Loyalists

Chief among the business of the council was the command and administration of the provincial military force and issuing paper currency to finance military expenses.

He won a seat in the Provincial Congress in January 1775 and soon after sat on all important revolutionary committees. Drayton used his extensive powers to lead raids against the city’s royal post office and armories, thereby obtaining both crucial information regarding the intentions of the British Ministry and arms for the patriot forces.

In November 1775 Richardson and Colonel William Thomson were given command of 2,500 men and ordered to scatter the large concentration of Loyalists gathering in the South Carolina backcountry.

The siege of Charleston marked the commencement of major British operations in the South during the Revolutionary War.