On this day 250 years ago South Carolina Governor Lord William Campbell’s fled Charleston to the safety of the HMS Tamar in Charleston Harbor. The departure of South Carolina’s last royal governor left the
South Carolina Provincial Congress and Council of Safety in control of the entire province except the post at Ninety Six and other western South Carolina areas controlled by militia still loyal to the British government.
https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/campbell-lord-william/; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_William_Campbell; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Elliott_Huger_House
Also on that same day a detachment of the Second Regiment of the South Carolina militia commanded by Lt. Col. Isaac Motte, and led by Captains Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Barnard Elliott, Francis Marion and Thomas Heyward, Jr. captured Fort Johnson in Charleston Harbor. The British had removed most of the cannon and garrison from the fort and the Patriots captured the fort and the five British soldiers left to guard the fort without a shot, but British warships would return two days later.
Motte and Elliott would serve in the military for the remainder of the war, Heyward would sign the Declaration of Independence, Pinckney would sign the Constitution and Francis Marion would become the most celebrated military officer from South Carolina in the War. All these officers but Marion would also end up as prisoners of war following the fall of Charleston in 1780.
On This Day In The Revolution 