April 21, 1775: Teams of South Carolina Patriots moved through the night and raided three weapons storage and gunpowder magazines around Charleston. This raid was one of the most important and successful covert operations of the war.
BlackOps 1775: The Need for Gunpowder
Members of the newly formed Secret Committee of the South Carolina Provincial Congress moved quickly to raid three different armories and gunpowder magazines in the Charleston area. With growing concern that the Crown would undertake military operations to suppress the rebellion, now was the time to act.
Video: The Arms & Gunpowder Raids of April 21, 1775
The Rebellion of South Carolina
There may be no better article (or podcast episode) on the April 21, 1775 Arms & Gunpowder raids than Dr. Nic Butler’s Time Machine episode. Check it out here.
Read the Article | Podcast Episode
“Daring Offences”: William Bull’s Proclamation
Shocked by the news of these nighttime raids, Lt. Governor William Bull printed handbills and placed a proclamation in local newspapers with a reward for those with information. Check out one of those proclamations in this authentic 1775 newspaper from the Charleston Library Society’s collection.
Map: The April 21, 1775 Raids
1775 Gunpowder Raids: Southern Theater
The April 21, 1775, raids were only the beginning of an expansive campaign of actions designed to secure supplies of gunpowder. Here are some other notable gunpowder-related actions in the Southern theater in 1775:
- April 25, 1775: Maryland patriots seized gunpowder from a Baltimore storehouse.
- May 11, 1775: Members of a group called the Sons of Liberty broke into the powder magazine in Savannah, Georgia and divided the gunpowder with South Carolina revolutionaries.
- July 9, 1775: South Carolina and Georgia forces raid the ship Phillippa near Tybee Point. The patriot forces remove 16,000 pounds of gunpowder and later ship 4,000 lbs. of this captured supply to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
- July 21, 1775: The South Carolina sloop Commerce sails to St. Augustine and intercepts the ship Betsy, which was carrying 11,900 pounds of British gunpowder.
- August 14, 1775: A Patriot force aboard the Lady Catherine sailed to Bermuda and secretly broke into a powder magazine on the island. 3,150 pounds of much-needed gunpowder was soon headed back to George Washington’s army outside of Boston.
- October 31, 1775: Seeking to appease the Cherokee and avoid their entry into the conflict on the British side, South Carolina president Henry Laurens agreed to send 1,000 pounds of gunpowder to the tribe. On its way inland, the shipment was intercepted by a force of Loyalists under the command of Patrick Cunningham.
