Life
Moultrie was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He fought in the Anglo-Cherokee War (1761) and served in the colonial assembly before the advent of the American Revolution.
In 1775 he was commissioned colonel of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment. In December of that year he led a raid on an encampment of runaway slaves on Sullivan's Island, killing 50 and capturing the rest.
In 1776 his defense of a small fort on Sullivan's Island (later named Fort Moultrie in his honor) prevented Sir Henry Clinton and Sir Peter Parker from taking Charleston, South Carolina.
The Continental Congress passed a resolution thanking Moultrie. He was promoted to brigadier general and his regiment was taken into the Continental Army.
Moultrie's skill failed to prevent the fall of Savannah, Georgia to the British in 1778. He was captured in the fall of Charleston to the British in 1780 and later exchanged. He was promoted to major general in 1782, the last man appointed to that rank by Congress.
After the war he served as the 35th Governor of South Carolina (1785–87, 1792–94). He wrote Memoirs of the Revolution as far as it Related to the States of North and South Carolina (1802).
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