2 weeks Ago
Saturday marks the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord — the “Shot Heard 'Round the World.” Many of us may have heard of the brave New England Minutemen who engaged the British Regulars at the North Bridge, but far fewer know what happened in South Carolina only two days later. They should: One of the most important and successful covert operations of the American Revolution unfolded here in Charleston.
April 1775 was a time of growing crisis in the American colonies. While many prayed for words of support and understanding from King George III, Patriot hardliners in South Carolina believed the time for military confrontation was near. A tipping point came on April 19, 1775, when William Henry Drayton, John Neufville and Thomas Corbett broke into Charleston’s post office and demanded the private letters that Britain’s secretary of state had sent to South Carolina’s royal governor.
They learned of the king’s decision to send more troops to its rebellious American colonies, which made it clear that the mother country was in no mood for reconciliation. Armed with this new intelligence, South Carolina’s Provincial Congress — the Patriots' shadow government — acted swiftly. Forming a secret committee from its membership on April 20, the Provincial Congress directed this new covert group to seize weapons and gunpowder from known storage facilities in and around Charleston.
Speed was critical: The Patriots needed to act before the royal governor did. Without ample supplies of gunpowder, the Provincial Congress could not fire the cannon that would protect its harbors or arm the militia regiments that it would form soon. During the night of April 21, three organized groups from the secret committee fanned out to fulfill their goals.
The first was the collection of weapons located in the fortified attic of the S.C. State House.
The raiders entered the building and silently headed up the stairs and unlocked the door to the armory. Forming a human chain, the raiders moved hundreds of muskets, cutlasses, bayonets, flints and cartridge boxes down to the street. They carted away lighter weapons on wagons and hid heavier items in brick cellars nearby.
How this group opened the locked door without damaging it and moved this vast quantity of weapons without gaining the attention of the town’s guard remains a mystery. The heist was even more remarkable given that some of the leading lights of South Carolina’s Patriot movement — Col. Charles Pinckney, William Henry Drayton, Col.
Henry Laurens, Thomas Lynch Jr. and Benjamin Huger — were involved in the night raid. Meanwhile, a second group rowed up the Wando River toward Molasses Creek in what is today Mount Pleasant.
Along the creek’s banks was an important powder magazine that these operatives soon reached. While details are sparse, they reportedly returned to Charleston with a rowboat filled with 1,000 pounds of gunpowder. A third group of raiders departed Charleston and rowed north up the Cooper River, toward a gunpowder magazine located on Charleston’s Neck.
After breaking into the building, the men were surprised to find the magazine empty. Evidently, the gunpowder stored there had been moved by Capt. Robert Cochran — the magazine’s powder receiver.
The wily Cochran had caught wind of a potential operation and preempted the raiders. He later sold his supply of hidden gunpowder to the Provincial Congress, using the proceeds to pay back the British authorities. Clever.
When news of the theft of the crown’s arms and gunpowder reached Lt. Gov. William Bull the next morning, he was stunned.
Frustrated by the unhelpful responses from his armorers, powder receivers, town guard and even the State House’s housekeeper, Mrs. Mary Pratt, he issued a proclamation seeking information on whoever was involved in these “daring offenses.” He offered a 100-pound reward for anyone providing information on the perpetrators.
Despite this sizable reward, no one gave Bull the information he so desperately sought. The covert operation conducted on the evening of April 21 was swiftly organized and executed to near perfection, and the seized arms and gunpowder would provide the Patriots in South Carolina with the means of defending themselves against the growing threat from Great Britain. No action in early 1775 was deemed more important in South Carolina — or was likely more treasonous.
Rob Shenk is a board member of SC250 Charleston and a Mount Pleasant resident. He previously held executive roles at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, the American Battlefield Trust and Wide Awake Films..
