We're talking about Susannah Smith Elliott Carnes, a woman who inspired a group of men here in South Carolina to continue their fight during the American Revolution – and the ways in which her inspiration still shows up today

We are continuing our series on South Carolina’s 4th Regiment during the Revolutionary War, exploring their order book, which is basically a journal of the orders they received and their activities. At this point in the order book, we’re only a few days in. It’s September of 1775 and we're at Fort Johnson, one of the defense lines of the Harbor. 

It's our first interview! We talk with Mandy McGehee-Floyd, a doctoral candidate in public history and a SCHS employee, about her research into the South Carolina Regulators. They were a group of colonial settlers in the upcountry of South Carolina who wanted a more lawful community – though they were not always lawful themselves in their pursuit.

This episode starts a new series that will be mixed in with regular episodes. We’ll be reading and exploring the Order Book of the South Carolina’s Fourth Regiment. The regiment was organized in 1775 and was incorporated into the Continental Army in 1776. The order book is much like a diary – it covers the day-to-day happenings of the regiment and the orders that they are given, so it gives a sense of what life was like for the men serving.

We’re going to start this podcast the same way we started the Historical Society – with Henry Laurens. His papers were the first collection that the Historical Society held, and we’ll discuss some of those papers – namely the pamphlet collection within the papers – in today’s episode which is titled “Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant” for the way gentlemen of the time signed letters, even if it was to someone they very much disliked. An alternate title could be Henry Laurens vs. Everybody.