Thomas Sumter

Thomas Sumter came to South Carolina in a roundabout way. A native Virginian, he served as a sergeant during the Cherokee War and had the honor to escort Cherokee Chief Ostenaco to England for a visit with King George III. Upon their return to America, they landed in Charleston, returned the Chief to his home, and Sumter made his way to Virginia. His homecoming was not as celebratory as he’d hoped. Bad debt caught up with him and he was promptly jailed. Using his wiles, he successfully negotiated his release and headed for South Carolina, intent upon getting paid money owed him by the British government for his trip to England. In 1764 he received 700 pounds for his efforts. 

With this newly acquired fortune, Sumter ventured to a fork in the road near Eutaw Springs on the way to Nelson’s Ferry. That vacant lot on the route from Ninety Six to Charleston became the site of a bustling store, and Sumter’s fortune began to grow. Soon he made the acquaintance of Mary Cantey Jameson, who became widowed during the time he operated the store. 

After a respectable amount of time, Sumter began courting the amiable woman, eleven years his senior. Though she suffered a withered left arm from infantile paralysis and didn’t walk well, her suitor was undeterred. He cut a dashing, athletic figure, and showed off by leaping into the saddle without using the stirrups. They were smitten with each other and married. Sumter now had a wife…and a superbly valuable plantation on the Santee River called, “Great Savannah.”

Sumter loved Mary and their son, Tom, Jr. dearly, though he felt the pull to fight for his country. He served in the militia, commanded the Second Regiment of Riflemen, was a Provincial Congressman, commanded the Sixth Regiment of South Carolina Continentals, and participated in the uneventful efforts to drive the British from Georgia. Suffering from fatigue and malaria, he returned home and resigned his Continental commission on September 19, 1778. 

With military service behind him, he became a gentleman plantation owner and enjoyed home life with Mary and Tom, even as the war continued and Charleston fell. In addition to Great Savannah on the Santee, Sumter and Mary owned a home in the High Hills of the Santee near modern Stateburg. It was there that the British made a critical mistake. Captain Campbell of Tarleton’s British Legion stopped by his home in search of the former Continental officer. Having received a warning from a neighbor, Sumter was nowhere to be found. The British Legion, Provincial Loyalists from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania fighting for the King, questioned Mary about her husband’s whereabouts. When she couldn’t answer, the British Legion removed the invalid Mary still seated in her wicker chair from the house and sat her under a shade tree. She and twelve-year-old Tom watched the enemy ravage their smokehouse- allegedly leaving Mary one ham under her chair, and then burned their home. Sumter, who was not engaged in the war at that time, now had even more reason to return to the fight. He headed to the New Acquisition (modern day Rock Hill) and raised over a thousand troops to exact revenge.

Sumter stayed in the war and fought many battles, while remaining devoted to his wife and son. During the Rounds Campaign in February-March 1781, he made a special effort to get Mary and Tom from a neighbor’s home at Cane Savannah plantation near modern Sumter. She rode horseback on a mattress held on by a servant, and occasionally fell as they traveled. She and Tom were eyewitnesses to Sumter’s fight at Radcliffe’s Bridge near modern Bishopville. Though bruised and exhausted, Sumter and Mary were reunited. Mary seemed to always have a very special place in Sumter’s heart, though war and in later years, politics and serving in Washington, kept them apart. Mary receives the credit for the spelling of “Sumter” as we know it today. Originally spelled “Sumpter”, Mary felt the spelling without the “p” was more refined. Sumter complied and the change passed the test of time. They were married fifty years, until her death in 1817. For Thomas Sumter, the “Gamecock”, there was also a love story to match his other extraordinary feats. They are buried together at the Thomas Sumter Memorial Park in Stateburg, SC.

William Washington

Lieutenant Colonel William Washington, a cousin of General George Washington, commanded the Third Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons. He arrived in South Carolina in late 1779 and camped near Sandy Hill plantation, Charles Elliott's home a few miles west of Charleston. There he met sixteen-year-old Jane Riley Elliott. She told him that “she would look out for news of his flag and fortune." The cavalryman told her that unfortunately there was no flag for his regiment. She quickly remedied that problem by cutting an eighteen-inch square of crimson damask from a drapery. She then fashioned a sleeve to fit a lance pennon and bound the edges for a fringe. Jane presented it to Washington, and is alleged to have said, "Here is your flag, take this, Colonel, and make it your standard." 

William attached the banner to a hickory pole and the 3rd Dragoons carried it at Cowpens, where afterwards the flag was named, "Tarleton's Terror.” Following the flag’s appearance at Guilford Courthouse, Hobkirk Hill, and Eutaw Springs, it became known as the “Eutaw Flag.” Without a doubt Washington had fond memories of Miss Jane Elliott and the gift surely reminded him of her as he fought those battles with her flag guiding his troops. 

On September 8, 1781 Washington was wounded and taken prisoner at the Battle of Eutaw Springs. It is little surprise once granted parole, William Washington became reacquainted with rice heiress Jane Elliott, her father since having died and leaving her his estate. Despite the war, the couple married on April 21, 1782. Washington now had a lovely young wife, and became the head of Sandy Hill with real estate holdings of some 12,000 acres. 

Together they had a boy and a girl, and William was a planter for 30 years. During that time, they hosted President George Washington for a two-day visit during his Southern Tour in 1791. Jane enjoyed his love of horse racing, and even his brief recall to active duty as a brigadier general in 1798. But it was their love that was kindled in the midst of war that is of special note at this time. And the flag with which she honored Washington? She gifted it to the Washington Light Infantry in 1827, and it is preserved by them to this day. The couple is buried in the Elliott Cemetery near Rantowles Bridge on Highway 17, south of Charleston.

Francis Marion

The Swamp Fox is well known for his exploits in the Cherokee War, as a Continental officer in the Second South Carolina Regiment at the Battle of Sullivan’s Island, then as their commander at Spring Hill Redoubt in Savannah. But at forty-eight years old, his fame was more about leading militia as the greatest partisan commander of the Revolutionary War. His leadership kept the fires of Liberty burning when at times it seemed hope was lost. And part of what kept him going was his relationship with Mary Esther Videau.

Marion was under stress keeping his militia in the field, meeting the intelligence and logistics needs of General Nathanael Greene, and meeting the needs to help Governor John Rutledge as he tried to re-establish the state government. But if there was a source of solace for him, it was that he had a not-so-secret admirer. Mary Esther Videau was his first cousin, the daughter of his mother’s sister. Now a spinster in her late forties, she had been known to him since childhood. Over the years she had inherited a considerable fortune in money and land from her deceased parents and brothers. She also kept up Marion’s morale with a steady flow of correspondence, in which she also helped him with intelligence of enemy movements. Following the announcement of the surrender at Yorktown, she was said to have attended a celebratory ball at Cantey’s Plantation near the Santee River. 

It appears Marion was shy around women, and though he and Ms. Videau corresponded, he was not one to reveal romantic feelings. That changed after the war when Some of their cousins arranged a meeting, shedding light on the couple’s mutual attraction. They married on April 20, 1786 as part of double wedding with two other cousins. Yes, that was common in Colonial South Carolina! 

Marion was fifty-four and she was forty-nine. The Marions apparently made a sweet middle-aged couple. Though they would be childless, Marion and Esther adopted a ten-year-old grandnephew, Francis Marion Dwight, and another family member, Charlotte Videau Ashby. Unfortunately, Marion’s adopted son did not father any sons, so Marion had no direct descendants to carry on his name. 

The Marions enjoyed a happy and loving marriage. Historical documents suggest the two resembled each other, which may not have been complimentary to her. But they did share common interests like fishing, traveling, camping, and backgammon. They also enjoyed having visitors to their home, such as Peter Horry. While Marion continued to grow his estate and participate in politics and militia service, he valued the time spent at this plantation, Pond Bluff. It is said that Esther may have had a bit of temper. As Marion came in from checking his fields, he would toss his hat into an open window to check her mood. If she threw it back out, he would keep riding! Perhaps modern marriages could learn from that.

Marion died at sixty-three years old on February 27, 1795. Esther outlived him by twenty years. They are buried at Belle Isle Plantation Cemetery near Pineville, SC. 

Three Revolutionary War heroes, who knew the love of women who made them even better heroes at home.



Sources:

Bass, Robert D., Gamecock: The Life and Campaigns of General Thomas Sumter. (Orangeburg, Sandlapper Publishing Company, 1961).

https://web.archive.org/web/20150912092012/http://home.golden.net/~marg/bansite/friends/washington.html

Oller, John. The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution (pp. 302-307). Hachette Books. Kindle Edition.