Thomas Pinckney: A Man Prepared for Revolution

It was the southern colonies, specifically South Carolina, that held Thomas Pinckney's interest. He was a general, ambassador, and governor of the state. Public Domain

In 1753, a year before the French and Indian War erupted, Charles and Elizabeth Pinckney moved from Charleston, South Carolina to London with their three children to enable their two young sons, Charles Cotesworth (1746–1825) and Thomas (1750–1828) to obtain a formal education. Charles Sr., a lawyer by trade, was stationed as a colonial agent for Great Britain, while Elizabeth, was already established as a successful business manager and botanist. In 1758, Charles and Elizabeth, along with their daughter Harriott, moved back to Charleston, leaving the boys to receive their education at the prestigious Westminster School.

Almost immediately upon their return, tragedy struck the family. Grief stricken, Elizabeth wrote a letter to the headmaster of the Pinckney boys’ school: “This informs you of the greatest misfortune that could have happened to me and my dear children on this side Eternity! I am to tell you, hard as the task is, that my dear, dear Mr. Pinckney, the best of men, of husbands and of fathers, is no more!”

Charles Pinckney died of malaria, leaving his wife to manage plantations and raise three children. There are no known depictions of Eliza Lucas Pinckney, despite her contribution to the indigo trade. Public Domain

Education and Revolution

The Pinckney boys remained in Europe over the next 15 years, continuing their education. After receiving a classical liberal education from Westminster, Thomas Pinckney attended Christ College, Oxford, and would later follow in his father’s footsteps to study law at the Middle Temple, one of the four Inns of Court in London. He also, briefly received a military science education at the Royal Military Academy in Caen, France.

By 1774, the Pinckney sons were sailing back to America, where much had changed. The French and Indian War had been over for more than 10 years, and the conflict had heavily favored the British. The 1763 Treaty of Paris resulted in the French ceding all of their North American land claims to the British. The British also gained Florida from the Spanish, an acquisition that would later involve Thomas Pinckney.

Although the Seven Years War (the French and Indian War), was over, by the time Pinckney returned to his native home, the British appeared to have another fight on their hands. The debt incurred from these wars caused King George III and British Parliament to initiate taxes on the American colonists and restrict their trade and commerce with other countries. The young lawyer arrived on the eve of the American Revolution, as the following year resulted in the “shot heard round the world” with the April 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord.

Joining the Cause

Encouraged by his mother, who strongly advocated for the American Revolution, Pinckney joined the First South Carolina Continental Regiment as a captain of engineers, and was later promoted to major. His primary mission was recruiting soldiers in North Carolina and Virginia, and, thanks to his education in military science, supervising the construction of military forts. Stationed in Charleston, Pinckney anticipated little action, but the British decided upon a southern campaign in December 1779.

"A View of Charles Town the Capital of South Carolina in North America," by Pierre-Charles Canot expresses the lively nature of the trade-reliant city. Public Domain

By the beginning of 1780, the British had arrived along the coastal shore of Savannah, Georgia with 14 warships and 90 transport ships carrying 13,500 soldiers and sailors. British troops rendezvoused in Charleston to begin a three-month siege of the city. By mid-May, Gen. Benjamin Lincoln of the Continental Army surrendered the city and his more than 5,000 troops.

Pinckney, luckily, had been sent by Lincoln to locate expected reinforcements. With Charleston in British hands, he joined Gen. Horatio Gates as his aide-de-camp. Three months after the surrender of Charleston, Pinckney found himself in the middle of a rout at the Battle of Camden. The Americans in South Carolina were again pummeled by the British, and Pinckney nearly lost his leg after a musket ball shattered the bone. He was captured by the British, but after realizing he was no longer useful to the revolutionary cause, they released him to his relatives.

Along with nearly losing his leg, which was saved by doctors (a rarity in those days), Pinckney lost his Auckland Plantation after the British set fire to it.

Pinckney received some consolation the following year in October 1781. He had recovered enough to join the troops at Yorktown in Virginia as an aide to the Marquis de Lafayette, and witnessed Gen. Lord Cornwallis, who had led the British victory at Camden, surrender his army, which practically ended the American Revolution.

The Problem With Florida

The War for Independence was officially over with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on Sept. 3, 1783. With it, however, came geographical and geopolitical difficulties with both the British and the Spanish. Now that the British had lost the war, and therefore the American colonies, Florida reverted back to the Spanish.

Florida, however, was not established along the lines known today. It was known as East and West Florida, stretching from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River and to the 32nd parallel (think Savannah, Georgia to Jackson, Mississippi). The Spanish now restricted these trade routes, and the Mississippi River was closed to American shipping.

In the north, British forts remained occupied, counter to the agreement in the 1783 treaty. British trade restrictions and tariffs further brutalized the young American economy. The Americans, however, were reluctant to push too hard against the imperial powers of the British and Spanish. Matters only worsened when France and Britain went to war again as a result of the French Revolution.

A Tale of Two Treaties

At the end of George Washington’s first presidential term in 1792, the first War of the French Revolution broke out in Europe. By the beginning of his second term, the war was poised to have devastating effects on America, specifically concerning trade and the young country’s efforts to remain neutral. Washington sent John Jay, the current chief justice of the Supreme Court, to negotiate a treaty with Great Britain. The Jay Treaty of 1794 was hardly commercially beneficial to the Americans, as it provided the British with additional rights, though it did grant the United States “favored nation” status and officially evacuated British troops from fortifications.

Perhaps Washington should have sent Pinckney to negotiate the treaty; he had become a political force in his own right. Pinckney had served as the governor of South Carolina (1787–89), had been a member of the state’s House of Representatives, and had presided over the state’s constitutional ratification convention in 1788. While Jay was negotiating a treaty with the British, Pinckney was actually serving as U.S. Minister to Great Britain in London, a position he had held since January 1792. Nonetheless, while acting as American ambassador, Washington commissioned as the U.S. Envoy Extraordinary to Spain to negotiate the border dispute between the two nations.

Thomas Pinckney was an adept negotiator, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, American patriot, and military officer. Public Domain

By the time Pinckney arrived to begin negotiations, Spain had already suffered several defeats against the French in Europe and in their Caribbean colonies. Pinckney met with Spanish Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy. The American requests were to lower the southern border along East and West Florida from the 32nd to the 31st parallel and to establish free navigation of the Mississippi River. Godoy agreed to the requests on condition that America establish an alliance with Spain. Pinckney refused such an alliance. Godoy relented on the alliance, but negotiations were still at a standstill because Spain required duties from American merchant ships at the port of New Orleans. Pinckney balked at the requirement and threatened to return to London without signing the treaty.

The following day, Godoy dropped the duties requirement and agreed to U.S. demands. The two signed the Treaty of San Lorenzo on Oct. 27, 1795, which established the boundaries of East and West Florida along the 31st parallel, opened duty-free navigation on the Mississippi, and voided Spanish agreements with Native American tribes to support them militarily during border disputes with the Americans.

This map illustrates the stages of American acquisition of western Fla. Public Domain

Upon signing the treaty, Pinckney returned to London to continue his ambassadorship until July 28, 1796. The following year, he became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives after the resignation of William Smith. Pinckney remained in Congress through 1801.

When the War of 1812 erupted between America and Great Britain, Pinckney was appointed and served throughout the war as a major general. In more peaceful times and during the last four years of his life, he served as president general of the Society of the Cincinnati.

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