Saturday, October 06, 2007

Cloud's Creek, SC questions without answers

I was reading Volume 3 of Patrick O'Kelly's four volume "NOTHING BUT BLOOD AND SLAUGHTER The Revolutionary War in the Carolinas (2005); when I came accross a mention of the Cloud Creek Massacre. I knew of the massacre, but it hadn't occured to me how late this was.
This was a month after the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and two months after the battle of Eutaw Springs, SC (with General Greene losing the battle but winning the victor as usual).
Of course the last fighting in SC was over a year after the massacre....

let's see what we can see...

http://www.alleneasler.com/clouds.html
here's a picture of Padgett's Lake, a millpond on Cloud's Creek; and where the Padgett family (under a variety of spellings) had a mill....

googlemaps of lake

Cloud's creek itself - starts between Monetta and Ridge Sping, SC (off SC 23) goes northworth for a few miles then turns north east toward what used to be the Little Saluda River (and is now
the western side of Lake Murray. Easiest to say that Cloud's Creek is between the town of Saluda and Batesburg-Leesville in SC.

below a google map of
The massacre site


David Martin was an universalist restoration minister of the German Baptist Brethren, and did circuit preaching from his home near Newberry. Towsend's history is the source of most of the below non-war information.

1768 Martin held "first love feast" in this area (this is a specific type of communion)
among those recieving were Snowden and Sybil Kirkland. Kirkland until recently had been with a group of 7th Day Baptists on the Savannah River.
1770 James Warden has two hundred acres on Cloud's Creek.
1772 the Cloud's Creek church has 42 baptized members and -in 30 families. Members included James Warren (leader of the church) and Snowden Kirkland. All were English ethnic background. Cloud's Creek celebrated both Saturday and Sunday as days of worship.
1780 Martin was known to be preaching universal restoration.
November 1781 Cloud's Creek Massacre - at Carter's house (log cabin) on Cloud's Creek.
After the surrender of Captain Turner's remaining militia to Major Cunningham, Cunningham had them killed.
May 1782 Cloud's Creek militia in fight at Dean's Swamp Creek (near Wagener and Salley SC)
against Cunningham.
1790 a Cloud's Creek Baptist Church exists. It does not seem to be the same as the 1770s church. Although the minister there may have some very mild connections with the 1820s Universalist Convention of SC.
1803 original Warren and Padgett landgrants sold to others. Kirkland witness.
1804 death of Snowden Kirkland at Cloud's Creek. Kirkland's grandson called the father's family 7th Day Baptists in his declaration in 1847.
Three of Kirkland's sons were Tories. One of his great great grandsons married into the Dennis-Lester family that was associated with the Dunkers-Universalists of Newberry. I have conflicting reports as to Snowden being the brother of Moses Kirkland, an infamous in SC Loyalists.

We know little about Cloud's Creek - the question that I've wondered in putting this timeline together, is does the war and the massacres (of which Cloud's Creek is just one local one from just one side) affect David Martin and his universalist views?

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