November 04, 2025
And Then There Were Thirteen with Dr. Henry Lumpkin was an instructional series debuted by SCETV in the mid-1970s. The 20-episode series featured lectures by Dr. Henry Lumpkin of the University of South Carolina Department of History filmed on actual battle sites and campaign areas of the American Revolution in South Carolina.
This ETV Classic is filled with archival art, reconstructions, and photography, and Professor Lumpkin provides background that led into the attack on Charleston noting that the defense of Fort Sullivan at the entrance of Charleston harbor was one of the few bright spots in the American cause in the spring and summer of 1776.
The unique aspects of the geography and geology of the South Carolina coastline were discussed, along with the features of 18th-century warfare. We take a detailed excursion into the structure of the reconstructed fort and learn about its armaments as well as the armaments and intel of the British forces. Learn more about people and places in Side Notes.
Professor Lumpkin talks about William Moultrie, Major General Charles Lee “Boiling Water,” Sir Peter Parker, and Sir Henry Clinton, among others, bringing these men and their stories to life with his anecdotes. We hope that you will enjoy this treasure recounting the story of the struggle of the new colonies leading to the birth of a new nation.
Side Notes
- Invasion of Quebec (1775 - 1776, French: Invasion du Québec) was the first major military initiative by the newly formed Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. The objective of the campaign was to seize the Province of Quebec (part of modern-day Canada) from Great Britain and persuade French-speaking Canadiens to join the revolution on the side of the Thirteen Colonies. One expedition left Fort Ticonderoga under Richard Montgomery, besieged and captured Fort Saint-Jean, and very nearly captured British General Guy Carleton when taking Montreal. The other expedition, under Benedict Arnold, left Cambridge, Massachusetts, and traveled with great difficulty through the wilderness of Maine to Quebec City. The two forces joined there but were defeated at the Battle of Quebec in December 1775.
- Kennebec River - Some 1,110 American Revolutionary War soldiers followed the route of the Kennebec during Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec in 1775.
- Benedict Arnold - January 3, 1740] – June 14, 1801 was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defecting to the British in 1780. General George Washington had given him his fullest trust and had placed him in command of West Point in New York. Arnold was planning to surrender the fort to British forces, but the plot was discovered in September 1780, whereupon he fled to the British lines.
- Guy Carleton (1724 – 1808), known between 1776 and 1786 as Sir Guy Carleton, was a British Army officer and colonial administrator. He twice served as Governor of the Province of Quebec, from 1768 to 1778, concurrently serving as Governor General of British North America in that time, and again from 1785 to 1795. The title Baron Dorchester was created on 21 August 1786.
- Dr. Henry Lumpkin - Dr. Hope Henry Lumpkin Jr., 75, died August 1988. Born in Charleston County, he was a professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina.
- Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (1738 – 1805) was a British Army officer, Whig politician, and colonial administrator. In the United States and United Kingdom, he is best known as one of the leading British general officers in the American War of Independence. His surrender in 1781 to a combined Franco-American force at the siege of Yorktown ended significant hostilities in North America.
- Sir Peter Parker, 1st Baronet (1721 – 1811) as a commodore, he was deployed to the North American Station, to provide naval support for an expedition led by General Sir Henry Clinton reinforcing loyalists in the Southern Colonies at an early stage of the American Revolutionary War. He led a naval attack against the fortifications on Sullivan's Island (later called Fort Moultrie after their commander), protecting Charleston, South Carolina. However, after a long and hard-fought battle, Parker was forced to call off the attack, having sustained heavy casualties, including the loss of a ship.
- Sir Henry Clinton (1730 – 1795) was a British Army officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain between 1772 and 1795. He is best known for his service as a general during the American War of Independence.
- William Moultrie (1730 – 1805) In 1775, Moultrie was commissioned as colonel of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment of provincial troops. In 1776, Moultrie's defense of a small fort on Sullivan's Island (later named Fort Moultrie in his honor) prevented Sir Henry Clinton and Sir Peter Parker from taking Charleston. The Continental Congress passed a resolution thanking Moultrie. He was promoted to brigadier general and his regiment was taken into the Continental Army.
- William "Danger" Thomson (1727–1796) was a South Carolina patriot in the American Revolution. He was Colonel of the Orangeburgh District Regiment of Militia and commander of the 3rd South Carolina Regiment of Rangers. Thomson led his men in the Snow Campaign against the Cherokees and helped repel Sir Henry Clinton's attack on Charleston in 1776. Thomson served in the new state senate but was captured by the British and imprisoned. He was exchanged in June 1781.
- Fort Sullivan - "S" is for Sullivan's Island, Battle of (June 28, 1776). The Battle of Sullivan’s Island was the first major patriot victory in the Revolutionary War. In February 1776, after British plans to capture Charleston were revealed, South Carolina patriots began construction of a palmetto log and sand fort on Sullivan’s Island
- Fort Moultrie - The first fort on Sullivan's Island, constructed of palmetto logs and sand, was still incomplete when Commodore Sir Peter Parker of the Royal Navy and nine British men-of-war attacked it on June 28, 1776. After a nine-hour battle, the ships were forced to retire. Charlestown was saved from British occupation, and the fort was named in honor of its commander, Colonel William Moultrie. In May 1780 the British finally captured Charlestown, including Fort Moultrie, finally evacuating the city in December 1782 as the Revolution entered its final year. Today Fort Moultrie has been restored to portray the major periods of its history. A visitor to the fort moves steadily backwards in time from the World War II Harbor Entrance Control Post to the site of the Palmetto-log fort of 1776.
- John Rutledge - Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Rutledge established a legal career after studying at Middle Temple in the City of London. He was the elder brother of Edward Rutledge, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Rutledge served as a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress, which protested taxes imposed on the Thirteen Colonies by the Parliament of Great Britain. He also served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Continental Association, before being elected as governor of South Carolina. He served as governor during much of the American Revolutionary War.
- Presidents of the Continental Congress and Confederation Congress hen the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, the Delegates elected a presiding officer to oversee the revolutionary legislature’s sessions. Given the title of “president,” this officer’s responsibilities included ruling on parliamentary issues, managing official correspondence, advancing or holding back legislation, and meeting with important allies and foreign dignitaries as the “first member” of the Continental Congress. While these responsibilities were similar to those held by speakers in the colonial legislatures, the president could not appoint Delegates to committees, take actions independent of the Congress, or control the voting process. The first president of the Continental Congress was Virginia Delegate Peyton Randolph, who had previously served as speaker of the Virginia house of burgesses.
