Government emissaries persuaded these settlers to believe that an espousal of the rebel cause would be the sure precursor of the loss of their lands. These augmented the loyal population when the inhabitants were called upon to make a political decision. Still another class, the Scotch-Irish Protestants, had experienced the bounty of the king, and these, with a feeling of gratitude, adhered to the royal government. Over all these, Lord William Campbell, the royal governor when the war broke out, had unbounded influence, and probably in not one of the thirteen colonies was loyalty more rampant and uncompromising than in South Carolina. Many, whose feelings were all in harmony with the opposers of royal rule, were urged by self-interest to remain quiet; for they felt secure in person and property under present circumstances, and feared the result of commotion. Thus active and passive loyalty sat like an incubus upon the real patriotism of South Carolina; and yet, in every portion of the state, the Tories were outnumbered by the Whigs, except in the section we are now considering, between the Broad and Saluda Puvers. The inhabitants there could not be persuaded to furnish men and arms for the army of Congress, nor to sign the American Association.
Early in 1776, William Henry Drayton, Colonel William Thomson, Colonel Joseph Kershaw, and Reverend William Tennent, were sent by the Council of Safety at Charleston into that district, to explain to the people the nature of the dispute. Emissaries of government counteracted their influence by persuading the people that the inhabitants of the seaboard desired to get their tea free of duty, while those in the interior would be obliged to pay a high rate for salt, osnaburgs, and other imported necessaries. The baneful seeds of suspicion and mutual distrust were sown broad-cast among the settlers. The men of each party banded together in fear of the violence of the other, and soon opposing camps were formed. Moderate men endeavored to prevent bloodshed, and a conference of their respective leaders was finally effected. A treaty of mutual forbearance was agreed to, and for a while agitation almost ceased. But restless spirits were busy. Among these, Robert and Patrick Cunningham, ** Tory leaders, were the most active, and they soon disturbed the repose of party suspicion and animosity. By their machinations, it was aroused to wakefulness. The Whigs, fearful of Robert Cunningham's influence, seized and conveyed him to Charleston, where he was imprisoned. His brother Patrick raised a force to attempt a rescue.
At about this time, a thousand pounds of powder, on its way as a present to the Cherokees, was seized by these Loyalists. This excited the already vigorous efforts of the Council of Safety to more efficient measures. Colonel Williamson (the same officer who chastised the Cherokees), with a party of patriots, was sent to regain the powder. They seized Patrick Cunningham, the leader, when the Tories gathered in strength, and drove Williamson into a stockade fort at Ninety-Six. Alter remaining there some days, an agreement for a cessation of hostilities was concluded, and both parties dispersed to their homes.
* Mr. Drayton was, at this time, quite a young man, a descendant of one of the leading families of South Carolina. He was a nephew of Governor Bull. When Republican principles began to work up to the surface, and become visible at the South, in 1771, his pen was employed on the side of government, in opposition to Christopher Gadsden and others. 'These essays brought him into notice. He was introduced at court, and was appointed one of Governor Bull's council. As the Revolution advanced to a crisis, Drayton saw the injustice of Great Britain, and espoused the Republican cause. He became a favorite of the people, and, while a delegate in the Continental Congress, he died in their service in 1779.
** Robert Cunningham was an Irish settler in the District of Ninety-Six, now Abbeville, where he was commissioned a judge in 1770. After his release, in 1776, he removed to Charleston. In 1780, he was appointed a brigadier general to command the Loyalists of that province. His estate was confiscated in 1782, and not being allowed to remain in the province at the close of the war, he went to Nassau, New Providence, where he died in 1813, at the age of seventy-four years. The British government indemnified him for his losses, and gave him a pension. His brother Patrick was deputy surveyor of the colony in 1769. He received the commission of colonel, under Robert, in 1780. His property, also, was confiscated in 1782, and at the close of the war he went to Florida. The South Carolina Legislature afterward treated him leniently, and restored a part of his property. He was elected a member of the Legislature by his Tory friends. He died in 1794.
Tory Faithlessness.—Expedition against them—Battle at Musgrove's Mill.
The treaty at Ninety-Six was soon violated by the Tories, when the Provincial Congress, resolving no longer to rely upon words, sent a large body of militia and newly-raised regulars, under Colonels Richardson * and Thomson, ** to apprehend the leaders of the party which seized the powder, and to do all other things necessary to suppress the present and future insurrections. *** They were joined by seven hundred militia from North Carolina, under Colonels Thomas Polk and Griffith Rutherford, and two hundred and twenty regulars, commanded by Colonel James Martin. This was a wise step. It gave the Tories an exalted idea of the strength of the friends of government, and entirely destroyed their organization. Colonel Richardson used his discretionary powers with mildness. The most obstinate leaders were seized and carried to Charleston. Quiet was restored, and the Loyalists made no demonstration of moment until after the reduction of Savannah, when a considerable party arose in favor of the royal government, having for their leader Colonel Boyd, who had been secretly employed by the British government to head the Tories. These were routed and dispersed at Kettle Creek, while on their way to the British posts in Georgia. This event will be noticed in detail hereafter. From that time until the British took possession of Charleston, in 1780, the Tories remained rather quiet upon their plantations. On the eighteenth of August, 1780, Colonel Williams (who was killed at King's Mountain a few weeks afterward), with Colonels Shelby and Clarke, attacked quite a large body of British under Colonel Innis and Major Fraser, near Musgrove's Mill, upon the Ennoree River, in the northeast corner of Laurens's District. Many Tories were collected there, and were joined on the seventeenth by Innis and Fraser. The whole force was about three hundred strong, and were encamped upon the south side of the river, where they commanded a bad, rocky ford. The Americans, whose force was much less, took post upon the north side, upon a small creek which empties into the Ennoree just below the Spartanburg line, about two miles above Musgrove's Mill. It was agreed that Williams should have the chief command. He drew up his little army in ambush, in a semicircle within a wood, and then proceeded to entice his enemy across the river. For this purpose he took a few picked men, appeared at the ford, and fired upon the enemy. The stratagem was successful. Innis immediately crossed the ford to dislodge the "rebels." Williams and his party retreated, hotly pursued by Innis until within the area of the patriot ambuscade, when a single shot by Colonel Shelby gave the signal for attack. With a loud shout, the concealed Americans arose, and within two minutes the Tories were completely surrounded. Colonel Innis was slightly wounded, but with the larger part of his regulars he escaped. Major Fraser was killed, with eighty-five others. Colonel Clary, the commander of the militia, escaped, but
* Richard Richardson was a native of Virginia, where he was employed as a land-surveyor at the time when Washington was engaged in the same pursuit. He afterward settled in old Craven county, in South Carolina; and during the Indian border wars, he commanded a regiment. As a representative in the Provincial Congress of South Carolina, Colonel Richardson assisted in forming the first Republican Constitution for that state. He was with General Lincoln in his Southern campaigns, and with that officer became a prisoner at Charleston, at which time he was a brigadier. With others, he was sent to St. Augustine, from whence he returned in September with a broken constitution, and soon died at his residence, near Salisbury, in Sumter District, at the age of about seventy-six years. Soon after his death, Tarleton occupied his house, and, believing the family plate was buried with him, had his body disinterred. When he was about leaving, that cruel man applied the torch to the house with his own hand, avowing his determination to make it the "funeral pile of the widow and her three young rebels." His son, James B., was afterward governor of South Carolina.—See Johnson's Traditions, page 158.
** William Thomson was a native of Pennsylvania, and a relative of Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Continental Congress. He was born about the year 1727, and, while a child, was taken to Orangeburg District, in South Carolina. He was a patriot, and was placed in command of the 3d regiment, called the Rangers. With his regiment, he fought in the battle on Sullivan's Island in 1776. He was with General Howe in Georgia, and served under the command of D'Estaing at Savannah. He behaved gallantly, and suffered much during the greater part of the war. At its close, he returned to his estate at Belleville, near Fort Motte, mentioned on page 687, with shattered health and fortune. There he continued in the pursuit of an indigo planter, which he began before the war, until 1796, when declining health induced him to go to medicinal springs in Virginia. He died there on the twenty-second of November of that year, at the age of sixty-nine years.
*** Instructions of the Provincial Congress to Colonel Richardson.