Faculty Forum You Cannot Conceive The Many Without The One -Plato-

Issue No. 07, Spring Edition February 26, 2007

This publication is available to our academic When I moved to South Carolina community as contributors desire to publicly share last August, I was intrigued with many as- scholarly-based thoughts and opinions. Please sub- mit contributions (ten double-spaced pages or less) pects of my new home and I spent several as a Word attachment, in 12-point font, to emer- weekends exploring the natural and historic [email protected]. Authors, please note that you are characteristics of the area. Perhaps one of writing for an audience that includes faculty, staff, the most striking words of advice I received and students. was the phrase “watch your step.” This was not because of cracks in the sidewalk, Watch Your Step: which are a common pitfall in Ohio, but in Treading on Local History this case the advice was to be wary of poi- By sonous snakes existing in the area. I would Sarah E. Miller, Ph.D. like to return that same advice back to the Assistant Professor of History people of lowcounty and say “watch your step” because you are treading on a wealth In a recent American History survey of interesting history. class, I took an informal count of the num- ber of students who had visited Fort Sumter Let’s return to Fort Sumter, not to in the Charleston Harbor to find that only rehash the beginning of the Civil War, but about ten percent of my students had seen to the name itself. Fort Sumter, like so the fort that symbolizes the beginning of the many other places in South Carolina, was Civil War. I found this fascinating yet dis- named after Thomas Sumter. Born in Vir- appointing. Just a few years ago, I traveled ginia in 1734, Sumter served in campaigns ten hours from Ohio to Charleston with the against the Cherokee Indians through which primary objective of seeing Fort Sumter. I he learned enough about the Indian lifestyle questioned, as many historians do, why stu- to serve as their interpreter on a trip to Eng- dents (and others) do not appreciate the his- land. Afterwards, he settled in the back- tory in their own backyard. Perhaps be- country of South Carolina. During the cause, too often, local histories are a hodge- American Revolution, a British raid led by podge of reminiscences, inaccurate state- Sir Henry Clinton, destroyed Sumter’s ments and genealogy listings, but the early home and ransacked the surrounding area. history of the lowcountry also unfolds into In retaliation, Sumter organized an inde- captivating drama from the time of early pendent military force whose use of guerilla Indians, the coming of white Europeans and warfare succeeded in destroying British the reliance on slave labor, to the American supply lines. Today’s popular culture has Revolution and the Civil War and still con- made another South Carolinian, Francis tinues today. Marion, famous as the “Swampfox;” but Sumter and other leaders of the guerrilla performed admirably for the colonists, war- militia units also provided essential resis- ring against and enslaving many of the tance to the British, clearing the way for the nearby Indians in return for coveted English new American Republic. Whether readers trade goods. When this relationship soured, recognize it or not, Thomas Sumter’s name the English switched alliances and encour- enters into our vocabulary at least every aged the Creek Indians to attack their tradi- football season. Thomas Sumter, a key tional enemies, the Westo. This war re- player in the American Revolution and par- sulted in near total destruction of the Westo ticipant in early government, was nick- Indian nation. 2 named the “Gamecock.” 1 The alliance with the Creek Indians, Many historians assert that “all his- whose homeland lay to the interior of the tory is local history” as the events that we colony, protected the inland boundaries of study in American History survey classes South Carolina but left its coastal areas vul- reverberate from local areas onto the world- nerable to attack by the Spanish in Florida. wide scene. What happened in Allendale, In 1684, the Yamasee Indians of northern Barnwell, or Walterboro is reflected in the Florida accepted an invitation to settle be- broader spectrum of the events that make tween the Combahee and Savannah Rivers history. This history can be seen in the as a buffer against Spanish invasion. In names of rivers, streets, and towns and took 1712, the Yamassee Indians further ingrati- place in the swamps, plantations, and vil- ated themselves to South Carolina when lages all around us. “Watch your step” and they accompanied Indian trader, and later you will see an array of history that has al- Revolutionary War hero, Colonel John ways been right before your eyes. Barnwell in the suppression of the Tus- carora Indians in North Carolina. The Ya- Early white settlement in the Caroli- masee, like the Westo before them, recog- nas began along the Ashley and Cooper nized the power of the English settlers and Rivers at Charles Town. Slowly the settle- their weapons and strove to ally themselves ment grew to incorporate more land-land with a powerful protector. occupied by many different Indian tribes. Relationships between Native Americans However, the Yamasees’ desire for and colonists were often complicated and English trade goods, such as metal, jewelry, rarely stable. The first Indian wars of the cloth, trinkets and especially weapons, region occurred in 1671, shortly after white placed the Indians in serious debt to English settlements were established. Indian warri- traders. In an effort to get their payment, ors raided these English communities most these traders began to kidnap and sell Ya- likely in retaliation for stolen food or the masee women and children into slavery. occupation of Indian lands. As a result, the Frustrated and angry, the Yamasee revolted colonists organized and attacked the small on April 15, 1715. Neighboring tribes, in- and weak Kussoe and Stono nations who cluding the Creek, allied with the Yamasee lived nearby. These Indians were captured against the British launching the conflict and sold into slavery. Fearing more raids known as the Yamasee War. The Indians from hostile Indians, colonists enticed the killed ninety percent of the English traders friendly Westo Indians of the area into an to show their aggravation over what they alliance for defense and trade. The Westo felt were deceitful trading practices. South

-2- Carolina’s colonial population hurried to the precipitated the passing of the Security Act safety of Charleston and abandoned settle- in 1739. This act required all white males ments outside a thirty mile radius from the to carry guns to church on Sundays in case city. of emergency or else be fined.

The Yamasee were defeated in battle On the morning of Sunday, Septem- by the colonists at Port Royal and along the ber 9, 1739, just twenty days before the Se- Salkehatchie River, resulting in their retreat curity Act went into effect, the most suc- to lands south of the Savanna River. The cessful slave rebellion in American history Creek Indians continued to carry on the Ya- occurred. A group of twenty slaves led by masee War until the fall of 1716 when their an Angolan named Jemmy assembled along traditional enemy, the Cherokee, allied with the west bank of the Stono River. They the English to defeat them. Skirmishes con- broke into Hutchenson’s store at Stono tinued for the next couple of years, inciting Bridge killing the two proprietors who lived fear in the colonists of the lowcountry. 3 there. Once armed, the band traveled along Pons Pons Road towards the freedom of- Indian uprisings were the key threat fered by the Spanish in St. Augustine. Part to colonial livelihood during the early years of this road can be followed today through of the white settlement of South Carolina. the Great Swamp Sanctuary in Walterboro. As a result, colonists armed their African Picking up recruits as they traveled through slaves to fight off Indian raiders. However, the lowcountry plantations, the force en- as the number of African slaves increased in compassed about one hundred by mid- South Carolina, fear of a slave uprising afternoon. As the slaves rested near the overtook their fear of any potential Indian Jacksonborough ferry on the Edisto River, attack. Calls denouncing the arming of Lieutenant Governor William Bull, out for a slaves reverberated though the colony. A recreational ride, chanced upon the group. lowcountry planter predicted a rebellion by Immediately recognizing the gravity of the warning that slaves were “too numerous in situation, he hurried to alert the colonists of 4 proportion to the White Men.” By 1720, the rebellion. there were nearly twice as many black slaves as white colonists throughout South Twenty white Carolinians and forty Carolina, and in some lowcountry parishes, of the rebels were killed in the clash to sup- slaves accounted for seventy-five or more press the uprising. Captured slaves were percent of the population. The ratio on questioned and many executed on the spot, these plantations was even higher during in several by decapitation, but about two thirds the hot summer months when the planters (perhaps sixty) of the slaves escaped to lived in their summer homes in Charleston, roam and terrorize the countryside. To dis- Summerville or Walterboro.5 courage more slaves from joining the upris- ing, colonists posted the heads of executed Fear of a potential slave uprising did slaves on mileposts along the roadways. not curtail the demand for a large slave For the next couple of weeks, patrols of workforce on the lucrative rice plantations white men and friendly Indians searched for of the lowcountry. These slaves worked six the remaining rebels who, when captured, days a week but generally had time off on were killed. Sundays. Fearing an uprising while the white colonists were congregating in church

-3- The Stono Rebellion was neither the tles of Lexington and Concord reached the first nor the last attempt by slaves to escape South Carolina legislature, the vote to raise from their situation; however, it is probably troops and money for the colonial war effort the most famous. The result of the Stono passed by only a slim margin.7 Perhaps the Rebellion created fear within the citizens of division among its citizenry is one reason the Carolinas, especially those in areas with why so many Revolutionary War battles black majorities like the lowcountry. The were fought in South Carolina. following year, the South Carolina legisla- ture enacted the Slave Code of 1740 that One particular battle, fought in the established regulations which would last lowcountry, shows the resolve of the South until emancipation in 1865. These harsh Carolina troops to protect their homeland. slave codes prohibited slaves from earning After the capture and execution of Jackson- money and obtaining an education. Legisla- boro planter, Colonel Isaac Hayne, on Au- tures hoped to prevent further rebellions by gust 4, 1781, for treason against the British, barring slaves from carrying weapons, leav- the British army swarmed the lowcountry ing the plantation without written permis- rivers, confiscating rice, which the colonists sion, or to meet in groups unaccompanied were selling to other European nations for by white persons.6 much needed war materiel. The American officer in the area, Colonel William Harden, The delicate balance of violence had only eighty men but was reinforced at ebbed and flowed between the Native his camp in Round-O by General Francis Americans, African slaves, and the white Marion and his troops. Establishing an am- colonists throughout the eighteenth century, buscade along the causeway leading to but a growing rift between England and her Parker’s Ferry that crossed the Edisto River American colonies created a larger commo- on August 30, 1781, the battle erupted when tion by the 1760s and 1770s. British in- a British soldier spotted the Americans. volvement in the French and Indian War Although the momentum of a surprise at- (1754 – 1763) and the Cherokee War of the tack failed, the Americans prevailed when Carolina backcountry (1759-1761) left the the British left the battlefield and returned British government under financial strain. to Charleston.8 The Colleton County His- The resulting debt caused Parliament to tax torical and Preservation Society re-enacts the colonists who benefited from English this battle on Labor Day weekend every protection. Among the many acts consid- year. ered offensive to the colonists was the Stamp Act of 1765 which required a reve- Many people are surprised to realize nue stamp for all paper documents and pro- that South Carolina witnessed the most bat- vided the Americans with the memorable tles of the American Revolution but few slogan “No Taxation without Representa- Civil War battles – a war that many Ameri- tion.” That October, the Charleston Sons cans blame on South Carolina. The state of Liberty, led by Christopher Gadsden, ri- was the first to secede from the Union after oted against the Stamp Act for two weeks. Abraham Lincoln was elected as President However, this show of displeasure against and the first shots of the war erupted over Great Britain, and others like it, represented the Charleston Harbor at Fort Sumter. In only about half of the citizens of South the turmoil before war, many South Caro- Carolina. In 1775, when news of the Bat- linians defended the South and its way of

-4- life, which included slavery. U.S. Repre- February 2 – 3, 1865, South Carolina militia sentative Preston Brooks of the Edgefield put up the only serious resistance to District nearly beat Massachusetts Senator Sherman’s army in its “marched to the sea.” Charles Sumner to death with a cane. Sum- Confederate General William J. Hardee had ner had insulted Brook’s cousin, Senator asserted that “the Salk is impassable” be- Andrew Butler, by name in a speech to lieving that Union troops could not navigate Congress which denounced “Mother Caro- through the rain filled rivers and swamps of lina” and the southern lifestyle dependent southern South Carolina. The two day Bat- on slavery.9 Another advocate of slavery tle of River’s Bridge merely slowed the pro- was James H. Hammond of Beech Island. gress of the Union troops who then ad- His plantation bordered the Savannah River vanced to Columbia and destroyed the capi- and his slaves supported his lifestyle. Since tal.12 Shortly thereafter, the Confederacy cotton was the primary export of most deteriorated and the Civil War was over. southern states and demanded by markets all over the world, Hammond believed that These are just a few of the important the plantation system, especially those pro- occurrences of history that played out in the ducing cotton, were essential to the econ- Carolina lowcountry. Historical events sur- omy of the United States. In this context, round us every day, whether we are inter- Hammond asserted to the Senate of the ested in Native Americans, slave ancestors, United States in 1858 “you dare not make war, or politics. Today, Indian arrowheads war on cotton. No power on earth dares to and artifacts can be found in freshly plowed make war upon it. Cotton is king.”10 The fields reminding us of the vibrant Native widening rift between ideologies of the American population that existed in the North and South finally broke apart in 1861 lowcountry. Historical markers explaining resulting in the destructive Civil War. the establishment of early churches in the area often exemplify the beginnings of The Civil War, fought between the small communities and the people who United States of America and the Confeder- founded them. Even along the rural road- ate States of America, devastated the coun- ways travelers can see family cemeteries try. More Americans from both sides were marking generations of South Carolinians killed than in any other war and the nation’s that witnessed the changes wrought by his- economy, especially in the South, was de- tory in their own backyard. In the time I stabilized. After the fall of Atlanta in 1865, have spend writing this article, I have been Union General William T. Sherman initi- introduced to many other important histori- ated a “scorched earth” policy by dividing cal sites in the lowcountry, each of which I his army to systematically march across the eagerly hope to investigate. I hope that Confederacy destroying everything in its readers will consider the many aspects of path. Many Georgians complained of the history in their own backyard. There is al- destruction, asking the Northern Army, ways something to find when you “watch “Why don’t you go over to South Carolina your step,” not just for poisonous snakes but and serve them this way? They started it.”11 for the valuable and interesting history that Indeed, part of Sherman’s army did enter surrounds us every day. South Carolina in Bamberg County not far from Highway 641 between the East and West campuses of USC Salkehatchie. On

-5- 10 James H. Hammond, Selections from the ENDNOTES Letters and Speeches of the Hon. James H. Hammond, of South Carolina (New 1 Walter Edgar, South Carolina, A History York: John F. Trow & Co., 1866), 311- (Columbia: University of South Carolina 322. Press, 1998), 234-236. 11James M. McPherson, Ordeal by Fire: 2 Neal Salisbury, “Native peoples and Euro- The Civil War and Reconstruction 3rd. ed. pean settlers in eastern North America, (Boston: McGraw Hill, 2001), 511; Edgar, 1600 – 1783,” in The Cambridge History of 372. the Native Peoples of The Americas, vol. 1, 12 McPherson, 508. part 1, ed. Bruce G. Trigger and Wilcomb E. Washburn, (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni- versity Press, 1006), 424-425; Edgar, 86 – Dr. Sarah Miller comes to USC Salke- 87. hatchie from her home state of Ohio where 3 Gary B. Nash, Red, White and Black: The she earned an MA in Public History at th Peoples of Early North America 4 ed. Wright State University and a PhD from (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice the History department at the University of Hall, 2000), 121-127; Edgar, 100. Toledo. She writes extensively about Na- 4 Quoted in David Goldfield et al., The tive American Studies and the Early Repub- th American Journey vol 1, 4 ed. (Upper Sad- lic. She loves her new home in South Caro- dle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2007), lina and spends much of her free time ex- 84 ploring the countryside with her dog, Elli- 5 Edgar, 69. ott. Dr. Miller may be contacted at: 6 Gordon Wood, Black Majority: Negroes in [email protected] Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion (New York: W.W. Nor- ton and Company, 1974), 308-320; Edgar 74 – 77. 7 Goldfield, 135-136; Edgar, 209,222 Evelyn McDaniel Frazier Bryan, Colleton County, South Carolina, A History of the First 160 Years, 1670-1830, (Jacksonville, Florida: The Florentine Press: 1974), 155- 160. 8 Evelyn McDaniel Frazier Bryan, Colleton FACULTY FORUM IS A NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED County, South Carolina, A History of the ELECTRONICALLY ON OUR WEBSITE AT First 160 Years, 1670-1830, (Jacksonville, http://uscsalkehatchie.sc.edu/ Florida: The Florentine Press: 1974), 155- AND IN PAPER COPY 160. BY THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 9 SALKEHATCHIE CAMPUS Edgar, 347-348. 807 HAMPTON STREET (P.O.B. 1337) WALTERBORO, SOUTH CAROLINA 29488 EDWIN O. MERWIN JR., MLS SENIOR EDITOR MARY HJELM, PHD EDITOR

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