Robert Barnwell

Robert Gibbes Barnwell
President of the South Carolina Senate
In office
December 2, 1805 – December 19, 1805
GovernorPaul Hamilton
Preceded byJohn Ward
Succeeded byWilliam Smith
Member of the South Carolina Senate from St. Helena's Parish
In office
November 26, 1804 – December 19, 1805
10th Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives
In office
December 20, 1794 – December 16, 1797
GovernorArnoldus Vanderhorst
Charles Pinckney
Preceded byJacob Read
Succeeded byWilliam Johnson, Jr.
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from St. Helena's Parish
In office
November 24, 1794 – December 19, 1801
In office
January 15, 1790 – December 20, 1791
In office
January 1, 1787 – November 4, 1788
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from South Carolina's 2nd district
In office
March 4, 1791 – March 3, 1793
Preceded byAedanus Burke
Succeeded byJohn Hunter
Delegate to the Congress of the Confederation from South Carolina
In office
November 3, 1788 – March 2, 1789
Personal details
Born(1761-12-21)December 21, 1761
Beaufort, Province of South Carolina, British America
DiedOctober 24, 1814(1814-10-24) (aged 52)
Beaufort, South Carolina, U.S.
Political partyPro-Administration
Professionpolitician
Military service
AllegianceUnited States United States of America
Branch/serviceSouth Carolina Militia
Years of service1777–1782
RankLieutenant colonel
Battles/warsAmerican Revolutionary War

Robert Gibbes Barnwell (December 21, 1761 – October 24, 1814) was a South Carolina slave owner,[1] revolutionary and statesman who was a delegate to the Confederation Congress and a United States Congressman.

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.[2] 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.

  1. ^ "Congress slaveowners", The Washington Post, January 19, 2022, retrieved January 24, 2022
  2. ^ Lawrence Sanders Rowland; Alexander Moore; George C. Rogers (November 1, 1996). The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina: 1514-1861. Univ of South Carolina Press. pp. 265–. ISBN 978-1-57003-090-1.