10 Facts: Charles Cotesworth Pinckney

The Pinckney family of South Carolina contributed three important statesmen in the founding period of the United States. : They include Charles, namesake of the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, and his second cousins’ brothers Charles Cotesworth and Thomas Pinckney. Here are ten facts about Charles Cotesworth Pinckney after whom Castle Pinckney in Charleston harbor is named.

#1: Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was born into one of the most prominent South Carolina families.

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was born in Charleston, South Carolina (then known as Charles Towne) February 25, 1746, to a prominent family of the coastal region of South Carolina known as the  Lowcountry. His father, was Charles Pinckney (1699?–1758), a lawyer and one time agent for the Royal Provincial Council in London. His mother was Elizabeth (Eliza) Lucas, prominent for her effort to help introduce indigo cultivation which rapidly became a major cash crop in South Carolina.

#2: He received an excellent and varied education in Europe and America.

Born into a family of immense wealth, in his youth Cotesworth witnessed firsthand the close relationship between the British and the colonial elite.  His father Charles was South Carolina’s chief justice and also served as a member of its Royal Provincial Council. In 1753 the family moved to London where the elder Pinckney served as the Council’s agent. The Pinckney boys were privately tutored before entering the prestigious Westminster preparatory school.  They both attended Christ Church College, Oxford, and at the Middle Temple in London where they studied law. In early 1769 he was admitted into the English Bar. Before returning to South Carolina Charles Cotesworth studied botany and chemistry in France and briefly attended the famous French military academy at Caen.

#3: Pinckney joined the 1st Regiment of South Carolina Militia before the Revolutionary War.

Pinckney returned home late in 1769 to participate in the colony’s commercial, political and military life. He joined the local militia and was elected as lieutenant and later became a colonel. In the public service sphere, he was elected to the Commons House of Assembly, representing St. John’s Colleton Parish until the Revolutionary War.  He launched a law practice to supplement his planter income. A supporter of independence he was an early advocate in training the militia and preparing Charleston harbor’s defenses against a possible British assault. His leadership and militia experience made him a valuable contributor to key revolutionary committees.

#4: Pinckney served the Patriot cause as both a legislator and military officer during the Revolutionary War.

During the Revolutionary War Pinckney served as both a South Carolina Militia officer and as an officer in the Continental Army. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney’s militia regiment was posted to Fort Johnson during the June 28, 1776, Battle of Sullivan’s Island that saw the defeat of the British fleet.  Later that year Colonel Pinckney became a Continental Army officer when he joined General George Washington’s staff near Philadelphia in time to participate in the military operations around Brandywine and Germantown. Pinckney’s time on Washington’s staff was key to his development as a national leader by bringing him in contact with men like Alexander Hamilton. Pickney and Hamilton became allies after the war in the struggle for a strong national government.

Returning to the war’s Southern theater to resume command of his regiment he participated in operations that were unsuccessful against the British at Savannah in the fall of 1779 and in the defense of Charleston. During the March 29 – May 12, 1780 siege Col. Charles C. Pinckney and over 5000 other Patriot militia and Continentals became captives.

#5: Charles Cotesworth Pinckney became a prisoner of war in May 1780.

During the 1780 British Siege of Charleston Pinckney, he commanded Fort Moultrie until British ships entered the harbor. The garrison was withdrawn to Charleston’s defenses where he became a prisoner of war when Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln surrendered the city. Fort Moultrie with a much-reduced garrison surrendered to the British on May 7 without a fight. Pinckney was placed under house arrest at Snee Farm along with Brig. Gen. William Moultrie.  He was later moved to Philadelphia where he was exchanged for a British prisoner in 1782. He rejoined the Continental Army and was promoted to brevet brigadier general at the end of the war.

#6: Pinckney faced many personal and economic challenges after the war.

After the war, Pinckney turned his attention to his law practice and plantations, seeking to recover from serious financial losses suffered while on active service. He returned to the lower house of the South Carolina legislature and became an advocate for Lowcountry planters, who dominated the state’s government during the post war period. Though close friends with law partner and fellow legislator Edward Rutledge, Pinckney opposed Rutledge’s attempts to end the importation of slaves, arguing that South Carolina’s economy required the continual infusion of new slaves.

Charles Cotesworth and Edward Rutledge purchased three rice plantations between 1783-85 in the Charleston area. Financial records reveal that these ventures were not successful. In 1784 his first wife died and he was wounded in a duel the next year.

#7: Pinckney played a central role in shaping the United States Constitution.

Pinckney preached that the promises of the Revolution could never be realized unless the states worked together for their mutual economic, political, and military well-being. Because of his forceful leadership, he was chosen as a representative of the state at the 1787 Constitutional Convention where he served along with his second cousin Charles Pinckney. Charles Cotesworth was a proponent of a strong central government and helped design a system of checks and balances as protection against autocracy.

#8: Pinckney saw the irony between the pursuit of American freedom and the practice of slavery, but continued to own slaves himself.

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney defended the interests of slave holding planters in the Constitutional Convention. He joined other Southern delegates in requiring that a twenty-year continuation of the transatlantic slave trade be added before they would promote ratification by their states.

When the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution, Pinckney commented on the irony of declaring that all men are born free when a large of part of the property held by planters consisted of enslaved people.

In 1801, Pinckney owned about 250 slaves which he gifted or passed on to his descendants on his death.

#9: Pinckney was the US Minister to France during the period leading to the Quasi-War.

Because of his friendship with President Washington, Pinckney was offered many posts which he politely refused. Pinckney did accept the post of Minister to France in 1796 at the end of Washington’s second term.  This was a strained time in Franco-American relations. When he arrived to present his credentials to the French government, the French informed him that no American minister would be recognized during the current crisis. He and his family fled to Holland.

The next year, President John Adams appointed Pinckney to a commission to negotiate a treaty with the French government. The French Revolutionary government demanded a bribe before agreeing to open negotiations about French interference with American shipping. Pinckney refused, broke off all discussion and returned home. This episode of Franco-American hostility, became known as the XYZ Affair and led to the Quasi-War with France. In preparation for war, he was commissioned a major general of the U.S. Army in 1798

#10: Pinckney remained active in public affairs until his death in 1825.

In 1800 Charles Cotesworth became deeply involved in national politics. That year he ran for Vice President on the Federalist ticket with John Adams and lost. In 1804 and 1808, he was the Federalist candidate for president but lost to Thomas Jefferson in 1804 and James Madison in 1808. Pinckney died on August 16, 1825, and is buried in St. Michael’s churchyard in Charleston, South Carolina.

For more information about Charles Cotesworth Pinckney visit:

https://www.nps.gov/people/charles-cotesworth-pinckney.htm

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