Isaac Hayne

Who was Isaac Hayne?

Isaac Hayne He was one of the most prominent Americans to be executed by the British during the American War of Independence.

At the beginning of the War of Independence Hayne jouned the rebellion, and was a commissioned a captain of artillery, and at the same time state senator. In 1780, on the invasion of the state by the British, he served in a cavalry regiment during the final siege of Charleston, and, being included in the capitulation of that place, was paroled on condition that he would not serve against the British while they held possession of Charlton.

When in 1781 the fortunes of the British began to decline, he, with all the others who were paroled on the same terms, was required to join the royal army or be subjected to close confinement. Hayne would gladly have accepted imprisonment, but his wife and several of his children lay at the point of death from small-pox. He went to Charleston, and, being assured by the deputy British commandant, Patterson, that he would not be required to bear arms against his former compatriots, took the oath of allegiance. After the successes of General Greene had left the British nothing but Charleston, Hayne was summoned to join the royal army immediately. This, being in violation of the agreement that had been made, he considered that this released him from all his obligations to the British. He went to the American camp, and was commissioned colonel of a militia company.