SELECTED HISTORY OF THE UPCOUNTRY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

EARLY AND COLONIAL HISTORY:

           Originally much of the area of present northwestern South Carolina, was known as Cherokee land.  In fact, the lower  Cherokee nation was centered in this territory.  The capital village of the lower Cherokee nation was known as Keowee (from which we get the name Keowee River -- and now Keowee Lake).  When Lake Keowee was built in the nineteen sixties,  the area where this village was located was flooded.  The Keowee River is the boundary between present Pickens and Oconee counties of the Upstate.  Present Greenville County was definitely part of the lower Cherokee nation.  The area of present Spartanburg County, belonged to the Cherokees as well but served mostly as a buffer between the Catabaw Indians and the Cherokees.  

           In 1683, the Colony of South Carolina existed of three counties: Berkley, Colleton and Craven.  The colonial Governor of South Carolina, Gov. Glenn, entered a treaty in 1755 with the lower Cherokees that ceded a great portion of this land to the colonists.  With the exception for the occasional trader or hunter,  this land was uninhabitated by whites prior to this point in time.  The boundary with North Carolina was not settled until 1815, so some portions of the present Upstate counties was part of Tryon County, NC.  This would have included a portion of present Cherokee, Spartanburg and Greenville counties. However, with the acquisition of the new territory, the areas of Edgefield, Abbeville, Newberry, Laurens, Union and Spartanburg counties became part of the old Ninety-Six district.  In fact, even after the area was divided up into counties, they were called districts, i.e. Spartanburg District.

          After the 1755 treaty,  the Upcountry saw its beginnings of white settlement.  The first settlers to come into the Upcountry were traders and those associated with the old forts.  The second influx came from families that migrated from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.  One example of these is the Babb family in my family tree.  The family of Joseph Babb settled on the borders of the Cherokee lands in 1767 in present Laurens county.  Later, Joseph and his wife, Mary McCool, would become patriots in the American Revolution.  The third influx of families came to this area after the Revolutionary War. Near the course of present US Interstate 85, was an old Indian trail, which by the time of the American Revolution, was large enough to move a wagon and an oxen team.  An example of this migration is the Foster family in my family tree.  William Foster, or Major "Billie", as he was called, moved to the Upcountry in 1791 from Amelia  county, Virginia, and settled a mile or so east of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, which was near Fort Prince in the Spartanburg District.  He had been an officer in the Revolutionary War, and received a land grant as a result of his service.  There were many other families that moved also as a result of this. Another family in my family tree to move here after the war was the Cantrells.  John Cantrell had served his country as a patriot and moved to the Spartanburg district at the close of the war.   His son, William married a local Upcountry girl, Elizabeth Jane Turner, the daughter of James Turner, Sr. who lived near Buck Creek Baptist Church.  More will be said about James Turner later herein.  Many of the families were of Scotch-Irish descent (those protestants that moved from Scotland to Ireland due to religious persecution and then to the colonies).

        At the close of the Revolutionary War and in the year 1783, a convention was called in South Carolina.  The Spartanburg area sent a delegate to this convention named Hon. James Jorden.   As a result of this convention,  an ordinance was passed that created the districts (now counties) of Edgefield, Abbeville and Newberry, leaving the rest of the territories  to continue as Ninety-Six district (which were Spartanburg, Union and Laurens counties).  By legislative decree, Ninety-Six district was divided in 1785, and Laurens, Union and Spartanburg districts were created.  

          The area of present Greenville county, was not ceded by the Cherokees until a treaty was reached in 1777.  This area was part of the Cherokee Indian hunting grounds and revered by them.  Even though the area was ceded in 1777, not many whites dared settle in this area.  The first was probably Richard Parris, a trader.  Greenville district was officially formed in 1784.  

          After the treaty was reached,  a number of forts were built by the colonial government.  One was Fort George which was erected on Kewoee River in Pickens county.  After an incident between the Cherokees and Gov. Littleton at this fort (where a number of Cherokees were killed), the Cherokees were very upset.  It is said that after this incident: "The whole nation (lower Cherokee) seized at once the hatchet, sang their war songs, and, burning for revenge, fell upon the frontier settlements of Carolina, and with merciless fury set to work murdering men, women and children.  The settlements everywhere, alarmed and terrified, lost no time in setting to the work of building of forts and stockades." [See Dr. J.B.O. Landrum's "Colonial and Revolutionary History of Upper South Carolina, "published 1897]. During this time, a line of fort was built extending along the borders of the outter settlements from Virginia to Georgia. During this time, Fort Prince, Poole's Fort, Nichols' Fort, Anderson's Block House, Earle's Fort and Thickety Fort were built.  How long the forts were occupied is unknown but surely did not until the trouble with the Cherokees was ended.  In the Spartanburg district, the general rallying point in time of trouble was Fort Prince, which was located within a mile of Mount Zion Baptist Church.  

        In August of 1766, Charles Woodmason became an itinerant minister for the Anglican Church (Church of England) to the Carolina Backcountry.  He kept a journal of some of the years of his ministry.  He was originally from the London area of England; came to South Carolina and was a planter and merchant; and then returned to England to be ordained prior to returning to the Colony to begin his ministry.   In his journal, he described the living conditions of the people living in the Upcountry as follows: "In all these excursions, I am obliged to carry my own Necessaries with me - as Bisket - Cheese - a Pint of Rum - Some Sugar - Chocolate - Tea, or Coffee - With Cups Knife Spoon Plate Towels and Linen.  So that I go always heavy loaded like a trooper.  If I did not, I should starve.  Never will I be out again  from home for a month together to take the Chance of things -- As in many places have nought but a Gourd to drink out of; Not a plate knive or Spoon, a Glass, Cup, or any thing -- It is well if they can get some body linen, and some have not even that.  They are so burthen'd with Young Children, that the Women cannot attend both House and Field -- And many live by hunting, and killing Deer -- There's not a Cabin but has 10 or 12 Young Children in it -- When the boys are 18 and girls 14 they marry -- so that in many cabins you will see 10 or 15 Children.  Children and Grand Children of one Size -- and the mother looking as Young as the Daughter.  Yet these Poor People enjoy good Health; and are generally cut off by Endemic or Epidemic Disorders, which when they happen, makes Great Havock among them." [entry January 1768]. Later he adds, "their poverty is so great, that were they to offer me a fee, my Heart would not let me take it."  In September of 1768, he wrote: " It would be a Great Novelty to a Londoner to see one of these Congregations -- The men with only a thin shirt and pair of Breeches or Trousers on -- barelegged and barefooted -- The Women bareheaded, barelegged and barefoot with only a thin Shift and under Petticoat -- Yet I cannot break them of this -- for the heat of the Weather admits not any but thin Cloathing -- I can hardly bear the weight of Whig and Gown, during service.  The Young Women have a most uncommon Practise, which I cannot break them off.  They draw their Shift as tight as possible to the Body, and pin it close, to shew the fineness of their Breasts, and slender waists (for they are generally fine shaped) and draw their Petticoat close to their Hips to shew the firmness of their limbs -- so that they might as well be in Puri Naturalibus -- Indeed Nakedness is not censurable or indecent here, and they expose themselves often quite naked, without Ceremony -- Rubbing themselves and their Hair with Bears Oil and tying it up behind in a bunch like Indians -- being hardly one degree removed from them."

      The Colonial government of South Carolina was unable to put an end to the uprising and insurrection of the Cherokees in the Upcountry.  At the time, there was a small pox outbreak in Charleston and there was not the power or resources to send north to quell the indians.  However,  the colonies of Virginia and North Carolina did come to the rescue.  These colonies sent seven companies of rangers which were united under Colonel Montgomery who commanded a group of British regulars.  Montgomery's force, in 1760, found a large band of Cherokee warriors and put them in retreat and a number were killed.  But Montgomery's force was not able to put the Cherokees in line; so,  Montgomery returned to New York from which he had originally come.  

      As a result of Montgomery's return to New York, the Upcountry was still not safe.  So, a temporary regiment was raised of Carolina men and the command  of this regiment ws given to Colonel Middleton.  The field officers under Colonel Middleton were Henry Laurens, William Moultrie, Francis Marion, Isaac Huger and Andrew Pickens [noted names in South Carolina history].  This Carolina regiment joined a regiment of British regulars who were headed by a Colonel Grant, which had landed in Charleston in 1761.  A total of 2,600 men were assembled and an expediton was begun to place the indians in check.  This became known as Grant's Indian War.  The Cherokees were chased and many were killed.  Grant's force destroyed  the Cherokee's granaries and corn fields.  This brought much destruction to the indians and as a result they sent one of their chiefs, Attakulla Kulla, to negotiate peace terms with the Colony.  This was accomplished and the Upcountry then enjoyed prosperity and growth .  Dr. Landrum states in his book, "The Colonial and Revolutionary History of Upper South Carolina," that "this was the true beginning of prosperity in the settlements of upper South Carolina.  The colony began to flourish to a surprising degree; multitudes of emigrants came from all parts....It is said that in the space of a single year more than a thousand families, with their effects, horses, cattle and hogs, crossed the mountains and pitched their tents along the frontiers of South Carolina (the Upcountry)."   As the population of whites increased,  the danger of the indians was diminished.  In their new found peace and prosperity, the Upcountry settlers produced flax, tobacco, furs and grains.  

Revolutionary History:

      The years after Grant's Indian War, saw a period of prosperity with occasional isolated incidents with the Cherokees.  When the British Government passed the Stamp Act,  many of the prosperous settlers resented this Act, and accompanying taxes.  This was the prelude to the American Revolution.

     A Council of Safety was formed of the South Carolina Colony.  This Council was against the British Yoke placed on the American colonist.  In 1775, this council commissioned and appointed William Henry Drayton and William Tennant  as representatives to visit the Upcountry to obtain their feelings on this issue and to explain to them the concerns of the Council of Safety against the British Government.  They started their mission on August 1 of 1775.  The first area visited was along the Dutch Fork River,  in present Lexington county.  They continued on an upward journey and when they reached the Upper Fair Forest, Lawson's Fork, and on the Tygers Rivers (most being in the area of Spartanburg county), they found people sympathetic with the American cause.  In a letter Dayton wrote the Safety Council on August 21, 1775, Drayton said: "They are staunch in our favor, are capable of forming a good barrier against the Indians and of being a severe check upon Fletchall's people on whom they border.... "   Dayton went on to say that he was going to take the liberty of supplying them with ammunition from Fort Charlotte so that they could form regular companies of militia.  

    The areas between the Broad River and Saluda River at that time in 1775 were under the command of Col. Thomas Fletchall, who would later become a staunch Loyalist to Britain.  He lived on the lower Fair Forest River, about six miles from present Union, South Carolina.   The people below the upper portions were not as favorable to the American cause and from these people came many of the tories who would side and fight with the British in the coming war.  One asks why were the people in the upper portions of the State more favorable to the cause of freedom.  In "The History of Spartanburg County", Dr. Landrum states:  "...the extreme up-country of South Carolina, was settled by emigrants who advanced from north to south and in front of the eastern settlers.  These settlements did not begin until after the ceding of said territory by the Cherokee Indians under Governor Glen .... As far back as 1736, settlements from the seacoast had progressed westward only about eighty or ninety miles. In 1755 the population of the territory afterwards formed into the county of Spartanburg, including Colonel Clarke the first settler of the Pacolet, did not consist of more than eight or ten Scotch-Irish families from Pennsylvania....who settled on the forks of the Tygers.  Soon however, emigration began to pour in from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, and other colonies, as well as from the old countries, and the country began to be rapidly be settled up.....Many of these settlers of the up-country were of English extraction and dissenters from the Established Church of the mother country.  These were mostly immigrants from Virginia."  This is corroborated in the journal of Charles Woodmason referred to in the first section above.  So at the beginning of the Revolution, the two area of South Carolina; the one having settled from over the mountains to the North and the other from the coast, had not really met or commingled.  This explains why the people of the upper regions of Carolina were of a different mold and more willing to take up the American cause.  

       As a result of Dayton and Tennant's visit to the Upcountry,  a regiment, independent of Fletchell, was raised.  Sometime prior to September of 1775, this regiment was organized and John Thomas became its Colonel.  This regiment became the "Spartan Regiment."  This regiment of men was made up of men from the Upcountry.  The regiment loaded with ammunition from Fort Charlotte was soon ready for engagement.  In December of 1775, it participated in the "Snow Command."

Picture of Flag Carried into Battle at Cowpens in Spartanburg County

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