Imprisonment at Snee Farm

After the British captured Charleston in May of 1780, they used Snee Farm as a prison for well-known Patriot leaders. The story of how and why this happened reveals the dilemmas that many in Charleston faced due to the Revolution.

Patriots Held Prisoner

In the aftermath of the 1780 siege, the British had to decide how to imprison thousands of Patriot soldiers. While many militiamen were simply sent home, members of the Continental Army who would not join the British were formally held as prisoners. Continental enlisted men were often held in the city of Charleston. [1]

For the Continental officers, however, the location and treatment would be different. In May, British General Henry Clinton issued orders for the officers to “go to the barracks at Haddrell’s Point”, located in modern-day Mount Pleasant. The officers would “be allowed to go the extent of six miles from the barracks, but to pass no river, creek, or arm of the sea.” [2]

General William Moultrie, once the victorious leader of the Patriots during the Battle of Sullivan’s Island, was among the prisoners of war. He wrote that 274 Patriots were held at Haddrell’s Point, but that he and his ally Charles Cotesworth Pinckney were in “excellent quarters, at Mr. Pinckney’s place, called Snee Farm.” [3]

Why Snee Farm?

Snee Farm was owned by Col. Charles Pinckney, a relative of Cotesworth Pinckney and a local militia leader. His circumstances illustrate the difficult path a Charlestonian might have to walk during the Revolution.

Each side of the Revolution sometimes demanded loyalty oaths of citizens under their rule. Patriot-led Charleston was no exception. A South Carolina law passed in 1778 required “every free male inhabitant of South Carolina, above a certain age” to take a loyalty oath to the independent state. Those who refused to do so could face exile and property confiscation. [4] [5]

When the British occupied Charleston in 1780, they imposed restrictions of their own. In November 1780, they publicized orders for twenty Patriot leaders to have their property seized, including William Moultrie. The British would continue to order oaths as the revolution continued. [6]

Colonel Charles Pinckney had been a leader of a Patriot militia group early in the Revolution. However, when the British took over, he switched sides, signing an oath of loyalty to the Crown. As a result, the British allowed him to stay in his downtown home. By contrast, his cousin Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, an ardent Patriot, had his property confiscated. Col. Pinckney’s decision may have made it possible for his cousin, and Moultrie, to be kept at Snee Farm. [7] [8]

It is not known what he specifically thought of allowing Snee Farm to be used as a prison, but for him it may have been the best way out of a difficult situation. He could appease the British, while giving the Patriots pleasant accommodations during their captivity.

Captivity, Exile, and Return

Moultrie’s biographer, C.L. Bragg, depicts a comfortable life for the general at Snee Farm. The British allowed him to keep “a horse and three servants”, including “a body servant named Fortune.” All of these servants were likely enslaved. Even as a prisoner of war, Moultrie was considered of a higher station than the enslaved population of South Carolina. His imprisonment was temporary – their bondage was permanent. [9]

As the Revolution continued, Moultrie would gain chances at freedom. In March of 1781, associates of partisan fighter Francis Marion staged a raid on Haddrell’s Point, freeing many of the Patriot officers there. As they departed the area, the Patriots met Moultrie near Snee Farm, offering to take him with them and escape British captivity. Possibly anticipating that he would be eventually exchanged, Moultrie declined the offer. [10]

In May of 1781, the two sides came to an agreement allowing prisoners to be exchanged. Before that could happen for Moultrie, though, he got unwanted news. A local British official, Lord Nesbit Balfour, had ordered the banishment of Patriot Charlestonians. Their property was to be seized by the Crown and used for the British war effort. As a result, Moultrie fled Charleston in the summer of 1781 for the friendlier locale of Philadelphia. [11]

In February 1782, Moultrie was formally exchanged, and was no longer an official prisoner of the British. During his captivity, the war had turned in the Patriots’ favor – the biggest British army had been captured at the Battle of Yorktown. In December of 1782, the British evacuated Charleston. Moultrie’s goal of independence was quickly becoming a reality. [12]

Lasting Legacy

After the British evacuation, the victorious Patriots were often angry at the people who had declared their loyalty to the British. In June 1783, the local government held auction sales of former Loyalist property. Many Loyalists petitioned for their property back; most, but not all, were successful. Colonel Pinckney himself did not have to deal with any of this personally, because he died in September 1782. [13]

Life in Revolutionary Charleston was filled with moral compromises and choices. Your decisions – whether to declare loyalty to a side, whether to fight for that side, whether to accept an enemy occupation – might determine whether you kept your property or your freedom.

For Colonel Pinckney, allowing his relative and others to be imprisoned at his Snee Farm property may not have been courageous. However, he could have considered it the best of bad options – “excellent” accommodations for the prisoners, and self-preservation for himself.

Notes:

[1]: Butler, Christina. “British Occupied Charleston, 1780-82: Diverse Experiences and Daily Life in a Divided City.” Butler Preservation L.C., 2024. P. 27.
[2]: Moultrie, William. Memoirs of the American Revolution, So Far as It Related to the States of North and South-Carolina, and Georgia, Vol. II. Pp. 104-05.
[3]: Moultrie, Memoirs. P. 116.
[4]: “The Statutes at Large of South Carolina, Vol. 4.” Ed. Thomas Cooper. Columbia, 1838. Accessed via HathiTrust, 20 Oct. 2024. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433007185287&view=1up&seq=7
[5]: Sinks, John D. “Oaths of Allegiance During the American Revolution.” District of Columbia, 8 May 2021. Accessed via sar.org: https://www.sar.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Oaths-of-Allegiance-During-the-American-Revolution-8-May-2021.pdf
[6]: Butler, “British Occupied Charleston, 1780-82.” Pp. 30, 79.
[7]: Butler, “British Occupied Charleston, 1780-82.” Pp. 78, 114, 264.
[8]: “Snee Farm Historic Structure Report.” Wiss, Janney, Elster Associates, Inc., 2016. P. 14. Accessed via npshistory.com: https://npshistory.com/publications/chpi/hsr-snee-farm.pdf
[9]: Bragg, C.L. Crescent Moon over Carolina. University of South Carolina Press, 2013. P. 185.
[10]: Bragg, Crescent Moon over Carolina. Pp. 196-197.
[11]: Bragg, Crescent Moon over Carolina. Pp. 198-199.
[12]: Bragg, Crescent Moon over Carolina. P. 200.
[13]: Butler, “British Occupied Charleston, 1780-82.” Pp. 258-59.