South Carolina Genealogy

Prior to the American Revolution, the British began taxing American colonies to raise revenue, particularly outraging South Carolinians with the Townsend Acts that taxed tea, paper, wine, glass, and oil. To protest the Stamp Act, South Carolina sent wealthy rice planter Thomas Lynch, 26-year old lawyer John Rutledge, and Christopher Gadsden to the Stamp Act Congress, held in 1765 New York. Other taxes were removed, but tea taxes remained. Soon South Carolinians, in emulation of the Boston Tea Party, began to dump tea into the Charleston Harbor, shortly followed by many boycotts and protests. Read the rest of this entry »

The Battle of the Rice Boats was a battle of the American Revolution that took place in the Savannah River on the border between the Province of Georgia and the Province of South Carolina. The battle, which pitted colonial militia against the British Navy, took place on March 2 – March 3, 1776. It is sometimes referred to as the battle of Yamacraw Bluff. Read the rest of this entry »

The Battle of Cowpens (1781) was an overwhelming victory by American revolutionary forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan. This battle is loosely depicted in the climax of the film The Patriot. Read the rest of this entry »

The Siege of Charleston is one the major battles which took place towards the end of the American Revolutionary War in which the British began to shift their focus towards the southern colonies. From 1777-1778, they had a considerable amount of success, namely in Georgia with the Siege of Savannah. The prestige thus won by the British in the south in 1779 was immensely increased in the following year, when they victoriously swept up through South and North Carolina.
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The Battle of Eutaw Springs was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, the last engagement of the war in the Carolinas.

On May 22, 1781, General Nathanael Greene of the Continental Army had attempted to storm the strong British post at Fort Ninety-Six but was repulsed. Read the rest of this entry »

The Battle of Hobkirk’s Hill was on April 25, 1781. The colonists, led by Major-General Nathanael Greene, won over the British, led by Lord Francis Rawdon, in a series of attacks.
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The Battle of Kings Mountain was a fight in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War, fought on October 7, 1780. American Patriot militia forces overwhelmed the loyalist militia, led by Major Patrick Ferguson. In his history The Winning of the West, Theodore Roosevelt wrote of Kings Mountain: “This brilliant victory marked the turning point of the American Revolution.”
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The Battle of Camden was an important battle in the southern theatre of the American Revolutionary War. On August 16, 1780 British Forces under Lt. General Charles Cornwallis routed the American forces of Major General Horatio Gates about six miles north of Camden, South Carolina. American Forces numbered 4,100 of which about 3,000 were fit for duty, as opposed to 2,239 in the British force.
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The Waxhaw Massacre was one of the most important, and is one of the most neglected, events in the American Revolution. The earliest references are to “Buford’s Defeat” or the “Waxhaw Massacre”, but some have since called it “Buford’s Massacre” or “The Battle of the Waxhaws” – both of which seem unsatisfactory, as Buford was not responsible, and a Battle implies both sides were fighting.
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