Kew: Day 2.

Over 900 photocopies and two open-to-close marathon days of research later, I finally got through everything I wanted to get a hold of at the National Archives. In all, I looked at fourteen different pieces, including more Colonial Office letter books of Secretary of State Dartmouth (CO 5/408 and CO 5/410) and more Treasury claims.

If I ever have a portrait painted, it will be in front of an archive.

Some of the letters were redundant copies (albeit easier to read), but there were others I hadn't seen the originals of the day before. (I suppose over the course of two centuries, things do get lost from time to time.) So, I got more correspondence between Campbell and the British government from 1777 to 1778--where my research has otherwise been lacking. Interestingly, all communications with authorities from South Carolina ceased, formally, after Dartmouth's last letter to Campbell dated January 14, 1777. The next was to Lieutenant Governor William Bull (the man South Carolinians tried to convince to take over the provincial government just as Campbell reached the harbor) written in July 1780, and he didn't seem to respond until February 1781. This makes me wonder if the decision to switch the major theater to the South was more of a blind guess than previously thought--not that that has anything whatsoever to do with my thesis. We'll just chalk it up to my insatiable curiosity regarding the Revolution.

Anyway, I came to an important identity-defining conclusion in the course of my research: without a doubt in my mind, I would have been a loyalist. The revolutionaries were far too extreme for my sensibilities, and can we talk about how mean they were? (Okay, all of them except Edward Rutledge. And maybe Thomas Pinckney.) When Lord William fled on September 15, he had to leave behind his wife and children. So what did the patriot Charlestonians decide to do? Capture his wifey and babies, of course, and insist on treating them as prisoners! "Ruffians" also ransacked his house, apparently, in February 1776. Rude. Honestly, LWC couldn't catch a break.

I also got to go through ADM 1/486, which included correspondence with Sir Peter Parker, the commander at the battle of Sullivan's Island in June 1776. His report after the battle included praises on "volunteer" Lord William Campbell, who offered his services in command of the lower gun deck on the Bristol (which, in a postscript, Parker noted was "quite unserviceable" after the battle).

 July 9, 1776

And here's a map (MPI 1/99) that Parker included in his letter describing the battle. Letter B indicates the Bristol's position, Parker's flagship for the siege with Campbell on board.

Happy trees.

I also found Campbell's very lengthy instructions for his governorship (94 directives in total), as well as 26 orders in regards to the "Trade and Navigation" of South Carolina in CO 5/405. These were presented to him on June 20, 1774, roughly a year after the draft of his commission was written. I really like that they refer to him as "Trusty and Well beloved"--ah, if only the South Carolinians viewed him that way.

"Lord William, You rock. Don't ever change."

As it turns out, after fleeing Charleston, Campbell wrote lots and lots of checks to help loyalist refugees who had fled to St. Augustine in East Florida, and, what's worse, he took his time paying them. From what I can tell, though, the reason for the delay was that the poor man was in constant pain. But, in case you wondered, here are examples of what a "check" looked like in the 1770s (T 1/545/197-201).

A Campbell always pays his debts.

For kicks/the sake of historical research, I decided to look at a map drawn in 1775 of the Carolinas. It's full title is "An Accurate Map of North and South Carolina with their Indian Frontiers, Shewing in a distinct manner all the Mountains, Rivers, Swamps, Marshes, Bays, Creeks, Harbours, Sandbanks and Soundings on the Coasts with The Roads and Indians Paths; as well as The Boundary or Provincial Lines, The Several Townships and other divisions of the Land in Both the Provinces; the whole from Actual Surveys by Henry Mouzon and Others." Or, we could just call it CO 700/CAROLINA28.

I'm the Map! I'm the Map! I'm the Map!

I thought it would be useful to look at a memorial from a former Charlestonian, Robert Brailsford, to help write my sum-up chapter of what happened without Campbell's presence to protect the loyalists in South Carolina (PC 1/60/10/1/36). And, it turns out, of all people, Edward Rutledge made a copy of the affidavit. (I swear, this man is following me, and I had no idea his writing was in this document.) However, piecing together the memorial packet was a puzzle in itself. It had been folded so long that the creases had torn, and whoever had last opened it got everything out of order. Definitely one of the more stressful moments of research. Being the kind person I am, I carefully folded everything as it would have been folded originally.

Besides that puzzling mess, the most anxiety-inducing occurrence was with the last book I requested, CO 5/408 which was Dartmouth's letter book for correspondence with South Carolina. So, they made the announcement that the last pull would be at 4.15. In a panic, I sent my mom to the computers with my researcher's card to request it at 3.45. And I waited, pacing back and forth in front of my cubbyhole, 06H, for another 45 minutes until a man slid it in. I made a mad dash to take it back to my table and managed to get copies of all of Dartmouth's letters to Campbell through 1777 before my camera's battery died. I got the rest on my phone and, 25 minutes later, we were leaving the National Archives right at closing time with my research complete.

All this researching was such an exhausting blur. I did more frantic skimming and shorthand note-taking than I ever have before, and probably won't do again until it's time to write my dissertation. (Hopefully, I'll get to come back to London then, too!) I'll end up spending most of break transcribing everything, and I've been trying to get some of that started here while things are fresh. But the plan for the next few days is to enjoy Christmas in London to the fullest extent--unless that hazardous Scorpion log back at Greenwich becomes available, which seems rather unlikely.