Drury Harris

By May 1, 1778, Drury Harris, a free Black man, had enlisted as a private in the 3rd South Carolina Regiment, commanded by Colonel William Thomson. While serving in this regiment, he fought in the Siege of Charleston and Savannah and the Battles of Stono Ferry, Eutaw Springs, and Cowpens. At the Siege of Savannah, Harris was wounded in the thigh and arm, trying to scale a British fortification. By 1782, he was serving in the Light Dragoons under Captain Peter Burns and Colonel Wade Hampton in General Sumter’s Brigade in South Carolina. His cousin Edward Harris served beside him for most of the war.

After the Revolutionary War came to an end, Harris married Priscilla Wammock on December 12, 1783, in Southampton County, Virginia. The couple eventually settled in South Carolina to raise a family until and possibly moved to Tennessee. In December 1817, Harris was granted a pension for $60 a year until his death in 1834.