Compiled by Charles H. Lesser
The fall of Charleston to the British on May 12, 1780, was the worst patriot defeat of the entire American Revolution. South Carolina was overrun. It is not, therefore, surprising that many basic records for that period in the state's history, even some of the legislative journals, did not survive the war. But South Carolinians and their Department of Archives and History have long had a special interest in the American Revolution. The department has published many of its surviving records documenting the war and has amassed a remarkable collection of copies of research materials housed elsewhere. This guide is intended as a summary annotated checklist to these materials.
In addition to the state and local government records in its own holdings, the department has a large collection of microfilm of records relating to the American Revolution from the National Archives, the British Public Record Office, the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and other repositories. The department also has significant holdings of printed primary sources for the war. The largest bulk of these materials, nearly 3,000 microfilm reels, comes from the National Archives. Howard H. Wehmann, Compiler, A Guide to Pre-federal Records in the National Archives (Washington: National Archives and Records Administration, 1989) [Call No. CD3045.W44] provides a thorough description of many of these records.
The department's reference library also includes guides to other manuscript repositories and Ronald M. Gephart's massive Revolutionary America, 1763-1789, A Bibliography. 2 vols. (Washington: Library of Congress, 1984) [Call No. Z1238.G43].
Records of or about individual Patriot participants
The best single finding aid for
South Carolina Revolutionary soldiers and
sailors is Bobby Gilmer Moss, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the
American Revolution (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.,
1983) [Call No. E263.S7 M5]. The North Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution published
abstracts of documentation for North
Carolina patriots in Rosters of Soldiers
from North Carolina in the American Revolution
(1932; Reprinted, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.,
1984) [Call No. E263.N8 D17]. A director of the
Georgia Department of Archives and History produced a similar compilation:
Lucian Lamar Knight, Georgia's Roster of the Revolution, Containing a List of the State's Defenders: Officers and Men; Soldiers and Sailors; Partisans and
Regulars; Whether Enlisted from Georgia or Settled in Georgia After the Close of
Hostilities (1920; Reprinted, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.,
1967) [Call No. E 263.G4]. Robert S. Davis, Jr.,
Georgia Citizens and Soldiers of the American
Revolution (Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press,
1979) [Call No. E263.G3 D3] compiles bibliography and source abstracts for both patriots and loyalists in
Georgia. A Virginia roster with source citations is available in John H.
Gwathmey, Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution, Soldiers, Sailors,
Marines, 1775-1783 (1938; Reprinted, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.,
1987) [Call No. E263.G3]. The department's reference library also includes J. T.
McAllister, Virginia Militia in the Revolutionary
War (1913; Reprinted, Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc.,
1989) [Call No. E263.V8 M3]. The National Society of
the Daughters of the American Revolution has published a membership aid
titled Minority Military Service, South Carolina and Georgia,
1775-1783 (Washington, D.C.: National Society Daughters of the American Revolution,
1997) [Call No. E263.S7 M56 1997], which includes an annotated list of both Native
Americans and Blacks. Debra L. Newman, List of Black Servicemen Compiled From
the War Department Collection of Revolutionary War
Records (Special List No. 36 of the National Archives,
1974) provides references as well as unit
designations [Call No. E269.N3 N48]. For a general guide to
sources, see Charles H. Lesser and J. Todd White,
Fighters for Independence: A Guide to Sources of
Biographical Information on Soldiers and Sailors of the American
Revolution (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press,
1977) [Call No. Z1238.W45].
Accounts Audited of Claims Growing Out of the Revolution in
South Carolina, 1775-1856 (South Carolina Archives Microcopy No.
8), 165 microfilm reels (Series S108092, Archives reel nos.
RW2685-RW2849)
Microfilm of 328 flat file boxes of original records in the Records of
the Comptroller General (Series S126003), arranged alphabetically by claimant.
A card file index to Revolutionary service in the Research Room (also
reproduced on the last reel of the microcopy) provides fairly comprehensive,
but not complete, coverage for names of persons mentioned in the documents.
Underlined file numbers in this index indicate the claimant's file. The
accounts audited and their finding aids are described in detail in the
printed pamphlet that accompanies the microcopy. Claimant's names are included
in the department's on-line Consolidated Index to
28 Records Series, 1675-1929. Petitions to the General Assembly, Committee Reports, and Resolutions
included in the files are indexed in the department's on-line Index to
Legislative Papers, 1782-1866.
Stub Entries to Indents Issued in Payment of Claims Against South
Carolina Growing Out of the Revolution, edited by A. S. Salley and Wylma A. Wates.
12 vols. (Columbia: South Carolina Historical Commission and South Carolina
Archives Department, 1910-1957). Call No.
E263.S7 S7.
These volumes publish the information on the stubs of certificates issued
as compensation for military service and supplies furnished the state. The
surviving original volumes or partial volumes are in Series
S218110 of the Records of the State Treasurer. The card file index to Revolutionary service in the
Research Room also includes entries for these records.
Ninety-two cancelled certificates from Book A, which is mostly missing,
are in Series S126196, Redeemed Indents (From Book A) for Claims Growing Out
of the American Revolution, 1784-1789. These certificates, which provide
more information about the claims than would have been on the missing stubs,
are filed by certificate number, but an alphabetic list is available in the
Research Room. Three pamphlet volumes of Schedules of Indents,
1791, in the records of the Commissioners to Adjust the Public Accounts (Series
S126055) provide valuable summary information about the claims behind the indents. These
schedules also provide information about the geographic location of the claimants,
which may be of use in sorting out the claims of different persons with the same
name. These schedules have been published in John Lennell Andrews, Jr.,
South Carolina Revolutionary War Indents: A
Schedule (Columbia, S. C.: SCMAR, 2001).
South Carolina Revolutionary War Annuities Lists, 1799-1857 (Treasurer of the Upper Division) and 1828-1838 (Treasurer of the Lower Division), 1 microfilm reel (Series S218172 [Upper Division] and S218144 [Lower Division], Archives reel no. RW2850). Microfilm of two volumes in the records of the State Treasurer. Other lists can be found in Series S165279, Revolutionary War Annuitant and Bounty Land Reports, 1778-1803. A staff member is working on a data base of all these lists.
Records of the South Carolina Auditor and Accountant General,
1778-1788
The Auditor and Accountant General was a key figure in settling
Revolutionary War accounts and claims. Four series of records generated by this office are
in the Comptroller General Record Group. The General Index and State of
the Returns and Entry Books [for South Carolina Revolutionary War Claims],
1783-1788, 1 vol. (Series S126146) lists only names of the claimants and the number
of the list (called a return) with which the auditor and accountant general
forwarded the audited account to a legislative committee. The back of the volume,
however, also contains lists of officers in the army and of officers and men of the
frigate South Carolina. The numbered returns do not survive. A published
transcription of the volume by Janie Revill titled
Copy of the Original Index Book Showing the Revolutionary Claims Filed in South Carolina Between August
20, 1783 and August 31, 1786 (Columbia, S. C.: Privately Published by Janie
Revill,
1941) is shelved with the original record. There is a card file index in the Research Room to
the Schedule of Accounts Passed, 1778-1780, 1 vol. (Series
S126112). The two other series are Accounts of Principal Indents Issued,
1783-1785, 4 pamphlet volumes in 1 small box (Series
S126110), and Accounts and Receipt for Balance of Cash,
Feb. 16, 1780-May 11, 1780 (Series S126111). This last series is a slim evocative volume
that records the payments and receipts of the Auditor General during the siege
of Charleston and includes a receipt for the balance turned over to the Treasurer
on the very eve of the fall of Charleston to the British.
Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application
Files (National Archives Microcopy M804),
2,669 microfilm reels (Series F602701, Archives reel nos.
RW0001-RW2669); Index to Revolutionary War Pension
and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files (National Archives Microcopy
M312), 15 microfilm reels (Series F602702, Archives reel nos.
RW2670-RW2684)
Printed finding aids and abstracts include
Index of Revolutionary War Pension Applications in the National Archives, Bicentennial
Edition, (Revised and Enlarged) (Washington, D. C.: National Genealogical Society,
1976) [Call No. E255.N37 1976] and Virgil D. White,
Genealogical Abstracts of Revolutionary War Pension
Files. 4 vols. (Waynesboro, Tennessee: The National Historical
Publishing Company, 1990) [Call No. E255.W4]. Microcopy
M804 includes a printed pamphlet describing the records. See also, Constance B. Schulz, "Sources at
the National Archives for Genealogical and Local History Research:
Revolutionary War Pension Applications: A Neglected Source for Social and Family
History," and "Daughters of Liberty: The History of Women in the Revolutionary
War Pension Records," Prologue: The Journal of the National
Archives 15 (1983):103-14 and 16
(1984):139-53.
By acts of Congress of 1818 and
1832, persons desiring to collect pensions for Revolutionary War service were to make their declarations before any clerk
of any court of record. Application materials from this process survive in
some county government records. The Department of Archives and History holds
two bundles of applications and related materials, ca.
1820-1860 (Series L42023) and Lists of Revolutionary War Pension Applicants,
1833-1834 (Series L42024) from Spartanburg County; one microfilm reel of Revolutionary War Pension
Applications, 1820-1830 (Series L30023) from Laurens County; a small archives box
of Revolutionary War Pension Applications,
1820-1827 (Series L53099) from Pendleton District; three files for veterans or family members of veterans
(Series L04263) from Anderson County; and a single
1824 affidavit in support of the service of Oliver Mahaffey (Series
L28063) from Kershaw County.
Murtie June Clark, compiler, The Pension Lists of 1792-1795 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1991). Call No. E255.C4; Murtie June Clark, indexer, The Pension List of 1820 (1820; Reprinted, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1991). Call No. E255.U5; The Pension Roll of 1835, Indexed Edition, 4 vols. (1835; Reprinted, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1992). Call No. E255.U54; Pensioners of Revolutionary War Struck Off the Roll (1836; Reprinted, n. p.: Clearfield Company, 1989). Call No. E255.P4; U. S. Bureau of the Census, A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services; With Their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence . . . (Washington: Printed by Blair and Rives, 1841). Call No. E255.U42
Patricia Law Hatcher, Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary
Patriots. 4 vols. (Dallas, Texas: Pioneer Heritage Press,
1987). Call No. E255.H3
Compiled from lists published by the Daughters of the American
Revolution, mostly as United States Senate documents.
Records of or about Loyalists
A compilation of abstracts of muster rolls, pay rolls, vouchers, certificates,
petitions, and other records can be found in Murtie June Clark,
Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary
War, 3 vols. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.,
1981) [Call No. E277.C55]. Robert W. Barnwell, "The
Migration of Loyalists from South Carolina,"
Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical
Association, 1937, pp. 34-42 [Call No.
F266.S58 S6], includes a number of lists of loyalists; the names are indexed in a card file in the Research Room.
The reference library also includes Gregory Palmer, editor, A Bibliography of Loyalist Source Material in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain (Westport and London: Meckler Publishing in association with the American Antiquarian Society, 1982) [Call No. Z1238.B52]. The bibliography in Robert Stansbury Lambert, South Carolina Loyalists in the American Revolution (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1987) [Call No. E277.L35 1987] is also especially useful.
Records of the South Carolina Commissioners of Forfeited
Estates: Papers Relating to Claims on Estates, ca.
1782-1830, 5 flat file boxes (Series
S126101); Plats, 1782-1785, 4 flat file boxes
(S126102); Accounts, 1782-1785, 1794, 4 vols. (Series
S126100); and Miscellaneous Papers on Forfeited Estates,
5 flat file boxes (S126170)
These records were inherited by the Comptroller General and are in that
record group at the Department of Archives and History. The Papers Relating to
Claims on Estates and the Plats are arranged alphabetically by owner of estate. The
1783 officers' returns of those who had "gone over to the enemy" in Box
4 of the Miscellaneous Papers are indexed in a card file in the Reference Room.
Other related materials can be found through the department's automated index to
Legislative Papers, 1782-1866.
The lists of names in four acts relating to confiscation or amercement of
estates were omitted in the printing of those acts in volume
4 of Thomas Cooper and David J. McCord, eds., The Statutes at Large of South
Carolina. 10 vols. (Columbia: A. S Johnston,
1836-1841), but they were printed as Appendix No.
2, pp. 629-35, of volume 6 [Call No.
KFS1830.A2 1836-1841].
South Carolina General Assembly Committee Papers Concerning Loyalists: Free Conference Committee Concerned with Petitions for Relief from the Confiscation Act of 1782, Testimony and Notes on Persons Seeking Relief from Confiscation or Desiring to Become Citizens, 1783-1784, 2 folders (Series S165035) and House of Representatives, Committee on the Petitions of Sundry Persons Praying to Become a Citizen, Testimony and Notes on Cases of Persons Praying to Become Citizens of This State, 1783, 1 folder (Series S165253)
KTO Microforms, Public Records of Great
Britain: American Loyalist
Claims. Series 1, reels
22-23, 27; Series 4, reels 128, 132-143.
16 microfilm reels. (Series B800122, Archives reel nos.
RW3151-RW3166)
Selected microfilm reels covering the South Carolina, Georgia, and part of
the North Carolina loyalist claims in the Records of the Exchequer and Audit
Office at the Public Record Office, Kew. The filmed records include those designated
as AO12/93-98 (South Carolina Acts of Legislature,
1783-1787, and Various Reports and Minute Books),
AO12/108-115 (Debts Due to Loyalists, Reports,
Recapitulation of Claims, etc.), and
AO13/120-121, 124-137 (Original Memorials,
Certificates, and Accounts of the Claimants from South Carolina and Georgia as well as
part of the claims for North Carolina). For a list of the Loyalist claim records in
the Public Record Office, see Great Britain, Public Record Office,
Lists and Indexes, No. XLVI: Lists of the Records of the Treasury, The Paymaster General's
Office, The Exchequer and Audit Department, and The Board of Trade to
1837 (Reprint edition with annotations, New York: Kraus Reprint Corporation,
1963), pp. 191-194I [Call No. DA240.A55 No.
46]. Volume and page references to individual claims are cited in Gregory Palmer,
Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American
Revolution (London: Meckler Publishing, 1984) [Call No.
E277.P24].
Alexander Fraser, Second Report of the Bureau of Archives for the Province of Ontario, 1904: United Empire Loyalists: Enquiry into the Losses and Services in Consequence of Their Loyalty; Evidence in the Canadian Claims. 2 vols. (Toronto: L. K. Cameron, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, 1905). Call No. F1035.A1 F7 1974
South Carolina Volumes from New York Public Library Transcripts of
American Loyalist Examinations and Decisions in the Public Record Office.
4 microfilm reels (Series B800123, Archives reel nos.
RW3167-RW3170)
Volumes 26, 32, 52-57 of the New York Public Library transcripts made
in 1899-1901. The records that were copied in the British Public Record Office
(now designated there as A012/46-52, 68) consist of the recorded copies of
examinations (in Nova Scotia and London) and decisions. These volumes are
therefore transcripts of different records than the claims included in the KTO
Microforms edition listed above. Mabel L. Webber, "South Carolina Loyalists,"
South Carolina Historical and Genealogical
Magazine 14 (1913): 36-43 [Call No.
F266.S58] describes these transcripts and provides an index to the claims (in vols.
26, 52-57) but not the decisions (in vol. 32).
Edward Alfred Jones, The Loyalists of New Jersey: Their Memorials, Petitions, Claims, etc. From English Records (1927 as Vol. 10 of the Collections of the New Jersey Historical Society; Reprinted, Boston: Gregg Press, 1972). Call No. E277.J78 1972
John Eardley-Wilmot, Historical View of the Commission For Enquiring into the Losses, Services, and Claims of the American Loyalists, At the Close of the War Between Great Britain and her Colonies (1815; Reprinted, Boston: Gregg Press, 1972). Call No. E277.E3 1972
Rosters of Officers and Participants at Particular Battles
or Sites
Wilmot G. DeSaussure's Roll of South Carolina Revolutionary Officers,
1884 (Series S213091)
The manuscript of this roll was deposited with the Secretary of State
by agreement between the South Carolina Society of Cincinnati and the
General Assembly in exchange for assistance with a limited edition publication in
1886. The volume lists militia officers as well as officers of the Continental Line
and includes citations and extracts from sources. It was republished in the
Year Book, 1893, City of Charleston, pp.
205-37 (Series L1005004).
Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During The War of the Revolution . . . With Addenda by Robert H. Kelby, 1932 (1914; Reprinted, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982). Call No. E259.H3
Bobby Gilmer Moss, The Patriots at the Cowpens, Revised Edition (Blacksburg, S.C.: Scotia Press, 1994). Call No. E241.C9 M67 1985
Elmer O. Parker and Georgia Muldrow Gilmer, American Revolution Roster: Fort Sullivan (Later Fort Moultrie), 1776-1780; Battle of Fort Sullivan, Events Leading to First Decisive Victory (Charleston: Fort Sullivan Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 1976). Call No. E263.S7 F5
Bobby Gilmer Moss, The Patriots at Kings Mountain (Blacksburg, S.C.: Scotia-Hibernia Press, 1990). Call No. E241.K5 M67 1990. See also, Katherine Keogh White, The King's Mountain Men; The Story of the Battle with Sketches of the American Soldiers Who Took Part (1924; Reprinted, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985). Call No. E241.K5 W5
Bobby Gilmer Moss, Roster of the Loyalists in the Battle of Kings
Mountain (Blacksburg, S.C.: Scotia-Hibernia Press,
1998). Call No. E241.K5 M68 1998
An earlier card file at Kings Mountain National Military Park was
microfilmed by the Dept. of Archives and History in
1964. It is available in Series F602302, Archives reel no.
RW3375.
Bobby Gilmer Moss, Roster of the Patriots in the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge (Blacksburg, S.C.: Scotia-Hibernia Press, 1992). Call No. E241.M8 M67 1992
Bobby Gilmer Moss, Roster of the Loyalists at the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge (Blacksburg, S.C.: Scotia-Hibernia Press, 1992). Call No. E241.M8 M677 1992
Bobby Gilmer Moss, The Loyalists in the Siege of Fort Ninety Six (Blacksburg, S.C.: Scotia-Hibernia Press, 1999). Call No. E237.M67 1999
Papers, Order Books, and Memoirs of Commanding Officers
Nisbet Balfour
Nisbet Balfour Letters, January-December
1781. See Alexander Leslie, below.
John Bowie
John Bowie Papers,
1776-1780, 1 microfilm reel (Series P900015, Archives
reel no. RW3367)
A captain in the 5th South Carolina Regiment, Bowie was commandant
at Fort Charlotte, Fort Independence, and Ninety-Six. The originals, which
included letters from Andrew Williamson and others, are at the New York
Public Library.
Guy Carlton
British Headquarters (Sir Guy Carlton) Papers,
1774-1783. 30 microfilm reels. (Series
B800120, Archives reel nos. RW3115-3144)
Microfilm of positive photostats at Colonial Williamsburg Foundation of
the headquarters papers of the successive British commanders-in-chief in the
American War of Independence. The original manuscripts are now at the British
Public Record Office (PRO/30/55/1-107) and are calendared in Historical
Manuscripts Commission, Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal Institution of
Great Britain. 4 vols. (1904-1909; Reprinted, Boston: Gregg Press,
1972) [Call No. E267.G782]. To find items on the microfilm, it is necessary to use the
annotated set of this calendar filmed on the first two reels of the microfilm.
Henry Clinton
Sir Henry Clinton Papers, August
1779-June 1782. See British Headquarters Papers under Guy Carlton
The American Rebellion: Sir Henry Clinton's Narrative of His Campaigns, 1775-1782, With an Appendix of Original Documents, edited by William B. Willcox (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1950). Call No. E267.C63
Observations on Some Parts of the Answer of Earl Cornwallis to Sir Henry Clinton's Narrative . . . To Which is Added an Appendix Containing Extracts of Letters and Other Papers . . . (1783; Reprinted, New York: Research Reprints, Inc., 1970). Call No. E267.C665 1970
Charles, First Marquis Cornwallis
Cornwallis Papers,
1741-1785 (Bulk, 1780-1781) 6 microfilm reels (Series
B800121, Archives reel nos. RW3145A-RW3150)
Microfilm of selected originals at the British Public Record Office
designated as PRO/30/11/1-7, 63-71,
77-89, and 101-110. See George H. Reese,
compiler, The Cornwallis Papers. Abstracts of
Americana (Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia for the Virginia Bicentennial Commission,
1970) [Call No. E267.C66 R4].
An Answer to that Part of the Narrative of Sir Henry Clinton, K. B., Which Relates to the Conduct of Lieutenant-General Earl Cornwallis, During the Campaign in North-America in the Year 1781 (1783; Reprinted, New York: Research Reprints, Inc., 1970). Call No. E267.C66 1970
William Davis
Correspondence and Orders Received by Col. William Davis, September
3, 1781-July 11, 1782 (Series S218222)
This small series of ten letters or orders received by William Davis
documents the service of militia in southeastern South Carolina at the end of the war.
Davis (1737-1801) was successively major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel. His
correspondents include Col. William Harden, Gen. John Barnwell, Gen.
Anthony Wayne, and Governor John Mathews.
Thomas Gage
Papers of General Thomas Gage,
1774-July 1779. See British Headquarters Papers under Guy Carlton. Much of the section of these papers from the time
Gage was in command consists of letters from General William Howe.
Horatio Gates
The Horatio Gates Papers,
1726-1828; A Guide to the Microfilm
Edition (Sanford, N.C.: Microfilming Corporation of America,
1979). Call No. E207.G3
The Department of Archives and History does not hold the twenty
microfilm reels to which this is a guide. The majority of the manuscripts reproduced in
the microfilm edition are at the New-York Historical Society, but over seventy
other institutions are also represented.
Nathanael Greene
The Papers of General Nathanael
Greene, edited by Richard K. Showman, Dennis M. Conrad, et al.,
11 vols. to date [through Sept. 20, 1782]. (Chapel Hill
and London: The University of North Carolina Press for the Rhode Island
Historical Society, 1976). Call No. E207.G9 A3
Letter Books, Oct. 16, 1780-April
8, 1782; General Correspondence, 1775-1785; and Cherokee Treaty, July
26-Aug. 2, 1781, 2 microfilm reels (Series
P900011, Archives reel nos. RW3144a-RW31445)
Originals at the Library of Congress. Briefly described in John R.
Sellers, Gerard W. Gawalt, Paul H. Smith, and Patricia Molen van Ee, compilers,
Manuscript Sources in the Library of Congress for the American
Revolution (Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress,
1975), pp. 68-69 [Call No. Z1238.U57 1975].
Calendar of the Correspondence Relating to the American Revolution of Brigadier-General George Weedon, Hon. Richard Henry Lee, Hon. Arthur Lee, and Major-General Nathaniel Greene in the Library of the American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1900). Call No. Z1238.W5 L3
See also the first listing under Thomas Sumter, below.
Peter Horry
Peter Horry Orderbook,
1776-1777, partial microfilm reel (Series
P900008, Archives reel no. RW3329)
Original at the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San
Marino, California.
John Laurens
The Army Correspondence of Colonel John Laurens in the Years
1777-8. Now First Printed from Original Letters Addressed to his Father Henry Laurens,
President of Congress, With a Memoir by Wm. Gilmore
Simms (1867; Reprinted, New York: The New York Times & Arno Press,
1969). Call No. E275.L38 1969
Charles Lee
"The Lee Papers"
[1754-1811], 4 vols. Collections of the New-York
Historical Society Vols. 4-7
(1871-1874). Call No. E255.N4
Henry Lee
Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States. A
New Edition, with Revisions, and a Biography of the Author by Robert E. Lee
(1869; Reprinted, New York: The New York Times & Arno Press,
1969). Call No. E230.5.S7 L494 1969
Alexander Leslie
Alexander Leslie's Letterbooks,
1781-1782, 2 microfilm reels (Series P900016, Archives reel nos.
RW3368-RW3369)
British officers Major General Alexander Leslie and Lt. Col. Nisbet
Balfour took leading roles in South Carolina. Balfour was commandant at
Charleston, and these letterbooks include his letters, January-December,
1781. The original letterbooks are in the Emmet Collection, New York Public Library. See
Calendar of the Emmet Collection of Manuscripts etc. Relating to American
History; Presented to the New York Public Library by John S.
Kennedy (New York: 1900), available at the South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina.
Benjamin Lincoln
Benjamin Lincoln Papers in the Massachusetts Historical
Society, 13 microfilm reels (Series P900010, Archives reel nos.
RW3331-RW3343)
Frederick S. Allis, Jr., editor, and Wayne A. Frederick, associate editor,
Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Benjamin Lincoln
Papers (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society,
1967). See also the Lincoln Papers from the Emmet
Collection, New York Public Library, printed in "The Siege of Charleston,"
Year Book, 1897, City of Charleston, pp.
341-425 (Series L1005004).
Order Books of General Benjamin Lincoln,
1778-1781, 2 microfilm reels (Series P900009, Archives reel nos.
RW3329-RW3330).
The originals for Dec. 6, 1778-June
27, 1779 and April 1, 1781-July 15, 1781 are at the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, California.
The original for Jan. 3, 1779-March 30, 1780 is at the University of Georgia
Library, Athens, Georgia.
Francis Marion
Peter Horry's Transcripts of Francis Marion Letters,
1779-1782, 5 volumes: 1 original volume in the Robert W. Gibbes Collection of Revolutionary War
Manuscripts (Series S213089); Peter Force's copies of all volumes,
1 microfilm reel (Series P900013, Archives reel no.
RW3365); and George Bancroft's copies and extracts (Series
P900014, Archives reel no. RW3366)
Described in Wylma Anne Wates, "Meanderings of a Manuscript:
General Peter Horry's Collection of Francis Marion Letters,
South Carolina Historical Magazine 81
(1980):352-61. The originals of Peter Force's copies are at the
Library of Congress, and George Bancroft's partial copies and abstracts are at
the New York Public Library.
Francis Marion Orderly Books,
1775-1782, 3 microfilm reels (Series P900006, Archives reel nos.
RW3326-3328)
Originals at the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.
Briefly described in Guide to American Manuscripts in the Huntington
Library (San Marino, CA.: Huntington Library,
1979), pp. 232-33 [Call No. Z6621.H5]. Unpublished transcriptions of the June
1775-May 1777 and 1782 order books produced by John L. Frierson are available in the department's reference
library [Call No. E 263.S7 M37].
"Letters [Jan.-March
1780 and Dec. 1779 Monthly Return] of General
Francis Marion," Year Book, 1895, City of
Charleston, pp. 326-32 (Series L1005004)
The letters were then owned by Isaac Ball of Charleston.
"Original Letters from Genl. Francis Marion and Genl. William Moultrie, 1781-1788," Year Book, 1898, City of Charleston, pp. 380-85 (Series L1005004)
William Moultrie
Memoirs of the American Revolution, So Far as It Related to the States
of North and South Carolina, and Georgia . . .
, 2 vols. reprinted in 1 (1802; Reprinted, New York: The New York Times & Arno Press,
1968). Call No. E230.5.S7 M9 1968
General Orders of William Moultrie,
1775-1779, partial microfilm reel (Series
P900007, Archives reel no. RW3329)
Microfilm of originals at the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.
See also the last entry under Francis Marion, above.
Thomas Sumter
"Official Correspondence Between Brigadier-General Thomas Sumter and
Major-General Nathaniel Greene From A. D. 1780 to
1783, From Original Unpublished Letters of Genl. Sumter, in the possession of The Misses Brownfield,
and Certified Copies of Letters of General Greene, in possession of Gen.
Edward McCrady, President," Year Book,
1899, City of Charleston, Appendix, pp.
3-135 (Series L1005004)
See also the Lyman C. Draper Manuscript Collection, below.
Banastre Tarleton
A History of the Campaigns of
1780 and 1781, in the Southern Provinces of North
America (1787; Reprinted, New York: The New York Times & Arno Press,
1968). Call No. E230.5.S7 T3 1968
William Thomson
An Order Book of the Third Regiment, South Carolina Line, Continental
Establishment, December 23, 1776-May 2,
1777, edited by A. S. Salley (Columbia: Historical Commission of South Carolina,
1942). Call No. E263.S7 S62 1942
This order book for Col. Thomson's regiment at Nelson's Ferry,
Purrysburg, and other places in lower South Carolina was in private hands in Pickens
County, S.C., when it was edited in 1942.
George Washington
The George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress are available on
the internet at http://memory.loc.gov./ammem/gwhtml/gwhome.html
The website has a powerful search engine, but for some research needs
older calendars may be of assistance. Two are available in the Research Room
library: John C. Fitzpatrick, Calendar of the Correspondence of George
Washington, Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, with the
Officers. 4 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office,
1915) [Call No. Z6616.W3 u48] and Herbert Friedenwald,
A Calendar of Washington Manuscripts in the Library of
Congress (Washington: Government Printing Office,
1901) [Call No. Z6616.W3 U5 C2]. Microfilm and printed editions are available at the Thomas Cooper Library,
University of South Carolina.
George Weedon
See the calendar of manuscripts at the American Philosophical Society
listed under Nathanael Greene.
Other Papers, Diaries, Memoirs, etc.
Ansbach-Bayreuth Jaeger Officers
Bruce E. Burgoyne, translator and editor,
Diaries of Two Ansbach Jaegers (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc.,
1997). Call No. E268.F45 1997
This volume contains the diary of Lieut. Heinrich Carl Philipp von
Feilitzsch, March 1777-June 1780, and the diary of Lieut. Christian Friedrich
Bartholomai, December 1779-June 1780. Feilitzsch participated in a number of
northern campaigns, and Bartholomai participated in Sir Henry Clinton's capture
of Charleston.
Tarleton Brown
Memoirs of Tarleton Brown, A Captain in the Revolutionary Army
(1862; Reprinted, Barnwell, S.C.: Barnwell County Museum and Historical Board,
1999). Call No. E275.B76 1999
This new edition with an introduction by Terry W. Lipscomb
incorporates additional material from a 1970 edition by Joyce S. O'Bannon. Brown served
in southeastern South Carolina.
Siege of Charleston
The Siege of Charleston by the British Fleet and Army under the Command
of Admiral Arbuthnot and Sir Henry Clinton . . .
, edited by Franklin B. Hough (1867; Reprinted, Spartanburg, S.C.: The Reprint Company,
1975). Call No. E241.C4 H8
This volume is largely contemporary newspaper accounts, but it also
includes returns of troops.
William Henry Drayton
John Drayton, Memoirs of the American Revolution, From its
Commencement to the Year 1776, Inclusive; as Relating to the State of South-Carolina:
and Occasionally Referring to the States of North-Carolina and
Georgia. 2 vols. (1821; Reprinted, New York: The New York Times & Arno Press,
1969). Call No. E263.S7 D7
See also the Robert Wilson Gibbes Collection of Revolutionary War
Manuscripts, below. A significant portion of the Gibbes Collection consists of William
Henry Drayton papers.
French Officers
The Siege of Savannah, in
1779, As Described in Two Contemporaneous Journals of French Officers in the Fleet of Count
D'Estaing, edited by Charles C. Jones, Jr.
(1874; Reprinted, New York: The New York Times and Arno Press,
1968). Call No. E241.S26 J72 1968
Christopher Gadsden
The Writings of Christopher Gadsden, edited by Richard Walsh
(Columbia: University of South Carolina Press,
1966). Call No. E302.G14 A2 1966
Alexander Garden
Alexander Garden, Anecdotes of the Revolutionary War in America, with
Sketches of Character . . . (1822; Reprinted, Spartanburg, S. C.: The Reprint
Company, 1972). Call No. E296.G22 1972
Paul Hamilton
"Extracts from a Private Manuscript Written by Governor Paul Hamilton,
Sr., During the Period of the Revolutionary War, from
1776-1800," Year Book, 1898, City of
Charleston, pp. 299-327 (Series L1005004)
Oliver Hart
"Extracts from the Diary of Rev. Oliver Hart, from A. D.
1740 to A. D. 1780 with Introductory Letter from William G. Whilden,"
Year Book, 1896, City of Charleston, pp.
375-401 (Series L1005004)
Hessian Officers
The Siege of Charleston, With an Account of the Province of South
Carolina: Diaries and Letters of Hessian Officers, from the Jungkenn Papers in the
William L. Clements Library, translated and edited by Bernhard A. Uhlendorf
(1938; Reprinted, New York: The New York Times & Arno Press,
1968). Call No. E241.C4 U5 1968
William Hill
Capt. William Hill's Memoirs of the
Revolution, edited by A. S. Salley (Columbia: South Carolina Historical Commission,
1921) Call No. E263.S7 H64
This account includes the battles of Williamson's Plantation, Rocky
Mount, Hanging Rock, and King's Mountain. The original memoir, written by one
of the owners of Hill's Iron Works in York District about
1815, is lost. Photocopies (preserved in Series
P900003) of a copy in the Library of Congress were used
to produce the printed edition.
Thomas Jefferson
The Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress are available on
the internet at
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/mtjhtml/mtjhome.html
The website has a powerful search engine, but for some research
purposes older calendars may be of assistance. The Research Room library has a
two-volume Calendar of the Correspondence of Thomas
Jefferson (Washington: Dept. of State, 1894) [Call No.
CD3031.A3], which was published as Bulletins No. 6
and 8 of the Bureau of Rolls and Library of the Department of State. The entries
in one volume are arranged alphabetically by sender of letters to Jefferson, and
the entries in the other volume are arranged alphabetically by recipient of
letters from Jefferson. Microfilm and printed editions are available at the Thomas
Cooper Library, University of South Carolina.
Joseph Johnson
Joseph Johnson, Traditions and Reminiscences Chiefly of the American
Revolution in the South: Including Biographical Sketches, Incidents and
Anecdotes, Few of Which Have Been Published, Particularly of Residents in the Upper
Country (1851; Reprinted, Spartanburg: The Reprint Company,
1972). Call No. E263.S7 J6
Dr. Uzal Johnson
Diary of Military Service in South Carolina, March
5, 1780-March 6, 1781, Photocopy of ca. 125 page manuscript, (Series
P900002)
The original manuscript in the Thorne Boudinot Collection, Princeton
University Library, was misidentified in the past as the diary of Dr. John Boudinot.
Johnson was a surgeon in the New Jersey volunteers, who served in the
British and Loyalist forces that overran South Carolina in
1780. The diary contains very similar entries to the diary of Anthony Allair of Ferguson's Corps printed
in Lyman Draper, King's Mountain and Its
Heroes (1881; Reprinted, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.,
1967), pp. 484-515 [Call No. e241.k5 d74].
Roger Lamb
An Original and Authentic Journal of Occurrences During the Late
American War, From its Commencement to the Year
1783 (1809; Reprinted, New York: The New York Times & Arno Press,
1968). Call No. E208.L21 1968
A sergeant in the Royal Welch Fusileers, Lamb was involved in the
Southern campaign under Cornwallis.
Henry Laurens
The Papers of Henry
Laurens, 15 vols. to date [through August 31,
1782], edited by Philip M. Hamer, George C. Rogers, Jr., David R. Chesnutt, C. James Taylor,
et al., (Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press for the South
Carolina Historical Society, 1968). Call No.
E302.L3
The Papers of Henry Laurens in the Collections of the South Carolina
Historical Society, 19 microfilm reels (Series
P900012, Archives reel nos. RW3346-RW3364).
An accompanying pamphlet, Philip M. Hamer,
Guide to Accompany the Microfilm Publication of the Papers of Henry Laurens in the Collections of
the South Carolina Historical Society (Charleston: The South Carolina
Historical Society, 1966) is available in the Research Room.
James McHenry
A Sidelight on History, Being the Letters of James McHenry, Aide-de-camp of
the Marquis de Lafayette, to Thomas Sim Lee, Governor of Maryland, Written
During the Yorktown Campaign, 1781 (1931; Reprinted, New York: The New
York Times & Arno Press, 1971). Call No.
E241.Y6 M18 1971
Joseph McJunkin
James Hodge Saye, Memoirs of Major Joseph McJunkin, Revolutionary
Patriot (1847; Reprinted, Spartanburg, S.C.: A Press, Inc.,
1988). Call No. E207.M4
McJunkin served at King's Mountain.
Arthur Middleton
Arthur Middleton Papers,
1767-1783, 99 items on 10 microfiche (Series
P900340).
Microfiche of originals in the South Carolina Historical Society. Most
of these documents were published in James W. Barnwell, editor, "Correspondence
of Hon. Arthur Middleton,"
South Carolina Historical and Genealogical
Magazine, vols. 26 and 27 (1925-1926). A detailed list of the documents is on
the first fiche.
Pinckney Family
Pinckney Family Papers,
1708-1878, 76 microfiche (Series P900338).
Little of this collection of Pinckney materials dates from the American
Revolution. What does is correspondence of Eliza Lucas Pinckney, largely with
her son Thomas Pinckney. This section of the collection was published in the
South Carolina Historical Magazine, vol. 76
(1975). The original papers at the South Carolina Historical Society are briefly described in David Moltke-Hansen
and Sallie Doscher, South Carolina Historical Society Manuscript
Guide (Charleston: South Carolina Historical Society,
1979), pp. 97-98 [Call No. Z6621.S6 H3]. A more extensive guide is included in the fiche.
Archibald Robertson
Archibald Robertson, Lieutenant-General Royal Engineers, His Diaries
and Sketches in America, 1762-1780, edited by Harry Miller Lydenberg
(1930; Reprinted, New York: The New York Times & Arno Press,
1971). Call No. E275.R66 1971
Robertson came to South Carolina with Sir Henry Clinton in
1780.
Lancelot Smith (Strawberry Ferry Ledger)
Lancelot Smith, Ledger for the Strawberry Ferry (Childsbury Ferry) across
the western branch of the Cooper River,
1777-1779, 1 microfilm reel (Series P900021, Archives reel no.
RW3376)
This series consists of microfilm produced by the Dept. of Archives and
History in 1964 of a manuscript then in private hands in Charleston. The
microfilm also contains an excellent introduction on the history of the ferry by Charles
E. Lee and Wylma Wates.
William Tennent
"Fragment of the Journal Kept by the Rev. William Tennent Describing his
Journey, in 1775, to Upper South Carolina at the request of the Council of Safety,
To induce the Tories to sign an Association to support the cause of the
Colonists...from an authentic copy in the possession of Dr. Wm. L. Brown, a
descendant," Year Book, 1894, City of
Charleston, pp. 295-313 (Series L1005004)
Eliza Wilkinson
Letters of Eliza
Wilkinson, edited by Caroline Gilman (1839; Reprinted, New
York: The New York Times & Arno Press, 1969). Call No.
E263.S7 W86
Although written from Yonge's Island, near Charleston, South Carolina,
in 1782, these letters treat the period from 1779 through the British occupation.
Army Records
Records of the Regiments of the South Carolina Line in the
Revolutionary War, compiled by Alexander S. Salley (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing
Co. and Clearfield Company, 1995). Call No.
E263.S7 R42 1977
Reprinted, with an added index, from the
South Carolina Historical and Genealogical
Magazine, Vols. 5-7 (1904-1906). The original records are in the
holdings of the South Carolina Historical Society.
Revolutionary War Rolls,
1775-1783 (National Archives Microcopy
M246), 3 microfilm reels (Series F602714, Archives reel nos.
RW3100=RW3102) Reels 1 (index to states and military organizations),
89 (South Carolina units), and 106 (8th Virginia Regiment), only.
This series depicts muster rolls, returns, pay lists, and other records
showing the military service of persons in particular organizations. The Archives
also holds photostats of some South Carolina rolls that are too faint to read on roll
89. They are cataloged under the same series number. The names on the
South Carolina rolls are included in a card file index to Revolutionary service in
the Research Room. These cards have citations "Cont. Regt." and an outdated
reference to an old arrangement of photostats of the rolls. A printed pamphlet
describing the microcopy is available in the Research Room.
Order Book of Captain Barnard Elliott, Grenadier Company,
2nd Regiment, Oct. 10, 1775-March 19, 1778
This record is printed as "Diary of Captain Barnard Elliott" in
Year Book, 1889, City of Charleston, pp.
151-262 (Series L1005004). The manuscript is now at
the South Carolina Historical Society.
"Muster Rolls of the Sixth Regiment South Carolina Continental
Troops, Made Up on 18th March, 1779 . . . ,"
Year Book, 1895, City of Charleston, pp.
333-44. (Series L1005004)
The originals were then in the possession of John Harleston of Charleston.
Muster and Pay Rolls in the New York Historical
Society, 2 vols. Collections of the New-York Historical
Society Vols. 47-48 (1914, 1915). Call No.
E255.N4
A return of the 1st Regt. South Carolina Continental Line, May
31, 1779, and a pay roll, Aug. 1-Nov. 1, 1779, for Capt. Thomas Dunbar's Company,
2nd Regt. South Carolina Continental Line, are included on pp.
578-89 of the second volume, which also includes the index for both volumes. Rolls are included for
all of the original 13 states except Delaware and Georgia, for artillery, and for
Canadian troops.
Numbered Record Books Concerning Military Operations and Service, Pay
and Settlement of Accounts, and Supplies in the War Department Collection of
Revolutionary War Records (National Archives Microcopy
M853), 1 microfilm reel (Series F602715, Archives reel no.
RW3103). Reel 16 (only), Vols. 6 (North Carolina),
9 (South Carolina), 10 (Col. Moses Hazen's 2nd Canadian Regiment
and Artificer Regiments), and 11 (Sheldon's and Moylan's Dragoons and Lee's
Legion) from Lists of Continental Officers and Men,
1775-1783.
The volumes on this reel are believed to have been compiled from
muster rolls after 1783 for the settling of accounts. A printed pamphlet describing
the microcopy is available in the Research Room. The department also holds a
manuscript copy of volume nine made in 1854 by order of the General Assembly
(Series S213090). For a more detailed description see "From the Archives,"
South Carolina Historical Magazine 84
(1983):44-45.
The Sinews of Independence: Monthly Strength Reports of the Continental Army, edited by Charles H. Lesser (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1976). Call No. E259.S56
Paymaster's Receipt Book, Second South Carolina Regiment, July
31, 1775-October 9, 1775. 1 vol., Series
F602005.
Photocopy of a small book kept by Thomas Evance, Paymaster of the
Second Regiment. The receipts are from officers only. The original is now in the
collections of the South Carolina Historical Society.
Arthur Fairies's Journal of the Expedition Against the Cherokees, July
8 to Oct 11, 1776, 1 microfilm reel (Series
F602717, Archives reel no. RW3105)
Fairies was in Capt. Peter Clinton's Co., Col. Thomas Neal's Regiment,
New Acquisition District S. C. militia under the command of Col. Andrew
Williamson. The original of the journal is in National Archives Record Group
15, Records of the Veterans Administration.
Miscellaneous Numbered Records (the Manuscript File) in the War
Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records,
1775-1790s (National Archives Microcopy
M859), 6 microfilm reels. Reels 50, 105, 109, 114,
119, and 123, only: Records relating to South Carolina troops, miscellaneous troops, military
stores, settlement of accounts, and returns of provisions, etc. removed from
pension application files (Series F602712, Archives reel nos.
RW3090-RW3095).
A printed pamphlet describing this microcopy is available in the
Research Room.
James C. Neagles, Summer Soldiers: A Survey and Index of Revolutionary War Courts-Martial (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Incorporated, 1986). Call No. E255.N6
Orders, Returns, Morning Reports, and Accounts of British Troops,
1776-1781 (National Archives Microcopy
M922), 1 microfilm reel (Series F602726, Archives reel no.
RW3378)
This series contains records of portions of a British Brigade of Foot Guards
in service in Pennsylvania and New York. An introductory description of the
records is available at the start of the microfilm reel.
Naval Records
Clerk's Pay Bill Book, June
1778-December 1779, of the South Carolina Commissioners of the
Navy, 1 volume (Series S196001)
This volume was in the records of New York State as early as
1818. Before it was transferred back to South Carolina, it was badly damaged in the New
York State Library fire of 1911, but it contains much legible information.
Journals of the Commissioners of the Navy of South Carolina, October
9, 1776-March 1, 1779 (Columbia: The Historical Commission of South
Carolina, 1912) and Journals . . . July
22, 1779-March 23, 1780 (Columbia: The Historical Commission of South Carolina,
1913), both edited by A. S. Salley, Jr. Call No.
J87.4.S6 C1
These publications are printed versions of the surviving original journals
and an engrossed manuscript copy, now bound in three volumes in Series
S196002. The originals were badly damaged in the New York State Library fire of
1911, and parts crumbled away as they were being prepared for publication.
Log-book of the Frigate South
Carolina on a Voyage from Texel, the
Netherlands, to Charleston, August 1781-May
1782, 1 microfilm reel (Series F602711, Archives reel no.
RW3089)
The original is in the National Archives in the Records of the Office of
Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capitol, Entry
#394.
Papers Relating to the Luxembourg Claims, ca.
1789-1862, 1 flat file box (Series
S165053)
The South Carolina Navy leased the
South Carolina from the Chevalier Luxembourg by an agreement that provided that prize money was to be divided
between the crew, South Carolina, and the Chevalier Luxembourg. Settling
this debt continued to bedevil the courts and the General Assembly into the middle
of the nineteenth century. Other material in addition to the documents in this
series can be found through the department's automated index to Legislative
Papers, 1782-1866.
Captain [John] Tollemache's Journal of the Proceedings of the H. M. S.
Scorpion, June 21, 1775-Sept. 18,
1775, edited by A. S. Salley (Columbia:
Historical Commission of South Carolina, 1919). Call No.
DA240.A55 S2
This ship brought Lord William Campbell, the last royal governor of
South Carolina, to Charleston on June 17, 1775. The journal covers its stay in
Charleston and its subsequent cruise to Cape Fear, Boston, and Bermuda, during which
it became involved in early incidents of the Revolution. The original manuscript
is in the British Public Record Office.
Naval Documents of the American Revolution, edited by William Bell Clark, W. J. Morgan, and Michael J. Clark, 10 vols. to date [through December 1777]. (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1964). Call No. E271.U583
Marine Committee Letterbook,
1776-1780 (National Archives Microcopy
T409), 1 microfilm reel (Series F602710, Archives reel no.
RW3088).
The Marine Committee of Continental Congress directed the Continental
Navy including ship movements, appointment of officers, reviews of naval
courts-martial, and the building and purchasing of ships.
Revolutionary War Prize Cases, Court of Appeals, 1776-1787 (National Archives Microcopy M162), 15 microfilm reels (Series F602709, Archives reel nos. RW3073-RW3087).
Area File of the Naval Records Collection, 1775-1910 (National Archives Microcopy M625), 1 microfilm reel (reel 199, Area 8, the Atlantic Coast, South from Cape Lookout to Brazil, 1775-1799, only) (Series F602725, Archives reel no. RW3344).
Records of Governing Bodies
South Carolina Council of Safety
Journals of the Council of Safety, June
16-July 26, 1775, Nov. 30, 1775-March
26, 1776. Surviving journals through Feb. 26,
1776, published in Collections of the South-Carolina Historical
Society, 2(1858):22-74 and
3(1859):35-271 [Call No. F266.S71]. Feb. 28-March
26, 1776, 1 microfilm reel (Series S165277,
Archives reel no. RW3374)
The originals of the journals published in
the Collections are in the Henry Laurens Papers at the South Carolina Historical Society. Those on microfilm
are at the New York Public Library.
Papers of the First Council of Safety, June-November 1775, in the Henry Laurens Papers at the South Carolina Historical Society were edited and published by Alexander S. Salley in volumes 1-3 (1900-1902) of The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine. They have been reprinted under a misleading title in South Carolina Provincial Troops Named in Papers of the First Council of Safety of The Revolutionary Party in South Carolina, June-November, 1775 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1977). Call No. E263.J7 S3.
South Carolina Provincial Congress
Extracts from the Journals of the Provincial Congresses of South Carolina,
1775-1776, edited by William Edwin Hemphill and Wylma Anne Wates
(Columbia: South Carolina Archives Department,
1960). Call No. J87.S6 A3 1775-1776
The manuscript journals do not survive. This publication was based on
photostats of Peter Timothy's 1775 and 1776 Charleston printings of extracts.
The photostats (in series S165244) depict original printings at the Library of
Congress, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, and the New-York Historical Society.
Signed Copy of the Articles of Association for the District East of the
Wateree, 1775, 1 item (Series S131008)
This artifact of the attempt to gain commitments to the patriot cause
contains over 100 signatures or marks. Another signed Articles of Association
resulting from the efforts of William Henry Drayton and William Tennent to gain
commitments in the state's midlands survives at the New York Public Library.
Extracts of Intercepted Letters,
1775-1776, 1 flat file box (Series S165248)
This series includes one of two known copies of a pamphlet printed by
Peter Timothy by order of the Provincial Congress containing extracts of
intercepted letters, some of which were written by John Stuart, Superintendent of
Indian Affairs for the Southern Department. It also includes a manuscript
containing extracts of intercepted letters to Governor Wright of Georgia.
Constitution of 1776, 1 item (Series
S131009)
The text with an introduction was published as a
6 page leaflet in J. H. Easterby, editor, Basic Documents of South Carolina History: The Constitution of
1776 (Columbia: Historical Commission of South Carolina,
1949). A copy of the leaflet is available in a notebook in the Research Room.
Continental Congress
The Papers of the Continental Congress,
1774-1789 (National Archives Microcopy
M247), 204 microfilm reels (Series F602703, Archives reel nos.
RW2851-RW3054); The Miscellaneous Papers of the Continental Congress,
1774-1789 (National Archives Microcopy
M332), 10 reels (Series F602704, Archives reel nos.
RW3055-3064); The Records of the Constitutional Convention of
1787 (National Archives Microcopy M866), 1 microfilm reel, (Series
F602707, Archives reel no. RW3070); Domestic Letters of the Department of State,
1784-1861 (National Archives Microcopy
M40), 4 microfilm reels through 1792 only (Series
F602706, Archives reel nos. RW3066-RW3069); and
Foreign Letters of the Continental Congress and the Department of State,
1785-1790 (National Archives Microcopy
M61), 1 microfilm reel (Series F602705, Archives reel no.
RW3065)
The above microcopies are indexed in John P. Butler, compiler,
Index: The Papers of the Continental Congress,
1774-1789. 5 vols. (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office,
1978) [Call No.Z1238.B87]. Printed descriptive pamphlets for Microcopies
M247, M332, and M866 are also available in the Research Room.
Journals of Continental Congress, 1774-1789. A searchable, on-line version of the 1904-1937 Library of Congress edition of these journals is available at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwjc.html. A related broadside collection is available at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bdsds/bdsdhome.html.
Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789, edited by Paul H. Smith et al. 26 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1976-2000). Call No. JK1033.L47
Continental Nonimportation Association,
1774, 1 item (Series S131007)
This series consists of an 1859 printing from an original signed copy of
this association intended for South Carolina. The original, now missing, was
found in the papers of Christopher Gadsden, given to the Literary and
Philosophical Society, and after the dissolution of that society presented in
1858 to Gov. R.F.W. Allston, who ordered the printing of the document.
Board of Police, British Occupation of Charleston
Records of the Board of Police, British Occupation of Charleston, May
1780-Oct. 1782, 2 microfilm reels (Series
B800127, Archives reel nos. RW3187-RW3188)
Microfilm produced by the British Manuscript Project of the Library of
Congress and American Council of Learned Societies of Proceedings, June
13, 1780-October 29, 1782; Oaths of Allegiance, May
1, 1780- July 31, 1781; and other records of British civil government during the occupation of Charleston. The
originals are at the British Public Record Office
(C05/513-35). Listed in Great Britain, Public Record Office,
Lists and Indexes No. xxxvi: List of Colonial Office
Records, Preserved in the Public Record Office
(Reprint Edition with annotations, New York: Kraus Reprint Corporation,
1963), p. 12 [Call No. DA240.A55 No 36].
South Carolina General Assembly
Journals of the General Assembly,
1776, House of Representatives, 1779-1780,
1782-1794, and Senate, 1782
The surviving journals of the legislature most relevant to the American
Revolution have all been published. The journals of the General Assembly (which
sat as the lower house under the Constitution of
1776) and of the House of Representatives (which became the lower house under the Constitution of
1778) for the period December 1776-August
1779 and all the journals of the upper house before
1782 were lost during the American Revolution or shortly thereafter.
William Edwin Hemphill, Wylma Anne Wates, and R. Nicholas Olsberg,
editors, Journals of the General Assembly and House of Representatives,
1776-1780 (Columbia: Published by the University of South Carolina Press for the
South Carolina Department of Archives and History,
1970) [Call No. J87.S6 C2]; A. S. Salley, Jr., editor,
Journal of the House of Representatives of South
Carolina, January 8, 1782-February 26,
1782 (Columbia: The Historical Commission of South Carolina,
1916) [Call No. J87.S6 C2]; Theodora F. Thompson, Lark
Emerson Adams, Michael E. Stevens, et al., editors,
The Journals of the House of Representatives,
[1783-1794], 6 vols. (Columbia: Published by the University of
South Carolina Press for the South Carolina Department of Archives and History,
1977-1988) [Call No. J87.S6 C2]; and A. S. Salley, editor,
Journal of the Senate of South Carolina, January
8, 1782-February 26, 1782 (Columbia: Historical
Commission of South Carolina, 1941) [Call No.
J87.S6 B1].
General Assembly Papers,
1776-1866 (bulk 1782-1866)
Although less than a dozen loose papers of the General Assembly from
1776 through 1781 survive, from 1782 forward through the Civil War these papers are
virtually complete and among the richest records at the Department of
Archives and History. Pensions, claims, and financial disputes from the
American Revolution dragged on for much of the antebellum period. As a result,
the Petitions to the General Assembly (Series
S165015), Committee Reports (Series S165005), Resolutions of the General Assembly (Series
S165018), Governors' Messages (Series S165009), Grand Jury Presentments (Series
S165010), and Miscellaneous Communications to the General Assembly (Series
S165029) can be a rich source on many aspects of the American Revolution. They
can be easily searched using the department's on-line Index to Legislative
Papers, 1782-1866 under the topic American Revolution and the many more
specific topics included thereunder as cross-references.
Constitution of 1778, 2 folders (Series
S131010)
This series includes the engrossed manuscript (Act. No.
1074 of the General Assembly) as well as a rough draft and a photocopy from the Library
of Congress of the contemporary printing of the act. The text with an
introduction was published as an 8 page leaflet in Robert L. Meriwether, editor,
Basic Documents of South Carolina History: The Constitution of
1778 (Columbia: The Historical Commission of South Carolina,
1953). A copy of the leaflet is available in a notebook in the Research Room.
South Carolina Privy Council
Journals of the Privy Council,
1783-1789, edited by Adele Stanton
Edwards (Columbia: Published by the University of South Carolina Press for the
South Carolina Department of Archives and History,
1971). Call No. J87.4.S6 P74 1783-1789
The council was much involved with settling Revolutionary War
accounts, loyalists, and other relevant issues. The manuscript journals and rough
journals from which the volume was edited are in series
S204001 and S204002. None of the Privy Council journals for
1776-1782 and for late January 1789-January
1791 survive.
Great Britain, Secretary of State
Original Correspondence of the Secretary of State on Indian Affairs,
Surveys, etc., 1760-1784, and Letters from the Secretary of State on Indian Affairs,
1766-1768 (KTO Microform, Public Records of Great Britain: Indian Affairs,
1760-1784. Series 1), 10 microfilm reels (Series
B800124, Archives reel nos. RW3171-RW3180)
The originals are in the Colonial Office Records at the Public Record
Office, C05/65-82 and CO5/225. For lists of Colonial Office Records, see Great
Britain, Public Record Office, Lists and Indexes No.
xxxvi: List of Colonial Office Records, Preserved in the Public Record
Office. (Reprint edition with annotations, New York: Kraus Reprint Corporation,
1963) [Call No. DA240.A55 No. 36].
Original Correspondence and Entry Books of the Secretary of State
Concerning the American Colonies, 1766-1783,
4 microfilm reels (Series B800125, Archives reel nos.
RW3181-3184)
This series consists of copies of microfilm produced by the British
Public Record Office for the Library of Congress and includes original
correspondence from the Secretary at War,
1781-1782; from Sir Jeffery Amberst,
1778-1782; from Civil Officers in America (and South Carolina Merchants),
1774-1783; Materials Relating to Peace Commissions,
1776-1782; and Copies of Correspondence between Maj. Gen. William Heath and Burgoyne (and Others) Concerning
Treatment of the Convention Troops, 1777-1778
(C05/173-181). The entry books include Dispatches to the Commander-in-Chief in America,
1766-1768; to Governors in America and the West Indies,
1766-1767; to the Board of Trade,
1766-1768; to the Treasury, 1766-1768; Incoming Letters Concerning Indian Affairs,
1768-1771; Incoming Letters, 1778-1782; Precis of Documents Relating to the American
Revolt, 1768-1775; and Despatches to Governors,
1768-1774 (C05/220, 222-224, 227,
230-232, and part of 241). These records are listed on pp.
5-7 of the guide listed under the last entry. More detailed descriptions can be found in John R.
Sellers, Gerard W. Gawalt, Paul H. Smith, and Patricia Molen van Ee, compilers,
Manuscript Sources in the Library of Congress for the American
Revolution (Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress,
1975), pp. 265-69 [Call No. Z1238.U57 1975].
Published Records of Neighboring States
North Carolina
The Colonial Records of North Carolina,
Vol. x, 1775-1776, edited by William L. Saunders and
The State Records of North Carolina, Vol.
xi-xvii, 1776-1785, edited by Walter Clark
(1890-1899; Reprinted, Wilmington: Broadfoot
Publishing Company, 1994). Call No. F251.N6 1993
There are supplements for the Revolutionary era in the two succeeding
volumes and statutes for the period at the end of the set. Stephen B. Weeks's
two volume Index to the Colonial and State Records of North
Carolina (1909) is also available in this reprint edition under the same call number.
Virginia
Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts . . . Preserved in
the Capitol at Richmond, Vols. i-iii
[1652-1784], edited by William P. Palmer
(1875-1883; Reprinted, New York: Kraus Reprint Corporation,
1968). Call No. F221.V5 1968
Virginia Legislative Petitions: Bibliography, Calendar, and Abstracts from Original Sources, 6 May 1776-21 June 1782, compiled by Randolph W. Church (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1984). Call No. KFV2420.C48
Fiscal Records
Records of the South Carolina Treasury,
1775-1780 (South Carolina Archives Microcopy No.
4), 6 microfilm reels (Series S108088, Archives reel nos.
ST664-ST669)
Robert S. Lambert's introduction in the printed pamphlet accompanying
this microcopy describes these records.
Foreign Ledgers, Public Agents in Europe,
1776-1787 (National Archives Microcopy
M1004), 2 microfilm reels (Series F602708, Archives reel nos.
RW3071-RW3072)
The accounts for United States ministers and other diplomatic
representatives include both Henry and John Laurens as well as John Adams, Silas Deane,
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and others. Many European and
American firms and merchants are also included. Each microfilm reel includes an index.
Loan Office Records Relating to the Loan of
1790-South Carolina (National Archives Microcopy
T719), 3 microfilm reels (Series F602719, Archives reel
nos. RW3107-RW3109)
Loan Office records contain information both about funding
Revolutionary War debt and about payment of Revolutionary War pensions. In addition to
the South Carolina portion of the Loan of 1790 records, the department also
has microfilm of Central Treasury Records Relating to the Loan of
1790 (National Archives Microcopy T786), 1 microfilm reel (Series
F602720, Archives reel no. RW3110); of the Register of Audits of Miscellaneous Treasury Accounts,
1790-1814 (National Archives Microcopy
T899), 1 microfilm reel (Series F602721, Archives reel no.
RW3111); and of portions of the Register's Estimates and
Statements, 1796-1797, Containing Listings of Records (Vol.
5, pp. 326-50, and Vol. 6, pp. 211-38) from the Records of the Bureau of Public Debt, National Archives
Record Group 53, 1 microfilm reel (Series F602718, Archives reel no.
RW3106).
Manuscript Collections
Robert Wilson Gibbes Collection of Revolutionary War Manuscripts,
1773-1820, 1 vol., 4 flat file boxes (Series
S213089)
The surviving portion of a collection given to the State of South Carolina
in the 1850s in exchange for a publication subsidy. Partially published in R.
W. Gibbes, Documentary History of the American Revolution: Consisting of
Letters and Papers Relating to the Contest for Liberty, Chiefly in South Carolina . .
. [1764-1782]. 3 vols. (1853-1857; Reprinted, Spartanburg, S. C.: The
Reprint Company, 1972) [Call No. E263.S7 G4]. The majority of the items now in the
collection that were not printed by Gibbes were published in A. S. Salley,
editor, Documents Relating to the History of South Carolina during the
Revolutionary War (Columbia: The Historical Commission of South Carolina,
1908) [Call No. Oversize, E263.S7 S548]. This volume contains a particularly large number
of pay rolls, muster rolls, and other returns. Some items printed in the
volume that did not properly belong in the Gibbes Collection have been refiled in
the records of the General Assembly. For a description of the collection and
its history, partial publication, and finding aids, see "From the Archives,"
South Carolina Historical Magazine 84
(1983):43-44.
[Lyman C.] Draper Manuscript Collection. ca.
1740-1891, 136 microfilm reels, 13 microfiche (Series
P900005, Archives reel nos. RW3190-RW3325).
The large collection of interviews, notes, copies of manuscripts,
newspaper and periodical articles, and original documents assembled by Lyman
C. Draper reflects his interest in both the trans-Allegheny West and the
American Revolution. Draper proposed a biography of Thomas Sumter, thus creating
a sizeable collection of manuscripts and other materials on Sumter and
South Carolina. The Kings Mountain material is but one of numerous other
sections of interest for the American Revolution. The department has the
1949 microfilm edition of this collection, the originals of which are in the State
Historical Society of Wisconsin. In addition the department has one microfilm reel
from the 1980 Chadwyck-Healey, Inc. microfilm edition reproducing vol.
37 of the Kentucky Papers, which was omitted from the earlier filming. A general
guide is Josephine L. Harper, Guide to the Draper Manuscripts
(Madison: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin,
1983) [Call No. Z6616.D72 H37]. Other finding aids of interest for the American Revolution include Milo M. Quaife,
editor, Publications of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Calendar
Series, Vol. i: The Preston and Virginia Papers of the Draper Collection of
Manuscripts (Madison: 1915) [Call No.
Z1345.W42 1915]; Calendar Series, Vol. iii: Calendar of The Tennessee and King's Mountain Papers of the Draper
Collection of Manuscripts (Madison: 1929) [Call No.
Z1337.S7 1929]; Calendar of the South Carolina Papers, Draper Manuscripts, Series TT.
1 microfiche; Calendar of the South Carolina in the Revolution Miscellanies, Series UU.
1 microfiche; and Calendar Series, Vol. v, Calendar of the Thomas Sumter
Papers (Utica, Kentucky: McDowell Publications,
1986) [Call No. Z1333.S73 1986].
T. Bailey Myers Collection,
1775-1789. Printed as "Original Letters,
1775-89 Period," Year Book, 1882,
City of Charleston, pp. 343-71 (Series
L1005004)
The original Myers Collection is now at the New York Public Library.
Letters of Francis Kinloch, Daniel DeSaussure, Sir Henry Clinton, Robert Howe,
Lord George Germaine, Nesbit Balfour, Alexander Leslie, Banestre Tarleton,
and John and Henry Laurens.
Newspapers
South Carolina
Gazette of the State of South
Carolina, 1777-1780, 1 microfilm reel
(Series P900042, Archives reel no. PR063); South Carolina and American
General Gazette, 1776-1781, partial microfilm reel (Series
P900044, Archives reel no. PR0067); Charleston
Gazette, 1778-1780, 1 microfilm reel (Series
P900045, Archives reel no. PR0065); Royal South Carolina
Gazette, 1780-1782, 1 microfilm reel (Series
P900046, Archives reel no. PR0067); and Royal
Gazette, 1781-1782, 1 microfilm reel and
1 partial microfilm reel (Series P900047, Archives reel nos.
PR0067, PR0068)
The department also has microfilm of the various earlier colonial gazettes.
The bulk of the originals of these newspapers are held by the Charleston
Library Society, which borrowed issues from other institutions to fill in runs.
Brief histories of the various papers and lists of the issues filmed are on
Archives reel no. PR0057.
Virginia Gazette of
Williamsburg, 1774-1780, 2 microfilm reels (Series
P900049, Archives reel nos. PR0075, PR0076)
This newspaper is indexed in Lester J. Cappon and Stella F. Duff,
Virginia Gazette Index, 1763-1780 (Williamsburg, Va.: The Institute of Early
American History and Culture, 1950) [Call no.
Z1346.C3]. The department also has the microfilm of the earlier issues.
Copyright 2001
South Carolina Department of Archives and History