On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress debated and held a preliminary vote on Richard Henry Lee’s proposed resolution for Independence. Nine states voted for Independence: Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina and Georgia. The Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Delaware delegations were split, but the majority of the delegates from both Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted no, and the Delaware delegation had one delegate voting yes and one delegate voting no. The New York delegation was subject to instructions prohibiting them from the New York Convention from them from voting for independence so New York abstained. But the Congress agreed to continue the debate and vote again the next day.

Sources: https://www.loc.gov/collections/thomas-jefferson-papers/articles-and-essays/the-thomas-jefferson-papers-timeline-1743-to-1827/1774-to-1783?__cf_chl_f_tk=FO8VA_UOQO99EOV9qLlFYq02NwfKhAWRzaaOdTiB27s-1782957393-1.0.1.1-3oXzuBptfZEP7GaL9W0bMY74q_WymPuyht5cstGH0lQ; https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/historyculture/resources-declarationofindependence.htm; https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/day-1776-independence-had-majority-131533290.html; Hogeland, William, Declaration: The Nine Tumultuous Weeks When America Became Independent, May 1 – July 4, 1776, New York: Simon & Schuster (2010) at pp. 167-72

On this day 250 years ago in South Carolina, Cherokees allied with the British were attacking White settlers. In what is now the town of Greer, in Greenville County, South Carolina, Cherokee raiders killed Jacob Hite and abducted his wife Frances Madison Hite (James Madison’s aunt) and daughters Eleanor and Susan Hite. Jacob Hite’s son James had been killed by Cherokees a few days earlier. Frances Hite’s body was recovered a few days later but Eleanor and Susan never returned from captivity and historians presume they were also killed.

Sources: https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=24254; https://www.foxcarolina.com/2025/12/19/jacob-hite-story-greers-first-settler/; https://virtual.bellegrove.org/jacob-hites-fateful-move/; https://virtual.bellegrove.org/the-revolutionary-war-a-cherokee-raid/

Around the same day 250 years ago (some sources say it was on June 30 and other sources say July 1 or early July 1776) in what is now the town of Greer in Spartanburg County (Greer straddles the line between Spartanburg and Greenville Counties) South Carolina, a party of Cherokees and Loyalists approached the home of Anthony Hampton and were greeted by Hampton and his son Preston Hampton. Preston Hampton had just returned from negotiations with Cherokees for a treaty of peace between the Cherokee Nation and South Carolina and he and his father knew some of the Cherokees. Without warning the Cherokees killed both Anthony and Preston Hampton. They then killed Anthony Hampton’s wife Ann Elizabeth Preston Hampton and their infant grandson and abducted nine-year old grandson John Bynum. Two other grandsons (sons of Preston Hampton) were also murdered at Preston’s nearby home. John Bynum was later returned to his family and provided a first account of the massacre of his relatives.

Cherokee raiders also attacked and killed members of the Hannon family at their nearby home in South Carolina around this same time.

The surviving sons of Anthony Hampton would join with other South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia militia to exact a fearful revenge on the Cherokee Nation for these massacres.

Sources: Parker’s Guide at 392-93; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=10400; https://amrevnc.com/round-mountain/