250 and Counting

Tag: South Carolina History

  • Do The Fight Ring–August 12, 1776

    Cover art for August 12, 1776: "Brigadier General Andrew Pickens With SC Militia", by Robert Wilson, 1977. via National Park Service at the Ninety-Six Historical Site.

    Andrew Pickens was a plantation owner whose property was near Seneca, South Carolina, which is almost as far west as you can go and still be in South Carolina.

    As the Cherokee-American wars wore down, Pickens was able to sign peace treaties with the tribe, which was known as the Treaty of Hopewell.

    Meanwhile, in the American Revolution, Pickens had to surrender the fort in the Ninety-Six District. He agreed to sit out the war as part of his parole, but when the British later destroyed most of his property, all bets were off. He led numerous campaigns in South Carolina and Georgia, making him popular enough the he was elected to the House of Representatives from 1781 through 1793.

    It’s worth noting that some of his Revolutionary War battles were the basis of some scenes in the 2000 film The Patriot.

    Andrew Pickens was one of only nine Representatives to vote against the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution, which prevents states from sovereign immunity in lawsuits against them by citizens of another state. For example, under the amendment a private citizen from Virginia is allowed to sue the state of Tennessee, and Tennessee cannot claim that the person has no standing because they’re not a citizen of Tennessee.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

    And no, I do not apologize for the title of today’s episode.

  • 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.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • Escalation Everywhere–August 1, 1776

    Cover art for August 1, 1776: "The Arrival of Princess Charlotte at Harwich" by John Clevely the Elder, 1761.

    At this point, Americans were fighting a two-front war. More accurately, they were fighting two wars against different enemies: the Cherokee in the southwest areas of the country (so far), and the British…well, practically everywhere else. But today we’ll focus on the British in New York.

    After yesterday’s disaster in the Ninety-Six District of South Carolina, the Cherokees, plus a bunch of Loyalists, moved east about 30 miles to Seneca, which at that time was called Esseneca Ford.It was there that they met up against Andew Williamson, who they outnumbered by something like four-to-one. But with the assistance of some men on horseback, plus another batch of reinforcements, the Cherokees were forced to retreat.

    In New York, the British, along with a huge number of Hessian mercenary soldiers, were massing in Staten Island with an eye toward taking Manhatten, Long Island and the Hudson Valley in an effort to cut off New England. George Washington will be facing an enormous battle very soon, but on Monday we’ll be telling you about something at least as important fo the General.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • Farewell, Francis–July 31, 1776

    Cover art for July 31, 1776: watercolor art of Francis Salvador. Via American Battlefield Trust.

    As I mentioned very early in this podcast, Francis Salvador’s life was especially notable for two things: the day he was elected to public office, and the day he died. And in his case, the dates were notable largely for the fact that Francis Salvador was a Sephardic Jew, making him the first man of his faith to be elected to office in America, and the first of his faith to die in the Revolution.

    Francis Salvador was born in London, but his family were part of a Portuguese and Spanish Sepharidic Jewish enclave in that city. Salvador had an uncle who’d invested heavily in the British East India Company, and they still owned lots of land in Portugal, so they were pretty comfortable financially.

    Until, that is, the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755, and the subsequent failure of the East India Tea Company. They were in much worse shape after those two blows, but by that point Salvador had already purchsed some land in South Carolina. In 1773 he emigrated to America, intending to bring his family over when he had the money to do so, but he was killed before they could make the move.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

    P.S. Thanks to Mike for stepping in and recording this episode when I had a power failure preventing me from getting it done.

  • The Battle of Sullivan’s Island–June 28, 1776

    Cover art for June 28, 1776: "Defense of Fort Moultrie, SC" by Johannes Oertel, 1858. via New York Public Library Digital Collection.

    The Battle of Sullivan’s Island was part of Great Britain’s first attempt to take the city of Charleston, South Carolina.

    Unfortunately for the British, too many things went wrong for them, and there were logistical problems that they somehow hadn’t accounted for as well.

    Sullivan’s Island was (is, really) not an impressive piece of land. It’s a barrier island that’s a couple of miles long but only a couple of hundred feet wide. But because of its location at the mouth of Charleston Bay, it was an ideal place from which to defend the city.

    Now, if you look at a modern-day map of the bay, you’ll see Fort Sumter in the dead center of the bay’s channel. Fort Sumter, however, was little more than a sand bar in 1776, and was artificially built up in the 1830s so that the fort could be constructed there. Insterestingly, although Fort Sumter gets credit for the first shots of the Civil War, the structure was never finished. Construction began in 1829 and hadn’t been completed as of 1861, when the war started.

    Oddly enough, when the Battle of Sullivan’s Island took place, Fort Moultrie wasn’t completed either. Then in 1798 the Army decided that it needed updating, so they started over, building a new structure atop the old one. That fort was destroyed in a storm in 1804 and was rebuilt again in 1809. During the Civil War it was reduced to rubble by Union forces but was rebuilt again in the 1870s.

    Fort Moultrie was taken out of service in 1947, then decommissioned and became part of the National Park Service in 1960.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • South Carolina’s Small Declaration–April 23, 1776

    Cover art for April 23, 1776: Portrait of William Henry Drayton. Image is cropped from a larger picture. Engraving by Benoît-Louis Prévost from a drawing by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere.

    William Henry Drayton was born in 1742 on his family’s plantation just outside of Charleston. The plantation was dedicated to growing rice.

    In 1764 he married Dorothy Golightly. In the early 1770s he was a Loyalist and enjoyed some of the perks that came with it. Then in 1774 he wrote a pamphlet supporting a Continental Congress and lost all his government jobs. That, go figure, radicalized him to the Patriot cause and he dedicated the rest of his life to it.

    William Henry Drayton died in Berkeley County, SC at the age of 37. His home, Drayton Hall, is now within Charleston city limits and operates as a museum.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • Raid On Tybee Island–March 25, 1776

    Cover art for March 25, 1776: Map showing Savannah and Tybee Island, 1733. Via The Boston Public Library digital map archive.

    The raid on Tybee Island wasn’t the only one of its kind; in fact a similar action had been taken at Sullivan’s Island in South Carolina a few weeks earlier.

    In that case there were many more runaway slaves involved, but like Tybee, very few were actually captured and the fate of most of the others is unknown, although there is one account that says fifty people had resisted capture and were subesquently killed.

    But in both cases we see a raid that took place specifically to deny people their freedom, and the proclamation the led to these raids directly influenced the argument in the Declaration of Independence that King George incited “domestic insurrections.” So…the desire of slaves to be free…drove the Patriots to desire independence.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • The South Carolina 5th Regiment–February 22, 1776

    Cover art for February 22, 1776: portrait of Revolutionary soldier Peter Horry, late 1700s, artist unknown. via horrycountyhistory.org.

    The South Carolina 5th Regiment ultimately wasn’t a huge success, with a single exception, which we’ll talk about in greater detail in a few months. But in those losses there were some long odds going on, so we’ll not judge too harshly.

    I learned a couple of things as a result of today’s episode. I own a piece of property in South Carolina, in the Myrtle Beach area, which is located in Horry County. I always wondered how it got that name, and now I’ve learned that Horry County was named after Peter Horry, who was a commander of the SC 5th. The other thing I learned was that when I looked for a picture of Peter Horry, I stumbled on his biography and learned that he was a great-grandchild of French Huguenot refugees who arrived in Charleston in the 1680s.

    And that is how I learned why Horry County is pronounced with a silent “H”.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • Fort Moultrie–February 19, 1776

    Cover art for February 19, 1776: Diagram of Fort Sullivan (later Fort Moultrie) on June 28, 1776. From Edward McCrady's South Carolina in the Revolution 1775-1780, published 1902

    Today we’re looking at Fort Moultrie.

    I know, it wasn’t that long ago that I was gushing about Fort McHenry, but I live in Baltmore so it’s kind of the law around here to pump up the local history. Also, Fort, McHenry is a cool place to visit.

    And so is Fort Moultrie! In fact, Fort Moultrie itself was built several times, including its original Fort Sullivan incarnation, and as a result there are extensive historic exhibits throughout the park. The various forts went through three wars against America (see, I did a thing there), and consequently there are a lot of stories to tell here.

    And when you’re through touring the fort and the grounds, make sure you have your fishing pole with you, because there’s a fishing dock there (it’ll re-open sometime this spring); I hear the fishing is pretty good because of the location.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • 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.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed