Ninety Six

In colonial times, Ninety Six prospered where roads converged, becoming a center of commerce, law, and settlement in the backcountry. By 1775 the village had a dozen dwellings, a jail, and a courthouse that made it a local seat of power. Its residents included blacksmiths, coopers, carpenters, field hands, and slaves, and although the total population in 1775 is unknown, a record shows 79 males living there by 1776. American colonists, recent immigrants from Europe, and slaves lived there, Cherokee traded there, nearby land was cleared for crops, animals grazed freely, and water from Spring Branch was plentiful. Though the surrounding wilderness was remote and often dangerous, the inhabitants maintained a fragile peace until the Revolutionary War disrupted it. After Patriot supporters in Charleston formed an independent government and the royal governor fled to a British warship in Charleston Harbor on September 15, 1775, backcountry residents divided between loyalty to the King and support for the Patriots. At Ninety Six, William Henry Drayton, representing the new government, won the townspeople to the Patriot cause, fortified the jail, and sent militias to contain Loyalist threats, but the town was too small for the garrison, so Williamson's Fort was built nearby.

Ninety Six, South Carolina · United States