South Carolina 1775: A Crucible Year

Did the Revolutionary War only start at Lexington and Concord, or did it begin at multiple sites, in the north and in the south? South Carolina 1775 A Crucible Year, written by retired U.S. Foreign Services Officer Edmund Alexander Bator, provides an excellent review of the events surrounding the Revolutionary War in South Carolina, told from the viewpoint of the patriots who started the Revolution there in 1775, specifically Col. James Mayson. Mayson led an attack on Star Fort at Ninety-Six, South Carolina, in order to prevent Tories and British Regulars from giving arms to the Indians to attack settlers on the Piedmont frontier. Mayson later served in the South Carolina Provincial Congress, and became a large land owner in South Carolina, where he was a judge and leader of the Regulators. The eloquent letters of Col. Mayson provide a historical thread which connects the events of the time, told insightfully from the perspective of Mr. Bator, a former Foreign Service Officer and academician at Oglethorpe College in Atlanta. His wife is the daughter of James L. Mayson, in the line of Col. James Mayson, giving him more personal insights and access to the intricacies of this largely unknown story. Highly recommend.Andrew Ayers Martin, M.D., J.D.[Full disclosure: I am also doubly descended from Col. James Mayson, through son James Robert Mayson]