‘Millions for defense’: the life of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
By Peg Eastman, Jerry Reves and Greg Smith
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was born in South Carolina in 1746. In 1753 he accompanied his parents to England. After attending Westminster School, Pinckney graduated from Christ Church, Oxford, studied law at the Middle Temple and continued his education in France. He was called to the English bar in 1769.
Upon returning to Carolina, he served in the Commons House of Assembly from 1769 to 1775, when he became a member of the first South Carolina Provincial Congress. He represented St. Philip’s and St. Michael’s Parish in the lower house of the state legislature from 1776 to 1778.
In 1773, he married Sarah Middleton, whose brother, Arthur, signed the Declaration of Independence. Charles and Sarah had four children. After her death, he married Mary Stead in 1786; they had no children.
During the Revolutionary War, Pinckney fought at the Battle of Fort Sullivan (Moultrie) and then traveled north to become aide-de-camp to General George Washington. Pinckney's time on Washington’s staff helped his development as a national leader after the war.
He commanded a regiment in the disastrous East Florida Campaign of 1778. He participated in the siege of Savannah and commanded Fort Moultrie during the siege of Charles Town. When the city fell, he was imprisoned at Snee Farm, the home of his cousin, Charles Pinckney. He was later exiled to Philadelphia.
Pinckney returned to Philadelphia in 1787 as a Palmetto State delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention and was a leader of the state convention that ratified the Constitution. He turned down numerous government posts to remain in S.C., where he and Edward Rutledge led the state’s most powerful political faction.
In 1796, he accepted Washington’s appointment to serve as minister to France after James Monroe. When the Directory refused to accept his credentials, Pinckney left the country in disgust. The following year, he, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry went to France. When a government functionary tried to solicit a bribe, Pinckney uttered the famous “Millions for defense, Sir, but not one d----d penny for tribute.” The celebrated “XYZ Affair” made Pinckney a Federalist Party hero. He ran unsuccessfully as their vice-presidential candidate in 1800 and for president in 1804 and 1808.
Pinckney devoted his last years to charitable and civic endeavors. He was a founder of S.C. College, now the University of South Carolina. He was president of the S.C. Jockey Club, president of the Society for the Relief of the Widows and Orphans of the Clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church, president of the Charleston Library Society, president of the Charleston Bible Society, and president of the Society of the Cincinnati of the state of S.C.
Pinckney died in 1825 and was buried in St. Michael’s churchyard. Inscribed on his tombstone are the words: “One of the founders of the American Republic. In war he was a companion in arms and friend of Washington. In peace he enjoyed his unchanging confidence.”
St. Michael’s Church has published a booklet about its role in the Revolutionary Era, available for purchase at the church.
