William Jasper

Background

Jasper was born c. 1750, in Georgetown, South Carolina, of humble and obscure parents.

Career

On July 7, 1775, Jasper enlisted in a company that was being recruited by Francis Marion for service in the 2nd South Carolina Infantry commanded by William Moultrie. His character and ability seem to have impressed his superior officers, for immediately upon his enlistment he was advanced to the grade of sergeant. In September 1775 he was assigned to duty with his company at Fort Johnson, where he remained, with the exception of a brief interval at Dorchester, South Carolina, until the spring of 1776. At the latter date he was transferred to Fort Sullivan (now Fort Moultrie), where he assisted in reinforcing and rebuilding the fortifications. During the bombardment by the British fleet under Sir Peter Parker, on June 28, 1776, he distinguished himself by recovering the flag after it had been shot from its staff and, in the face of a deadly fire, attaching it to a sponge-staff and remounting it upon the walls of the fort. For this act of rare bravery he was presented with a sword by Governor Rutledge and offered a commission which he declined on the ground that his lack of education would be an embarrassment to him as an officer. Moultrie then gave him a roving commission as a scout, a service for which his restless and adventurous character eminently fitted him. Holding this commission successively under Moultrie, Marion, and Lincoln, he made three trips into the British lines in Georgia, bringing back important information each time, and after the capture of Savannah by the British rendered valuable services as a scout in the Black Swamp and the morasses of the Coosawhatchie and the Tulifinnee. He accompanied D'Estaing and Lincoln in the assault upon Savannah in 1779 and was killed, on October 9, while planting the colors of the 2nd South Carolina Infantry upon the Spring Hill redoubt. Jasper's career has been made the subject of so much laudatory and fantastic writing that it is difficult to arrive at an accurate estimation of his character.

Achievements

• Jasper is best remembered as a noted American soldier in the Revolutionary War. He was a sergeant in the 2nd South Carolina Regiment.

Personality

As a scout Jasper was adventurous, trustworthy, and loyal, and "a perfect Proteus in ability to alter his appearance"; he could wear all disguises with admirable ease and dexterity; and he was equally as remarkable for his cunning as for his bravery.

References

• Sergeant William Jasper: An Address Delivered Before the Georgia Historical Society, in Savannah, Georgia, On the 3Rd of January, 1876
• The Life of Francis Marion: The True Story of South Carolina's Swamp Fox
• Memoirs of the American Revolution: So far as it Related to the States of North and South Carolina, and Georgia Volume 1-2