Georgetown County’s history entwined with American Revolutionary War
From a signer of the Declaration of Independence and famous generals and colonels to bombardment and occupation, Georgetown County’s history is entwined with the American Revolutionary War. Celebrating 250 years since the country gained its independence, Georgetown County recognizes its many contributions to the cause. We wanted to share some of the historical highlights here:
South Carolina Wins the Revolutionary War for America
One of the well-known facts found in America history books is about Britain’s Lord Cornwallis, Commander of all British forces in North America, surrendering on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown. Period. End of story.
Not so! For almost 14 months after the surrender, South Carolina continued to be occupied by the British. This is the period when Francis Marion and American forces fought bitterly against the British presence all over the state. Charleston was taken on May 12, 1780, and a hard-won victory finally forced the British to evacuate South Carolina on Dec. 14, 1782.
South Carolina fought more battles and skirmishes than any other state in the Revolutionary War. More than 400 actions took place, many of them by Gen. Francis Marion.

Thomas Lynch Jr., signer of the Declaration of Independence
For such a small town in the early days of our country, Georgetown has a dignitary of rare credentials – a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His name was Thomas Lynch Jr., and it was his father, Thomas Lynch Sr., who attended the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and helped draft the Declaration of Independence. Soon after that, Thomas Sr. suffered a stroke and his son hurried from Georgetown to Philadelphia to attend to his father.
Thomas Sr. was too ill to resume his seat, but Thomas Jr. had the appropriate experience, having earned a law degree from Cambridge University, being active in politics and serving in the military. He finished his father’s term in the Continental Congress and signed the historic document in his father’s place. A space was left for Thomas Sr., but he was never able to sign.
When Thomas Sr. was finally well enough to return to South Carolina, the British had the port of Charleston blockaded, so the trip was made by land, a long, harsh experience. He suffered another stroke and died enroute to Georgetown. He was buried in Annapolis, Maryland.
The Lynch family owned Hopsewee Plantation, south of Georgetown. Dates for its construction vary from 1733 to 1740. Primarily a rice plantation, it has not changed hands many times in two and a half centuries.
Thomas Lynch Jr., and his wife, Elizabeth, never had children of their own. He stated in his will that his female heirs (four sisters) were to adopt the surname of Lynch to inherit Hopsewee, the family estate.
Having suffered what was probably malaria during his military days, Thomas Jr. somewhat recovered but had recurring bouts of fever. He was advised to go to France to recuperate. At the end of 1779, he sailed with his wife, for St. Eustatius in the Dutch West Indies to board a ship bound for Paris. During the first leg of the journey, their ship disappeared at sea in a storm and was never found.
Marquis de Lafayette enters America at Georgetown
While Benjamin Franklin was in Paris seeking support for the American bid for independence in 1776, he met with Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, better known (and much easier to say) as the Marquis de Lafayette. Franklin had little convincing to do.
On December 7, 1776, the Marquis signed a contract with American Silas Deane in Paris and accepted the commission as Major General in the American Army. Because Congress had no funds to transport him and other volunteers to America, he used his own wealth to buy a ship and called it La Victoire.
On June 13, 1777, the Marquis along with his friend, Baron deKalb, arrived in the colonies in Georgetown, his very first footsteps in America. Heading for Charleston, the Marquis found the British in control of the port there and opted to veer a little to the north. It seems that around midnight, the Marquis landed on the shore of Winyah Bay, on Captain Benjamin Huger’s summer home at North Island.
Huger was immediately on alert at the sound of his dogs barking, and soon a knock on his door caused him alarm, thinking no good could come so late at night. Upon opening his door he was astonished to see the young Marquis and his entourage. Refreshments were prepared, introductions made and soon the two aristocrats began to form a friendship to last a lifetime.
The Marquis explained that he was on his way to visit Henry Laurens near Charleston (the President of the Continental Congress, and later, the only American to be imprisoned in the Tower of London), then continuing to join George Washington. He went back to France in 1778 and returned to American shores in 1780 with French troops.
He commanded American forces in Virginia during the campaign against Maj. Gen. Lord Charles Cornwallis, where he played a key role entrapping the English General at Yorktown. Without the Marquis’ French troops, we may not have been able to win our war for independence. He was so dedicated to the American cause that when he died in 1834, he was buried with soil from Bunker Hill poured over his grave.

Sgt. Allen McDonald, a patriot and a hero
An enduring tale from Revolutionary War days is one concerning Sgt. Allen McDonald, a patriot serving under Col. Peter Horry. The first mention of Sgt. Allen McDonald is that he was one of three American prisoners rescued at the Battle of Nelson’s Ferry by Gen. Francis Marion. He promptly joined Marion’s brigade.
Young McDonald was the son of Gen. Donald McDonald, a fierce fighter who had survived the Massacre of Culloden in the highlands of Scotland in 1745. The son, Sgt. Allen McDonald, was a remarkably stout, red-haired young Scotsman, cool under the most trying difficulties, and brave without a fault. He once tricked a loyalist citizen into giving him his finest steed, pretending to be a messenger from British Col. Banastre Tarleton, who supposedly requested the horse.
In January 1781, Col. Peter Horry encountered one third of Loyalist Maj. Gainey’s men just outside of Georgetown. In the encounter the latter lost one half his men who were in the action. In the conflict, as usual, Sgt. McDonald performed with valor. Later in the day, Gainey’s regiment again commenced the attack when the sergeant made a dash for the leader. Gainey proved to have been well mounted; but the sergeant, astride his mighty steed, overtook Gainey.
When they reached the corner of the Richmond fence on the Black River Road, the sergeant had gained so far upon his enemy as to be able to plunge his bayonet into Gainey’s back. The steel parted from the gun, and with no time to extricate it, Gainey rushed back into Georgetown, with the weapon still conspicuously showing how close and fierce had been the charge, and how narrow the escape. Gainey miraculously survived the wound, returning to duty some weeks later.
Not long after that incident, McDonald, as usual employing himself in watching the movements of the British under Col. Watson, climbed up into a bushy tree, and thence, with a musket loaded with pistol bullets, fired at the guards as they passed. He killed one man and badly wounded another; then sliding down the tree, mounted his horse, and was soon out of harm’s way. Watson gave chase and came upon the encampment where the patriots had hidden themselves. Finding McDonald’s clothes, he seized them.
Feeling it a point of honor to retrieve his clothing, McDonald sent word to Watson that if he did not immediately send back his clothes, he would kill eight of Watson’s men to compensate for them. Furious at the audacious message, Watson ordered the messenger to return with no reply. Knowing the character of the sergeant and that he would keep his word, some of Watson’s men urged him to return the clothes. Watson yielded, and when the messenger returned to the sergeant, he said, “You may now tell Colonel Watson that I will kill but four of his men.”
McDonald did not live to reap the fruit of his labors, or even to see his country free. He was killed at the siege of Fort Motte, May 12, 1781.
His resting place is unknown. No monument has been erected in his memory save the historical marker found on Highway 521 on North Fraser Street in Georgetown near the spot of the encounter with Gainey. The name of Sgt. Allen McDonald will endure so long as heroes are remembered, and their stories are handed down.
The Bombardment of Georgetown
After the battle at Shubrick’s Plantation on July 17, 1781, Capt. William Ransom Davis was ordered by Col. Thomas Sumter to go to Georgetown and seize slaves, horses, indigo, salt, and medical supplies from the Loyalist civilians.
The British in Charlestown had become worried that the town was becoming a harbor where privateers and naval vessels could deliver supplies to Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene’s army. When Sumter threatened the Loyalists, the British decided to retaliate.
Capt. Manson commanded the Loyalist Privateer schooner Peggy and was ordered by Col. Balfour to destroy Georgetown as a supply depot. Manson sailed the schooner over the Winyah Harbor Bar and demanded permission to land his men. Davis denied the request. In response, Manson brought up a galley from the Winyah Harbor bar and bombarded Georgetown.
After the shelling had frightened everyone from the streets, Manson sent his sailors ashore to set fire to the stores and warehouses. In the process they also burned down 42 houses. As the town burned, Manson’s men shelled the streets to prevent fire fighters from putting out the flames. The town of Georgetown did not fully recover from this attack until 1830, almost 50 years later.
After the Georgetown raid, Gov. John Rutledge outlawed the practice of retaliations and reprisals on the Loyalists. Sumter felt that this was aimed directly at him, and he relinquished the command of his Brigade to Col. William Henderson. Upon Sumter’s retirement, Francis Marion became the Brigadier General of Militia in South Carolina.
British Headquarters at the corner of Front and Broad streets
On July 1, 1780, Capt. John Ardesoif seized Georgetown harbor. British officers then read Gen. Sir Henry Clinton’s two recent proclamations to Georgetown residents, informing them that they must take up arms against the Patriot rebels.
Maj. John James, the patriot leader of the Kingstree Regiment, rode to Georgetown to ask if his men were truly expected to take up arms against their fellow Patriots. Dressed as a farmer, he was presented to Capt. Ardesoif at his headquarters.
Ardesoif answered, “The submission must be unconditional.” To James’s next question as to whether the local inhabitants would not be allowed to stay at home, in peace and quiet, Ardesoif replied, “Although you have rebelled against his majesty, he offers you a free pardon, of which you are undeserving, for you ought all to be hanged, but as he offers you a free pardon, you must take up arms in support of the cause.”
James stated that the people he represented would not submit to such terms, and Ardesoif responded, “You damned rebel. If you speak in such language, I will immediately order you to be hanged up to the yard arm…” Since Ardesoif was getting angry and wore a sword, James quickly grabbed a chair and brandished it in the face of the British officer, then quickly retreated out the back door, mounted his nearby horse, and made his escape.
Ghost of the Red Coat Soldier
During the occupation of Georgetown from July 11, 1780, until June 6, 1781, officers and soldiers were quartered in the homes of the townspeople. Residences were taken over to be headquarters and offices, and horses were stabled in Prince George Church.
Three British soldiers were quartered at 331 Screven Street, built circa 1770, on the third floor where three dormer windows are visible today. Early one morning, a call to arms was sounded. As the three soldiers scrambled into their uniforms and rushed down the stairs, one became entangled in his coat, fell headlong forward down the stairs, and died at the foot of the steps.
On several occasions since then, people have tripped on those same stairs and instead of falling, were grasped by strong hands preventing them from suffering the same fate as the Red Coat Soldier. It is he that is attributed with guarding travelers on those same stairs.
Articles provided by Georgetown County Historical Society