Occupied Houses

During the Revolution, Charleston was captured by the British and occupied by English troops for two years, between 1780-82. Local families were ordered to house British officers, who also insisted upon social events in which the daughters of the city were compelled to attend and entertain. Three pre-Revolutionary houses in the South of Broad district have interesting stories involving those British officers’ interest in Charleston’s young ladies.
At 22 Legare Street, Charleston’s Elliott family was instructed to hold an event, and their young daughter Jane attended and attracted the attention of several English cavalry officers. Jane had fallen in love with an American officer, Col. William Washington, before the occupation, and was able to follow accounts of his battles with the British in the areas outside the city. Washington had famously defeated the English cavalry shortly before the social event at the battle of Eutaw Springs, where his cavalry charge caused the British to turn and run. When Ms. Elliott was approached by the English officers, she reminded them that she was engaged to Col. Washington. When one cavalryman dismissively said, “who’s he?, Jane answered by saying, “if you looked behind you during your retreat from Eutaw Springs, my fiance’ was the officer leading the charge that chased you off the field.” After that, no English officer bothered Jane Elliott again.
At the 1740’s house 2 Ladson Street, another legendary encounter took place between British officer Archibald Campbell and Charleston’s Margaret Philp. “Mad Archie”, as he was known, became so enchanted with Ms. Philp that he invited her for a carriage ride, then drove to the Goose Creek church, where he orderd the minister at gunpoint to perform a marriage ceremony. The marriage that began at gunpoint ended when a gunshot killed Campbell at the late stages of the war.
Campbell’s cousin, Lord William Campbell, fared better by actually getting a Charleston woman, Sarah Izard, to consent to marriage before the Revolution began. Campbell was appointed Royal Governor of South Carolina by King George III, and took his post in 1775, living in the house at 34 Meeting Street, which belonged to the Izard family. Lord William instantly antagonized the local sons of liberty by sending messages to the upstate to arouse loyalists. Fortunately for him, the 1760’s era house was built with a rear passageway that led to old Vanderhorst Creek (now Water Street), and it was through this back door that Lord William escaped in September, 1775, when it looked as though he might be hanged from the nearest tree.