Early history of Williamsburg, South Carolina

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Williamsburg was one of eleven townships that were ordered by King George in 1730 to colonial governor Robert Johnson to develop the "back country" of the Carolina Province. The townships were to consist of 20,000 acres (80 km²) and be laid out to front a river, in this case the Black River.

In partial compliance eight townships were laid out, including Williamsburg. This particular spot on the river had a white pine tree, that stood straight and taller than the local loblolly pines and longleaf pines, which was marked by an unknown early surveyor with the King's Arrow to claim it for the king and identify it as a potential ships mast.

It was never claimed nor cut, but became the center of the new township, referred to as "The King's Tree." Kingstree eventually became the chief town of Williamsburg township. The township was a part of Craven county, one of the original four counties that encompassed present South Carolina. Williamsburg township then included most of the present Pee Dee region. It was later divided and became a number of separate counties, including present Williamsburg County at the center.

The township was named after William of Orange. In 1732 a colony of forty Scots-Irish led by Roger Gordon came up the river by boat and settled in the vicinity of the King's Tree. They were poor Protestants, having escaped persecution by previous moves until they came to America.

It was an exceedingly difficult and primitive life for the early settlers and the life expectancy for those who did not die in infancy was around 50 years. The settlers were surrounded by Indians of the Wee Nee, the Wee Tee, the Chickasaw, the Creek, the Waccamaw, and the Pedee tribes, but had few conflicts with them. At first there was a lot of trade, but the Indians were decimated by European diseases the settlers brought with them.

A hazard for the settlers was poisonous snakes and wolves which were very common in the early years.

Though nominally all the colony was Anglican, and no churches or schools could be established without the consent of the Lord Bishop or his agent, these people had suffered persecution from the Church of England. The colony quickly established a religious society which was actually Presbyterian, though the name was not applied until later. In 1736 they called The Rev. John Willison from Scotland to be their minister. They built a meeting house that became Williamsburg Presbyterian Church. Soon new daughter churches were established at Indiantown and Black Mingo

In 1780 John Witherspoon, grandson of one of the early settlers, who were all deceased by then, wrote: "...they were servers of God, were well acquainted with the Scriptures, were much engaged in prayer, were strict observers of the Sabbath, in a word, they were a stock of people that studied outward piety as well as inward purity of life."

They also prospered. The wilderness abounded in deer, wild turkeys, fish and muscadine grapes. As the colony grew, they established plantations. Wheat from Europe grew poorly, but corn produced abundantly. Flax was grown for cloth, later it was gradually replaced by cotton. Cattle and hogs that they brought with them reproduced and found abundant forage, running wild in the swamps and forests, with only the owner's mark to identify them. About 1750 the crop indigo was introduced, and many of the plantation owners became wealthy from it. Rice was grown along the river. Eventually a large naval store industry developed and this was followed by timbering which has continued into modern times.

In 1759 during the French and Indian War, the French enlisted the large Cherokee tribe as allies. Thought they lived to the northwest of Williamsburg, they threatened the entire state, and two companies of volunteer militia were organized to fight for the king (and for self-defense). Together with other companies from the rest of coastal Carolina, a regiment was formed, which mustered and drilled at Kingstree. They also built a stockade for the residents in case of Indian attack.

When the American Revolution broke out some of the young men joined the army and were sent for the defense of Charleston. After Charleston surrendered to the British in early 1780, the soldiers were paroled and returned home, expecting to remain neutral from then on.

The British quickly established garrisons throughout South Carolina, including a fort at nearby Georgetown on the coast. In the upstate were a larger number of Tories, who joined the British forces, but the Williamsburg Presbyterians were not fond of the king, and were inclined to sit out the war, until the British made a tactical error. An order was proclaimed that all who had taken parole must now take up arms for the King. This was considered by the people to be a unilateral violation of the terms of their parole. They sent a local militia officer as representative, Captain John James, to the fort at Georgetown for clarification, where he was treated abusively by the commander, Captain Ardesoif. Fleeing from Georgetown, he quickly raised a militia of four companies, which were put under the command of Francis Marion.

Marion was one of the most effective military officers of the Revolution, and he had the fervent loyalty of this militia, who served with no pay and no promise of pay, who provided their own weapons and horses, or secured them whenever they defeated the British.

"Lieutenant-Colonel Banastre Tarleton" by Sir Joshua Reynolds

The only area of South Carolina that was not occupied by the British was the Williamsburg area. The British tried to establish a garrison at Willtown, but Marion's men defeated them and drove them off in the Battle of Mingo Creek. Marion not only won tactical victories against superior forces with small cost, but also won a moral victory which turned the tide in the Revolution in South Carolina. He did this in two ways, first by holding a section of the colony that the British could not penetrate, which raised morale of Patriot forces elsewhere. And secondly he gave receipts for horses, boats, weapons and food supplies that were commandeered, or were destroyed to keep from falling into the hands of the British. This was in stark contract to the British officers Banastre Tarleton and James Wemyss who burned and looted Williamsburg early in the war. Especially angering the public was the British burning of the Williamsburg and Indiantown Presbyterian Churches, which the British called "hotbeds of sedition."

Many of Marion's receipts were presented to the new state government after the war, and the state paid the claims.

Proof of this moral victory was the speed at which Marion gained information about British movements, but the lack of information of the British officers who tried repeatedly to neutralize Marion. Both relied on spies among the populace, but Williamsburg was loyal to Marion. Tarleton, cursing Marion, when he could not catch him, gave him his epithet, "The Swamp Fox." The Williamsburg Militia served as needed, coming quickly when called, but remaining at home to plant and harvest crops and other duties whenever possible. Toward the end of the war, Marion could quickly call up a couple thousand men. Marion's Men held their territory alone until General Nathanael Greene arrived later in the war. They then helped Greene's forces evict the British from their upstate garrisons and drive them back to Charleston, from whence they eventually surrendered and left by ship.