THAT MIGHTY CONQUEROR LOVE
"That mighty Conqueror Love has made havock in the Corps. . . ," writes the colorful Scot, Lt Col Adam Stephen.
He is in Charles Town SC.
Nowadays known as Charleston, SC.
He is there with his company of the Virginia Regiment. Captain George Mercer is the other company of the Virginia Regiment also there.
It was decided in Philadelphia in a March 1757 Governors Conference to Lord Loudoun for Virginia to send troops to help South Carolina.
There were 3 reasons for that you can read here.
The 2 companies of the Virginia Regiment left Fort Loudoun Winchester in VA in May of 1756.
They arrived in Charleston SC 15 June of 1757
See timeline of Virginia Regiment leaving Winchester VA for Charleston SC and returning a year later in 1758 in time for the Forbes Expedition.
And by 12 November 1758 in the night, a deadly friendly fire incident is provoked between Col George Washington and his former aide de camp Capt George Mercer who is now a Lt Colonel under Byrd's 2nd VA Regiment.
Adam Stephen writes about that
Mighty Conqueror Love
in a letter to his boss, Colonel George Washington, who is at Fort Loudoun Winchester VA.
Adam Stephen was accused of hiring more than the allowed women to travel with the Virginia Regiment .
There were regulations limiting the number of women hired to wash Regimental clothes and prepare dinner.
Adam Stephen was quite ribald and crazy himself, comically avers,
"I am but little acquainted with the Ladies,"
And then he further asks to be a judge of them:
but if you will allow me to be a judge,
The Fair in this place must give way
in Beauty, easy Behaviour, &
other female Accomplishments
to the Daughters of the more northe[r]n Climes
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Captain George Mercer writes in 17 Aug 1757 about the Women in town:
The Women
Youl be surprized I have not yet mentioned the fair Ones
I wish I cou’d call Them so,
I assure you they are very far inferior
to the Beauties of our own Country, & a⟨illegible⟩
much on the Reserve as in any Place I ever was,
occasioned by the Multiplicity of Scandal
which prevails here;
for the chief of your Entertainment even in the best Houses &
at the first Introduction is upon that agreeable Subject—
then you hear the Termagant
the Inconstant,
the Prude & Coquette
the fine Gent. &
the fine Lady laid
off in their most beautiful Colors,
with their Observations
if they had so behaved
(which you are sure of having the Pleasure to hear at the next House you go to)
what they shoud think of Themselves
in short two Families here
are sufficient to inform you
of the Character of every one in the Place.
A great Imperfection here too
is the bad Shape of the Ladies,
many of Them are crooked &
have a very bad Air &
not those enticing heaving throbbing
alluring Letch
exciting plump Breasts
common with our Northern Belles—
I am afraid I have tired your Patience & doubt not but you are as much disappointed at reading This, as I was at having an Opportunity of writing it to you.
Source:
SOME PROMINENT WOMEN IN CHARLESTON SC
Read a little bit about the elite women
of Charles Town South Carolina,
who did not consort
with our Virginia Regiment
coming out of Winchester VA.
First Female publisher:
Before the Virginia Regiment arrived in Charles Town SC in 15 June 1757
This woman publisher had already died earlier in April 1757.
https://charlestonmag.com/features/the_country_s_first_female_publisher_made_headlines_in_charleston
Timothy's husband arranged with Benjamin Franklin to revive the South Carolina Gazette weekly newspaper on a six-year franchise contract, dated 26 November 1733. He went to Charleston in the later part of 1733 by himself initially. He started publishing the newspaper on 2 February 1734. Timothy followed later from Philadelphia after she settled the family accounts and went to Charleston in the spring of 1734. She came to Charleston with her six children, four of whom had been born in the Netherlands. Timothy's history of becoming a newspaper publisher in America is interwoven with her husband's career.
Timothy's husband died on 30 December 1738 of yellow fever, referred to by the Timothy family as an unfortunate incident.
The remaining term on the agreement with Franklin motivated Timothy to become his apprentice and partner.
She carried on her late husband's work to fulfill the one year remaining on the Franklin franchise agreement. Timothy's elder son, Peter Timothy, carried on the newspaper business in name only.
Peter was only fourteen years old when he took over his father's printing business, which he was entitled to receive per the Franklin-Timothy agreement of 1733.
Since he was just a child in 1738 and too immature to run a business, it was managed by Timothy, Peter's mother.
She published the South-Carolina Gazette weekly starting on 4 January 1739.
The masthead said that it was published and printed by Peter Timothy, but it actually was controlled and managed by his mother.[6] She managed the business so successfully, with carefulness and integrity as Franklin noted,[13] that one year later she purchased his interest to own it all herself.
This then made her the first female editor and publisher of a newspaper in America.
After Peter took over the complete printing business on King Street in 1746, Timothy opened a bookstore next door. She carried books, stationery, and writing supplies, such as ink, powder, and quills. She also carried tallow, beer, and flour.
In a Gazette advertisement of October 1746, she said she sold pocket Bibles, spellers, and primers. She also sold full books by well known authors and Franklin's works including Poor Richard's Almanack.
Timothy ran her bookstore and stationery shop for a year and then decided to leave Charleston.
Prior to leaving, Timothy advertised in the South-Carolina Gazette that she was leaving the area and wished for people to pay up on debts owed her.
She went to a new area for a time and later returned to Charleston in 1756.
Timothy wrote her will on 2 April 1757 and died within the month.
SOURCE:
OTHER PROMINENT WOMEN:
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3 Reasons why they are in Charleston SC:
Captain George Mercer is the Captain of one of two companies of the Virginia Regiment sent to South Carolina.
The other company was under Lt Col Adam Stephen), the founder of Martinsburg WV.
This action was agreed upon in March 1757 in a conference of southern governors with Lord Loudoun in Philadelphia.
They are now stationed in Charleston SC, then called Charles Town.
They are under the overall command of Colonel Bouquet, who in the next year in 1758 is to the Forbes Expedition overall field commander, and who helped retrieve in 1764 some hostages taken from the Winchester VA area, the Clowsers.
1. Black Uprising Threat?
These 2 Virginia Regiment companies were promised to help patrol Charles Town against any Black uprising.
2. Elite left Town
They were there to cover for the town's elite who were working their Indigo plantations.
3. Local Militia left Town
They were also there to cover for the South Carolina provincial forces sent to the frontier to stop any Cherokee uprisings, despite the Cherokee being allies to the Virginia Regiment working out of Fort Loudoun Winchester VA.
To sum up, Charles Town (Charleston) did not have any leadership or enough militia to protect this town, the plantations or the frontier from any of those 3 potential threats.
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Timeline of when VA Regiment
left Winchester VA
for Charleston SC:
SOUTH CAROLINA BOUND FOR ABOUT A YEAR
MERCER LEAVES WITH LT COL ADAM STEPHEN TO CHARLESTON SC
May 24, 1757
We know Mercer left Fort Loudoun at least by this date because GW is at Fort Loudoun writing to Dinwiddie that the Cherokee are now suspicious Mercer has left the fort in order to avoid making good on his promise he made to the Cherokee:
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. . . a party of Cherokees under Warhatchie is come in with 4 scalps and 2 Prisoners. They are much dissatisfied that the presents are not here—Look upon Captain Mercers going off as a trick to evade the performance of the promise that has been made to them—will not believe that Mr Atkin is coming: and in short, they are the most insolent, most avaricious, and most dissatisfied wretches I have ever had to deal with. If any thing shou’d detain Mr Atkin’s arrival, it will not be in my power to convince them that it is not a mere hum! All the rhetoric I can muster is not likely to detain them more than two or three days to wait this event.7
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Dinwiddie gave orders for Lt Col Adam Stephen to leave Fort Cumberland for Fredericksburg and then once there to let Dinwiddie know to order ships to take them to Charleston SC. Mercer ends up going too. So he is gone by the time the Cherokee come back from their scouting trip. See April 5, 1757 letter.
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May 26, 1757 Lt Col Stephen Adam and Capt George Mercer, also GW’s aid de camp, left Williamsburg VA with almost 200 Virginia Regiment soldiers and then on a ship from Hampton Roads VA to Charleston SC. They did not return until May 1758.
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See source from Founders Online footnote:
On 26 May 1757 Dinwiddie wrote Lt. Col. Adam Stephen that he was ordering “two Companies of 100 Men each under your Command to proceed directly from this [Williamsburg] to Hampton, where two Sloops are provided & ready to take on board yr Men to be transported to So. Carolina; and you are to be under the Command and Direction of Lieutt Colo. Bouquet, who is Commander of the Forces in the Southern Collonies on this Continent.”
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On the same day Dinwiddie wrote Gov. William H. Lyttelton that he was sending him “a Detachmt from our provincial Regimt 200 Men under the Command of Lieut. Colo. Stevens, which are one third of our Regimt, our Quota was to be 400, but at present I cd not possibly send the whole having only 400 Men to protect our extensive frontiers” (ViHi: Dinwiddie Papers). Thomas Waggener, Joshua Lewis, Peter Steenbergen, and John Hall were not among the officers of the Virginia Regiment who sailed for South Carolina at the end of May.
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Middle of June 1757
See Founders Online footnote: George Mercer and Adam Stephen sailed with their companies of the Virginia Regiment from Hampton, Va., at the end of May and on 15 June arrived in Charleston, S.C., along with Col. Henry Bouquet and his five companies of the Royal American Regiment. The troops came ashore on Thursday and Friday, 16 and 17 June 1757. Mercer’s letter has not been found. Cap-Français was in north Haiti.
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MERCER PROUD OF THE LOOK OF THE VA REGIMENT
IN CHARLESTON SC August 17, 1757 To George Washington from George Mercer, Charles Town [S.C.]
“It is a very odd Method of judging but however tis the Plan upon which most of the World goes, and therefore to find ourselves judged for the Errors or Imperfections of others ⟨is not very⟩ unaccountable—but we have been told here by the Officers that nothing ever gave them such Surprize as our Appearance at entering Hampton, for expecting to see a Parcel of ragged disorderly Fellows headed by Officers of their own Stamp (like the rest of the Provincials they had seen) behold they saw Men properly disposed who made a good & Soldier like Appearance and performed in every Particular as well as coud be expected from any Troops with Officers whom they found to be Gent. …
Below is another point in a long letter by Mercer that contains much more than excerpted here.
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MERCER’S DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIFORM
to see a Sash & Gorget with a genteel Uniform, a Sword properly hung, a Hat cocked, Persons capable of holding Conversation where only common Sense was requisite to continue the Discourse, and a White Shirt, with any other than a black Leather Stock, were Matters of great Surprize and Admiration & which engaged Them all to give Us a polite Invitation to spend the Evening, & after to agree to keep Us Company which they had determined before not to do—agreeable to what they had practised with the other Provincial Troops. We have lost that common Appellation of Provincials, & are known here by the Style & Title of the Detachment of the Virga Regiment.”
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This 1772 portrait of Washington best shows what Mercer was proudly describing as the uniform of the Virginia Regiment officers.
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MERCER WANTS ADAM STEPHEN’S JOB IF . . . And in the same letter while in South Carolina with Adam Stephen, Captain George Mercer puts in his dibs for the Lt Colonelcy if Adam Stephen is removed. “In case of Colo. Stephens Removal from this Command I believe he is tired of, I hope it will be agreeable to you that I shoud succeed him. Youl scarce believe that the Colonel never appears here but in full dressed laced Suits—so great a Change has Carolina produced.”
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Compare George Mercer’s description of uniform in 1757 with George Washington’s description in 1755:
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“Every Officer of the Virginia Regiment, to provide himself as soon as he can conveniently, with a Suit of Regimentals of good blue Cloath; the Coat to be faced and cuffed with Scarlet, and trimmed with Silver: a Scarlet waistcoat, with silver Lace, blue Breeches, and a silver-laced Hat, if to be had, for Camp or Garrison Duty.”
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“Besides this, each Officer to provide himself with a common Soldiers Dress, for Detachments, and Duty in the Woods.”
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Source 17 September 1755 Orders from GW
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Excellent link on the Virginia Regiment uniform – http://web.hardynet.com/~gruber/varegt.htm
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1758
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Mercer returns to Winchester VA.
End of April, 1758
Compiled and updated by Jim Moyer 6/11/2018, 9/24/19
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April 1758
Captain George Mercer becomes Lt Colonel in 2nd Va Regiment under Colonel William Byrd III
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George Mercer upon his return from South Carolina in April [1758] got the appointment of lieutenant colonel in the 2d Virginia Regiment, and the promotion of the two subalterns left vacant the ensigncy in Mercer’s company of GW’s regiment. There is no evidence that Hite became an officer in the Virginia Regiment or marched in the Forbes expedition. At GW’s insistence the senior lieutenant in his regiment, Walter Steuart, filled the vacant captaincy (see GW to Blair, 28 May, and Steuart to GW, 27 June). Steuart was the lieutenant in Capt. George Mercer’s company and had acted as captain of the company in South Carolina and Georgia when Mercer was ill in the fall of 1757.
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To George Washington from Adam Stephen,
22 April 1758
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Fredericksburgh April 22d 1758
Sir,
I am this moment arrived, and find your orders to march, which shall be Complyd with; tho’ The President gave directions for refreshing the men and Paying them off here1—As soon as the men are on their March I will come on, and hope the pleasure of Seeing you thursday night;2 in the mean time; I am with Respect, Sir, your most Obt Hube Sert
Adam Stephen
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Founders Online Footnotes:
1. Lt. Col. Adam Stephen and Capt. George Mercer had just returned with two companies of the Virginia Regiment from Charleston, where they had gone for the defense of South Carolina at the end of May 1757.
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Both men participated in Forbes’s expedition in 1758, Stephen as lieutenant colonel of GW’s 1st Virginia Regiment and Mercer as lieutenant colonel of William Byrd’s 2d Virginia Regiment.
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2. The following Thursday was 27 April, but Stephen did not get to Winchester with the men from the two companies until Wednesday, 3 May.
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Source:
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Picture of Charleston 20 years later than this story:
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FRIENDLY FIRE
Compiled and written by Jim Moyer 2/25/2018
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MERCER VS WASHINGTON FRIENDLY FIRE HORROR
November 12 Night 1758
Friendly Fire Melee. Forbes Expedition. Washington writes about EVERYTHING, but he doesn’t write about this. And it involves our former Captain George Mercer who has now graduated to Lieutenant Colonel, under Colonel William Byrd III commanding the newly formed 2nd Virginia Regiment. (The Wikipedia article on William Byrd wrongly states he led the 2nd Va Regiment in 1756.)
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There was another Mercer. Hugh Mercer on the Pennsylvania side. Much confusion on which Mercer when reading about the Forbes Expedition. On top of that, Hugh Mercer moves away from Pennsylvania and Fort Pitt to Fredericksburg Va.
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Mistakes:
“From 1754-1760, he was lieutenant colonel in William Byrd’s Second Virginia Regiment.” <– Those years are wrong. Captain George Mercer became Lt Colonel of the 2nd VA Regiment in 1758.
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Confusion on the Mt Vernon Website
“The last major action of the Forbes Expedition took place on the night of November 12, when a force of thirty French-Canadians and 140 Native Americans attacked British troops guarding a horse herd. Forbes sent Washington’s regiment and then Colonel Hugh Mercer‘s troops towards the gunfire. Mercer’s men moved in an arc behind the French positions as Washington’s men advanced. The events of that night are murky, but it is likely that Mercer’s advance guard opened fire on Washington’s men after mistaking them for the enemy.” <— This is the wrong Mercer. It is not Pennsylvania’s Hugh Mercer but our former Captain George Mercer, now Lt Col George Mercer of the 2nd VA Regiment. See link – http://fortligonier.org/history/george-washington/
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All the versions of that Friendly Fire Incident:
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Picture of what might be Lt Colonel George Mercer. Author unknown. Page 60 of “George Washington Remembers, edited by Fred Anderson”. Fred Anderson is also author of the excellent “Crucible of War” about the French and Indian War and its world wide reach. It appears this might be from Virginia Historical Society in Richmond VA.
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This contemporary but very brief account is significant because Colonel George Washington of the 1st VA Regiment, only chooses to mention the dead bodies they need to bury but does not mention those dead were from the Friendly Fire skirmish between his forces and his former Captain and aid de camp, the now Lt Col George Mercer of the 2nd VA Regiment.
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Below is excerpt from Founders Online:
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GW’s Orderly Book,
Camp at Loyall Hannon Novr 12th 1758.
1 Colo. 1 Lt Colo. 1 Major 5 Caps. 15 Subs. 20 Serjts 20 Corpls & 400 Private Men to March to morrow morning at reveille beating to the Ground where the Skirmish was this Evening1 and to Carry a proportion of Spades in Order to Enter the Dead Bodies.
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Letter from General Forbes to overall commander of North America, General James Abercromby on 17 November 1758:
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The note below is not only important for the one contemporary reference to the Friendly Fire incident between Lt Col George Mercer of the 2nd VA Regiment and Colonel George Washington of the 1st VA Regiment (and overall commander of both) but also this letter is important for listing the the killed and wounded and important for noting the capture of prisoners in a previous skirmish which changed Forbes mind for giving up on the expedition for the Winter.
Forbes’s report to Gen. James Abercromby on 17 Nov.: “Two hundred of the ennemy came to attack our live Cattle and horses on the 12th—I sent 500 men to give them chace with as many more to Surround them, there were some killed on both sides, but unfortunately our partys fired upon each other in the dark by which we lost two officers and 38 private kill’d or missing. Wee made three prisoners from whom wee have had the only Intelligence of the Enemys strength, and which if true gives me great hopes” (James, Writings of Forbes, 255–56).
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2nd version by George Washington
Written by GW circa 29-30 years after the event in 1787-1788, according to Page xii of “Washington Remembers, edited by Fred Anderson,” (who wrote the excellent, “Crucible of War” on the French and Indian War and its worldwide reach.
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At the time George Washington wrote his “Remarks,” the artist Charles Willson Peale painted GW during the 1787 Constitutional Convention to fix the weak Articles of Confederation.
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And on page 24 of “Washington Remember, edited by Fred Anderson,” , Washington is quoted, as instructing his only authorized biographer and former aid de camp, Colo. David Humphreys “…that the whole of what Is here contained may be returned to G.W., or committed to the flames.”
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The picture shows GW how he looked in 1787 when he wrote the “Remarks” excerpted below. This picture is by Charles Willson Peale who also painted the first known picture of George Washington in 1772 wearing a French and Indian War uniform. See the fascinating story on both that 1772 painting and the artist Charles Willson Peale.
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The following quote of GW’s writings are spaced apart for easy reading and to emphasize different aspects of the 2 skirmishes.
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Washington refers to himself in 3rd person as G.W. and discusses 2 skirmishes at Loyalhanning, one with the enemy and one between his group and George Mercer’s:
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“Previous to this, and during the time the Army lay at Loyalhanning a circumstance occurred wch involved the life of G.W. in as much jeopardy as it had ever been before or since.
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the enemy sent out a large detachment to reconnoitre our Camp, and to ascertain our strength; in consequence of Intelligence that they were within 2 miles of the Camp a party commanded by Lt Colo. Mercer of the Virga line (a gallant & good Officer) was sent to to dislodge them between who a Severe conflict & hot firing ensued which lasting some time & appearing to approach the Camp …
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it was conceived that our party was yeilding the ground upon which G.W. with permission of the Genl called (for dispatch) for Volunteers and immediately marched at their head to sustain,
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as was conjectured the retiring troops, led on by the firing till he came within less than half a mile, & it ceasing, he detached Scouts to investigate the cause & to communicate his approach to his friend Colo. Mercer advancing slowly in the meantime —
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But it being near dusk and the intelligence not having been fully dissiminated among Colo. Mercers Corps, and they taking us, for the enemy who had retreated approaching in another direction commenced a heavy fire upon the releiving party which drew fire in return
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in spite of all the exertions of the Officers one of whom & several privates were killed and many wounded before a stop could be put to it.
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to accomplish which G.W. never was in more imminent danger by being between two fires, knocking up with his sword the presented pieces.”
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End quote of Page 23 from George Washington’s Remarks chapter in “George Washington Remembers, edited by Fred Anderson.”
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Linger on that last line: ” being between two fires, knocking up with his sword the presented pieces.”
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Eric Cherry, our artist, and also a reenactor in our Mercer Co of the VA Regiment (1756 to early 1758) is being commissioned to illustrate that scene, as of 2/25/2018.
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Summer of 1757
Adam Stephen had a problem
FOLLOWING ORDERS
Douglas Southall Freeman continues:
…but he had been too prone to repeat gossip and share in factional quarrels.
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Besides Washington was compelled to report to Dinwiddie that Stephen had failed to take with him to South Carolina certain officers whom the Governor had designatied for that service “…This,” Washington added, “is not the only instance in which has used such liberties [in dispensing orders;.” [ letter from 24 May 1757 see below]
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Later Dinwiddie was disposed to think Stephen’s negligence had been responsible for the loss of twelve deserters en route to Williamsburg. [ Dinwiddie 635-636]
The Governor suspected, further, t
hat Stephen had placed on the transports
more women than
the 6 per 100 men
allowed in the regular army.
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Horror of horrors.
Stephen Adam was a little lax on THAT ratio.
GW put that “6 per 100” note in letter to the Captains of 29 July 1757.
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See all correspondence on that same day 29 July 1757
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