#55: "Scoundrel" Richard Pearis, tabby architecture, and medical practices of the Revolutionary War
For South Carolina history lovers far and wide! Enjoy weekly SC history and upcoming SC historical events
Dear reader,
Welcome to Newsletter #55 of The South Carolina History Newsletter! I’m so happy you’re here.
Here’s a little welcome/update audio message:
You’ll notice today’s newsletter has the same sections, but slightly different format. In order to make the newsletter more readable, I am breaking up the history into more digestible bullet points and also experimenting with mini voiceovers for each section. It has always been my dream to have an audio element (and hopefully one day, full podcast) for the SC History Newsletter, so I’m dipping my toes in and want to see what everyone thinks! I’ll be trying the new format throughout this weekend. Note that I’m also testing out 2 different headphone/microphones I have for quality too. At the end of each email there will be a survey asking you what you think about the new format. Please give me your honest feedback and you can even reply to this email to let me know any further thoughts. Thank you for letting me try this experiment and let’s see how it goes! :)
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And now, let’s learn some South Carolina history!
Yours truly,
Kate
(Writing from Greenville, SC)
➳ Featured SC History Event
Here’s today’s event voiceover:
Please enjoy our featured SC History Event below, and click here to visit my SC History Events Calendar that organizes all the upcoming SC history events I have discovered. Please let me know if you’d like to add an event to the calendar! Reply to this email or send me a note at schistorynewsletter@gmail.com.
Tuesday, April 16th, 2024 at 7:00 pm | “Medical Practices of the Revolutionary War” | Laurens County Museum | Laurens, SC | FREE and open to the public
“James Hoppers, Living History Lecturer and Medical Librarian will be presenting “Medical Practices of the Revolutionary War”. Infectious diseases that spread from the Old World to the Colonization within the New World spread quickly. Major diseases such as smallpox, typhus and malaria were a few of the deadly diseases spread during the Colonial Era. Most of the sick during that era could not afford a trained physician as many of the highly educated did not emigrate to the Colonies. Mr. Hoppers will discuss the medicine, herbal substitutes, medical hospital services and the major health issues of the Revolutionary War. Mr. Hoppers will also have an array of medical tools and books that were used on display.”
➳ SC History Fun Facts
I.
Did you know that Richard Pearis, for which Paris Mountain in Greenville is named, was an Indian interpreter and somewhat of a Colonial scoundrel?
Listen to this section in the mini audio voiceover below!
Richard Pearis was born in Ireland in 1725, the son of George and Sarah Pearis, who were Presbyterians of considerable affluence.
The family immigrated to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia when Richard was ten, and by 1750, Richard owned 1,200 acres of land near Winchester, where he lived with his wife Rhoda and three children.
By 1753, Pearis was trading with the Cherokee Nation; and in partnership with Nathaniel Gist, he opened a trading post near present Kingsport, Tennessee.
During the mid-1750s Pearis also began trading with the Cherokee in South Carolina and fathered a son, George, by a Cherokee woman… although he was already married!
He was called "An orator of rude, savage eloquence and power”
Pearis gained favor with Virginia governor Robert Dinwiddie; and during the French and Indian War, Pearis led a company of Cherokee warriors on the Sandy Creek Expedition in 1756 and served under British General John Forbes when he captured Fort Duquesne in 1758.
At the conclusion of the war, Pearis became Indian agent for colonial Maryland.
In 1770, Pearis and another member of the frontier gentry, Jacob Hite, forged letters from Cherokee leaders, including war chief Oconostota, declaring the Indians' willingness to cede land to the colony of Virginia.
Pearis also claimed a deed from the Cherokee of twelve square miles in the area that is now Greenville County, South Carolina.
An Indian interpreter, one John Watts, wrote the British Indian superintendent, John Stuart, that Pearis was "a very dangerous fellow who will breed great disturbances if he is let alone, for he will tell the Indians any lies to please them."
With the help of an Indian ally, Pearis secured approval of his land grant from the chiefs at Chota — a Cherokee town site in Monroe County, Tennessee — apparently in exchange for the cancellation of their trading debts.
1772, British Indian superintendent, John Stuart complained to the governor of South Carolina that Pearis had gained his title by plying the Indians with liquor. The governor then urged Stuart to prosecute Pearis for violating a 1739 statute that forbade British citizens to own Indian land. Meanwhile, Pearis had begun to transfer the land to other white settlers.
In November 1773, the circuit court at Ninety Six, SC found Pearis guilty of holding Indian land, and he surrendered his deed. But the following month he secured another deed from Cherokee leaders granting his son George more than twelve square miles of land—most of which George then conveniently transferred to his father.
Sometime after 1770, Pearis, his family (but which family? We don’t know!), and their twelve slaves began to clear 100 acres of land near the falls of the Reedy River, at the heart of modern Greenville, South Carolina, where they planted grain and orchards on a plantation Pearis called "Great Plains." Pearis built "a substantial house" and a store as well as a grist and sawmill.
In 1775, Pearis sought an appointment as a patriot commissioner to the Indians, and after the post was given to another, Pearis became a Tory captain. On December 12th, 1775, patriot Colonel Richard Richardson captured Pearis and eight other Tory leaders. Pearis was kept in irons at Charleston for nine months, after which he made his way to British West Florida.
Pearis's house and plantation buildings were burned by Pearis's backcountry opponents in July 1776.
Pearis continued to serve with Loyalist forces during the American Revolution during what amounted to a civil war along the frontier. After the fall of Augusta, Georgia to the patriots in June 1781, Pearis was captured, and patriot General Andrew Pickens saved Pearis's life "by putting him in a boat and sending him down river, away from the angry soldiers who would have killed him.”
Pearis's land was confiscated by the state of South Carolina, and Pearis spent his remaining years as a planter in the Bahamas. He was more than amply compensated by the British government for South Carolina lands that, arguably, he had never legally owned.
North of contemporary Greenville, the locally prominent Paris Mountain and its Paris Mountain State Park take their name from Richard Pearis.
Why the spelling change? "Spelling, even of personal names, was in flux at the end of the 18th century," said Judith Bainbridge, a retired Furman University English professor and local historian. "Richard Pearis seems to have spelled his own name 'Paris' occasionally."
II.
Did you know that “tabby” was an early form of concrete made of lime, sand, water, and oyster shells that was used to construct early buildings in South Carolina?
Listen to this section in the mini audio voiceover below!
Have you ever wondered how people built homes, churches and other buildings before bricks and concrete? In the South Carolina Lowcountry, they used what they had, which included oyster shells and sand.
Tabby, also known as “coastal concrete,” is made from a mixture of lime, sand, water and oyster shells.
Tabby is believed to have been used by the Spanish explorers in Florida in the 16th Century and the British in South Carolina and Georgia around 1700.
The availability of slave labor and shells made it a popular building choice in the Lowcountry, where the labor-intensive work involved collecting and burning shells to make lime, and then adding whole shells as “aggregate.”
Some remnants of tabby architecture remain today, especially in Beaufort County, which is believed to have the largest number of tabby ruins in the US.
The Historic Beaufort Foundation has placed the county's tabby structures on its endangered resources list.
Here are a few places where you can get a glimpse of tabby architecture in Beaufort:
Tabby Manse at 1211 Bay St. in downtown Beaufort was built in 1786-1788, making it one of the city's oldest surviving homes. The exterior tabby walls are 2 feet thick and finished with sand-colored stucco.
The Francis Saltus House at 802-806 Bay St. in downtown Beaufort was built with tabby and old English bricks in 1774. The building was first used as a customs house and hotel, and later as a commissary during the federal occupation of Beaufort during the Civil War.
Chapel of Ease, an Episcopal church that was located on Land's End Road on St. Helena Island, was built of tabby and brick between 1742 and 1747. A forest fire caused major damage in the late 1800s, and the ruins now belong to the St. Helena Episcopal Church.
The Baynard ruins in Sea Pines Plantation on the southwestern end of Hilton Head Island include what's left of the early 19th century Stoney-Baynard cotton plantation. The estate was the site of a grand home built of timber and tabby. It was raided during the Civil War and burned shortly afterward, but the ruins remain today.
Have you visited any of the iconic tabby buildings or ruins above? If so, leave a comment below and tell us about your visit!
➳ Quote from an SC historical figure
“Pearis was a fascinating man, the sinful son of a devout Irish father. He conformed to the popular idea of a rugged pioneer who adjusted to the fierce, raw life on the early American frontier by meeting violence with violence. Courage he had. Charm he possessed — over savage, members of the nobility and common people. Cunning he used as his daily tool. Lies he concocted to suit the occasion and bribery was a friend to be employed."
— From the article “Richard Pearis, Saint or Sinner” from The Greenville News (June 26, 1962)
Sources used in today’s newsletter:
“Richard Pearis, Saint or Sinner” from The Greenville News (June 26, 1962)
Tabby Architecture, Known as Coastal Concrete, Still Stands Strong After 300 Years
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