"Get Martinangel"

The Revolutionary War was a brutal and traumatic time for the entire country, but particularly so for Hilton Head and nearby Daufuskie Island's. Residents of Hilton Head Island were, to the last person, devoted to the cause of the Revolution, while the plantation owners of Daufuskie remained loyal to King George, and England. With the two islands less than a mile apart, this created a situation much like another, smaller, war; but no less cruel, and sponsoring atrocities hard to imagine today. Many times small groups from each island would find themselves in vicious skirmishes with each other, other times they would find themselves victims of clandestine operations, or ambushes.

One such occurrence took place, near the end of the hostilities; on October 22, 1781. Charles Davant was returning home from patrol, with a unit of South Carolina Militia, when they were ambushed by a patrol from Captain Martinangel's Royal Militia; from Daufuskie. Mortally wounded, Captain Davant managed to ride to his plantation "Two Oaks"; collapsing into the arms of Captain John Lecraft, a comrade, his dying words were; "Get Martinangel".

The following night Captain Lecraft quietly led a patrol, hand picked from his "Bloody Legion", to Daufuskie. Once on the island the crept, unnoticed, into the home of Martinangel, where they found the loyalist asleep, with his infant daughter beside him. Without a sound, the men cut Captain Martinangel's throat, killing him almost instantly. Nested in the soft feather mattress; the child almost drowned in her father's blood before her cries were heard, and she was rescued by servants. That child lived to adulthood, and through inheritance and shrewd business practices, eventually owned nearly every cotton and indigo plantation on Daufuskie Island. Captain Davant's remains were laid to rest in Zion Cemetery, now located at the corner of Mathews Drive and William Hilton Parkway, where his tombstone is inscribed with the name of his killer and his avenger.