The Patriot: Film Fact or Fiction

Benjamin Martin

Thomas Sumter Thomas Sumter

Thomas Sumter was an independent, stubborn fighter who refused to cooperate with Continental operations, but following the Battle of Camden, he led the only organized resistance in South Carolina.

Thomas Sumter was known as the "Gamecock" or "Carolina Gamecock." He was married with one son. Following the capture of Charleston by the British and the surrender of all opposing forces and taking an oath that he would not fight. He went back on his pledge, much like Andrew Pickens, when Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton's British Legion burned the home that his wife and son were staying in, forcing her to sit and watch it burn.

Following Sumter's taking up arms again, Tarleton pursued him, catching him by surprise the day after the Battle of Camden where his militia was dispersed and Sumter himself narrowly escaped. His stubborn refused to coordinate his efforts with Continental Maj. General Nathanael Greene colored Greene's opinion of him and led to Sumter's harshness toward legislative efforts to assist Greene's widow in later years.

Sumter ended up disbanding his militia and retiring from the war in mid-1781, because his influence had declined following a disasterous attack on the British at Quinby Bridge. He did serve for years in the state legislature where he encouraged the passage of a bill of amnesty for wartime actions.

Sumter served in the militia in the Cherokee War, but did not see any action, let alone lead an Indian massacre.

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