This Day in History: A Little-known Revolutionary War Hero

On this day in 1817, a little-known Revolutionary War soldier passes away. It’s said that Tristram Thomas obtained the surrender of a large British force without firing a single shot! Unfortunately, much of the rest of his story is lost to history.

“The name of Tristram Thomas,” local historian Duncan D. McColl writes, “distinguished in the early annals of Marlboro County, is practically unknown to the present generation, which enjoys the fruits of the splendid sacrifices made by him and his companions in arms.”

The story most often told about Thomas comes from an incident later in the war. On July 25, 1780, he was commanding a group of 25 men near the Pee Dee River. He was then a captain in a regiment of South Carolina militia.

They’d received intelligence about British movements.

The redcoats planned to send a convoy of British boats down the Pee Dee from the Cheraw area to the coastal city of Georgetown. That convoy, militia officer Richard Dobbs Spaight later reported, was carrying “most of the plunder & 102 of the 71st Regiment, part of them sick.”

The British soldiers were also accompanied by Loyalist militia.

Some of the details get a little blurry at this juncture. The Patriot militia decided to surprise the British at a bend in the Pee Dee near Hunt’s Bluff, roughly twenty-five miles away from Cheraw. At least according to one 19th-century account, Thomas and his men set up Quaker guns to fool the British into thinking the Patriot force was more formidable than it actually was.

“A battery of wooden guns was hastily constructed,” historian Alexander Gregg describes, “and placed immediately on the bank, in a sudden bend of the river. In due season, as the slowly-moving flotilla appeared, the most imposing demonstration that they could present was made by the command of the gallant Thomas, and an unconditional surrender demanded.”

American and British accounts differ on what happened next. Were the British and Loyalists fooled by the wooden guns? Or had the Loyalist militia already become frustrated with the British, ready to turn on their officers and switch sides, even before Thomas’s bluff?

Either way, the Loyalists turned on the British. “Our Cheraw Militia,” General Lord Charles Cornwallis was soon reporting to British officials back home, “having seized & bound their field officers, attack’d & took some boats on the Pedee . . . .”

The British were now prisoners—but Thomas and his men soon had another conquest, too: A British supply boat chose that unfortunate moment to appear. It had been coming up from Georgetown toward Cheraw, but now it was seized.

Its supplies would be used for the American army.

We know that Thomas continued to serve for the rest of the war, even earning a promotion to major, but many other details of his service remain unknown. Nevertheless, his story demonstrates an important point: Our Revolution was won because of thousands and thousands of little-known and barely recorded acts such as this relatively small incident on the Pee Dee.

Our ancestors weren’t striving for fame and glory and a place in history books. They were simply fighting for liberty. In the end, their countless acts of courage and sacrifice—many now forgotten—helped accomplish what once seemed impossible.

The mighty British army—then believed invincible—was defeated.

“[T]he unparalleled perseverence of the Armies of the United States,” George Washington concluded, “through almost every possible suffering and discouragement, for the space of eight long years, was little short of a standing Miracle.”

A note for those who are interested: Some of you might know I am running an experiment in history reels. If you are so inclined, check out my YouTube channel and/or subscribe to those HERE. Don’t miss the reel I wrote about the tornado that “saved” D.C., posted over the weekend.

Available on Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, or TaraRoss.com/books

Primary Sources:

• Alexander Gregg, History of the old Cheraws (1867)

• Battle of Hunt's Bluff ⎯⎯⎯ Old River Road (Historical Marker Database)

• Duncan Donald McColl, Sketches of old Marlboro (1916)

• Edward McCrady, The History of South Carolina (1897)

• Letter from Charles Cornwallis, Marquis Cornwallis to George Sackville Germain, Viscount Sackville (Aug. 20, 1780)

• Letter from Richard Dobbs Spaight to Abner Nash (July 31, 1780)

• Rev. J. A. W. Thomas, A history of Marlboro County : with traditions and sketches of numerous families (1897)

• The Francis Marion Papers (David Neilan et al. eds; 2026) (Biographical Vignettes: Tristram Thomas) (Vol. III: 1782-1795)

• Washington’s Farewell Address to the Army (November 2, 1783)