Richard Pearis
Encyclopedia
Loyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
officer during the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
.
Richard Pearis was born in Ireland in 1725, the son of George and Sarah Pearis, who were Presbyterians
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
of considerable affluence. The family immigrated to the Shenandoah Valley
Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...
of Virginia when Richard was ten, and by 1750, Richard owned 1200 acres (4.9 km²) of land near Winchester
Winchester, Virginia
Winchester is an independent city located in the northwestern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the USA. The city's population was 26,203 according to the 2010 Census...
, where he lived with his wife Rhoda and three children.
By 1753, Pearis was trading with the Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...
; and in partnership with Nathaniel Gist
Christopher Gist
Christopher Gist was an accomplished American explorer, surveyor and frontiersman. He was one of the first white explorers of the Ohio Country . He is credited with providing the first detailed description of the Ohio Country to Great Britain and her colonists...
, he opened a trading post near present Kingsport, Tennessee
Kingsport, Tennessee
Kingsport is a city located mainly in Sullivan County with some western portions in Hawkins County in the US state of Tennessee. The majority of the city lies in Sullivan County...
. Shortly thereafter, Pearis was in South Carolina trading among the Cherokees, where he fathered a son, George, by a Cherokee woman. "An orator of rude, savage eloquence and power," Pearis gained favor with Virginia governor Robert Dinwiddie
Robert Dinwiddie
Robert Dinwiddie was a British colonial administrator who served as lieutenant governor of colonial Virginia from 1751 to 1758, first under Governor Willem Anne van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle, and then, from July 1756 to January 1758, as deputy for John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun...
; and during the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
, Pearis led a company of Cherokee warriors and served under British General John Forbes when he retook Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in what is now downtown Pittsburgh in the state of Pennsylvania....
. At the conclusion of the war, Pearis became Indian agent for colonial Maryland.
In 1770, Pearis and another member of the frontier gentry, Jacob Hite
Jacob Hite
Jacob Hite was one of the wealthiest men in Berkeley County, West Virginia. Hite had come to the Valley with his father in the early 1730s. A prominent family, Hite had served as sheriff twice for Frederick County and also as justice of the peace for that county as well as Berkeley. His son,...
, forged letters from Cherokee leaders, including Oconostota
Oconostota
Oconostota was the Warrior of Chota and the First Beloved Man of the Cherokee from 1775 to 1781.-Meaning of the name:...
, declaring the Indians’ willingness to cede land to the colony of Virginia. Pearis also claimed a deed from the Cherokee of twelve square miles in the area that is now Greenville County, South Carolina
Greenville County, South Carolina
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. An Indian interpreter, one John Watts, wrote the British Indian superintendent, John Stuart
John Stuart (loyalist)
John Stuart was a Scottish-born official of the British Empire in North America. He was the superintendent for the southern district of the British Indian Department from 1761 to 1779; his northern counterpart was Sir William Johnson.Born in Inverness, by 1748 Stuart had emigrated to South...
, that Pearis was “a very dangerous fellow who will breed great disturbances if he is let alone, for he will tell the Indians any lies to please them.”
With the help of an Indian ally, Saluy, Pearis secured approval of his land grant from the chiefs at Chota
Chota (Cherokee town)
Chota is a historic Overhill Cherokee site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. For much of its history, Chota was the most important of the Overhill towns, serving as the de facto capital of the Cherokee people from the late 1740s until 1788...
, apparently in exchange for the cancellation of their trading debts. But in 1772, Stuart complained to the governor of South Carolina that Pearis had gained his title by plying the Indians with liquor. The governor then urged Stuart to prosecute Pearis for violating a 1739 statute that forbade British citizens to own Indian land. Meanwhile, Pearis had begun to transfer the land to other whites.
In November 1773, the circuit court at Ninety Six
Ninety Six, South Carolina
Ninety Six is a town in Greenwood County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 1,936 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Ninety Six is located at ....
found Pearis guilty of holding Indian land, and he surrendered his deed. But the following month he secured another deed from Cherokee leaders granting his son George more than twelve square miles of land—most of which George then conveniently transferred to his father.
Reedy River
The Reedy River is a tributary of the Saluda River, about long, in northwestern South Carolina in the United States. Via the Saluda and Congaree Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Santee River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean....
, at the heart of modern Greenville, South Carolina
Greenville, South Carolina
-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...
, where they planted grain and orchards on a plantation Pearis called “Great Plains.” Pearis built “a substantial house” and a store as well as a grist and sawmill.
In 1775, Pearis sought an appointment as a patriot commissioner to the Indians, and after the post was given to another, Pearis became a Tory captain. On December 12, 1775, patriot Colonel Richard Richardson
Richard Richardson (military officer)
Richard Richardson was a colonel of the Camden Regiment of South Carolina Militia during the American Revolutionary War. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1778, and died in 1780.- Biography :Richardson served in the militia since 1757, and was a veteran of the Cherokee War...
captured Pearis and eight other Tory leaders. Pearis was kept in irons at Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
for nine months, after which he made his way to British West Florida
West Florida
West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...
. Pearis's house and plantation buildings were burned by Pearis's backcountry opponents in July 1776.
Pearis continued to serve with Loyalist forces during the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
during what amounted to a civil war along the frontier. After the fall of Augusta, Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
to the patriots in June 1781, Pearis was captured, and General Andrew Pickens
Andrew Pickens (congressman)
Andrew Pickens was a militia leader in the American Revolution and a member of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina.-Early life:...
saved Pearis's life "by putting him in a boat and sending him down river, away from the angry soldiers who would have killed him." Pearis’s land was confiscated by the state of South Carolina, and Pearis spent his remaining years as a planter in the Bahamas. He was more than amply compensated by the British government for South Carolina lands that, arguably, he had never legally owned.
North of contemporary Greenville, the locally prominent Paris Mountain and its Paris Mountain State Park
Paris Mountain State Park
Paris Mountain State Park is located five miles north of Greenville, South Carolina. The liberal arts college, Furman University, founded in 1826, is also located near the foot of the mountain. Activities available in the park include hiking, biking, swimming and picnicking. The Lake Placid...
take their name from Richard Pearis.