A production of South Carolina ETV (Mary Long) The early history of South Carolina is a history of cultural separation.

The settlement of the Lowcountry was mainly of English, aristocratic Irish, and French Huguenots in origin.

The Upcountry, while it had its share of the Huguenots, was mainly dominated by the hearty Scots-Irish.

Coming from different heritage and holding different political views and beliefs, they rarely agreed on anything.

However, there was a place in the state where they all came together, a place where they joined together to create a peaceful haven on the hostile frontier, a place from which come some of the more colorful characters in the state's history... a place called Pendleton.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [no audio] The first inhabitants of what is now northwest South Carolina were the Cherokee.

It's believed their first contact with people of European origin was with the Spanish in 1540 under Hernando de Soto.

That contact was reestablished in 1566, when Captain Juan Pardo led a Spanish exploratory force into the interior of South Carolina.

These first encounters did little to endear the white man to the Cherokee, because often Native Americans received brutal treatment at the hands of the white man.

After the Spaniards had gone, leaving little to mark their passing, it was over 100 years before another intrusion of the white man.

[leaves crunching underfoot] Then in the late 1600s, traders who remained to become the first settlers began penetrating the Carolina wilderness.

Scots-Irish pioneers, hearing of the lucrative fur and deerskin trade, came here from Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Others of French and English origin came from Charles Town and settlements along the coast.

The Cherokee were not overjoyed by the influx of new settlers, but neither were they openly hostile.

They realized trading with the white man had its advantages.

As long as traders showed respect for Native Americans and were honest, they received a mutual advantage.

However, the dishonest traders, who tried to pass off cheap whiskey and shoddy merchandise, caused the situation to end.

In January of 1760, enraged by the fact that traders had taken advantage of them and also alarmed at the loss of their hunting grounds, the Cherokee went to war.

[leaves crunching underfoot] Lieutenant Colonel James Grant of the British Army was sent to suppress the uprising.

The war lasted almost two years, and on December 18, 1761, a treaty was signed.

It ended the Cherokee threat in the Upcountry for a period of time and also allowed for more intense settlement.

But it's even more important in the future of South Carolina and the United States in that it provided three South Carolinians with experience they would later need in defending principles of democracy against British tyranny.

Serving in a provincial regiment during the Cherokee War under Colonel Henry Middleton were William Moultrie, Francis Marion, and a young man named Andrew Pickens.

[no dialogue] Andrew Pickens' family migrated from Pennsylvania to the Waxhaw settlement in South Carolina in 1756 when Andrew was just a boy.

He grew up and there began a romance which would eventually lure him here to the Pendleton District.

At that time in the Long Cane settlement in Abbeville District lived Patrick and Ezekiel Calhoun.

They were friends of Andrew's father.

When the Cherokees attacked the Long Canes and slaughtered many settlers, the Calhouns fled to the Waxhaws for safety, taking with them members of the family who had survived.

In short time, Andrew Pickens became enamored with Rebecca, the beautiful daughter of Ezekiel.

After the hostility was over, Rebecca, a first cousin of John C. Calhoun, returned to the Long Canes.

It wasn't long before a lovesick young man showed up on her doorstep.

They were married in 1765.

Pickens remained in the Abbeville District and soon began raising a family.

He took readily to the role of Upcountry planter and was soon very successful from his agricultural efforts.

But his idyllic life was frequently interrupted by forays against the still rebellious Cherokee.

Andrew Pickens was a highly capable leader.

His success in defending the frontier of South Carolina earned him the respect of soldier and civilian alike.

It also earned him the respect of the Cherokee.

Andrew Pickens understood the Native American.

He studied his tactics and fought him on his own terms, which made him one of the most successful commanders in the Cherokee War.

He was so successful that the Cherokee bestowed upon him one of their highest titles of honor.

[leaves crunching underfoot] It's believed the title was bestowed after a battle in 1779 on Tamassee Creek.

Pickens and his men came across a large number of Cherokee.

They were outnumbered ten to one.

The battle started in an open field, but soon Pickens and his men were forced back into a canebrake.

Pickens had his men set fire to scattered sections of cane.

The cane exploded and sounded like gunshots.

The Cherokee felt he had been reinforced by a large number of men coming from his rear, so they turned and fled.

When the Cherokee later found out how they had been tricked, they gave him the title of Skyagunsta, or "Wizard Owl."

It's believed this title was given only to the wise man or medicine man of the village.

The Cherokee felt Pickens had special powers.

They respected him and feared him for his ability in battle.

The title remained with him all of his life.

[birds chirping] At the same time he was fighting the Cherokee, Pickens was also fighting the British.

He was one of the most successful generals of the American Revolution and stands beside Moultrie, Marion, and Sumter in the contributions he made for freedom.

He fought at the first Revolutionary battle on South Carolina soil at Ninety Six.

He played a major role in the Battle of Cowpens under General Daniel Morgan, when an outnumbered Patriot force routed British dragoons under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton.

After the war, he became interested in government and served 20 years in state legislature.

He was a member of the committee that created the state constitution.

He was a devoted family man, and the romance with Rebecca that began in the Waxhaws never faded.

After a while, Andrew Pickens began to feel crowded by the growth of the Abbeville District.

He was a Scots-Irish pioneer, a man of forest and mountain streams, who, true to his own nature, could not abide the encroachment of civilization.

He was at peace only when surrounded by vast, open spaces.

So he packed up everything he owned and moved here to the Pendleton District, which within the state was the last part of wilderness.

In 1785, he built Hopewell, situated not far from present-day Clemson University.

He amassed 6,000 acres of land on the frontier he had helped secure from the Cherokee.

He became a successful planter, a raiser of horses and cattle, and at one time operated a general store in the area.

It's ironic that Andrew Pickens' unselfish efforts for the people of South Carolina would result in conditions which he personally could not tolerate... growth and more people.

In a few years, he began feeling pressed in from all sides by civilization.

So he left Pendleton, followed old Cherokee trails into the Upstate, seeking refuge in the wilderness.

[water roaring] He ended here in Oconee County near Tamassee Creek, site of the battle which had given him his title, Wizard Owl.

Pickens built a home near here and named it Tamassee.

He spent his last days surrounded by family and his beloved mountain wilderness.

It's said that, missing Rebecca, who had passed on before him, Andrew spent his last days sitting in the shade of his cedar trees in his front yard, reading his mail, and looking at his beloved mountains.

He died quietly in August of 1817 in the shade of his cedar trees.

Appropriately enough, today there is a school at Tamassee sponsored by the South Carolina chapter of the Daughters of the America Revolution.

[water roaring] [bird chirping] We had mentioned earlier that Pendleton District was the one place in the state where Upcountry and Lowcountry met and existed in harmony, regardless of the divergence of political opinion.

This was primarily due to the fact that many Lowcountry planters built summer homes here to escape the torrid heat and the threat of yellow fever.

This is Woodburn Plantation, the home of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.

It's easy to be confused by the Pinckneys because a number were named Charles, Thomas, or Charles Cotesworth.

The man who built this beautiful home in 1828 was a nephew of the Charles Cotesworth Pinckney who was one of the authors of the United States Constitution and who ran for the presidency against Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

[footfalls clicking across porch] The Charles Cotesworth Pinckney who built this house had a Harvard law degree, was a staunch supporter of nullification and John C. Calhoun-- another Pendleton resident-- and served as lieutenant governor in 1833.

His brother Thomas had come to this district early in the 19th century and built a home called Altamont.

Charles followed him, but unlike other planters who returned to the Lowcountry after the season, Charles remained a permanent resident of Pendleton and raised some of the finest horses in South Carolina.

After 1850, Woodburn had a number of owners.

At one time, it was Clemson University.

Finally the house was deeded to the Pendleton Foundation for Historic Restoration and is now open to the public.

[birds chirping] This is the Bee House, built about 1833, and at the moment under reconstruction by its present owners.

Colonel Barnard Bee moved here from Charleston.

He lived in this house for a year.

Later he bought the home of Governor James Hamilton, which he promptly named the Hive.

Colonel Barnard Bee moved to Texas, as did many residents of this area.

There he became secretary of state of the young Texas republic.

His son Barnard E. Bee will forever hold a place in history.

Barnard graduated from West Point and was commissioned a general in the Confederate Army.

At the first battle of Manassas, he issued an order which would live in history and which would give another general his nickname.

During a part of the battle, the Confederate forces became greatly disorganized.

Desperately, General Bee looked around.

As a point from which he could rally them, he saw General Thomas Jackson.

Jackson was exposing himself fearlessly to enemy fire, also trying to organize the Confederate forces.

So Bee shouted, "There stands Jackson like a stone wall!

Rally round Jackson!"

The Confederate forces did, and ever after the nickname would stay as General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

Unfortunately, moments after the Confederate forces rallied, General Bee fell mortally wounded, and he died on the battlefield of Manassas.

[birds twittering] Another prominent Charlestonian who came to Pendleton and remained was Lewis Ladson Gibbes.

He was the builder of Ashtabula, one of the showplaces of the Pendleton District.

Mr. Gibbes was a direct descendant of the first white settler in South Carolina, Henry Woodward.

His wife was Maria Henrietta Drayton Gibbes, who was the daughter of Dr. Charles Drayton and Esther Middleton Drayton of Drayton Hall.

It's believed that Mr. Gibbes died before he could enjoy living here at Ashtabula, but his children remained to become very prominent in the growth of the Upstate.

Ashtabula has been restored and is open to the public.

[no dialogue] There have been other prominent Pendleton residents who played a role in development of the Upstate.

There was John Miller, an outspoken journalist who fled his home in England for fear of his safety.

He arrived in 1785, lugging with him-- across the Atlantic, over mountains, and into Pendleton-- a complete printing press.

He began one of the first newspapers in the Upcountry.

There was James Hunter, who bought this store in 1870 and made it a landmark in downtown Pendleton.

In the 1880s, a man fell into a nearby creek, and he froze to death upstairs.

It's rumored that his ghost still lives in this building.

[vehicular noise] Then there was Major Samuel Warren, who lost a leg in the American Revolution.

He bragged that his crutches were made from planking from the ship USS "Constitution."

He told a friend, "In my youth I supported the Constitution.

In my old age, the 'Constitution' supports me."

There were many more, but most colorful by far must be the Mavericks, for not only were they influential in the development of Pendleton and the Republic of Texas, they also added two new words to the English language.

[vehicular noise] Samuel Maverick was a native of Charleston.

He was born in 1772, the only one of eleven to live to manhood.

The others of his family expired from yellow fever.

His father died after the Revolutionary War, and at a very early age, he was apprenticed to his merchant uncle, William Turpin.

He went into business for himself in merchandising and exporting and as a planter.

He became extremely wealthy and after a while moved here to Pendleton.

He built a home 2 miles from Pendleton Township, but in the 1840s it burned.

Then he built this beautiful home, Montpelier, which was named after the home of his maternal grandmother in Southern France.

A son was born to the Mavericks in 1803 and was named Samuel Augustus.

Gus, as he was called, grew up in Pendleton.

He learned business and agriculture from his father.

Samuel was not able to have a formal education in his youth, so he was determined Gus should have one.

Gus attended Yale University and began practicing law in Pendleton in 1829.

One of the first things we notice that separates father and son from the other people of this area is the Mavericks' attitude toward nullification and secession.

Although there was no open disagreement with their neighbor in the Pendleton District-- John C. Calhoun, the champion of nullification-- they did not agree with his political views.

As for secession, they felt it would destroy the Constitution and that better alternatives could be found through the legislative process to solve the South's problems.

While most of the people of Pendleton District followed John C. Calhoun, the Mavericks were supporters of Andrew Jackson.

Realizing he would get nowhere in South Carolina politics, Gus left Pendleton.

After staying awhile with a widowed sister in Alabama, he moved on to Texas, where he had heard there were unlimited opportunities.

Arriving in San Antonio in 1835, just before the Texas war for independence began, Gus was immediately taken prisoner by the Mexican authorities.

After a while he was released and enlisted in the Texas army.

In 1836 when the war began, he became a delegate to the Independence Convention and was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.

Back in Pendleton, Samuel begged Gus to come home.

He said he would either give him Montpelier or buy him Ashtabula, which was for sale.

But Gus had developed a fondness for Texas and chose to remain.

Mary Ann Maverick, whom he married while on a trip to Alabama, was the first white woman from the United States to live in San Antonio, and their son, Lewis Antonio, was the first white child born in San Antonio.

Gus began a very prominent career in Texas politics and amassed a fortune from various businesses, including real estate.

It was through a business deal that Gus gave new meaning to the word maverick and added it to the English language.

In order not to lose an investment, Gus accepted 400 cattle at $3 a head from a debtor.

Gus had no interest in raising cattle, so he simply ignored them.

His herd became wild and tended to stray, so Gus had them moved closer to San Antonio where he could keep an eye on them, but that didn't help.

In those days, there were no fences.

Branding was the only way cattle raisers could tell which animals were theirs.

Whenever cattlemen came upon cattle that were not branded, they would know they belonged to Gus.

They would see unbranded calves and say, "Oh, those are Mavericks."

The word stuck, and it now, to this day, means anything of a nonconformist nature.

[vehicular noise] Being an astute businessman, later Gus sold the cattle-- well, at least those he could round up-- for $6 a head, doubling his investment.

The Mavericks were great contributors to the English language.

Later one of Gus Maverick's descendants-- we're not sure which gentleman-- added a word to English usage.

He had been involved in politics many years and was tired of hearing the same political jargon and half-truths expressed repeatedly in many ways.

One day after listening to a speech that meant absolutely nothing, he stood and said, "Gentlemen, this is gobbledygook."

[vehicular noise] From Andrew Pickens to James Butler Bonham, who gave his life at the Alamo for Texas independence, this area has produced some notable personalities.

But Pendleton is still a small community.

It hasn't changed a great deal in the last 100 years.

The Farmers Society Hall still stands as in Calhoun's day and remains the oldest farmers' meeting hall within our nation.

The atmosphere of quiet, peace, and gentility that made Pendleton a wonderful place in which to settle in the 18th and 19th centuries still exists today.

The meaning of Pendleton is best expressed in this slim volume, "The Pendleton Legacy" by Beth Ann Klosky, available from the Sandlapper Press.

"Though its span of years was brief, old Pendleton District, "like a silvery meteor flashing across a dark sky, "blazed a trail throughout northwest South Carolina "for future generations to follow.

"Its spirit was one of faith, hope, and courage, "born in the dark of the wilderness, "nurtured by visions of a better life in the New World.

"The heritage of the beautiful South Carolina hill country "is a proud heritage.

Let those who claim it guard it well."

[vehicular noise] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (male speaker) Pe ndleton is a quaint community nestled among the rolling hills of Upstate South Carolina located about 6 miles south of Clemson.

There is much to see and do in Pendleton.

Everyone will enjoy Pendleton Farmers Hall in the downtown historic district.

This building was constructed by Pendleton Farmers Society and served as an adult school for farmers of the Upstate during the 1800s.

Today it houses a wonderful restaurant.

A few miles east of Pendleton is Ashtabula Plantation.

This stately structure built in the 1800s was the home of prominent Charlestonian Lewis Ladson Gibbes.

The house has been enlarged over the years, but it has been restored with furnishings of the early 19th century.

Ashtabula is open to the public.

A few miles west of Pendleton is Woodburn Plantation.

This lovely four-story mansion is situated upon a small mound and was the summer home of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.

Woodburn is an excellent example of an early 19th-century plantation house and is open to the public.

For more information on these sites and other historical locations...