The Palmetto State: The Making of Modern South Carolina

2. The American Revolution

2 the american revolution On June 28, 1776, nine British ships attempting to enter Charleston Harbor bombarded Fort Sullivan on Sullivan’s Island on the northern flank of the city’s harbor. Colonel William Moultrie commanded patriot forces manning the fort, whose soft, spongy palmetto log walls absorbed the shock of British cannonballs without shattering. In the first major victory by American patriots , British forces were repulsed. In commemoration South Carolina proclaims itself the Palmetto State, and a palmetto tree is depicted as the main symbol on the state flag. The state seal, struck the same year as the battle, depicts a palmetto tree rising triumphant over a fallen oak, symbolizing British naval power. The present Jasper County was named for Sergeant William Jasper, who in the midst of battle risked his life to replace the flag at what would soon be called Fort Moultrie in honor of the commander during the battle. The battle of Sullivan’s Island represents the only major battle in South Carolina during the first phase of the American Revolution, which was fought primarily in the northern colonies over the next two years. In 1778, however, the British began shifting their attention to the southern colonies. Savannah fell in 1779. The siege of Charleston ended in May 1780 with victory for the British and the capture of an army of six thousand. Roughly five thousand slaves, most of them following their Loyalist masters, joined the British forces. After a smashing victory by the British at Camden three months later, the revolution appeared wiped out. South Carolina and Georgia were under British control, and it was predicted that North Carolina, too, would soon surrender. So serious was this defeat that America’s French allies considered a separate peace with Britain.Meanwhile a number of patriot leaders in Charleston , including Christopher Gadsden, were imprisoned in the dungeon of the Provost Guard, a building later to become the Exchange and today is a museum at the corner of East Bay and Broad streets. Many of these leaders, including Gadsden and three of the state’s signers of the Declaration of Independence —Arthur Middleton, Edward Rutledge, and Thomas Heyward Jr. (Thomas Lynch Jr. had drowned in a ship accident earlier)—would soon be sent to Florida and the sweltering dungeons of British-controlled St. Augustine . Throughout the rebellious colonies those who signed the Declaration had become special targets of the British forces. Although all seemed lost for the patriot cause, South Carolina soon became a center of unorganized resistance that flared after Lord Charles Cornwallis attempted to crush the Carolinians into submission by ordering the execution of all who had violated their paroles by taking up arms against the king. Cornwallis, promoted to lieutenant general, had become commander in the South after his role in the siege of Charleston and the decisive British victory in the battle of Camden. In the following months, however, further British blunders and excesses fueled the opposition. Until 1780 the German and Scots-Irish settlers showed little concern about the war. Loyalist sentiment for the British had been strong throughout the upcountry. The only early fighting on land in South Carolina had been between patriot and Loyalist militias in the upcountry, including the battle of Ninety Six in November 1775. Some 1,800 British Loyalists attacked 600 Continentals. After two days of fighting and light casualties, the two sides agreed to a truce. Cornwallis, however, told his men to take “the most vigorous measures to extinguish the rebellion.”1 He then unleashed Banastre Tarleton, soon called “Bloody Tarleton,” to pacify resistance in South Carolina. Tarleton, known both for his brutality in combat and for his flaming shock of bright red hair, commanded a unit of infantry and cavalry immediately recognizable by their bright green uniforms.He had made his reputation in South Carolina after the fall of Charleston when he chased the Virginia cavalry of Colonel Abraham Buford one hundred miles toWaxhaws in present-day Lancaster County.Tarleton hunted down the fleeing Americans and attacked them from all sides. His men terrified the raw recruits,who attempted to surrender,shooting and sabering more than a hundred of them, including some attempting to wave the white flag. Tarleton continued to pursue his scorched earth policy in the upcountry. He burned many of its Presbyterian churches to the ground,calling them“sedition shops” because of their reputation for revolutionary sentiment. Presbyterian ministers responded with strong sermons denouncing the British that 16 the palmetto state [18...