Colonel Tye, Black Loyalist Guerrilla Fighter in the American Revolution

By J. M. Hochstetler

At the beginning of the American Revolution, the British offered freedom to any black slaves who joined them to fight the Americans. Of the many slaves who managed to escape and ended up as soldiers, sailors, or workers in the British army, one became the most feared and respected guerrilla commander of the Revolution. Born in 1753, Titus was the slave of a cruel, quick-tempered Quaker named John Corlies of Shrewsbury in eastern Monmouth County, New Jersey. When the Quakers in that region began to free their slaves, Corlies refused to do so and by 1775 was one of the few remaining Quaker slaveholders in the county.

Ethiopian Regiment Soldier, 1775
by  Bantarleton

Things changed when on November 7, 1775, after being forced to flee onto a British warship off Norfolk by the patriot militia, Virginia’s royal governor, Lord Dunmore, issued a proclamation offering emancipation to any slaves belonging to rebels who were willing and able to bear arms for the crown. Twenty-two-year-old Titus escaped the following day, joining a flood of blacks from Monmouth County who made their way to Norfolk to enlist in Dunmore’s newly formed Ethiopian Regiment. In spite of warnings by outraged slaveholders that runaway slaves would be executed and that any who joined the British would be sold to sugar cane plantations in the West Indies if caught, within a month about 800 slaves had escaped, many bringing their families with them.

The Ethiopian Regiment served in 1775 and 1776, and with its uniform emblazoned with “Liberty to Slaves” became a symbol of hope for enslaved black Americans. Although the men were most often used for foraging, constructing fortifications, and other work, they also saw battle. They fought effectively alongside the Regulars to defeat patriot militia forces at the Battle of Kemp’s Landing. After Dunmore’s defeat at the Battle of Great Bridge, he loaded his black troops onto ships of the British fleet headed for New York, where he hoped to give them better training. The cramped conditions led to the spread of smallpox, however, and with only 300 of the original 800 soldiers surviving, Dunmore disbanded the regiment in 1776.

Nothing further is known of Tye until the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778, the first military action he’s known to have fought in and during which he captured an American militia captain. As the leader of the Black Brigade, an elite guerilla unit of 24 men that served in New Jersey alongside the Loyalist Queen’s Rangers, he became known as Colonel Tye, an informal rank given out of respect since the British Army didn’t formally commission black officers in the 18th and 19th centuries. He and his band raided and plundered Shrewsbury the next month, capturing two of the town’s inhabitants. During the severe winter of 1779 they and the Queen’s Rangers provided protection for the British in their stronghold at New York City and launched raids to obtain food and fuel for the garrison.

The Death of Major Peirson
John Singleton Copley, January 6, 1781

By 1780 the Black Brigade had become a significant military force and the most feared Loyalists in New Jersey with a reputation as fierce and canny fighters. Tye’s familiarity with the area’s swamps, rivers, and inlets enabled his Black Brigade to strike swiftly and unexpectedly, and then disappear before the Americans could respond. In one week in June he led three raids in Monmouth County. On June 9, he and his men killed Joseph Murray, hated by Loyalists for executing captured Tories under a local vigilante law. On June 12, while Washington’s hard-pressed army fought the Regulars, he and his band made a daring raid on the home of militia leader Barnes Smock, captured him and twelve of his men without taking casualties, plundered their homes, destroyed their cannon, then took their captives to New York without being detected, thus depriving Washington of badly needed reinforcements and terrorizing local patriots. The British paid Tye and his men well for their efforts, sometimes as much as five gold guineas, and as a result of their exploits the number of slaves escaping to the British kept growing.

Thomas Peters, Nigerian-born slave and black
Loyalist in  British Black Company of Pioneers

That September Tye and his Black Brigade attacked the home of Captain Josiah Huddy, an officer who had been wanted by the Loyalists for several years. Huddy and a friend, Lucretia Emmons, managed to hold off their attackers for two hours, until the Loyalists torched the house. Tye was shot in the wrist during the battle, a minor wound that became infected, and he died from gangrene within weeks.

With Colonel Stephen Blucke of the Black Pioneers in command, Tye’s raiders continued fighting long after the British defeat at Yorktown. And Tye left behind a reputation that lived on among his comrades as well as among the patriots who fought against him.

~~~

J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is also an author, editor, and publisher. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. Book 6, Refiner’s Fire, releases in April 2019. Northkill, Book 1 of the Northkill Amish Series coauthored with Bob Hostetler, won Foreword Magazine’s 2014 Indie Book of the Year Bronze Award for historical fiction. Book 2, The Return, received the 2017 Interviews and Reviews Silver Award for Historical Fiction and was named one of Shelf Unbound’s 2018 Notable Indie Books. One Holy Night, a contemporary retelling of the Christmas story, was the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year and a finalist in the Carol Award.

The Great Dismal Swamp

By Marilyn Turk

A place of fear for some, the Great Dismal Swamp was a place of refuge for others.

Col. William Byrd II, an 18th century planter, is credited with giving the swamp its name on maps during his 1728 expedition to survey the border line between Virginia and North Carolina.

When colonists began invading their land, Native Americans moved into the secluded forests of the swamp. Later, they were joined by runaway slaves and indentured servants seeking freedom.

Trackers tried to use dogs to find these runaways, but the scent was soon lost in the water of the swamp, and horses couldn’t walk through the muck. Even canoes couldn’t navigate the water, so pursuers weren’t able to catch the fugitives and gave up the chase, considering them lost to the dense, tangled vegetation and ooze, teeming with poisonous snakes, clouds of mosquitoes and other hostile creatures. Surely, the runaways became victims of the treacherous environment into which they’d run.

Indeed it was because of the swamp’s hostility and its vast size covering thousands of acres of southern Virginia and North Carolina that enable hundreds, if not thousands of slaves to escape to freedom, many through the Underground Railroad, popularized by Harriet Beecher Stowe. But only in recent history has evidence been discovered of communities where inhabitants lived with little help from the outside world.

  

Even archaeologists got lost trying to research the swamp’s interior. But in 2004, Dan Sayers, historical archaeologist and chair of the anthropology department at American University in Washington, D.C. was taken to a 20-acre island inside the swamp by one of the biologists who study the area.

There, Sayers discovered layers of civilizations and evidence of an established community. Since then, he has found outlines of cabins and fragments of tools, weapons, and white clay pipes. For perhaps hundreds of years, these inhabitants, also called “Maroons” lived off the vegetation and hunted and fished for food on one of the two hundred inhabitable islands hidden within the swamp. His book, A Desolate Place for Desperate People, details the independence of these people.

Today the swamp, now a wildlife refuge, has dwindled to 112,000 acres due to drainage and encroaching civilization. Since the end of the Civil War, no communities have existed within its deep interior.

The very idea that people could have survived in the midst of such a hostile environment boggles the mind. But to the swamp’s inhabitants, freedom was worth the price of the hardships of the Great Dismal Swamp.

Award-winning author Marilyn Turk lives in and writes about the coast – past and present. A multi-published author, she writes a weekly lighthouse blog at http://marilynturk.com. Her latest release, Rebel Light, Book 1 in the Coastal Lights Legacy series, is now available along with A Gilded Curse, and Lighthouse Devotions on amazon.com.

BOOK GIVEAWAY AND SPIES IN HOOP SKIRTS (PART 2)

ANNE GREENE here. Last 14^th day of the month I told you about women spies during the Civil War. This month, I’ll mention a few of the more well-known women covert agents. If you missed last month’s blog, please check out the achieves.

ELIZABETH VAN LEW was an important spy for the Union. Elizabeth Van Lew and her mother visited Union soldiers held at Richmond’s brutal Libby Prison. Besides bringing them food, clothing and medicine, Elizabeth smuggled out letters. She and her mother obtained confederate information from guards and prisoners. These two women gathered valuable intelligence about Confederate strategy from prisoners and guards, and sent the communiqués via coded messages, invisible ink, and hollowed out eggs and vegetables.

Not Elizabeth Van Lew, but similar to what she would have looked like 

Raised in a wealthy slave-holding family in Richmond, Virginia, Elizabeth developed strong abolitionist sympathies as a young adult, particularly after attending a Quaker school in Philadelphia. After her father’s death in 1843, Elizabeth convinced her brother to free their slaves, many of whom stayed on as paid servants.

Late in 1863, Union General Benjamin Butler recruited Elizabeth as a spy. She became head of an espionage network based in Richmond. With the help of her servants—including Mary Bowser, an important spy in her own right, Elizabeth sent coded messages to Union officers. She convinced new members to join her covert ring, including a high-ranking official at Libby Prison. When Richmond fell to Union forces in April 1865, Elizabeth flew the Stars and Stripes above her home.

By war’s end, Elizabeth had become a pariah in her community, but earned General Ulysses S. Grant’s respect. Elizabeth spent her final days in poverty, having used her family’s entire wealth on espionage. The family of a Union officer she assisted during the war-grandson of Paul Revere-provided for her until her death in 1900.

MARY ELIZABETH BOWSER, born as Mary Elizabeth Richards, sometime around 1839, was a slave of John Van Lew of Virginia. When the younger Elizabeth Van Lew began working as a Union spy, Mary assisted Elizabeth in her intelligence gathering.

Mary Elizabeth Bowser

Mary, freed by Elizabeth Van Lew, used the name Ellen Bond and worked as a servant to Varina Davis, President Davis’s wife, in the Confederate White House. During Mary’s time there, she used her photographic memory to gather intelligence by reading military documents left out on desks or tables and eavesdropping on conversations.

Throughout most of the war Mary overheard many conversations between the President and his officers and generals. She eavesdropped on Davis and his colleagues while serving dinner.

Mary, one of the few black women who could read and write, read many letters left in the house and memorized them. She relayed this information to Elizabeth Van Lew at night near her farm. She also worked with Thomas McNiven, a Richmond baker. McNiven received the intelligence information at the bakery and dispersed the data during deliveries to the white house. President Davis knew information leaked from the house, but he never suspected his servant Ellen Bond. Other people suspected her, however, so she decided to flee. She made a final effort for the North by attempting to burn down the Confederate White House.

Little information exists of what became of Mary after the war. Like other spies, federal officials destroyed information about Mary’s spy activities to protect her identity.

In 1995, the US Army Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame inducted Mary Elizabeth Bowser as one of the highest placed and most productive espionage agents of the Civil War.

SARAH EMMA EDMONDS was born on a farm in New Brunswick, Canada in 1841. When her father tried to marry her off to a neighbor at age 16, she ran away from home, changed her name to Emma Edmonds and got a job as a salesgirl in a millinery shop. When her father discovered her, she fled again, cut her hair, spent her savings on men’s clothing, and was hired for a job selling bibles and religious books. She began her life as Frank Flint Thompson.

A month after the outbreak of the Civil War, Emma signed up as a male field nurse in the Second Volunteers of the United States Army under her alias Franklin Flint Thompson. She continued her hospital work for many months until March of 1862, when she was reassigned as a mail carrier for her regiment. Only a few months later, after one of General McClellan’s spies was caught and executed by the Confederate army, Emma volunteered for the open position.

Her first spy mission involved darkening her skin with silver nitrate to pose as a slave named Cuff in a nearby Confederate military camp. While there she worked in the kitchen where she eavesdropped on conversations. She left a few days later when she was assigned as a Confederate picket and returned to tell McClellan the information she gathered on the Confederate’s local troop size, available weapons, and location of numerous Quaker Guns (logs painted to look like cannons) that the Confederates planned to use in Yorktown.

A few months later she infiltrated the Confederate army again, this time as a female Irish peddler named Bridget O’Shea. She returned with valuable military information as well as a beautiful horse and a wound on her arm where the horse bit her while she retrieved medical supplies from the saddlebags.

After her regiment transferred to Virginia in 1862, Emma again went undercover as an African-American laundry woman in a Confederate camp. Her position allowed her to steal valuable papers from officers’ jackets which she brought back to her regiment.

In the spring of 1863, Emma developed malaria. Unable to admit herself to a military hospital out of fear of being discovered, Emma decided to leave her unit and seek medical attention in a private hospital.

After recovering and leaving the hospital in Cairo, Illinois, Emma saw an army bulletin in the local post office listing Private Frank Thompson as a deserter. Unable to return to her previous duties, Emma spent the rest of the war working as a female nurse at hospitals in war torn regions like Virginia and West Virginia.

After the war, upset about being branded a deserter and irritated that she wasn’t eligible for a pension due to her gender, Emma petitioned the War Department for a full review of her case. Various stories of women who had served in combat were starting to emerge but none of them had yet been awarded a pension. Emma’s Army comrades supported her quest to get a pension and spoke very highly of her. Some of her comrades stated that there had been rumors all along that Emma was a girl. On July 5 of 1884, a Special Act of Congress granted Emma a veteran’s pension of $12 a month. Since her case generated a lot of publicity, Emma became a celebrity.

Emma passed away on September 5, 1898 and was buried in a local cemetery. In 1901, she was re-buried with military honors at Washington Cemetery in Houston.

Many other ladies spied for the Union but their stories are lost in the mists of time. Perhaps you know of one or more and would like to share their name or names in a comment. I would love to hear from you.

I hope you will visit with me next month. I’ll tell you about some interesting Confederate lady spies.

Which of the three Union spies in hoop skirts do you think took the most risks? Leave a comment for a chance to win an autographed copy of Angel With Steel Wings.

ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS is a World War II romance where Steel Magnolias meet Band of Brothers. While test flying planes, Mandy McCabe escapes her

dead-end life in Hangman’s Hollow, Tennessee as a Woman Air Service Pilot, WASP. Major Harvey Applegate lost his wife to the WASP program, and he determines to protect the remaining ladies by sending them packing back to the home front. Will their new love survive the test? One love. Two goals. Someone has to give.

ANNE GREENE delights in writing about alpha heroes who aren’t afraid to fall on their knees in prayer, and about gutsy heroines. Her Women of Courage series spotlights heroic women of World War II, first book Angel With Steel Wings. Read her private investigating series, Handcuffed In Texas, first book Red Is For Rookie. Enjoy her other award-winning books.  Anne hopes her stories transport the reader to awesome new worlds and touch hearts to seek a deeper spiritual relationship with the Lord Jesus. Learn more of Anne at AnneGreeneAuthor.com. Buy Anne’s books on http://www.Amazon.com.

Now Hiring Writers!

***Contest below

During the 1930’s, the United States was in the pit of The Great Depression. In 1932, one-third of Americans were out of work. In big cities, fifty percent were jobless. President Franklin Roosevelt’s Work Progress Administration helped to alleviate the country’s unemployment by creating jobs. One part of the WPA was the formation of the Federal Writers' Project, part of a program for the arts, also called Federal One. The project provided employment for historians, teachers, writers, librarians, and other white-collar workers.

The initial purpose of the project was to produce a series of sectional guide books under the name American Guide series, focusing on the scenic, historical, cultural, and economic resources of the United States.

Some 6000 individuals were employed by the FWP, including archaeologists, geologists and cartographers. The most well-known publications produced by the FWP were the 48 state guides to America. In each state, a Writer’s Project staff of editors worked with a larger group of field workers.

Each guide book was comprised of essays, folklore, farming and industry information and maps. Descriptions of places and tales of local history were included. In an effort to gather such information, the writers interviewed thousands of people who shared their own personal stories. The plight of sharecroppers, migrants, minorities, and others affected by the depression were honestly told and documented by writers who tried to give an authentic picture of the culture. John Steinbeck’s book The Grapes of Wrath was inspired by these stories.

In the 1930’s, 100,000 former slaves were still living. Interviews and photos collected from 2300 of them became a specialized volume called the Slave Narrative Collection.

A few state governors took offense at the guide books of their states which revealed unflattering aspects and tried to stop them from further publication. In addition, the president’s projects faced criticism from conservatives who especially targeted the FWP as a waste of money. As war erupted around the world, some congressmen warned that subversives had infiltrated the U.S. and the House Committee on Un-American Activities was formed. Several writers employed by the Writers Project were under fire for writing material that was unfavorable to the country.

The Federal Writers Project ended in 1939, and when the U.S. entered World War II in Dec., 1941, unemployment was no longer a problem. Some states continued the Writers Project with their own funds until 1943.

These “uncommon stories of common people” were stored away for many years, but now they can be accessed via the Internet now through Library of Congress Federal Writers Project Information: http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/newdeal/fwp.html.

***Thanks to author Lisa Wingate, I learned about the Federal Writers Project. Her latest release, The Seakeeper's Daughters, gives wonderful insight into the lives of these writers. Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of the book.***

A multi-published author, Marilyn Turk writes historical fiction about the coastal South. Her fascination for lighthouses spawned her popular weekly lighthouse blog @pathwayheart.com, and inspired her upcoming Coastal Lights Legacy series and her Lighthouse Devotions. Her novel, A Gilded Curse, will be released March 2016 from Heritage Beacon Fiction, an imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas.

Rice Production at Middleton Place

To conclude my series of three blogs about the Middleton Place near Charleston, South Carolina, I want to share what I learned about rice production.

When I think of “rice” I think of Asia.  I had no idea rice was a huge crop on plantations.  It was introduced to Middleton Place in the 1690’s.  The Middletons did not have the knowledge, but the slaves they purchased from West Africa did.  These slaves were sought after in America and brought a higher price.  In slave-auction advertisements, such slaves were specifically mentioned. With the help of these slaves rice production in Middleton Place expanded and was perfected. In 1698 the plantation exported 12,000 pound of rice, but that amount grew to 18 million pounds in 1730 and 83 million in 1770! 

Rice was planted in March to mid-April.  The planting and harvesting was determined by the migration of bobolink (also called “rice birds”).  If the rice was  planted the rice too soon or harvested too late, these birds would eat up the seed and the plants.  I enjoy the thought that knowledge was gained by observation of nature.

When rice was first introduced to the plantation, they had to clear the land (removing the timber) and adjust the soil to make each field flat. Unlike other crops that can be planted in hilly conditions, for rice production it was very important to have level fields. The fields would be flooded, and they needed the water level to be constant.

You can plant rice yourself at Middleton PLace

Once the fields were prepared, they were hoed into furrows 10” a part.  The women were responsible for the actual planting.  They put seeds in a hole made by their big toe, and covered over it with their heel or a hoe.  Each slave woman planted ½ acre a day. Obviously they walked barefoot and it was often muddy, with mosquitos and even alligators in the ponds and along the Ashley River.  My husband and I saw several, just lounging on the grass by the ponds!

Once the seeds were planted the flooding began. The Middletons found that they couldn’t use the water of the Ashley River because it was too brackish.  Considering the plantation was right on the river this was unfortunate.  But again, they learned from observation and mistakes. They flooded the fields using wooded trunk gates, allowing water in from inland reservoirs.  The used water was eventually be let out into the river.

The crops were flooded three times.  The First Flooding was called the “Sprout Flow” and lasted six days to let the seeds germinate. Once that was accomplished the water was drained out and the field was kept as dry as possible so the seeds could grow.

When sprouts could be seen from 50 yards away it was time for Second Flooding, called the “Stretch Flow” because it was allowing the plants to stretch.  This flooding lasted for 3-6 days, completely submerging the plants in order to kill off the grasses and drown the bugs.

Then came forty days of dry growing.  During this time the fields would need to be hoed to get rid of weeds and aerate the soil. The fields were marked into ½ acre parcels so each women knew the extent of her responsibilities.

The Third Flooding was called the “Long Flooding” or “Harvest Flow”.  This time water was allowed into the fields a little at a time, which gave the plants support to stand upright as they developed their tassels.

Harvest time was between September and November. The plants were cut off at ground level with rice hooks (hand scythes) and left on the stubble to dry.  Once dry, they were gathered into sheaves and taken to a processing area. 

Sheaves are beaten with flails

The next step was also accomplished by the women.  The Threshing separated the rice from the stalks and was done by beating the sheaves with a flail. 

Then the rice was “fanned” in low edged flat baskets, with the women tossing it slightly into the wind, allowing the chaff to blow away. I remember seeing pictures from Biblical times of this kind of fanning.

At this point, this rough rice could be sold but was not edible yet as each kernel still had the husks on it.

To remove the kernel, the women put the rough rice into a large mortar (a low barrel) and beat it with a pestle.  This took off the husk, and created brown rice.  But to be shipped to Europe, the oily bran covering (the nutritious part) had to be taken off.  I’m not sure why.  Perhaps the oily bran would rot on the long trip to Europe?  The bran was beaten and fanned again to polish the rice. The flat end of the pestle was used for getting the husks off, a rounded end for polishing the kernels—a method used in Africa. Again, they were fanned, then packed in barrels made by coopers at Middleton Place, and shipped down the Ashley River and then to Europe.  

By the late 1700’s there were mechanical threshing and pounding machines that were water-powered and then steam-powered. These mechanical innovations obviously made it possible to cut back on the manual labor.

After harvesting, the fields had to be refinished while they were dry. The stubble was burned and plowed under which added nutrients to the soil. They used oxen and horses to pull the plows. This was the only time animals could be used because while the rice was growing the fields were never dry enough for the weight of animals and regular plows. Again, it was important that the fields were kept totally level so when they were flooded the water was even.  This prep-work took until spring when it was time to plant again.

None of this could have been achieved without the knowledge and work of slaves.  After the Civil War, with the abolition of slave labor, rice production ceased.

Middleton Place offers a tour where you can learn about the rice production, and at certain times, participate. I highly recommend a long visit to this fascinating historical plantation.

NANCY MOSER is the best-selling author of 25 novels, including Love of the Summerfields, Christy Award winner, Time Lottery; Washington’s Lady, Mozart’s Sister, The Journey of Josephine Cain, and Masquerade. Nancy has been married for forty years—to the same man. They have three grown children and five grandchildren, and live in the Midwest. She’s earned a degree in architecture; run a business with her husband; traveled extensively in Europe; and has performed in various theatres and choirs. She knits voraciously, kills all her houseplants, and can wire an electrical fixture without getting shocked. She is a fan of anything antique—humans included. Author Website, Footnotes from History Blog, Author Blog/Inspirational humor, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Good Reads  

Read my latest book Love of the Summerfields: 1880 England. The lives and loves of manor and village intertwine. Earl and shopkeeper, countess and clerk—all will be stunned and transformed by a secret that begs to be revealed. When the Weston family returns to Summerfield Manor at the close of the London social season, both village and manor relax into their normal existence. But for four women, turmoil awaits. Each must battle the restrictions of her position as her faith and character are tested. Each will have a choice to make between her own happiness and a truth that will turn their carefully-ordered world upside down.

 

Middleton Place

by Nancy Moser

My husband and I were in South Carolina last week and wanted to go to a plantation. We chose Middleton Place just north of Charleston.  We were so glad we did because not only was the house and grounds memorable, but the family who lived there were inspiring. The Middleton family were definitely overachievers: 

Henry Middleton was a president of the First Continental Congress.
*  His son Arthur Middleton, signed the Declaration of Independence
*  His grandson, Henry Middleton was governor of South Carolina, a congressman, and a minister to Russia during the rein of Czars Alexander I and Nicholas I.  Note: this Henry was an avid Unionist.
* His great-grandsons, Williams and John signed South Carolina's Ordinance of Secession, siding with the South in the Civil War, while their little brother, Edward fought in the Union Navy.

The Middleton Place plantation itself is a survivor. After enduring two wars raging around it, hurricanes, an earthquake, and having its houses burned down by the Union army, it was passed through the Middleton family to a direct descendent, J.J. Pringle Smith and his wife Heningham in 1916.  

My husband standing beneath a Live Oak

Starting in 1925 they made it their life's work to restore it to its former glory and make much-needed twentieth century updates to the house. The Smiths lived there until it was declared a National Historic Landmark and was opened to the public in 1972.  Mrs. Smith even worked the gardens herself, reclaiming them from decades of neglect and turning them into the manicured masterpiece they are today. The gardens were the first landscaped gardens in the United States.  Not flower gardens like we may expect, but lawned terraces, ponds, shrubs, and enormous Live Oaks (they have leaves all four seasons of the year, distinguishing them from the more usual oak species.) Yet during their seasons, flowers are abundant: hydrangeas, magnolias, azaleas, roses, and camellias.

Surviving "flanker" building that became family home

The plantation was started in the 1730's by Henry and the main house was built with two "flanker" buildings added on either side that were assigned other uses beyond family dwelling. The buildings were burned by Union troops during the Civil War, but some of the south flanker remained and was restored as the family home. It was occupied by family until the Smiths donated it in 1975.  It is now open to the public for tours.  The ruins of the other two buildings were further leveled in an 1886 earthquake.

The gardens... what struck me was the obvious planned layout, with the view from what was the front door of the main house to the river, allowing terraces on either side, and corresponding ponds leading to rice fields along the river that could be flooded.  Yet I didn't feel like I was in a formal (uppity?) garden as at Versailles or other palaces of Europe, but was experiencing a carefully planned park, with surprises around each bend as hedged paths led further into the woods, or to a bridge, or to a dead-end opening that was home to a sculpture or a bench.  Much of it seemed planned, yet organic, a mixture of man's and nature's plans. It was utterly charming and peaceful. 

Note:  if you want to fully feel the peaceful nature of the gardens without other tourists bothering you, stay at the adjoining Inn at Middleton Place which allows you free access to the plantation grounds--whenever you want.  You simply walk down a wooded trail and voila! You are there! (see my Trip Advisor review and photos here.)

On the plantation there are stables, carriage rides, a petting zoo, alligators sunning by the ponds, slave quarters, a mill, a chapel, other outbuildings, and demonstrations of weaving, pottery, and the like. But beyond the must-sees, two words stuck with me:  family legacy. The knowledge that one family stayed here, grew here, lived and loved here, fought for their beliefs here... that's what drew me in and kept me involved. No matter what they believed, they believed it strongly and lived their convictions. 

Some interesting historical notes:

*  There is an 1842 sketch (above) of the main house and the two flankers, drawn by a daughter-in-law. It's proven to be invaluable in knowing how things looked before the Civil War. The stables are to the right, with the slave quarters behind.

*  Arthur Middleton was schooled in England.  When he came back to the colonies of America, he married a neighbor from across the river, Mary Izard.  Mary had never been out of the colonies, so Henry took her on a three-year honeymoon tour of Europe!  Their first son, Henry, was born on that trip.  A gorgeous portrait of the happy trio is in the house museum, as are many of the silver pieces, china, art, and other treasures they purchased on their trip. This lovely portrait of the family is by Benjamin West.

*  Much of the art that was in the house during the Civil War was set to be burned.  When the Union soldiers came to the plantation with orders to burn everything to the ground, a medical director, Dr. Henry Marcy, was with the troops. Realizing all the art that would be lost with the burning, he sliced the paintings out of their frames, rolled them up, took them north, and hung them in his own home.  After the war, Williams Middleton corresponded with Dr. Marcy and managed to have some (but not all) of the paintings returned--on the condition Williams reimbursed Marcy $10 for the repairs and $30 for the new frames.

*  A son of Arthur and Mary became a painter and renowned archeologist:  John Izard Middleton was proclaimed "American's First Classical Archeologist."


The first Henry Middleton

*  After the Smiths moved in, they found an old trunk in a barn, covered in rotting straw.  Inside, preserved by the camphor wood lining, were items of 18th century clothing, including a gold silk waistcoat and breeches that were worn in a portrait of the first Henry. It's rare to have both the clothing and the portrait in which it was worn survive.

*  As a man loyal to the South, Williams Middleton turned all his money into Southern script--over a million dollars.  Of course, after the war it was worthless.  The family would have lost the plantation if not for Williams' sister, Eliza Fisher who had married a wealthy Northerner.  She provided the funds to keep Middleton Place in the family, and helped it rebuild after the war.

I will share a bit about the slaves at Middleton Place in another blog.  I highly encourage you to visit the plantation and dive into its history.

NANCY MOSER is the best-selling author of 25 novels, including Love of the Summerfields, Christy Award winner, Time Lottery; Washington’s Lady, Mozart’s Sister, The Journey of Josephine Cain, and Masquerade. Nancy has been married for forty years—to the same man. They have three grown children and five grandchildren, and live in the Midwest. She’s earned a degree in architecture; run a business with her husband; traveled extensively in Europe; and has performed in various theatres and choirs. She knits voraciously, kills all her houseplants, and can wire an electrical fixture without getting shocked. She is a fan of anything antique—humans included. Author Website, Footnotes from History Blog, Author Blog/Inspirational humor, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Good Reads  

Read my latest book Love of the Summerfields: 1880 England. The lives and loves of manor and village intertwine. Earl and shopkeeper, countess and clerk—all will be stunned and transformed by a secret that begs to be revealed. When the Weston family returns to Summerfield Manor at the close of the London social season, both village and manor relax into their normal existence. But for four women, turmoil awaits. Each must battle the restrictions of her position as her faith and character are tested. Each will have a choice to make between her own happiness and a truth that will turn their carefully-ordered world upside down.