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| The Pinckney house in Charleston, South Carolina Here lived from 1769 the noted Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, after his return from school at Westminster and Oxford. When the Revolution began he discontinued his practice of law and led a provincial regiment. For two years he was one of Washingon's aidesde-camp. In 1780 his wife was evicted from the mansion by British troops when Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis occupied the town. The history of his dwelling-place terminated in December, 1861. A fire began on a wharf by the Cooper River, where some Negroes were cooking their supper. It was blown into a hay store near by; it then spread swiftly before the gale to the banks of the Ashley, leaving behind nothing but a smoking wilderness of ruins. The Pinckney mansion stood in its path. The able-bodied men of the town were in service or drilling in the camps at the race-course, and little could be done to check its course till it reached the Ashley River. |
