The Cunningham Mess, part 3: Enter Sumter

From The History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780, by Edward McCrady, published 1901, Macmillan & Co., ltd., South Carolina, pp. 88-89:

... What action should be taken in this emergency was the subject of another contention between the two parties in the Congress, Arthur Middleton as usual urging vigorous measures and Rawlins Lowndes opposing them. The parties were so evenly divided that in a hundred votes two decided the question. Fifty-one supported Middleton and forty-nine Lowndes. By this vote, on the 8th of November [1775], it was determined to assemble a force under Colonel Richard Richardson, and to send him to seize Patrick Cuningham, Henry O'Neal, Hugh Brown, David Reese, Nathaniel Howard, Henry Green, and Jacob Bochman, the leaders of the Royal party. Captain Ezekiel Polk, who had been led to desert the cause by Moses Kirkland in August, had returned and had been taken back into favor, and was again given a company. He now accompanied Colonel Richardson. There was another person in this expedition, whom, before this book closes, we shall find becoming the real leader in the struggle for the American cause, and who, with others whose names were scarcely yet known, was to redeem the State after it had been overrun and lost to those who were now in control of the revolutionary movements. This was Thomas Sumter, and this was the manner in which he was received into the ranks of the Revolutionary party. "We have consulted with Colonel Richardson touching Mr. Sumter's application to the Council," wrote William Henry Drayton and the Rev. Mr. Tennent to the Council of Safety. "The Colonel readily approved not only of the measure, but of the man, notwithstanding Kirkland recommended him as his successor in the company of Rangers which lie quitted and attempted to disband. The Colonel nevertheless from his seeming connection with Kirkland proposes to keep a sharp eye upon Mr. Sumter's conduct." Sumter thus entered the service under suspicion and upon probation. In this expedition he acted as Colonel Richardson's Adjutant General.

Arthur Middleton (1742-1787)

from Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence, by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, New York: William Reed & Co., 1856:

In the spring of 1775, Mr. Arthur Middleton was chosen on a secret committee, who were invested with authority to place the colony in a state of defense. In the exercise of the trust with which they were charged, they immediately took possession of the public magazine of arms and ammunition, and removed its contents to a place of safety.
In the following June, the provincial congress of South Carolina proceeded to appoint a council of safety, consisting of thirteen persons. This council, of which Mr. Middleton was a member, took measures to organize a military force, the officers of which received commissions at their hands, and under their signatures. Among the members of this committee, no one exhibited more activity, or manifested a greater degree of resolution and firmness, than did Arthur Middleton.
In February, 1776, the provincial legislature of South Carolina appointed a committee to prepare and report a constitution, which "should most effectually secure peace and good order in the colony, during the continuance of the dispute with Great Britain." This duty was assigned to Mr. Middleton and ten others.
Having discharged the duty to the satisfaction of the assembly, Mr. Middleton was soon after elected by that body a representative of South Carolina in the congress of the United States, assembled at Philadelphia. Here he had an opportunity of inscribing his name on the great charter of American liberties [the Declaration of Independence]. At the close of the year 1777, Mr. Middleton relinquished his seat in Congress, and returned to South Carolina, leaving behind him, in the estimation of those who had been associated with him in the important measures of congress, during the time he had been with them, the character of a man of the purest patriotism, of sound judgment, and unwavering resolution.
In the spring of 1778, the assembly of South Carolina proceeded to the formation of a new constitution, differing, in many important points, from that of 1776. On presenting it to the governor, John Rutledge, for his approbation, that gentleman refused to assent to it. But, as he would not embarrass the assembly in any measures which they might deem it expedient to adopt, he resigned the executive chair, upon which the assembly proceeded by a secret ballot again to fill it. On counting the votes, it was found that Mr. Middleton was elected to the office by a considerable majority. But, entertaining similar views in respect to the constitution, expressed by the distinguished gentleman who had vacated the chair of state, he frankly avowed to the assembly, that he could not conscientiously accept the appointment, under the constitution which they had adopted. The candor with which he had avowed his sentiments, and the sterling integrity of the man, exhibited in refusing an honor from conscientious scruples, instead of diminishing their respect for him, contributed to raise him still higher in the confidence of his fellow-citizens. The assembly proceeded to another choice, and elected Mr. Rawlins Lowndes to fill the vacancy, who gave his sanction to the new constitution.
During the year 1779, the southern states became the principal theater of the war. Many of the plantations were wantonly plundered, and the families and property of the principal inhabitants were exposed to the insults and ravages of the invaders. During these scenes of depredation, Middleton Place did not escape. Although the buildings were spared , they were rifled of every thing valuable. Such articles as could not easily be transported were either wantonly destroyed, or greatly injured. Among those which were injured, was a valuable collection of paintings belonging to Mr. Middleton. Fortunately, at the time the marauders visited Middleton Place, the family had made their escape a day's journey to the north of Charleston.
On the investment of the latter place, in the following year, Mr. Middleton was present, and actively engaged in the defense of the city. With several others on the surrender of this place, he was taken prison, and was sent by sea to St. Augustine, in East Florida, where he was kept in confinement for nearly a year. At length, in July, 1781, he was exchanged, and proceeded in a cartel to Philadelphia. On his arrival at the latter place, Governor Rutledge, in the exercise of authority conferred upon him by general assembly of South Carolina, appointed him a representative in congress. To this office he was again elected in 1782; but in the month of November of that year, he returned to South Carolina on a visit to his family, from whom he had been separated during a long and anxious period.
On the signing the preliminaries of peace, Mr. Middleton declined accepting a seat in congress, preferring the pleasures of retirement with his family, to any honor which could be conferred upon him. He occasionally, however, accepted of a seat in the state legislature, in which he was greatly instrumental in promoting the tranquillity and happiness of his fellow-citizens.
The life of Mr. Middleton was terminated on the 1st of January, 1787. His death was occasioned by an intermittent fever, which he took in the preceding month of November, by an injudicious exposure to the unsettled weather of the autumnal season.

Siege, Imprisonment & Exile

From The History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780, by Edward McCrady, pub. 1901, Macmillan & Co., Ltd.:

"Charlestown, the only city in America to endure a British siege during the war, was [in 1780] occupied by British troops and ruled by [Lt. Col. Nisbet] Balfour, an officer who reserved his valor for the oppression of defenceless men, unprotected women, and innocent children. But Balfour could not quell the spirit of his prisoners, however much he might curtail their liberties and despoil them of their property. Henry Laurens was in the Tower of London, Christopher Gadsden was in a dungeon in the Castle at St. Augustine, whither forty-three other principal citizens of the State had been sent in exile in August, and where in November, twenty-two more had been added to their company. (The names of these were: Joseph Bee, Richard Beresford, Benjamin Cudworth, John Berwick, Henry Crouch, John Splatt Cripps, Edward Darrell, Daniel de Saussure, George A. Hall, Thomas Grimball, Noble Wimberly Jones, William Lee, William Logan, Arthur Middleton, Christopher Peters, Benjamin Postell, Samuel Prioleau, Philip Smith, Benjamin Waller, James Wakefield, Edward Weyman, and Morton Wilkinson. With these were also sent General Rutherford and Colonel Isaacs of the State of North Carolina. Colonel Joseph Kershaw was sent to the British Honduras, and Captain Ely Kershaw to Bermuda, but died en route from New Providence to Bermuda.)"

William Henry Drayton (1742-1779)

William Henry Drayton, born in 1742, was the oldest son of John Drayton and his second wife, Charlotta Bull, daughter of John Bull, the colony's Governor. Afer spending early childhood on his father's South Carolina plantation, Drayton Hall, William lived in England from age nine until twenty-one, and, while there, studied at Oxford University. His first political writings appeared in the mid 1760s under the name "Freeman," and his most famous early piece was the 1774 pamphlet Letter from Freeman of South Carolina to the Deputies of North American Assembled in the High Court of Congress at Philadelphia. The pamphlet, addressed to the Continental Congress, discussed in detail America's grievances and included a suggested bill of American rights.
In 1775, Drayton was appointed to the South Carolina Provincial Congress and became its president. As president, he oversaw the formation of South Carolina's first constitution and issued the state's first order to fire on the British when, on November 9, 1775—almost eight months before the colonies would officially declare their independence—he ordered Colonel William Moultrie to fire from Fort Sullivan on British ships as they tried to enter the harbor.
In fact, William Henry Drayton was one of the first South Carolinians to openly call for a break from England. Speaking before the South Carolina Provincial Congress in February of 1776, Drayton declared that the British "hand of tyranny" threatened to "spoil America of whatever she held most valuable" and that America needed to decide quickly between "independence or slavery!"
Later appointed first chief justice of South Carolina, Drayton led the colony further along its path to independence with a series of charges to South Carolina's grand juries. According to his famous April 23, 1776 charge, "Under color of law, the king and parliament of Great Britain have made the most arbitrary attempts to enslave America," and "true reconcilement never [could] exist between Great Britain and America." Printed in newspapers throughout the colonies, Drayton's charge was also read by Arthur Middleton, another South Carolina patriot, to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and has been credited with inspiring the delegates to push forward with the Declaration of Independence.

(info: Drayton Hall, http://www.draytonhall.org/research/people/drayton.html)