Two Readings of Declaration of Independence Scheduled at Middleton

July 4 – Independence Day – is an especially important date in the history of Middleton Place. On that day in 1776, 56 colonists from Maine to Georgia, including Middleton Place's owner, Arthur Middleton, put their lives on the line, signing the Declaration of Independence, which vowed to throw off the oppression of the English King and Parliament. Their actions set off an all-out war between the British and the Americans that would rage for nearly seven more years.

On July 4, 2013 Middleton Place will celebrate the bravery of these men, and underscore the importance of the Declaration with readings of the document at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. under the oaks on the Greensward. Other activities of the day will include Revolutionary War-era fife and drum music, a Continental Soldier with a display of the tools of trade, and ongoing discussions on South Carolina's contributions to the Revolution.

The Declaration of Independence did not set off the war, per se, American colonists had been skirmishing with British troops beginning with the Battle of Lexington and Concord, which took place April 19, 1775, when the British sent a sizeable detachment of troops to confiscate arms and arrest revolutionaries in Concord, Massachusetts. At least 1,000 British regulars clashed with the local militia, marking the first fighting of the American Revolutionary War.

A little more than a year later, the Americans realized nothing short of complete emancipation from British rule could secure their freedom. After two weeks of work, Thomas Jefferson produced the draft titled, "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united states of America," a document we know today as the Declaration of Independence. It begins:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

After an indictment of the King's crimes against the American colonists, the document concludes:

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America...solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved...

Middleton Place would see its share of hardships throughout the war. Though never a commissioned officer (although he could have easily gotten a commission), Arthur would spend the next four years doing what he could to help supply the Continental Army, and shore up the defenses of Charleston. In 1780, the British finally succeeded in capturing Charleston, and Arthur as well. Arthur would spend one year as a prisoner-of-war in St. Augustine, and another in exile as a parolee in Philadelphia.

Back at Middleton Place, American General Nathaniel Greene swept into the Low Country in September 1782. Following the Battle of Eutaw Springs, which ended in something of a draw (although historians believe it served to break the spirits of South Carolina's Tories, and caused local support for the British side to collapse), Greene led his army to Ashley Hill, the site of the modern Inn at Middleton Place. Here he waited, preparing for an assault to take back Charleston. In the end, however, such action was unnecessary. The British had surrendered the war to the Americans following the Battle of Yorktown (Virginia). Greene remained near Middleton Place through the Surrender of Charleston by the British on Dec. 14, 1782.

On Christmas Eve 1782, Arthur Middleton finally returned home to Middleton Place.

The activities of July 4 are free with paid admission. For more information, call 843-556-6020.