RAMSAY'S HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
From ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT IN 1670 TO THE YEAR 1808.
by David Ramsay, M.D. 
Preface dated "Charleston, December 31st, 1808"
Published in 1858, by W.J. Duffie, Newberry, S.C.  
Reprinted in 1959, by The Reprint Company, Spartanburg, S.C.   

THE MILITARY HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, FROM 1670 TO 1776.
CHAPTER V - SECTION I, pp 70-72
Contest with Spaniards.  
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  All the forms of government, hitherto of force in Carolina, agreed in this
particular: that every subject or citizen should also be a soldier. There was a
nightly watch maintained in Charlestown ever since it was five years old, and,
for the most part, by men hired for the purpose. But in all other times and
situations the defence of the country rested solely on the militia, except in
cases of great pressing and continued danger. The laws required every freeman of
a suitable age, with a few necessary exemptions, to be enrolled as a member of
some militia company and to be equipped and trained for public service. The
necessity of this was so evident, that till about the middle of the 18th
century, the practice was common and the men were enjoined by law to carry their
arms to church.[1] The people could not brook a standing army in time of peace,
but were required to be always ready to defend themselves. This was
indispensably necessary, in their peculiar situation. The province was not only
constantly exposed to internal danger; but its peace was early and repeatedly
disturbed by Spaniards, Indians, and pirates. Carolina, with the English, was
the southern part of Virginia; with the Spaniards it was the northern part of
Florida. Both claimed by virtue of prior discovery, but the title of the
Spaniards was supposed to be strengthened by a grant of the territory from his
holiness the pope. Though the validity of the title of either could not be
supported, before an impartial tribunal, yet a century passed away and much
mischief was done before the controversy was compromised. The Spaniards
considering the settlement of Carolina as an encroachment on Florida, were not
scrupulous about the means of inducing its relinquishment. They encouraged
indented servants to leave their masters, and fly to St. Augustine for
protection. They impressed the Indians with unfavorable ideas of the English
heretics, and encouraged the former to obstruct the settlements of the latter.
To these unneighborly acts were added occasional hostilities. In about three
years after the first settlement of the province an armed party of Spaniards,
From the garrison of St. Augustine, advanced as far as the island of St. Helena
to dislodge or destroy the settlers. Fifty volunteers under the command of
Colonel Godfrey marched against the invaders, who, on his approach, evacuated
the island and retreated to Florida.

  About the year 1682, Lord Cardross led a small colony from Scotland which
settled on Port Royal Island. These claimed, by an agreement with the
proprietors, a co-ordinate authority with the Governor and Council at
Charlestown ; but their claims were overruled. The Spaniards sent an armed force
in 1686, and dislodged these solitary scotch settlers and most of them returned
to their native country.[2]

  These hostilities of the Spaniards were retaliated. In 1702, Governor James
Moore proposed to the Assembly of Carolina an expedition against the Spanish
settlement at St. Augustine. A majority of the Assembly declared for the
expedition and two thousand pounds sterling were voted for the service. They
agreed to raise six hundred provincial militia, an equal number of Indians were
procured, and vessels impressed to carry the forces. Port Royal was fixed on as
the place of Rendezvous, and from it in September 1702 the Governor at the head
of his warriors embarked.

  In the plan of operations it had been agreed that Colonel Daniel, with a
detached party, should go by the inland passage and make a descent on the town
From the land ; while the Governor, with the main body, should proceed by sea
and block up the harbor. Colonel Daniel accordingly advanced against the town,
entered and plundered it before the Governor arrived. But the Spaniards having
laid up provisions for four months in the castle, retired to it with their money
and most valuable effects. Upon the arrival of Governor Moore the place was
invested with a force which the Spaniards could not face, and therefore kept
themselves shut up in their stronghold. The Governor finding it impossible to
dislodge them, without suitable artillery, dispatched colonel Daniel with a
sloop to Jamaica to bring cannon, bombs, and mortars for attacking the castle.
In the meantime the appearance of two Spanish ships, one of twenty-two guns, and
the other of sixteen, near the mouth of the harbor, induced the Governor to
raise the siege, abandon his ships and retreat to Carolina by land. The
Spaniards in the garrison were not only relieved but the ships, provisions, and
ammunition, belonging to the Carolinians, fell into their hands. Colonel Daniel,
on his return, standing in for the harbor of St. Augustine, found to his
surprise the siege raised, and with difficulty escaped from the enemy.

  The Governor lost no more than two men in this expedition, yet it entailed on
the colony a debt of six thousand pounds sterling which, at that period, was a
grievous burden. The provincial assembly met to concert ways and means for
discharging it. A bill was brought in for stamping bills of credit, to answer
the public exigence, which were to be sunk in three years by a duty on liquors,
skins, and furs. This was the first paper money issued in the province, and, for
five or six years, it passed at the same value, and rate with the sterling money
of England. Thus war, debt, and paper money, were coeval in Carolina; and
connected as cause and effect in the order in which they are mentioned.

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[1] The province was saved from much impending distress and desolation by an
armed congregation sallying forth from the Presbyterian church at Wiltown in
1740, as has been related. The practice of going armed to church, was revived
for a short time in the revolutionary war. For fifteen or twenty years before
that event, and ever since, it has not been observed ;  but a formal repeal of
the law cannot be recollected. 

[2] The governmental seal, used for this settlement, was carried to Scotland ;
but, in the year 1793, it was politely returned by the Earl of Buchan as an
object of curiosity, and is now placed in the Museum of the Charleston Library.

[To be continued....]

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