Jasper County GaArchives News.....Bicentennial Bits - Sergeant William Jasper 1970's ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Suzanne Forte suzanneforte@bellsouth.net July 2, 2004, 10:24 pm Monticello News BICENTENNIAL BITS BY JOHN HARVEY (EDITOR'S NOTE: The 200th anniversary of our nation's freedom is as appropriate time for John Harvey, our historical columnist, to begin this series of articles on Sgt. Jasper for whom our county is named. Also, John has an interesting feature on page 9 about past observances of the Fourth here. (It is also a fitting time for us to public ally thank John for the commendable job he's doing and say to him again public ally; "Keep Up the Good Work Through Our Bicentennial Year, for which the column is named, and beyond". - WTH, Jr.) SERGEANT WILLIAM JASPER PART 1 With the coming of the celebration of the Bicentennial of the nation, there has been a stirring of interest in people and events of the Revolution. One of these about whom interesting information has come to light is Sergeant William Jasper, the hero for whom our county is named. Today there is little in official records concerning him, but during the early years of our country he was probably the most well known hero of the enlisted soldier, the farm and the frontiersman of our nation. Because he was the hero of the so-called “little people,” much of the record was lost for lack of having anyone to write it down. In colonial times only the rich or a very determined man could get an education. The average American struggling to make a living had no time for the frills of education. The skills needed were the ax, the plow, and the gun, usually in that order. What information on Sgt. Jasper that there is comes from a few stories handed down from generation to generation, a few public records, and some accounts written about him by his officers. Tradition holds that William Jasper was the native born son of an Irish family who settled in Williamsburg Township on the Black River in South Carolina in the 1750s. He had other brothers and sisters who had evidently been born before the family immigrated from Ireland, though only one sister and one brother are mentioned in the stories about him. Other members of the family seem to have been loyal to England. No documented evidence has come to light to prove this contention, but this is not unusual. The origins of many families are obscure, and many families have a traditional story explaining how they came to America. In cases like this one the tradition is usually accepted. THE FIRST WRITTEN record of William Jasper’s existence is found in the recruiting journal of Lt. Barnard Elliott. In 1775 Lt. Elliott was given the duty of recruiting men for his newly organized Second Regiment of Foot in South Carolina. In his journal Elliott describes the sort of men he sought to recruit. They were young men who lived along the Georgia and South Carolina frontier who had little in worldly goods. They fed themselves by hunting deer and with the occasional cow given them by the local farmers for herding and caring for the cattle in the area. Many of these young men were looking for a way to improve themselves so that they too could become land owners and farmers. In other words they were the first American cowboys. For most of them the army was a way to improve their lot and gain social acceptance. Elliott swung south from Charleston and began recruiting along the Savannah River, moving north towards Augusta. He seems to have had little success until he reached a place called Herbert’s Tavern on the Georgia side of the river about five miles west of Purrysburg, S.C., and fifty miles south of Augusta. Here he enlisted twenty new recruits and three days later he enlisted eight more at Stephen Smith’s home a few miles up the river. Among those was the name of William Jasper. Elliott said that he might have enlisted more but Col. John Thomas, a resident of the area, was recruiting for the Fourth Regiment at the same time and many of the young men wanted to stay with their friends. WILLIAM JASPER may have been a little older than the other recruits, probably in his twenties. In another of his journals, Elliott lists him as a “artisan”, probably a carpenter. At this time St. George’s Parrish was newly settled and there was a great need for men with a trade. The opportunity to quickly raise himself in a fluid society probably attracted him to the army. Within four months after his enlistment, Jasper had been promoted to sergeant. Elliott, a “spit and polish” officer, was impressed with his demeanor, ready obedience to orders and his ability to handle men. Charleston, where the Second Foot had been sent was the type of city that made it especially hard to maintain a disciplined army. The city was the hub of southern commerce; the numerous grog shops and “nanny houses” gave the officers much to complain about. Two British sloops of war patrolled the harbor under the guns of Ft. Johnson. The troops watched as the Provincial Congress took more and more of the powers of government from the Royal Governor, Lord William Campbell. Finally, in September, the Americans took over Ft. Johnson and the governor fled to the ships in the harbor. During these days, 1776 and 1777, Jasper volunteered to work on the fort on Sullivans Island, later named Ft. Moultrie, married a Charleston girl, Elizabeth Marlow, and the young couple had two children. The children, born in the same year, may have been twins. William, Jr., became a cabinetmaker and died childless on July 29, 1819. Elizabeth eventually married three times but her children all died in infancy. IN MARCH 1776, the South Carolina Provincial Congress decided to build a fort on Sullivans Island. Col. William Moultrie and troops under his command were assigned to build it; among them the Second Foot. In early May the fort was inspected by Gen. Charles Lee, who recommended abandonment of the project, but local officials insisted on building the fort. About this time Moultrie’s command was presented with a flag - a silver crescent on a blue background. On June 1, British sails appeared on the horizon. The nine attack ships were commanded by Sir Peter Parker, while the land forces numbering 3000 were commanded by Sir Henry Clinton. Had the attack come on June 1, Charleston would surely have been lost, for the fort was far from completion. While Sir peter delayed the wind fell off and the next 28 days a curious drama took place. As the British ships sat out in the water waiting for the wind to fill their sales, the Americans rushed feverishly to complete their breastworks to defend themselves as best they could. PART II After the battle at Fort Moultrie, Charleston, S.C. in June 1776, Sgt. Jasper was offered a commission as an officer but he turned it down. Many historians believe that his enlistment was over and he returned to Purrysburg to Elizabeth and the children. During the next three years he became one of Francis Marion’s (the Swamp Fox) guerillas and often acted a liason between Marion and Colonels Elijah Clarke and Andrew Pickens. One account has it that many fighting men were drawn to Marion in the hopes of serving with Jasper. One story has Jasper and Nancy Hart working together to deliver some Tory prisoners to Col. Clarke’s headquarters. Then there is the story of the famous rescue of the prisoners at Jasper Spring by Jasper and his friend, Sgt. John Newton. The rescue grew out of Jasper’s visit to Ebenezer, Ga., not far up the Savannah River from Purrysburg to see his brother who was in the British forces stationed there. Jasper and his friend, Sgt. Newton, dressed in civilian clothes told a convincing story of having deserted the American army. The British believing them let them wander freely about the camp. While gathering information Jasper discovered some American prisoners who were being taken to Savannah to be questioned by the British and then shot. Slipping out of the British camp, Jasper and Newton hurried down river to a spring they knew to be on the road to Savannah. When the British soldiers stopped there with their prisoners to rest Jasper and Newton surprised them, freeing the prisoners and marching the British off to Marion’s camp as prisoners. Two bits of evidence give proof of this story; the South Carolina Gazette, July 30, 1779, notes that Sgt. Jasper and a party recently attacked a British patrol and made off with four prisoners and the Virginia Gazette, May 14, 1779, noted that Sgt. Jasper and another sergeant recently delivered two British intelligence officers to Gen. Lincoln’s headquarters in Charleston. IN SEPTEMBER 1779, Gen. Benjamin Lincoln saw an opportunity to retake Savannah. The Americans had been planning such a move for over a year. The French army, on its way back to Europe, would stop off on the Georgia coast to help. American troops from Georgia and the Carolinas began gathering along the coast and almost immediately things began to go wrong. The French arrived first and did not bother to cover their movements, so the element of surprise was lost. Gen. Lincoln, when he arrived, was dismayed to find that the French Gen. Count d’Estaing had given the British Gen. Austin Prevost time to consider surrender terms. This gave Prevost time to change his defenses so that the American spying went for naught. Also it gave Col. John Maitland (British) time to slip through the French lines and re- enforce Savannah. The attack came on Saturday morning, October 9, 1779, and it was evident that things were going from bad to worse. Marion’s troops and the South Carolina Second Foot were to lead the attack against the Spring Hill Redoubt. The Spring Hill Redoubt was the second strongest point in the British defenses and it was thought that the Americans and their French allies had a better chance of storming the British lines here than at the stronger Maitland Redoubt. The Second and Third South Carolina Foot, now under the command of Col. John Laurens, was given this task. Jasper, who had recently returned to service with his old regiment, was in the front line. The attack went badly from the start. Some of the guides got confused and many of the troops ended up on the swamp. Others ran out of the woods toward the redoubt to be faced with a withering fire of grapeshot, musket balls, scrap metal, broken glass, chains and nails. D’Estaing was wounded in the arm but continued to urge his men forward. Gen. Lincoln who commanded the reserve rushed men in to take the places of men who fell. A few men reached the walls of the redoubt and managed to place flags on it. One of these was Sergeant Jasper. All were wounded. As the line crumbled, the men drifted back towards the woods. Jasper was helped into the woods by some of his men. Accounts of his death vary; some say he died in the woods, others say he was carried back to the American base camp at Purrysburg and buried in an unmarked grave. By tradition most historians believe this last to be true. There is now no trace of the American camp and all that remains to mark the site of Purrysburg is a stone monument. This monument is located on S.C. Highway 34, two miles from Hardeeville, S.C. A look at a list of Revolutionary veterans of the Battle of Savannah and a list of early settlers of Jasper County shows that many of the settlers of our county were also veterans of this battle. Many towns and counties across our nation are named for Sergeant William Jasper. Sources: Article from D.A. R. Magazine, c. 1934 Sergeant Jasper - Hero of the Revolution, c. 1976, Pauline Webel Georgia’s Ragtag Rebellion, Mike Christensen, c. 1976, The Atlanta Journal Constitution The American Legion Magazine, June 1976, “1776 in the South” Additional Comments: Transcribed by Suzanne Forte (suzanneforte@bellsouth.net) from copies of articles contained in the Monticello News. There articles were prepared by Mr. John Harvey and published in this newspaper during the 1970's time frame. Permission has been granted by Mr. Harvey for use of these very valuable and informative articles. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/jasper/newspapers/gnw203bicenten.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 12.7 Kb