By Karen MacNutt,
Contributing Editor

In October I was invited to lecture on women in the American Revolution at the Francis Marion Symposium in Manning, SC. The Symposium focused on the occupation of South Carolina by the British in 1780. In large part, it was the campaigns in the Carolinas during the last years of the American Revolution that led to Washington's victory over Cornwallis at Yorktown and Great Britain's recognition of the United States as an independent nation.

The United States was, in essence, a third world country (a former colony) that made good. Our Revolution is the most successful one in the history of the world, but it is often glossed over in our history books. Perhaps it is because our society has become so dependent upon government that the ideals of our own Revolution sound too radical to us. Perhaps it is because our enemy during the War for Independence was Great Britain. For the last 90 years, Great Britain has been one of our best allies. What this paper has to say about the British in 1780 should not obscure that today they are our best friends.

There are many lessons to be learned from the Revolution. The first is that those who were your enemies yesterday might be your friends today.

The second lesson is that the philosophy of natural law that declared the legal equality of men, the concept of the fundamental rights of all mankind, and the right of all peoples to govern themselves, is as valid today as it was two hundred and thirty years ago. Basic civil rights must be fought for. We rejected the culture of Europe. Those forming the United States believed in the ability and right of everyday people to determine their own best interests and to provide for their own defense.

At the time of the Revolution, the rights of "men," however, did not include women. In preparing for the conference it was interesting to research the role of women in colonial society.

One writer described the position of women in the 18th century as being only slightly better than that of slaves. In colonial South Carolina, like many of the other original states, women could not vote. If they were married, they could not contract nor did they have the right to write a will. A male relation could write a will in which a woman was given what lawyers call a power of appointment. A power of appointment occurs when one person writes a will and gives a second person the ability to appoint the beneficiaries of some bequest in the will. A woman's ability to bequest property was thus contingent upon a man giving her permission to do so.

Upon marriage, all of a woman's property became that of her husband's to do with as he liked. The husband had total control over the woman's personal property. He could give away her jewelry. He could even give away her clothes. The only restriction was that the husband could not sell any real estate without the permission of his wife.

Life in colonial days was hard and short. Few people lived beyond the age of 50. Families were large. Seven, eight and twelve children were not uncommon. Infant mortality was high. Almost 57% of the children born failed to survive beyond their fifth year. Many people married twice as it was not uncommon for the first husband or wife to die young.

The law gave a wife a statutory share on the death of her husband. That share was the right to use for life one third of her husband's property. Any property that she inherited outright would become the property of the second husband if she remarried. That being the case, her children by the first marriage could be stripped of all support. For this reason, wives were seldom given property outright and provisions that allowed a wife to have the use of property during her "widowhood" were common.

There was no such thing as spousal abuse. A husband had the right to "chastise" his wife. The wife's only recourse was the wrath of her male blood relations. Dueling was common.

Women's rights have come about slowly. It was a hard fought battle which is not yet finished. We have, however, come to agree that the Declaration of Independence applies to all people, not just all men.

The third lesson learned is that a fully developed democracy which extends full rights to all citizens, does not occur overnight. It takes years of development and commitment to ideals.

The fourth lesson is that freedom is not free. Although colonial women may not have had many legal rights, the women of the Revolution were no Timid Tillies. Throughout history freedom has been won or preserved by a few dedicated individuals committed to high ideals.

Nowhere was that clearer than in South Carolina during the American Revolution. By 1780, the American Revolution had been underway for six years. There was stalemate in the North.

The American people were tired of war. Many had served their six months of militia duty and felt they had done their share. Inflation, exacerbated by large scale counterfeiting of American money by the British, had made paper money almost worthless. Six years of a British blockade had destroyed commerce and led to scarcities in many items. People just wanted to be left alone to conduct their own business. They were too busy to be involved with the army and they did not want to pay to have someone else be in the army. People criticized Gen. Washington because he had not achieved a quick victory. For many, self-interest had replaced revolutionary ideals.

The British believed that the Southern colonies contained large numbers of loyalists who would flock to their standards if the British Army made an appearance. In early 1780, they invaded South Carolina and laid siege to Charleston, the area's largest city. A call went out for Americans to come to the defense of the city but few came. People were busy. They had other things to do. They had done their share. The defenders held out for a while but some 5,000 Americans were forced to surrender. It was the second largest surrender of Americans ever, Corregidor in the Philippines during World War II being the largest.

Proclamations were published by the victorious British calling upon the people of South Carolina to give up the fight for independence and return to British allegiance. Many accepted the proclamation's terms and swore allegiance to the crown. They just wanted to mind their own business, stay at home, and not be involved. The war had gone on too long. It was time for peace. They took the oath of allegiance and went home.

A few, refused to give up. One of the most prominent was Francis Marion. He had fought in the Indian Wars. He had seen what happened to defeated peoples.

The British failed to establish civil government in South Carolina and they failed to maintain order. Those acting under Royal authority seized private property without compensation to support the British Army. Troops were "quartered" in private homes. That meant that the owner of the home had to house and feed the troops at the owner's own expense. Foraging parties, without adequate supervision, quickly became looting parties. With the collapse of civil government, outriders with allegiance to no government prayed upon remote farms. To add insult to injury, a new British proclamation stated that since the war was over in South Carolina, and since so many people had declared their loyalty to the King, those people would be expected to go into the army and fight for the British. Failure to sign up would indicate disloyalty. Disloyalty would lead to arrest, seizure of all property, and execution.
Surrender did not lead to peace. It led to degradation and vicious civil war.

After the defeat of a second American army at Camden, SC, Francis Marion found himself as the leader of the only organized force in South Carolina opposing the British. All logic said he should give up. He was vastly outnumbered. The British army was the best in the world, well trained and well equipped. His force was made up of civilian volunteers. He had no money, no equipment, and few weapons. Most people would have given up. Marion did not. He concentrated on those few assets he had. He ignored conventional tactics. Men who did not have military style muskets but had civilian hunting rifles were formed into a company of snipers. Guns were obtained from local farms. When there were not enough guns to arm those who wished to fight, he had local blacksmiths make sabers from pit saws and designated the men as cavalry. What he lacked in strength, he made up for in the speed of movement.

Women were often left alone on isolated farms as men were given the options of being prisoners, joining the British army, being hung by the British as rebels, or joining the patriot cause under leaders such as Generals Sumter, Marion, and Pickens. History tells us some women dressed as soldiers and fought beside the men. Other women helped the patriot cause by supplying food for the American army. Some in Charleston smuggled clothing for the American soldiers out of the city by sewing the garments into their petticoats. Other women became part of Marion's spy network forwarding information on troop movements to the patriots. If they had been caught by the British, their sex would not have protected them from severe punishment.

Legend tells of Emily Geiger who carried a message from the American Commander, General Green to General Sumter. Emily was captured by the British. When they left her alone for a moment, Emily memorized the note and then ate it. Because the search of her person revealed no message, she was released. Emily was able to get to General Sumter and delivered the message.

Then there was Mrs. Dillard whose house was invaded by a party of British. At their demand, she prepared them a meal. While they were waiting for supper, Mrs. Dillard overheard the soldiers talking about attacking a local encampment of American soldiers. She calmly set the table for her unwanted guests and laid out a nice meal. While they were eating, she quietly slipped outside, took one of their horses and rode off to warn the Americans.

Mrs. Eliza Horry was at home one night when General Marion, tired, hungry and alone, stopped to ask for food. She brought him into her home. While she was getting him a meal, he fell asleep in a chair. Just as she was putting the food on the table for him, there was a pounding on her front door. A regiment of British cavalry had arrived and its commander was demanding entry. Eliza pointed Marion to a trap door to a tunnel that ran out of the back of the house to the river. While Marion was making his escape, Eliza calmly walked to the front door, graciously (but with as much civil formality as she could use to delay) invited the British commander into her home, suggested he search the house and then invited him to eat the meal she had prepared for Marion. Not knowing who it was that he had just missed, the British commander sat down at the table and finished the meal allowing the patriot commander to get away.

Then there was Rebecca Mott. She cheerfully helped burn her own house down to drive the British out of it and into the hands of patriot forces.

My favorite story is that of Nancy Heart. Nancy is reported to have been six feet tall with flaming red hair. She lived on the frontier with her husband Ben and her sons. She was known to be a sharpshooter. The Indians called her Wahatchee (meaning War Woman). One day six loyalists, American soldiers who were fighting for the British, came to her cabin and demanded to know where her husband was. They also demanded Nancy feed them. They apparently did not know Nancy's reputation. She was just a mere woman in their estimation. So they neatly stacked their guns by the door when they sat down to eat the meal she had prepared for them. It was a fatal mistake. In 1912, when the highway department put a road through the area where her cabin had been located, they found the remains of the six loyalists.

Hopefully by the time this has been published, the American economy will be moving forward. No matter what difficulties we think we might face as a nation in the 21st Century, we will not face the problems our Revolutionary mothers faced.

No matter how bad we might think things are, our problems are minor in comparison to what they had to face. No matter what the problem, we must continue to believe in the principles of the Declaration of Independence with a commitment to all of the civil rights set out in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution. We must not fear the future. We must take stock of the good things we have and use those things to work through our difficulties. Most importantly, we must never lose faith in our ability to have a better future.

For more information on deeds of women patriots see Edith Patterson Meyer's Petticoat Patriots of the American Revolution or Leslie Sackrison's Awesome Women.