Author: George Edward Thurmond
James Screven (1744 SC - 1778 GA) - Brigadier General in the Georgia Militia

1—James Screven was born in 1744 on James Island, Charleston, South Carolina, the son of James Screven and Mary Hyrne Smith (1717 – 1758).

2-James Screven moved to St. Johns Parish prior to 1769, and received several grants of land, including 300 acres in St. Davids Parish, 100 acres in St. Johns Parish; and 200 acres in St. Pauls Parish. He established a plantation, called "Screven's Hill," north of Midway Church and adjacent to "Hall's Knoll," the plantation home of Lyman Hall.

3— His political life began in June of 1774, when he served on a committee to prepare resolutions like those adopted by other colonies. He was also one of the representatives from St. Johns Parish at the First Georgia Provincial Congress which convened in Savannah, on January 18, 1775. It was called to decide whether Georgia would join the Continental Association and ban trade with Britain. Representatives from St. John Parish approved the Association, but criticized the other parishes for their timidity not to approve the Association. In 1776, he served on the Georgia Committee of Safety until he resigned because his military duties

4—In January of 1776, James Screven was commissioned Captain of St. John’s Rangers, a new company of volunteer militia who lived in Midway and Sunbury. His brother, John Screven, who was born in 1750, served as a Lieutenant in the St. John’s Rangers.

5—In March, Screven participated in Battle of Riceboats in Savannah under Colonel Lachlan McIntosh. On April 1, 1776, Screven commanded the St. John’s Rangers during the Tybee Raid, in retaliation for British capture of the merchant rice boats.

6—In July, he was commissioned Colonel and Commander of 3rd Battalion Continental Line during the First and Second Florida Expeditions, and on March 20, 1778, he was appointed to the rank of Brigadier General in the Georgia Militia in preparation of the Third Florida Expedition.

7-In July of 1778, Screven’s mounted Georgia Militia overtook Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Brown’s Florida Rangers at the Alligator Creek Bridge. As Screven advanced on the British front, Colonel Elijah Clarke led his mounted Wilkes County Militia on the British flank. Clarke was shot through his thigh; the Georgians were repelled and retreated to Savannah.

8-In November, the British crossed the Altamaha River on a forging expedition into Liberty County. General James Screven with his Georgia Militia, along with Colonel John White’s Continentals, planned to stop the British advance at Spencer’s Hill about one and one-half miles south of the Midway Church. As Screven approached, he was ambushed by Brown’s Florida Rangers, shot several times and taken as a prisoner. He died two days later, on November 24, 1778, a few miles from his Midway plantation. Dr. James Dunwoody was present at his death. The British burned the Midway Meeting House because of Georgia’s rebellious actions.

9— In 1764, James Screven married Mary Esther Odingsell, born in 1747 and daughter of Charles Odingsell, of Edisto Island, South Carolina, and they had five children. After their move to St. Johns Parish, she became a member of the Midway Church in 1771. They had three daughters born in South Carolina: Esther (1765-1801) who married Thomas Smith; Martha Esther (1767-1845) married Captain John Hart, a Revolutionary War soldier: and Martha born in 1769 and died in 1773. They had three sons who were born after they moved to St. Johns Parish: James (1771- 1794), Thomas (1776) and Charles Odingsell Screven born in 1773 and married Barbara Rankin Godolphin. Mary Esther Odingsell died in 1779 in Charleston, South Carolina.

10-Following his death on November 24, 1778, Screven was buried in the Midway Church Cemetery on Row A Grave 1. The inscription on his tombstone is as follows: This stone marks the spot where repose the remains of Brigadier General James Screven in recognition of whose life and services the Congress of the United States has reared a monument in this cemetery. He was a gallant officer who though but twenty eight years of age at the time of his death, had attained the rank of Brigadier General. He fell, covered with wounds, at Sunbury, near this spot, on the 22nd day of November, 1778, and died from the effects of his wounds on the 24th day of November, 1778. He was a native of Liberty County and devout member of Midway Congregation. (Error on tombstone of James Screven was born in 1744 and was thirty four when he was killed.)

11- Elisabeth Odingsell Allen Lee, aunt of James Screven’s wife, is buried in the Midway Church Cemetery on Row A Grave 2, adjacent to James Screven. Her first husband Reverend Moses Allen of Midway Church was captured by the British in 1778, and drowned during an escape attempt from a prison ship.

12- In recognition of his military service, General James Screven’s two surviving daughters were each granted 1,000 acres of land by the Legislature of Georgia. Screven County, on the Savannah River north of Savannah, was named in his honor

13- On April 26, 1915, the U.S. Congress erected a monument to honor him and Brigadier General Daniel Stewart. Part of the inscription on the Screven- Stewart Monument is as follows: 1750 – 1778 Sacred to the Memory of Brigadier General James Screven who fell, covered with wounds, at Sunbury, near this spot, on the 22ndday of November, 1778. He died on the 24th day of November, 1778, from the effects of his wounds.”(Error on Monument for James Screven- he was born in 1744.)

Sources: GA Revolutionary Soldiers & Sailors, Patriots & Pioneers, GASSAR: Vol 2, page 21; DAR Patriot Index, NSDAR: Vol 3 page 2384; Sweet Land of Liberty: A History

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