Provided by Library of Congress
The year 2026 is a very special one for our country. Unless you have had your head stuck in the sand (or pluff mud, as the case may be), you know that it marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Isle of Palms’ residents are keenly aware of an event of great historical importance that occurred right here back in June 1776. That’s when American patriot militia on Sullivan’s Island held off a large contingent of British soldiers who encamped on the Isle of Palms and attempted to cross Breach Inlet.
From historical records of the momentous battle that began from our shore and continued from the sea at the harbor’s entrance, we learn the names of some of the most prominent military figures: Col. William “Danger” Thomson, Col. William Moultrie, Sgt. William Jasper and Major (later Col.) Francis Marion, among them. But a name you may not know and whose presence was important nonetheless is that of Oscar, Francis Marion’s African-American slave who provided critical support for Marion, perhaps even fighting alongside him. Oscar continued to serve with Marion in many other battles across the Lowcountry during the next seven years of the war.
Although no official images of Oscar are recorded in the annals of history, he is depicted in a famous painting by the artist John Blake White in which Marion is offering a British officer a meal at the patriots’ encampment on the Pee Dee River. While the two men discuss a prisoner exchange, Oscar is seen cooking while kneeling over a campfire. The original of the painting hangs in the U.S. Capitol and copies of the painting are in the Georgetown County Museum as well as in Charleston’s Old Exchange. Oscar is shown with Marion in many other drawings and paintings as well.
In the 2000 blockbuster movie “The Patriot,” a story inspired by the wartime escapades of Marion, the fictional character Occam, played by actor Jay Arlen Jones, parallels Oscar.
In 2006, President George W. Bush recognized Oscar’s service to “a grateful nation” with a posthumous proclamation for his bravery and loyalty to the patriot cause, noting his “devoted and selfless consecration to the service of our country and the Armed Forces of the United States,” even though he never achieved his own personal independence from slavery. While many enslaved men escaped or deserted the patriot ranks during the war, Oscar remained with Marion not only throughout the war but also afterward when they returned to Marion’s plantation in Berkeley County.
According to the American Battlefield Trust, there may have been 5,000 Blacks who served with the patriot military during the Revolutionary War. Although they remain nameless, some of them undoubtedly had a hand in helping repel the British attack at Breach Inlet two-and-a-half centuries ago.
As we celebrate Black History Month during this very monumental year, we must remember the African Americans like Oscar who played crucial roles in achieving America’s independence.
By: Mary Coy
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