Isaac Hayne

Isaac Hayne
Born September 23, 1745(1745-09-23)
South Carolina
Died August 4, 1781(1781-08-04) (aged 35)
Charleston, South Carolina
Allegiance  USA
Service/branch United States Army
Rank Colonel

Isaac Hayne (born in South Carolina, 23 September, 1745 – died in Charleston, South Carolina, 4 August, 1781)[1] He was one of the most prominent Americans to be executed by the British during the American War of Independence.[2]

Colonel Isaac Hayne commanded an American rebel raid which captured Brigadier-General Andrew Williamson an American Loyalist. Colonel Nisbet Balfour, the British commander in Charleston during the 1781 siege of Charlestown, fearing that Williamson would he hanged as a traitor, sent a column to intercept the raiding party. The interception was successful. There was a skirmish resulting in the defeat of the raiding party, the release of Williamson and the capture of Hayne.[3]

Isaac Hayne, although a prisoner of war, was sentenced to death by hanging by the British, because in the opinion of the British court martial, he had broken his earlier parole not to take up arms against the Crown.[2] It was also thought his death would send a message to rising patriots to stop protesting, while the death of Isaac instead infuriated Charleston patriots even more.

References

  1. ^  "Hayne, Isaac". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1888. 
  2. ^ a b 1781 Isaac Hayne, website of the Old Exchange Building and Provost Dungeon cites Bowden, David K. The Execution of Isaac Hayne. Lexington, South Carolina: The Sandlapper Store, 1977
  3. ^ Frank Moore. Diary of the American Revolution: From newspapers and original documents, Volume 2, C. Scribner, 1860, pp. 447,448. Newspaper article about the capture of Williamson and Hayne from the Rivington's Gazette, August 1 1881: "July 1.—Last Thursday night a small party of mounted rebel militia ..."