The American Revolution Period
1775 - 1783

On April 19, 1775, the crack of musketry sounded on Lexington Green, Massachusetts as seven colonial minutemen were killed in an act of defiance by British soldiers. A running battle would ensue to Concord, followed by the bloody British retreat to Boston. Thus began open, armed conflict with the British government which signaled the beginning of the American Revolution. On that fateful day in Charleston, South Carolina, however, it was the height of the rice-planting season at Magnolia Plantation and Drayton Hall, both now owned by John Drayton.

Three of John’s sons would each enter military service in various capacities from Infantry to Artillery, while his eldest son, William Henry Drayton, would take a leading role in the American Revolution and later serve in the Continental Congress.

Following the British defeat in Charlestown at the Battle of Sullivan’s Island in June of 1776, things remained relatively quiet for almost three years in Charlestown. But in spring of 1779, British General Augustine Prevost made a move towards Charlestown after the fall of Savannah. His attempts were thwarted, but upon his retreat he ransacked most of the plantations along the Ashley River, including both Drayton Hall and Magnolia Plantation. It was during this raid to Charlestown that John Drayton fled the approaching British with his fourth wife Rebecca and their three small children. However, while crossing the Cooper River, John suffered a seizure and died quickly.

While most of his elder sons had fallen out of favor with their father, Thomas Drayton (the second son of his third marriage) did well by his father’s will, inheriting a town lot on Meeting Street, a plantation on the Coosawhatchie called Ocean and his family’s ancient South Carolina home Magnolia Plantation. However, soon after inheriting Magnolia Plantation, Thomas was serving in a cavalry regiment attached to Francis Marion’s forces.

In March of 1780, Sir Henry Clinton, who was in command of all the British forced in North America at the time, moved a large army of more than 8,000 men up along the Ashley River and encamped his sprawling force at both Drayton Hall (which he used as his headquarters) and Magnolia Plantation.

The forces that were encamped at Magnolia Plantation consisted of the Second Battalion of English Grenadiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Abecromby, four battalions of Hessian Grenadiers under the command of General von Kospoth and English and Hessian light artillery.

On the morning of March 29th, 1780, the British Navy brought three make-shift gunboats and almost 100 flatboats and long boats and ferried the entire British Army from Drayton Hall and Magnolia Plantation across the Ashley to cut off the American forced on the peninsula. In less than two months time, Charlestown would surrender. This was the greatest defeat for the American forces during the entire Revolution and its staging point had been at Magnolia Plantation and Drayton Hall.