There is always more to the story.
That is one of the things that became clear during a recent conversation with historian and author Jim Piecuch, who has spent decades researching the American Revolution in South Carolina and across the South.
Three of Jim’s latest publications are now available on the SC250 website, exploring Henry Rugeley, Moses Kirkland and a lesser known 1779 naval battle. Each takes a closer look at people and events that may not be as familiar to us, but that help tell a much fuller story of the Revolution.
For Jim, that is exactly why these stories matter.
“We focus on where George Washington was, where these major figures were, and we forget about these other people who not only had an effect but were affected themselves by it,” he said.
Jim began researching the Revolution in the South while working on his doctoral dissertation at the College of William & Mary. That research eventually became Three Peoples, One King: Loyalists, Indians, and Slaves in the Revolutionary South, 1775–1782, published by the University of South Carolina Press.
His work looks beyond the history many of us learned in school and explores the experiences of Loyalists, Native Americans, enslaved people and others whose roles during the Revolution were often much more complicated than we realize.
As Jim explained, there was rarely a simple “right side” or “wrong side” for the people living through this period. Families, communities and even Native American nations could be divided. People were making decisions based on their own circumstances, loyalties, safety and hopes for the future.
Understanding those perspectives is an important part of understanding the Revolution itself.
“Don’t accept the, for lack of a better word, the Wikipedia viewpoint, the quick, concise summary,” Jim said. “Americans versus British, good versus evil, and good triumphs. It’s a much more complex story.”
That message feels especially important as South Carolina continues commemorating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
July 4, 2026, was an important milestone, but it was certainly not the end of the story. South Carolina has significant anniversaries still ahead, including the 250th anniversary of the Treaty of DeWitt’s Corner in 2027, which provides an opportunity to learn more about the Cherokee experience and the complicated history of this period.
Jim hopes this anniversary will encourage people to become curious about those stories and do a little digging of their own.
That could mean learning what happened during the Revolution in your hometown, researching someone in your family history or simply reading more about a person or event that catches your attention.
His advice is to look beyond the overview.
“Take a little part of this story at least and go beyond the common overview and look at it in depth,” Jim said. “You’ll find, I think, a richness there that you might not realize.”
That may be one of the greatest opportunities of the 250th. We have a chance not only to remember the history we already know, but to keep asking questions, discovering new stories and better understanding the people who lived it.
And, as Jim’s work reminds us, there is still so much more to learn.