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Tag: Christopher Gadsden

  • The Charleston Liberty Tree–August 5, 1776

    Cover art for August 5, 1776: The Charleston Liberty Tree marker. via Instagram/Bulldogtours

    The Charleston Liberty Tree has something in common with its more famous counterpart in Boston: neither tree made it to the end of the Revolutionary War.

    The Boston Liberty Tree was cut down by Loyalists in 1775, and the Charleston Liberty Tree was burned down by the British in 1780.

    In researching these trees and their ultimate fates, I couldn’t help but laugh: the trees are meaningless. They’re literally landmarks, not secret meeting houses. Removing the trees does nothing whatsoever to prevent the Patriots from doing the Patriot thing; in fact, it’s entirely possible that it spurred the “victims” to rebel all the harder.

    It’s just a weird thing for Loyalists to get upset about, right?

    And then I realized that things really haven’t changed very much since then. Politically active people of all stripes these days also get kind of overwrought over relatively stupid stuff.

    Just saying.

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  • Gadsden, Come Home–February 8, 1776

    Cover art for February 8, 1776: portrait of Christopher Gadsden, ca. 1760-1770 by Jeremiah Theus. via Wikimedia.

    Christopher Gadsden is famous almost entirely for the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag. But even for that, most people don’t know that the flag was named after a person. And those who do, don’t necessarily know Gadsden’s first name.

    And yet, he was instrumental in getting America to break away from England.

    Christopher Gadsden was the one who got South Carolina more excited about Independence. He was a Brigadier General in that colony during the war. He helped draft a state constitution and was then elected Lieutenant Governor. When Charleston was overrun by the British, Gadsden stuck around so he could surrender the city like a gentleman.

    For his gentlemanly act, he was allowed to return home on parole. But when the next British leader came in and broke the parole by arresting him, he refused new parole because they’d already lied to him about the first one, so why believe them now? That cost him the better part of a year in solitary confinement.

    In short, he was a badass. Go listen to part of the reason why.

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