Part 196

The expedition of Captain Sayle in 1670 (see NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1663-1670) resulted in a settlement, made in 1671, which is historically referred to as that of "Old Charleston." This continued to be for some years the capital of the southern colony: "but, as the commerce of the colony increased, the disadvantages of the position were discovered. It could not be approached by large vessels at low water. In 1680, by a formal command of the proprietors, a second removal took place, the government literally following the people, who had in numbers anticipated the legislative action: and the seat of government was transferred to a neck of land called Oyster Point, admirably conceived for the purposes of commerce, at the confluence of two spacious and deep rivers, the Kiawah and Etiwan, which, in compliment to Lord Shaftesbury, had already been called after him, Ashley and Cooper. Here the foundation was laid of the present city of Charleston. In that year 30 houses were built, though this number could have met the wants of but a small portion of the colony. The heads of families at the Port Royal settlement alone, whose names are preserved to us, are 48 in number: those brought from Clarendon by Yeamans could not have been less numerous: and the additions which they must have had from the mother-country, during the seven or eight years of their stay at the Ashley river settlement, were likely to have been very considerable. Roundheads and cavaliers alike sought refuge in Carolina, which, for a long time, remained a pet province of the proprietors. Liberty of conscience, which the charter professed to guaranty, encouraged emigration. The hopes of avarice, the rigor of creditors, the fear of punishment and persecution, were equal incentives to the settlement of this favored but foreign region. … In 1674, when Nova Belgia, now New York, was conquered by the English, a number of the Dutch from that place sought refuge in Carolina. … Two vessels filled with foreign, perhaps French, Protestants, were transported to Carolina, at the expense of Charles II., in 1679; and the revocation of the edict of Nantz, a few years afterwards, … contributed still more largely to the infant settlement, and provided Carolina with some of the best portions of her growing population. … In 1696, a colony of Congregationalists, from Dorchester in Massachusetts, ascended the Ashley river nearly to its head, and there founded a town, to which they gave the name of that which they had left. Dorchester became a town of some importance. … It is now deserted; the habitations and inhabitants have alike vanished; but the reverend spire, rising through the forest trees which surround it, still attests (1840) the place of their worship, and where so many of them yet repose. Various other countries and causes contributed to the growth and population of the new settlement."

_W. G. Simms, History of South Carolina, book 2, chapter 1._

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1680. Spanish attack from Florida. Indian and Negro Slavery.

"About 1680 a few leading Scotch Presbyterians planned the establishment of a refuge for their persecuted brethren within the bounds of Carolina. The plan shrunk to smaller dimensions than those originally contemplated. Finally Lord Cardross, with a colony of ten Scotch families, settled on the vacant territory of Port Royal. The fate of the settlement foreshadowed the miseries of Darien. It suffered alike from the climate and from the jealousy of the English settlers. … For nearly ten years the dread of a Spanish attack had hung over South Carolina. … In 1680 the threatened storm broke upon the colony. Three galleys landed an invading force at Edisto, where the Governor and secretary had private houses, plundered them of money, plate, and slaves, and killed the Governor's brother-in-law. They then fell upon the Scotch settlement, which had now shrunk to 25 men, and swept it clean out of existence. The colonists did not sit down tamely under their injuries. They raised a force of 400 men and were on the point of making a retaliatory attack when they were checked by an order from the Proprietors. … {2968} The Proprietors may have felt … that, although the immediate attack was unprovoked, the colonists were not wholly blameless in the matter. The Spaniards had suffered from the ravages of pirates who were believed to be befriended by the inhabitants of Charlestown. In another way too the settlers had placed a weapon in the hands of their enemies. The Spaniards were but little to be dreaded, unless strengthened by an Indian alliance. … But from the first settlement of Carolina the colony was tainted with a vice which imperilled its relations with the Indians. Barbadoes … had a large share in the original settlement of Carolina. In that colony negro slavery was already firmly established as the one system of industry. At the time when Yeamans and his followers set sail for the shores of Carolina, Barbadoes had probably two negroes for everyone white inhabitant. The soil and climate of the new territory did everything to confirm the practice of slavery, and South Carolina was from the outset what she ever after remained, the peculiar home of that evil usage. To the West India planter every man of dark colour seemed a natural and proper object of traffic. The settler in Carolina soon learnt the same view. In Virginia and Maryland there are but few traces of any attempt to enslave the Indians. In Carolina … the Indian was kidnapped and sold, sometimes to work on what had once been his own soil, sometimes to end his days as an exile and bondsman in the West Indies. As late as 1708 the native population furnished a quarter of the whole body of slaves. It would be unfair to attribute all the hostilities between the Indians and the colonists to this one source, but it is clear that it was an import:mt factor. From their very earliest days the settlers were involved in troubles with their savage neighbours."

_J. A. Doyle, The English in America: Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas, chapter 12._

"Of the original thirteen states, South Carolina alone was from its origin essentially a planting state with slave labor. … The proprietaries tempted emigrants by the offer of land at an easy quit-rent, and 150 acres were granted for every able man-servant. 'In that they meant negroes as well as Christians.' … It became the great object of the emigrant 'to buy negro slaves, without which,' adds Wilson, 'a planter can never do any great matter'; and the negro race was multiplied so rapidly by importations that, in a few years, we are told, the blacks in the low country were to the whites in the proportion of 22 to 12."

_G. Bancroft, History of the United States (Author's last revision), part 2, chapter 8 (volume 1)._

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1688-1696. Beginning of distinctions between the two Carolinas, North and South.

See NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1688-1729.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1701-1706. Prosperity of the colony. Attack on St. Augustine. French attack on Charleston.

"At the opening of the new century, we must cease to look upon South Carolina as the home of indigent emigrants, struggling for subsistence. While numerous slaves cultivated the extensive plantations, their owners, educated gentlemen, and here and there of noble families in England, had abundant leisure for social intercourse, living as they did in proximity to each other, and in easy access to Charles Town, where the Governor resided, the courts and legislature convened, and the public offices were kept. … Hospitality, refinement, and literary culture distinguished the higher class of gentlemen." But party strife at this period raged bitterly, growing mainly out of an attempt to establish the Church of England in the colony. Governor Moore, who had gained power on this issue, sought to strengthen his position by an attack on St. Augustine. "The assembly joined in the scheme. They requested him to go as commander, instead of Colonel Daniel, whom he nominated. They voted £2,000; and thought ten vessels and 350 men, with Indian allies, would be a sufficient force. … Moore with about 400 men sets sail, and Daniel with 100 Carolina troops and about 500 Yemassee Indians march by land. But the inhabitants of St. Augustine had heard of their coming, and had sent to Havana for reinforcements. Retreating to their castle, they abandoned their town to Colonel Daniel, who pillaged it before Moore's fleet arrived. Governor Moore and Colonel Daniel united their forces and laid siege to the castle; but they lacked the necessary artillery for its reduction, and were compelled to send to Jamaica for it." Before the artillery arrived, "two Spanish ships appeared off St. Augustine. Moore instantly burned the town and all his own ships and hastened back by land. … The expense entailed on the colony was £6,000. When this attack on St. Augustine was planned, it must have been anticipated in the colony that war would be declared against Spain and France." Four years later, the War of the Spanish Succession being then in progress, a French fleet appeared (August, 1706) in the harbor of Charleston and demanded the surrender of the town. Although yellow fever was raging at the time, the governor, Sir Nathaniel Johnson, organized so effective a resistance that the invaders were driven off with considerable loss.

_W. J. Rivers, The Carolinas (Narrative and Critical History of America, volume 5, chapter 5)._

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1740. War with the Spaniards of Florida.

See GEORGIA: A. D. 1738-1743.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1759-1761. The Cherokee War.

"The Cherokees, who had accompanied Forbes in his expedition against Fort Du Quesne [see CANADA: A. D. 1758], returning home along the mountains, had involved themselves in quarrels with the back settlers of Virginia and the Carolinas, in which several, both Indians and white men, had been killed. Some chiefs, who had proceeded to Charleston to arrange this dispute, were received by Governor Littleton in very haughty style, and he presently marched into the Cherokee country at the head of 1,500 men, contributed by Virginia and the Carolinas, demanding the surrender of the murderers of the English. He was soon glad, however, of any apology for retiring. His troops proved very insubordinate; the small-pox broke out among them; and, having accepted 22 Indian hostages as security for peace and the future delivery of the murderers, he broke up his camp, and fell back in haste and confusion. … No sooner was Littleton's army gone, than the Cherokees attempted to entrap into their power the commander of [Fort Prince George, at the head of the Savannah], and, apprehensive of some plan for the rescue of the hostages, he gave orders to put them in irons. They resisted; and a soldier having been wounded in the struggle, his infuriated companions fell upon the prisoners and put them all to death. {2969} Indignant at this outrage, the Cherokees beleaguered the fort, and sent out war parties in every direction to attack the frontiers. The Assembly of South Carolina, in great alarm, voted 1,000 men, and offered a premium of £25 for every Indian scalp. North Carolina offered a similar premium, and authorized, in addition, the holding of Indian captives as slaves. An express, asking assistance, was sent to General Amherst, who detached 1,200 men, under Colonel Montgomery, chiefly Scotch Highlanders, lately stationed on the western frontier, with orders to make a dash at the Cherokees, but to return in season for the next campaign against Canada. … Joining his forces with the provincial levies, Montgomery entered the Cherokee country, raised the blockade of Fort Prince George, and ravaged the neighboring district. Marching then upon Etchoe, the chief village of the Middle Cherokees, within five miles of that place he encountered [June, 1760] a large body of Indians, strongly posted in a difficult defile, from which they were only driven after a very severe struggle; or, according to other accounts, "Montgomery was himself repulsed. At all events, he retired to Charleston, and, in obedience to his orders, prepared to embark for service at the north. When this determination became known, the province was thrown into the utmost consternation. The Assembly declared themselves unable to raise men to protect the frontiers; and a detachment of 400 regulars was presently conceded" to the solicitations of lieutenant governor Bull, to whom the administration of South Carolina had lately been resigned. Before the year closed, the conquest of the French dominions in America east of the Mississippi had been practically finished and the French and Indian War at the north was closed. But, "while the northern colonies exulted in safety, the Cherokee war still kept the frontiers of Carolina in alarm. Left to themselves by the withdrawal of Montgomery, the Upper Cherokees had beleaguered Fort Loudon. After living for some time on horse-flesh, the garrison, under a promise of safe-conduct to the settlements, had been induced to surrender. But this promise was broken; attacked on the way, a part were killed, and the rest detained as prisoners; after which, the Indians directed all their fury against the frontiers. On a new application presently made to Amherst for assistance, the Highland regiment, now commanded by Grant, was ordered back to Carolina. New levies were also made in the province, and Grant presently marched into the Cherokee country [June, 1761] with 2,600 men. In a second battle, near the same spot with the fight of the previous year, the Indians were driven back with loss. … The Indians took refuge in the defiles of the mountains, and, subdued and humbled, sued for peace. As the condition on which alone it would be granted, they were required to deliver up four warriors to be shot at the head of the army, or to furnish four green Indian scalps within twenty days. A personal application to Governor Bull, by an old chief long known for his attachment to the English, procured a relinquishment of this brutal demand, and peace was presently made."

_R. Hildreth, History of the United States, chapter 27 (volume 2). _

ALSO IN: _D. Ramsay, History of South Carolina, volume 1, chapter 5, section 2. _

_S. G. Drake, Aboriginal Races of North America, book 4, chapter 4._

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1760-1766. The question of taxation by Parliament. The Stamp Act. The first Continental Congress. The repeal of the Stamp Act and the Declaratory Act.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1760-1775; 1763-1764; 1765; and 1766.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1766-1774. Opening events of the Revolution.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1766-1767, to 1774; and BOSTON: 1768, to 1773.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1775. The beginning of the War of the American Revolution. Lexington. Concord. Action taken on the news. Ticonderoga. The siege of Boston. Bunker Hill. The Second Continental Congress.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1775. Rapid progress of Revolution. Flight of the Royal Governor.

In January, 1775, a provincial convention for South Carolina was called together at Charleston, under the presidency of Charles Pinckney. It appointed delegates to the second Continental Congress, and took measures to enforce the non-importation agreements in which the colony had joined. At a second session, in June, this convention or Provincial Congress of South Carolina "appointed a Committee of Safety, issued $600,000, of paper money, and voted to raise two regiments, of which Gadsden and Moultrie were chosen colonels. Lieutenant-governor Bull was utterly powerless to prevent or interrupt these proceedings. While the Convention was still in session, Lord William Campbell, who had acquired by marriage large possessions in the province, arrived at Charleston with a commission as governor. Received with courtesy, he presently summoned an Assembly; but that body declined to proceed to business, and soon adjourned on its own authority. The Committee of Safety pursued with energy measures for putting the province in a state of defense. A good deal of resistance was made to the Association [for commercial non-intercourse], especially in the back counties. Persuasion failing, force was used. … A vessel was fitted out by the Committee of Safety, which seized an English powder ship off St. Augustine and brought her into Charleston. Moultrie was presently sent to take possession of the fort in Charleston harbor. No resistance was made. The small garrison, in expectation of the visit, had already [September] retired on board the ships of war in the harbor. Lord Campbell, the governor, accused of secret negotiations with the Cherokees and the disaffected in the back counties, was soon obliged to seek the same shelter. A regiment of artillery was voted; and measures were taken for fortifying the harbor, from which the British ships were soon expelled."

_R. Hildreth, History of the United States, chapters 30-31 (volume 3)._

ALSO IN: _D. Ramsay, History of South Carolina, volume 1, chapter 7, section 1._

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1776 (February-April). Allegiance to King George renounced, independence assumed, and a state constitution adopted.

"On the 8th of February 1776, the convention of South Carolina, by Drayton their president, presented their thanks to John Rutledge and Henry Middleton for their services in the American congress, which had made its appeal to the King of kings, established a navy, treasury, and general post-office, exercised control over commerce, and granted to colonies permission to create civil institutions, independent of the regal authority. {2970} The next day arrived Gadsden, the highest officer in the army of the province, and he in like manner received the welcome of public gratitude. … When, on the 10th, the report on reforming the provincial government was considered and many hesitated, Gadsden spoke out for the absolute independence of America. The majority had thus far refused to contemplate the end toward which they were irresistibly impelled. … But the criminal laws could not be enforced for want of officers; public and private affairs were running into confusion; the imminent danger of invasion was proved by intercepted letters, so that necessity compelled the adoption of some adequate system of rule. While a committee of eleven was preparing the organic law, Gadsden, on the 13th, began to act as senior officer of the army. Companies of militia were called down to Charleston, and the military forces augmented by two regiments of riflemen. In the early part of the year Sullivan's Island was a wilderness, thickly covered with myrtle, live-oak, and palmettos; there, on the 2d of March, William Moultrie was ordered to complete a fort large enough to hold 1,000 men. Within five days after the convention received the act of parliament of the preceding December which authorized the capture of American vessels and property, they gave up the hope of reconciliation; and, on the 26th of March 1776, asserting 'the good of the people to be the origin and end of all government,' and enumerating the unwarrantable acts of the British parliament, the implacability of the king, and the violence of his officers, they established a constitution for South Carolina. … On the 27th, John Rutledge was chosen president, Henry Laurens vice-president, and William Henry Drayton chief justice. … On the 23d of April the court was opened at Charleston, and the chief justice after an elaborate exposition charged the grand jury in these words: 'The law of the land authorizes me to declare, and it is my duty to declare the law, that George III., king of Great Britain, has abdicated the government, that he has no authority over us, and we owe no obedience to him.'"

_G. Bancroft, History of the United States (Author's last revision), epoch 3, chapter 25 (volume 4)._

ALSO IN: _W. G. Simms, History of South Carolina, book 4, chapter 5._

See, also, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776-1779.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1776 (June). Sir Henry Clinton's repulse from Charleston.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776 (JUNE).

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1776-1778. The war in the North. The Articles of Confederation. The alliance with France.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776, to 1778.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1778. State Constitution framed and adopted.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776-1779.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1778-1779. The war carried into the south. Savannah taken and Georgia subdued. Unsuccessful attempt to recover Savannah.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1778-1779 THE WAR CARRIED INTO THE SOUTH; and 1779 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER).

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1780. Siege and surrender of Charleston. Defeat of Gates at Camden. British subjugation of the state.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1780 (FEBRUARY-AUGUST).

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1780. Partisan warfare of Marion and his Men.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1780 (AUGUST-DECEMBER).

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1780-1781. Greene's campaign. King's Mountain. The Cowpens. Guilford Court House. Hobkirk's Hill. Eutaw springs. The British shut up in Charleston.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1780-1781.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1781-1783. The campaign in Virginia. Siege of Yorktown and surrender of Cornwallis. Peace with Great Britain.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:A. D. 1781 to 1783.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1787. Cession of Western land claims to the United States.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1781-1786.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1787-1788. Formation and adoption of the Federal Constitution.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1787; and 1787-1789.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1828-1833. The Nullification movement and threatened Secession.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1828-1833.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1831. The first railroad.

See STEAM LOCOMOTION ON LAND.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1860. The plotting of the Rebellion. Passage of the Ordinance of Secession.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER).

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1860 (December). Major Anderson at Fort Sumter.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (DECEMBER) MAJOR ANDERSON.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1861 (April). Beginning the War of Rebellion. The bombardment of Fort Sumter.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (MARCH-APRIL).

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1861 (October-December). Capture of Hilton Head and occupation of the coast islands by Union forces.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER: SOUTH CAROLINA-GEORGIA).