Who Was Thomas Sumter

The Sumter National Forest was named for Thomas Sumter, leader of rebel partisan forces in the South Carolina piedmont during the American Revolution. Sumter was nicknamed the "Gamecock" because of his strong resolve and aggressive fighting style. He was born in Virginia of humble circumstances and grew up on the western frontier. He served with the Virginia militia during the Cherokee War of 1760-1761 as a sergeant. He accompanied Lieutenant Henry Timberlake on an arduous peace mission to the Overhill Cherokee towns in Tennessee in 1761. Sumter and Timberlake escorted three Cherokee chiefs to London in 1762 to meet King George III.

In the 1760s Sumter bought land, married Mary Jameson, and settled at Eutaw Springs on the Santee River. In 1775, the first Provincial Congress met in Charleston to discuss growing dissatisfaction with government by Great Britain. Later that year Captain Thomas Sumter raised a company of local militia and accompanied Colonel Richard Richardson as his adjutant general on the Snow Campaign expedition against loyalist militia in the central piedmont back country.

In 1776 Sumter was elected Lieutenant Colonel of State militia and appointed commanding officer of the 2nd Regiment of Riflemen. The patriot cause was at a low point in 1780 with the surrender of Charleston to British forces. Numerous rebels were paroled and were no longer fighting the British. Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion chose to burn Thomas Sumter's house in 1780 during one of their sweeps through the Waxhaws. Sumter, angered by his loss, began to rally back county residents and raised a partisan force. He became an important rallying point at a time when the rebel cause was thought lost.

Sumter began to lead his men in raids against British supply lines. He was elected commander and chief of the South Carolina militia and appointed Brigadier General on June 15, 1780. He soon led an unsuccessful assault on a loyalist strong hold at Rocky Mount on the Catawba River, but this was followed by a victory over loyalist forces at nearby Hanging Rock in Lancaster County. Sumter was not present at the major battle at Camden, but was harassing British supply lines in the central piedmont. After he captured two supply convoys, British Calvary under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton were sent in pursuit. On August 18, 1780, Tarleton's dragoons attacked Sumter's camp at Fishing Creek on the Wateree River. Sumter's force was routed and he was forced to flee to rebel forces near Charlotte.

He soon reformed a force and began harassing the British in Chester County. His Camp at Fish Dam Ford on the Broad River in the Enoree Ranger District was attacked by the British early in the morning of November 9. Sumter was alert this time and his men were waiting. The British were repulsed with light losses. The success at Fish Dam Ford brought many new recruits to Sumter who soon had an army of over 1,000 men. He moved west with this force in the direction of the British fort at Ninety Six. Banastre Tarleton was again in pursuit and they met at the battle of Blackstock's Ford on the Tyger River in southwestern Union County. The battle was a major victory for Sumter who was however seriously wounded and put out of action for the next two months.

Sumter returned to the field in February and fought a series of small actions in the central portion of the state. His attack on British Fort Granby and a fortified post at Thomson's Plantation on the Congaree River were unsuccessful. However, on February 23, he defeated the British at Manigault's Ferry and captured a supply train. The month ended with Sumter's failed assault on Fort Watson on the Santee River.

During the summer of 1781, Sumter's force harassed the British around the approaches to Charleston. He guarded his command closely and refused to cooperate fully with the Continental Army. Many of his followers left Sumter after he led a disastrous frontal assault on prepared British positions at Quinby Bridge on a tributary of the Cooper River north of Charleston. He disbanded his force and retired to North Carolina.

Thomas Sumter served as a United States senator and congressman following the American Revolution. He died at age 98 in 1832 and is buried in the High Hills of the Santee. The Sumter National Forest was the scene of many of his greatest exploits and was named in his honor in 1936.