Stand Against Dixiephobia

Dixiephobia - noun
Dix·ie·pho·bi·a | \dik-sē-'fō-bē-ə\
Definition: An irrational prejudice against, hatred towards, or fear of the American Southland, its history, culture, symbols, language, music, literature, and people, especially as a political force. It is often used more specifically to describe the extreme or irrational fear of those who demand censorship of inanimate objects such as apparel, flags, memorials, statues, and cemeteries displaying iconography of the former Confederate States of America and the soldiers who fought to defend Southern independence. 

The Destruction Of Hill's Ironworks: Huck's Reign Of Terror Continues -- June 17, 1780

Living history re-enactors portraying Captain Christian Huck and officers of the British Legion
Cavalry and Loyalist Militia.
(Photograph courtesy of Historic Brattonsville)

The Destruction Of Hill's Ironworks
Huck's Reign Of Terror Continues

Saturday, June 17, 1780  

By: C.W. Roden

(Part 5 of a 15 part series)

On Sunday, June 11th, the same day that a detachment of the dreaded British Legion and Loyalist militia under the command of Captain Christian Huck was destroying Reverend John Simpson's home and library, another pastor, Reverend William Martin, and his congregation were meeting at their church on Rocky Creek in modern-day York County. So many people turned out in fact that the service had to be held outside under the shade of the trees.

Though none of those assembled were yet aware of Huck's activities to the north along Fishing Creek, they were fully aware of the recent fall of Charleston and the massacre of Buford's Continentals at the Waxhaws the previous month, and very much aware of the more recent responses of many of their neighbors and relatives at Alexander's Old Field and Mobley's Meeting House.

That Sunday morning, Reverend Martin preached a sermon full of righteous fire and anti-British sentiment that was long remembered in the Rocky Creek community. In the sermon, Martin reminded the largely Scotch-Irish congregation of the hardships that their fathers had suffered, that they had been forced out of Scotland and again out of Ulster in Northern Ireland, had come to America where they were free men and where they had built their homes and church. Now the British were coming and would once again drive them from their homes. He told them that there is a time to pray and a time to fight and the time to fight had come. This sermon inspired many of them to take up arms against the British and their Loyalist neighbors.

The next morning, Monday, June 12th, a group of Martin's churchgoers and local Patriots assembled at a muster ground seven miles from Rocky Mount and began drilling under the command of Captain Ben Land. Unknown to Land and his men, a local schoolmaster and Loyalist named Montgomery had tipped off the British commander at Rocky Mount about the militia gathering. Huck's green-coated dragoons caught the Patriot militia by surprise, then charged upon them, slashing them with their sabers. The militiamen ran for their lives. Captain Land himself was surrounded by the dragoons and attempted to defend himself with his sword, managing to wound a couple of the horsemen before he was cut to pieces and killed.

About two miles from the muster ground, about half a dozen of Martin's neighbors assembled at the shop of a local blacksmith and free-man-of-color, George Harris. These men were getting their horses shod when the Legion dragoons also surprised them and killed one of their number. Huck's men then proceeded to the home of Reverend Martin, where they arrested and then took him back to their post at Rocky Mount a prisoner. Huck's dragoons also put Reverend Martin's home to the torch. The Patriot minister was transferred to the jail at Camden where he would remain for several months before being released by General Cornwallis.

D.A.R. marker at the site of Reverend Martin's Rocky Creek
"Covenenter" Church (Meeting House) located 2 miles
east of the Catholic Presbyterian Church.

The Meeting At Hill's Ironworks

On the same day that Reverend Martin was captured, a meeting took place in the New Acquisitions District at William Hill's Ironworks. A Loyalist envoy had been sent there from Lord Rawdon to the assembled locals with a British proclamation claiming that the Continental Congress had abandoned Georgia and South Carolina. The envoy also claimed that George Washington's Continental Army was in flight before General Sir Henry Clinton's British and Hessian Forces in the north. After making these bold claims, the Loyalist envoy then encouraged the people of the New Acquisitions District to take the oath pledging loyalty to the British Crown.

At this point Hill interrupted the commissioner and refuted the claims made by the officer. Hill informed the audience that the Continental Congress had not abandoned them, that instead Washington himself was sending one of his best officers south to form a new Southern Continental Army to take back South Carolina from the British occupation.

As the operator of a large ironworks that supplied weapons and material to the Continental Army, Hill had extensive contacts with important officials and prominent citizens in Charlotte, Salisbury and throughout western North Carolina. These contacts kept Hill well informed of developments with the war in the north and with the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. 

As a native of Ireland, Hill also had little love for the British authorities.

Hill's information was correct for the most part about the new Continental Army being formed in North Carolina. Two brigades of Maryland and Delaware Continentals under the command of Major General Johann DeKalb (also known simply as Baron DeKalb) would arrive in Hillsborough over a week later, forming the nucleus of a new Southern command. These Continentals were among Washington's best soldiers. Also included in this new army were Virginia and North Carolina militia volunteers. The Board of War appointed by the Continental Congress however overruled Washington's choice to command the Southern Army Major General Nathaniel Greene and instead appointed Major General Horatio Gates, the so-called "Hero of Saratoga" to the job. This choice would later have serious and disastrous consequences.

The crowd's reaction to these revelations was immediate. They sided with Hill and the  Loyalist envoy left quickly with his proclamations for fear of being detained, or possibly tarred and feathered by the angry crowd of Scots-Irish Patriots. The men of the New Acquisitions agreed to form a new militia regiment and elected Andrew Neel as their colonel with Hill acting as lieutenant colonel. Hill's Ironworks became the headquarters of the reconstructed New Acquisitions Regiment. Word quickly spread about the formation of the unit, and soon men from Georgia and western South Carolina added to the growing Patriot force.


The British & Loyalist Response

On Wednesday, June 14th, Colonel Neel and Hill both received intelligence that an Irish Loyalist named Matthew Floyd was raising men in the Broad River settlements to join his militia regiment to reinforce the British outpost at Rocky Mount. The reports also mentioned Floyd's Loyalists terrorizing Patriot inhabitants along the river.

Upon hearing this news, Colonel Neal collected a number of men and set off in pursuit of the Loyalists, leaving only a small garrison to guard the ironworks during his absence. Floyd and about 30 of his Loyalist neighbors from the Broad, Tyger and Enoree Rivers headed to Rocky Mount to offer their services to the British command there, unaware that he and his men were leaving their homes and friends unprotected.

Floyd and his men arrived at Rocky Mount on Thursday, June 15th about the same time that Captain Huck and his forces were returning from their foraging expedition. In addition to confiscation horses and food supplies from known local Patriots and destroying the homes and churches of Scots-Irish Presbyterians, whom Huck held in particular disdain; Huck informed the commander of the post, Lt. Colonel Turnbull that the local Whig militia under Colonels Edward Lacey and William Bratton had "fled to the mountains" (a reference to the hilly area of the northwestern part of modern-day York County, SC).

Turnbull was pleased to have Floyd and his men fill the ranks, considering the staunch Loyalist an asset and giving him a Royal commission of Colonel of militia in the Upper Spartan District (modern-day Spartanburg County). Floyd's son Abraham was granted a commission of captain.

Later that evening, a courier arrived with intelligence that Neel and his forces had left Hill's Ironworks and were advancing on the area west of the Broad River wreaking havoc on the Loyalist settlements where Floyd and his men lived.

Turnbull knew that the ironworks were a refuge for Rebels, as well as a source of weapons in the upcountry and that the time had come to deal with it. The British officer ordered Huck with a mobile force of British Legion cavalry and sixty mounted Loyalist militia under the newly commissioned Captain Abraham Floyd to march on Hill's Ironworks and to destroy it along with any Whig forces in the area.

Huck and his Loyalist forces set out early the next morning on Friday, June 16th.

At the ironworks, Colonel Hill received word that now General Thomas Sumter was north in Salisbury, recruiting men and preparing to join Patriot General Griffith Rutherford, who commanded the Salisbury Militia Brigade, at Charlotte for a major attack against Loyalist forces near Ramsour's Mill.

Hill made plans to rendezvous with Rutherford at Tuckasegee Ford on the Catawba River in North Carolina. He left about 15 men to guard the place, taking the rest of his militia north, unaware that Huck and his Loyalists were on their way to the ironworks.


The Destruction Of Hill's Ironworks

After securing his camp, Captain Huck set out for Hill's Ironworks in the early morning hours of Saturday, June 17th. Employing a local loyalist named John Dennis as a guide, Huck's men made their way into the New Acquisition District.

Along the way Huck's Loyalist force stopped at the home of local Whig militiaman, James Simril, along Allison Creek, a tributary of the Catawba River. There they confiscated what provisions they could find, and then set fire to the barn before they left. Next they arrived at the home of Moses Ferguson, another Whig sympathizer who lived on Rocky Allison Creek about two miles south of Hill's Ironworks. Huck ordered Ferguson under threat to kill him and destroy his home to show him the best route to take in order to outflank and take the Patriot militia stationed at the ironworks by surprise.

Captain John Henderson of the Patriot force left at the ironworks had been scouting the area for Loyalists when he was captured by Huck's advance forces. Huck confiscated Henderson's horse and saddle, then sent the prisoner under guard to Rocky Mount while he continued to the ironworks.

The store, furnace, and mills that made up the ironworks themselves were built on the south side of Allison Creek. The Patriot militia accordingly set up their encampment there and prepared for an attack from the same direction they believed Huck would come from. Two of Colonel Hill's sons, Robert and William Jr., procured a one-pound swivel gun manufactured at the ironworks and set it up on a hill overlooking the south road, where they could train it on the approaching Tories.

Huck however had anticipated such a defense and instead attacked the Patriots from the north, catching the defenders completely by surprise. After exchanging a couple of volleys with Huck's forces, the outnumbered Patriots mounted their horse and road north to North Carolina. Huck overtook the rear of the militia's detachment killing several and taking about four prisoners. Huck also captured both of Hill's sons, though later released them. The Loyalists stripped the prisoners of their belongings -- including reportedly their rings.

One of the men captured by Huck was Hill's iron molder, an Irishman named Calhoun. Calhoun was hung by the neck and ordered to tell Huck where Colonel Hill was, but being true to his employer he refused to do so. The Loyalists left him hanging there, but one of Hill's slaves who had been hiding and witnessed the whole thing, cut Calhoun down and helped restore the man to health.

That afternoon, the Loyalists then plundered the ironworks and Whig camp of everything they could, and once that task was completed, Huck ordered the ironworks and all of the surrounding buildings burned to the ground. Huck burned the forge, furnace, sawmills, all of the outbuildings and even the slave huts. Around 90 African-American slaves were also taken as "contraband" and several would end up becoming servants to the British commander of Rocky Mount, Turnbull, and a few of Huck's officers.

After demolishing the ironworks, Huck moved his forces southwest down to Fergus Crossroads, where the town of York, South Carolina stands today, and made camp for the evening.

Immediately following the destruction of Hill's Ironworks, Huck and his task force moved back down Fishing Creek towards Brown's Crossroads. In addition to the Whig prisoners and captured slaves, Huck sent a dispatch with a report to Turnbull claiming that he had "defeated 150 rebels" and completely destroyed the ironworks.


Aftermath

The destruction of Hill's Ironworks was not only a serious blow to the Patriot cause in the South Carolina backcountry, but also to the American cause itself. The ironworks had been a major producer or guns and ammunition that supplied the Continental Army in the north.

Worse for the people of the area, it was also a major producer of both kitchen utensils and agricultural implements depended on heavily by the farmers in the surrounding communities along the border of both Carolinas. The destruction of the ironworks was nothing less than a complete disaster which literally meant that some of these farmers had to return to briefly return to the wooden plough.

Because of the latter, the destruction of Hill's Ironworks, while a legitimate act of war because of the former, ended up working badly against the British cause of pacifying the South Carolina backcountry. It also added to the list of grievances that the people of the local area had against Captain Christian Huck -- a list of abuses that would rapidly grow over the next month.

Believing that he and his men had dispersed the last body of armed Whigs from the district and secured the region for the Crown, Huck began to send his men throughout the area, posting notices and notifying the inhabitants of the region informing them that Huck would be holding an assembly at the Brown's Crossroads  on Thursday, June 22nd, where the citizens could sign the oath of allegiance and take British protection. 

Since most of the young men in the area were now in North Carolina with Colonels Hill, Bratton, and Neel at General Thomas Sumter's camp, the only men who attended Huck's assembly were primarily older citizens from the New Acquisition District and the upper part of what is modern-day Chester County. 

There it was reported to Colonel Hill by eyewitnesses that Huck verbally harangued the locals, spitting out blasphemous statements that no doubt deeply offended the Scots-Irish Presbyterians, and then proceeded to order his men to confiscate their horses. The "Swearing Captain" then went on to reportedly declare: "God almighty had become a Rebel, but if there were 20 Gods on that side, they would all be conquered!" As the now outraged local men were forced at bayonet point to disperse and now walk many miles home on foot, Huck reportedly made his most infamous statement: "Even if the rebels were thick as the trees, and Jesus Christ would come down and lead them, I could defeat them!" 

Because of this most of these men refused to take the Oath of Allegiance. Indeed, some of these men had, until then, been neutral in the fighting. Huck's theft and blasphemy, along with his destruction of the Hill's Ironworks ended up having quite the opposite effect that he'd intended on the locals.  

The Bible makes it very plain that God will not be mocked. Huck himself would learn that lesson the hard way, and it would be at the hands of those faithful Patriots that he insulted and terrorized that the Lord's vengeance would be delivered upon the Pennsylvania Loyalist less than a month later at a place called Williamson's Plantation in modern-day York County, which we will discuss in detail in the next chapter of this series. 

The grave of Colonel William Hill in the churchyard
of historic Bethel Presbyterian Church near
Clover, South Carolina.

For more information about the destruction of Hill's Iron Works please consult the following sources that were used to help with this blog post:

The outstanding books: The Day It Rained Militia by Michael C. Scoggins (2005) ISBN 1-59629-015-3

 Partisans & Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned The Tide of the American Revolution by Walter Edgar (2001) ISBN 0-308-97760-5

The Burning Of Justice Gaston's Home: The Loyalists Strike Back -- June 11, 1780

The Burning Of Justice Gaston's Home

The Loyalists Strike Back

Sunday, June 11, 1780 

By: C.W. Roden 

(Part 4 of a 15 part series)

In the space of just three days, those backcountry Patriots who were content to sit out the rest of the war following the fall of Charleston the month before struck back against their oppressive Loyalist neighbors and their British allies in two short, but important battles.

These small acts of defiance alone were not enough to completely erase the fear of the British occupiers. Yet they were enough to send a clear message to the British commander at the Rocky Mount outpost, Lieutenant Colonel George Turnbull, that the Upstate was not completely in British control. That many of the Patriots in the New Acquisition and the upper District between the Broad and the Catawba Rivers still had not submitted to the Crown's authority, neither would they lay down their arms without a fight.

Since taking command of the post at Rocky Mount days earlier, Turnbull, in keeping with the overall British Southern strategy, had been actively organizing a Loyalist militia regiment to reinforce his own New York Volunteers and detachment of British Legion dragoons. But the incidents at Alexander's Old Field and Mobley's Meeting House had demonstrated the Loyalist militia's lack of fortitude in the face of the more experienced Whig partisans. Turnbull had little confidence at that point in his own militia's abilities.

Loyalist spies informed Turnbull that Patriot colonels William Bratton and John McClure were camped at the Upper Fishing Creek Presbyterian Meeting House -- the church of the local minister, Reverend John Simpson, and were rallying men to their cause, both Patriot leaders winning support with their recent successes.

Turnbull realized that a show of force was going to be necessary to keep the rebels in the District Between the Broad and Catawba area in check.

On Saturday, June 10th, Turnbull dispatched his detachment of the dreaded British Legion dragoons under the command of Captain Christian Huck and mounted militia under Loyalist Captain James Ferguson with orders to either kill or capture McClure, Bratton, Simpson, and other Patriot leaders; as well as commandeer any supplies of wheat, corn and horses in the area.


Huck The Swearing Captain

Captain Christian Huck of the British Legion cavalry, was born in one of the German principalities of Europe about 1748 and immigrated to Pennsylvania sometime before the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War where he became a successful lawyer in Philadelphia. Because of his outspoken Loyalist views, the State of Pennsylvania branded Huck a "traitor" and confiscated his property in 1778. That same year Huck formed a company of Loyalist militia and joined the British Army in New York where he was commissioned a captain.

By 1780, Huck and his Provincials were a part of Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton's British Legion cavalry and took part in the Siege of Charleston -- particularly the Battles of Monck's Corner and Lenud's Ferry, both British victories. Huck was also among Tarleton's cavalrymen at the Battle of the Waxhaws the month before where Virginian Continentals under Colonel Abraham Buford were all but slaughtered in what many in the South Carolina back country saw as a massacre.

Huck was a loudly profane man who hated the South Carolina Upcountry and had a special dislike of the largely Scotch-Irish Presbyterians that inhabited the region. He was arrogant, short-tempered, profane, and blasphemous to those he considered rebels and traitors to the Crown. His tendency to use such colorful language earned him the nickname "the Swearing Captain."

He considered the Scotch-Irish and Ulster Scots people who lived in South Carolina's upstate and their Christian faith to be beneath him. During his raids on the local farms, Huck and his men would be known to burn the homes of those found with Presbyterian Bibles, swearing blasphemous insults at those he rendered homeless.

On one occasion, after stealing the horses of a local group of Whigs, Huck mocked them and the Patriot militias in the upcountry declaring: "Even if the rebels were thick as the trees, and Jesus Christ would come down and lead them, he could defeat them!"

Such statements, matched by his brutal contempt for the local population and their faith, would make Huck's name an anathema across the upper districts alongside his infamous commanding officer, "Bloody Ban" Tarleton.


Huck's Raid On Fishing Creek

On Sunday, June 11th, Captain Huck and his force arrived in the upper Fishing Creek settlements in western Chester County with his dragoons and Ferguson's Loyalist militia riding hard toward the Fishing Creek Meeting House where intelligence put McClure, Bratton, and most of their Patriot militia, along with a number of Simpson's Presbyterian congregation attending morning worship service. Huck planned to catch them all by surprise.

Huck's forces then stopped at the neighboring home of Janet "Jenny" Strong, a widow and sister of Justice John Gaston. Her family were known to be staunch Patriots. Her eldest son, Christopher, was 20 and had served in the local militia for years. Her younger son, William, was 17 and had joined the local Patriot militia earlier that year. 

Huck's men entered the Strong home and plundered it of anything valuable, with emphasis on corn and wheat. When some of his men entered the barn where her youngest son, William, was hiding and reading his family Bible. The Loyalists shot him dead and dragged his body from the barn into the yard. There several of the Legion soldiers began to hack at the body until the grieving Mrs. Strong rushed from the house and covered her dead son's body with her own to stop the mutilation.

Monument dedicated to the memory of
Reverend John Simpson (1740-1808)
at Fishing Creek Presbyterian Church.

According to one local account, a tame pigeon landed in the yard drawn by some of the accidentally scattered wheat, and was cut in half by Huck's saber. He then said in mockery to Mrs. Strong: "Madam, I have cut the head off of the Holy Ghost." The grieving woman reportedly responded prophetically to Huck by saying, "You will never die in your bed, nor will your death be that of the righteous!"

Huck then ordered the Strong home and barn burned, leaving Mrs. Strong homeless in the yard with her dead son. The Loyalists then marched on towards the Fishing Creek Meeting House.

As they approached the Loyalists surrounded the building and went inside, finding the place empty with no Rebel militia in sight. From local Tories, they learned that the Whig militia -- tipped off that the Loyalists were on their way -- had already left the day before headed towards the New Acquisitions District. Furious at missing his chance to capture the Patriot leaders, Huck ordered his dragoons and Ferguson's men to sack and burn the meeting house.

Huck then ordered his men to remount and proceed to the Simpson's home where they hoped to capture the Whig minister. Several of Reverend Simpson's slaves were standing nearby and overhead Huck's declaration to "burn the rascal out." They hastened to the Simpson home to warn them.

Fishing Creek Presbyterian Church is located
on SC Highway 32 (Fishing Creek Church Rd.)
near the town of Edgemoor, SC
in Chester County.

A quarter mile away at the Simpson home, the pastor's wife, Mary Simpson, was having breakfast with her children when she heard the sound of gunfire. The slaves arrived just ahead of Huck's Loyalists and alerted Mrs. Simpson of the destruction of the meeting house and Huck's imminent arrival. She directed them to take the children and hide in the woods nearby.

Huck and his Loyalists arrived moments later, demanding that Simpson surrender himself. Mrs. Simpson informed them that he was gone, sending Huck into another blasphemous rage. He ordered the home plundered and burned to the ground.

The Loyalists stole clothes, family silver, and anything of value they could find; even tearing open the feather beds with their bayonets and scattered the feathers in the yard. Huck himself threw the Reverend Simpson's Bible into the fireplace, intending to burn it. Mrs. Simpson quickly saved it, further enraging Huck. Once the house was aflame, Huck's men also set fire to the barns and an outbuilding that the Reverend Simpson used as a study.

As the British soldiers departed, Mrs. Simpson ran into the burning study at great risk to her life -- she did in fact suffer terrible burns -- and saved two aprons full of the books. She and her children were now homeless and had to stay with a neighbor.

Huck and his forces then returned to Rocky Mount, having failed in their mission to capture Simpson, McClure and Bratton, but having inflicted some degree of punishment to the rebellious Scotch-Irish Whigs. 


Aftermath

Huck's raid on the Fishing Creek community, and the subsequent cruelties he and his British Legion detachment and Loyalist militia subjected the local population to over the next month, would add to the terrible reputation of the British Legion and continued to strike both fear and a great deal of resentment to much of the South Carolina Upcountry's population.

As bad as his destruction of the Fishing Creek Church and the Reverend Simpson's home would be, Huck's next act of terror would have long-lasting repercussions to the people of the Chester and York County areas, which will be explored in the next chapter of this series.
 

For more information about Huck's Raid on Chester County please consult the following sources that were used to help with this blog post:
The Chester County Historical Society: http://www.chestercohistorical.org/

The outstanding books: The Day It Rained Militia by Michael C. Scoggins (2005) ISBN 1-59629-015-3

 Partisans & Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned The Tide of the American Revolution by Walter Edgar (2001)
ISBN 0-308-97760-5

The Southern Fried History of Sweet Iced Tea

The Southern Fried History of Sweet Iced Tea

By: C.W. Roden 

June 10th is National Iced Tea Day, Y'all. 

With the exception of water, tea is probably the most consumed beverage in the world today. Millions of Americans consume roughly 3.5 billion gallons of tea a year, and of that number around 85% of the tea consumed is iced tea, making it one of the most popular drinks in America.  

In the American Southland, this iconic hot-weather beverage has been the drink of choice -- with iced cold lemonade running a close second -- for more than a century-and-a-half.

From personal experience, I know that nothing beats sitting in a rocking chair on your front porch, or on the porch swing, and enjoying a nice tall glass of sweet iced tea with a piece of lemon inside. Some people enjoy other flavors: lime, mint, apple, cherry, peach, strawberry, or just plain; while some horribly misguided souls prefer unsweetened iced tea (blasphemy!).

A glass of cold, sweet tea is as much a part of the Southern supper table as fried chicken and 4th of July picnics. South of the Mason-Dixon Line this beverage is as popular as barbecue and watermelon. Some people down here in Dixie also drink their iced tea from a Mason jar; though it is just as acceptable to serve Southern sweet iced tea in a tall crystal glass, or a paper Dixie cup.  A pitcher of sweet tea can almost always be found in every refrigerator in the South.

Yes folks, there is nothing like this sweet Southern-born nectar to cut the scorching heat during those long summer months.

Southern sweet iced tea has its humble origins in this writer's own home state of South Carolina. The Palmetto State is the first place in the United States where tea was grown and produced commercially. The first crop of tea in America was planted in Dorchester County in the late 1700s by French botanist and explorer Andre Michaux and his son, Francois at what is now the site of Middleton Place Gardens. Eventually, sprigs of those same tea leaves were transferred to Wadmalaw Island, where tea is still grown and cultivated today at the Charleston Tea Plantation.

Today, the town of Summerville boldly proclaims itself: "The Birthplace of Sweet Tea" and the town's Chamber of Commerce launched a Sweet Tea Trail in 2013. At stops along the trail, visitors can get a sweet-tea facial, lunch on a sandwich made with a sweet tea -- marinated pork chop, or hit a few balls on a golf course at the Summerville Country Club, the site of a former tea farm. 

Sweet tea recipes have been found in Southern cookbooks dating back to the 1830 during the late Antebellum period when cold green tea "punches" spiked with booze gained in popularity. The recipes called for green tea and not black tea, because green tea was more common than black tea in America before about the 1880s when the import of inexpensive black tea exports from British India, Ceylon, South America, and Africa became more popular. 

Perhaps the oldest printed recipes for iced tea date back to the 1870s. Two of the earliest cookbooks with iced tea recipes are the Buckeye Cookbook by Estelle Woods Wilcox, first published in 1876; and Housekeeping in Old Virginia by Marion Cabell Tyree, first published in 1877. 

The drink was also apparently quite popular with the South's former veterans of the War Between the States (1861 - 1865) as well. 

According to an article from the September 28, 1890 issue of the Nevada Noticer newspaper regarding the United Confederate Veterans (UCV) Missouri State Reunion in 1890:

"The following figures will convey some idea of the amount of provisions used at Camp Jackson during the recent encampment. There were 4,800 pounds of bread, 11,705 pounds of beef, 407 pounds of ham, 21 sheep, 600 pounds of sugar, 6 bushels of beans, 60 gallons of pickles, and a wagon load of potatoes. It was all washed down with 2,220 gallons of coffee and 880 gallons of iced tea. The committee expended $3,000, a little in excess of the amount subscribed, for the entertainment of the old soldiers."

Confederate Veterans at a reunion in South Carolina circa 1900
enjoying a meal that includes glasses of iced tea.

We have the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri to thank for the lift-off in the national popularity of iced tea. A man named Richard Blechynden, India Tea Commissioner and Director of the East Indian Pavilion, was offering free hot tea for everyone. However, because that summer was exceedingly hot summer fair goers were looking to cool down and hot tea wasn't going to cut it.  Blechynden and his tea took the brewed black India tea, filled several large bottles and placed them on stands upside down running the tea through iced lead pipes cooling it down. The free iced tea became very popular to the thirsty fair goers. 

By World War I (1914 - 1918) Americans were buying tall glasses, which became commonly known as iced-tea glasses, long spoons suitable for stirring sugar into taller glasses and lemon forks. Iced tea became a common recipe in most Southern cookbooks a the time.

The Prohibition Era (1920 - 1933) helped boost the popularity of iced tea as Americans looked at alternatives to drinking beer, wine and hard liquor, which were made illegal during this period. Restaurant owners needed something to serve diners other than water. Given the heat and the Southern preference for all things sweet, restaurants began offering chilled tea with bowls of sugar on the side. 

This practice shifted starting in 1942 following the U.S. entering World War II, when fighting with Japan cut off trade routes in the Pacific. Cargo vessels to Hawaii, which was a chief source for domestic sugar, were redirected for military use, and sugar became the first food designated for wartime rationing. Even after the end of the war, the price of sugar remained tempestuous, forcing restaurant owners to rethink their approach to iced tea. 

World War II also had a significant impact on tea because most sources of green tea became unavailable to the American public leaving the only source of tea being black tea exported from British controlled India. By the end of the war Americans were drinking nearly 99% black tea. 

Following the end of the war in 1946, a returning U.S. Army mess cook named Milo Carlton opened Milo's Hamburger Shop in Birmingham, Alabama. His business served quick food for workers at the nearby factories. Because of the continued sugar shortage, Carlton couldn't afford to bake pies and leave sugar out for sweet tea. So he began the practice of pre-sweetening his tea in the back before service -- something that probably nobody else thought to do before, but others soon caught on. Not long after tea began arriving at table pre-sweetened as a standard, prompting the rise of the now-standard question: "Sweet or unsweet? -- as if that's even a choice!

In 1995, South Carolina's tea was officially adopted as the Official Hospitality Beverage by State Bill 3487, Act No. 31 of the 111th Secession of the South Carolina General Assembly on Monday, April 10, 1995.  

So folks, however y'all enjoy it -- yeah even you weirdos who like it unsweetened -- let's remember on this 10th day of June to raise a toast to our beloved Dixie-born beverage. Nothing else beats the heat quite like a tall glass of Southern-made sweet iced tea.

Cheers!

The Raid On Mobley's Meeting House: The Loyalists Routed -- June 8, 1780

The Raid On Mobley's Meeting House

The Loyalists Routed  
Thursday, June 8, 1780

By: C.W. Roden

(Part 3 of a 15 part series)

As mentioned in the previous chapter in this series, following the fall of Charleston to the British army on Friday, May 12, 1780, the British army established outposts across South Carolina in an attempt to reestablish the Crown's colonial rule of the independent American State and to recruit Southern Loyalists to join the fight against the rebellious Continental army and their Patriot neighbors. The British military presence at Rocky Mount in modern-day Chester County was enough to embolden the local Loyalist population to strike out against their Whig neighbors.

In the Fairfiled District -- modern-day Fairfield County -- a group of Loyalists, largely commanded by a local Tory militia leader Colonel Robert Coleman, established a camp at Mobley's Meeting House (also known as Gibson's Meeting House) a blockhouse located next to a high embankment on a branch of the Little River near a place called Shirer's Ferry. 

From their outpost these Loyalists, encouraged by British General Sir Henry Clinton's June 3rd Proclamation, informed the inhabitants of the region to take the oath of allegiance to the Crown, or be regarded as rebels and traitors. Emboldened they soon began to raid and plunder the homes and properties of their Patriot neighbors. Some of these acts were said to be revenge for similar plundering done by local Whigs following the Snow Campaign five years before where the Loyalists were soundly defeated.

Among the homes plundered were the plantations of Captains John and Henry Hampton, who were arrested and sent to British General Cornwallis's headquarters at Camden under guard.


Gathering Of Upcountry Patriots

A former Patriot captain of the 3rd South Carolina Regiment and prominent landowner in the district named Richard Winn started to organize a militia to fight back against the Loyalists. Such was the fear of the British authority by this time -- largely due to the presence of the now infamous green-coated British Legion nearby at Camden -- that Winn was unable to find anyone in the district willing to oppose them.

Undaunted, Winn himself set out north to the New Acquisitions District -- modern-day York County -- on Wednesday, June 7th, and sought the help of local Patriot leaders he was well acquainted with there for assistance in raising a force to fight back.

Among the men Winn met with were Patriot militia leaders such as Colonel William Bratton who'd been leading local Patriot militia since 1775, Colonel William "Billy" Hill (grandfather of future Confederate General Daniel Harvey Hill) who ran the local iron works making weapons for the Continental Army, Colonel Edward Lacey, and Captain John McClure who'd arrived along with most of the 33 men who led the successful surprise attack at Alexander's Old Field the day before on June 6th.

With their help, Winn was able to raise a force of about 200 Upcountry Patriots from York and Chester Counties. Colonel Bratton was elected the overall field commander for the engagement. With this strong force of militiamen, all well-mounted on good horses, Bratton, Winn and the other Patriot leaders set out for Mobley's Meeting House.


Surprise Attack

On the early morning hours of Thursday, June 8th, the Patriots arrived in the vicinity of Mobley's Meeting House and scouted the area. As with the previous engagement at Alexander's Old Field, some of the people gathered at the site were armed Loyalist militia, while others were local citizens complying with Clinton's proclamation to take protection and join the Loyalist militia.

The Loyalist stronghold had both a fortified blockhouse and the sturdy-built log meetinghouse itself. Coleman's Loyalists were posted both inside and outside the meeting house. Coleman and his men were not particularly alert against the possibility of attack, despite the news of the recent events near Beckhamville several days earlier.

The strategy the Patriot militia agreed upon was virtually the same as the one McClure's men used at Alexander's Old Field: a quick attack without warning to surprise the enemy. They fanned out through the woods and surrounded the fortified meeting house on three sides -- the fourth side faced the high embankment overlooking the Little River that was both hazardous to climb, or descend in a retreat. The Whigs were certain that the Tories inside would not attempt to escape that way.

As the sun rose, Winn's party began the attack, catching Coleman and his Loyalists completely by surprise. So panicked were the Loyalists that many of them did in fact jump from the steep embankment in an attempt to escape. This accounted for most of the casualties in the battle, rather than deaths or wounds from musket and rifle fire.

The brief fight lasted for several minutes before the remaining Loyalists either escaped down the embankment, or surrendered to Bratton and Winn's Patriots. Several of the Loyalists were killed and wounded (the exact number is unknown) with no casualties among the Patriots.

Following the battle, the Patriots recovered from the captured blockhouse much of the loot that the Tories took from Whig plantations, including some 30 slaves, several wagons and teams, 30 horses, and the household furniture plundered from John and Henry Hampton. The plunder was later restored to their owners, and the Patriot militia commanded by Colonel Bratton and Captain's McClure and Lacey retired with their prisoners to the Upper Fishing Creek Presbyterian Meeting House in modern-day Chester County. The prisoners would be transferred to North Carolina, while most the Patriot militiamen would return to their neighborhoods until needed again.


Aftermath

Captain Richard Winn would immediately suffer the wrath of Loyalist reprisal. Knowing that Winn was one of the planners of the raid at Mobley's Meeting House, and that he was still in the field with the Whig partisans; Loyalists from the Little River area visited his plantation, sacking it and then put all of his possessions to the torch.

British Lieutenant Colonel George Turnbull, commander of the Rocky Mount outpost, alarmed by the the two attacks at Alexander's Old Field and Mobley's Meeting House, knew that a show of force was going to be necessary to keep the Rebels in check. 

In reprisal, Turnbull would send out the detachment of British Legion Cavalry under the command of Captain Christian Huck to punish the local Rebel population. His first target would be the Upper Fishing Creek settlements and the home of Justice John Gaston, which will be discussed in the next chapter of this series.

The SC historical marker is located in Fairfield County, SC
on SSR 18 (Ashford Ferry Rd.) three miles north of the intersection
with SC Hwy 215.
The site of the battle is about 1.5 miles west of the marker next to
the Little River on private land.

For more information about The Battle of Mobley's Meeting House please consult the following sources that were used to help with this blog post: 

The outstanding books: The Day It Rained Militia by Michael C. Scoggins (2005) ISBN 1-59629-015-3

 Partisans & Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned The Tide of the American Revolution by Walter Edgar (2001)
ISBN 0-308-97760-5

Beautiful Blue Jays In My Yard & Birdfeeders

Coastal Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata cristata) mother and chick
hanging out in the rosebush outside my bedroom window.

Good morning, Y'all!

Yesterday, I was treated to a lovely sight in my front yard and bird feeder -- several beautiful Blue Jays making their late spring appearance, including a mother and chick in my rose bush.

The Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) -- or Jaybird as they are sometimes called -- is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to eastern North America. It resides through most of eastern and central United States. There are four distinct subspecies of this bird. Here in South Carolina we have the Coastal Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata cristata).  

Here are the shots that I was able to capture of these remarkably beautiful birds. 

Juvenile Blue Jay in my rosebush.

I hope y'all enjoyed my photos, please let me know in the comments section below.

Have a wonderful Dixie Day and y'all come back now, ya hear!

Defiance At Alexander's Old Field: The Backcountry Resists The Crown -- June 6, 1780

Defiance At Alexander's Old Field

The Backcountry Resists The Crown
Tuesday, June 6, 1780

By: C.W. Roden 

(Part 2 of a 15 part series)


After a hot and exhausting journey of over two weeks on foot, Captain John McClure and his Patriot militia men finally reached their homes in the District Between the Broad and Catawba Rivers -- now modern-day Chester County -- about midday on Wednesday, May 31, 1780.

In the previous chapter of this series, McClure and his men decided to return home after the surrender of Charleston to the British army two weeks before. McClure, a young man in his mid-20s, arrived at the home of Justice John Gaston, a resident of Fishing Creek and well known local Patriot leader in the community.

It was there that McClure learned of the shocking massacre of Buford's Continentals at the Waxhaws two days before by Colonel Banastre Tarleton's British Legion. McClure and three of Justice Gaston's sons who were present along with another militia officer named Steel made an oath declaring that they would never submit nor surrender to the enemies of their country; that liberty or death, from that time forth, should be their motto. Each of these men had at one time served three years in the company of Captain Eli Kershaw of the 3rd Regiment of South Carolina Militia, with the motto "Liberty or Death" inscribed upon their caps.

This small core group of upcountry Patriots voted that night to continue the fight against the British forces at the cost of their lives if necessary. They were about to go on the offensive. It was just a question of when and where.


The British Establish Their Rule In The Upstate

The area around Rocky Mount and the Great Falls of the Catawba River (near modern-day Great Falls, South Carolina) bustled with activity in the late spring of and early summer of 1780. After the fall of Charleston and the surrender of the Southern Continental Army on Friday, May 12, 1780, the British forces began to focus more activities inland establishing outposts and subjugating the State.

In the upcountry the Crown's forces established a Royal Post of three log fort-like houses at Rocky Mount under the command of British Lieutenant Colonel George Turnbull. The garrison at Rocky Mount would eventually come to include 150 men of the New York Volunteers Provincial Regiment and a troop of some 40 dragoons of the now infamous green-coated British Legion commanded by Captain Christian Huck, a name that would, in due course, become as hated in the upcountry as that of his commander "Bloody Ban" Tarleton.

This force was to begin the process of recruiting local Loyalists to the main British forces to help establish control among the local population.

The reaction of local Loyalists was one of undisguised glee. Many of them were still bitter over their defeat during the Snow Campaign in November of 1775 and other petty humiliations inflicted since then by their Whig neighbors. The Loyalists in South Carolina were ready to avenge themselves against their "traitorous" neighbors. Many family feuds and old scores between bitter neighbors -- some dating back at least a generation -- or simply would be "settled" with robbery and murder under the guise of patriotism and loyalty to one's respective causes.

In some cases Loyalist fathers and brothers fought Patriot sons and brothers and brother-in-laws in the bitter, ugly civil war that would rise from British occupation of the State, and subsequent resistance to the Crown's authority. Neither those loyal to the British Empire nor those loyal to the State of South Carolina and the Continental cause of independence would be entirely clean from the ugliness and horror that would soon follow. 

General Clinton's Proclamation

On Saturday, June 3rd, British Commander In Chief Sir Henry Clinton issued a proclamation to the people of South Carolina that was destined to undermine any efforts at pacifying the State. The proclamation encourage the local population to swear an oath of loyalty to the British Crown and to formally enlist in the new Loyalist forces being formed to fight for the Empire.

The proclamation reads:

"Whereas after the arrival of His Majesty's forces under my command in this province, in February last, numbers of persons were made prisoners by the (British) army, or voluntarily surrendered themselves as such, and such persons were afterwards dismissed on their respective paroles; and whereas the surrender of Charles Town (Charleston), and the defeats and dispersion of the rebel forces, it is become necessary that such paroles should be any longer observed; and proper that all persons should take an active part in settling and securing His Majesty's government, and delivering the country from that anarchy which for some time past hath prevailed; I so hereby issue this my proclamation, to declare, that all the inhabitants of this province who are not prisoners under parole and were not in the military line, (those who were in fort Moultrie and Charles Town at the times of their capitulation and surrender, or were then in actual confinement exempted) that from and after the twentieth day of June instant, they are freed and exempted from all such paroles, and may hold themselves as restored to all the rights and duties belonging to citizens and inhabitants. 
"And all persons under the description before mentioned, who shall afterwards neglect to return to their allegiances, and to His Majesty's government, will be considered as enemies and rebels to the same, and treated accordingly." 

This proclamation enraged the local Patriots.

In one short document, Clinton not only revoked the paroles of the Carolina militia who signed oaths in Charleston, but also required them to take an active part in restoring British control to the State and to take up arms against their friends, family, and neighbors still in arms against the British Empire, or risk being considered enemies of the Crown and suffer the consequences. The proclamation offered no middle ground and forced many who were neutral in the war up till that time to pick a side.

It would prove to be one of the biggest mistakes the British could have done in their efforts to pacify the South Carolina Backcountry.

The settlers of the South Carolina Piedmont and Upcountry were mainly Scotch-Irish Protestants, many descended from Ulster-Scots, who'd traveled from Pennsylvania and Virginia via the Great Wagon Road and settled in the Carolinas and Appalachia. These people grew up on their parent's stories of English cruelty in the old country. Now having seen firsthand the brutality of the British Legion at the Waxhaws, and incidents like the burning of Colonel Sumter's home after the fall of Charleston, these people were being forced to choose between loyalty to the Empire, or being branded outlaws. 

Many of those in the backcountry would not stand to be bullied.

On Monday, June 5th General Clinton would leave South Carolina with much of the British forces to return to New York City and rejoin the main British and Hessian forces there still locked in the stalemate with Washington's Continental Army. Departing from British occupied Charleston with British Admiral Mariot Arburthnot aboard the British warship HMS Romulus, Clinton would leave behind Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis and a corps of about 5,000 British and Provincial soldiers. Clinton was confident that the small number of British regulars were enough to pacify the rebellious former colony long enough for new recruits of Loyalists to take over control. Many of these new recruits would then join Cornwallis as he would march north later that year into North Carolina and then to Virginia, repeating the same process and catching Washington's Continentals and the Continental Congress in Philadelphia between two large British armies.

Feeling secure that his southern strategy was beginning to take shape, Clinton left South Carolina confident that his final proclamation would be the final nail in the coffin of resistance in the Southern State.


First Act Of Defiance In The Upcountry

From his newly established base at Rocky Mount, one of Colonel Turnbull's first acts was to send soldiers to distribute handbills among the people calling upon them to meet him at Alexander's Old Field near the small community of Bechamville near the Catawba River the next day on Tuesday, June 6th and to enroll their names as loyal subjects of King George III and receive British protection. 

Soon after doing this, a Loyalist militia captain named Henry Houseman visited the home of Justice John Gaston.

Gaston lived in his home about two miles south of Ceder Shoals on the south side of nearby Fishing Creek in modern-day Chester County. He'd served previously as justice of the peace under both the Royal and State governments, and was known to be a prominent Patriot in the area with a great deal of influence. Houseman believed that the old justice could and would bring many of his neighbors around to his way of thinking.

After treating his guest with proper Southern courtesy, Justice Gaston listened to Houseman's request and firmly rejected it. Houseman warned Gaston against causing any trouble for his sake before he departed. Justice Gaston sent his sons to various places in the community for men to meet at his house that same night. By midnight 33 men arrived, including Captain McClure. They were clad in hunting-shirts and moccasins, wool hates and deer-skin caps, each armed with a hunting knife and a rifle. 

The historic marker for the site of Justice John Gaston's home is
located on SC Highway 9 just west of Fishing Creek Bridge
between the Town of Richburg and Fort Lawn, SC.

The group were just as outraged as Gaston that Housemen was trying to force their loyalties and understood exactly what needed to be done. Captain John McClure led the group early the next morning as they set out down the Old Indian Trail running from upper Fishing Creek to lower Rocky Creek coming upon Alexander's Old Fields before daybreak.

The term "Old Fields" refers to large prairies, or open fields, that already existed when European settlers first arrived. It is presumed that these field were created by the local Native American tribes when they burned large areas of forests when hunting herds of wild game. The field was named for an early area settler.

Captain Houseman was there with a group of armed Loyalists along with others from the surrounding neighborhood gathered at the field, some 200 in number. Many of the latter had no real desire to take British protection, but most believed that they had no choice. 

The armed Patriot militia, seeing their neighbors and friends present on the field took extra careful aim at the armed Tories. Many of the locals had already taken the oath of allegiance when McClure's men opened fire from the trees, dropping several of the armed Loyalists.

The sudden attack took the Loyalists completely by surprise. A general stampede of men took place as the group scattered. Some dropped to the ground to play dead as the Patriot militia continued to fire at Houseman's Loyalist militia in the open field. The Loyalists managed to return fire only once before withdrawing from the field and retreating back to their outpost at Rocky Mount. 

The small battle took only a few minutes, resulting in 4 Loyalists killed and several more wounded. McClure's Patriots suffered only two wounded and none killed. Nine of the people who took the British oath were taken prisoner and ultimately paroled, or renounced their oaths and joined McClure's militia. A few of these men would pay later that summer when they were captured and hanged by the Loyalists for violating their oaths to the Crown.

Justice Gaston had seven sons, all of whom fought to maintain the independence of South Carolina and America. Four of them would die in that service.


The First Act Of Defiance

The actions of Justice Gaston and Captain McClure's men would be the very first act of resistance to British rule in South Carolina's backcountry. The victory, though small, came just after the Fall of Charleston and Buford's Massacre and greatly raised the morale of the upcountry Patriots. It was the linchpin of resistance in South Carolina. The battle and routing of Houseman's Loyalists would spur even greater resistance throughout the backcountry.

Another equally important act of defiance against the British and their Loyalist allies would take place two days later at a place called Mobley's Meeting House in modern-day Fairfield County, which we will talk more about in the next chapter in this series.

Marker at the site of the Battle of Beckhamville
(Alexander's Old Fields) on June 6, 1780.

Historical marker at the site of the battle is located in
Chester County, SC near the intersection of SC 97 and SC 99
near the town of Great Falls.

For more information about The Battle of Beckhamville please consult the following sources that were used to help with this blog post: 

The outstanding book: The Day It Rained Militia by Michael C. Scoggins (2005) ISBN 1-59629-015-3

and the Chester County Historical Society at their website: http://www.chestercohistorical.org/