Castle Pinckney

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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CASTLE PINCKNEY

This essay is adapted from Lost Charleston. We discuss this historical site more deeply on our Lost Charleston Tours. Join us!

You can also read more about Castle Pinckney in the Post & Courier's Do You Know Your Lowcountry column.

Though most history books teach that the Civil War began April 12, 1861, with the firing of the first shot at Fort Sumter, perhaps the first overt act of war actually occurred Dec. 27, 1860, when Charleston militia ousted a small group of civilian laborers and two U.S. Army soldiers garrisoned at Castle Pinckney, making it the first Federal military installation seized by what was then the Republic of South Carolina, soon to evolve into the Conferate Army as other Southern states joined in. Rapid advancements in early 19th century weaponry caused Castle Pinckney to become obsolete within a decade of its completion c. 1810, dooming it to become little more than a footnote in the grander stories of its neighboring forts, Moultrie and Sumter. Still, as the first Federal installation to fall in the American Civil War, Castle Pinckney has an important place in history, if not in the popular retelling of it.

During his 1791 visit to Charleston, George Washington recognized the strategic value of this spit of land where the Cooper River transitions into Charleston Harbor. He ordered a fort be built there to defend against a naval attack from France that seemed imminent, yet never happened.

A log structure named for Washington’s local host, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, the first fort built here was destroyed by a hurricane just months after its completion in 1804. A second, made of bricks and mortar, was completed in 1810 in anticipation of the War of 1812. Its innovative design featured elliptical fortresses that housed cannon inside. Built to house 200 men, the fort resembled a medieval castle, thus its popular nickname.

Charleston saw no action in 1812, however, and within a decade new cannon with increased firing ranges made the fort, located so close to High Battery, obsolete. As plans for Fort Sumter began in 1826, Castle Pinckney was abandoned and began its long fall into disrepair. It was briefly re-garrisoned when South Carolina threatened secession during the Nullification Crisis of 1832, but again crisis was averted and it became an arsenal for storage.

In September 1861, it was repurposed as a POW camp for Union prisoners. According to the Charleston Mercury, they included captives “who had evinced the most insolent and insubordinate disposition.” Nevertheless, life at Castle Pinckney never yielded the horror stories of other camps such as that at the Washington Race Course. Perhaps because it was an island, prisoners were allowed to wander freely during the day, returning to their cells at night. Photographs suggest that prisoners and their captors shared a sense of humor and civility.

The number of prisoners soon outgrew the facility and they were moved to the City Jail. After the Jail was damaged in the Great Fire of 1861, however, 300 prisoners were crowded into Castle Pinckney before being dispersed among other prisons. Federal troops reclaimed the fort Feb. 18, 1865.

In 1897, some suggested transforming the castle into a veterans’ retirement home. Nevertheless, the site served only as a lighthouse until 1917, when even that was abandoned. In 1924, President Coolidge designated Castle Pinckney a National Monument, an act repealed by Congress in 1956 due to lack of interest and funding. It changed hands several times over the next five decades and was named to the National Register of Historic Sites in 1970. The Sons of Confederate Veterans Fort Sumter Camp No. 1269 acquired it in 2011 for $10 Confederate. It seemed an appropriate trade.

Only a portion of its brick foundation and a canon remain. No plans have been made for its future.

The location of Castle Pinckney in Charleston Harbor can be seen in this map showing Confederate defenses of Charleston. Castle Pinckney is at right, top third of image. (Photo: Library of Congress)

An artist's rendering of the fort at its peak. (Image: Wikimedia)

The rounded battlements of the fort can be seen in this image taken by an unknown photographer in 1861. (Photo: from the collections of the South Carolina Historical Society, public domain, Wikimedia)

Because it was located on an island in Charleston Harbor, the Federal prison on Castle Pinckney allowed its inmates a considerable degree of freedom during the day. This image of the fort's interior, taken in August of 1861, is one of several that imply that the inmates and their guards got along quite amiably, unlike other camps such as that at the Washington Race Course. (Image: The Photographic History of The Civil War in Ten Volumes: Volume One, The Opening Battles. The Review of Reviews Co., New York. 1911. p. 164. Public domain. Wikimedia.