#27: When Blackbeard blockaded Charleston, an Indian interpreter, and a hike at Charles Towne Landing
For South Carolina history lovers far and wide! Enjoy weekly SC history and upcoming SC historical events
Dear reader,
Welcome to Newsletter #27 of The South Carolina History Newsletter! I’m so happy you’re here.
I typically do my “welcome” to our new subscribers here, but I am writing late at night and Substack is doing their site maintenance, so unfortunately, I can’t access my dashboard. Argh. I shall acknowledge all you wonderful people in tomorrow’s newsletter, when hopefully the dashboard will be back up and running! :)
I hope you enjoy today’s newsletter, and as always, please feel free to reply to this email with your ideas and suggestions on South Carolina history you’d like to learn more about. I’m only a click away.
Additionally, please join us & keep the conversation going by becoming a member of our SC History Newsletter Facebook Community here! I can’t wait to meet you.
And now, let’s learn some South Carolina history!
Yours truly,
Kate
(Writing from Greenville, SC)
3 ➳ Upcoming SC History Events
While I have curated the following 3 events below to feature in today’s newsletter, please click here to visit my SC History Events Calendar that organizes all the events I have featured in the newsletter to date, as well as others I have discovered. Please let me know if you’d like to add an event to the list! Reply to this email or send me a note at schistorynewsletter@gmail.com.
I.
Saturday, March 9th from 9:00 am - 11:00 am | “Natural Science Workshop” | Historic Camden | Camden, SC | TICKETS: $5 per person
“During the Regency Period, people began to have an increased level of interest in the natural world, the study of which was referred to as Natural Science. Create and mount your own winged specimen or two and start your own nature collection. Ages 10 and up please.”
II.
Thursday, March 14th from 6:00 - 7:30 pm | “Discovery Series March” | Mount Tabor Methodist Church | Ridgeville, SC | FREE & Open to the public
“Join us for a discussion on the incredible paleo marine history of South Carolina. There will be example specimens of dolphins recovered from throughout Dorchester County. Our guest speaker is Skye Basak, President of Palmetto Fossil Excursions LLC.”
III.
Saturday, March 30th at 9:00 am | “South Carolina - 52 Hikes Challenge Lowcountry Charles Towne Landing Hike” | Charles Towne Landing | Charleston, SC | FREE with admission to park (Fees: $12/adult; $7.50/S.C. Senior; $7/youth age 6-15; Free for children 5 and younger)
“Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site sits on a marshy point, located off the Ashley River, where a group of English settlers landed in 1670 and established what would become the birthplace of the South Carolina. Charles Towne Landing introduces visitors to the earliest colonial history of Charleston. Interact with hands-on exhibits in the Visitor Center, talk to knowledgeable staff members, and take an audio tour on the self-guided history trail. Guests can step aboard and tour the Adventure, Charleston's only 17th-century replica sailing ship, see cannons fired, or take a peek at otters, bears, bison and more at the Animal Forest natural habitat zoo. The grounds also include 80 acres of gardens, with an elegant live oak alley and the Legare Waring House. One of Charleston’s favorite sites for weddings and other special gatherings, the Legare Waring House combines historic charm with unique and flexible space—come see it for yourself!”
2 ➳ SC History Fun Facts
I
Did you know that early Carolina colonist Henry Woodward was an Indian interpreter and trader, who escape death numerous times, conducted business with pirates, and was the first Anglo-American person to explore the interior of the American Southeast?
As I was researching the first colonists in the Carolinas, my interest was immediately piqued by Henry Woodward (1646 – 1686), who was a Barbados-born merchant and colonist, one of the first white settlers in the Carolinas, and a highly influential Indian agent, trader, and explorer in the region. Along the way, he managed to have a few death defying adventures, which I am excited to share below.
In 1666, at age 20, Henry Woodward accompanied Captain Robert Sandford's exploration of the South Carolina coast. Woodward volunteered to remain in the Port Royal Sound vicinity and live among the Cusabo Indians, to establish relations and learn their language. (Note from Kate: I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to go into the wild wilderness of the Carolinas, and into the culture of a foreign group — alone!) For this, Woodward was granted, temporarily, "formal possession of the whole Country to hold as Tennant at Will" by the Lords Proprietors back in England…wow! (Note: The Lords Proprietors were a group of 8 members of the British nobility who in 1663, were given the charter to the Carolinas in the New World by King Charles I. See our historic quote at the end of the newsletter for an excerpt of the Carolina Charter).
While Woodward lived among the Cusabo tribe and learned their way of life, it wasn’t long before a Spanish expedition learned of his presence, captured him, and imprisoned him in St. Augustine. While in prison, Woodward “professed Catholicism and was made official surgeon.” During this time, Woodward also studied the “thriving Spanish-Indian trading system” — powerful knowledge he would soon use for the gain of the British colonies. And then came Woodward’s first lucky strike. In 1668, the English pirate Robert Searle attacked St. Augustine and Woodward miraculously escaped and joined Searle’s crew as its surgeon. He sailed for 2 years on “privateer vessels in the Caribbean” before being shipwrecked on Nevis in August 1669. He then took passage on the Carolina fleet of 1669-1670, which established Charleston, South Carolina.
Once the colonists landed in South Carolina, Woodward used the knowledge he gained while imprisoned in St. Augustine to set up a new network of Indian communication and trade. He became an interpreter and Indian agent for the fledging colony. Starting in 1670, Woodward began a series of expeditions into the interior of the American southeast, and was the first Anglo-American colonist to do so.
Woodward’s work as an Indian agent was extremely dangerous, and for his second lucky strike, at one point he was shot in the head (circumstances unknown), and managed to survive. Not only did he survive, but he was shortly thereafter given an official position as Indian agent for the Lords Proprietors of the colony, and would “conduct the Indian trade for the proprietors in return for 20% of the profits.”
Woodward is also “generally credited with the introduction of viable rice crops to the colonies” through is dealings with the “pirate trader” John Thurber, who was active off the coast of Madagascar. Thurber gave Woodward a packet of rice seeds, which he experimented with, and succeeded in growing in the marshy soil of the Carolinas.
II. Did you know that in 1718, the infamous pirate Blackbeard blockaded Charleston’s harbor — plundering ships and hosting hostages, including a councilman?
The pirate Blackbeard, whose true name was Edward Teach (or some say Edward Thatch), surfaced to fame in mid-1717 when his career as a successful pirate reached legendary heights. He was known as the “fiercest pirate of them all” and “a Devil incarnate.” He was a “tall and domineering” figure who would board ships while “brandishing numerous weapons” and his head was always “wreathed in smoke” from tapers lit on the ends of his beard and hair.
In 1718, Blackbeard sailed to the Carolinas with a 4-ship flotilla, mounting “at least 60 guns” which at the time was the most powerful maritime force in the hemisphere. When he arrived in Charleston in mid-May of 1718, Blackbeard and his men blockaded the port for a week, plundering 8-9 ships for “supplies and specie,” and holding hostages including Samuel Wragg, a councilman. Under the threat of the hostages being murdered, “a reluctant Governor Robert Johnson agreed to a ransom of a valuable chest of medicine.”
After his Charleston blockage, Blackbeard sailed to isolated North Carolina, where two of his ships, Queen Anne’s Revenge and Adventure, wrecked. He took the royal pardon from North Carolina Governor Charles Eden, and scaled down his illegal activities, all but retiring from his life as a pirate. He established a camp at Ocracoke Inlet, a “chief entrance to the colony.” Meanwhile, Virginia Governor Alexander Spottswood was uneasy having such a notorious criminal as his neighbor. With a naval and land force, Spottswood cornered and killed Blackbeard at Ocracoke on November 22, 1718. The rest of Blackbeard’s men were tried, condemned, and executed in Williamsburg, Virginia.
1 ➳ Quote from an SC historical figure
I.
“Charles the Second, by the grace of God, king of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., To all to whom these present shall come:
Greeting:
1st. Whereas our right trusty, and right well beloved cousins and counsellors, Edward Earl of Clarendon, our high chancellor of England, and George Duke of Albemarle, master of our horse and captain general of all our forces, our right trusty and well beloved William Lord Craven, John Lord Berkley, our right trusty and well beloved counsellor, Anthony Lord Ashley, chancellor of our exchequer, Sir George Carteret, knight and baronet, vice chamberlain of our household, and our trusty and well beloved Sir William Berkley, knight, and Sir John Colleton, knight and baronet, being excited with a laudable and pious zeal for the propagation of the Christian faith, and the enlargement of our empire and dominions, have humbly besought leave of us, by their industry and charge, to transport and make an ample colony of our subjects, natives of our kingdom of England, and elsewhere within our dominions, unto a certain country hereafter described, in the parts of America not yet cultivated or planted, and only inhabited by some barbarous people, who have no knowledge of Almighty God.”
—The beginning of the Carolina Charter of 1663
Sources used in today’s newsletter:
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