Faculty Forum Newsletter February 2007
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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.