10 Facts About Peter Manigault

Peter Manigault was an attorney, plantation owner, and colonial legislator native to Charleston, South Carolina.

Peter Manigault was the wealthiest man in the British North American colonies at the time of his death and owned hundreds of slaves.

Peter Manigault was the son-in-law of Joseph Wragg, the largest slave trader of North America in the 1730s.

Peter Manigault was privately educated in the Province of South Carolina and in England, traveled extensively in Europe, studied law at London's Inner Temple, and was called to the English bar in 1752.

Peter Manigault returned to South Carolina in 1754, where he practiced law, became a successful merchant and banker, and managed his family's extensive plantation holdings.

Peter Manigault served in the South Carolina House of Commons in 1755, and again from 1765 to 1773.

Peter Manigault actively opposed the British Stamp Act 1765, and was identified with what became known as the Patriot cause.

Peter Manigault was the daughter of Judith and Joseph Wragg, an English-born American who was one of the largest slave traders in British North America.

In 1773, Peter Manigault's health worsened, and he left South Carolina for England in an effort to find a cure.

Peter Manigault was buried at French Protestant Huguenot Church Cemetery in Charleston.