Historic Shrines of America Part 35

The oldest church building in Charleston, South Carolina, St.

Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church, is a relic of three wars. At the beginning of the Revolution the rector and the vestry disagreed; the rector was a loyalist and most of the members were patriots.

Accordingly the rector resigned. Later the beautiful tower, which is unlike any other church tower in America, was painted black, lest it become a guiding beacon to the British fleet. Unfortunately the black tower against the blue sky proved a better guide than a white tower would have been.

The clear-toned bells, which were cast in London in 1757, were taken from the tower when the British evacuated the city in 1782, and were sold in London as spoils of war. Fortunately a Mr. Ryhiner, once a merchant in Charleston, learned of this, bought them, and sent them to Charleston as a business venture.

When the bells were landed on the wharf from the brig _Lightning_, on November 20, 1783--according to Johnson's "Traditions of Charleston"--"the overjoyed citizens took possession, and hurried them up to the church and into the steeple, without thinking that they might be violating a private right." In June, 1785, Mr. Ryhiner asked for payment for the bells. Later a subscription was ordered to pay the merchant.

During the British occupation of the city horses were stabled in the church, and the lead roof was removed, for use in bullet making.

In 1811 and 1812 the church figured in the second war with Great Britain. The vestry, whose patriotism was as great as ever, opened the building more than once for meetings of the citizens who wished to consider what they could do to help their country in the impending conflict.

During the Civil War the bells were taken to Columbia, to be cast into cannon. Fortunately they were not used for this purpose, but during Sherman's march to the sea they were burned and broken into small pieces. A friend of the church in London, on learning of the disaster, searched records of the bell-founders till he learned who had cast the bells. These records told the proportions of metal used and the sizes of the bells. Then the Londoner wrote to Charleston and asked that the fragments be sent to him. When these were received in London they were recast in the original moulds, which were discovered by an old employee. The cost of recasting the bells and restoring them to their places in the steeple was $7,723, of which sum the City Council contributed $3,000; $2,200, the charge made for import duty, was later returned to the church by special Act of Congress.

For nearly twenty years after the receipt of these new-old bells, they were used to sound fire-alarms, as well as for calling to the services of the church.

The venerable building has suffered from fire, wind, and earthquake, as well as from war. In 1825 a cyclone damaged the spire and the roof, and in 1886 earthquake cracked the walls, destroyed a portion of the tower, and did so much further damage that a Charleston paper spoke of it as the "saddest wreck of all." At first it was feared that the building would have to be demolished, but repairs were found to be possible at a cost of $15,000.

The structure dates from 1752, when Governor Glenn of South Carolina laid the corner stone. The cost was $32,775.87.

St. Michael's parish was set off in 1751 from St. Philip's parish. The first St. Philip's Church was burned in 1681 or 1682. A second church was opened in 1723. This famous building survived until 1835, in spite of wars and fires. The building was saved during the fire of 1796 by a slave who climbed to the tower and threw to the ground a burning brand. As a reward the vestry purchased his freedom. But during the great fire of February 15, 1835, the edifice was destroyed.

The old church had been so much a part of the life of the city and was so thoroughly identified with the history of the country, that the citizens rejoiced when the decision was reached to rebuild it in practically every detail like the original, with the addition of a chancel and spire.

Older than either St. Philip's or St. Michael's, as an organization, is the Huguenot Church of Charleston. The early records of the congregation were destroyed in the fire of 1740, though the building was saved. This first building was blown up during the fire of 1796, in a vain effort to stay the progress of the conflagration. A second building followed in 1800, and the present building was erected in 1828, when English displaced the French language in the services.

Many of the early members became famous in history. The tablets erected to their memory are so numerous that the Huguenot Church might well dispute with St. Philip's Church the t.i.tle, "The Westminster of South Carolina."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRINGLE HOUSE, CHARLESTON, S. C.

_Photo by H. P. Cook_ See page 336]

LXXVI

THE HOUSE OF REBECCA MOTTE, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

THE SPARTAN MATRON WHO HELPED BURN HER OWN PROPERTY

Charleston, South Carolina, was only about thirty years old when the Englishman, Robert Brewton, and the Huguenot exile, John de la Motte, took up their residence there. In 1758 Robert Brewton's daughter Rebecca married Jacob Motte, grandson of the Huguenot.

Three daughters came to the Motte home, and the family lived quietly until the outbreak of the Revolution. In 1775 Mrs. Motte's brother, Miles Brewton, sailed for England with his family, intending to leave them with relatives there while he returned to Charleston for the service of his country. But the vessel was lost, and was never heard from again. His Charleston house on King Street, which was built about 1765, became the property of his sister.

When the war broke out, Mrs. Motte, knowing that it was impossible for her husband to become a soldier because of his failing health, decided to do her part for her country. Fortifications were to be built, and many laborers were needed, so she sent to her plantation for all the able-bodied men; these she placed at the disposal of those in charge of the work of defence.

She had her reward when, first in 1776, and again in 1779, the British forces were unable to secure possession of the town. The third attempt, made by Sir Henry Clinton in 1780, was successful. For nearly three years the town was in the enemy's control. The Motte house was made headquarters by Clinton and his staff. The Mottes were crowded into a small room, while the British lived in comfort in the large apartments. Mrs. Motte divided her time between her invalid husband, her timid daughters, and the invaders. It was her custom to preside at the long dinner table, but the young ladies were never allowed to appear in the presence of the officers.

A reminder of the presence of the unwelcome guests is still to be seen on the marble mantel in one of the rooms--a caricature of Clinton scratched on the polished surface, evidently with a diamond point. In the same room the women of Charleston--who were accustomed to go about the streets in mourning, during the period of the occupation--presented a pet.i.tion to Lord Rawdon, asking for the pardon of Isaac Hayne, a patriot who had been condemned for some infraction of the regulations of the invaders. Their pet.i.tion for clemency was in vain, though it was emphasized by the presence of Hayne's two little children.

After the death of Mr. Motte, in January, 1781, Mrs. Motte and her daughters secured permission to leave Charleston that they might return to the family plantation on the Congaree, thirty or forty miles from Columbia. They were disappointed in their desire to be alone, for it was not long till the English decided to build on the estate one of their long line of military stations. Earthworks were thrown up around the house, which became known as Fort Motte. Again the family were crowded into a few rooms, while officers occupied the remainder.

After a time Mrs. Motte was asked to retire to a small house on the plantation, a rough structure, covered with weather-boards, unplastered and only partially lined. At first it seemed that there was no place here to conceal the silverware brought from Fort Motte.

How the difficulty was solved has been told in "Worthy Women of Our First Century":

"Some one suggested that the unfinished state of the walls of their sitting-room afforded a convenient hiding place; and they set to work to avail themselves of it. Nailing tacks in the vacancy between the outer and inner boarding, and tying strings around the various pieces of silver, they hung them along the inner wall. Shortly afterwards a band of marauders did actually invade the premises; and one more audacious than the others jumped on a chair and thrust his bayonet into the hollow wall, saying he would soon find what they had come in search of; but, rapping all along on the floor within the wall, he did not once strike against anything to reward bad perseverance."

After a time General Marion and Colonel Lee led up troops for the siege of Fort Motte. Fearing that British reinforcements were on the way, they decided they must make an attack at once. The best way seemed to be to set fire to the main building. The American leaders, knowing that this was the home of Mrs. Motte, took counsel with her.

"Do not hesitate a moment," was the prompt reply of the patriotic woman. Then she added, "I will give you something to facilitate the destruction." So saying, she handed to General Lee a quiver of arrows from the East Indies which, so she had been told by the ship captain who brought them to Charleston, would set on fire any wood against which they were thrown.

Two of the arrows were fired from a gun without result, but the third set fire to the shingles of the house. The efforts of the garrison to extinguish the flames were in vain, and before long the fortress was surrendered to the patriots. In later years, when Mrs. Motte was praised for her part in the siege, she was accustomed to say, "Too much has been made of a thing that any American woman would have done."

After the war Mrs. Motte returned to the house in Charleston. The daughters married, and numerous grandchildren played in the rooms where the British officers lived during the occupation of Charleston.

The youngest of these granddaughters lived in the house in 1876, when the story of Rebecca Motte was written for the Women's Centennial Executive Committee.

During her last years in the old mansion, Mrs. Motte was proudly pointed out to visitors to the city. One of her great-grandchildren said that at the time "she was rather under-sized and slender, with a pale face, blue eyes, and grey hair that curled slightly under a high-crowned ruffled mob-cap. She always wore a square white neckerchief pinned down in front, tight sleeves reaching only to the elbow, with black silk mittens on her hands and arms; a full skirt with huge pockets, and at her waist a silver chain, from which hung her pin-cushion and scissors and a peculiarly bright bunch of keys."

The body of this gracious patriot was buried in old St. Philip's Church, another of the Revolutionary landmarks of the Palmetto City.

The mansion which she made famous should be called the Brewton House, or the Motte House. But a Motte married an Alston, and an Alston married a Pringle, and so many families of the latter name have been a.s.sociated with the place that their name is popularly given to it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INDEPENDENT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, SAVANNAH, GA.

_Photo furnished by Rev. Rockwell S. Brank, Savannah_ See page 340]

LXXVII

THE INDEPENDENT CHURCH, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

FOR WHICH KING GEORGE II MADE A LAND GRANT

When George II, of his "special Grace, certain knowledge and meer motion," gave a deed for a lot in Savannah, "in our province of Georgia," he declared that it was "for the use and benefit of such of our loving subjects ... as are or shall be professors of the Doctrines of the Church of Scotland, agreeable to the Westminster Confession of Faith." The further stipulation was made that the annual rent, if demanded, should be "one pepper corn."

The date of the grant was January 16, 1756, and within the three years allowed for the erection of the building a brick structure was ready for the use of the Independent Presbyterian Church. The church was independent in fact as well as in name. There was at first no presbytery in Georgia with which it could unite, and when a presbytery was organized, this independent relation continued.

The first pastor was Rev. John Joachim Zubly, who came to the Colonies from Switzerland. He remained with the church until 1778, and became a prominent figure among the patriots of the early years of the Revolution. When the first Provincial Congress of Georgia met in Savannah, July 4, 1775, it adjourned, immediately after organization, to the Independent Church, where Dr. Zubly preached a sermon for which he received the public thanks of Congress.

_The London Magazine_ for January, 1776, contained an impa.s.sioned appeal for the Colonies, which was signed by Dr. Zubly. The editor stated that the communication was printed at the request of "an old correspondent," who signed himself "O." It is supposed that this correspondent was General James E. Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia.

A few months later Dr. Zubly went to Philadelphia, as a member of the second Continental Congress. He had also been a member of the first Congress in 1774.

During the siege of Savannah by the British the church building was badly injured by British cannon, in spite of the fact that it was used as a hospital. Later the British used the church as barracks. A visitor who entered the city in 1784 said that he found the church in a ruinous condition. It was promptly repaired, however, and services were resumed.

But there was another pastor in the pulpit. In 1778 Dr. Zubly resigned, probably because, for some strange reason, he deserted the Colonies and made known his allegiance to Great Britain.

Fire destroyed the original building in 1796, and a fine new church was built. Twenty-one years later the rapidly increasing congregation made necessary a much larger structure. The new church was modelled after St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London, and more than two years were required for its construction. The cost was $96,108.67, a large sum for that day in a town of ten thousand people. Although the middle aisle was eleven feet wide and each of the side aisles four and a half feet wide, there were seatings for 1,350 people. The beautifully proportioned steeple was 223 feet high. The day after the dedication a local paper said that "for grandeur of design and nature of execution, we presume this church is not surpa.s.sed by any in the United States."

Many architectural writers have told rapturously of the wonders of this building.

President James Monroe and his suite, as well as many other distinguished visitors, were reverent worshippers in the church on the day of dedication.

Lowell Mason, who was organist of the church from 1815 to 1827, composed the popular melody to which Bishop Heber's missionary hymn, "From Greenland's Icy Mountains," is usually sung. This melody was first played by him for the Sunday school of the church, whose organization dates from 1804.