It was the first armed conflict of the Revolution in South Carolina. In September, members of the Hilton Head militia aboard South Carolina scout boats and a Georgia Navy schooner seized a shipment of gunpowder destined for Savannah to aid Loyalist militia and Indian allies. In 1775, the Council of Safety for the Colony of South Carolina tasked the Beaufort District militia with preventing and seizing any shipments to or from the lower coastal ports (Beaufort and Savannah) that might aid the British cause. Hilton Head was a Patriot stronghold from the beginning. While Beaufort had a well-entrenched Loyalist base, the Savannah population had vacillating loyalties, and enclaves along the May River and Daufuskie Island were Tories. As the economy of South Carolina was the richest in the entire British Empire at the time, the Lowcountry planters were the most heavily taxed, and revolutionary sentiments developed early and deeply in the Port Royal Sound area. The planters of indigo on the sea islands of Georgia and South Carolina were among the richest men in the Colonies in the days prior to the American Revolution. Story by Richard Thomas HHI versus Great Britain
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