South Carolina Genealogy

Francis Marion (circa 1732 - February 26 or February 27, 1795) was an American Brigadier General in the American Revolutionary War. He became known as the “Swamp Fox” for his ability to use decoy and ambush tactics to disrupt enemy communications, capture supplies, and free prisoners. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 7% [?]

Fort Moultrie is the name of a series of forts on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, built to protect the city of Charleston, South Carolina. The first fort, built of palmetto logs, inspired the flag and motto (Palmetto State) of South Carolina. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 4% [?]

St. Helena, South Carolina is one of the South Carolina Sea Islands in Beaufort County, South Carolina that are historic sites of early European colonization of North America. St. Helena is also the center of African-American Gullah culture and language. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 5% [?]

Prior to the American Revolution, the British began taxing American colonies to raise revenue, particularly outraging South Carolinians with the Townsend Acts that taxed tea, paper, wine, glass, and oil. To protest the Stamp Act, South Carolina sent wealthy rice planter Thomas Lynch, 26-year old lawyer John Rutledge, and Christopher Gadsden to the Stamp Act Congress, held in 1765 New York. Other taxes were removed, but tea taxes remained. Soon South Carolinians, in emulation of the Boston Tea Party, began to dump tea into the Charleston Harbor, shortly followed by many boycotts and protests. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 10% [?]

By the end of the 16th century, the Spanish and French had gone from the area of South Carolina after several colonization attempts and reconnaissance missions. In 1629 Charles I granted his attorney general a charter to everything between latitudes 36 and 31. Later, Charles II gave the land to eight nobles, the Lords Proprietors, who ruled over the Carolinas until 1719 when South Carolina was split off from North Carolina and became a British province. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 9% [?]

The Battle of the Rice Boats was a battle of the American Revolution that took place in the Savannah River on the border between the Province of Georgia and the Province of South Carolina. The battle, which pitted colonial militia against the British Navy, took place on March 2 – March 3, 1776. It is sometimes referred to as the battle of Yamacraw Bluff. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 7% [?]

The South Carolina Colony was originally part of the Province of Carolina, which was chartered in 1663.
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Popularity: 5% [?]

The Battle of Cowpens (1781) was an overwhelming victory by American revolutionary forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan. This battle is loosely depicted in the climax of the film The Patriot. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 8% [?]

Pre-Colonial and Colonial History

Hernando de Soto passed through the area in the 1540s in his search for gold, and several decades later Juan Pardo entered what is now York County and recorded his observation of a predominant Native American tribe, later confirmed to be the Catawba, in the vicinity of present-day Fort Mill, on the eastern bank of the Catawba River. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 5% [?]

The Siege of Charleston is one the major battles which took place towards the end of the American Revolutionary War in which the British began to shift their focus towards the southern colonies. From 1777-1778, they had a considerable amount of success, namely in Georgia with the Siege of Savannah. The prestige thus won by the British in the south in 1779 was immensely increased in the following year, when they victoriously swept up through South and North Carolina.
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Popularity: 6% [?]