Nic Butler, Charleston County Public Library historian, points to an older South Carolina map where the Spanish made their way from Florida to the Lowcountry as a hurricane made landfall near Charleston on Sept. 5, 1686.
Andrew Whitaker/Staff
The English were determined to acquire the land south of Charleston and saw the Spanish as an obstacle rather than neighbors. There were times in the 1670s and 1680s where the English colonists would encourage Native American allies to raid Spanish missions in what is now coastal Georgia. The Spanish then retaliated with the same disruptive tactics.
The Spanish finally decided to take action in 1686, a couple of years after the Scots established Stuart’s Town, which was on Port Royal Harbor. The move angered the Spanish because the area used to be St. Elena, the capital of Florida in the 16th century.
“It was clearly an attempt to teach the English a lesson about trespassing on Spanish territory,” Butler said.
Butler said the Spanish saw it as defending their territory against encroachment, while the English thought it was a Spanish invasion.
He added the Spanish made Charleston their ultimate destination because the English in Charleston were “too friendly” with pirates. Pirates would steal boats and rob homes in St. Augustine, then sail up the coast to Charleston to sell everything, Butler said.
In early September, the Spanish made their way up the coast to Charleston, hitting Port Royal Harbor, Stuart’s Town, Edisto Island and Wadmalaw Island. They never had a chance to attack Charleston, however, because a hurricane drove them away.
Butler said following the hurricane, there was not a lot of surviving documentation to tell what happened in the conflict. The English marched throughout the Lowcountry in search of the Spanish based on “limited information” but never found them or had a confrontation since the hurricane pushed the Spanish away.
While the hurricane deterred a Spanish attack, Butler said both the Spanish and English learned a very important lesson.
“This time of year is not a good time to launch a military campaign because it’s hurricane season,” Butler said.
He added the English in Charleston and Lowcountry refined their knowledge year after year of when hurricane season was. England doesn’t get hurricanes, but the English had some experience with the storms in Barbados, Jamaica and Antigua.
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Publish date : 2024-08-14 23:00:00
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