Charleston Raconteurs in Charleston, SC

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GO BEYOND THE POPULAR TOURIST SITES

HISTORY TOLD WITH WIT AND SKILL

1758
Feb. 28 -- Lt. Col. Henry Bouquet, who author Walter J. Fraser Jr. (Charleston! Charleston!) called a "brash thirty-eight-year-old British soldier-of-fortune" demanded that the colonial Assembly pay for his officers' housing needs. The Assembly refused his request. Soldiers' housing would become one of colonists' complaints as the country moved toward revolution.

March 18 -- The Assembly denied Lt. Col. Henry Bouquet's demand that they pay for his soldiers' housing. Among those who were opposed were Peter Manigault, Christopher Gadsden, Charles Pinckney, Henry Laurens and Rawlins Lowndes, writing "Officers and Soldiers cannot, legally or constitutionally, be quarter'd in private Houses, without the special Consent of the Owners or Possessors of such Houses."

1760
Jan. 9 -- Gov. Lyttleton and his soldiers marched (somewhat) victoriously down Broad Street and at noon cannons fired to welcome the troops back to Charleston after having concluded a peace treaty with the Cherokees near Keowee. The treaty was hastily made as a raging smallpox epidemic was ravaging the tribe, and the soldiers feared catching it.

Jan. 12 -- Three days after Gov. Lyttleton's return, the worst epidemic to date of smallpox broke out within the colony.

1761
Dec. 17 -- Early Patriot leader Christopher Gadsden wrote an editorial in the Gazette accussing Lt. Col. James Grant, a Scottish officer in the British Army, of not having been aggressive enough in his attacks on the Cherokees, claiming he did not permit his men "to cut the throats of as many as they could have." In Charleston! Charleston!, author Walter J. Fraser Jr. suggests the criticism may have been fueled, at least in part, by "personal jealousies increasingly common in relations between British regular officers and provincial officers" (p. 95).

1764
Aug. 19 -- Arthur Middleton married Mary Izard, "a Lady who is one of the first of her sex for sense, politeness and every female accomplishment."

1765
Sept. 4 -- Christopher Gadsden, Thomas Lynch and John Rutledge set sail for the illegally called Stamp Act Congress in New York City. Gadsden, ever the ardent Patriot, served as chair of the committee that drafted resolutions condemning the act.

Oct. 24 -- An angry mob seeking the whereabouts of the destested tax stamps issued through the Stamp Act stormed a number of notable residences in downtown Charleston, including that of Henry Laurens, who said that under the guise of "Patriotism ... committed at length Burglary & Robbery." (Fraser Jr., West J. in Charleston! Charleston!, p. 109)

Oct. 26 -- Leaders of a rebel mob spread rumors that Charles Town's two local stamp agents, George Saxby and Caleb Lloyd, were hiding out at Fort Johnson on James Island. Over the next two days, the mob rampaged through the streets of Charles Town, threatening to kill the agents if they did not resign their office. (Source: Charleston, Charleston!, p. 109, by Walter J. Fraser Jr.)

Oct. 28 -- Because of the murderous threats by an angry rebel mob two days before, Charles Town's stamp agents, George Saxby and Caleb Lloyd, announced that to ensure the peace of the province (and save their lives), they would not enforce the hated Stamp Act. The Sons of Liberty poured into the streets and unfurled the blue flag of "Liberty." (Source: Charleston, Charleston!, p. 109, by Walter J. Fraser Jr.)

Dec. 17 -- Amid rumors of a possible slave rebellion, Acting Governor William Bull called an emergency Council meeting. A hundred militia men were deployed to patrol the city and the captains of ships moored in the harbor had their sailors stand sentinel at night. The holidays passed peacefully, though the patrols continued both day and night through early January (Charleston! Charleston! by West Fraser Jr., p. 113).

1766
Jan. 1 -- Becoming increasingly alarmed at the ratio of the enslaved vs. white population in Charles Town, the Assembly imposed heavy import duties on all slaves brought into the colony as of this date.

June 6 -- Elizabeth Thomas Broun dies and is buried in the St. James Goose Creek Chapel of Ease churchyard.

1768
Oct. 1 -- In preparation for the upcoming Assembly elections, Charles Town's mechanics nominated candidates who opposed the Quartering Act, Stamp Act, and Sugar Act. Led by Patriot Christopher Gadsden, they met at the Liberty Tree "where many loyal, patriotic and constitutional toasts were drank." The company then marched on to Dillon's Tavern to continue the celebration.

1769
July 22 -- The colonial Assembly appointed a Committee of Thirty-Nine, which included an equal number of merchants, planters and artisans, thus for the first time granting the laboring classes a significant voice in the colony's government. (Source: Walter J. Fraser Jr. in Charleston, Charleston!, p.125)

Dec. 8 -- The S.C. General Assembly voted to send 1,500 pounds Sterling to John Wilkes, a member of England's Parliament who had been arrested and imprisoned for criticizing the King. As Patriotic tensions here grew, they felt a kinship with Wilkes's cause. Unfortunately, the King's counselors saw the gift as a slap in the face to their sovereign, which did nothing to mellow the rebellous tensions that were brewing. (Source: Walter J. Fraser Jr. in Charleston, Charleston!, p.126)

1770
Jan. 30 -- Lt. Gov. William Bull recommended to the General Assembly the establishment of a provincial college, which became what we know today as the College of Charleston (and my Alma Mater).

Dec. 13 -- Charlestonians voted a local boycott against the importation of British goods (with the exceptions of tea and luxury items) as a result of the repeal of the Townshend Act. (Source: Walt Fraser in Charleston. Charleston! page 127)

1773
Jan. 12 -- Though authoritative accounts vary, what may indeed have been the first public museum in America was established, The Charleston Museum.

Nov. 19 -- The so-called "Club Forty-Five" met at the Liberty Tree to agitate for independence from English rule.

Dec. 2 -- The English ship London dropped anchor in Charles Town harbor with 257 chests of tea aboard. As the tension of the impending revolution filled the air, it was clear that if the colonists allowed the cargo to be delivered with its three-pence-per-pound duty collected as authorized by Parliament, it would be an admission that the colony was answerable to the governing body of England so far away. Christopher Gadsden was incensed. He and his friends posted handbills all over town calling for a meeting the next day at the Old Exchange Building to discuss what should be done. (Source: Charleston, Charleston! by Walt Fraser, p. 136)

1774
Oct. 22 -- Henry Middleton was elected President of the first Continental Congress.

1775
April 14 -- News reached Charles Town that Parliament was sending additional troops to enforce British policies (and taxation) in the colonies. (Source: Charleston, Charleston! by Walt Fraser, p. 141)

April 26 -- In response to the news that British troops were being dispatched to the colonies, the Secret Committee of Five, created by the Provisional. Congress and led by William Henry Drayton, seized the arms and powder that were being stored in local magazines and hid them in private houses throughout the city. (Source: Charleston, Charleston! by Walt Fraser, p. 141)

June 8 -- Two Charlestonians who remained loyal to the Crown, a small-time merchant named Laughlin Martin and another man named James Dealy, were tarred and feathered by locals calling for revolution, based on an accusation that they had cheered rumours that enslaved Blacks, Catholics, and Native Americans were to receive arms from British forces to help quell the rebellion. (Source: Charleston, Charleston! by Walt Fraser, p. 143)

June 16 -- A slave named Jemmy said in a depostion to Revolutionary authorities that he had been approached by his brother-in-law Thomas Jeremiah to "take a few guns" to a runaway slave named Dewar. The weapons, he said, were "to be placed in Negroes hands to fight against the inhabitants of this Province" to support the British. (Source: Charleston, Charleston! by Walt Fraser, p. 145)

August 11 -- The slave Thomas Jeremiah went on trial under the Negro Act of 1740 for helping to arm other enslaved Blacks in support of the British cause. Found guilty, he was sentenced "to be hanged, and then burned to ashes." (Source: Charleston, Charleston! by Walt Fraser, p. 145)

August 12 -- A local mob seized a British soldier "for some insolent speech he had made," tarred and feathered him, and "putting him in a cart paraded through the Town ... using him very cruelly all the time." But the afternoon, the crowd had grown to 400, who roamed through the streets, stopping at the houses of suspected Crown sympathizers, using the soldier to demonstrate what their fate might be if they continued their support of the Crown. (Source: Charleston, Charleston! by Walt Fraser, p. 145)

August 17 -- Jemmy, the slave who testified against his brother-in-law Thomas Jeremiah, recanted his testimony that Jeremiah had been involved in transporting British arms to this enslaved colleagues. (Source: Charleston, Charleston! by Walt Fraser, p. 146)

August 18 -- Despite his brother-in-law's recanted tesimony that he was distributing British arms to enslaved Negros, Thomas Jeremiah was hanged anyway, then burnt to ashes as his sentence decreed. He had maintained his innocence to the end. S.C. Gov. William Campbell believed Jeremiah was innocent, as did the Royal Attorney General, saying Jeremiah was the victim of local hysteria. (Source: Charleston, Charleston! by Walt Fraser, p. 146)

1776
June 3 -- S. Smith published "A View of Charles-Town, the Capital of South Carolina, from an Original Picture Painted at Charlestownin the Year 1774," painted by Thomas Leitch and engraved by Samuel Smith.

PUTTING THE PIECES BACK TOGETHER

1941 - 1992

1943

June 24 -- Rueben Morris Greenberg IV was born to a Jewish immigrant father and African-American mother. In 1982 Greenberg became Charleston's first African American police chief. An article written by the National Review upon Greenberg's retirement in 2005 credited him with turning "the... Police Department into a national model. In the process, he became a celebrity and a source of pride for the city."

1945

Jan. 24 -- The Christ Church (Mt. Pleasant) flagon was returned to the Rev. Edmund Coe by Bonnie McArty, whose uncle Frank Blaine, a Union infantryman, stole it following the 1865 Confederate evacuation of Charleston. (Source: Stolen Charleston: The Spoils of War, p. 11.)

June 18 -- The Ben Sawyer Bridge, connecting the mainland to Sullivan's Island and the Isle of Palms, is officially opened. The Pitt Street Bridge is closed to. traffic.

1948

April 1 -- John Stewart Carter was born in Little Rock, Ark. Shortly after his marriage to his second wife Betsey in 1981, the couple moved to her hometown of Charleston. John taught at The Citadel, attaining the rank of Colonel and Head of the Department of Health, Exercise and Sport Science. He also served as the Bulldogs' play caller and founded the Citadel's Ombuds program. As its first Ombudsperson, John help the Citadel community during its difficult transition to coeducation in the 1990s. The John S. Carter Scholarship was established in his honor.

1950
Dec. 26 -- Maria Louisa Porcher Wayne died.

1951
Aug. 29 -- Seventy-three orphans left the Charleston Orphan House for the last time before it was torn down to make room for a new Sears Department Store.

1954

Oct. 7 -- The News & Courier ran an article expounding upon the slow decline of Charleston's famed Mosquito Fleet.

1960
April 1 -- Twenty-four Black students from Burke High School staged a Civil Rights sit-in at the Kresse Department Store lunch counter on King Street, changing the city's dialogue about the issues facing racial equality.

April 30 -- According to a report in the News & Courier, the last column of the Charleston Hotel came down in a haze of dust and rubble shortly after 3 a.m.

Sept. 11 -- Hurricane Donna passed by the Carolina coastline, spawning a tornado that brought down three walls of the Bennett Rice Mill, c. 1844.

1970
Oct. 9 -- A victim of termite damage and neglect, the Mills House Hotel, having been carefully demolished and reproduced using as much salvaged building materials as possible, reopened to the public.

1971
Oct. 17 -- Popular aviator Bevo Howard struck a tree and fatally crashed as he pulled out of a stunt at a charity airshow in Greenville, N.C.

1986

March 3 -- News & Courier columnist Ashley Cooper remembered the Charleston Hotel, calling it an iconic symbol of the city's antebellum glory, "one of the few remaining links with the romantic days of terrapin soup, gas lights, and visiting royalty."

1987
Dec. 15 -- Educator and Civil Rights leader Septima Poinsette Clark died.

1989
Sept. 21/22 -- At midnight, the eye of Hurricane Hugo, a category 4 storm, passed over Cove Inlet between Mt. Pleasant and Sullivans Island.

We discuss one of the Lowcountry's great love stories, that of Arthur and Maria Louisa Wayne, as we visit Christ Church on our French Santee Tour.

Many believe Charleston's biggest archi-tectural loss was that of the Charleston Orphan House, which is featured on our Lost Charleston Tour. (Photo credit: Library of Congress)

For more than a century, Charlestonians relied on the Mosquito Fleet for their seafood. Hear their story and visit the site of their traditional landing on our Lost Charleston Tours. (Photo credit: Library of Congress)

The Kresse store sit-in changed the way Charlestonians engaged in the Civil Rights movement sweeping the country in the 1960s. We discuss the topic on our Lost Charleston Tours. (Photo credit: News & Courier)

Along with the Charleston Orphan House, the demolition of the Charleston Hotel has been among Charleston's biggest architectural loses. We visit the site of both structures to discuss what their destruction has meant to the city on our Lost Charleston Tour. (Photo credit: News & Courier)

We visit the ruins of the Bennet Rice Mill's west wall on our Lost Charleston Tour. (Photo credit: Library of Congress)

The legacy of the Mills House Hotel is a part of our Lost Charleston Tour. (Photo credit: Library of Congress)

Bevo Howard's signature stunt was snatching a ribbon from a spectator on the Sumter House pier while flying upside down. We recall his accomplishments, theatrics, and tragic end on our Lost Charleston Tour. (Photo credit: News & Courier)

The life and legacy of Septima Pointsett Clark, the woman who inspired Dr. Martin Luther King, is a part of our Sea Islands Tour. (Photo credit: Avery Institute)