Sumter Street

Front: A Virginia native who came to South Carolina ca. 1765, General Thomas Sumter was a leader in civil as well as military affairs. He served in the First and the Second Provincial Congresses, in the S. C. General Assembly, as U. S. Congressman and U. S. Senator. South Carolina's last Revolutionary War general, he died in 1832 at his Sumter District home in Stateburg, where he was a large landowner and planter. His tomb there notes him as a founder of the Republic. Reverse: This street is named for one of the great Partisan generals of the American Revolution, Thomas Sumter, the fighting "Gamecock." After Charlestown fell in May 1780, Sumter rallied the up country against the British with major victories at Hanging Rock, Fishdam Ford, and Blackstock's. In 1781, Congress cited Sumter for his gallant leadership and military conduct and for the conspicuous courage, perseverance, and patriotism of his volunteer militia.