The Life and Times of General Andrew Pickens: Revolutionary War Hero, American Founder by Rod Andrew Jr.

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Life and Times of General Andrew Pickens: Revolutionary War Hero, American Founder by Rod Andrew Jr. Robert M. Owens The Life and Times of General Andrew Pickens: Revolutionary War Hero, American Founder. By Rod Andrew Jr. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017. Pp. xxviii, 396. $35.00, ISBN 978-1-4696-3153-0.) Andrew Pickens (1739–1817) is far less celebrated than he should be. He proved crucial in the southern theater of the American Revolution, which became the pivotal theater during the war's last years. A fierce warrior against Cherokee, British, and Tory adversaries, Pickens strove to treat both Indians and Loyalists fairly in peacetime. As Indian treaty commissioner, Pickens served with distinction and honor and tried to be good to his word. As a citizen, legislator, and judge, Pickens remained committed to the rule of law but was hard to pin down in terms of his political leanings. Inheriting few advantages, he nevertheless achieved financial comfort and a great wealth of esteem from his neighbors. A consistent theme throughout The Life and Times of General Andrew Pickens: Revolutionary War Hero, American Founder is an emphasis on Pickens's Presbyterian faith. Steeped in Calvinism, Pickens remained painfully [End Page 707] aware of man's inherent wickedness and the ever-present risk of sin. This awareness in turn informed his abiding faith in the need for law, order, a pious respect for God's workings, and seeking God's forgiveness. Though he was not a man of letters, Pickens's neighbors, colleagues, and contemporaries considered him a sternly moral, fair-minded man who could be trusted to show fair and sober judgment in matters both public and private. Pickens grew up on the South Carolina frontier, near the Cherokee Nation. As a young man, he fought with distinction in the Cherokee War of 1760–1761 and gained notoriety during the Revolutionary War. At the Ring Fight in August 1776, Pickens and his South Carolina militiamen were surrounded by at least three times as many Cherokees. Pickens formed the men into a circle, coolly directing their fire and keeping them intact even as brutal close-quarters fighting raged. When they were eventually relieved, "Pickens began acquiring an aura of invincibility—he and his men should not have survived" (p. 49). His lopsided victory at the battle of Kettle Creek in February 1779 helped check the British advance in the South. Finally, serving under Daniel Morgan at the battle of Cowpens in January 1781, Pickens's surprisingly well disciplined militia played a key role in defeating the hated Banastre Tarleton's forces. The battle of Cowpens took place after Pickens was captured in the disastrous defense of Charleston and subsequently paroled. In return for his freedom, Pickens swore an oath to the king, but the vicious civil war nature of the Revolution in the South, which bred cyclical vigilantism from both sides, and British hostility to Presbyterianism wore on Pickens's mind. He likely wanted to return to the fight, and when British forces plundered his home, he felt justified in rejoining the Patriot effort. In the postwar years, Pickens tried to focus on his business and land ventures. He was mildly successful, though one senses that his rigid personal ethics partially explain why he did not accrue as much wealth as others. Like other propertied men in South Carolina, Pickens invested in slaves and benefited from their labor. By 1800 he owned thirty-eight African Americans. While he did not join other southern Presbyterians in condemning slavery, Pickens did adhere to evangelical paternalism; he saw to it that his slaves were "treated humanely," that their "families were kept together," and that they were taught the word of God (p. 309). He also did not oppose individual cases of manumission, and his will provided that if his son Joseph Pickens died before coming of age, the Pickens family's slaves would be freed. (Joseph did live to inherit them.) The Cherokees gave Pickens the name "'Sky-a-gun-sta' or 'Great Warrior,'" which was clearly a mark of respect (p. 51). While Pickens favored buying Indian lands, he also insisted that both sides were compelled to...