Andrew Pickens

Andrew Pickens

Library of Congress

Andrew Pickens was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on September 13, 1739. Like many of the Scots-Irish¹, Andrew and his family moved south, traveling the Great Wagon Road² in search of new land. Records show they lived first in Augusta County in the Shenandoah³ Valley of Virginia, later in the Waxhaw⁴ settlement along the North Carolina-South Carolina border, and, eventually, in the Long Cane⁵ settlement in Abbeville County, South Carolina, bordering Georgia.

It was in the Long Canes that young Andrew Pickens would marry and begin a family. He not only farmed and raised cattle as many of the other Scots-Irish; he became acquainted with his Indian neighbors through a prosperous trading business. As the American Revolution approached feelings were strong in the South from the start, its inhabitants split between Patriots⁶ and Loyalists⁷ (or Whigs and Tories). Pickens, as many of his Scots-Irish neighbors, was an ardent Patriot.

It was in the Long Canes, too, that he emerged as a military leader, first in expeditions against the Cherokee, who had allied with the Loyalists in hopes of retaining their lands. In 1779, Pickens was to distinguish himself in a Revolutionary War battle. That year, British commander Sir Henry Clinton sent British soldiers to South Carolina and North Georgia to encourage Loyalist support. Colonel Pickens and his three-hundred man militia, in efforts to aid the Patriot cause, overtook and defeated a much larger force of 700-800 men under Colonel Boyd at Kettle Creek in North Georgia just south of the Long Canes.

The victory at Kettle Creek slowed the recruitment of Loyalists, but by 1780, the British dominated as they took Charleston, captured the southern continental army, and swept inland from coastal Carolina. The situation looked gloomy -- so much so -that Pickens and other militia leaders surrendered to the British, and, on oath, agreed to sit out the war under British protection.

Pickens' parole was not to last, however. When Tory raiders destroyed much of his property and frightened his family, he gathered his militia once again and resumed guerilla activities against the British. He was soon to play a key role in defeating British Colonel Tarleton at the Battle of Cowpens, January 17, 1781. The victory came at a crucial time for Patriots in the South who had been repeatedly forced to retreat. Andrew Pickens, who with his militia, arrived as reinforcements, urged Morgan to make a stand. According to one source, Pickens offered to stand alone with his militia if necessary.

Morgan was convinced to make a stand and relied heavily on Pickens' militia in the ensuing battle. The militia, in fact, got off two shots before their planned retreat, something not done in previous battles, and reformed to help envelop the enemy. The bravery of the militia, combined with the well-disciplined Continental troops and William Washington's cavalry, won the day in the battle that turned the tide for American forces in the south.

After the Revolution, Pickens acquired land in frontier South Carolina on the banks of the Keowee River, across from the old Cherokee town of Seneca. There, he built a house he called Hopewell and lived life as part of the backcountry elite. There, too, he served as a political middleman between the Cherokees and the new American nation and sympathized with Indian causes in his later years. Andrew Pickens borrowed heavily from Cherokee warfare skills and used those skills in partisan warfare including the courageous and brilliant victory at Cowpens. For his "spirited conduct" at Cowpens, the Continental Congress presented Pickens with a sword and the State of South Carolina promoted him to Brigadier-General in the state militia.

Glossary

¹ Scots-Irish - Scottish Calvinists (Presbyterian) of Lowland (southern) Scotland who removed to Ireland and later migrated to America in the early eighteenth century. In many instances, they were seen as frontier people and served as a buffer between the colonies and Indians. They played an important role in the Revolutionary War.

² Great Wagon Road - A wagon road stretching from Philadelphia, south to the Carolinas, used by countless pioneer families traveling south from the early 1700s to the Civil War.

³ Shenandoah - Shenandoah is often translated as "Daughter of the Stars" (from Native-American origins). The Shenandoah Valley was described as prairie-like because of Native-American use of fire as a hunting tool.

⁴ Waxhaws - A number of theories exist for the origin of the word Waxhaws. Named after the Waxhaw Indians, the word "Waxhaw", not translated; Anglicized word referring to the Waxhaw Indians and also meaning: The Waxhaws were named for the waxy-looking haw and "hawfields", prominent because of Native-American use of fire. The Waxhaw settlement was just off the Great Wagon Road, including today, parts of both Carolinas in an area southeast of Charlotte.

⁵ Long Cane - The Long Canes were named for the native canes that grew and formed dense canebrakes in the bottomlands. Again, these were sustained through Native-American use of fire as a cultural tool. The Scots-Irish settlement there inherited a region full of deer and other game, including the Buffalo. Because of its proximity to the trading path to the Indian village of Keowee, Long Cane, more than any other settlement, was an intercultural settlement. The Long Cane settlement was in present-day Abbeville County.

⁶ Patriots (Whigs) - Those Americans who supported the colonists against Britain in the American Revolution.

⁷ Loyalists (Tories) - Those Americans loyal to Britain in the American Revolution.

Bibliography

Babits, Lawrence E. A Devil of a Whipping - The Battle of Cowpens. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1998.

Bearss, Edwin C. Battle of Cowpens: A Documented Narrative and Troop Movement Maps. Johnson City, Tennessee: The Overmountain Press, 1996.

Boatner, Mark M. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 1994.Buchanan, John. The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1997.

Hatley, Tom. The Dividing Paths: Cherokees and South Carolinians Through the Revolutionary Era. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Hilborn, Nat and Sam. Battleground of Freedom. Columbia, South Carolina: Sandlapper Press, Inc., 1970.Ketchum, Richard M. The American Heritage Book of the Revolution. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., 1971.

Majtenyi, Joan E. Andrew Pickens. Oconee County Historical Society, 1992.

Morrill, Dan L. Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. Baltimore: The Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1992.

Moss, Bobby Gilmer. The Patriots at the Cowpens. Revised Edition. Blacksburg, South Carolina: Scotia Press, 1994.

National Park Service. Cowpens - Official National Park Handbook. Washington, D. C.: Division of Publications, National Park Service, U. S. Department of the Interior, 1988.

Also titled as Downright Fighting, The Story of Cowpens by Thomas J. Fleming.Skelton, Lynda Worley. General Andrew Pickens: An Autobiography. Pendleton, South Carolina: Pendleton District Historical and Recreational Commission, 1976.