General Sumter (proud to claim him)
In February 1776, he was elected Lieutenant Colonel of the Second Regiment of the South Carolina Continental Line of which he was later appointed Colonel. He subsequently was appointed Brigader General of the South Carolina Militia, a post he held until the end of the War. He participated in several battles in the early months of the war, including the campaign to prevent an invasion of Georgia. Perhaps his greatest military achievement was his involvement in driving Lord Cornwallis out of the Carolinas to Virginia where Cornwallis met his fate at Yorktown in October 1781.
He acquired the nickname, “The Carolina Gamecock” during the American Revolution for his fierce fighting tactics, regardless of his size. A British General commented that Sumter “fought like a gamecock.”
Sumter and his actions served as one of the sources for the fictional character of Benjamin Martin in The Patriot, a motion picture released in 2000.
We own The Patriot.
Could do without some of the Hollywood storylines, but otherwise a good film.