You are cordially invited to join the Pickens County America 250 Committee on June 28th, 2025, for a rare Revolutionary War era slideshow presentation by noted Pickens County historian, Dennis Chastain. This event will take place at 3:00 pm at the Captain Kimberly Hampton Memorial Library in Easley, South Carolina. Chastain says that “While the Carolina Day celebration in Charleston is a time-honored tradition celebrating the miraculous Patriot victory at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island, it is only one part of the largest untold story of the Revolutionary War.”
Chastain says the attack on Fort Moultrie was actually part of a hastily thrown-together, ill-advised, three-part plan by the British to regain control of the South Carolina colony in one fell swoop. The other two components of the plan were to incite a slave insurrection along the coast, and to employ their Cherokee allies to attack the backcountry settlers of both Carolinas and Virginia, all at or about the same time.
The Patriot response to these Indian attacks consisted of a massive, three-pronged attack on the Cherokee Territory all the way from South Carolina to Tennessee. That scorched earth campaign devastated the Cherokee, and the following year, they ceded all of what is now Greenville, Pickens, and Oconee counties. And it all started right here in Pickens County with the Battle of Esseneca near Clemson. Come hear and see the details of this compelling story from someone who has researched the topic for nearly a decade.
The program will be followed by a time of refreshments and an opportunity to mix and mingle.
Due to the seating capacity, you must RSVP. Please RSVP to clbradley214@gmail.com.
