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

William Tennent III (1740 – August 11, 1777) was a Presbyterian pastor and South Carolina politician. He was born and educated in northern Colonial America, but spent the latter part of his life in the southern state of South Carolina. He was a prominent advocate for the dis-establishment of any state religion. He is known for his opposition to British colonial policy, publishing patriotic essays in support of the revolution. He was selected to travel in 1775 into the "back county" of South Carolina to convert Loyalists to the cause. In the state assembly, he lobbied for religious liberty in the drafting of state constitutions.

Background
[edit]
William Tennent III was born in Freehold, New Jersey, the son of William Tennent Jr. and grandson of William Tennent. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in 1758, and earned a master's degree from Harvard University in 1763.[1][2]: 366 He was licensed to preach (1761–62) and then ordained (1762–63) by the Presbytery of New Brunswick.[2]: 366

He preached for about six months in Hanover, Virginia, and then in Norwalk, Connecticut, at the Congregational Church where he was assistant minister. He remained in Norwalk for over six years. He declined an invitation to preach in Boston and instead moved to Charleston, South Carolina. From 1772 until his death in 1777, he was the pastor of The Meeting House in Charleston,[2]: 366, 372 which in colonial times was unnamed and known as either the Independent, Congregational, or Presbyterian Church.[3] He was not succeeded until the conclusion of the Revolutionary War in 1783, and during the time the British held Charleston, they used the building as a storehouse.[4]: 306 The church evolved to become the present Circular Congregational Church.[5]

Religious equality
[edit]
Tennent was an advocate for religious equality in South Carolina, which at the time had an established Anglican state religion.[6] An interdenominational meeting chose Tennent on April 27, 1776, as their representative in the assembly to lobby for religious freedom in the new state constitution.[7] The 1776 constitution, while renouncing the Church of England, kept South Carolina Anglican.[8] Tennent addressed the South Carolina General Assembly on January 11, 1777, "praying for a Constitutional Recognition of the Equal Rights of all Religious Denominations". He demanded an end to any state-established religion, and the financial support given to establishment churches by the government.[6] He supported the constitution, adopted in 1778, that moved in that direction by establishing a state religion of Christianity affording equality to all Christian denominations.[8]

Political
[edit]
Tennent was a Whig (or Patriot) and opposed British colonial policy after 1773.[1] He was a member of the South Carolina General Assembly, then known as the provincial Congress, that functioned as the colony's rebel government, and authored political speeches. He continued as pastor, but successfully segregated his political beliefs in support of the revolution from his preachings,[2]: 368–372 although he strongly believed in both religious and civil liberty.[9]: 161

Revolution
[edit]
Tennent published essays in support of the Patriot cause after the passage of the Tea Act and the subsequent Intolerable Acts. His efforts to stimulate Patriotism made him known as the "Firebrand Parson".[9]: 161

Tennent was first elected to the Assembly in 1774 and authored an anti-British jeremiad entitled An Address, Occasioned by the Late Invasion of the Liberties of the American Colonists by the British Parliament.[10]

In 1775, Tennent and Oliver Hart, a Baptist, were sent by South Carolina's Committee of Safety to the rural areas of South Carolina to counter the Loyalist movement and encourage settlers there to support the Patriot side.[10] The mission was conceived by Colonel William Thomson, a provincial ranger commander. The goal was to explain the reasons for the rebellion and gain the allegiance of their leaders and militia. The mission was led by rebel William Henry Drayton. They were to be assisted by Colonel Richard Richardson and Joseph Kershaw.[9]: 165

The Committee selected Tennent for the mission because, as grandson of William Tennent, he was influential and respected, and was highly educated with two master's degrees. Furthermore, as a Presbyterian, he would be influential in the rural areas where many of the citizens there were also Presbyterian.[9]: 161

Tennent and Drayton arrived at a trading post near Granby on the Congaree River in Orangeburg County in early August 1775, after traveling 130 mi (210 km). Tennent conducted a religious service for a company of dissatisfied militia-men there. Tennent then proceeded to travel north across the Broad River towards Rocky Creek, preaching to Scotch-Irish who were believed to be ready to join the Patriot cause. Tennent's patriotic speeches succeeded in getting more men to form militia companies loyal to the provincial congress. In one three-day period, he enlisted over four hundred men.[9]: 168

In July 1776, Tennent was on a mission to North Carolina to try to convert some Tories there to switch sides. A companion on the trip, Francis Salvador, the first Georgian Patriot to die in the revolution, was ambushed, shot, and scalped by the Loyalists.[11]

Personal life
[edit]
In 1764, Tennent married Susan Vergereau. They had five children, including John Charles Tennent (born 1774), Charles, William Peter Tennent (died 1816), and two others. Tennent died August 11, 1777, at High Hills of the Santee near Stateburg in Sumter County after developing a fever;[1][12] he had returned from New Jersey where he had gone to accompany his mother, recently widowed, back to South Carolina.[4]: 274 A historical marker was erected near there on Highway 261 that reads:[13]

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.
He is buried in the cemetery of the Unitarian Church in Charleston, which is located a short distance from the Meeting House and was formed by the Society of Dissenters who needed more space and built a second building to complement the Meeting House.[14]

A commemorative inscription there reads:[15]

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.

References
"Tennent, William, 1740-1777". SNAC. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
Howe, George (1870). History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. I, Part II. Columbia: Duffie & Chapman. ISBN 9781176501478.
"A Brief History of the Circular Church". circularchurch.org. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
Ramsay, David (1858). Ramsay's History of South Carolina: From Its First Settlement in 1670 to the Year 1808. W. J. Duffie.
"Hallowed Ground: Circular Congregational Church, Charleston". discoversouthcarolina.com. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
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.
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. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
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. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
Krawczynski, Keith T. (2001). William Henry Drayton: South Carolina Revolutionary Patriot. LSU Press. pp. 161–175. ISBN 9780807126615. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
Kidd, Thomas S. (2007). The Great Awakening. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300118872. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
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. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
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. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
"Historic Markers Across South Carolina William Tennent". Latitude 34 North. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
"Church History - First Unitarian Church in the South". Retrieved February 29, 2020.
Owen, Thomas McAdory; Owen, Marie Bankhead (1921). History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. S. J. Clarke publishing Company. p. 1063. Retrieved February 29, 2020.