In his account of the fifth voyage, White tells of their arrival at the mouth of the Roanoke on August 17, 1590. A great storm raged; the ship’s boats were tossed about at the mercy of the waves, and eleven of the company drowned, among them Edward Kelly, Edward Kilborne and Robert Coleman. These three are mentioned as “among 7 of the chiefest men of the expedition.”
Hawk, one of the historians of North Carolina, says that “in 1666 the Lords Proprietors had agents employed in seeking emigrants on the continent of Europe, and in Ireland, Scotland and the West Indies,” and the same author in referring to the divers religious beliefs professed by the people of North Carolina (about 1700), refers to “the Irish Romanists.” It is to be regretted that we have no means of tracing the names or careers of any of those “Irish Romanists.”
Hewatt’s Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia (published at London in the year 1776), is referred to by historians as an authoritative work. In this book many references are made to the early Irish settlers of the Carolinas. The author describes the dreadful extremities to which the poor settlers in the vicinity of Charlestown (now Charleston), S. C., were reduced in the year 1667.
During the government of Sir John Yeamans a civil disturbance broke out among the colonists, which threatened the ruin of the settlement. “The Proprietors,” says Hewatt, “were unable to furnish the colony with regular supplies, and the spots of sandy and barren land poorly rewarded their toil. Many of them were unskilled, and the European grain which they were accustomed to sow soon proved suitable to neither soil nor climate. The settlers began to murmur against the Proprietors and to curse the day they left their native land to starve in a wilderness. While they gathered oysters for subsistence with one hand, they were obliged to carry the musket in the other for defence against the Indians.”
In this emergency, a true son of Ireland is seen to have been in the forefront of the battles waged by the afflicted colonists. Florence O’Sullivan was one of the leading men among the settlers of Charlestown, some of whom were his countrymen, and to whom they looked for guidance and counsel. O’Sullivan is said to have come to South Carolina with Governor Sayle. He was surveyor-general of the province until he was succeeded by John Culpeper in 1671. He is thought to have been of the famous family of that name whose paternal home was on the borders of Cork and Kerry, and which gave to America schoolmasters, governors, a celebrated general of the Revolutionary army, and in later days men who distinguished themselves in every sphere of activity in the new country.
To add to the troubles between the colonists and the Indians, it is related that about this time there was great fear among the Carolinians of an invasion by the Spaniards from the South. Militia companies were formed in and around Charlestown to resist invasion, and O’Sullivan had been placed in command of a body of men on an island in the harbor—now known as Sullivan’s Island. Their situation was one of great danger and they were instructed to warn the inhabitants on the first approach of the enemy, and then return to shore. “The great gun”—evidently the only one available—was in the immediate charge of O’Sullivan.
The Spaniards did not put in an appearance; the scanty supplies of the party soon gave out, but they stuck to their post until starvation stared them in the face. They remained until all hope had fled that their supplies would be replenished, and when they were not forthcoming, O’Sullivan and his men, deciding that to perish from hunger would be an inglorious end, deserted the island without consulting the governor and joined the discontented party in the town.
Thereupon, we are told, the people became ungovernable and threatened to compel the authorities to relinquish the settlement. O’Sullivan was arrested by the town marshal and “compelled to find security for his good behavior.” Vessels were despatched to Virginia and to Barbadoes for provisions, but, before they returned, a ship arrived from Europe with supplies and a number of new settlers. “The newcomers revived the drooping spirits of the people and encouraged them to engage in more vigorous efforts. The governor, sensible of the hardships the people had suffered, readily forgave them,” and O’Sullivan and his friends were released from further restraint.
The Spanish authorities at St. Augustine, “on learning the belated news of the discontented and miserable condition of the Carolina colonists,” advanced with an armed party as far as St. Helena Island, about 50 miles south of Charlestown, to dislodge or destroy the settlers. Brian Fitzpatrick, a well-known “character” of the settlement, is said to have deserted his friends at this juncture and to have gone over to the Spaniards. What his purpose was in doing so does not appear. However, reinforcements arrived to aid the Carolinians, upon which the Spaniards evacuated St. Helena and retreated to Augustine.
After the death of Governor Yeamans in 1674, the inhabitants called a meeting at Charlestown, when they elected representatives for the purpose of making laws for the government of the colony. Thomas Gray, Henry Hughes, Maurice Mathews and Christopher Portman were the four deputies chosen by the people.