Barnwell, Robert, 1761-1814

<p>Robert Gibbes Barnwell (December 21, 1761 – October 24, 1814) was a South Carolina slave owner, revolutionary and statesman who was a delegate to the Confederation Congress and a United States Congressman.</p>

<p>Barnwell was born in Beaufort in the Province of South Carolina. His education was by a private tutor after he had exhausted the resources of the Beaufort common school. But he interrupted this and entered the revolutionary war at the age of 16 as a private in the militia. In the maneuvering after the Battle of Stono Ferry, his company was camped on Johns Island in late June 1779. A British surprise attack at night cut them up badly in an action known as the Battle of Mathews' Plantation. The sixteen-year-old Barnwell was wounded so badly that they stripped his gear and left him for dead. He was found in the field by a slave and taken to his aunt (Mrs. Sarah Gibbes) on her nearby plantation. She and her daughter nursed him back to health.</p>

<p>He returned to duty, rejoining the militia the next spring as a lieutenant. He was just in time to be included with the prisoners when General Benjamin Lincoln surrendered Charleston on May 12, 1780. He was imprisoned on the transport ship Pack Horse until his exchange in June 1781. He returned to militia service, and by the end of the war had risen to lieutenant colonel.</p>

<ul><b>RACES</b>
<li>10/14/1794 SC District 02 Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>10/12/1790 SC District 02 Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1788 SC Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>11/25/1788 SC District 02 Lost 0.24% (-99.06%)</li>
<li>12/31/1787 SC Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
</ul>

BARNWELL, Robert, (father of Robert Woodward Barnwell), a Delegate and a Representative from South Carolina; born in Beaufort, S.C., December 21, 1761; educated in the common schools and by private teachers; volunteered for service in the Revolutionary War when sixteen years of age; received seventeen wounds in the battle on Johns Island, S.C.; finally recovered and served as lieutenant with his company at the siege of Charleston in 1780; at the fall of that city was sent aboard the prison ship Pack Horse, but was released in the general exchange of prisoners in June 1781; was for many years president of the board of trustees of Beaufort College; Member of the Continental Congress in 1789; member of the convention of South Carolina for the adoption of the Federal Constitution in 1788; elected as a Pro-Administration candidate to the Second Congress (March 4, 1791-March 3, 1793); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1792 to the Third Congress; member of the South Carolina house of representatives 1787-1788, 1790-1791, and 1794-1801, serving as speaker in 1795; member of the South Carolina senate in 1805 and 1806, serving as president in 1805; died in Beaufort, Beaufort County, S.C., October 24, 1814; interment in St. Helena's Churchyard.