Richardson Roundtree, Revolutionary War and War of 1812

Richardson Roundtree, my 5th great grandfather, born between 1738-45...

Another Ancestry member posted this:
His name is recorded in the list of "Persons Receiving payments for Duty Done in Colonel Brandon's Regiment" in "A History of Union county" chapter II, page 20-22. Published by Union co Historical Foundation 1977." Notes GSW 2000 (AA 66334, X3098; McCall IIm 55)
Source: hagers1 in 2010
---------------------------

Col Brandon's 2nd Regiment SC Militia

(quoting from Ancestry below)
Brandon's Regiment
"Reading about the time leading up to the Independence and the Revolutionary War fighting in the Up Country of South Carolina we see some of his neighbors and church members were Tories; who were the Loyalist to the Crown of England. This on top of arguments amongst themselves as to the advantages of becoming Patriots and the constant battling against the Indians, we have what became known as the "Hot Bed of Contention". Alot of activity and many meetings began to take place out on some of the large plantations. Sides were being drawn and groups being formed. It wasn't long before the South Carolina militia was formed.

Union County at the time was located on the edge of what was considered the frontier, which the Indians still considered their land. With the Whigs rebelling against the Crown, the British sent a party of men into the Cherokee Indian Territory to encourage the Indians to raze and kill these rebellious Whigs living near or on their land. To protect the Loyalists frontier settlers the British told them to hang a white cloth or flag on the front of their home and instructed the Indians not to harm these people or their homes with the white flags. The British felt this would make the Whigs want the protection of the British Army and therefore become Loyalists again.

What the British didn’t realize was that the Indians didn’t care who was Patriot or a Loyalist, they want all the setters off their lands and started razing and killing any settlers they came across. With the loss of family members or the loss of their home, many of these Loyalist and the ones that didn’t want involved in the War, became Patriots against the Crown because of this action.

South Carolina assembled a militia to go and put down these Indian uprisings..Williamson’s Cherokee Campaign of 1776. They marched up the mountains of the frontier under the command of Lieutenant Renny Belue. Their tour was for six weeks at Fort Prince. Williamson’s Cherokee Campaign lasted longer where they destroyed every Cherokee Indian settlement or home they found and killing many Cherokee men, women, and children.

The Revolutionary War lasted almost eight years starting in 1775, in the northern colonies and ending in 1783, with the surrender of General Cornwallis. It wasn’t until after the fall of Charleston in May, 1780, when the fighting had moved into the Carolinas. There were several skirmishes and two important battles in the Union District; Musgrove’s Mill August 18, 1780, and Blackstocks Battle November 20 1780.

Colonel Brandon also was involved in the October 7, 1780 Battle at Kings Mountain defeating Lt. Colonel Ferguson’s regiment of 1000 men and the January 17, 1781 Battle at Cowpens where they defeated Lt. Colonel Tarleton’s two regiments.  Two turning point battles of the Revolutionary War. What the British failed to realize was the back county Carolina colonist were skilled marksmen as hunters and many were experienced Indian fighters. With these two battles keeping Lt. Col. Ferguson and Tarleton’s regiments engaged in South Carolina, General Cornwallis couldn’t engage his full army against George Washington’s army in the north.Thus, these Carolinians played a most important part in the turning of the Revoluntionary War.

Source: Ancestry member hutzlern in 2012
-----------------------------
  It is not known which battles Richardson Rountree participated in. We do know, he fought under Col. Brandon's SC militia, 2nd Spartan Regiment.

 Brief History of Regiment:
Sometime around September of 1775, the Spartan Regiment was organized and John Thomas became its Colonel. This regiment of men was made up of men from the upcountry. The regiment, loaded with ammunition from Fort Charlotte, was soon ready for engagement. In December of 1775, it participated in the "Snow Campaign."

Spartanburg County, South Carolina bears a proud Revolutionary War heritage. The county has more Revolutionary War engagement sites than practically any other locale in the United States. The fiercely independent upstate settlers rallied ‘round the cause' early on, with the Spartan Regiment being formed in the late summer of 1775.

As independent as they were, some could not see the sense in breaking away from the crown. Staunchly Loyalist settlers seethed beside neighbor Patriots. The first engagement seen by local troops involved not a single British soldier. That winter, the Spartan Regiment was bloodied along with other Patriot troops in a fight against regional Loyalists in the Battle of the Great Cane Break, along the Reedy River.

In July 1776, a new threat erupted. Alarmed at the news of a British fleet at Charleston, the Cherokee swept over the frontier borders in a maelstrom of violence. Whites fled to forts, but hundreds of settlers in the border areas were killed before a counterattack could be formed. In early 1777, the Spartan Regiment was split into two - the1st Spartan Regiment and the 2nd Spartan Regiment.

Colonists all along the western frontier raised a large militia, which pursued the Indian army. As was often the case when European and Indian cultures clashed, many noncombatants suffered. The white militia destroyed scores of Cherokee villages and by mid-1777, Indian aggression collapsed. A treaty was signed in July 1777 forcing the Cherokee to relinquish most of their lands in South Carolina

The British regained the colonists’ full attention in 1780, when they captured Charleston in May. The Redcoats began their trek inland over three main routes. Initially, the Patriots thought they were whipped. Their situation seemed hopeless, as they faced the might of the greatest military power on earth. Many laid down their arms and surrendered. Benjamin Roebuck did the opposite - he raised his own regiment - Roebuck's Batallion of Spartan Regiment.

The war very well could have ended then, but for the British’s savage violation of their own terms of surrender. At the Waxhaws at the end of the month, a troop of Virginians were slaughtered after throwing down their arms. Homes of independence-minded Carolinians were burned; their properties seized. The Patriots’ anger rose.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was the British order, in direct violation of their own terms of surrender, that the Patriots don the red coat to serve the crown. The Rebels took the order another way, concluding that the violation of their surrender released them from their parole. The time for peace had past.

The clashes that ignited in the ensuing months in Spartanburg County sent shock waves throughout the world. The area saw six engagements in four weeks, beginning in July with the first battle of Cedar Spring. In quick succession and escalating violence, there quickly followed the battles of Gowen’s Fort, Earle’s Ford, and Fort Prince; then came the second battle of Cedar Spring and the battle of Musgrove Mill. These battles set the stage for two decisive engagements.

Nearly two months later, Patriot forces assembled from several states scored a major victory at the nearby battle of Kings Mountain. The Patriot forces suffered less than 30 killed and some 60 wounded, but the troops of the crown bled red – nearly 160 killed, about 150 wounded and a staggering 760-odd taken prisoner. Most of the crown’s casualties were American Loyalists.

Kings Mountain was a great victory, but it was a merciless one. The British had not seen fit to honor their own terms of surrender. Now 760 men looked to the Rebels for compassion, but they found only hardened hearts. The prisoners were marched to the North Carolina foothills, where the Patriots held a trial and found 36 men guilty of Loyalist atrocities. They were sentenced to hang, though all but nine were pardoned

Three months after Kings Mountain, the conflict returned in full fury to the Spartanburg County area, when Continental General Daniel Morgan gave British Colonel Banastre Tarleton “a devil of a whipping” at a crossroads known as the Cowpens. The battle at this holding area for cattle being driven to market put the British on the road to surrender at Yorktown.

After the war, some Loyalists fled to Canada. The settlers returned to the land, having subdued both the Cherokee and British threats. More settlements grew up in the area, and the new district began to form its government. Court officers originally met at several plantations, but legislative pressure forced them to choose an official site. In January 1787, they approved the purchase of two acres of land from Thomas Williamson for five shillings. The new courthouse was smack in the middle of the county. The town of Spartanburg was born.
----------------------------
 Thanks to Ancestry member, Hutzlern, in 2012 for giving this writeup. 

And about the War of 1812.  Richardson had lived in Edgefield SC since the census of 1800 or before, and still in 1810 when he was 60-70 years old (if he had been born in 1740). 

 But there he is in 1812 as a South Carolinian fighting the British again.  

U.S., War of 1812 Service Records, 1812-1815

Name	Richardson Roundtree
Company	1 REG'T (MEANS') SOUTH CAROLINA MILITIA.
Rank - Induction	CORPORAL
Rank - Discharge	CORPORAL
Roll Box	179
Microfilm Publication	M602

 He died in 1819, the same year that a bill of sale exists for his selling a slave.  As mentioned elsewhere, his two sons James and Daniel were asked to inventory his estate because he died intestate...no will.  Daniel was his youngest son, and James was probably his half brother.  If his second wife died in 1782 as Ancestry trees say, the last 4 of his children had a different mother, unknown at this time.