Charleston Raconteurs in Charleston, SC

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.

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MARCH

March 1

1711 -- Because the congregation of St. Philip's Anglican Church was outgrowing its building at the corner of Broad and Meeting streets, the colonial Assembly passed an "Act for Erecting a New Brick Church" on the east side of Church Street, just above Queen Street. (Source: Charleston, Charleston!, p. 31.)

1770 -- A committee appointed by members of the Charleston Library Society made their report recommending that fundraising should be undertaken for the creation of a school, a predecessor of the College of Charleston. (Source: A History of the College of Charleston, p. 11)

March 2

1786 -- Seeking a less expensive means by which to move their goods (as opposed to the expensive new Santee Canal), landowners in Goose Creek petitioned the State House to create turnpikes and tolls along the Goose Creek Road that ran from Charleston to Wassamassaw in an effort to ensure better maintenance of the land route. (Source: Goose Creek: A Definitive History, Volume II, p. 28.)

March 3

1901 -- The Naval Appropriations Act provided funding for the development of a new Naval Base just north of Charleston along the banks of the Cooper River. It would become the state's driving economic force of the 20th century.

1986 -- News & Courier columnist Ashley Cooper wrote a piece recalling the grand Charleston Hotel, describing it as: “one of the few remaining links with the romantic days of terrapin soup, gas lights and visiting royalty.”

March 6

1750 -- The Rev. Robert Stone wrote in a letter: "in Goose Creek ... health was so bad that fourty-five was considered the common age of man." (Source: Goose Creek: A Definitive History, p. 56)

March 7

1732 -- Col. Charles Pinckney was born.

March 8

1737 -- The journal of the Commons House of Assembly authorized payment for "beef killed" and used by the Goose Creek Company during the "time of the Negro insurrection," providing documentation of one of the slave uprisings in the Lowcountry. (Source: Goose Creek: A Definitive History, p. 90)

March 12

1737 -- Thomas Monck, a planter from Goose Creek who was one of the few planters who branded his slaves, advertised in ithe South Carolina Gazette offering a five-pound reward for the return of his enslaved Angolan man named Cudja. He described him as being "branded on his right breat 'T Monck.'" (Source: Goose Creek: A Definitive History, p. 90)

March 14

1886 -- Mrs. S. A. Lofton wrote a letter to New Wappetaw Church saying "The unchristlike and official misconduct of R.T. Morrison, Jr., J.B. Morrison, and A.W. Leland towards my family necesessitates my removal from your church." (Source: Home in the Village, p. 127)

March 17

1799 -- The Hibernian Society was established by by eight prosperous Irishmen, both Catholic and Protestant, for the purpose of “true enjoyment and useful beneficence,” according to early records.

1801 -- Two years after its founding on this date, the Hibernian Society adpoted its name, motto and seal.

March 18

1758 -- 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."

March 19

1785 -- Because "the proper education of youth is essential to the happiness and prosperity of every community," the General Assembly of South Carolina passed an "act for erecting and establishing" the College of Cambridge in the district of Ninety-Six, Mt. Zion College in the district of Camden, and the College of Charleston, in or near the city of Charleston. (Source: A History of the College of Charleston, p. 1)

2024 -- Elizabeth "Libby" Alexander Murdaugh, 85, a former librarian and teacher in the Lowcountry's public school system, passed away in Varnville after a long illness with dementia. One of her three sons, Alex Murdaugh, claimed he was visiting his mother during the June evening when his wife Maggie and son Paul were brutally shot to death at their country house's dog kennels. Mobile phone data showed Murdaugh was telling the truth about where he went, although he appeared to overestimate the time he spent with his mother. A video, taken by his son, showed Murdaugh was with them just minutes before he and his mother’s cellphones were never used again. Prosecutors convinced a jury that Murdaugh had enough time to kill them, clean up evidence and get to his mother’s house and back. The case made international headlines for its Southern Gothic macabre.

March 28

1780 -- Sir Henry Clinton and his troops made camp at Drayton Hall along the Ashley River.

March 30

1780 -- Leading a large contingent of British soldiers, Sir Henry Clinton set up camp near what today is Hampton Park and began bringing his troops over at Gibbes’ Landing. In his journal, a Hessian jager (or sharpshooter) Capt. Johann Ewald relates that they were posted at Grove Plantation, where he “did picket duty in one of the most beautiful pleasure gardens of the world.”

The demolition of the Charleston Hotel, which site we visit on our Lost Charleston Tour, is considered to be one of the city's biggest architectural losses.

We visit historic St. Philip's Church, seen here as it appeared in 1723, on our Charleston Overview Tour.

Clinton landed his troops at Gibbes Landing to set up the British siege line near what today is Hampon Park.

We stop by Christ Church on our French Santee Tour to pay our respects to Col. Charles Pinckney.

Libby Murdaugh and her husband attorney Randolph Murdaugh III, who along with his son Alex arrived at the hospital in the aftermath of his grandson Paul's boating accident to "counsel" the accident's survivors. Randolph Murdaugh passed away June 10, three days after the murders of his daughter-in-law and grandson.