“W” is for Williamson, Andrew (ca. 1730-1786)

“W” is for Williamson, Andrew (ca. 1730-1786). Soldier. Williamson immigrated to Ninety Six District from his native Scotland. He was earning a living as a cattle driver by 1758 and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the South Carolina Provincial Regiment of Foot during the Cherokee War. An ardent patriot, he represented Ninety Six in the First and Second Provincial Congresses. In 1776 he was promoted to the rank of colonel and charged with conducting a punitive expedition against British-allied Native Americans on the frontier. The campaign subdued the Cherokees, who signed a treaty at Dewitt’s Corner in 1777, that ceded practically all of their lands in South Carolina. After the surrender of Charleston, Andrew Williamson took British protection and lived in the occupied city where he was a double agent for the Continental forces.