Andrew Pickens (congressman)
This article is about the American Revolutionary War Hero and Congressman. For other people named Andrew Pickens, see Andrew Pickens.Andrew Pickens (
September 13,
1739 –
August 11,
1817) was a
militia leader in the
American Revolution and a
U.S. Congressman from
South Carolina.
Pickens was born in
Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the son of immigrants from
Ulster,
Ireland. In
1752 his family moved to the Waxhaws on the South Carolina frontier. He sold his farm there in
1764 and bought land in
Abbeville County, South Carolina near the
Georgia border.
He married
Rebecca Calhoun in 1765. They had 12 children, including
Andrew Pickens who later became governor of
South Carolina.
Andrew Pickens died near
Pendleton, South Carolina on
August 11,
1817.
He served in the militia campaign against the
Cherokee Indians in
1760-
1761. When the revolution started, he sided with the rebel militia, and was made a
Captain. He rose to the rank of
Brigadier General during the war.
On
February 14,
1779, he was part of the rebel militia victory at the
Battle of Kettle Creek in Georgia.
Andrew was captured and later paroled at the
Siege of Charleston in
1780.When the
British didn't honor the terms of his parole, he returned to militia service. He saw action at the
Battle of Cowpens,
Siege of Augusta,
Siege of Ninety-Six, and the
Battle of Eutaw Springs.
Pickens also led a campaign in north Georgia against the Cherokee Indians late in the war. His victorious campaign led to the Cherokees
ceding significant portions of land between the
Savannah and
Chattachoochee rivers in the
Long Swamp Treaty signed in what is currently
Pickens County, Georgia.
*South Carolina House of Representatives (
1781-
1794 and
1800-
1812)
*Georgia-South Carolina Boundary Commission (
1787)
*State Constitutional Convention (
1790)
*Third U.S. Congress (
1793-
1795)
*Unsuccessful candidate for U.S. Senate (
1797)
Fort Pickens in
Florida is named in his honor, as is
Pickens County, Alabama,
Pickens County, Georgia, and
Pickens and
Pickens County in his adopted home state of South Carolina.
*
The Fighting Elder: Andrew Pickens, 1739-1817; by Alice Waring; 1962; University of South Carolina Press.
*
His Congressional Biography*
GeorgiaInfo Pickens County Courthouse History
