13 Facts About William Moultrie

William Moultrie was an American slaveowning planter and politician who became a general in the American Revolutionary War.

William Moultrie was born in Charles Town in the Province of South Carolina.

William Moultrie's parents were the Scottish physician Dr John Moultrie and Lucretia Cooper, and he acquired a slave plantation, enslaving over 200 African Americans.

In 1775, William Moultrie was commissioned as colonel of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment of provincial troops.

William Moultrie was promoted to brigadier general and his regiment was taken into the Continental Army.

William Moultrie refused to surrender at a time when the civilian authorities in Charleston felt somewhat abandoned by the Continental Congress and were almost ready to give up.

William Moultrie was captured when Charleston surrendered to the British in 1780.

William Moultrie was left in command of the American prisoners of war and frequently negotiated on their behalf with British commandant Lieutenant-Colonel Nisbet Balfour.

William Moultrie was re-elected by the legislature in 1792, serving into 1794.

William Moultrie ran one last time for governor in 1798, but lost decisively to fellow Federalist Edward Rutledge.

William Moultrie was the first president of the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of South Carolina and served in that capacity until his death.

Fort William Moultrie was used as an active post of the United States Army from 1798 until the end of World War Two.

Sergeant William Moultrie Jasper held it up to rally the troops, and the story became widely known.