USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780 > Part 10
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1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 60-61.
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IN THE REVOLUTION
led to believe that the Revolutionists on the coast were intriguing with the Indians to bring them down upon the frontier settlements because the people there hesitated to join them against the King. A bloodless battle had been fought in Charlestown harbor. The first blood was now to be shed in Ninety-Six District.
Mr. Drayton while on his mission in that part of the country had had a "talk" with the Cherokees, and had promised to send them a supply of powder and lead ; and in compliance with this promise the Council of Safety on the 4th of October had dispatched a wagon with one thou- sand pounds of powder and two thousand pounds of lead as a present to them. It unluckily happened that about this time Robert Cuningham's arrest became known ; where- upon Patrick Cuningham immediately assembled a party of about sixty armed men to rescue his brother. They failed in doing that, but seized the ammunition on its way to the Indians.1 Upon this Major Andrew Williamson, who then resided in Ninety-Six, embodied his militia for the purpose of recovering the powder and lead. He formed a camp at Long Cane, and sent a letter to Edward Wil- kinson and Alexander Cameron, the Indian agents then in the Cherokee Nation, informing them of the seizure, and requesting that the matter should be explained to the Indians so as to prevent them from revenging themselves upon the people of this frontier. On the other hand, the Cuningham party represented that the ammunition had been sent to the Indians to arm them against the King's friends, who formed so large a part of that population.2 This unfortunate event added greatly and not unnaturally to the opposition to the government of the Congress and was of great influence in assisting the collection of a con- siderable force in arms between the Broad and Saluda.
1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 64. 2 Ibid., 65.
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
What action should be taken in this emergency was the subject of another contention between the two parties in the Congress, Arthur Middleton as usual urging vigor- ous measures and Rawlins Lowndes opposing them. The parties were so evenly divided that in a hundred votes two decided the question. Fifty-one supported Middle- ton and forty-nine Lowndes. By this vote, on the 8th of November, it was determined to assemble a force under Colonel Richard Richardson, and to send him to seize Patrick Cuningham, Henry O'Neal, Hugh Brown, David Reese, Nathaniel Howard, Henry Green, and Jacob Boch- man, the leaders of the Royal party. Captain Ezekiel Polk, who had been led to desert the cause by Moses Kirkland in August, had returned and had been taken back into favor, and was again given a company. He now accompanied Colonel Richardson. There was another person in this expedition, whom, before this book closes, we shall find becoming the real leader in the struggle for the American cause, and who, with others whose names were scarcely yet known, was to redeem the State after it had been overrun and lost to those who were now in con- trol of the revolutionary movements. This was Thomas Sumter, and this was the manner in which he was received into the ranks of the Revolutionary party. "We have consulted with Colonel Richardson touching Mr. Sumter's application to the Council," wrote William Henry Drayton and the Rev. Mr. Tennent to the Council of Safety. "The Colonel readily approved not only of the measure, but of the man, notwithstanding Kirkland recommended him as his successor in the company of Rangers which he quitted and attempted to disband. The Colonel nevertheless from his seeming connection with Kirkland proposes to keep a sharp eye upon Mr. Sumter's conduct." Sumter thus entered the service under suspicion and upon probation.
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In this expedition he acted as Colonel Richardson's Adju- tant General.1
In the meanwhile the Congress men under Williamson and the King's men under Cuningham continued em- bodying their forces. Williamson lay almost a fortnight at Ninety-Six Court House, receiving those who came in and waiting for Colonel Thomson with the Rangers. Cap- tain Richard Pearis, who, then acting with the Revolution- ary party, had accompanied Mr. Drayton on his visit to the Indians, disappointed that he had not received the military position he desired, now changed sides and joined the King's party. He charged the Council of Safety with the design of bringing down the Cherokees upon the settlements to cut off all the King's men. He went so far as to make affidavit that the ammunition taken by Patrick Cuningham was on the way to the Cherokee Nation for that purpose. As it was known that he had brought the Indians who had met Mr. Drayton in September, it was naturally supposed that he was acquainted with the intentions of the Council, and his assertions were readily believed. The King's party was thus speedily swelled in numbers, while Williamson's militia came in but slowly. Williamson, however, could not believe that the Loyalists would dare to attack him, until the 18th of November, when he received certain information that they were in full march upon him and had actually crossed the Saluda River for the purpose. Major Mayson now joined him with a small party of Rangers and proposed to march at once, themselves assume the offensive, and attack their opponents in camp. A council of war was called which, as councils of war usually do, overruled this vigorous plan of operations.
1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 65, 69; Gibbes's Doc. History, 1764-76, 129.
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On the contrary, Williamson with his forces fell back to a position near the Court House, where they fortified them- selves as far as they could before the appearance of the opposing forces. They had hardly closed their slight fortification when on Sunday, the 19th of November, Major Robinson and Captain Patrick Cuningham ap- peared with their party. A conference was called, and a meeting took place between Major Mayson and Captain Bowie on the one side, and Robinson, Cuningham, and Evan McLaurin on the other. Robinson and his party demanded that Major Williamson's militia should sur- render their arms and disband. While Williamson was considering this demand two of his men were seized by the other party, whereupon he gave orders to rescue them, and thus brought on a conflict, the first bloodshed in the Revolution in South Carolina. For two hours and a half the firing on both sides was incessant. The garrison including officers consisted of 5621 men, while the number
1 A return of the militia and volunteers on duty in the fortified camp at Ninety-Six on Sunday, the 19th of November, 1775, under the com- mand of Major Andrew Williamson. By order of the Honorable, the Provincial Congress.
Number of
companies.
Commanding officers' names of the several companies.
Number of
officers.
Number of
sergeants.
Number of
privates.
Total.
Total of all ranks In the
camp.
1
George Reed .
1
2
22
25
2
Andrew Pickens
2
3
35
40
3
Aaron Smith
3
2
12
17
4
Benjamin Tutt .
3
2
29
34
5
Andrew Hamilton .
3
2
18
23
6
Thomas Langden
2
1
9
12
7
Adam Crane Jones
2
2
22
26
8
Mathew Beraud .
3
0
10
13
9
Charles Williams
1
2
8
11
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IN THE REVOLUTION
of besiegers was about 1890. The siege lasted two days, during which Major Williamson's men suffered great hard- ship, though but one man was killed and twelve wounded ; while on the other side several were killed and about twenty wounded. On Tuesday, the 21st, at sunset the King's party displayed a white flag and called a parley, in which Major Robinson renewed his former demand, allow- ing only one hour for answer. Captain Bowie was sent at once with the joint answer of Majors Williamson and
Number of companies.
Commanding officers' names of the several companies.
Number of
officers.
Number of
sergeants.
Number of
privates.
Total.
Total of all
ranks in the camp.
10
Francis Logan
2
1
15
18
11
Alexander Noble
2
0
2
4
12
John Anderson .
2
1
8
11
13
James Williams
2
2
24
28
14
Robert McCreary
3
2
25
30
15
John Rodgers
3
2
15
20
16
Jacob Colson ª
2
1
15
18
17
Hugh Middleton
1
0
2
3
18
Francis Sinquefield
3
3
48
54
20
David Hunter
2
2
15
19
21
John Erwin .
3
2
21
26
22
Robert Anderson
2
1
15
18
23
Nathaniel Abney
3
2
18
23
24
William Wilson
2
1
13
16
25
Joseph Hamilton Artillery
1
0
16
17
55
36
432
523
Major Williamson
1
Major Mayson .
1
Major Mayson's Rangers
37
562
2
0
15
17
19
James McCall
@ Captain Celson's company were volunteers from Georgia.
- Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 150.
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Mayson, that they were determined never to resign their arms. In two hours Major Robinson returned with Cap- tain Patrick Cuningham, and upon their withdrawing the peremptory demand for surrender it was agreed that a conference should take place the next morning. Accord- ingly, at the appointed hour, Majors Williamson and May- son with Captains Pickens and Bowie met Major Robinson, Captain Cuningham, Evan McLaurin, and Pearis, when it was agreed that hostilities should immediately cease, that the garrison should be marched out of their impro- vised fort and their swivels given up, which by a secret agreement for that purpose were in a day or two privately restored. This mock surrender of the swivels was agreed upon by the leaders to appease a large party of the besiegers who, while the negotiation was progressing, demanded their surrender. The treaty further stipulated that the public differences should be submitted to Lord William Camp- bell the Governor on the part of the King's men, and to the Council of Safety on the part of Major Williamson and those under his command ; that each party should send messengers to their principals, and twenty days be allowed for their return ; that Major Robinson should withdraw his men over the Saluda River, and keep them there or disperse them as he pleased until he should receive his Excellency's orders; that no person of either party should be molested in returning home ; that should reinforcements arrive, they should be bound by the treaty ; that all prisoners should be set at liberty, the fortifications levelled, and the well which had been dug in the forts filled up.1
Such was the rather inglorious end of an affair which otherwise, however, might have produced the most disas- trous consequences, and at once have inaugurated the
1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 116, 120.
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IN THE REVOLUTION
fratricidal strife which later drenched this fair land in blood. It was not, however, entirely to the advantage of Major Williamson's party ; for the other was composed of much more discordant materials than his own, and could not have been kept inactively together. It was observed that none of those who had signed the treaty of Ninety-Six with Mr. Drayton took any open part in this rising except McLaurin. Colonel Fletchall, it is true, was charged with privately encouraging it. The whole enter- prise of this heterogeneous mass calling themselves King's men - some acting upon principle and more perhaps from timidity, believing the story of the Indians in the affidavit of Pearis - was based upon the belief that Major Will- iamson's party would immediately surrender and submit. Without a leader capable of controlling them by influence or authority, and every officer thinking himself on a foot- ing with Major Robinson, the head of the expedition, the party soon fell to pieces.
In the meanwhile Matthew Floyd, the messenger sent by Major Robinson to Lord William Campbell under the terms of the treaty, arrived in Charlestown and applied to the Council of Safety for permission to repair to his Lord- ship on board the British man-of-war, declaring that he had lost his dispatches, and therefore it was necessary he should himself give his Excellency accounts of the trans- action at Ninety-Six. This story of the loss of his dis- patches naturally created suspicion, and the Council of Safety in allowing him to go to his Excellency required that he should be accompanied by one Mr. Merchant on the part of the Council, who was required to be pres- ent at any interview and conversation between Lord Will- iam and Floyd. But notwithstanding Mr. Merchant's remonstrance, as soon as Floyd was on board Lord Will- iam took him down into his cabin, where, with Innes his
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
secretary, they had a private interview ; and upon its con- clusion Innes informed Mr. Merchant that his Lordship desired he would return and inform those who had sent him that Floyd was a messenger from a friend of the government and must be detained until his Lordship had determined on his answer. Upon this the Council, indig- nant at the conduct of the Governor, issued an order for the arrest of Floyd upon his landing from the man-of-war ; and, accordingly, two days after, upon his attempting secretly to pass through the town at night, he was seized and taken before that body. There he was examined, and it was drawn from him that Lord William had directed him to tell those who sent him "to do everything they could for the best advantage - that he did not desire any effusion of blood, but whatever they should do would meet with his concurrence." A weaker and more mis- chievous message it is difficult to conceive; but surely the Council having received the messenger sent by the King's friends under a treaty made by Williamson and Mayson their officers, good faith demanded that he should be allowed to return and deliver his Lordship's message, whether that message was for peace or war. But the Council took a different view and put Floyd in jail.1
In the meanwhile Colonel Richardson had commenced his march under the orders of the Council and was direct- ing his course toward Colonel Fletchall's command over the Broad River; but learning of Williamson's invest- ment, he changed his direction and proceeded by forced marches to the Congaree River, which he crossed. By the 3d of November his force had increased to fifteen hundred men, when calling a council of war it was decided that his army was not bound by the treaty of cessation at Ninety- Six, and at once made preparation for crossing the Saluda
1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 123, 125.
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IN THE REVOLUTION
into the Dutch Fork.1 This was clearly another violation of the treaty ; for Williamson and Mayson had expressly stipulated that should reinforcements arrive, they should be bound by it. The former leaders of the King's party had stood by the stipulations which they had made with Mr. Drayton. None of them except McLaurin were found in Robinson's command. It is true that Fletchall was suspected of privately encouraging the movement ; but this was mere suspicion, ostensibly at least he was scrupulously observing his engagement. On the other hand, Colonel Richardson, under the government of which Mr. Drayton was the President, disregarding the terms upon which Williamson and Mayson had been released from that siege, marched upon those who, on the faith of the treaty, had disbanded their forces.
On the 2d of December Colonel Richardson pushed for- ward into the Dutch Fork and encamped near McLaurin's store, fifteen miles from the Saluda. At this camp several of Fletchall's captains were made prisoners, and Colonel Richardson issued a proclamation calling upon the inhab- itants to deliver up the bodies of Patrick Cuningham, Henry O'Neal, and others who had taken the ammunition, and those who had taken part in the siege of Ninety-Six ; and to deliver up the ammunition taken by Cuning- ham, and the arms of all the aiders and abettors of these robbers, murderers, and disturbers of the peace. From the benefits of the proclamation all capital offenders were excluded ; for these just punishment was declared to be in store. Here Colonel Richardson was joined by Colonel Thomas with 200 men, Colonel Neel with 200, Colonel Lyles with 150, which together with Colonel Thomson's regiments of Rangers and militia and his own regiment made his force amount in the whole to about 2500 men ;
1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 123, 125.
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
in addition to which Colonel Polk was in full march from North Carolina with 600 men.
As Colonel Richardson's army advanced, the King's party fell back constantly retreating. They were thor- oughly disheartened by the failure of the promises of Lord William Campbell and his weak conduct. Occasion- ally they would make a stand ; but as soon as Colonel Richardson advanced, they would retreat. By the 12th of December Colonel Richardson's army, which then consisted of three thousand men, had penetrated far into the interior, and had taken several prisoners "of the first magnitude," as he described them in the letter to the Council of Safety. Among them were Colonel Thomas Fletchall, Captain Richard Pearis, and Captain Shuberg. Fletchall was found hidden in a large sycamore tree with a hollow seven or eight feet wide on Fair Forest Creek, from which he was unkennelled by the Rangers and some volunteers under Colonel Thomson, who had been sent to scour that part of the disaffected district and to beat up Fletchall's quarters.1
Richardson pressed forward through all the inclem- encies of the winter weather, though his men were thinly clothed and indifferently provided. He halted and en- camped at Liberty Hill on the line between Newberry and Laurens counties, about four or five miles from the Enoree River. Here he collected his most important prisoners - those reputed to be the most active against the authority of the Provincial Congress, and placing them under the care of his son Captain Richard Richardson, Jr., he sent them under escort to Charlestown. Having thus divested himself of this care, and his force still further increased by
1 From this time Fletchall disappears from the scene of the Revolu- tion. After the fall of Charlestown he was in commission under the Crown, and in 1782 his estate was confiscated by the "Jacksonborough Legislature." Sabine's Am. Loyalists, 288 ; Statutes of So. Ca., vol. VI, 1.
97
IN THE REVOLUTION
Colonels Rutherford and Graham of North Carolina with about five hundred men, and by Major Andrew William- son and Captain Hammond with a party of Colonel Stephen Bull's regiment amounting to about eight hundred men, his whole force now amounting to between four thou- sand and five thousand strong, he scoured the whole of the upper country, penetrating four miles beyond the Chero- kee boundary line to a place called the Great Cane Brake on Reedy River. At Cane Brake there was a camp of King's men which it was Richardson's object to break up. For this purpose he dispatched Colonel Thomson with about thirteen hundred men, who after a tedious march of near twenty-three miles on the 21st of December arrived within view of the Loyalists' campfires. Toward daylight of the 22d Thomson moved forward to attack, and had nearly surrounded the camp when his men were discovered ; and a fight immediately took place. Patrick Cuningham escaped on a horse bareback, telling every one "to shift for himself." Great slaughter, it is said, would have ensued had not Colonel Thomson prevented it. Five or six of Cuningham's men were, however, killed, and one hundred and thirty were taken prisoners. Of Colonel Thomson's troops none were killed and only one was wounded.
Colonel Richardson now regarding the object of the campaign as accomplished, dismissed the North Carolina troops and breaking up his camp marched homewards. From the snow which fell in the latter part of the expe- dition it was called the "Snow Campaign."1 The cam- paign was supposed to have completely broken up the King's party in the upper country, but its success to this extent was only apparent.
While Colonel Richardson was thus putting down the 1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 126, 132.
VOL. III. - H
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opposition in the interior, the ship of war Scorpion arrived, having on board Governor Josiah Martin of North Caro- lina, who, like Lord William Campbell, had fled from his government. There were then two British Governors in Charlestown harbor on board the British fleet, which con- sisted of three ships of war, - the Tamar, the Cherokee, and the Scorpion.
Lord William Campbell was a weak man, but he was no coward. He had formerly been in the British navy and had commanded a vessel on the coast of Carolina and was familiar with naval affairs. Having now three men- of-war in the harbor, Captain Tolemache of the Scorpion and his Lordship proposed an attack upon Fort Johnson, but Captain Thornbrough of the Tamar declined to join in it, not believing that his ship could lie before the guns of the fort. Captain Tolemache, disappointed in this project, determined in some other way to distress the people who, he said, were in active rebellion. Accordingly, on the 6th of December, he seized two merchant sloops inward bound and regularly cleared, the one from St. Kitts and the other from Jamaica. On board the sloop from St. Kitts was a sum of money in specie, belonging to Messrs. Samuel and Benjamin Legare of Charlestown. This money Captain Tolemache turned over to Lord Will- iam Campbell. Upon learning of this the gentlemen to whom the money belonged determined upon reprisal, and with a party of the light infantry company of which they were members seized and carried away from Lord Will- iam's residence his chariot and horses. Learning of this the Council at once summoned the parties before them, and having heard them repudiated their conduct and ordered the chariot and horses returned to Lady Campbell. They were accordingly sent to her by the messenger of the Council, but that lady indignantly refused to receive
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IN THE REVOLUTION
them. Now that Lord William Campbell had deserted his post and abandoned his friends in the province, some of them were inclined to conciliate the powers that he had left in possession of the government. Among others, Fenwicke Bull, into whose balcony the mob that had tarred and feathered the gunner of Fort Johnson had flung a bag of feathers, telling him to keep them until his turn had come, seems to have been of this opinion, and having been sent to make a notarial demand of the cap- tured vessels and the money belonging to the Legarés, on his return reported the conversation which had passed between Lord William, Captain Tolemache, and himself. From this it appeared that Captain Tolemache had, on his arrival, proposed to attack Fort Johnson, and would have done so, he avowed, if it had cost the lives of fifty men, and laid the town in ashes. He expected a reenforcement of two frigates and a bomb vessel, and he declared the town would surely be destroyed. He avowed the seizure of the Legare money, but said that it had been delivered to Lord William, whose receipt he had for it. Lord William, on the contrary, declared that he had nothing to do with the money or the seizure. Upon this the Council of Safety gave the Legarés permission to sell the chariot and horses to reimburse themselves for their money in Lord William's hands. Lady Campbell withdrew on the 15th of December, and retired to her husband on board the Cherokee.1
Wishing, as it was said, to give some energy to the naval preparations which were going on about this time, and which it required an influential character to promote, the Council, as it did in every instance, turned to Mr. Drayton, and, notwithstanding that he was the President of the Provincial Congress, and as such the chief executive
1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 158, 161.
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
of the province, he was now appointed by that body to be " captain and commander of the Prosper for the protec- tion of the harbor of Charlestown." It is true, observes his son, the editor of his Memoirs, Mr. Drayton's liberal education in Europe had been very different from one of sea affairs, on which account his appointment was thought somewhat extraordinary ; but the Council of Safety had their reason for so doing, and were satisfied they thereby promoted the public service. Moultrie, in his Memoirs, ridicules the appointment, and says that while Mr. Dray- ton was a gentleman of great abilities and warm in the American cause, he was no sailor, and did not know any one rope from another.1 It is very evident that in the absence of Christopher Gadsden, who was in attendance on the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, Mr. Drayton controlled the Revolutionary party in South Carolina. Besides Christopher Gadsden, the other delegates- Henry Middleton, Thomas Lynch, and the two Rutledges, John and Edward -were in Philadelphia, and without their restraining influence William Henry Drayton and Arthur Middleton were rushing on at a pace with which Henry Laurens could not keep up, nor could Rawlins Lowndes resist, however much he might hesitate to approve.
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