William Tennent III, 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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WILLIAM TENNENT III

(1740 - Aug. 11, 1777)

Sources and more information:

"A Brief History of the Circular Church." circularchurch.org.

Bailey, N. Louise (June 1, 1981). Biographical Directory of the South Carolina House of Representatives. University of South Carolina Press. p. 706. ISBN 978-0-87249-406-0.

"Church History - First Unitarian Church in the South."

W. J. Duffie. "Hallowed Ground: Circular Congregational Church, Charleston." discoversouthcarolina.com.

Feldman, Stephen M. (August 1, 1998). Please Don't Wish Me a Merry Christmas: A Critical History of the Separation of Church and State. NYU Press. pp. 149–. ISBN 978-0-8147-2885-7.

Hertzberg, Arthur (1997). The Jews in America: Four Centuries of an Uneasy Encounter : a History. Columbia University Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-231-10841-6.

"Historic Markers Across South Carolina William Tennent". Latitude 34 North.

Howe, George (1870). History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. I, Part II. Columbia: Duffie & Chapman. ISBN 9781176501478.

Kidd, Thomas S. (2007). The Great Awakening. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300118872.

Kramer, Leonard J. (December 1953). "Journal Article MUSKETS IN THE PULPIT: 1776—1783". Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society (1943-1961). 31 (4). JSTOR 23325203.

Krawczynski, Keith T. (2001). William Henry Drayton: South Carolina Revolutionary Patriot. LSU Press. pp. 161–175. ISBN 9780807126615.

Owen, Thomas McAdory; Owen, Marie Bankhead (1921). History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. S. J. Clarke publishing Company. p. 1063.

Ramsay, David (1858). Ramsay's History of South Carolina: From Its First Settlement in 1670 to the Year 1808.

Talbert, Roy; Farish, Meggan A. (December 18, 2014). The Antipedo Baptists of Georgetown County, South Carolina, 1710-2010. University of South Carolina Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-61117-421-2.

William Tennent III was a Presbyterian minister, American Patriot, and South Carolina politician who advociated for equality among the Christian denominations. Born in Freehold, N.J., he graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1758 and earned a master's degree from Harvard University in 1763.

Ordained in 1762 by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, he married Susan Vergereau in 1764 and and the couple had five children. He ministered in several New England cities before moving to Charles Town in 1772.

Tennent spent the last five years of his life as minister of Charles Town's Meeting House for dissenters (today Circular Congregational Church).

Here he openly opposed British colonial policy after 1773 and published essays supporting the Patriot cause after passage of the Tea Act and Intolerable Acts. In 1775, he and a Baptist colleague traveled into South Carolina's back county seeking to convert Loyalists, many of whom were also Presbyterian, to the American cause. An effective speaker, Tennent enlisted more than 400 men for the South Carolina militia over a three-day period, earning him the moniker the "Firebrand Parson".

An interdenominational meeting elected Tennent on April 27, 1776, as their representative in the state's newly established assembly to lobby for religious freedom. The constitution adopted that year, however, while renouncing the Church of England, continued to supporrt Anglicanism as the state religion.

On Jan. 11, 1777, Tennent addressed the assembly , "praying for a Constitutional Recognition of the Equal Rights of all Religious Denominations," according to an article in the December 1953 Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society. He demanded an end to any state-established religion and financial support by government given to churches.

He later supported the state's 1778 Constitution, which moved in that direction by establishing Christianity as the state religion and afforded equality to all Christian denominations.

Tennent died Aug. 11, 1777, of a fever he caught as he accompanied his recently widowed mother from New Jersey to South Carolina. A historical marker was erected near the site of his death in Sumter County on Highway 261 that reads:

"Third Presbyterian preacher of this name, Tennent died several miles south in 1777. He was born in 1740 of a renowned family of ministers and educators. From 1772 he served as pastor of the Independent Church of Charleston. As a Patriot, he prepared the up country for the Revolution and advocated the dissenters' appeal for equality in religious rights."

Tennent is buried at the Unitarian Church, just a short distance from the Meeting House and which was formed by the Society of Dissenters who needed more space and built a second building to complement the Meeting House. A commemorative inscription there reads:

In Memory Of the Rev William Tennent A.M. Pastor of this church; (And principally instrumental in the Erection of this building. Dedicated to the worship of Almighty God;) Who died at the High hills of Santee Aug 11th 1777; In the 37th year of his age. He was distinguished for quickness of perception and solidity of judgement; for energy and firmness of mind; for inflexible patriotism and for ardent public spirit; For sincere and zealous piety, for the boldness with which he enforced the claims of the Deity and vindicated the rights of man. As a preacher he was prompt, solemn, instructive, and persuasive of every social virtue he was a bright example.

Grave in the Unitarian churchyard.