Christopher Gadsden was an American politician who was the principal leader of the South Carolina Patriot movement during the American Revolution.
28 Facts About Christopher Gadsden
2.
Christopher Gadsden was a delegate to the Continental Congress, a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, a merchant, and the designer of the Gadsden flag.
3.
Christopher Gadsden was the son of Thomas Gadsden, who had been in the Royal Navy before becoming customs collector for the Port of Charleston.
4.
Christopher Gadsden returned to America in 1740 and served as an apprentice at a counting house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
5.
Christopher Gadsden inherited a large fortune from his parents who died in 1741.
6.
Christopher Gadsden entered into mercantile ventures and by 1747 had earned enough to return to South Carolina and buy back the land his father had sold because he needed the money to pay off debts.
7.
Commentators have pointed out that because Christopher Gadsden was a trader and enslaved humans, a previous narrative of Christopher Gadsden's life as being ambivalent towards slavery is complicated at best, but most likely false.
8.
Christopher Gadsden began his rise to prominence as a merchant and patriot in Charleston.
9.
Christopher Gadsden prospered as a merchant and built the wharf in Charleston that bears his name.
10.
Christopher Gadsden was captain of a militia company during a 1759 expedition against the Cherokee.
11.
Christopher Gadsden was first elected to the Commons House of Assembly in 1757 and began a long friction with autocratic royal governors.
12.
Christopher Gadsden was outspoken in his support of the Declaration of Rights and Grievances produced by the Congress.
13.
Christopher Gadsden's addresses brought him to the attention of Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, and the two began a long correspondence and friendship.
14.
Christopher Gadsden was eventually known as "the Sam Adams of the South".
15.
On his return from New York, Christopher Gadsden became one of the founders and leaders of the Charleston Sons of Liberty.
16.
Christopher Gadsden had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the militia.
17.
Christopher Gadsden was elected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1774 and the Second Continental Congress the following year.
18.
Christopher Gadsden left Congress early in 1776 to assume command of the 1st South Carolina Regiment of the Continental Army and to serve in the Provincial Congress of South Carolina.
19.
In 1778, Christopher Gadsden was a member of the South Carolina convention that drafted a new state constitution.
20.
Christopher Gadsden was sent on parole to his Charleston house.
21.
Once there, Christopher Gadsden learned of the defeat of Cornwallis' subordinate Banastre Tarleton at Cowpens and Cornwallis' subsequent movement to Yorktown.
22.
Christopher Gadsden hurried home to help the restoration of South Carolina's civil government.
23.
Christopher Gadsden was returned to South Carolina's House of Representatives, then meeting at Jacksonboro.
24.
Christopher Gadsden was elected as the governor but felt he had to decline.
25.
Christopher Gadsden's health was still impaired from his imprisonment, and an active governor was needed since the British had not yet given up Charleston.
26.
Christopher Gadsden was a member of the state convention in 1788 and voted for ratification of the United States Constitution.
27.
Christopher Gadsden was married three times and had four children with his second wife.
28.
Christopher Gadsden died from an accidental fall on August 28,1805, in Charleston, and is buried there in St Philip's Churchyard.