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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] William Moultrie Biography MOULTRIE,
William (1731-1805). An American soldier, prominent in the Revolutionary
War. He was born in Charleston, South Carolina, received an ordinary education,
and in the Cherokee troubles of 1761 was a military captain. In 1775 he was the
representative of St. Helena Parish in the South Carolina Provincial Congress
and later in the same year was chosen
colonel of a South Carolina regiment. For the defense of Charleston he placed a
battery at Haddrell's Point and (March, 1776) began the erection of a rude fort
of palmetto logs on Sullivan's Island. This fort commanded the entrance to the
harbor and on June 28 was fiercely but unsuccessfully attacked
by Admiral Sir Peter Parker. Moultrie had undertaken the defense against
the advice and wish of his superior officer, Gen. Charles Lee. For his success
he received the thanks of Congress, and in his honor the fort was named Fort
Moultrie. In September of the same year he was made a brigadier general and was
put in command of the Department of Georgia and South Carolina. He defeated the
British under General Gardner at Beaufort in February, 1779, and, by obstructing
the advance of Prevost in May, enabled Charleston to prepare for its defense,
finally. entering the city and holding chief command until the arrival of
General Lincoln. On the surrender of Charleston in May, 1780, he became a
prisoner, but in February, 1782, he, with several others, was exchanged for
Burgoyne. He was made a major general in October of that year and subsequently
was twice (in 1785 and in 1794) elected Governor of South Carolina. He retired
to private life after his second term and died at Charleston, Sept. 27, 1805. His
Memoirs of the Revolution as Far as it Related to the States of North and South
Carolina (2 vols., 1802) was written in part while he was a prisoner and was
finished in later years. The New International
Encyclopaedia, Vol. XVI
(New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920)
354-355.
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