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Posted on 07/10/2006 5:25:43 PM PDT by Pharmboy
ROCK HILL, S.C. - A research facility is planned for York County that will focus on the role of Southern states in the Revolutionary War.
Historian Michael Scoggins said the Southern Revolutionary War Institute will be used to educate people about the South's contributions to the war. It's a field he says has been neglected in the past.
"There's been various fields that downplay the role of the South," Scoggins said. "When you look at most history textbooks, we are generally given the short treatment."
The institute will be based at the McCelvey Center in York and local officials hope it will be a tourist draw.
"I think that people are going to flock here from all over the world because there's nothing else like this out there in the world," said Charles Baxley, advisory council member for the institute and editor and publisher of the online newsletter "Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution."
The institute will house the Bobby G. Moss Revolutionary War Collection, microfilm copies of the Lyman C. Draper Manuscript collection and the Cornwallis Papers among other collections.
Rory Cornish, chairman of the history department at Winthrop University, said the institute will be a "great source for history majors" and looks forward to its future use by Winthrop faculty and students.
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General Francis Marion, "The Swamp Fox" (One of the main figures that Mel Gibson's character in "The Patriot" was based on.)
Marion was a singular individual. Smart, courageous, and a thorn in the Brit's side.
Washington rightfully enjoyed a larger than life reputation both during his life and through history, plus the Founding Fathers who did not actually participate in the fighting (Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, etc.) are all well known. I think it is "competition" such as this that has prevented men such as Marion from having greater fame.
The General was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, as was James Monroe.
The War moved to the South after 1777. The English aimed their main thrust south to split the colonies and defeat the rebel armies in detail. What followed were The Battle of Cowpens. King's Mountain. Eutaw Springs. 96. The Battle of Huck's Defeat. The Race to the Dan. Yorktown.
There was a lot of Patriot vs Torie civil war in the South in addition to fighting against the Redcoats. At King's Mountain a self-organized militia of 'over the moutain men' pursued and trapped a Tory militia army on a hilltop and shot them to pieces. During that battle the patriot militia terrified the Tories with a high pitched 'indian' shriek, the ancestor of the rebel yell heard 80 years later. This history has been an interest of mine, I have a half dozen ancestors who played a role in it.
Were they Scots-Irish?
Monroe was a brave warrior. He was wounded at Trenton when ordered to take a Hessian artillery placement. He was 17 y/o at the the time...
There were many Scotsman who were players in the RevWar. The greatest (IMO) was Hugh Mercer, veteran of the (Scots) Battle of Culloden, who died a heroes' death at Princeton. All the Mercer Counties are named after him.
A lot of them were. A mix of Scots-Irish, English, Scots, and Irish. Most were privates in the militia, one appears to be Continental Line, and one an officer in the Line and later the Virginia militia.
Have you read Webb's book Born Fighting? A great book for those of Scots-Irish heritage (the "invisible" ethnicity, being the American type). David Hackett Fischer's Albion's Seed is also a valuable book, Webb drew heavily from it.
The youthful Monroe was badly wounded, and an even younger Andrew Jackson (13yr old courier) was captured and badly treated by the British. Some of these early Presidents knew war first hand. As did Hamilton and Aaron Burr.
"South Carolina votes Nay on America Independence."
"North Carolina votes . . ."
Yes, we have it already.
About time!
(I have ancestral roots in York County, so this is cook)
A nice resource for both King's Mountain and Cowpens:
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/revwar/KM-Cpns/AWC-KM-FM.htm
Actually, that is cool, not cook...
And another site on Cowpens:
http://www.patriotresource.com/battles/cowpens.html
The South and the North worked together to throw off the yoke of British tyranny! GBA.
hedgetrimmer wrote:
> Were they Scots-Irish? <
The "overmountain men," who were so critically important to the Patriots' victories in the Carolinas, were overwhelmingly Scots-Irish.
It's my understanding, however, that the highland Scots who settled the flatlands of southeastern North Carolina were mostly Tories, i.e., pro-British.
I also recall reading somewhere that although some of the local militias all over the Carolinas were initially pro-British, they switched to the Patriots' side after learning of British Col. Bannistre Tarleton's horrible depradations.
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