The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: SC
Qualifying Service: Brigadier General
The cemetery is located on the north side of Old Stone Church Rd (SC-22) and west of Anderson Hwy (US-76), Clemson, SC
Author: President Gen John Thomas Manning M.Ed.
Andrew Pickens was born on 13 September 1739 in Pennsylvania, the son of French Huguenots who had immigrated from France to Scotland to Ireland and finally to America.
He traveled south along the Great Wagon Road, which took many Scots-Irish families south to the Carolinas. He settled in the Waxhaws region of South Carolina, later moving near the Georgia border.
Andrew became a successful farmer and trader with local Native American people. He gained military experience in the Cherokee Wars of the early 1760s. Still, he was primarily known for having good relations with the Native American Nations.
When the American Revolution began, he became a Captain in the patriot militia. He served in numerous battles, such as the Siege of Ninety-Six, the Snow Campaign against Loyalist organizers, the Williamson Campaign against the Cherokee Nation, and the Battle of Kettle Creek.
He surrendered after the Battle of Charleston, which led to the capture of the city by the British. In order to be paroled, as many South Carolinians did, he agreed not to fight again. The parole did not last, however. Andrew joined the fight again after his home was wrecked by Loyalists and his family threatened. He earned a ceremonial sword from Congress and a promotion to Brigadier-General for his role in the Battle of Cowpens. He then took place in the siege that took back Augusta from the British and the last major battle in the south, the Battle of Eutaw Springs.
After the Revolution, he built a home on the Keowee River called Hopewell Plantation, where he lived for many years. His reputation as a friend of the Native Americans only increased in the decades after the Revolution, as he was called upon time and time again to negotiate with the Chickasaw, Creek, Cherokee, Chickamauga, and Choctaw Nations. Andrew was so well regarded by the Native American leaders that he earned the nickname "Skyagunsta," or "Wizard Owl." This was the name of a great Cherokee chief who died shortly before the Revolution began; he was known for being a great warrior but also for making peace with the British.
Andrew served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1781-1794 and again from 1800-1812. He served at the South Carolina Constitutional Convention of 1790 and was elected to Congress for one term in 1793.
In his later years, he built a home near the site of a Cherokee Nation village called Tamassee, near the location of a famous battle Andrew won early in the Revolution called the "Ring Fight." He won the fight by ordering his men, who were outnumbered 7 to 1, to stand in a circle and fire their guns outward at any attackers. He lived at Tamassee in his "Red House" until his death in 1817.
Author: James Edward Mitchell
Pickens’ parents were Andrew Pickens and Nancy Ann nee Davis, who settled after 1730 in Paxton Twp., PA as a (PA) militia captain. Young Andrew’s first education began at protestant church schools now, Bucks County, PA. At age 13, Andrew’s parents resettled at Waxhaw, SC during 1752. At age 18, Andrew enlisted within the (Carolina/Virginia) militia (1760) campaign against marauding Cherokee Indians.
He married Rebecca Floride nee Calhoun Pickens, a dau. of Ezekiel Calhoun, a native of County Donegal, Ireland and killed by Indians May 25, 1762 at s/w part of lower Virginia close to TN and NC at Augusta County, formed 1738 that eventually formed, Wythe. Rebecca had been born at her parents’ home in 1746 at Augusta Country formed 1738 from Orange Co., VA. Andrew and (1765) wife, Rebecca parented 10 surviving children, Andrew, Jr.; Ezekiel; Joseph; and, Joseph; Anne Pickens; Jane Bonneau Miller; Mary Harris; Margaret Bowie; Rebecca Noble and Catherine Hunter.
British frontier posts across the Yadkin Valley, NC; Long Canes settlement, SC; and, lower Virginia were subject to backcountry Cherokee raids for two years after Feb, 1760. British soldiers aided by militia volunteers subdued Cherokee raiders by marching against Cherokees’ Lower and Middle Towns. *Among the militia officers honing their fighting skills against the frontier Native Americans were Andrew Pickens, Francis Marion, William Moultrie, and Henry Laurens -the father of John Laurens, age 22, commissioned a RevWar captain and aide and staff secretary by Gen. George Washington. Laurens had completed studying in Great Britain during 1777 and returned home (SC). Henry Laurens would succeed John Hancock as president of the Continental Congress.
*Capt. Andrew Pickens commanded his (SC) militia at the “Ring Fight” on Aug 12, 1775 casting favorable military notoriety and later a promotion for his strategic defense and courage against a Cherokee force near Tamassee Town, Oconee County, SC, on Cheohee Valley Road at Tamassee Knob Road. With Maj. Andrew Williamson’s 1,100 (SC) militia stumbling into a nest of Cherokees and Loyalists camps at the site, Pickens’ party of 25 scouts succeeded to win by a formation, fighting ring with his Georgia and SC militia outnumbered five to one.
*Randell Jones, Before They Were Heroes at King’s Mountain, copyright 2011 publ. by Daniel Boone Footsteps, Winston-Salem, NC 27106 pgs 9 -11, 166 –“Ring Fight” and 229-31 entitled: Bad Blood Between Allies –British military leaders mistreated and undersupplied Cherokee Indians & Cherokee chief Attakullakulla (called Little Carpenter) allies against the French forces at (1758) Fort Duquesne.
He participated in Revolutionary War backcountry campaign victories at Kettle Creek (Feb 14, 1779) GA and at Cowpens, Augusta and Eutaw Springs (all in 1781); commanded an expedition against the Cherokee Indians fighting in 1782; elected a member of the SC state house of representatives 1781-94; one of the commissioners named to settle the boundary line between SC and GA in 1787; member of the state constitutional convention in 1790; elected as an Anti-Admin. candidate to the 3rd Congress (Mar 4, 1793-Mar 3, 1795); appt. Maj. Gen. of (SC) militia in 1795; unsuccessful candidate for US Senate in 1797; member of the state house of representatives 1800-12; decline and, promoted to Brig. Gen., he was awarded a sword from Congress before he died in Tamassee, Pendleton District, SC on Aug 11, 1817.
He was buried in the Pickens Family Plot of Old Stone Church (Graveyard/Cem.) , Old Church Road at Hwy 76 at Clemson, Pickens County, SC; Latitude: 34.663242 and, Long.: -82.814701
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