to Pennsylvania and then passed southward
through Virginia into the Carolinas. About 1750, or soon afterward, a
company of these emigrants cut down the trees and built log homes in the
district known as the Waxhaws, in the present Lancaster county, from which
point they were distributed throughout the adjacent region. In 1756 a Scot
from Ireland, Patrick Calhoun, father of South Carolina's great statesman,
John C. Calhoun, led a small group of his countrymen to the banks of Long
Cane Creek, in the present Abbeville county, and soon afterward some
Germans and some Huguenots entered the same region. One of the early
settlers on Tyger River in the present Spartanburg county was Anthony
Hampton, from whom sprang all the great soldiers in South Carolina bearing
the name of Hampton.
Just before the Revolution
the Scots from the north of Ireland began to sail into Charles Town
harbor. They moved thence into the upland country to join their brethren,
some of whom were still moving southward from Pennsylvania and Virginia.
These sturdy sons of old Scotia took possession of nearly all of the upper
part of the province; they had great intelligence and worked with
strenuous energy; they fought the Indians with success, and cut down the
forests and built homes in the fertile territory that lies near the
headwaters of the Broad and Saluda and on both banks of the Catawba.
Religious Conditions in
the Colony.
The royal charter bestowed
by King Charles II. upon the Lords Proprietors of Carolina gave them
authority to build churches and chapels, and to appoint ministers of the
Gospel to officiate in them. With reference to dissenters from the
Established Church, the Proprietors were given the power to grant freedom
in matters of religion, with such restrictions as to them might seem fit.
When, there= fore, the Proprietors adopted the Fundamental Constitutions
prepared by Shaftesbury and Locke, as we have already seen, they made the
provision that no person should disturb or persecute another "for his
speculative opinions in religion or his way of worship."
The first settlers at
Charles Town were members of the Established (Episcopal) Church. When the
streets were laid off at the point of land between the Cooper and Ashley,
places were reserved for a town house and a church. The ground set apart
for the latter is now occupied by St. Michael's Church. The first house of
worship built there was of black cypress wood resting upon a brick
foundation. It was known as the English, or Episcopal, Church.
The first Huguenot
congregation in Charles Town was organized in 1686 under the pastoral care
of Elias Prioleau, of France. The first house of worship, built about
1687, was located on the site of the present Huguenot church. The
religious worship in this church was conducted for many years in the
French language and the Huguenot ministers preached in the same tongue.
Soon after 1690 the Independent Church and the Baptist Church were
established in Charles Town.
In May, 1704, a party that
favored Episcopacy gained control of the Commons House of Assembly and, by
a majority of a single vote, passed a measure to establish the Church of
England as the Church of the province of South Carolina. It was provided
in this measure that every member of the legislative body itself must
-worship according to the forms prescribed by the Church of England. The
effect of this was, of course, to exclude Dissenters from membership in
the body of lawmakers. Such opposition arose toward this policy that, in
1706, the Assembly repealed the law that forbade the election of
Dissenters as lawmakers. It was provided, however, that the Episcopal
Church and its clergymen should be supported by a tax levied upon all the
people. The province was divided into ten parishes and it was determined
that a church should be built in every parish. The London Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts sent out a number of ministers
to South Carolina.
The Germans and
German-Swiss who came later to the province were Lutherans in religion.
The Scots and Scotch-Irish were Presbyterians, and these, with the
Baptists and Methodists, formed a strong body of Dissenters who built
their own churches and schools in every part of the province.
Industries and
Productions; Rice and Indigo.
The fertile soil of South
Carolina furnished the early settlers with abundant supplies of food, to
which were added fish and oysters from the waters near the coast, and
venison, wild turkeys and other game from the forests. The colonists began
at once, as we have already seen, to send across the sea some of the
products of their land to exchange for other articles. An old official
report prepared in the year 1.708 tells us that the colonists were then
exporting "rice, pitch, tar, buck and doeskins in the hair and Indian
dressed; also some few furs, as beaver, otter, wildcat, raccoon; a little
silk, whiteoak staves, and sometimes other sorts." Pine and cypress trees
for shipmasts were also sold, with hoops and shingles, pork, "green wax,
candles made of myrtle berries, tallow and tallow candles, butter, English
and Indian peas, and sometimes a small quantity of tanned leather." The
report continues as follows: "We have also commerce with Boston, Rhode
Island, Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia, to which places we export
Indian slaves, light deerskins dressed, some tanned leather, pitch, tar
and a small quantity of rice. From thence we receive beer, cider, flour,
dry codfish and mackerel, and from Virginia some European commodities."
The only manufactures
mentioned in these early records are "a few stuffs of silk and cotton, and
a sort of cloth of cotton and wool" made by some of the planters for their
own use. At a later time sugar was exported; also oil, salt fish, snake
root and various kinds of bark from the woods. Several of the colonists
made journeys, from time to time, into the mountain regions of the
Carolinas to seek for mines of gold and of silver, but no such mines were
ever opened. Just before the Revolution there were five shipyards in South
Carolina, and a number of the trading vessels that sailed from the
Carolina seaports were made in the province.
When the Upper Country was
settled, the colonists in that region began to send long trains of wagons
to Charles Town laden with corn, wheat, deerskins, and cattle for beef.
The most profitable industry in the Upper Country was the raising of
cattle, from which many of the colonists became rich. The usual yield of
corn to an acre was from eighteen to thirty bushels, with six bushels of
Indian peas that had been planted among the corn. Orchards of peaches,
apples and other fruits abounded. Some South Carolina planters had a
thousand head of-cattle; 200 was the usual number to a plantation. Swine
were numerous.
The principal industries of
the province, however, were the buying and selling of animal skins and the
cultivation of rice and indigo. In 1708 50,000 skins were exported; in
1712, 73,790. Afterwards the number of skins exported was much larger. The
trade in rice ran up to 140,000 barrels a year, and the annual trade in
indigo to more than 1,000,000 pounds. From all of these sources great
wealth came to the people of the province.
Labor Conditions in the
Colony; Slavery.
The first negro slaves were
brought into the province from Barbadoes by the Englishman, Sir John
Yeamans, in the year 1672. They were put to work cutting cedar logs.
Afterwards some of the Indians captured in war were held in service in the
houses of the planters ; some of the captured Indians were sold as slaves
among the northern colonies and in the West Indies. Some white servants,
also, were brought over from England. In the year 1708 there were 4,100
negro slaves, 1,400 Indian slaves and 120 white servants. Most of the
negro men were employed in the cultivation of rice and later in raising
indigo. The malaria of the marsh lands did not affect the health of the
Africans, and it was the opinion of the white settlers that it would not
be possible to grow crops of rice without negro labor. The South
Carolinians attempted several times to prevent the introduction of the
negroes in such large numbers, but the ships of New England and of England
continued to unload them in the province, and the number of slaves rapidly
increased. By the year 1775 there were about 75,000 white people in South
Carolina and 100,000 negroes, most of the latter living on the plantations
near the seacoast. Their work was not arduous and their physical and moral
welfare was given careful consideration by their masters, most of whom
were kind, just and humane.
Classes and Chief
Occupations.
Many of the colonists were
planters, who built handsome houses on the Ashley, Santee, Edisto and
other rivers, and along the shore of the bay at Port Royal. They gave
attention to their crops and some of them became rich through the
production of silk, rice and indigo. Trade, however, soon became the chief
interest of the people, and many of the leading men of the province were
merchants. Among these were Isaac Mazyck, Gabriel Manigault and Henry
Laurens, all of whom were Huguenots. Benjamin Smith, Miles Brewton and
Andrew Rutledge also became rich through the business of trading across
the seas. These, and others like them, built handsome houses in Charles
Town, usually facing the waters of the bay. Most of these dwellings were
made of brick and were two stories in height ; they were filled with
beautiful bedsteads, sideboards, chairs and tables, made of mahogany and
cherry, and brought from London, and large quantities of silverware were
displayed on the sideboards. Handsome coaches and carriages were also
brought across the sea and driven behind swift horses along the Broad Path
and other streets of Charles Town. Many of the planters of South Carolina
also built beautiful houses in Charles Town and spent the months of the
summer season in the city by the sea. Around the houses were gardens
filled with the flowers that were brought from the old homes in England
and France. Hand same and costly clothing made of fine linen, broadcloth
and velvet was worn by the merchants and planters who dwelt in Charles
Town. Their wives and daughters arrayed themselves in dresses made of silk
or satin, covered with beautiful figures wrought in gold thread. There
were dinner parties, theatre parties, balls and concerts.
A public library was
founded as early as 1698; in 1748 some young men organized the Charles
Town Library Society, which is still in existence; the St. Cecilia
Society, a musical association, was established in 1762, and a weekly
newspaper called The South Carolina Gazette began its work in 1732. There
were many schools for youth, and a large number of private tutors was
employed, but many of the young men of Charles Town went to England to
pursue their studies there in the public schools and universities. At the
beginning of the struggle with the mother country a number of skilled
physicians and as many as thirty-five lawyers were doing excellent work in
Charles Town, and most of the ministers in charge of the churches in
Charles Town had received their education in England or at Harvard and
Yale. These facts, thus briefly stated, show that Charles Town was the
home of a people who manifested great energy and foresight in home and
foreign trade, and who possessed a high degree of intellectual and social
culture. Their leaders were men of learning, of charming manners and of
worthy personal character, and were controlled by unselfish and patriotic
motives.
The people of the Middle
and Upper Country had to pass through many hardships. Their houses were
made of logs, their dishes were usually of wood or pewter, and they had
few slaves or servants. They built their own churches and school houses,
and their ministers and leaders were men trained at the universities of
Edinburgh or Glasgow, or at Princeton College. These people of the Upper
Country knew how to depend upon themselves. They could ride fast and shoot
with deadly aim, and when the Revolutionary War came on they did more than
any other people of equal numbers to win the cause of American freedom.
Transition from Colony to
State.
On March 28, 1735, Charles
Pinckney, who afterwards became chief justice of the province, proposed
the following resolution to the South Carolina legislature: "That, the
Commons House of Assembly in this Province * * * have the same rights and
privileges in regard to introducing and passing laws for imposing taxes on
the people of the province as the House of Commons of Great Britain have
in introducing and passing laws on the people of England." In adopting
Pinckney's resolution, the representatives of the people of South Carolina
claimed for themselves, at this early date, that right of self-government
for which all of the American colonies contended during the American
Revolution.
During the administration
of Thomas Boone as royal governor of the province (1761-1764), Christopher
Gadsden, a successful planter and merchant, was chosen by the people of
Charles Town to represent them in the provincial legislature. Governor
Boone asserted that the election which resulted in the choice of Gadsden
had not been properly conducted, and he therefore commanded the lawmakers
to adopt some new regulations about the management of such elections. When
the lawmakers refused to obey his order the governor told them that he
would not allow them to meet together. The latter replied that they, on
their part, would not hold any further communication of any sort with the
governor, and at the same time they cut off his annual salary. Governor
Boone then gave up the struggle and returned to England.
In this first contest
between the King's representative and the provincial legislature
Christopher Gadsden was the leader of the people of South Carolina. In
1765, when the news was brought to Charles Town that the British
Parliament had passed the Stamp Act, imposing a tax upon all legal and
business documents and upon books and newspapers in the colonies, Gadsden
again persuaded the South Carolinians to offer opposition. The legislature
came together and made a formal declaration to the effect that no taxes
could be rightly laid upon the people of South Carolina by any body of men
except their own representatives. At the same time the legislature sent
three delegates to the Stamp Act Congress, held in New York City in
October, 1765. When this Congress proposed to send a petition to the
British Parliament asking that body to repeal the Stamp Act, Gadsden urged
the Congress not to ask favor from the British lawmakers. "We do not hold
our rights from them," he said; "we should stand upon the broad, common
ground of those natural rights that we all feel and know as men and as
descendants of Englishmen."
When a British ship brought
stamps and stamped paper to Charles Town, the people would not permit the
master of the vessel to bring these articles into the city. A number of
effigies, each bearing the label, "The Stamp Seller," were hanged upon the
gallows and then burned. After the repeal of the Stamp Act (1766), the
South Carolina people erected a marble statue of William Pitt in one of
the public squares of Charles Town. Moreover, a party of patriots,
organized in Charles Town by William Johnson and Christopher Gadsden, and
known as the "Liberty Tree" Party from the fact that the members held
frequent meetings under a large oak tree, pledged themselves to fight
against any further effort of the British King and Parliament to force
money from the colonists.
In 1773 the ship London
entered the harbor of Charles Town with a cargo of tea. The people of the
colony were told that they could buy the tea at a reduced price if they
would pay a tax upon it of three pence, a pound. The people were not
willing, however, to pay a tax of any kind to Great Britain, and the tea
was stored in cellars and left there unsold. Another ship came with an
additional cargo of tea, but some of the merchants of Charles Town, to
whom the tea had been consigned, threw the tea-chests into the waters of
the harbor.
On July 6, 1774, a general
meeting of the people of South Carolina was held at Charles Town, and five
delegates were sent to represent the province in the first Continental
Congress at Philadelphia. These delegates were Henry Middleton, John
Rutledge, Christopher Gadsden, Thomas Lynch and Edward Rutledge. On Jan.
11, 1775, a body of representatives from every district of South Carolina:
met at Charles Town and organized themselves as the Provincial Congress.
This body appointed a secret committee to take any action that might be
necessary for the safety of the people.
On Sunday, June 4, 1775,
the Provincial Congress met again and signed an agreement binding the
members to sacrifice their lives and fortunes in behalf of freedom. The
militia was organized and the sum of $1,000,000 was voted to furnish the
soldiers with weapons. A Council of Safety, with Henry Laurens as
chairman, was appointed to manage all the affairs of the province. This
council, invested with power to command all soldiers and to expend all
public moneys, was now the real ruler of the people. Two members of the
Council, William Henry Dray ton and Arthur Middleton, entertained
sentiments concerning freedom far in advance of their associates. They
were ready, from the time of their appointment as members of the Council,
to drive all of the King's officers out of the province, and thus bring
the royal government to an end. Five thousand pounds of powder, captured
from a British vessel, were sent to General Washington chiefly through the
agency of these two patriots, and this powder was used by Washington's
soldiers in driving the British army out of Boston.
On the night of Sept. 14,
1775, acting under orders from the Council of Safety, South Carolina
soldiers crossed the harbor of Charles Town and seized Fort Johnson. The
British flag was hauled down and the banner of South Carolina was unfurled
above the fort. This banner was a blue flag with a crescent in the corner
and the word "Liberty" in the centre. Lord William Campbell, last of the
royal governors, at once took his departure from Charles Town and went on
board a British warship. On Nov. 12, 1775, hostile shots were exchanged
between two British war vessels on the one side, and the guns of Fort
Johnson and the guns of the Defense, a small Carolina war vessel, on the
other side. The British vessels received so many balls in their sails and
rigging that they did not venture to move up near the city. Thus began the
military struggle between South Carolina and the mother country.
On Feb. 1, 1776, the
Provincial Congress of South Carolina met at Charles Town. The
representatives of the royal government had been already driven out of the
province, and the Congress, therefore, entered upon the work of forming a
new, independent government. A committee was appointed to prepare a plan
of organization, which was presented and, after due consideration, adopted
by the Congress March 26, 1776. Thereupon, the president and secretary of
the Congress signed the formal document which declared that South Carolina
was no longer a province subject to the King of England, but that she was
now, by her own act, a free and independent state. At four o'clock the
same day (March 26) the members of the Congress assembled again, and
declared that they were the General Assembly, or legislature, of the new
state of South Carolina. Thirteen members of their own body were appointed
to sit together as a separate legislative council or upper house of
legislation. John Rutledge was then elected as chief executive, with the
title of president of South Carolina, and Henry Laurens was chosen
vice-president. The title of governor was not brought into use until the
year 1779. The new state government thus organized was established in the
name of the people of South Carolina. She was the first American province
among the thirteen to throw off the authority of the King of England and
to establish in its place a new, independent government of her own.
The first chief justice of
the new commonwealth chosen by the General Assembly was William Henry
Drayton. In his first charge to the grand jury at Charles Town Drayton
declared that the people of South Carolina were merely asserting their
natural and inherited rights. The people of England, he said, drove out a
bad king in 1688 and set up a new sovereign. The same thing was done by
the people of South Carolina in 1719, when they cast off the authority of
the Lords Proprietors and asked King George I. to become their ruler. When
King George III. began to rule with a heavy hand, the people of the
province cast him off and were now resolved to rule themselves through
their own representatives. The Almighty created America to be independent
of England, declared Drayton. God himself was reaching forth His hand to
deliver the colonies from their enemies, and to give them freedom. "Let us
offer ourselves to be used as instruments of God in this work," he said;
by such patriotic conduct the South Carolinians would become "a great, a
free, a pious and a happy people."
South Carolina's Part in
the Revolution.
When Washington drove the
British forces out of Boston, early in the year 1776, the British
government determined to attempt the conquest of the Southern states. For
this purpose a large body of soldiers under General Clinton, and a fleet
of war vessels commanded by Admiral Parker, were sent southward along the
Atlantic coast. Early in June, 1776, Parker's ships, with Clinton's
soldiers on board, arrived at the mouth of Charles Town harbor. They
expected to make an easy capture of the city and the state.
By this time, however,
South Carolina had organized and equipped five regiments of riflemen and a
regiment of artillery. Col. William Moultrie, with one regiment of
infantry and a force of artillerists, occupied a fort on Sullivan's
Island, afterwards called Fort Moultrie, on the north side of Charles a
Town harbor. The walls of this stronghold were made of palmetto logs
supported by bags of sand. Moultrie mounted twenty-five cannon to command
the approach from the water and awaited the advance of Parker's fleet. At
the same time a force of about 700 riflemen from the middle and upper
country of South Carolina, under the command of Col. William Thomson, took
position at the upper end of Sullivan's Island to resist the advance of
the British land forces.
On June 28 Clinton landed
his British soldiers on Long Island, now called the Isle of Palms, and
attempted to cross the narrow channel that lay between him and Thomson's
small army. Clinton had a number of boats to aid his men in crossing the
strait. Thomson had two small cannon to help him in the battle. The aim of
his riflemen was so deadly that every British soldier who came within
range was shot down; the grapeshot from the two guns kept Clinton's boats
from passing the channel, and thus the large British force was held at bay
and Clinton's attempt to seize Sullivan's Island resulted in failure.
Meanwhile, on the same day,
Parker's eleven warships sailed into the harbor and at close range opened
fire on Moultrie's fortification. The roar from the 270 British guns was
terrific, but Parker's cannon balls buried themselves in the sand or in
the soft, spongy palmetto logs, and wrought little damage. Moultrie's
gunners, on the other hand, by careful aiming and slow firing, sent every
shot straight to the mark. After ten hours of fighting Moultrie's fort
remained without serious injury, and the British gave up the fight. One of
Parker's ships was destroyed, and some of the others were injured to such
an extent that they found it difficult to sail as far as New York.
Moultrie and Thomson thus won a double victory. The successful defense of
Charles Town against the British land and naval forces was the first
serious and complete defeat suffered by the royal forces in the American
Revolution. The entire British plan of conquering the South at that time
ended in failure, and the southern colonies remained free from attack for
two years.
In 1778 the British again
formed a plan for the conquest of the South. With this end in view a
British fleet entered the Savannah River and captured Savannah. A strong
British force then began to overrun Georgia and South Carolina. In
October, 1779, the provincial troops from these two states, aided by
French land and naval forces, attempted to recapture Savannah from the
British, but the effort failed. In May, 1780, a large British force
captured Charles Town. Augusta on the Savannah, Ninety-Six near the
Saluda, and Camden on the Wateree, were then occupied by the King's
troops, under the leadership of Cornwallis. It was the purpose of this
British commander to march northward through the upper regions of the
Carolinas into Virginia, and thus conquer the whole country south of the
Potomac River.
The cruel work of Tarleton,
commander of the British cavalry, aroused the people of the upper part of
South Carolina. These backwoodsmen mounted their horses, and under the
leadership of Thomas Sumter rode out to attack the British. The flint-lock
rifles of Sumter's men were more than a match for the weapons of the royal
troops, and within a period of three months after the fall of Charles Town
the British were driven back from the northern part of the state to their
post at Camden.
In August, 1780, the army
of General Gates, sent from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North
Carolina to resist Cornwallis, was defeated at Camden by the British
forces. Sumter's men, also, were surprised and scattered, and Cornwallis
again took possession of upper South Carolina. His progress was checked,
however, by Francis Marion, leader of a body of horsemen from the region
near the Pee Dee River, in the southeastern part of South Carolina. This
daring patriot would dart suddenly from the swamp or the forest, attack
and overwhelm some detached British troopers, and again seek refuge in his
hiding-place. Sumter raised another force of horsemen and fell upon
Cornwallis' men in the upper country. Andrew Pickens, William Harden, the
Hamptons, and other leaders also took the field with strong bodies of
riflemen. The British were thus assailed on every side. When Cornwallis
advanced northward to Charlotte, the North Carolinians under Davie,
Davidson and other leaders, made a continuous fight against the royal
troops. A second British column led by Major Ferguson was defeated and
captured at King's Mountain, Oct. 7, 1780, by the mountain riflemen of
South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. This heavy blow forced
Cornwallis to retreat southward again.
Then Nathaniel Greene and
Daniel Morgan came from the northward to help the people of the Carolinas.
Morgan and Pickens defeated Tarleton's British force at Cowpens in
January, 1781. This American victory reduced by one-third the number of
soldiers in the army of Cornwallis. The latter followed Greene to Guilford
Court House, North Carolina, and in a battle at that place drove the
American troops from the field, but was himself forced to retreat at once
to the seacoast to secure aid from his warships. When Cornwallis turned
northward into Virginia, weakened by the long struggle in the Carolinas,
he left a British force at Camden under the command of Lord Rawdon. The
American forces under Greene, Sumter, Marion, Pickens, Henry Lee, and
others, attacked Rawdon and forced him to withdraw to Charles Town.
Cornwallis soon fell an easy prey to Washington and the French at
Yorktown. Thus the plan of conquering the South again resulted in failure,
and the British government gave up the fight against the colonies. A very
important share in the work of overwhelming the army Cornwallis and of
thus securing the independence of our country must be accredited to the
bold riflemen who fought under the leadership of Sumter, Marion and
Pickens in South Carolina.
One hundred and
thirty-seven battles, great and small, were fought in South Carolina
during the Revolution. Of these, 103 were engaged in on the American side
by South Carolina alone. In twenty others South Carolina took part in
company with troops from other states, thus making 123 battles in which
the people of this commonwealth fought for their freedom. Besides these
engagements, soldiers from South Carolina took part in engagements in
Georgia and North Carolina. "Left mainly to her own resources," writes
Bancroft with reference to South Carolina, "it was through the depths of
wretchedness that her sons were to bring her back to her place in the
republic, after suffering more and daring more and achieving more than the
men of any other state."
The Work of South
Carolina's Statesmen During the Revolutionary Period (1763-1789).
During the period of the
Revolution many of the statesmen of South Carolina were known and accepted
as leaders in all of the other American colonies. Christopher Gadsden, as
we have seen, was far in advance of the other delegates, with reference to
American independence, at the Stamp Act Congress, held in New York,
October, 1765. In a stirring address Gadsden said: "There ought to be no
New England men, no New Yorkers, known on the continent, but all of us
Americans." The president of the Stamp Act Congress was John Rutledge,
another South Carolinian.
The representatives of
South Carolina in the first Continental Congress were men of conspicuous
influence; namely, Henry Middleton, John Rutledge, Christopher Gadsden,
Thomas Lynch and Edward Rutledge. On Oct. 22, 1774, Henry Middleton was
elected president of the Congress. On July 4, 1776, four of South
Carolina's sons voted for the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
These four were Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr.,
and Arthur Middleton. The fifth delegate, Thomas Lynch, was sick at the
time and unable to cast his vote.
In the autumn of 1777 Henry
Laurens, of South Carolina, was chosen president of the Continental
Congress, succeeding John Hancock, of Massachusetts. During his occupancy
of this position Laurens asked the Congress to vote upon three famous
measures. The first was the adoption of the Articles of Confederation, the
second was the treaty between France and the United States, and the third
was connected with the offer made by the British government in 1778 to
make peace with the Americans. Laurens wrote the answer of the Congress to
this proposal. Great Britain, he declared, must acknowledge the
independence of the thirteen states and withdraw her soldiers before the
Congress would have dealings with the British Parliament. The people of
the American states, said Laurens, were resolved to fight to the last in
order to secure their freedom. In 1779 Laurens was appointed minister
plenipotentiary from the United States to Holland. On his way across the
Atlantic he was captured by the British and shut up in the Tower of
London. At the close of the war he was given back to the Americans in
exchange for Lord Cornwallis, after the latter was made a prisoner at
Yorktown. Laurens then went from London to Paris and, as one of the
American commissioners, signed the preliminaries to the treaty of peace in
1782, which ended the war between Great Britain and the United States.
Col. John Laurens, son of
Henry Laurens, became an aide on the staff of General Washington in the
early part of the Revolution. He was in the midst of the severest fighting
at Germantown and Monmouth, and was made a prisoner when Charles Town fell
in May, 1780. Soon afterwards, however, he was exchanged and returned to
his post at Washington's side. In December, 1780, Laurens was appointed by
the Continental Congress as special minister to the court of the King of
France. Through the exercise of great tact and by the charm of his
personal bearing, Laurens persuaded King Louis XVI., of France, to send
money and a fleet to aid the Americans in their struggle for freedom.
Laurens afterwards bore a distinguished part in the siege of Yorktown and
the capture of the army of Cornwallis.
In 1787 four delegates from
South Carolina took their seats in the Federal convention that met at
Philadelphia. These were Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney,
John Rutledge and Pierce Butler, all of whom played an important part in
the work of the convention. At an early stage in the proceedings Charles
Pinckney, then under thirty years of age, presented a plan of government
to the convention very much like the plan that was finally adopted. John
Rutledge, pronounced by George Washington, president of the convention, to
be the finest orator among all the delegates, was the principal member of
an important committee. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, afterwards a member
of the celebrated mission to France and twice candidate of the Federalist
party for the presidency of the United States, took a leading part in the
debates of the convention. He may be rightly called one of the leading
spirits of the great body of statesmen that framed our Federal
constitution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. - Bancroft:
History of the United States (Eds. 1852 and 1883); Bernheim, G. D.: German
Settlements in the Carolinas; Carroll, B. R.: Historical Collections (2
vols.); Draper, Lyman F.: King's Mountain and Its Heroes; Drayton, John:
View of South Carolina, Memoirs of the Revolution; Gibbes, Robert:
Documentary History o f South Carolina (3 vols.); Gordon, W.: History of
the American Revolution (4 vols.); Gregg, Alexander: History of the Old
Cheraws; Garden: Anecdotes of the Revolutionary War; Hewatt, Alexander:
Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia; James, W.
D.: Francis Marion; Logan, John H.: History of Upper South Carolina;
Laudrum: Colonial and Revolutionary History of Upper South Carolina; Lee,
Henry: Memoirs of the War of 1776; McCrady, Edward: History of South
Carolina Under the Proprietary Government, 1670-1719, History of South
Carolina Under the Royal Government, 1719-76, History of South Carolina in
the Revolution, 1775-1780, History of South Carolina in the Revolution,
1780-1783 (4 vols.); Moultrie, Wm.: Memoirs of the American Revolution;
O'Neal: Bench and Bar of South Carolina (2 vols.); Pinckney, C. C.: Thomas
Pinckney; Rivers, Wm. J.: A Chapter on the Colonial History of the
Carolinas, Historical Sketch of South Carolina; Ravenel, Mrs. H. H.: Eliza
Pinckney; Ramsay, David: History of South Carolina, 1670-1808, History of
the Revolution in South Carolina; Salley, A. S., Jr.: History of
Orangeburg County; Simms, William Gilmore: History o f South Carolina;
Tarleton: History of the Campaigns of 1780-81; Winsor: Narrative and
Critical History; The War in the Southern Department; White, Henry
Alexander: The Making of South Carolina. Consult also South Carolina
Historical and Genealogical Magazine; Collections of Historical Society of
South Carolina (4 vols.); Colonial Records o f North Carolina (vols. I.,
II. and III.; Biographies of Gen. Nathaniel Greene by Caldwell, Greene,
Johnson, Simms: Laurens Manuscripts, South Carolina Historical Society.
HENRY ALEXANDER WHITE,
Professor of Greek in the Columbia Theological Seminary, Columbia, S.C.;
author of The Making of South Carolina. |