USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780 > Part 9
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The dissatisfaction of the volunteer companies and the general situation of affairs had induced the General Com- mittee on the 30th of September to summon the Provincial Congress to meet on Wednesday, the first day of Novem- ber. The Congress met accordingly at the State House in Charlestown, and chose William Henry Drayton Presi- dent. Colonel Laurens was thanked " for his unwearied diligence, application, and merit in the discharge of the duties of that office "; but the election of Mr. Drayton would, nevertheless, appear to have been a victory for the aggressive party. This was not, however, the view which Mr. Drayton himself took of it. He resented his election as an attempt to silence him ; he charged that the moderate party had voted him into the chair for that purpose ; but instead of weakening the patriots, as the aggressive men styled themselves, it was said to have added to their strength, for the President's harangue with which he closed all debates had, it was observed, more weight than the same words spoken by him simply as Mr. Drayton.2
1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 58-59 ; Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 95, 96.
2 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 70.
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Colonel Charles Pinckney, Colonel Laurens, Colonel Richardson, Mr. Arthur Middleton, Mr. Ferguson, Colonel Bull, Captain Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Mr. Har- rington, Mr. Kershaw, and Mr. Cannon were appointed a committee to report upon the state of the colony, and the proper measures which ought to be pursued for putting the same in the best posture of defence. In the com- position of this committee there was, for the first time, any considerable representation in the revolutionary government of the people of the province beyond the low country. Colonel Richard Richardson was the Colonel of the militia regiment in Camden District. He was soon to take a most active part against the King's party in the upper country, and to lead an expedition sweeping through the whole of that region. Mr. William Henry Harrington was Captain of a volunteer company from The Cheraws. Mr. Kershaw was a member from St. Mark's Parish. Colonel Stephen Bull, nephew of Lieu- tenant Governor William Bull, was Colonel of the militia regiment of Prince William's Parish, which then nomi- nally included the whole country along the Savannah River. There was no one from the populous region of Ninety-Six, more especially known as the Up Country. The gentle- men we have named as from beyond the low country were from the middle and not from the upper part of the State.
The Congress had been in session but a few days when stirring events took place in Charlestown harbor, and the first battle of the Revolution in South Carolina was fought. It is a common saying that history is fond of repeating itself. It is most remarkable that the battle which inaugurated the war of the Revolution in 1775, like that which inaugurated the great war between the States in 1861, while lasting two days, ended without a single casualty on either side.
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British cruisers had kept the New England coast from Falmouth to New London in a state of continual alarm. On the 30th of September Stonington, Connecticut, had been bombarded for a day, two men had been killed, and houses shattered. On the 1st of October Admiral Wal- lace had sailed up the bay to Bristol, Rhode Island, and demanded from the inhabitants three hundred sheep. Compliance with the demand being refused, the town was bombarded. The firing upon this town began at about eight o'clock in the evening, while the rain was pouring in torrents. The house of Governor Bradford with others was burned, and the women and children driven into the fields to escape the missiles of the enemy. The bombardment of Falmouth - now Portland, Maine - had taken place on the 7th, but the Congress in Charlestown appear as yet to have heard only of that of Bristol ; but that was sufficient to enable the aggressive party to force the action which had hitherto been defeated. On the 9th of Novem- ber they carried through the Congress a resolution direct- ing the officer commanding at Fort Johnson "by every military operation to oppose the passage of any British naval armament that might attempt to pass."1 It was also ordered that the President should write to Captain Thornbrough, informing him of the passage of this resolution in the Congress, whereupon Mr. Drayton as President issued the following : -
" By Order of Congress.
"To EDWARD THORNBROUGH, Commander of the Tamar Sloop of War.
" CHARLESTOWN, November 9, 1775.
" Sir: The late cruel cannonade of Bristol by the British ships of war to enforce an arbitrary demand of sheep - the general depreda-
1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. 1, 47.
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tions on the American coasts by ministerial authority - the late advices from England of large military armaments by land and sea, for the hostile invasion of the colonies upon the continent, and proclamation of 23d of August last, at the Court of St. James, by which the good people of America are unjustly described as in avowed rebellion - superadded to the former American grievances, together with Lord William Campbell's threats of hostilities against us - have sunk deep in the minds of the people; who, seeing themselves by the royal act in effect put out of the regal protection, are at length driven to the disagreeable necessity of ordering a military opposition to the arms of the British ministry. But the people of South Caro- lina, remembering that those who point the British arms at their breast and against their invaluable liberties, are their dear country- men, and once were friends ; unwilling, yet determined vigorously to oppose any approach of threatening danger to their safety, have directed me to intimate to you, sir, as commander-in-chief of the British armament in this station, that orders are issued to the com- manding officer at Fort Johnson by every military operation to en- deavour to prevent every ministerial armament from passing that post.
" We thus think it proper to warn you from an approach that must be productive of the shedding of blood ; which, in other circumstances, we would endeavour to preserve.
" I have the honour to be, sir, your most humble servant, " WILLIAM HENRY DRAYTON, President."
Captain Thornbrough did not immediately act upon this declaration of war, nor did he accept the challenge to pass the fort. The collision came in another way. A passage to the town without the range of the guns of Fort Johnson was still practicable for the small royal armed vessels Tamar and Cherokee, - the Tamar carrying sixteen six-pounders and the Cherokee six cannon. This passage was by means of the channels which separated the marsh land and mud flats, known as Shute's Folly, on which Castle Pinckney now stands, from the marshes and mainland of Christ Church Parish. These channels were known as Marsh Channel and Hog Island Channel. On
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the 19th of October William Henry Drayton and Thomas Heyward, Jr., had been appointed by the Council of Safety Commissioners to obstruct them. They now proceeded vigorously to this work, hoping that it would in some way bring about a collision which they desired. To cover the work a coasting schooner which had been armed for the security of the town, and called the Defence, commanded by Captain Simon Tufts, was on this occasion armed with two nine-pounders, six six-pounders, and two four-pounders, and Colonel Moultrie was ordered to detail a captain and thirty-five men to act as marines upon her. Captain Will- iam Scott volunteered, and was detailed for the purpose. Including the marines the schooner now had a comple- ment of about seventy men. Six old schooners had been purchased for the purpose of being sunk in the channel. Two of these had been sunk in Marsh Channel, and now it was proposed to sink the other four in Hog Island Creek. Things being now in readiness for the business, the four hulks under the direction of Captain Blake, on the 11th of November, covered by schooner Defence, dropped down Hog Island Creek with the ebb tide. Mr. Drayton, who was as gallant as vigorous, accom- panied the expedition, and we learn from his Memoirs that he did so, hoping that something would occur which he might improve in such a manner as to draw on hos- tilities, and that thereby the Provincial Congress and public councils might be induced to take a bolder stand, and be forced to more vigorous measures. He consid- ered himself justified as President in attending the ex- pedition personally under a resolution of the Congress of the day before, i.e. the 10th of November, which had authorized and empowered the President to order such motions of the troops as he should think necessary to enable Captain Blake to sink two schooners in Hog
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Island Channel.1 The affair turned out as Mr. Drayton had desired, for as soon as the hulks which were in advance approached their destination, the Tamar opened and fired six shots at them. The shots fell, however, short, and Captain Thornbrough having done, as he thought, as much as his duty required, stopped his fire ; but Mr. Drayton had no idea of losing this opportunity. To provoke the British commander to further acts of hostility, as soon as the Defence came to an anchor he or- dered her two nine-pounders to open upon the Tamar, which, being heavier guns, carried their shot much farther than the Tamar's had done. The Tamar, now roused at the insult, as Mr. Drayton anticipated, returned the fire with three or four shots more, which the Defence answered with only one. Captain Blake, in the meanwhile, not to lose the ebb tide, was actively engaged in his work, and succeeded in sinking three of the hulks; but before the fourth could be placed in position the tide turned, and the on-coming flood put an end to the work until the ebb the next morning. Meanwhile Captain Thornbrough with the Tamar and Cherokee, under the auspices of Lord William Campbell, warped into Hog Island cove as close as they could, and about a quarter after four on the morn- ing of the 12th opened their broadsides upon the Defence, continuing the cannonade until near seven o'clock, firing during the time about one hundred and thirty shots. The alarm was beaten in Charlestown, the Second Regiment of Infantry at the barracks stood to their arms, and the vol- unteer companies formed at their different alarm posts, while many citizens resorted to the wharves on East Bay to witness the engagement, or to indulge in the anxious cares which were thereby excited.2
1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 71, 72.
2 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, November 14, 1775 ; Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 71-73.
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Notwithstanding this heavy fire Captain Blake carried the fourth hulk to her proper position, and, having scut- tled her in various places, she was left sinking. She sank, however, slowly, which gave the enemy an opportunity of availing themselves of the retreat of the Defence to send an armed boat which fired the hulk and towed her into shallow water, where she shortly sank. In this action the Defence received no other damage than one shot under the counter, one in the broadside, and a third which cut the fore-starboard shroud ; neither was any person hurt on board, as the shots ranged between and over the rig- ging, and passed on to the mainland. During this naval affair the Carolina officers and men behaved with excellent conduct. The garrison at Fort Johnson, warmed by the sight of the engagement in their very presence, attempted to take part, and fired, at ten degrees' elevation, three twenty-six pound shots at his Majesty's ships. One of these fell within a few yards of the Tamar's bowsprit, another was said to have passed through her spritsail, and the third to have gone through her mizzen-sail ; but the distance was thought too great, and the fire was dis- continued. Between seven and eight o'clock in the morn- ing the Defence came up to the town and anchored in the stream about opposite to where the Custom House now stands, where Colonel Pinckney and many of the citizens saluted her with cheers; and in a few minutes after Mr. Drayton landed on the wharf, amidst the congratulations of his fellow-citizens, he having been on board the Defence during the whole affair.1
Hostilities, says the author of the Memoirs of the Revolution, were now begun. The people were animated. The members of the Provincial Congress who had been spectators of the battle in the harbor were warmed, and
1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 73, 74.
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they met a few hours after in a fit temper for planning vigorous measures. The day being Sunday, the Congress first assisted in divine service, which was performed before the body by the Rev. Mr. Paul Turquand, one of their members, who, it will be remembered, similarly officiated when the Congress sat on Sunday, the 11th of January before. After the service Captain Tufts made his report of the naval engagement in which he had commanded, and of the behavior of the officers and men who had served under him. The report having been made, Congress voted their thanks to Captain Tufts for his spirited and prudent conduct upon the occasion, and also to Captain William Scott, who acted as a volunteer in the command of the marines on board the schooner Defence ; and also ordered " that those gentlemen be requested to return the thanks of this Congress to all the officers and men who acted under their respective commands."
The Congress now proceeded to the consideration of other decisive measures. It appointed a committee to consider and report immediately upon the expediency and expense of fitting, arming, and manning the ship Prosper for the purpose of taking or sinking the men-of-war in Rebellion Road, and additional batteries were ordered erected. Mr. Edwards, chairman of the committee ap- pointed to report upon the arming of the Prosper, reported in the afternoon, whereupon it was resolved that the ship be immediately impressed and taken into service of the colony, and fitted and armed as a frigate of war with the utmost expedition. Colonel Moultrie was ordered to fur- nish a detachment of fifty men under proper officers to seize and guard the vessel. The President was desired to write to the Council of Safety of Georgia telling of the hostilities which had taken place in the harbor, and solic- iting their utmost immediate aid and assistance by a sup-
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ply of all the gunpowder and other military stores that could be spared. Mr. Daniel De Saussure and Mr. Robert William Powell 1 were sent with the President's letter to Georgia. The day ended with the adoption of a very important measure which was to serve as a precedent throughout the Revolution, and under which John Rut- ledge so long preserved the government of the State when all other civil authority was overturned and suppressed upon the capitulation of the city in 1780. It was resolved that "Mr. President (William Henry Drayton), Colonel (Charles) Pinckney, and Mr. Thomas Heyward, Jr., be authorized to order and do whatever they shall think necessary for the public safety until the meeting of the Congress to-morrow."
Thus ended, says the author from whom we have just quoted, the 12th day of November, which followed the actual commencement of British hostilities in South Caro- lina. It was begun with prayers to the Almighty Throne, from the representative of the people, in which they implored Almighty Providence to favor their undertak- ings and to support their cause. It was proceeded in with a firm reliance upon His assistance, with ardent en- deavors on their part to be prepared for the crisis which had arrived, and for events which would naturally follow; and it was closed by placing in the hands of tried citizens
1 Robert William Powell was a merchant in Charlestown now acting with the Americans, but he appears to have abandoned the cause. Cur- wen states that in 1783 a claim was brought forward in the House of Commons in England for services of Colonel Powell, he having raised a regiment of Loyalists, and for losses he sustained which were stated to have exceeded £40,000. Tradition states that while Colonel Powell was in Charlestown he was distinguished by his kindness toward his country- women of the Carolina party, who applied to him under the many distressing circumstances to which they were but too often exposed in the town. Curwen's Journal and Letters, 1775-84, 662, 663.
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the dictatorial power of taking care lest any damage should happen to the Commonwealth.1
The Revolutionists now conceived that they had fairly committed the colony to open rebellion, and in order to settle beyond any evasion the avowal of intention to attack the men-of-war in the harbor, Mr. Drayton as President of the Provincial Congress, on the morning of the 13th, laid before that body a draft of a letter he had written to the Council of Safety in Georgia in which he stated " We are with all possible expedition fitting out a ship with which, aided by the schooner Defence, we mean forthwith to attack the men-of-war." But by this time many members of the House had cooled, and the moderate party under the lead of Mr. Lowndes and Mr. Pinckney rallied to check the precipitancy with which it was sought to commit the people to war. They contended that no such resolution had been taken, and that the scheme was rash. A long and warm debate followed, upon which the House barely supported the text of the letter as written. Having car- ried this avowal of hostilities, the two vessels which had been taken into the service were sent to sea to cruise near the bar, to caution all vessels destined for Charlestown to steer for some other port. It was determined also to raise a regiment of artillery to consist of three companies of one hundred men each. In view of the still impending danger from the men-of-war in the harbor the same gentle- men - the President, Colonel Pinckney, and Mr. Hey- ward - were before adjournment on this day again invested with dictatorial powers until the Congress should meet the next morning.
Hostilities had been begun, but there was still great opposition among the people and hesitancy and doubt among the leaders. The aggressive party under the lead
1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 75-76. VOL. III .- G
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of William Henry Drayton and Arthur Middleton usually carried their measures, but Rawlins Lowndes was still. pleading for moderation, and measures were sometimes adopted by a mere majority. The three regiments ordered to be raised had not been completed, and so divided were the members of Congress that on the 14th a motion to instruct the Council of Safety to issue orders to complete the establishment was at first lost, and at last in a modified form only carried by a majority of one, the vote being 48 to 49. Captain Lemprière, who had served in the British navy and who, as we have seen, had captured the powder off the bar of St. Augustine, was appointed to the command of the ship Prosper. Owen Roberts was elected Lieutenant Colonel ; Barnard Elliott, Major ; Barnard Beekman, Charles Drayton, and Sims White, Captains ; Paul Townsend, Paymaster ; and John Budd, Surgeon of the artillery regiment to be raised. The next day, the 15th, the Treasurers of the province were ordered to lay before the Congress "the present state of the Treasury." There was, as we have seen, but small representation in the Congress from the upper part of the province ; but small as it was, it was enough to suggest that the government they were set- ting up should be removed to the interior. It was
proposed "that the future meetings of the Provincial Congress be held at Camden or at some more central place"; but the previous question having been demanded, it passed in the negative. The proceedings of the Con- gress were still carried on under apprehension and dread of danger from the men-of-war in the harbor; so when the House adjourned this day the committee into whose hands the safety of the people was intrusted was in- creased by adding to these Colonel Laurens and Colonel Moultrie. On the 16th the Congress elected a new Coun-
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cil of Safety; there were but few changes made in the body. John Rutledge, Henry Middleton, Dr. David Oliphant, and Thomas Savage were elected in the places of Miles Brew- ton, John Huger, and William Williamson. The unde- fined powers of this body required revision ; it began to appear that some more definite form of government was necessary since the flight of Lord William Campbell and the dissolution of the Commons House of Assembly. A committee was appointed to take this subject into con- sideration, and upon their report the powers of the Coun- cil of Safety were enlarged and more clearly defined; but as the government under this new scheme was so soon superseded by the adoption of the Constitution of the 26th of March, 1776, it is scarcely necessary to go into its details. It is sufficient perhaps to say that by the powers conferred on the Council of Safety the Provincial Con- gress relieved itself of a vast pressure of executive busi- ness. As an illustration of the divided state of public opinion and sentiment, it is curious to note the courtesy and sympathy that, amidst all the hostile preparations that Congress was making, were officially extended to Lord William Campbell, who had taken up his residence on board of the Cherokee sloop of war. On the 27th it was resolved "that previous to any attack upon the men-of- war in the road, the intended attack upon such ships shall be notified to Lord William Campbell if he shall then be on board." Having sent this polite and considerate mes- sage to his Lordship, the Congress declared the province in a state of alarm, ordered the erection of a battery on South Bay in Charlestown, the destruction of the land- marks over Charlestown bar, the establishment of a general rendezvous of the militia at Dorchester, and the erection of lookouts on the sea islands. Under the recommendation of their delegates at Philadelphia they
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ordered the arrest of persons whose going at large was thought dangerous to the American cause.
Messrs. De Saussure and Powell, who had returned from their deputation to Georgia, having reported pernicious practices which had come under their observation relative to the exportation of indigo, the Congress prohibited the exportation of any of the produce of the united colonies, and the President was directed to write to Georgia in regard to the exportation of indigo and rice. The thanks of Congress were then made to several persons who had been volunteers in hazardous services for the benefit of the common cause; and the Council of Safety were empowered to bestow honorary or other rewards upon such as they should think entitled to the same. Mr. Timothy, the Clerk of the Congress, was thanked " for his great dili- gence, unwearied attention, and accuracy in the execution of his office " ; and the Hon. William Henry Drayton, President, "for the diligence and propriety with which he has discharged the duties of that important station ; that the Hon. Mr. Lowndes do, on part of the Con- gress, deliver to Mr. President their thanks accordingly." Whether Mr. Lowndes himself thanked the Congress for imposing upon him this duty may well be doubted, for he was the leader of those who were most opposed to the vigorous and, as they considered, the rash and unwarranted measures of which Mr. Drayton was the soul. These elder men indeed stood with bated breath as the younger under William Henry Drayton's and Arthur Middleton's lead were hurrying them into war. Mr. Lowndes, how- ever, accepted the task, and thus briefly addressed Mr. Drayton : -
" Mr. President, the Congress, sensible of your integrity of heart and ability of mind, placed you in the chair for the most important purposes. Your unwearied attendance during this long session and
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your conduct have given the most perfect satisfaction. You are, therefore, justly entitled to the thanks of this Congress, who have made me the instrument by which their thanks are presented to you and which in their name I do present."
Mr. Lowndes had certainly not enlarged upon the duty imposed upon him. As the instrument of Congress he had, in obedience to their orders, presented to Mr. Drayton their thanks. This he had done and nothing more. The Congress was then adjourned on the 29th of November to Thursday, the first day of February, 1776.
CHAPTER V
1775
ON the day the Congress met, the 1st of November, it was informed that Captain Robert Cuningham had been taken into custody and brought to Charlestown. He had been arrested under orders from Major Andrew Williamson upon the affidavit of Captain John Caldwell, charging him with seditious words. Cuningham having been brought before the Congress did not deny that he had used the words with which he was charged ; he did not believe, he said, that Captain Caldwell had perjured himself ; but though he did not consider himself bound by the treaty at Ninety-Six, he averred "that he had since behaved himself as peaceably as any man, and although he had opinions he had not expressed them but when asked." Upon this frank statement Captain Cuningham was com- mitted to the jail of Charlestown by a warrant under the hand of William Henry Drayton as President; Thomas Grimball the Sheriff was directed, however, to afford him every reasonable and necessary accommodation at the pub- lic charge. But he was enjoined not to suffer him to con- verse or correspond with any person whomsoever, or to have the use of pen, ink, or papers unless by express leave from the Congress.1 The arrest of Cuningham was deeply resented by the people of the Upper Country, and in connection with another matter, which occurred about the same time, occasioned further trouble and a far more serious disaffection of the people in that region. They were
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