Christopher Gadsden

Christopher Gadsden (February 16, 1724 – August 28, 1805) was an American politician who was the principal leader of the South Carolina Patriot movement during the American Revolution. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, the seventh lieutenant governor of South Carolina, a merchant and slaver and the designer of the Gadsden flag. He is a signatory to the Continental Association.

Early life Gadsden was born in 1724 in Charleston, South Carolina. He was the son of Thomas Gadsden, who had been in the Royal Navy before becoming customs collector for the Port of Charleston. His grandfather, Edward Gadsden, was born in Wiltshire, England, in 1672 and emigrated to South Carolina in 1695. He was sent to school near Bristol, England. He returned to America in 1740 and served as an apprentice at a counting house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He inherited a large fortune from his father who died in 1741. From 1745 to 1746 he served as a purser in the Royal Navy during King George's War. He entered into mercantile ventures and by 1747 had earned enough to return to South Carolina and buy back the land his father had sold because he needed the money to pay off debts. He built Beneventum Plantation House in about 1750. Of all the colonies, South Carolina received the highest number of slaves from Africa, and most of these came ashore on Gadsden's Wharf in Charleston. Gadsden, along with many other rice plantation owners in South Carolina, forced enslaved Africans to work his fields so he could grow and sell agricultural products. In A Forgotten Founder: The Life and Legacy of Christopher Gadsden, Kelcey Eldridge states that, "at the time of his death, he owned enough slaves to 'divide my Estate real and personal as well as my negroes as otherwise into nineteen equal parts or shares; it is unknown just how many enslaved people he purchased, owned, or used.

Seven Years' War

Gadsden began his rise to prominence as a merchant and patriot in Charleston. He prospered as a merchant and built the wharf that bears his name. Between its completion in 1767 until 1787 and 1803 to 1808, it is estimated that 40% of all African slaves (about 100,000 enslaved people) were brought to America through his wharf. His re-election to the Commons in 1762 was beset with minor voting irregularities, which resulted in Governor Boone refusing to administer the oath of office for Gadsden and dissolving the entire Commons. This perceived excess of gubernatorial power led to a political culture in South Carolina of legislative dominance over the executive branch. Christopher Edwards Gadsden, who served as the fourth Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina James Gadsden, for whom the Gadsden Purchase of Arizona was named John Gadsden, who served two terms as the Mayor of Charleston

Gadsden died from an accidental fall on August 28, 1805, in Charleston, and is buried there in St. Philip's Churchyard.

Legacy The Gadsden flag has come to symbolize individualism, the American Revolution, and liberty.

Battery Gadsden, an extension of Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island, is named after him.