USA > South Carolina > A sketch of the history of South Carolina to the close of the proprietary government by the revolution of 1719. With an appendix containing many valuable records hitherto unpublished > Part 14
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* Coll. Co. Repr. Appendix.
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granting to irresponsible persons the power " to set upon, assault, kill, destroy, and take" Indians who were not in open hostility against the colonists .*
The precautions to keep secret the extraordinary incursion of the Carolinians under Gov. Moore were unavailing. The inhabitants of St. Augustine had heard of it, and had already sent to Havana for re- inforcements. Retreating to their castle with their most valuable effects, and provisions for four months, they abandoned the town to the approaching enemy. Col. Daniel, landing from small boats at the St. John's River, took the villages St. John's and St. Mary's, and arrived first at the point of attack. He had pil- laged the town before the fleet arrived. The gover- nor now entered the harbor, landed his forces, made the church his quarters, and laid siege to the castle, which was surrounded by a deep and broad moat. He suddenly discovered that he was unprovided with the necessary artillery for the reduction of the castle, and that the Spaniards and Carolinians must gaze at each other until a sloop could go and fetch mortars and bombs from Jamaica. He was, moreover, un- fortunate in selecting an agent for this purpose ; who, through cowardice, folly, or treachery, put back to Charles Town, and only proceeded on his voyage when others came forward and volunteered to take his place in command.+
In the mean time, Col. Daniel himself set sail for Jamaica and procured what was requisite. During his absence, two Spanish ships appeared off St. Augus-
* Report on Exp. to St. Aug., 1741 ; Carr. Coll., vol. 2.
t Oldmix. ; 2 Carr. Coll., 423.
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tine; and Moore, after three months of inglorious de- lay, instantly burned the town and all his vessels, abandoned the siege, and hastened back by land with his forces. Col. Daniel narrowly escaped the Span- ish ships on his return, but was convoyed in safety to Charles Town by Admiral Whetstone of the Eng- lish navy, whom he met at sea.
When the Assembly next convened [Jan. 1703], the courage and conduct of Col. Daniel were highly praised, and the governor was thanked reluctantly, and not without dissent, especially from Mr. Ash. There was a loss of only two men in this expedition, but it entailed a debt of £6000 upon the colony, which was more than all its previous debts put to- gether. A violent disaffection arose when it became known that the Spanish ships (one of 16 guns, the other of 22,) were too small, and their force too fee- ble to have caused much alarm."
In Moore's precipitate retreat, his ally the Yamas- see chieftain, being roused from his quiet slumbers and bid to hurry on, replied, " No, though your gover- nor leaves you, I will not stir till I have seen all my men before me."+
But the people were excited, and the majority of the Assembly began to enter upon a more extensive plan for the reduction of St. Augustine, Pensacola, and other Spanish strongholds. A brigantine was
* Coll. Co. Repres.
t Oldmixon, 424. Col. Daniel wrote a narrative of the events, which was read to the house, but it is not recorded in the Journals. The report of 1741, 2 Carroll's Coll., states Moore's forces to have been 500 whites and 500 Indians.
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offered to Col. Daniel to cruise on the coast of Florida .* He declined it, and Capt. Wm. Rhett was selected for its command. But before another inva- sion was undertaken, it was considered best to pay for the last, against which many citizens held just claims. . Committees on investigation and committees on accounts held meeting after meeting, and con- tinually begged leave to sit again. At length on motion a bill, astonishing to the people, was read for raising £4,000 by taxation, in addition to the £2,000 which it had been estimated would cover the expenses of the expedition. To fill up the measure of disgust on the part of the disaffected, a bill twice passed by the house for regulating elections, being sent to the governor and council for concurrence, was summarily rejected, without, as usual, inviting a conference. Whereupon a large number of members, acting under instructions of their constituents, entered their pro- test, and left the house. They returned, however, the following day, desirous of securing, if possible, a concurrence of the others in vindicating their liber- ties and the privileges of the Assembly. They met with unexpected and intolerable abuse from the go- vernor's adherents. But these not commanding a majority of the house, were obliged to adjourn.
John Ash, Thomas Smith and others were soon
* The Assembly offered to supply with provisions a frigate, if one should be sent from England to cruise on their coast. In making this offer they informed Adm. Whetstone that Charles Town bar had " thirteen feet of water at high tide-water at neap tides, and fifteen feet at spring tides, at least ;" and Port Royal, thirty-eight leagues to the southward, eighteen feet at low tides and twenty-four at high water on ordinary tides. (MS. Journals, Jan. 7, 1703.)
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afterward set upon in the streets by Dearsby, Dal- ton, Nicholas Nary and others of Moore's party, and . cruelly maltreated. Ash took refuge in the bed- room of one of his friends. The house was sur- rounded by an armed mob, who demanded that he should come down. On assurance that they wished only to speak with him he made his appearance, when Capt. Rhett and others seized him and dragged him along to Rhett's ship, threatening to hang him or carry him to Jamaica, or some remote island. Gov. Moore was busy treating the rabble to drink, drinking with them, thanking them for their support, and haranguing against the refractory members of Assembly, declaring " they would bring the people on their heads for neglecting to pay the country's debts." After witnessing the commencement of the riot, he withdrew, and allowed it to take its unchecked, tumultuous course. The riot continued four or five days. A drunken crowd with weapons in their hands possessed the streets. Joseph Boon was fearfully beaten, a private house was broken open and a poor woman so abused that she gave birth to a dead child. Landgrave Edmund Bellinger was the only justice of the peace who boldly went forth in discharge of his duty to stay and suppress the wild tumult, nor did opprobrious epithets, nor the violent blows over the head which Capt. Rhett showered upon him, deter him from his purpose. While the riot still continued, Ash, Smith, Byres, Boon, and others appealed to the governor and council to relieve them and their fami- lies from hazard, and put down the rioters. The only satisfaction they obtained was Moore's reply
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that "it was a business fit for a justice of the peace ;" and being asked whether or not he considered him- self bound, as governor, to preserve the peace of the province, he replied, " that was a question he was not obliged to answer.";
But Moore's precarious tenure of office was now ended. The £4,000 had not yet been voted, the Indian trade had been kept from his grasp, no victo- rious laurels for warlike deeds graced his brow, and the board of trade in London had declined to negotiate in private about silver mines. Although disap- pointed, he was none the less energetic, restless and ambitious. If he was gratified in retiring a richer man, with the church plate of St. Augustine, (as it was said,) in his house and Indian captives on his farm-yet he afforded a higher gratification to the friends of Carolina in having proved that all his strategy and the cunning devices of his able friends, all their fraud and threats and violence and cor- rupted elections, still found a majority of the thirty representatives of the people, too virtuous to bend to his selfish purposes, and too patriotic to brook a vio- lation of their rights and liberties.
At this period in the history of South Carolina a change began in the course of political parties. The recent agitation resembled an upheaval by which old land-marks are obliterated and the troubled waters are turned from their accustomed channel. The war against France and Spain, the elevation of Granville to the palatinate of the province, the death of most of the first leaders of the people, the appointment of
* Oldmixon; Coll. Co. Repr .; Appendix.
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Sir Nathaniel Johnson as governor, James Moore, attorney-general, Nicholas Trott, chief-justice, Job Howes, surveyor-general," threw into the hands of the late faction an increase of power ; and on the future direction and strength of this power would depend the resistant force which the latent majority of the people should combine to erect against it. Strange as it may seem from such a beginning, the new party soon spread to the breeze the banner of religion ; and with their zeal for the establishment of episcopacy united a determination to keep the whole govern- ment to themselves.
After the riot in Charles Town, the court did not hold its session before Moore was superceded and transferred to his new office. It became vain to hope for redress from the judicial officers who had been themselves the abettors of the rioters. Edmund Bellinger, however, laid a record of the events before the grand jury, but the partisans of Moore defeated its presentation. Neither the council nor the bench nor the governor took the part of justice. The in- · fluential men who had been the guilty leaders of the mob, no doubt enjoyed the joke, when the attor- ney-general would not prosecute himself, and the chief-justice said it was none of his business, it was " a matter before the council," and the governor declared that "it happened before his time." Nor did the aggrieved party meet with support or sym- pathy when they sent Mr. Ash as their agent to the proprietors in England, and a representation of the
* Commissions dated June 1702.
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circumstances, attested by the names of 150 of the most worthy Carolinians.
But the dominant party were a minority, and had much to dread from the next Assembly, whose bien- nial election was at hand. They could hope for little from Colleton county, where dwelt the families of Morton, Blake, Boon, and most of the members who had deserted the previous Assembly. But the twenty members for Craven and Berkley were to be chosen at Charles Town, and here it was determined to carry the election by all means. "Jews, strangers, sailors, servants, negroes, and almost every Frenchman in Craven and Berkley counties, came down to elect, and their votes were taken."* Greater violations of justice were committed than at the former election. " Force was made the arbiter of all differences." The " conspirators," as they were called by their opponents, triumphed in their plan, and the legisla- tive, executive, and judicial branches of government were now under control of the new party.
When Granville had desired the queen's approba- tion of Sir Nathaniel Johnson, it was known that while governor in the West Indies, he had refused to take the new oaths after the revolution in England ; and his experience and courage were particularly urged in recommendation of him in the critical posi- tion of governor of a frontier during the war against France and Spain ; and the condition of his appoint- ment being the taking of the oaths, it was shown from the records of the province that he had already taken them; and his commission was accordingly
* Coll. Co. Repr. ; Boon's Petition : Appendix.
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sanctioned. The new Assembly, in April, 1703, thanked their lordships for this appointment, and requested, as their own resources were exhausted by the late expedition, that the queen would send them warlike stores and forces and a frigate; " though we are immediately under your lordships' government ;. yet we are her subjects, and we hope not only to defend ourselves, but even to take St. Augustine."*
The report to the Assembly on the public stores of ammunition and arms, in August, 1702, showed 2306 lbs. of gunpowder, 496 shot of all kinds, 28 great guns ready for service, 47 "Granada," 360 cartridges, and 500 lbs. of pewter bullets. The powder and car- tridges were voted sufficient; and 4000 wt. of shot, 25 cannon (12 of 24, 6 of 18, and 7 of 12), and 40 dozen Granada shells, were ordered.
When Johnson assumed his office, there were guns, large and small, as follows: At the great battery 36, half-moon 28, small battery 2S, platform 10. In 1708 the grand council wrote to the Queen's offi- cers in England : "Charleston the chief port in Caro- lina, by the direction and diligence of our present governor, Sir N. Johnson, is surrounded with a re- gular fortification, consisting of bastions, flankers, and half-moons, ditched and palisaded, and mounted with 83 guns. Also, at the entrance of the harbor, on a place called Windmill Point, (within a carbine shot of which all vessels must pass by,) is now build- ing and almost finished, a triangular fort and plat- form of capacity to mount 30 guns,; which, when finished, will be the key and bulwark of this province ;
* MS. Journals.
t Fort Johnson; 2 Stat., 333.
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but wanting some large heavy guns, both for the for- tification and about Charles Town, and the said fort and platform, together with a suitable store of shot," . "we pray your lordships to become intercessors to her sacred majesty, that she would please to give - us 50 guns, viz : 30 demy cannon and 20 culverin of the largest size, with a suitable store of shot and powder, which is all we want to make Carolina im- pregnable."*
Gov. Johnson, with limited resources, wisely staid at home, and exerted himself to render the capital of his province as defensible as possible. But, per- haps through Moore's solicitation, he sent him forth in December, 1703, at the head of fifty Carolinian vo- lunteers and one thousand Indians, to ravage the. country of the Apalatchees, the allies of the Spaniards. They inhabited the region north and west of St. Au- gustine, supplied this place with provisions, and al- lowed many small Spanish forts and Catholic chapels to be built among them. The first town which Colonel Moore reached was Ayaville, having a tolerably com- plete fortification, with its usual appendage of a cha- pel, (for the Spaniards always made greater exertions for the conversion of the natives than the English did.) Balls and arrows greeted Moore's approach, and his men taking refuge behind a mud-walled house, proposed to rush forward with axes and break through the chapel door. This was immediately attempted, but the Carolinians were beaten back with fourteen wounded. Two hours afterward they suc- ceeded with aid of the Indians in setting the chapel
* MSS. Letter to Board of Trade.
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on fire, but had two men killed, Francis Plowden and Thomas Dale." They captured only one white, (a friar,) and about fifty Indians, and over a hundred women and children, and killed in the two assaults twenty-five men. The next morning twenty-three Spaniards from fort St. Louis, with four hundred al- lies, gave battle to the Carolinians. Their leader and eight of his men were taken prisoners in the engage- ment, and five or six killed, with about two hundred of the Indians. On the part of the Carolinians, Capt. John Bellinger was killed, fighting bravely at the head of his men. The same day, Capt. Fox died of wounds received in the assault at Ayaville. Five towns, protected by forts, now surrendered uncondi- tionally. The Cassique of Ibitachka being strongly posted, was treated with, and compounded for safety with "his church's plate, and ten horses laden with pro- visions." "I am willing to bring away with me," says Col. Moore, "free, as many of the Indians as I can, this being the address of the commons to your honor to order it so. This will make my men's part of plunder (which otherwise might have been £100 to a man,) but small. But I hope with your honor's assistance to find a way to gratify them for their loss of blood." He returned in March with 1300 free Apala- tcheans and 100 slaves. By his own devastation and the depredations of his numerous allies, the country of the enemy was completely subdued. IIe received the thanks of the proprietors, wiped off the ignominy of his failure. at St. Augustine, and increased his means by the sale or bondage of more captives. +
* See Moore's Report of the Exp .; 2 Carroll's Coll., 575. t Hewit, 140. 0 18 **
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Carolina forming on the south and west the fron- tier of the English settlements, was open to invasion from Havana as well as from St. Augustine. Having long expected an attack from the French and Span- iards, the Carolinians had fortified Charles Town. The prevalence of yellow fever in the summer of 1706, when five or six deaths a day among their small population was not a rare occurrence, had caused the town to be abandoned by almost every one who was able to take refuge in the country. The governor himself was residing on his plantation at Silk Hope.
A captain of a privateer sloop from New York, who had been cruising off St. Augustine to capture a vessel bound thither from Havana with money to pay the garrison, was suddenly chased from the coast by a fleet of four ships, and sailed into Charles Town harbor with the news on Saturday, 24th August. He had not cast anchor more than an hour, when five columns of smoke were seen rising from Sulli- van's Island, which indicated that so many vessels were heaving in sight. It was now five o'clock in the afternoon. Lieut .- col. Rhett immediately sounded an alarm, sent for the governor, and despatched mes- sengers in every direction to summon the militia companies. At night the alarm guns shook the town, and roused many a weary watcher of the sick and dying.
This period of devastating sickness was chosen for a sudden attack on the colony by Le Feboure, com- mander of "a private ship of war," aided by four other French privateer ships that happened to be at
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Havana. The Spanish governor joined in the plan, and having furnished a portion of men, had directed the fleet to St. Augustine for greater reinforcements.
They did not attempt to cross the Charles Town bar on the night of their arrival, and all Sunday and Monday they were busy in taking soundings. In the mean time, on Sunday, Maj .- gen. Broughton, with two companies and the gentlemen of Col. Logan's troop, arrived; the next day Gov. Johnson took command; and being an old soldier, encouraged all by his presence. Martial law was proclaimed. Early on Tuesday morning, Captains Johnson, Linche, and Hearne, and Drake, from James Island, were posted with their companies in the immediate neighborhood of the town, for the fever still raged within the lines. The same morning, the enemy with four ships and a galley, and a number of boats for landing their men, crossed the south bar and stood for the town with fair wind and tide. When they obtained a view of its fortifications, where the governor with his forces stood ready to receive them, they suddenly bore up and came to anchor at Sullivan's Island. A sloop which had been sent over to Wando River to bring Capt. Fenwicke and his company succeeded in doing so, notwithstanding an attempt of the enemy's galley to intercept them. The next morning, Capt. Long- bois from Santee, and Seabrook from the southward, marched with their men into town. A council of war was held, and it was determined to go out to the enemy, as they would not come to them. Three ships, a brigantine, two sloops, and a fireship, all the harbor afforded, were manned and equipped; and
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Col. Rhett, with a commission as vice-admiral, hoisted the Union flag, and was ready for attack.
A flag of truce now came on shore with a message to the governor. The messenger being conducted into Granville bastion, held by Capt. Evans, informed the governor that he was sent to demand in the name of the French king the surrender of the town and country, and the inhabitants as prisoners of war; and that only one hour was granted for his decision. Johnson replied that it needed not a minute's time to give a decision, and in the end politely requested him to " go about his business."
Predatory parties were sent ashore on James Island and Haddell's Point, the latter consisting of 150 men ; against whom Capts. Fenwicke and Cantey marched, and in a brisk engagement killed and wounded above a dozen, and took 33 prisoners. Some perished in attempting to escape by swimming. On the side of the Carolinians, there was but one killed. The next day, Col. Rhett with his fleet offered battle to the French ships at the bar. In haste and confusion they stood for sea. The threatening weather pre- vented a pursuit. In looking for them afterward, fourteen of these brave invaders were discovered on a point of land by Capt. Watson, and brought as prisoners to town. The country companies were now discharged, and martial law ceased. But informa- tion was brought that a ship had anchored in Sewee Bay and landed its crew. Capt. Fenwicke was sent against them by land; while Col. Rhett, with Col. Risbie, Capt. Evans, and a number of gentlemen as
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volunteers, went by sea in a Bermuda sloop and the New York privateer before mentioned.
.
This ship, at Sewee, under Capt. Pacquereau, had been intended to be an important part of the French fleet, having on board Gen. Arbouset, of the land forces, with his officers and about two hundred men. They could not have been aware that their comrades were repulsed; for their force was now separated, and Capt. Fenwick attacked one portion of it posted at Hobeaw, and killed fourteen and took fifty priso- ners ; while the same day Col. Rhett entered Sewee Bay, and the ship immediately surrendered with about ninety men on board. The wind being contrary, Mr. John Barnwell, a volunteer, was sent by Col. Rhett, with news of the capture. There were now 230 French and Spanish prisoners in Charles Town .* It is not on record how many of them died of yellow fever. Thus perished the first attempt to take this city by a naval force; not through the strength of its fortifications, nor the multitude of its defenders, but through the courage and activity of its citizens. The governor thanked them publicly for their valor and for their unanimity, especially at a time when so violent estrangements existed between political par- ties. On the other hand, the governor himself re- ceived from the proprietors a substantial token of
.
* This account depends chiefly on the report written in Charles Town, September 13th, 1706, and published in the Boston News Letter. It is republished in the Carolina Gazette, June 2d, 1766. See also, " Expe. dition to St. Augustine," 2 Carr. Coll., p. 353. I have also a MIS. account from the governor of Jamaica, from Chalmers' Notes from Papers in London. The Report of the Committee of South Carolina Assembly in 1741, states that the enemy had " a fleet of ten sail, with
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their approbation in a large tract of land, granted him in terms most flattering and honorable .*
But his administration was more particularly dis- tinguished by the establishment of episcopacy, which appears to have been effected by a scheme at first known only to the leaders of the party lately risen to power, and which they had in view in the last election of representatives. Their policy was strenuously supported by the new palatine. Indeed, it would be in accordance with the principles and whole career of this nobleman, to ascribe to him the origin as well as the subsequent support of the scheme.
The accession of William III. had terminated, (except in Ireland), the public conflicts of the Catho- lics and Protestants. Among the latter, the Puritans had become merged with the Presbyterians, who pre- vailed in Scotland, as did the Episcopalians in England. Their marked religious differences ope- rated for a long time to prevent the perfect union of the two kingdoms. The Episcopalians now be- gan to be divided into high churchmen and low churchmen, whose differences about forms and cere- monies, a strict or liberal interpretation of doc- trines, were not so great as to cause a separation in church government. Little harmony, however,
800 men, whites, mustees, and negroes, and 200 Indians." In this emergency, the funds for necessary expenses were raised by Gov. John- son on his individual responsibility. MS. Journals, House of Commons. Ramsay, 1, p. 135, adds some items of interest, perhaps from tradition. The prevalence of yellow fever in 1703 and in 1700, were the first appear- ances of this disease.
* Ramsay, 1, p. 135.
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