page_title: Early history of Williamsburg, South Carolina
section_title: War
hierarchical_section_title: Early history of Williamsburg, South Carolina / War
context_page_description: This article discusses the early history of Williamsburg County, South Carolina
context_section_description: In 1759 during the French and Indian War, the French enlisted the large Cherokee tribe as allies. Though the Cherokee lived to the northwest of Williamsburg, they could threaten the entire colony. Two companies of volunteer militia were organized to fight for the English king (and for self-defense). Together with other companies from coastal Carolina, a regiment was formed, which mustered and drilled at Kingstree. They also built a stockade for the residents in case of Indian attack.
  When the American Revolution broke out, some of the young men joined the army and were sent for the defense of Charleston. After Charleston surrendered to the British in early 1780, the soldiers were paroled and returned home, expecting to remain neutral from then on.
  The British quickly established garrisons throughout South Carolina, including a fort at nearby Georgetown on the coast. In the upstate were a larger number of Tories, who joined the British forces. The Williamsburg Presbyterians were inclined to sit out the war, until the British made a tactical error. The colonial governor ordered that all men who had taken parole must take up arms for the King. The people took this to be a unilateral violation of the terms of their parole. They sent Captain John James, a local militia officer, to the fort at Georgetown for clarification. He was mistreated by the commander, Captain Ardesoif, and on his return, James quickly raised a militia of four companies. They were put under the command of Francis Marion, of French Huguenot descent.
  Marion was one of the most effective military officers of the Revolution. He had the complete loyalty of this militia, who served with no pay and no promise of pay, who provided their own weapons and horses, or secured them whenever they defeated the British.
  The only area of South Carolina which was not occupied by the British was that of Williamsburg. The British tried to establish a garrison at Willtown, but Marion's men defeated and drove them off in the Battle of Mingo Creek. Marion not only won tactical victories against superior forces with small cost, but also won a moral victory which turned the tide in the Revolution in South Carolina.
  He did this in two ways, first by holding a section of the colony that the British could not penetrate, which raised morale of Patriot forces elsewhere. Secondly he gave residents receipts for horses, boats, weapons and food supplies that were commandeered, or were destroyed to keep from falling into the hands of the British. This was in stark contract to the British officers Banastre Tarleton and James Wemyss, who burned and looted Williamsburg early in the war. The British burning of the Williamsburg and Indiantown Presbyterian churches, which the British called "hotbeds of sedition," angered the settlers.
  When settlers presented their receipts from Marion to the new state government after the war, the state paid the claims for reimbursement.
  Marion depended on the local people to quickly gain information about British movements; the opposing officers tried to neutralize him, but had little success. Both relied on spies among the populace, but Williamsburg was loyal to Marion. Tarleton, cursing Marion when he could not catch him, gave him the epithet, "The Swamp Fox."
  The Williamsburg Militia served as needed, coming quickly when called, but remaining at home to plant and harvest crops, and attend to other duties whenever possible. Toward the end of the war, Marion could quickly call up a couple thousand men. Marion's Men held their territory alone until General Nathanael Greene arrived later in the war. They helped Greene's forces evict the British from their upstate garrisons and drive them back to Charleston, from whence they eventually surrendered and left by ship.
caption: "Lieutenant-Colonel Banastre Tarleton" by Sir Joshua Reynolds
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2012:03:19 21:41:00", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5109", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2597", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "4226"}