Extended Weekend Getaways By Kathleen Walls
Publisher of AmericanRoads.net
“Honoring the Enslaved Voices That Shaped American History”
During the festival, living‑history interpreters in period dress share the stories of the enslaved men, women, and children who built and sustained this South Carolina plantation village.
A Walk Through History
Our docent, Carey Tilley, guided us through Historic Brattonsville, weaving together stories preserved through oral history. One of the most striking was of a young, enslaved man named Watt, whose bravery helped change the course of the Revolutionary War.
Carey showed us a tombstone from the Bratton family cemetery. It reads: “Sacred to the memory of Watt who died Dec. 1837 during the war he served his master Col. W. Bratton faithfully and his children with fidelity until his death. Polly, his wife who died July 1838 who served the same family with equal faithfulness.” It is the only tombstone for an enslaved person in the Brattonsville Cemetery.
The History of Brattonsville
Historic Brattonsville in South Carolina’s Olde English District is a small village with an outsized story. The Bratton brothers, William, Thomas, Hugh, Robert, and John, settled here in the 1760s and became wealthy slaveholders.
Today, the site includes an 800‑acre plantation, more than 30 historic structures, and a Revolutionary War battlefield we can visit. Much of the movie The Patriot was filmed here.
Revolution Comes to the Backcountry
While many in South Carolina’s backcountry supported the British, the Brattons were Patriots. After British forces captured Camden, Cheraw, Georgetown, and Charleston, they believed South Carolina was under their control.
But Patriot resistance remained, especially from Colonel William Bratton. To crush this resistance, British Lt. Col. George Turnbull sent Captain Christian Huck, a notoriously brutal officer, to arrest Bratton and other Patriot leaders.
On July 11, 1780, Huck arrived at the Bratton home. When he questioned Martha Bratton, she claimed she didn’t know her husband’s whereabouts. Huck forced her to feed him and his men and then left for nearby Williamson Plantation. Martha, warned by neighbors, had already written a note to her husband and entrusted it to an enslaved man named Watt.
Watt’s Courageous Ride
Little is known about Watt’s life, but his actions that night are unforgettable. The British promised freedom to enslaved people who fled to their side. Watt could have chosen escape, but he didn’t. Had he made that choice, he probably never would have seen his family again.
Instead, he delivered Martha’s message to Colonel Bratton, who was nearby with 140 militiamen returning home for harvest season. Watt also told Bratton where Huck’s troops were camped.
At sunrise, Bratton’s militia launched a surprise attack on the Williamson Plantation. The Battle of Huck’s Defeat killed about 95 British soldiers, including Huck, while the Patriots lost only one man.
Watt’s bravery helped turn undecided South Carolinians toward the Patriot cause and contributed to America’s fight for independence. Yet he returned to a life of enslavement.
Exploring Historic Brattonsville
Carey led us to the small white house where Martha handed Watt the note that changed history. Built around 1766, it’s the oldest surviving structure at Brattonsville and later served as the Brattonsville Female Seminary. There are many other buildings including the slave cabins, kitchen, and others to explore.
The Homestead House (1826)
Built for Dr. John Simpson Bratton, Sr., this two‑story home later expanded under his wife, Harriet Rainey Bratton. After her death in 1874, it sat vacant until 1898, when their grandson, James Rufus Bratton’s son, Moultrie Bratton and his wife Virginia moved in. It later became a sharecropper’s home.
The Brick House
Begun by John Bratton Sr. and completed by Harriet in 1843, the Brick House served as a store, post office, and voting site. Today, it houses the award‑winning exhibit “Liberty & Resistance: Reconstruction and the African American Community at Brattonsville, 1865–1877,” that tells one of the saddest stories in Brattonsville’s history.
The Lynching of James Williams
Local historian Zach Lemhouse shared the story of James Williams, an enslaved man owned by Samuel Rainey and leased to John Simpson Bratton Jr. He explained the Brick House connection, “So when I say this place is connected to him in life and in death, that’s exactly what I mean. Jim Williams was enslaved here. He was living here about a mile and a half that way after emancipation as a sharecropper. He was visiting the store and purchasing things. I have a record that he purchased two pairs of shoes from the Brattonsville store.”
Williams escaped during the Civil War, joined the Union Army, and served for 18 months. After the war, he returned to York County and became active in Black civil rights efforts.
During Reconstruction, the Ku Klux Klan terrorized York County. In 1869, Governor Robert Kingston Scott created the South Carolina National Guard to stop the violence. Williams became captain of the Black Company A , 14th Regiment.
On March 7, 1871, Dr. James Rufus Bratton, a former Confederate surgeon, led a group of Klansmen to Williams’s home. They found him hiding beneath the floorboards, seized the weapons issued to his National Guard unit, and lynched him. Williams’s body was brought to the Brick House for the coroner’s inquest, the only public building large enough.
President Ulysses S. Grant responded to the violence by pushing through the Enforcement Acts, making Klan activity illegal and sending federal troops to York County.
Twenty‑nine men were indicted, including James Rufus Bratton. Only one, Robert Hayes Mitchell, stood trial and was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months in prison and a $100 fine. Eight others pled guilty and got the same plea deal. Is that justice, 18 months in prison and a $100 fine for murder? Bratton fled to Canada and returned after Reconstruction ended.
Lemhouse reflected, “His (James Williams) spirit is here. He couldn’t rest after that much injustice. He was trying to protect his people’s right to vote.”
Why Brattonsville Matters
A visit to Historic Brattonsville, especially during the Sweat of Our Brow Festival, is a walk into the intertwined histories of enslavement, resistance, war, and Reconstruction where the stories of Watt, James Williams, and others are finally being told.
Their courage shaped the nation. Their legacy endures.
