Andrew Pickens

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The son of Scots-Irish immigrants, Andrew Pickens was born on September 13, 1739 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. When Pickens was a teenager, his family moved to the Waxhaws region of South Carolina. From 1760-61, Pickens fought in the Cherokee War, serving as an officer in a provincial regiment. In 1764 he moved to Abbeville County, South Carolina, where, a year later, he married Rebecca Calhoun, the aunt of future pro-slavery politician John C. Calhoun. When rebellion against the British broke out in 1775, Pickens was a made captain of militia. That autumn he took part in a campaign against loyalists in the South Carolina backcountry and fought in the Battle of Williamson’s Fort at Ninety Six, the first major engagement of the war outside New England. In the autumn of 1776, Pickens served in an expedition that destroyed dozens of Cherokee towns. In the spring of 1778, Pickens became a colonel of a regiment of South Carolina militia which he later led to victory at Kettle Creek. In 1780, Pickens accepted a parole when the British captured Charleston, South Carolina. Later that year, he returned to battle after loyalists burned his home. On January 17, 1781, he commanded a brigade of South Carolina militia at the Battle of Cowpens, a decisive victory for the Patriots. After Cowpens, Pickens was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. Pickens was wounded at the Battle of Eutaw Springs in September. Pickens was elected to South Carolina’s General Assembly in 1782, in which he would serve for a decade. He purchased land on the Seneca River and constructed Hopewell Plantation, which would become a frequent site of negotiations with Native American tribes. From 1793 to 1795, Pickens represented South Carolina in the United States House of Representatives. On August 11, 1817, at the age of 77, Pickens passed away, several months after his son Andrew Pickens Jr. was sworn in as the Governor of South Carolina. Andrew Pickens is buried near Pendleton, South Carolina.