The history of South Carolina, from its first European discovery to its erection into a republic: with a supplementary chronicle of events to the present time, Part 9

Author: Simms, William Gilmore, 1806-1870. cn
Publication date: 1840
Publisher: Charleston, S. Babcock & co.
Number of Pages: 372


USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina, from its first European discovery to its erection into a republic: with a supplementary chronicle of events to the present time > Part 9


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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23


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a mean submission to said acts, that the like are designed for all the colonies ; when, not even the shadow of lib- erty to his person, or of security to his property, will be left to any of his majesty's subjects residing on the Amer- ican continent."


The South Carolinians concluded their resolutions, by sending Henry Middleton, John Rutledge, Christopher Gadsden, Thomas Lynch, and Edward Rutledge, as dep- uties, to meet the deputies from the other colonies in a general congress, at Philadelphia. On the return of these delegates to South Carolina, with a report of their pro- ceedings, a provincial congress was held at Charlestown, forming a new representative body of one hundred and eighty-four members. They met on the 11th of January, 1775, and without a dissenting voice, approved of what had been done in the continental congress. They passed a number of resolutions suited to the times, and concluded by a mixed recommendation to all the inhabitants, which savors of the old leaven of puritanism, to practice the use of fire arms, and set aside a day for prayer, fasting, and hu- miliation. These recommendations for arming and pray- ing, were carried into effect with equal zeal, and Charles- town resumed the appearance, which it had so frequently worn before, of a garrisoned town. Volunteers formed themselves into separate bands ; and the very boys of the city, emulating their seniors, were soon busy in the use of mimic weapons, and in the practice of the manual.


While affairs stood in this posture, a packet reached Charlestown, containing despatches from the British gov- ernment to the governors of Virginia, the Carolinas, Geor- gia, and Florida, which were seized by William Henry


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Drayton, John Neufville, and Thomas Corbett, three gen- tlemen forming a select committee which had been ap- pointed for this very object. These despatches presented abundant evidence of a determination on the part of Eng- land to coerce America by military force. This evidence was sufficiently confirmed by the affair of Lexington, which happened on the same day, and which, when the in- telligence reached Carolina, awakened the most lively feelings of indignation and revenge. A fierce spirit of freedom was kindled in every bosom, and all statutes of allegiance were considered as repealed on the bloody plains of Lexington.


The Carolinians were unprovided, but not unpre- pared, for war. They knew the strength of Britain- her fleets, her armies, her wealth; they knew their own poverty, their want of numbers, and the vast ex- tent of coast and frontier, which, in the event of war, they were obliged to defend ;- but they breathed nothing but defiance. Arms and ammunition they chiefly wanted, and they resolved upon the only measure which could yield them a supply. This measure was an overt act of


treason. Twelve hundred muskets were in the royal magazine. That very night, when intelligence of the battle of Lexington was received, the arsenal was entered by persons disguised and unknown, and emptied of all its contents. The provincial congress was again as- sembled. On the second day of its meeting, it was unanimously resolved that an association was necessary. The parties to this instrument, which was signed by Henry Laurens, as president, pledged themselves to " be ready to sacrifice life and fortune to secure the freedom


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and safety of South Carolina ; holding all persons inimi- cal to the liberty of the colonies, who shall refuse to sub- scribe the association." This document was tendered to the lieutenant governor, William Bull, who was a na- tive of the province, but he refused to sign it. The congress resolved to raise two regiments of foot, a company of rangers, and to put the town and province in a state of defence. So great was the excitement and ardor of the people, that, in a few weeks after the battle of Lexington, the popular leaders had a treasury and army at command. While the congress was in session, the royal governor, lord William Campbell, arrived in the city. Its members waited upon him, with an address of congratulation, in which, among other things, they de- clare, "that no love of innovation, no desire of altering the constitution of government, no lust of independence, has had the least influence upon their councils." " We only desire the secure enjoyment of our rights." Campbell replied that he was "incompetent to judge of the disputes between Great Britain and the colonies," and refused to recognize any representatives of the people, except in the constitutional assembly.


At the time these military operations were in progress, the whole quantity of powder in the province, did not ex- ceed three thousand pounds. To obtain a supply, extra- ordinary measures were necessary. Informed that a Brit- ish sloop had reached St. Augustine, having a large sup- ply, twelve persons sailed from Charlestown, and carried her by surprise, though she was in charge of as many gren- adiers. They took out fifteen thousand pounds of powder, and spiking the guns of the vessel, set sail for Beaufort,


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which port they easily made, while their pursuers were waiting for them at the bar of Charleston. This season- able capture was sent to the relief of Massachusetts, where it happened to be more immediately required. The next military proceeding of the popular leaders, was to take possession of Fort Johnson. Colonel Motte, with a small party of provincials, was appointed to execute this duty. Before he landed on the island, however, the fort was dismantled, and the British retired on board of two armed ships, the Cherokee and Tamar, which lay in the harbor. Captain Heyward, with a detachment of the Charlestown artillery, occupied the fort the same night, and by dawn of the next day, had three guns ready for action. Colonel Moultrie, with another party, soon after mounted some heavy cannon at Haddrell's Point ; and a few well- directed shot drove the British vessels out to sea. Hos- tilities were thus fairly commenced in South Carolina. Forts on James' and Sullivan's islands, Haddrell's point, and other places, were immediately constructed ; the mili- tia were diligently put in training, the provincial troops dis- ciplined, and all the means within the knowledge and pow- er of the Carolinians, and important to their interests and safety, were consulted and secured. Conscious of the justice of their cause, and satisfied with what they had done towards its success, they awaited with natural impa- tience, the progress of that fearful drama, the opening of which we have already seen.


CHAPTER XIII.


The revolution thus effected by the popular leaders in South Carolina, did not receive the unanimous approba- tion of the people. There were many, even on the sea- board, who either secretly or openly denounced it; and large and populous settlements in the interior, supported their opposition by appearing in arms at an early period, in behalf of the royal cause. The British government had been known to the Carolinians chiefly by its benefac- tions. Its treasures had supplied them; its power had protected them; its arms had succored and defended them from foreign and domestic foes. The pressure of an abstract principle was not felt by many, in opposition to the substantial advantages which had accrued to them from their connection with the " mother country;" by ยท which endearing term of relationship England had been so long distinguished in the colony. South Carolina had, indeed, been a favorite plantation of the crown; and the reluctance of thousands in the colony to sever the friend- ly bands which had linked them together, was not less honorable to their affections, than it had proved prejudi- cial to their interests. That the people who were subse- quently degraded under the general and opprobrious term of " tories," were, in the greater number of instances, gov- erned by an honest and loyal, if not a just sense of duty, cannot well be questioned. That they were be- hind the time, and slow to recognize those necessities


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which grew up in compliance with the hourly changing condition of their country, is equally undeniable. If the patriots were too warm, they were too cold. If to the one party, the shadows of coming events were beheld at too great a distance, to the other, the substance it- self appeared little more than a shadow. Unhappily, the indiscretion of individuals of both parties, increased the differences between them, and the gulf through which they had to wade, to sympathy and union in the end, was one that dyed their garments in blood, the stains of which, to this day, are scarcely obliterated.


The prompt and decisive measures of the seaboard, soon placed that section of the colony in a tolerable state of defence. This done, the popular leaders extended their precautionary labors to the interior ; but it was not so easy, in many parts of the country, to persuade the people that such measures were necessary; and the manner of proceeding, on the part of some of the agents entrusted with these measures, led to a suspicion among the people of the country, that their adversaries intended to dragoon them into compliance. This suspicion, art- fully encouraged by certain emissaries of the royal cause whom the forethought of lord William Campbell had sent into the interior, aroused all that fierce spirit of independence, which repeated strifes and trials had made no less suspicious than active; and instead of signing the document by which the leaders of the lower country had pledged their lives and fortunes to each other, in a joint opposition to the royal authorities, they entered into resolutions to oppose the patriots, to whom they ascribed motives and designs as dishonorable as they were un-


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founded. Camps were soon formed of the opposite par- ties, and hostile bodies were quickly gathered in arms. The tories, or loyalists, who dwelt in the forks between Broad and Saluda rivers, were headed by two brothers, named Patrick and Robert Cunningham, both remarkably well calculated, by courage, strength, and intelligence, to be popular leaders in a time of commotion. Robert hav- ing shown himself remarkably active in opposition to the revolutionists, was arrested by the authority of the coun- cil of safety, and committed to the jail of Charlestown. This aroused Patrick, who, arming a body of his friends, pursued, with the expectation of rescuing his brother. He seized, on this occasion, and while in this pursuit, a thousand pounds of powder which was passing through the settlement at this juncture, and which had been sent by the council of safety, as a present to the Cherokee Indians. A report which had been industriously spread, that the powder was sent to inflame the Indians to rise upon and massacre all those who refused to sign the asso- ciation, exasperated the ignorant multitude, and roused them to the commission of those acts which placed them openly in arms against the country.


Major Williamson, who commanded the militia on the part of congress, went in pursuit of the loyalists who had seized the powder ; but he was compelled to retreat before superior numbers. They pressed the pursuit, and Williamson retreated to a stockade fort, where he was besieged, and where he suffered from want of water and provisions for several days. He was relieved by a truce, under the terms of which both parties retired to their homes. But the popular leaders were not satisfied with


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these events, which led them to apprehend domestic and foreign warfare at the same moment,-a British fleet and army in front, and a disaffected people in the rear. They resolved to enforce obedience, while yet the time was allowed them, and sent a force of two thousand men, under colonel Richardson, into the refractory settle- ment, with instructions to apprehend the leaders of the party which had seized the powder, and to do all other things necessary to suppress the present, and prevent future insurrections. This decisive measure had the de- sired effect. Opposition was overcome; many of the loyalists subscribed the terms proposed by the congress ; some of the leaders were made captives, while several of them voluntarily abandoned the colony, and fled to Florida. It was not until a strong British army appeared in the country, that they were emboldened to throw off the mask, and emerge from their hiding places.


Having quieted their domestic difficulties, the popular leaders resumed their preparations against the approach of the enemy. Batteries were raised at Georgetown and other places ; a fort and magazine were established at Dorchester; Charlestown became a garrison ; the advan- ced posts were all filled with troops; and the fort was begun on Sullivan's island, by colonel Moultrie, which now bears his name, and which, shortly after its erection, became identified with his military reputation. Powder and arms were gleaned from various sources; and in March, 1776, a congress convened, with the.title of a general assembly, of which John Rutledge was made president, and a temporary constitution formed for the gov- ernment of the state. South Carolina was the first of


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the colonies that formed an independent constitution. Its basis was the fundamental democratic principle, that the will of the people is the source of law, honor, and office.


The same reasons which had arrayed a large portion of the Carolinians in opposition to their countrymen, pro- voked the especial indignation of the British government. The conduct of Carolina was regarded as particularly un- gracious. She was selected, therefore, as peculiarly de- serving of chastisement. Her sympathy with the wrongs of Massachusetts, rather than any injuries done to her- self, had been the true cause of her taking part in the con- flict. She had few, if any, of those occasions for quar- rel, which brought the people of the north into collision with those of Europe. She had no manufactories to maintain in opposition to those of England-she had no shipping or seamen which could enter into competition with that marine by means of which Great Britain in- dulged a fond ambition to rule the waves. She provided the raw material which the other manufactured, and she received the manufactured goods in exchange for her productions. The intercourse was simple enough be- tween them, and the occasions for conflict were few and unimportant. The overweening arrogance of British offi- cers and agents, by offending the self-esteem of her sons- a proud and ambitious race-may be enumerated among these occasions; and the jealousies engendered between the troops of the province and those of the mother coun- try, which led to the affair between colonels Grant and Middleton, recorded in a previous chapter, were, without doubt, as keenly felt and remembered as they were warm- ly indulged at the time of their provocation. These, no


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doubt, served, much more effectually than the duties on stamps or tea, to place Carolina in that attitude of defi- ance which she was shortly required to maintain with her ablest manhood.


Before colonel Moultrie had yet put his fort at Sulli- van's island, in a condition to meet the foe, fifty sail of Brit- ish vessels appeared upon the coast. All was now com- motion, if not alarm, among the patriots of Charlestown. The troops thronged to the city ; the women and children, such as could procure means of flight, were sent into the country ; and, with a breathless but stern anxiety, the popular leaders prepared for the approaching issue. With a high idea of British valor, and an imperfect knowledge of their own resources, the Carolinians did not, however, despond at the appearance of this formidable armament. Their force, swelled to five thousand men by the arrival of troops from the adjacent states, were placed under the command of major general Lee, an officer of the conti- nental army. The first regular regiment of South Caro- lina, commanded by colonel Gadsden, was stationed at Fort Johnson, a small fort on the most northerly point of James island, about three miles east from Charlestown, and within point blank shot of the channel. The second and third regular regiments of Carolina, under the com- mand of colonels Moultrie and Thomson, occupied the two extremities of Sullivan's island. The other forces were assigned places at Haddrell's point, James island, and along the bay in front of the town. The stores on the wharves were pulled down, and lines of defence, run along the water's edge, were manned chiefly by the citi- zens.


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The larger vessels of the British fleet were three days employed in getting over the bar. On the 28th day of June-a day which should be famous to all succeeding time in the annals of Carolina-this fleet, under the com- mand of Sir Peter Parker, consisting of two fifty gun ships, four frigates, and a number of smaller vessels, ad- vanced to the attack. The first object which drew their attention, was the little fort of colonel Moultrie, a mere speck upon Sullivan's island, which, it was not supposed, could maintain any protracted conflict. Such was the opinion, not of the British merely, but of general Lee, who commanded in Charlestown. He called it a mere slaugh- ter house, and asserted that a couple of British frigates would knock it about the ears of its defenders in half an hour. It was built of palmetto logs, placed in sections, which were filled in with earth. The merlons were six- teen feet thick, and sufficiently high to cover the men against the fire from the tops of the enemy's vessels. One part of the fort was unfinished ; but this part, most fortunately, was not attacked by the assailants. The pal- metto is a tree peculiar to the southern states, the wood of which, being remarkably soft and spongy, is singularly suited to the purposes of defence against cannon. A bul- let entering it makes no splinters nor extended fractures, but buries itself in the wood, without doing hurt to the parts adjacent. Within the fort was a morass, which favored the defenders, as it extinguished the matches of such shells as fell within the enclosure. Some of the shells thrown on this occasion, were found fifty years after, unexploded, with the fuse unconsumed, and the missiles with which they were charged, still in their orig-


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inal integrity,-harmless memorials of the direst purpo- ses of harm.


While the British fleet was preparing to attack the fort, colonel Thomson, at the head of the third Carolina reg- iment, kept the land forces of the enemy, under Sir Hen- ry Clinton, in check, at the eastern extremity of the island. Between ten and eleven o'clock, the thunder bomb vessels began to throw shells. Four of the ships, the Active, of twenty-eight guns, the Bristol and Ex- periment, each of fifty, and the Solebay, of twenty-eight, came boldly on to the attack. A little before eleven o'clock the garrison fired four or five shot at the Active," while under sail, but without doing hurt. When she came near the fort she anchored, with springs on her cables, and commenced the battle with a broadside. Her exam- ple was followed by the other vessels, and a storm of iron was rained upon the little fortress, with the most unre- mitting fury. The bomb vessel continued to throw shells, until she was disabled; and amidst the roar of three hundred heavy cannon, the courage of the defend- ers, who were almost wholly natives of Carolina, was summoned to its most fearful trial. But their conduct did not belie their well-earned reputation, nor leave it doubt- ful what would be their course in the war which was to ensue. They stood as coolly at their posts as if they had been trained veterans. With a limited supply of ammu- nition which forbade the constant exercise of their guns, they were enabled to time their discharges with regular- ity, and direct them with a singular precision of aim which told fearfully upon the enemy.


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At one time, the commodore's ship, her stays shot away, swung round with her stern upon the fort, inviting, in that unfavorable situation, the fire of all its guns. For a moment every cannon that could be made to bear, belch- ed forth its iron upon her. "Mind the commodore, the fifty gun ship!" was the cry, echoed by men and officers, along the whole range of the little battery. Dreadfully did she suffer from this attention. Her scuppers ran with blood ; her quarter deck was twice swept of every man but her commander, and he himself narrowly escaped with two wounds, which disabled him. With a loss in killed and wounded of more than one hundred men, she was at length, but with some difficulty, withdrawn from the action.


Nor was the loss of the other vessels, comparatively speaking, much less. That of the Experiment, in slain, was greater. Her captain was maimed, fifty-seven of her men killed, and thirty wounded.


The battle lasted till near nine o'clock in the evening, and the ammunition of the little fortress was exhausted during its continuance. This led to the belief, on the part of the assailants, that the defence had ceased, and they sent up three vigorous cheers in token of their satisfaction. But a fresh supply of powder, from the city, soon unde- ceived them. The battle was renewed with ten-fold fury, and though the imperfect structure which sheltered the Carolinians, reeled and trembled to its base at every broad- side which they fired, they kept to their guns, resolved to meet the invaders behind the crumbling ruins, rather than yield in a conflict upon which were equally staked the pride and the possession of their country.


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By a mishap of the invaders, which was of the most providential good to the garrison, they were deprived, al- most in the beginning of the conflict, of one of their most formidable means of annoyance. Three vessels, the Sphynx, the Active, and the Syren, were sent round to attack the western extremity of the fort, which was so unfinished as to afford a very imperfect cover to the men at the guns, not only in that, but in almost every other part of the structure. These vessels, in aiming to effect their object, got entangled with a shoal called the Middle Ground, and ran foul of each other. The Active stuck fast, and was finally abandoned by her crew and destroy- ed; but not before a detachment of the Carolinians had boarded her, and discharged her loaded cannon at her retreating consorts. The Syren and Sphynx got off and escaped; but not till they had suffered too many injuries to enable them to take any farther share in the battle.


The fire of the fort was chiefly directed against the Bristol and Experiment, both of which suffered severely and equally in hull, masts, and rigging. The Bristol had forty men killed and seventy-one wounded. She was hulled in several places, and but for the smoothness of the water, must have filled and sunk. Lord William Campbell, late royal governor of the province, acting as a volunteer on board, received a wound which ultimately proved fatal. The loss of the garrison was but ten men killed, and twice that number wounded. The shot of the British flew over the fort, or buried themselves in the soft wood of the palmetto.


One of its defenders distinguished himself by an instance of daring which alone has made him famous. In the be-


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ginning of the action, the flag staff was shot away. The flag of Carolina, in her first battle for independence, was a simple stripe of blue cloth, bearing a silver crescent. Sergeant Jasper, of the grenadiers, immediately leaped over, upon the beach, and, amid the hottest fire of the foe, recovered the ensign, ascended the merlon and deliberate- ly restored it to its place. Another brave man, sergeant Macdonald, mortally wounded by a cannon-ball, still con- tinued to cry aloud to his comrades to maintain the lib- erties of his country. His words of patriotic exhorta- tion, coupled with his name, have survived his own suf- ferings and the thunders of that fearful day.


CHAPTER XIV.


The result of this ill conducted expedition contributed greatly to establish the popular government in the affec- tions of the people. It quieted the fears of the many and overcame the opposition of the few; the revolutionists exulted and the royalists were silenced. The doubtful grew confident in the success of a cause thus prosperously begun, while the patriotic appealed to it for the confirma- tion of every thing which had been predicted. Experi- ence had now shown that a British fleet might be success- fully resisted ; and this conviction, alone, was of the most beneficial importance to the cause of the revolution. It emboldened the popular spirit, and drew forth, in aid of the colony, many who had hitherto withheld themselves because of an exaggerated estimate which they had made, of the power of Great Britain to quell the rebellion at a blow. Perhaps it had its disadvantages, also, as it inspir- ed presumption instead of confidence ;- leading the Caroli- nians into a false security, and making them neglectful of those precautions which, in a state of war, are the only just guarantees of complete success.




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