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.

APRIL

April 1

1780 -- British Capt. Johann Ewald records that “The county around Gibbes’ house has been made a park and depot for the siege, and the greenhouse is a laboratory.”

1948 -- 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.

1960 -- 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 in America.

1996 -- The Charleston Naval Base and Shipyard closed.

April 2

1811 -- The South Carolina Advocate reported on the burning of the Cooper River Campground, which was also known as the Goose Creek Methodist Camp, near the confluence of Goose Creek to the Cooper.

April 5

1740 -- Concerned about the ever-increasing ratio of enslaved blacks to whites, the Assembly imposed a prohibitively high import duty on African slaves.

April 11

1685 -- The Giton family, Huguenot refugees seeking a new life after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, departed England after "three months waiting for a Carolina-bound ship." (Source: South Carolina Women, Vol. 1, p. 33)

April 12

1861 -- The first shots were fired at Fort Sumter. The Civil War had begun in Charleston Harbor.

April 13

1780 -- British batteries, stationed near where Hampton Park is today, opened a two-hour barrage of round shot and incendiary bombs as the Seige of Charleston began. Fires broke out all around town, including in areas still recovering from the Great Fire of 1778. S.C. Gov. John Rutledge called for an evacuation of the city. Soldieirs were ordered to kill the packs of dogs that were running loose in the street.

April 14

1775 -- 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 15

1715 -- The Yamasee Indian War began as tribesmen fell on fronteir settlements about 80 miles south of Charles Town, killing more than 100 settlers, both white settlers and enslaved blacks. The colony's wealthiest Indian trader and legislator, Thomas Nairne, was tortuously roasted to death over a fire.

1732 -- Charles Lowndes paid Henry Gibbes 300 pounds to lease five enslaved people, because by increasing the size of his "household," he would qualify to enhace the size of his land grant. Grants were based on how many people were in one's household. An enslaved man was counted as 3/5 of a man. Women, free or enslaved, counted for nothing. (Source: Goose Creek: A Definitive History Vol. 1, p. 86)

April 17

1715 -- The Rev. Francis LeJau, Doctor of Divinity and Rector of the St. James Goose Creek (Anglican) Church, greeted his parishioners on Easter Sunday, the first service at their new church.

April 21

1743 -- Charles Lowndes paid James Kinloch 600 pounds to lease seven enslaved people, because by increasing the size of his "household," he would qualify to enhace the size of his land grant. Grants were based on how many people were in one's household. An enslaved man was counted as 3/5 of a person. Women, free or enslaved, counted for nothing. (Source: Goose Creek: A Definitive History Vol. 1, p. 86)

April 24

1870 -- Maria Louisa Porcher was born at Porcher's Bluff.

April 25

1715 -- Good Friday. In response to the increase in settlers' enslaving Native Americans, the Yemasees, Creeks, Catawbas and Choctaw tribes together attacked a number of frontier settlements about 80 miles southwest of Charles Town. They slew about 100 people. One of them, trader Thomas Nairne, was roasted to death.

1732 -- Charles Lowndes paid Henry Gibbes 330 English pounds to "lease" five slaves in order to enlarge his "family" so that he would be eligible to acquire a new land grant based on how many people were in his household. Six days later, he paid James Kinloch 600 pounds to lease seven more. (Source: Goose Creek: A Definitive History, Vol. 1)

April 26

1775 -- 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)

April 28

2023 -- A golf cart carrying four people was struck from behind by an alleged drunk driver on Folly Beach, killing 34-year-old Samantha Miller and injuring her new husband, Aric Hutchinson, and two members of Hutchison's family. The couple had just celebrated their wedding a few hours earlier.

April 30

1960 -- The News & Courier reported that the last pillar of the Charleston Hotel had been demolished at 3 a.m. the morning before.

Kresse Department Store is included among the stories of our Lost Charleston Tour.

We recall one of the Lowcountty's great love stories when we visit the gravesite of Maria Louisa Porcher Wayne on our French Santee Tour.

Captain John Ewald, a Hessian officer serving with the British wrote home sharing details of the Seige of Charles Town, beginning in the area near today's Hampton Park. We recount his memories of that fateful event on our Lost Charleston Tour. (Image: Library of Congress)

We visit the site of George Chicken's old traders' camp, one of the sites where skirmishes with the Yamasee tribes took place, on our Day on the Cooper River tour.

Learn more about the Charleston Naval Shipyard in Lost Charleston.

The last pillar of the great Charleston Hotel came crashing down after the demolition crew had to bring in a 2,000 wrecking ball. We visit this site on our Lost Charleston Tours.