THOMAS SUMTER

Hanover, Virginia
August 14, 1734–June 1, 1832
Woe Betide Anyone Who Burns Sumter’s House

Sumter demonstrated to Americans that aggressive and innovative military leadership could win a war, even with occasional setbacks. He was well prepared for his military leadership role in South Carolina due to his experience fighting Indians in the mid-1700s. What he learned helped him prepare for leadership during the Revolutionary War and the multitude of political positions he held afterwards.

What Have You Done for Me Lately?

Sumter did not receive a formal education as a youth but his sense of adventure got him a long way. He began his military career in 1755, when he participated in the ill-fated Braddock Expedition.

In 1755, during the French and Indian War, the British initiated a campaign led by General Edward Braddock to capture a French stronghold, Fort Duquesne (modern Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). It was a disaster. Braddock was killed, the British retreated in disgrace—and Sumter got his first taste of war.

Six years later, then-sergeant Sumter was involved in another expedition that gave him a chance to travel. He accompanied Henry Timberlake on a foray to the Virginia backcountry (in present-day Tennessee) to make sure the Cherokees had stopped fighting the settlers.

Sumter borrowed the money to buy a canoe and supplies for what was expected to be a short trip. Their timing was off. They left on November 28, 1761, to explore an area that was prone to wintry weather. Rivers ran low and froze, their unattended canoe slipped away while Sumter and Timberlake explored an icy cave, supplies ran out, Timberlake’s luggage was looted—pretty much everything that could go wrong went wrong—but the men survived. A Cherokee chief, Ostenaco, expressed a desire to visit London and meet the king. Sumter and Timberlake accompanied him to England in May 1762. They met King George III and socialized with poets (Oliver Goldsmith), painters (Joshua Reynolds), and princes. Sumter, who was broke, asked the South Carolina government for a loan to repay the money he had laid out for his travel expenses. Officials denied it. Later, he entered debtors’ prison in Virginia for nonpayment of an old debt. Going to jail gave Sumter a chance to exhibit his honesty. Joseph Martin, a friend of his, visited Sumter in the prison and gave him ten guineas and a tomahawk. With that money, Sumter bought his way out of jail in 1766. He repaid Martin—thirty years later.

In 1767 Sumter married a widow, Mary Jameson. The two worked hard and amassed a small fortune. He became a Provincial congressman and used some of the money to form his own militia, which proved to be a wise investment when the Revolutionary War began.

War, Not Politics

Once the fighting began, Sumter was front and center. He preferred military activity to politics. The young warrior was elected lieutenant colonel of the Second Regiment of the South Carolina Line in February 1776. He worked his way up to colonel and then brigadier general of the South Carolina militia, which was folded eventually into the Continental Army. Whatever his rank was, he engaged in numerous battles early in the war.

REVOLUTIONARY REVELATIONS

The British learned quickly who the feisty Thomas Sumter was. One British general noted that Sumter “fought like a gamecock.” “Gamecock” became his nickname from that point on. General Charles Cornwallis, who left the Carolinas for Virginia due in part to Sumter’s fighting prowess, described him as his greatest plague.

Sumter spread himself out across South Carolina. One of the first actions in which he participated was near Charleston, South Carolina, at the Battle of Sullivan’s Island on June 28, 1776. There, the Americans defeated the British and sent them back to New York.

The peripatetic Sumter fought against Cherokees in the fall of 1776, against the British as they attempted to conquer Georgia via St. Augustine, Florida, and at Rocky Mount, South Carolina.

REVOLUTIONARY REVELATIONS

Sumter’s military leadership reputation suffered a blow at Rocky Mount. The patriots attacked and defeated the enemy. Then Sumter’s soldiers ripped into the enemy’s stores, drank their liquor, and fell into drunken stupors. The British counterattacked and drove off the patriots.

One of the last battles in which Sumter fought was at Hanging Rock, South Carolina, on August 6, 1780. His troops attacked the Prince of Wales’s American Regiment, composed of American Tories and supporting British units. Sumter’s troops decimated the regiment, although the outcome of the battle was a draw. The patriots gained a sense of satisfaction because of the damage they inflicted on the Tory troops. For Sumter, it was a fitting farewell from the war.

Sumter then took a leave of absence from the Continental Army due to illness. The British burned and looted his home in 1780. After that, he rejoined the militia and set off on a vendetta against the British. He raised troops by promising each new recruit a slave, a horse, and the right to keep what he liberated (a.k.a. stole). That was too much for the governor, who vetoed Sumter’s promise.

Things did not always go the way Sumter planned them after his return to the battlefield. He suffered an embarrassing defeat at Fishing Creek on August 18, 1780, when British General Banastre Tarleton caught Sumter’s forces by surprise and routed them, even though the British were outnumbered almost four to one.

It was a humiliating setback for Sumter. He got revenge later that year at Blackstock’s, on November 20, a battle in which the British suffered ten casualties to each one incurred by the patriots. Sumter was wounded in the back and chest that day. By this time, Sumter was operating more or less on his own, using guerilla-style tactics successfully. His hit-and-run attacks wore the British down.

The war in the South was wearing down, though, and Sumter’s military career was over once General Cornwallis pulled up stakes and moved north in 1781.

FEDERAL FACTS

In between the battles in 1780, South Carolina Governor Edward Rutledge promoted Sumter to brigadier general. He was the last surviving general of the war.

From General to Senator

The people of South Carolina were kind to Sumter after the war. He would have preferred to stay on his plantation in Statesburg raising horses, which was a passion of his. But he accepted positions in the U.S. House of Representatives (1789–93, 1797–1801) and U.S. Senate (1801–10). That ended his public career.

Sumter lived for the next twenty-two years in well-earned privacy. He and his fellow South Carolina military leaders had shown that aggressiveness and innovative tactics could win battles—and ultimately a war. Sumter, like the country, had suffered a few setbacks along the way, but that was to be expected in a fight for independence.