On This Day…in 1746 – Thomas Heyward Jr. with Giveaway by Donna Schlachter

Thomas Heyward Jr from Wikipedia

Born on this day in 1746 in what is now knowns as Jasper County (then, St. Luke’s Parish) to Mary Miles Heyward and Daniel Heyward, Thomas Jr. grew up to be an American Founding Father, lawyer, judge, and politician. Of interest, he was called “Junior”, yet there is no indication he was named after his father. This author conjectures that perhaps his father’s name was Daniel Thomas or Thomas Daniel, as was his son, but both went by different Christian names.

Middle Temple students called to The Bar -- Wikipedia

 

Educated at home, Thomas studied law in England, where he joined the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, the British equivalent of the American Bar Society. On his return to the United States, he was elected to the Continental Congress in 1775, and in 1776, was the final delegate to sign the Declaration of independence, forever enshrining him as a Founding Father.

Although the exact dates aren’t known, Thomas married twice, both times to women named Elizabeth. His first wife, Elizabeth Mathews, daughter of Colonel John and Sarah Gibbs Mathews, was also the sister of South Carolina governor John Mathews.

Thomas Heyward House, current day -- Wikipedia

 

 

Following his term, he returned to South Carolina to serve as a judge in 1778. Of note, he presided over a trial of several persons on the charge of treason against the United States. The jury found them guilty and they were executed in sight of the British army encamped nearby. His participation in this trial earned him no points with the enemy, and two years later, while serving in command of a militia unit, he was captured by the British during an attack on Charleston.

To prove their mastery over him, the British captured his many slaves, transporting 130 to a sugar plantation in Jamaica. However, this huge financial loss (more than $50,000 value), resulted in his being named as a martyr to the revolution by the press.

After being relocated to a prison ship in the harbor, they were removed to St. Augustine, Florida, where he remained for about 11 months until freed in a prisoner exchange. As though to mock his captors, he transposed a popular song, “God Save the King”, into “God Save the States”, earning him even more popularity. He was finally released in 1782, and it was during this year that Elizabeth died during childbirth, having delivered six children to him. Only one, Daniel, survived childhood.

His second wife, Elizabeth Savage, was the daughter of Colonel Thomas and Mary Elliott Savage of Charleston. Together they had three children, all of whom lived to adulthood: Thomas, William, and Elizabeth.

As was common in that time, he also had children of the female slaves he owned. Most notably, his grandson, Thomas E. Miller, became one of only five African Americans elected to Congress from the south in the 1890s.

In 1784, he became a member of the American Philosophical Society, and he continued serving as a judge, retiring in 1798.

Thomas Heyward, Jr. is buried at Old House Plantation near Ridgeland, South Carolina, passing away at the age of 62.

Giveaway: Leave a comment to enter a random drawing for another story about a former slave, Theresa, in “Theresa’s Talent”. Don’t forget to cleverly disguise your email address so the bots don’t get you but we can if you win. For example: donna AT livebytheword DOT com





About “Theresa’s Talent”: Theresa, a former slave, wants two things: to own a business, and to vote. She excels at cooking and baking, so the first should be easy. The second? Already suffragettes had been working for twenty years—while it was the law in Colorado, would she see it the law of the land for every woman in the union in her lifetime?

Toby, a freeman now working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency, loves the sense of adventure and justice that being a private investigator brings. But when he sees justice failing for a white man, he can’t stand idly by and do nothing. Even if it means putting himself in danger.

But, is he willing to put another in the same position? 

About Donna:
A hybrid author, Donna writes squeaky clean historical and contemporary suspense. She has been published more than 60 times in books; is a member of several writers' groups; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, traveling extensively for both, and is an avid oil painter. She is taking all the information she’s learned along the way about the writing and publishing process, and is coaching committed writers eager to tell their story. Learn more at https://www.donnaschlachter.com/the-purpose-full-writer-coaching-programs Check out her coaching group on FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/604220861766651



www.DonnaSchlachter.com

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Resources:

https://www.middletemple.org.uk/about-us

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Heyward_Jr.

Hunley vs. the USS Housatonic

The first combat submarine to sink a warship was the H.L. Hunley, part of the Confederate States of America’s navy in the Civil War.

The Hunley sank the Union sloop USS Housatonic near Charleston Harbor on the night of Feb. 17, 1964. Unfortunately, the Hunley never made it back to shore. The vessel, with all eight men aboard her, was lost. The wreck was not found for 131 years, when it was discovered in 1995.

Sepia wash drawing of the Hunley on the pier, by R.G. Skerrett, 1902, after a painting then held by the Confederate Memorial Literary Society Museum, Richmond, Virginia. Public domain.

The H. L. Hunley was not the first submarine, but it is believed to be the first to sink an enemy ship. It was built in Mobile, Alabama, and launched in July 1863. Its first run in Mobile Bay was successful. It was shipped by rail the following month to Charleston, S.C.

Designed for a crew of eight, it had a hand-cranked propeller which was turned by seven of the men. The eighth crew member steered. On each end of the craft were ballast tanks that could be flooded using valves or pumped dry by using hand pumps. These enabled the submarine to submerge and surface when the crew desired. 

Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley (1863-1864)

Inboard profile and plan drawings, after sketches by W.A. Alexander, who directed her construction.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Public Domain

Extra ballast was provided by iron weights on the hull. These could be unscrewed from inside and dropped, if extra buoyancy was needed. Forty feet long and four feet, three inches high, the Hunley had two hatches, one toward each end of the hull. Some folks described the sub as looking like a fish, a porpoise, or a peapod.

The weapons called torpedoes at the time were floating explosive charges with a contact fuse, towed at the end of a long rope. This was what the Hunley was originally armed with. The procedure for attacking an enemy vessel was to approach on the surface, then dive under it and resurface on the other side. When the torpedo on the end of the rope touched the hull of the enemy ship, it would explode.

This method proved very dangerous, since the tow rope could get caught in the submarine’s screw or drift into the submarine towing it. So it was scrapped for a new method.

A “spar torpedo” was attached to a 22-foot-long wooden spar, sticking out at the front of the submarine. The torpedo was a copper cylinder full of black powder.

Using this weapon, the Hunley had to be at least six feet below the water’s surface. It would run up to the enemy ship and ram it with the barbed end of the torpedo. In theory, at least, the submarine would then back away, leaving the torpedo in the ship’s hull. The trigger setting it off would be released mechanically by a cord. However, in the wreckage a spool of copper wire and a battery were found, which leads some investigators to believe an electric detonator had been devised for the last voyage.

This is USS Housatonic, the ship sunk by the Hunley. Public domain photo.

The submarine Hunley sank during a test run on August 29, 1863. Five crew members died. On October 15, she sank again. This time eight men aboard died, including Horace Hunley, the man who designed the craft.

After both of these sinkings, the Hunley was recovered and placed back in service. The men serving on her knew the dangers, but they believed the flaws had been fixed and the submarine was now safe.

The USS Housatonic was a 1,240-ton sailing ship that had been on blockade duty in the outer harbor at Charleston. It was a sloop of war with 12 large cannons. When the Hunley attacked, the much smaller submarine was successful, and the ship sank.

Hunley approached underwater, so that the men on the Housatonic would not see her. When the submarine was spotted, crew on the ship fired rifles and shotguns at it, with no effect. The spar torpedo at the en dof a 16-foot rod struck the ship near its powder magazine and exploded. 

Within minutes, the Housatonic was lost, but only five of the 155 crew members died. Most were able to board lifeboats or swim to shore. the ship went down in 27 feet of water in the harbor, so some climbed the rigging, which stayed above the surface, and remained above water until rescued.

However, the Hunley didn’t make it to shore. Confederates waiting for her said they saw her signal light after she torpedoed the Housatonic. However, the submarine and the eight men aboard her never beached. Again, eight men were lost. Much more can be read about this historic battle and its aftermath.

Charleston, S.C. (Jan. 28, 2005) – Civil War Confederate submarine Hunley conservators Philippe de Vivies, left, and Paul Mardikian remove the first section of the crew’s bench at the Warren Lash Conservation Lab in the former Charleston Navy Shipyard, S.C. Photo courtesy of Naval Historical Center, public domain.

The wreckage of the Hunley was not found until 1995. It was raised in 2000, and is on display in North Charleston, S.C., at the Warren Lasch Conservatoin Center. The crew was buried with honors.

The cause of the loss is not known for sure, but in that day, torpedoes were fixed to the submarine, not fired from a distance as they are today.

Recovered artifacts confirm that the Hunley was within twenty feet of its prey when it attacked the Housatonic and the torpedo exploded. Damage from that blast possibly weakened the submarine's seams so that the crew could not stop the water that rushed in.

Leave a comment and you will be entered in a drawing for one of Susan's novels, Frasier Island, which includes a submarine very different from the Hunley. If the winner has read this book, another book of choice may be substituted.

Susan Page Davis is the author of more than seventy published novels. A Maine native, she now lives in western Kentucky. Visit her website at: www.susanpagedavis.com where you can sign up for her occasional newsletter, enter a monthly drawing for free books, and read a short story on her romance page. 


Photos used here are the works of sailors or employees of the U.S. Navy, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the images are in the public domain in the United States.