Opposition: Andrew Pickens, the Wizard Owl

The Mel Gibson movie, The Patriot, features Col. Benjamin Martin, a veteran Indian Fighter who rallies his militia to fight Redcoats in the South Carolina backcountry during the American Revolution.  Some portions of Martin's character backstory echo that of a real life militia leader, Brig. Gen. Andrew Pickens, 1739-1817.  Pickens would later earn the grudging respect of his Cherokee opponents, who gave him the name Wizard Owl.  Wizard, not in the sense of a magician, but someone with an uncanny knack for knowing their tactics as well as they did.  Owls being a mixed-message harbinger of death or of change.  I.e., a powerful warrior not to be trifled with.

Pickens was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, of Scots-Irish and French Huguenot ancestry.  The family drifted to the Shenandoah Valley, and later to the Waxhaws, a frontier area on the border between North and South Carolina.  Eventually, Pickens moved to Abbeville County, South Carolina and married Rebekah Calhoun.  They had 12 children together.  Later, the couple moved to the Seneca River and established Hopewell Plantation, the venue for several councils and treaty parleys with the Cherokee and other tribes.  Hopewell wasn't far from a Cherokee town known as Isunigi.

Pickens got his start as an Indian Fighter in the Anglo-Cherokee War, 1759-1761, where he became known as a Fighting Elder because of his skills on a battlefield and his fatalistic Presbyterian faith.  During the American Revolution, he became a captain of militia.  He would face the Cherokee in 1779 in the Battle of Long Cane.  Loyalists in the area were attempting to recruit the Natives to the British cause and Pickens intended to discourage the practice.  In February, 1779, Pickens' 300 man force overtook a much larger British-Loyalist force at the Battle of Kettle Creek.  Loyalist activity in the area slowed down.  In 1780, when the British successfully besieged Charleston, Pickens surrendered his command at Ninety-Six, giving his parole to remain out of fighting.  Tory marauders attacked Hopewell and Pickens considered his leave of absence over, returning to the fighting. 

Along with Charles Sumter, who had also gotten his start during the Anglo-Cherokee War, and Francis Marion, another Indian Fighter, Pickens became a formidable foe, taking part in the Battle of Cowpens, January, 1780.  At that Battle, he asked his militia to give just three volleys before breaking to let the more seasoned Continentals encounter the main British force, something Martin does in the movie.  Pickens also participated in the Siege of Ninety-Six, Siege of Augusta, and Battle of Eutaw Springs.  He also led a campaign against the Cherokee, his victories forcing land concessions between the Savannah and Chattahoochee Rivers.  His prowess in battle earned him the name, Skyagunsta, the Wizard Owl.  He emerged from the war a Brigadier General of Militia.

Later, he would serve in the South Carolina House of Representatives and represent the state at the Constitutional Convention.  He also served as a United States Congressman.  He was a good friend and close associate of Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins, who chose to use Hopewell as a meeting place for Native parleys because of its convenient location and because of Pickens' respect among the local Cherokee.  Counties in Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina are named for him.  Hopewell still stands on the campus of Clemson, University. 

  

Places: Hopewell Plantation

Some people stood at the center of history through luck, connections and their own inclinations.  One of these was Andrew Pickens.  Though he'd begun his career as an "Indian Fighter" opposing the Cherokee, he'd gained fame as a Revolutionary War hero at the Battle of Cowpens, 1781.  A prosperous man, he founded a plantation on the Seneca River in what is now Pickens County, South Carolina.  It was also a crossroads for the Cherokee, who were still very much present in what had been their traditional hunting ranges in the area.  As much as he'd once fought them, the two sides developed a mutual respect.  The Cherokee gave Pickens a name that mean Wise Owl, and he welcomed them and other Native Americans to his home.

Pickens was also a friend of United States Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins.  He also knew fellow Revolutionary War officer Joseph Plumb Martin, who'd served with him at Cowpens.  All these men were from the planter class, had served in the Continental army, and in the Continental Congress at one time or another.  They had also developed connections with the local Southeastern tribes.  They would be used by the Continental Congress and later the Washington Administration to negotiate several treaties with these tribes, including the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw.  Because Pickens' home was centrally located, Hawkins felt free to use it as a meeting point to negotiate with Native leaders.  History happened several times under an oak tree on the property, which is now administered by Clemson University.

The First Treaty of Hopewell, between the Cherokee and the United States, defined the supposed western boundary of American expansion onto Cherokee land.  The Cherokees later referred to this and other treaties as Talking Leaves, knowing that once the Americans had no further use of it, this treaty would be thrown away like dead leaves that no longer spoke.  In fact, this treaty did nothing to stop settlers pouring into Tennessee, living on Cherokee land claimed by the State of Franklin, the successor to the Watauga Association. 

The Second Treaty of Hopewell involved the United States and members of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes.  The Choctaws signed on January 3, 1786 and the Chickasaws on January 10, 1786.  Both treaties attempted to set boundaries to the encroachment of White settlement.  The United States agreed to evict trespassers.  The Natives agreed to return escaped slaves and any captives taken in Native raids.  These treaties, and their expressions of friendship and protection, would also be forgotten in due time.  Hopewell remained in the Pickens family and eventually became part of Clemson University, which oversees the property today.  The treaty oak is no longer in existence and a plaque marks the approximate location.