Autograph document signed by William Snow to the Council of Safety. Broad River, [South Carolina], 24 December 1775. 1 page, 5 3/4 x 7 3/8 in. 

A payment request for an expedition against Loyalists, signed by Captains William Snow and Edward Plowden of the Craven County Regiment of Militia. The regiment was formed in February 1775 under the command of Colonel Job Rothmahler. In November 1775, the regiment was split into the Upper Craven County Regiment, under Colonel George Hicks, and the Lower Craven County Regiment under Rothmahler. 

Colonel Jonas Beard had directed the expedition of eleven men to go after the Loyalists in response to a command from Colonel Richards. Snow and Plowden asked that the sum of £4 be paid to Thomas Kennerly. 

South Carolina was divided in its reaction to the American Revolution, with the Lowcountry and Charleston favoring the Patriots and the Upcountry supporting the Loyalists. Both sides quickly raised militia forces. By September, a Patriot shadow government organization called the Council of Safety controlled Fort Johnson and Charleston. 

On 8 November 1775, the Council of Safety voted to send Colonel Richard Richardson (1704-1780), the commander of the Camden militia, to arrest Loyalist forces. He gathered additional Patriot militia as he marched from Charleston into the backcountry, eventually assembling a force between 4,000 and 5,000 strong. In mid-November, Loyalist forces surrounded an encampment of Patriots near Ninety-Six (a town in Greenwood County). After a siege of several days and some skirmishing, negotiations allowed the Patriots to leave their encampment and both sides withdrew. On December 22nd, Richardson's forces attacked a Loyalist Camp, killed 5-6 Loyalists, and captured about 136 prisoners. The expedition became known as the Snow Campaign due to the heavy snowfall experienced throughout. 

[Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] [Colonial America, 13 Colonies, Thirteen Colonies] [American Revolutionary War, American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, Colonial America]

Some toning, slight separations along old folds.