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Isaac Hayne (23 September 1745 – 4 August 1781)[1] was one of the most prominent Americans to be executed by the British during the American War of Independence. He owned a large plantation and dozens of slaves.[2]
Isaac Hayne | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 23, 1745 Colony of South Carolina |
| Died | August 4, 1781 (aged 35) Charleston, South Carolina |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service |  Continental Army |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Battles / wars | American Revolutionary War |
Hayne inherited a 900-acre plantation and 23 slaves from his father. He would increase his holdings throughout his life. At the time of his death, Hayne also owned Sycamore plantation with its 650 acres, the 700-acre Pear Hill plantation, five lots in Beaufort, and two lots in Charleston. Overall, Hayne owned 6,500 acres scattered in South Carolina, and 1000 acres on the Turtle River in Georgia.[3]
At the beginning of the War of Independence, Hayne joined the rebellion, and was a commissioned captain of artillery, and at the same time state senator. In 1780, on the invasion of the state by the British, he served in a cavalry regiment during the final siege of Charleston, and, being included in the capitulation of that place, was paroled on condition that he would not serve against the British while they held possession of the city.[1]
In 1781, as the fortunes of the British began to decline, he, with all the others who were paroled on the same terms, was required to join the royal army or be subjected to close confinement. Hayne would gladly have accepted imprisonment, but his wife and several of his children lay at the point of death from smallpox. He went to Charleston, and, being assured by the deputy British commandant, Patterson, that he would not be required to bear arms against his former compatriots, took the oath of allegiance. After the successes of General Greene had left the British nothing but Charleston, Hayne was summoned to join the royal army immediately. This being in violation of the agreement that had been made, he considered that this released him from all his obligations to the British. He went to the American camp, and was commissioned colonel of a militia company.[1]
Hayne then commanded an American rebel raid which captured Brigadier-General Andrew Williamson, an American Loyalist. Colonel Nisbet Balfour, the British commander in Charleston during the 1781 siege of Charlestown, fearing that Williamson would be hanged as a traitor, sent a column to intercept the raiding party. The interception was successful. There was a skirmish resulting in the defeat of the raiding party, the release of Williamson and the capture of Hayne.[4] Although Hayne was a prisoner of war, he was tried via a British court-martial for treason, since he had broken his earlier parole not to take up arms against the Crown.[2]
Hayne was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed in Charleston on August 4, 1781. He was buried on the family property in Jacksonboro.[5]
- Bowden, David K. (1977). The Execution of Isaac Hayne. Orangeburg, South Carolina: Sandlapper Publishing. ISBN 9780878440375. OCLC 641617543.
- Bragg, C. L. (2017). Martyr of the American Revolution: The Execution of Isaac Hayne, South Carolinian. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 9781611177190. OCLC 1052506593.
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