"Listen my children, and you shall hear/ of the midnight ride of Paul Revere." Once upon a time in our nation's history, school children were required to memorize the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, "Paul Revere's Ride." That requirement has long gone out of fashion. And, sadly, I was an adult before I learned that Paul Revere was not the only one to ride through the Massachusetts countryside on the night of April 18, 1775, spreading the alarm, or that the American Revolution also provided the backdrop for a ride that began right here in Kingstree, South Carolina.
Charleston fell to the British on May 12, 1780. According to a newspaper piece by the Rev. Robert Lathan, published in the Yorkville Enquirer in 1876, for the Centennial of American Independence, a number of men in the Williamsburgh Militia were among those captured by the British at the fall of Charleston but were then paroled and sent back to their homes.
Prior to Charleston's surrender, Governor John Rutledge sent Major John James home to Williamsburgh District to train more members for the local militia, so that when General Benjamin Lincoln surrendered Charleston to the British, Major James was at home on his farm near Indiantown Church. When the British commander issued a proclamation that local militia were now required to fight in support of the British government, the men of Williamsburgh had questions. In fact, the Rev. Lathan noted, "This proclamation thoroughly aroused the settlers in the vicinity of Kingstree and Indiantown church."
They met with Major James at the King's Tree and appointed him to visit with the British commander in Georgetown, Captain John Plumer Ardesoif, to find out exactly how this proclamation would affect them. James set off down the trail, that had been cut by his parents and the other early settlers some 48 years before, astride his Arabian stallion, Thunder.
Arriving in Georgetown, he sought out the house that Ardesoif had commandeered as his headquarters. According to the National Historic Register's Historic Building Survey, the Bolen-Bellune House, located at 222 Broad Street in Georgetown, just off Highmarket, was the one occupied by the British commanding officer during the American Revolution. That house still stands today. However, other newspaper articles seem to point to another building as the one occupied by Capt. Ardesoif.
A News & Courier article published in December, 1905, stated that the house visited by Major James was located at the corner of Broad and Front streets. It was still standing at that time, but, according to the article, was scheduled for demolition in early 1906 to make way for a two-story brick building for the People's Bank. Susan Lowndes Allston, writing in the News & Courier on April 6, 1930, asserted that the altercation between James and Ardesoif took place in a house located on the east corner of Broad and Front streets, but that the building was unrecognizable by 1930.
Regardless of where the interview took place, James was well aware that it would not be a pleasant one. Therefore, he tethered Thunder close to the house, some accounts say to a tree near the door; others say it was to a porch rail.
The Rev. Robert Lathan wrote, "On entering the office of the British commander, he (James), in true Irish style, announced his business and asked in a manly tone of voice, on what terms, he and others similarly situated with himself, must submit."
Ardesoif's reply was that the only acceptable terms were unconditional surrender, which would include taking up arms against their friends and families if ordered to do so by the British.
James asked if they could simply stay at their homes "in peace and quiet," and was told that "you have rebelled against your King, and you ought to be hanged like dogs; but His Majesty is merciful, and proposes to pardon all your past offenses, on the condition that you take up arms and fight for his cause."
Both men, by this time were on their feet, enraged. Lathan's account says that Ardesoif put his hand on his sword. Other accounts say he brandished his sword. James was unarmed, but swiftly picked up the chair on which he had been sitting and swung it up between him and the Captain as James backed toward the door. Again, other accounts, say that James threw the chair at Ardesoif, knocking him off balance, if not knocking him to the floor.
Before exiting, James issued his parting verbal shot. "Sir, the gentlemen whom I represent will never submit to any such condition."
Lathan simply wrote that Ardesoif "swore and threatened vengeance on him and those he represented." Others credit Aredsoif with saying, "You damned rebel! I shall have you hanged at my yardarm."
But James was gone! Nell Flinn Gilland, writing about the altercation in the early 20th century, described it this way: "One may almost hear the flying hoofbeats of that high-spirited thoroughbred as it bore its equally high-spirited master back to report this insult to his people."
Three hundred men reportedly gathered that night on the muster ground, now the grounds of the Williamsburg County Courthouse, to hear his report. They then took their own horses to spread the word throughout the district. Within weeks, four militia companies had formed under John James' command. But later, that summer at Witherspoon's Ferry, James relinquished that command to Francis Marion, with the four companies, plus two others from the Britton's Neck area, forming the nucleus of Marion's Brigade, which would ride into the history books, keeping the British off balance by using guerilla warfare tactics.
When British Major James Wemyss marched through eastern South Carolina burning everything in his path, he seems to have taken great delight in burning the home of Major John James.
James survived the American Revolution, dying in 1791. He lies buried in the Indiantown Presbyterian Church graveyard. His epitaph states: In memory of Major John James, who departed this life January 29, 1791, aged 59 years. In Faith he died, in dust he lies, But Faith forsees that dust shall rise when Jesus calls while hope assumes and boasts her joys among the tombs."
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