An assessment of critical battles on the southern front that led to American independence An estimated one-third of all combat actions in the American Revolution took place in South Carolina. From the partisan clashes of the backcountry's war for the hearts and minds of settlers to bloody encounters with Native Americans on the frontier, more battles were fought in South Carolina than any other of the original thirteen states. The state also had more than its share of pitched battles between Continental troops and British regulars. In South Carolina and the American Revolution: A Battlefield History, John W. Gordon illustrates how these encounters, fought between 1775 and 1783, were critical to winning the struggle that secured Americas independence from Great Britain. According to Gordon, when the war reached stalemate in other zones and the South became its final theater, South Carolina was the decisive battleground. Recounting the clashes in the state, Gordon identifies three sources of attack: the powerful British fleet and seaborne forces of the British regulars; the Cherokees in the west; and, internally, a loyalist population numerous enough to support British efforts towards reconquest. From the successful defense of Fort Sullivan (the palmetto-log fort at the mouth of Charleston harbor), capture and occupation of Charleston in 1780, to later battles at King's Mountain and Cowpens, this chronicle reveals how troops in South Carolina frustrated a campaign for restoration of royal authority and set British troops on the road to ultimate defeat at Yorktown. Despite their successes in 1780 and 1781, the British found themselves with a difficult military problem—having to wage a conventional war against American regular forces while also mounting a counterinsurgency against the partisan bands of Francis Marion, Andrew Pickens, and Thomas Sumter. In this comprehensive assessment of one southern state's battlegrounds, Gordon examines how military policy in its strategic, operational, and tactical dimensions set the stage for American success in the Revolution.

This is a chronicle of South Carolina describing in human terms 475 years of recorded history in the Palmetto State. Recounting the period from the first Spanish exploration to the end of the Civil War, the author charts South Carolina's rising national and international importance.

In this book, Lindley S. Butler traverses oft-noted but little understood events in the political and social establishment of the Carolina colony. In the wake of the English Civil Wars in the mid-seventeenth century, King Charles II granted charters to eight Lords Proprietors to establish civil structures, levy duties and taxes, and develop a vast tract of land along the southeastern Atlantic coast. Butler argues that unlike the New England theocracies and Chesapeake plantocracy, the isolated colonial settlements of the Albemarle—the cradle of today's North Carolina—saw their power originate neither in the authority of the church nor in wealth extracted through slave labor, but rather in institutions that emphasized political, legal, and religious freedom for white male landholders. Despite this distinct pattern of economic, legal, and religious development, however, the colony could not avoid conflict among the diverse assemblage of Indigenous, European, and African people living there, all of whom contributed to the future of the state and nation that took shape in subsequent years. Butler provides the first comprehensive history of the proprietary era in North Carolina since the nineteenth century, offering a substantial and accessible reappraisal of this key historical period.

The Federal Writers Project creates an image of South Carolina of years past All of us, at one time or another, have had a strong desire to be able to get into a time machine and be transported magically to an earlier place and time. Science has not yet produced for us such a time machine, but the Federal Writers Project (FWP), a division of the Works Progress Administration, did produce for prosperity guides to all of the old 48 states. Using talented local researchers and writers the FWP created an image of America fifty plus years ago. A reprint of the original, South Carolina: The WPA Guide to the Palmetto State is divided into three sections: 19 essays on a variety of topics ranging from history to cookery; detailed descriptions of the 11 towns in the state that had populations of more than 10,000; and 21 remarkably detailed guided tours to all sections of the state. In addition to the original chapters, there are two appendices—updated highway numbers for each tour and a guide to getting off the present Interstate Highway System and picking up the guided tours. South Carolina's Guide is very much a product of its times. The essays and tours mince no words in describing the state's poverty or the reality of a world in which class and race played major roles. For those who have studied and taught South Carolina history, the old Guide has been an indispensable reference work. Parts of it may be dated to some jaded modern eyes; some phrases may be jarring to the post-1954 generation. However, the original South Carolina: The WPA Guide to the Palmetto State was what its cover claimed it to be. It accurately described the state as it was—not as romantics wanted it to be.

The story of South Carolina's natural history investigations, especially in zoology and botany. It describes the state's diverse flora and fauna; the impact of social, political and economic events on natural history; and the role Charleston played in the state's scientific heritage.

Filled with local stories and dramatic scenes of fighting from across many decades, J. B. O. Landrum's chronicle of South Carolina is a treasure of the past. The author is enthusiastic in presenting accounts which encapsulate the local Carolina spirit; tales of hardship amid an unforgiving wilderness, of brutal combat between the Native Americans and the white settlers, and of everyday living in the villages and townships of the various counties. War stories and dramatic events are commonly taken from recollections of descendants and written anecdotes; such sources make for a lively and thoroughly engaging history of how South Carolina came to be. By the time he wrote this history in 1897, J. B. O. Landrum was already respected as a writer and chronicler of the past. Locals in and around the Carolinas would, from time to time, send him pertinent material. This edition includes the original publication's maps of the locality, so that readers can understand where settlements stood in the grand scheme of things, and how troops moved around during the conflicts. For its unique storytelling and knowledge, this history retains much value for modern day readers.