USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780-1783 > Part 43
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1 Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 557-558.
2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 202.
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found the imperative necessity of adopting some other scheme of raising money; and it was at this time that he resolved to impress for State service a quantity of indigo, which article at that time the middle country chiefly culti- vated for market. Occupying but small space when raised, it had been hid away, and conveyed to market occasionally as opportunities offered. As these were neither frequent nor safe, there was a good deal of the article then in the country. Governor Rutledge caused the indigo impressed by him to be conveyed in wagons to Philadelphia, where it was sold. This was the first substantial supply, not of cash, but the means of raising its equivalent, the army had had since General Greene had been in command. By borrowing a portion of it for the use of his officers, he was enabled to restore them to comparative decency and comfort.1
Colonel Lee was never content with a share only of spoils or supplies. It will be remembered the offence he had given to Marion on the subject of captured horses, and to Sumter at the capture of Granby, by appropriating to his Legion the best clothing found in the fort. This had been his course throughout his service in South Caro- lina, nor could he now refrain from helping himself from this source of revenue which Governor Rutledge's action had developed. Without waiting on the slow process of an equitable division of supplies from this quarter, Colonel Lee directed his legionary quartermaster to secure a portion of the indigo for the exclusive benefit of his corps. He, however, took the precaution of apprising General Greene of the measure, with a hope, doubtless, of securing in advance his sanction or of averting his interdict. But the general, perceiving at once the danger at this time of such action, and receiving an intimation from Governor
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 205.
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Rutledge of his disapproval of it, thereupon at once wrote to Colonel Lee : -
" Your order to Mr. Lewis to procure a quantity of indigo for the purpose of procuring clothing for your Legion I have found necessary to countermand, having got a hint that it would be thought derogatory to the government for individuals to take a measure of that sort with- out the order of the Governor, who, I believe, is perfectly disposed to give every aid and support to the army in his power." 1
A subject which gave Governor Rutledge great concern at this time was that in regard to the wisest and best course to be pursued in regard to the Tories. He writes to Gen- eral Marion : "I have been very much puzzled about a proclamation to offer pardon to the Tories. I have how- ever determined, upon the whole, to issue one with certain exceptions. It is enclosed ; be pleased to have it properly circulated." 2 As this proclamation, which bore date 27th of September, 1781, formed the basis of the action of the General Assembly which met soon after, in regard to the treatment of the Royalists,8 it is well here to give an analysis of it.
The proclamation recited the advantages gained by the forces of the United States, which had compelled the troops of his Britannic Majesty to surrender or evacuate the strong posts which they held in the Up-Country, and to retreat to the vicinity of Charlestown ; the inability of the enemy to give the protection and support they had promised to their adherents who had taken up arms with them, com- pelling many to conceal themselves in secret places to
1 Campaigns in the Carolinas (H. Lee), 452, and Appendix, XV.
2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 175.
3 " I must first observe that G-r R-'s proclamation of the 27th of September, 1781, was the fountain from whence sprung some of those bitter laws, and the forfeitures and disabilities above mentioned." - An address, To the Freemen of the State of South Carolina, "Cassius," Janu- ary 14, 1783, Pamphlets, Charleston Library, 5th series, vol. II.
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avoid the effects of just resentment; Balfour's order, by which the wives and families of the friends of America were sent beyond the sea, and the governor's retaliatory order sending the wives and families of those who had adhered to the British within their lines ; the representa- tions to him that many who had been induced by vain expectations and delusive hopes were now anxious to return to their allegiance and to use their utmost exertions to support American independence, - on duly weighing and considering which his Excellency had thought fit, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, to issue this procla- mation, offering to all persons who had borne arms with the enemy, who had till then adhered to them, or who were concealing themselves, a full and free pardon and oblivion upon the condition that such persons should, within thirty days from the date of the proclamation, surrender them- selves to a brigadier of the militia of the State and en- gage to perform constant duty as privates for six months next ensuing the time of such surrender ; and that they actually perform such duty. To the wives and children of such persons he offered, upon their husbands or parents complying with this condition, permission to re- turn to their homes and to hold and enjoy their property in the State without molestation or interruption. He pro- vided, however, that if such persons should desert from the militia service within the time limited, their families should be immediately sent into the enemy's lines, and neither they nor their husbands or parents suffered to re- turn to or reside in the State. This liberal offer was, how- ever, qualified by the following exceptions, in which cases the persons were excluded from its benefit.
1. All persons who, having gone over to or joined the enemy, had failed to avail themselves of the provisions of the two several proclamations of his Excellency the gov-
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ernor, to surrender themselves to a magistrate within forty days after the respective date of those proclamations issued in pursuance of an ordinance of February 20, 1779, entitled " An ordinance to prevent persons with- drawing from the defence of the State to join the enemies thereof." 1
2. All persons who had been sent off or obliged to quit the State for refusing to take the oath required of them by law, who have returned to the country.2
3. All those who subscribed a congratulatory address bearing date on or about the 5th day of June, 1780, to General Sir Henry Clinton and Vice-Admiral Arbuthnot, or another address bearing date on or about the 19th day of September, 1780, to Lieutenant-General Earl Corn- wallis.
4. All such as at the time held any commission, civil or military, under the British government, and were then with the enemy.
5. All those whose conduct had been so infamous as that they could not (consistently with justice or policy) be admitted to partake of the privileges of America ; not- withstanding which last-mentioned exception, such persons as should be deemed inadmissible to the rights and privi- leges of citizens should not be detained as prisoners, but should have full and free liberty and a pass or permit to return.
The proclamation of his Excellency concluded with this uppeal : -
" At a juncture when the force of the enemy in this State, though ately considerable, is nearly reduced by the many defeats which hey have suffered, and particularly in the late important action at Cutaw, when they are dispossessed of every post except Charles Town arrison ; When this formidable fleet of his most Christian Majesty
Statutes of So. Ca., vol. IV, 479. 2 Ibid., vol. I, 147 ; vol. IV, 450.
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in Chesapeake Bay and the combined armies of the King of France and of the United States under the command of his Excellency Gen. Washington in Virginia afford a well grounded hope that by the joint effort of these armies this campaign will be happily terminated and the British power in every part of the Confederated States soon totally annihilated : It is conceived that the true and real motive of the offer here made will be acknowledged ; it must be allowed to proceed not from timidity (to which they affect to attribute every act of clem- ency and mercy on our part) but from a wish to impress with a sense of their error and reclaim misguided subjects, and give them once more an opportunity of becoming valuable members of the community instead of banishing them, or forever cutting them off from it; for even the most disaffected cannot suppose that the brave and deter- mined freemen of the State have any dread of their arms. With the persons to whom pardon is thus offered the choice still remains either to return to their allegiance and with their families to be restored to the favor of their country and to their possessions or to abandon their properties in this State forever and go with their wives and children whither and for what purpose or whom to depend or how to submit they know not, most probably to experience in some strange and dis- tant land all the miseries and horrors of beggary sickness and despair. This alternative is now for the last time submitted to their judgment. It will never be renewed ! "
The terms of this proclamation were not only regarded as harsh and ungenerous by those to whom they were offered, but were severely criticised by the stanchest of Whigs. In the address, To the Freemen of the State of South Carolina, over the signature of "Cassius," pub- lished the 14th of January, 1783, to which we have referred, the writer says : -
" The proclamation of September 27 as observed before went on the Governor's idea that the great body of the people who had taken pro- tection had thereby forfeited their lives liberty and property. He takes upon him to offer pardon to every one who should join our standard in 30 days and serve 6 months in the militia as common soldiers excepting from the benefit those who were banished the State in the beginning of the troubles; the congratulators, and such as held commissions civil or military on the 27 September or were then with
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the enemy. I shall say nothing of the good or bad policy of excluding such a number of citizens as this exception comprehended, admitting he had the power he pretended. However on the 17th of November he issued a second proclamation extending the benefits held out by the former under like terms.
" As the capture of Cornwallis and his army was known to the Governor when this proclamation came out; as the British troops had absolutely lost their courage with the loss at Eutaw and the Pennsylvania Line was on the march from York Town to our assist- ance ; when this and the state the country was in at that juncture is considered I leave the reader to judge whether the proclamation was not calculated rather for creating mischief than for raising a force. For it laid all who neglected or refused not only under a stigma and reproach, but under such disabilities as degraded them below the rank of freemen.
" Obliging the whole country that had taken protection to turn out and serve six months in the militia was the greatest oppression imagi- nable; and the contriver of it well knew those who now drive down the measure, that it was commanding what was absolutely impossible. Men are generally so embarrassed with inconveniences of one sort or another that there is no society on earth the aggregate body whereof could all quit their families or homes for six months. In our case not to mention how much agriculture would suffer by such emigration the heads of those families who resided within the enemy's range were peculiarly circumstanced. They were no doubt called on by the feelings of fathers, husbands, or protectors to stay and afford the feeble protection they could to their families or avert the distress or ruin that would ensue if they joined our army which at that time had not the power of protecting them.
"Ordering them out therefore without regard to local situation, sickness or other distress was an extravagant act of power. Whether they resided within or out of the enemy's garrison or guards, whether man's wife or little ones or the property the British had left him inplundered were in or out of the enemy's reach ; all this was nothing ; hey must abandon the whole to the rage of an unprincipled, revenge- ul enemy, and sally forth like Don Quixote setting British guards and arties at defiance in quest of adventures on the report of a proclama- ion; and what perhaps was more mortifying they must humble hemselves and supplicate for money as criminals at the feet of a man ho a little before was a fellow citizen no more than on a footing with hemselves.
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"I conjure any sensible honest man to tell me if this was acting the part of a magistrate framing regulations for the ease and conven- ience of a people over whose happiness he was appointed to preside," etc. 1
In many instances, the case was indeed a hard one. There were those who upon the fall of Charlestown and the abandonment of the State by Congress and its forces had no choice but to remain subject to the conqueror's power. Domestic affairs forbade their leaving their homes and families. "The State," Cassius reminded his Excellency, "soon after the reduction of Charlestown may be strictly said to have been conquered. Not only the capital, but every post throughout the country was in the hands of the enemy. The governor, who represented the sovereignty of the State, had provided for his safety by flight, and all the Continental troops in South Carolina were either killed, taken, or routed." But there were those who could not, like his Excellency, avoid the power of the enemy by flight, and was he now, upon his return after more than a year's absence, from behind an army which might yet vanish, as twice already had happened, and with it himself, to require them to risk the vengeance, upon themselves and their families, of the enemy in whose power they actually were ? In this very proclamation his Excellency was directing that the families of all who would not join him and who were within his own lines should be com- pelled to go into the enemy's. If they came out, would not the enemy follow his example and send their families out of their lines ; and if so, how were they to be supported while they were serving for six months in the militia? True, by another order the governor had called out all the militia of the State to serve in three terms of duty of two months each. But besides the inequality of the service required in
1 Pamphlets, Charleston Library, 5th Series, vol. II.
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the two cases, the militiaman could avoid serving by the payment of his fine, which his Excellency had scaled down to the lowest point. The option to him, therefore, was not an arduous one ; but in the case of the man within the enemy's lines the alternative was the abandonment of his family under the most distressing circumstances, or the forfeiture of his citizenship. On the other hand, the con- sideration that some great difference should be made between those who had stood faithfully by the State in the hour of adversity, and those who, from whatever motive or under whatever influences, honorable or otherwise, had sat quietly down under the protection of the enemy's power during its continuance, could not be ignored. The question was a difficult one, and it was rendered still more so by the notorious fact that many - very many - had wavered, from time to time, from side to side.
General Sumter appears to have been particularly charged with the duty of receiving the submissions of the Loyalists under this proclamation and of incorporating them et with his command.1 Several hundreds came out of the British lines under the terms of the proclamation and oined the American militia. Many made their excuses for remaining with the British on account of the situation of their families; others, who had taken British militia commissions, explained their conduct that they had done o at the request of their neighbors to save them from having officers put over them who would have abused and Il-treated them. General Moultrie asserts that it was within his knowledge that several gentlemen took British militia commissions to protect their friends and neighbors rom insult.2
His Excellency the governor next turned his attention
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 302; Sumter MSS.
2 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 303-304.
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to the reestablishment of civil government; and his first step in this direction was the appointment of ordinaries throughout the State to administer estates, a measure of pressing necessity, from the number of citizens who had fallen in the last two years.1
By the constitution adopted 19th of March, 1778, elec- tions for members of the Senate were to have been held on the last Monday in November of that year and the day following, and on the same days of every second year thereafter, and for Representatives in the House on those days in that year, and on the same days in every second year thereafter.2 Three years had now passed without an election, and Governer Rutledge determined now to pro- vide for one, and as he was authorized by the constitution, should the casualties of war or contagious disorders render it unsafe for the General Assembly to meet at the seat of government, to appoint a more secure and convenient place of meeting. For the reason already mentioned he decided to call this Assembly at Jacksonborough.
As a matter of detail, he was at a loss for the want of forms for writs of election, as well as of other forms of pro- cedure and to procure these he despatched a letter by a trusted negro named Antigua, belonging to the estate of Mr. John Harleston, deceased, who rendered him the most important services of this character, to one of the friends of the cause in Charlestown, to obtain them. The negro was captured with the letter of the governor and another to a different person, and the letters were published in full conspicuously, for several issues in The Royal Gazette.3 Antigua, however, soon escaped, for by the time the British were publishing the letter, taken from him some weeks
1 Sumter MSS.
2 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. I, 139-140.
3 The Royal Gazette, October 31, 1781.
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before, we find the governor sending by him to Mr. Ravenel a slave which had been improperly taken from him.1 The form of writs having been obtained, his Excellency on the 23d of November addressed letters to the brigadier-gener- als, enclosing writs of election, which they were instructed to have properly filled up and issued. The character of these instructions and the governor's conduct in regard thereto will be considered in the next chapter. In this it will only be observed that one of the packets of writs was sent to General Barnwell.
It was the misfortune of the State at this time to lose the services of both General Sumter and Colonel Harden. The orders in regard to the election were issued to General Sumter, and his last service was in extending them; but Colonel Harden had already been superseded and had resigned. Governor Rutledge, considering that the part of Marion's command which extended from Charlestown to the Savannah too remote from Marion's scenes of oper- ation, had determined to constitute a new brigade in that quarter. Hitherto Marion had confided that region to Colonel Harden, and never had service been more ably performed. But Governor Rutledge thought Major John Barnwell, though lower in grade as a militia officer, a more proper person for the position of brigadier than Harden, and appointed him to command. Major Barnwell had been one of the officers of the three first regiments raised by the Provincial Congress in 1775. He had served for a while with his regiment in the Continental line, but had resigned, and subsequently had become major in Colonel Garden's militia regiment, and as such had been captured at the fall of Charlestown and was one of those confined on the prison ships in the harbor; he had thus seen but little active service in the field, while Colonel Harden had
1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), p. 197.
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greatly distinguished himself as a partisan leader, and had been practically in command of the territory now made into a new brigade district since the May previous. On the other hand, it may have been urged with some force that Major Barnwell ranked Harden at the time of the fall of Charlestown, Harden being then but a captain, and that he should not be made to lose his relative rank be- cause of his having been included in the surrender of the city - that while Harden had been enjoying the opportu- nity of distinguishing himself, he had for the sake of the State been enduring the horrors of the prison ship. Colonel Harden immediately resigned his commission on being superseded, and the public lost his services ; not only so, but the appointment gave such offence to the officers and men who had served under him that they refused to serve under General Barnwell, so that he could do nothing and finally resigned.
General Sumter's resignation could have excited no surprise. It is hardly to be doubted that it was acceptable to General Greene, though his letters to Sumter himself are of a very different tenor. Indeed, the contemporary corre- spondence discloses a great want of candor, at least upon Greene's part. The immediate cause of Sumter's determi- nation was the action of Governor Rutledge in regard to the State troops and militia which formed his command, but which action was at General Greene's own sugges- tion.
The letters of his Excellency of the 17th of September upon the reorganization of the militia, addressed to Gen- erals Sumter and Marion, were almost identical in terms. They each contained a clause directing that the drafted men should come on foot, as they were to do duty as infantry, and their horses could not be kept in camp nor could any men be spared to carry them home. But a
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difference was made in carrying out this order. At General Greene's suggestion it was relaxed in favor of Marion's men. Then Sumter was ordered to detach Wade Hamp- ton's regiment for service in Georgia, and his command was further diminished by the reductions of his regiments of State troops. Colonel Lee, whether by flattery or other- wise, had doubtless obtained and exercised a great ascend- ency upon the mind of the General-in-chief; or, as expressed by the author of the Campaigns in the Carolinas, "the mind of that hero was often indebted to him for original sugges- tions or acceptable advice." Unfortunately General Sum- ter had somehow, but the reason for which nowhere appears, incurred the enmity of Lee soon after General Greene's return to South Carolina, and from that time Lee's influence was constantly exerted to Sumter's preju- dice.1 There can be no doubt, too, that General Greene encouraged, if he did not invite, Colonel Lee's criticisms. Thus he writes to Lee, immediately after the defeat at Hobkirk's Hill : "General Sumter has got but few men. He has taken the field and is pushing after little parties of Tories towards Ninety Six. Major Hyrne is gone to him if possible to get him to join us. But this I know he will avoid if he can with decency." 2 And Lee consoles him for his defeat at Hobkirk's Hill with the remark that " nobody was to blame but General Sumter." Again, on the 9th of May, writing to Lee in cipher, evidently in reply to some criticisms in regard to Sumter, he says : "I perceive that 312 [Marion ] is not satisfied and I think you are not mistaken respecting 311 [Sumter]. However be careful, be prudent, and above all attentive: this with men as well as with ladies goes a great way." 3 On the 29th of July Greene writes to Lee: "I have already recommended to
1 Campaigns in the Carolinas (Lee), 290.
2 Ibid., 294. 8 Ibid., 357.
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General Sumter to form all the State troops into two Regiments. I wish it was practicable to get the State troops to join the army ; but be assured it would prove so fully my opinion of a certain person to give such an order as not to prevent further exertion but even opposition and it is uncertain how far disappointed ambition may carry a man."1 On the 20th of August Colonel Lee, writing to General Greene, recommending that the State troops be taken from Sumter and put under Henderson, uses the language we have before quoted : " General Sumpter is become almost universally odious as far as I can discover. I lament that a man of his turn was ever useful or being once deservingly great should want the wisdom necessary to continue so and preserve his reputation." 2
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