DAVID HAMILTON, A SOLDIER
OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION by Daniel M. O'Driscoll,
Charleston, S.C.
DAVID HAMILTON was born in Cork,
Ireland, in November, 1749. He came to Charleston, S.
C., when quite young. He was well educated, a man of
property, adn about 1774 wedded Elizabeth Reynolds.
She was a daughter of Rev. James Reynolds, an Irish
Presbyterian clergyman of James Island, S. C., and of his
wife, Mary Ball, a native of the island. James
Island was then as now the site of many large plantations.
After a siege of many months, General Lincoln,
who with a small number of troops had gallantly defended the
city of Charleston, surrendered May 19, 1780. The
British had thought that on account of the scattered
population and the number of slaves, it would be easier to
subjugate the inhabitants of the Southern states than those
of the Northern and Middle, whose hardy population inured to
labor, especially among the mountains of Vermont and New
Hampshire, had successfully resisted all efforts to overcome
them. But in this they were mistaken for although
Savannah and Charleston, the chief cities of Georgia and
South Carolina, were now in the hands of the enemy, still
from every brush and bracken, Marion and Sumter and their
scouts would spring at unexpected moments and unlooked for
times.
Among those who were taken prisoners at Charleston was
David Hamilton, the subject of this sketch.
There is a tradition in the family that he held the rank of
lieutenant.1 This point, however, cannot be
substantiated now, as the family papers and Bibles, which
were in the possession of his daughter, Mrs. Sullivan
of Hampton county, S. C., were lost or destroyed during the
Civil War.
When the city of Charleston was surrendered to the
British commander, David Hamilton, being a member of
the regiment taken under arms, became a prisoner of war.
He was offered with others a parole if he would promise not
to take up arms again against the mother country. This
he declined to avail himself of, and Ramsay's History
of the Revolution in South Carolina records his name as
among the prisoners confined on board the prison ship
Torbay in Charleston harbor in May, 1781.
This vessel conveyed these prisoners to Philadelphia
where they remained until the treaty of peace was signed at
Paris in 1783. Family records tell that during his
detention, receiving permission to go about the city, his
wife Elizabeth, at his solicitation, joined him
there. The voyage in those days was a long and tedious
one, but David Hamilton having vessels of his own,
Mrs. Hamilton and her two children were able to perform
the journey in one of them.
During her sojourn there a third daughter, Griszelle
Agnes Hamilton, was born, who became in womanhood the
wife of Capt. Joseph Taylor, U. S. N. After the
Revolutionary War, David Hamilton, on his return to
Charleston, became the partner in business of his
brother-in-law, Christopher Fitz Simons, who,
also an Irishman of wealth and culture, is the ancestor of
the "Sir Rupert" of South Carolina, Wade Hampton,
the third, the brave cavalry leader of the Southern army of
Virginia. They carried on an extensive shipping,
shipbuilding and wharfage business, Hamilton owning
the ships and Fitz Simons the wharves. David
Hamilton owned one hundred black men, slaves, with their
families.
Mr. Fitz Simons was still wealthier, having
$700,000, as his will still on record shows, and when his
daughter, Anne Fitz Simons, became the wife of
Wade Hampton the second, it was as no dowerless bride,
she receiving $100,000 as her portion. The father of
Colonel Hampton was the richest planter in the South,
claiming to own 3,000 slaves. Christopher Fitz
Simons dying a few years before David Hamilton,
his will records that he leaves to David Hamilton
£50 as a souvenir, according to
the old English custom, and that he desired the business to
continue under the firm name of Hamilton & Co.
David Hamilton died in
Charleston, Nov. 29, 1794, and is buried in St. Philip's
churchyard, the Colonial Episcopal church of that city.
In these sacred precincts also rest the ashes of many of his
descendants. David Hamilton left five
daughters and three sons: Elizabeth, who became
Mrs. Pritchard; Anne, Mrs. Harvey; Catherine, Mrs.
Pritchard; Grizelle Agnes, Mrs. Taylor; Mary, Mrs. Sullivan;
of his three sons, David, John and William,
David and William died unmarried. His
married son, John, left a son and two daughters, from
one of whom (Mary), Mrs. Nesbit, springs the
family of the same name, wealthy planters of Georgetown, S.
C. Of David Hamilton's daughters, Mrs.
Pritchard's descendants attained distinction both in
peace and ar.
William Pritchard, her grandson, whose name is
carved on the white marble tablet which stands in the
vestibule of St. Philip's Episcopal church, was a member of
the historical Washington Light Infantry of Charleston, and
died of country fever during the Civil War. Mrs.
Harvey's daughter, Anne, married Commandant
Knight, U. S. N. Commandant Knight died
while in service on the coast of Africa, of African fever.
His remains still rest there. Mrs. Taylor's
grandson, William Joseph Magill, commanded a regiment
of Georgia regulars during the Civil War. He was a
Graduate of the Military Academy of South Carolina, a man of
fine physique and pleasing address. Colonel Magill
lost an arm at the battle of Sharpsburg, and died some few
years ago in Florida where he had settled after the war.
Another grandson of Mrs. Taylor, Dr. James Ervin
Godfrey, was educated in Paris and became a surgeon in
the Confederate army, with the rank of major. He
married in Madison, Ga., where he still resides, as do also
many of his descendants. The youngest daughter,
Mary, married Timothy Sullivan (O'Sullivan), a
native of County Cork, Ireland, a merchant whose name is
mentioned as a broker on Vendue Range, Charleston, more than
eighty years ago. Mrs. Sullivans eldest
daughter married Patrick Cantwell (also an
Irishman), an officer of the customs in Charleston.
Mr. Cantwell was at first cousin of Lieutenant,
Stephen Cassin, one of the heroes of the battle of Lake
Champlain, and also a nephew of Commodore John Cassin,
U. S. N., who was commander of the naval forces at Norfolk
during the War of 1812, and at Charleston from 1821-'22,
where he died the latter year. His remains lie in St.
Mary's churchyard. Mr. Cantwell's eldest
daughter, Mary, married David O'Driscoll of
the O'Driscolls of Baltimore, born in Cork, Ireland.
Of their two sons, one is a graduate of the College of
Charleston, and has entered the profession of teaching; the
other, a student at the Military Academy of South Carolina.
Among the surviving descendants of David Hamilton
are the Godfreys of Georgia, the Magills of
Florida, the Harveys, Stroheckers, Pritchards,
Knoxes, Poppenheims, Milers, O'Driscolls, Langleys,
Cantwells, Nesbits and Morrisons of South
Carolina, and a family pf Prestons in Alabama.
A granddaughter, Mary Pritchard, married Dr.
Barnard of New Haven, Conn., and her descendants still
reside in that city.
Source: The Journal of American-Irish Historical
Society by Thomas Hamilton Murray, Secretary General - Vol.
II - Published: Boston, Mass. by the Society - 1899 - Page
176
1. A Lieut. David Hamilton is
mentioned in the Revolutionary records of Massachusetts;
also at the national capital in the official records of that
period. |
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