Thomas Sumter
"The Gamecock"
The most controversial of Greene's Militia commanders, Sumter was known for his trademark gamecock feather in his hat, his tenacity and his penchant for bloody frontal assaults - characteristics that earned him the moniker "The Gamecock."
Poorly educated but handsome, he was 46 when the British conquered South Carolina and destroyed his home. He raised Militia units to operate in the Midlands by promising plunder of Tory and British property (Sumter's Law) - a practice Greene stopped.
He led the only organized resistance against reestablished British rule in the fall of 1780, effectively freezing Cornwallis' army in the state and allowing Greene time to raise a Continental army. Fort Sumter and Sumter County are named in his honor.
Marker is at the intersection of South Main Street (South Carolina Route 124) and East Broad Street on South Main Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
