People

South Carolina planter and jurist who signed the Declaration of Independence and represented the lowcountry planter class that dominated Beaufort district politics. Captured by the British in 1780, he was imprisoned at St. Augustine, Florida, and his plantation at White Hall was occupied and damaged during the British raids.

Youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence, representing the Charleston and lowcountry planter elite. Rutledge was captured at the Charleston surrender in 1780 and imprisoned at St. Augustine. His political career after the war reflected the priorities of the lowcountry planter class, including the defense of slavery.

South Carolina Patriot leader who designed the Gadsden Flag and represented the lowcountry mercantile interest. Imprisoned at St. Augustine after the Charleston surrender, he refused to take a loyalty oath through forty-two weeks of solitary confinement. His defiance made him a symbol of Patriot resistance during the occupation period.

British commander who used Port Royal as a staging base for the 1780 Charleston expedition. His Philipsburg Proclamation, issued in 1779, directly shaped the decisions of thousands of enslaved people on the Sea Island plantations around Beaufort when British forces occupied the area.

British general commanding in East Florida who led the 1779 British expedition through Georgia and into South Carolina, raiding the lowcountry including the Beaufort area. His 1779 raid demonstrated British capacity to strike the Sea Island plantation zone and prefigured the larger 1780 Charleston expedition.

South Carolina general who commanded the defense of the lowcountry including the Beaufort area and oversaw the failed attempt to resist British encroachment into the Sea Islands. Captured at the Charleston surrender in 1780, he was exchanged in 1782 and later served as governor of South Carolina.

Beaufort district militia officer who organized local resistance to British raids on the Sea Islands in 1779–1780. Barnwell came from one of the oldest families in the Beaufort district and led the local Patriot force that attempted to contest British control of Port Royal Island and the surrounding Sea Islands.

Representative of the thousands of enslaved people from Beaufort district Sea Island plantations who sought British lines after the Philipsburg Proclamation. Individual names of most people who escaped to British forces are not preserved in the documentary record; this entry represents a documented category of historical actors whose individual stories are largely lost.