South Carolina Loyalists in the American Revolution South Carolina in 1776 (Adapted by R
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South Carolina Loyalists in the American Revolution South Carolina in 1776 (adapted by R. S. Lambert from James Cook, 1773) Note: Broken lines, combined with natural features (e.g. rivers) delineate boundaries of judicial districts. Robert Stansbury Lambert Second Edition Works produced at Clemson University by the Center for Electronic and Digital Publishing, including Th e South Carolina Review and its themed series “Virginia Woolf International,” “Ireland in the Arts and Humanities,” and “James Dickey Revisited” may be found at our Web site: http://www.clemson.edu/caah/cedp. Contact the director at 864-656-5399 for information. Copyright 2010 by Clemson University ISBN 978-0-9842598-8-5 Second Edition CLEMSON UNIVERSITY DIGITAL PRESS Published by Clemson University Digital Press at the Center for Electronic and Digital Publishing, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina. Editorial Assistants: Christina Cook, Ashley Dannelly, Steve Johnson, Carrie Kolb Cover Design: Christina Cook Produced with the Adobe Creative Suite CS5 and Microsoft Word. Th is book is set in Adobe Garamond Pro and was printed by University Printing Services, Offi ce of Publica- tions and Promotional Services, Clemson University. To order copies, contact the Center for Electronic and Digital Publishing, Strode Tower, Box 340522, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634-0522. To Edythe and Anne Contents Preface .......................................................................................................... viii Abbreviations and Acronyms ........................................................................ x Introduction: Provincial South Carolina ............................................................1 Part I: Revolution: Th e Isolation of the Loyalists, 1760–1780 ....................7 1. Th e Quarrel over American Rights ................................................8 2. “Th e Troubles” Begin ...................................................................22 3. Exile and Accommodation, 1776–1779 ......................................41 4. Th e Road Back: Th e Rebels at Bay, 1779–1780 ............................55 Part II: Restoring British Authority: Th e Loyalist Response, 1780–1781 ..65 5. Plans and Personnel .....................................................................66 6. Pacifying the Interior ...................................................................73 7. Th e “Second Revolution,” Midsummer 1780 ..............................89 8. Kings Mountain, October 1780 ..................................................99 9. Provincials, Militia, and Dragoons .............................................107 10. Retreat from the Interior, 1781 ...............................................114 Part III: A War of All the People, 1780–1782 ......................................131 11. Occupied Charlestown ............................................................132 12. Loyalists and Rebels: Th e Civil War ..........................................141 13. War of Attrition: Loyalist Military Action, 1782 .......................154 14. Displaced Persons and Pawns of War: Loyalist Refugees and Black Slaves, 1781–1782 .........................................................162 Part IV: Th e Loyalist Experience after the War ....................................177 15. British Evacuation of South Carolina ......................................178 16. Dispersal of the Loyalists .........................................................186 17. Retribution and Reconciliation: Th e Loyalists in Postwar South Carolina ...............................................................................205 Conclusion .................................................................................................220 vi Bibliography ...............................................................................................222 Essay on Methods and Sources................................................................222 Other Sources Consulted ........................................................................226 Manuscripts ............................................................................................226 Newspapers .............................................................................................228 Printed Primary Sources ..........................................................................228 Printed Secondary Sources ......................................................................231 Dissertations ...........................................................................................236 Index ............................................................................................................237 List of Maps South Carolina in 1776 ..........................................................Frontispiece Th e World of Backcountry Loyalist Exiles, 1776–1780 .........................47 Militia Organization: Th e Western Frontier ...........................................77 Militia Organization: Th e Northern Frontier .........................................81 vii Preface n interest in the Georgia loyalists, which I developed during a brief residence in that state, exposed me to the fact that, except for Robert W. Barnwell, “Loyal- A ism in South Carolina, 1765–1785” (Ph.D. dissertation, Duke University, 1941), South Carolina’s loyalists in the Revolution had not been studied in any comprehensive way. Although Barnwell’s study showed a fi rm grasp of the principal groups and individu- als in the province and state who dissented from the decision to seek independence, it had not been expanded to a monograph; meanwhile, much material, particularly from British sources, had become more readily accessible, and it seemed worthwhile to undertake such a study. After some preliminary investigation, my decision to begin gathering materials was made in 1963, and since then the research and writing has proceeded continuously, if sometimes at a snail’s pace. An “Essay on Methods and Sources” follows the text. Historians are fortunate to be able to work in libraries and archives served by dedicated and cooperative professionals, and I too have been helped immeasurably by them. Th ere- fore, it is with feelings of gratitude that I express my appreciation to people who, although many now hold diff erent positions or have retired, have been helpful to me over the years. Foremost among them are South Carolinians Wylma Wates, Archivist, Charles Lee, Direc- tor, and the staff of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History; E. L. Inabinet, former Director, and Mrs. Clara Mae Jacobs, former Manuscript Cataloguer of the South Caroliniana Library; Mrs, Mary B. Prior, Gene Waddell, and David Moltke-Hansen, suc- cessively directors of the South Carolina Historical Society; Mrs. Virginia Rugheimer of the Charleston Library Society; and colleagues George C. Rogers, Jr., David Chesnutt, and Robert Weir of the University of South Carolina; E. M. Lander, and the late Robert W. Hen- ningson of Clemson University; and Th omas H. Pope of Newberry, Patricia Ali of Morris College, Sumter, and W. Bruce Ezell of Ninety Six. No less helpful were a number of people outside South Carolina, particularly directors J. Isaac Copeland and Caroline Daniel Wal- lace of the Southern Historical Collection, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Director Mattie Russell, Manuscript Division, Perkins Library, and Professor Anne Firor Scott, Duke Uni- versity; Howard Peckham, Director, and Bill Ewing of the Clements Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Robert W. Hill, Keeper of Manuscripts, New York Public Library; Edward T. Riley, then of the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, and the late Stephen Botein of the same institution; Mrs. Herbert Gambrell of the Dallas (Texas) Historical Society; and colleagues Robert A. East, Executive Director, Program for Loyalist Studies and Publications, City University of New York; Esmond Wright of the Institute of United States Studies, London; Wallace Brown and Jo-Anne Fellows of the University of New Brunswick (Canada); Clyde Ferguson, Kansas State University; Robert Davis, Jasper, Georgia; Heard Robertson, Augusta, Georgia; Geraldine Meroney, Agnes Scott College; Carole Watterson Troxler, Elon College; and J. Barton Starr, Troy State University at Fort Rucker, Alabama; and the staff s of the North Carolina Department of Archives and History; Manuscript Division, Library of Congress; State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison; Public Archives of Nova Scotia, Halifax; New Brunswick Museum, Saint John; and the Public Record Offi ce, London. Comments and suggestions on the manuscript by Jerome J. viii Nadelhaft of the University of Maine at Orono have been most helpful. I am also grateful for fi nancial support furnished by Clemson University in the form of travel money and two sabbatical leaves. A grant from the Southern Fellowships Fund in 1956 fi rst exposed me to the question of loyalism in Georgia; another, from the American Association for State and Local History in 1963, permitted me to copy a large volume of original material so that I could continue the research when I was not free to do much traveling; and a bicentennial grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1970–71, helped with support during that sabbatical year. My interest in this period of American history was fi rst stimulated at Chapel Hill by the late Hugh Talmadge Lefl er and Albert Ray Newsome. Beyond gratitude is my debt to my wife, Edythe Rutherford Lambert, who