April 23, 1776

Arthur Middleton was one of South Carolina’s signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was also an enslaver with a sizable plantation near the coast. This news item, first printed in Williamsburg, Virginia, explains how the British forces in the southern colonies had “begun to plunder the gentlemens plantations in their neighbourhood.” They “carried off” 65 enslaved laborers from Middleton Place.

This article also reported the evacuation of the British royal governor of Georgia, James Wright, to a ship, the Scarborough, “thereby abdicating his government, and leaving behind him an estate valued to at least eighty thousand pounds sterling.”

The Pennsylvania Evening Post
Printed by Benjamin Towne

WILLIAMSBURG, April 12.

Since the defeat of Major Grant and Commodore Barclay, in Georgia, they have begun to plunder the gentlemens plantations in their neighbourhood; and from Arthur Middleton, Esq; on the Carolina shore, they have carried off sixty-five slaves.

Sir James Wright, Governor there, with his two daughters, has retired on board the Scarborough, thereby abdicating his government, and leaving behind him an estate valued to at least eighty thousand pounds sterling.