General Thomas Sumter 1734 -1832
(West Face right)
Thomas Sumter was born
near the Blue Ridge
Mountains in Virginia in 1734.
He fought in the French and
Indian War and also against
the Cherokees in 1761.
(South Face)
Sumter married Mary
Cantey in 1767 in St. Marks
Parish (Clarendon County)
South Carolina. They had one
child who survived, a son
Thomas Sumter, Jr., born 1768
He served as a
Justice of the Peace (1774)
and as a member of the First
Provincial Congress in
South Carolina
(Southeast Face)
Brigadier General Sumter
led a partisan (guerrilla)
band in the American
Revolution in battles such
as Hanging Rock, Fishing Creek,
Fish Dam Ford, Rocky Mount and
Blackstock.
Because of his tenacious
fighting qualities during the
Revolution, Sumter became
renowned as the "Gamecock."
[List of Bicentennial Committee names]
( Northeast Face)
In 1780 Governor
John Rutledge appointed
Sumter Commander-in-Chief
of the South Carolina Militia
He held office in 1782 as a
South Carolina Senator
and was a member
of the Continental Congress,
1783-1784.
(Northwest Face)
Sumter served as a member
of the United States
House of Representatives
(1789-1793; 1797-1801) and in
the Senate (1801-1810).
Thomas Sumter died on
June 1, 1832, in Stateburg,
South Carolina at the age of
98. He was the last surviving
general officer of the
American Revolution.
( West Face left)
Commissioned for the
Bicentennial of Sumter
City-County sculpted by
Maria J. Kirby-Smith. Dedicated
January 8, 2000
Marker is on North Main Street near East Canal Street, on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
