View of the Battle for Sullivan's Island, 1776
South Carolina's Revolutionary Heritage
Sullivan's Island, Stono Ferry, Charleston, Camden, King's Mountain, Blackstocks, Cowpens -- over 200 skirmishes and battles fought in every corner of South Carolina. Homes divided, families finding themselves on opposite sides of the war, facing one another across the firing line. Battle scars that would last for a generation and staggering war debt that threatened economic catastrophe after the conflict ended.
Many people are unaware of the crucial role that South Carolina played in the struggle for American independence. None of the colonies suffered more in the conflict than South Carolina did. Left to her own resources, while Washington's army operated elsewhere, the British and Americans battled across the state, causing ruin wherever they went. When the British attacked Sullivan's Island in 1776, Charleston was America's fourth largest city and South Carolina was the Crown's richest possession. Seven years and 214 battles later, this state had the highest per capita war debt in America, nearly 5 and a half million dollars.
Yet much of the final victory and independence is due to South Carolina. The outgunned patriots at Sullivan's Island provided the first victory for the American cause and the daring victory won by backwoodsmenat King's Mountain in York County in 1781 would prove to be the turning point for the war. Francis Marion and his partisan band exhausted the British in the marshes and forests around Charleston where he earned immortal fame as the "Swamp Fox", and it was Daniel Morgan who routed the British at Cowpens, a blow which forced Cornwallis north from this state to Guildford Courthouse and final defeat at Yorktown, Virginia.