Billie and All, A wonderful book on the Rev War in SC is "Partisans and Redcoats" by Walter Edgar (he's the one who wrote the superb "South Carolina, a History"). Glenna ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lee and Billie Jones" <tjones@camden.net> To: <SC-Genealogy-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, June 24, 2002 9:40 PM Subject: [SC] An explanation for Tories in SC. > I received the following information, forwarded to me by Rootsweb because it > contained my key words, Edgefield and SC. June Bork's name will be > recognized by researchers of the Burnett family, as she is the author of two > volumes of "The Burnetts and Their Connections." Vol 2, published in 1993, > discusses the Edgefield Co. Burnetts and their ancestors in VA. [I have a > few selected pages, but not the whole book] > > The following info. was very interesting to me, as I had read some > information on the Ninety-Six area and was surprised that so many inland > South Carolinians were Tories. This is a good explanation as to why that > occurred, at least among those of Scottish ancestry. Most of the folks on > the coast were loyal to the Revolution, but inland folks were really > divided. I had never realized that the Revolution pitted families against > families and friends against neighbors before reading a book in from our > public library on the Ninety Six area and the Star Fort. > > Billie Jones > Camden, SC > tjones@camden.net > > Match: Edgefield AND SC > Source: CUMBERLAND-RIVER-L@rootsweb.com > From: "June Bork" <jbbork@hotmail.com> > Subject: [CRR] Oath of Allegiance > > > Remember Bonnie Prince Charley? He probably was the legitimate King > of England, and he was, of course, a Scot. He raised an army who marched > south into England with bagpipes playing, and all the troops in kilts. They > met the English army at a place called Culloden. I may not spell that > correctly, but it is a name often heard around American fireplaces. At the > Battle of Culloden, the English artillery (Scots had none) almost wiped out > the Scots. Prince Charlie fled along with his troops and they were pursued > by English soldiers who massacred so many of the Scots that the English King > called a halt to the slaughter of the Scots. Prisoners were taken of those > who survived the massacre. The English king appeared before the mass of > prisoners and announced that their life would be spared and each of them, > with their families, would be transported to the American colonies, and be > pardoned of the charge of treason. There was one condition to this parole. > Each of the Scots survivors who wished to live must take an oath to never > again take arms against the king of England. A generation later the > American revolution began, and the households of those who had survived > Culloden remembered the oath by which they were free and in the American > colonies. An oath is sacred to a Scot, and their sons and gr-sons honored > the pledge of the man whose word was given that day at the prison camps of > Culloden. > > Where did these few thousand men go when the kings ships brought them to the > colonies. Almost without exception these survivors of Culloden were > delivered to the southern colonies. Many came to North Carolina and to > Virginia, but I think the greatest number came to Georgia and to South > Carolina. > > The early Virginia Tax Recprds around 1776-7 usually gives a list of those > Persons Refusing to take the Oath. Those who refused to take the oath of > allegiance may not have been Tories, but if not, then his grandfather was > one, and he did not wish to take an oath of allegiance which voided the > salvation granted at Culloden. I am not sure about other states in > Virginia, but Henry County, Virginia also levied double taxes on those who > failed to take the oath of allegiance. Acquilla Greer who lived on Smith > River at a place north of Rockcastle. His land fell into Franklin County > when Franklin's boundaries were extended down to the banks of the Smith. He > could not forget that he was American because an English king granted them a > pardon upon taking a greater fealty oath after Culloden. Like so many > Tories, Greers sons changed sides as the Revolution wore on. It pays to be > on the winning side. > > A Scot and a Tory are almost the same one, especially during the early days. > But after a while the Whigs won over most Scots. How many were there? > Georgia was the first of the 13 colonies to fall to the British and they > held it all during the Revolution. From Georgia they sent many regiments > into SC and took it too. The headquarters of Cornwallis was Charleston, a > port city, where the king's ships unloaded many of the survivors of that > terrible day when English cannon almost wiped out the forces of Bonnie > Prince Charlie. > > Since Prince Charlie is somewhat of an American hero, it speaks of the > long-lingering tale of the aftermath of Culloden. > > Historians of the Revolution have always held that in North Carolina, one > third of the population supported the Crown, and they hold that in South > Carolina it was fifty-fifty, and in Georgia there was only one voice and it > was the same voice which took the oath at Culloden. > > I visited a library that had microfilm copies of the Charleston newspapers > of those days and had to get into those old records seeking a report of the > death in Edgefield, South Carolina of my ancestor in 1781. He was hacked to > death by Major William Cunningham (a Scot) from Georgia who commanded a > squadron of Dragoons in His Majesty's Loyal Militia. Those old Charleston > newspapers were full of stories of facy balls and other celebrations of > Loyalist Militia from the Carolinas and Georgia. I never doubted that when > my ancestors were on their way to the Battle of Guilford, they needed no map > to find the place where Cornwallis stood. They could hear the sound of the > pipes in the clear morning air, and those who played the pipes were sons of > Culloden and dwellers in Georgia and the Carolinas. > > The most precious possession of someone migrating a great distance is that > which he keeps in his head. Perhaps they were told of > the voyage in the King's vessels to freedom and forgiveness because they > took an oath to never again take arms against an English king. > > That is all the king ask. All he wished of a Scot was his word and his > pledge. It was that pledge which caused some to turn away from those who > went off to sign the Oath of Allegiance. > > > > ==== SC-Genealogy Mailing List ==== > Best Website around for South Carolina SCGenWeb - South Carolina Genealogy research > http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/3837/ >