Isaac Huger
Encyclopedia
Isaac Huger was a planter and Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...

 general during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

.

Life and work

Isaac Huger was born at Limerick plantation on the Cooper River (South Carolina)
Cooper River (South Carolina)
The Cooper River is a mainly tidal river in the U.S. state of South Carolina. These cities are located along the river, Mt. Pleasant, Charleston, North Charleston, Goose Creek and Hanahan. Short and wide, it is joined first by the blackwater East Branch, then farther downstream, the tidal Wando River...

, the second son of Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...

 merchant and planter Daniel and Mary Cordes Huger. The wealth of his family afforded young Isaac an education in Europe, along with his brothers. Huger began his military career by serving as an officer in Colonel Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson as among the most successful and prolific of playwrights who wrote their best plays during the Jacobean period. He was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in...

's Provincial South Carolina Regiment during the expedition against the Cherokees
Anglo-Cherokee War
The Anglo-Cherokee War , also known as the Cherokee War, the Cherokee Uprising, the Cherokee Rebellion, was a conflict between British forces in North America and Cherokee Indians during the French and Indian War...

 in 1761.

While serving as a representative for the parishes of St. Philip and St. Michael in the First Provincial Congress of South Carolina, Huger was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the South Carolina militia and later commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the 1st South Carolina Regiment
1st South Carolina Regiment
The 1st South Carolina Regiment was raised on June 6, 1775 at Charleston, South Carolina for service with the Continental Army. The regiment saw action at the Siege of Savannah and the Siege of Charleston. The regiment was captured at Charleston on May 12, 1780 together with the rest of the...

 on June 17, 1775. He was promoted to colonel on September 16, 1776, and appointed commander of the 5th South Carolina Regiment
5th South Carolina Regiment
The 5th South Carolina Regiment was raised on February 22, 1776 at Charleston, South Carolina for service with the Continental Army. The regiment saw action at the Siege of Savannah. The regiment was merged into the 1st South Carolina Regiment on February 11, 1780.-External links:* compiled by the...

. On January 9, 1779, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the Continental Army.

Brigadier General Huger fought and was wounded at the Battle of Stono Ferry
Battle of Stono Ferry
The Battle of Stono Ferry was an American Revolutionary War battle, fought on June 20, 1779, near Charleston, South Carolina. The rear guard from a British expedition retreating from an aborted attempt to take Charleston held off an assault by poorly-trained militia forces under American General...

 on June 20, 1779 and commanded the South Carolina and Georgia militia during the Siege of Savannah
Siege of Savannah
The Siege of Savannah or the Second Battle of Savannah was an encounter of the American Revolutionary War in 1779. The year before, the city of Savannah, Georgia, had been captured by a British expeditionary corps under Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell. The siege itself consisted of a joint...

 on October 9, 1779. During the siege of Charleston
Siege of Charleston
The Siege of Charleston was one of the major battles which took place towards the end of the American Revolutionary War, after the British began to shift their strategic focus towards the American Southern Colonies. After about six weeks of siege, Continental Army Major General Benjamin Lincoln...

 in the spring of 1780, he was placed in command of the light horse and militia outside the city. A surprise attack by Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton
Banastre Tarleton
General Sir Banastre Tarleton, 1st Baronet, GCB was a British soldier and politician.He is today probably best remembered for his military service during the American War of Independence. He became the focal point of a propaganda campaign claiming that he had fired upon surrendering Continental...

's forces routed and dispersed Huger's troops at Monck's Corner on the morning of April 14, 1780. Illness kept Huger from capture with the surrender of Charleston, and he later rejoined the Southern army under Major General Horatio Gates
Horatio Gates
Horatio Lloyd Gates was a retired British soldier who served as an American general during the Revolutionary War. He took credit for the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga – Benedict Arnold, who led the attack, was finally forced from the field when he was shot in the leg – and...

 in North Carolina.

He was present when Major General Nathanael Greene
Nathanael Greene
Nathanael Greene was a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. When the war began, Greene was a militia private, the lowest rank possible; he emerged from the war with a reputation as George Washington's most gifted and dependable officer. Many places in the United...

 took command of the Southern Department in Charlotte later in December. Greene detached his light forces to the western parts of South Carolina and moved his regulars to a camp in the Cheraws, with Huger as his second-in-command. After the brilliant American victory at Cowpens
Battle of Cowpens
The Battle of Cowpens was a decisive victory by Patriot Revolutionary forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War...

, Huger was entrusted by Greene to lead the command posted in the Cheraws to rejoin the detached light forces in North Carolina. At the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on March 15, 1781, he commanded a brigade of Virginia Continental regiments and was slightly wounded in action. Commanding the same brigade at the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill
Battle of Hobkirk's Hill
The Battle of Hobkirk's Hill was a battle of the American Revolutionary War fought on April 25, 1781, near Camden, South Carolina...

 on April 25, Huger initially stood his ground after the unanticipated withdrawal of the right wing of the American line. With the retreat of the British from the interior to Charleston, General Huger was reunited with his family and returned to his home, ending his combative service.

Isaac Huger represented St. George Dorchester in the Jacksonborough Assembly in January 1782 and served in the legislature until his election as Sheriff of Charleston District in 1785. Familial ties led to his appointment as the first federal marshal for South Carolina in 1789, a position which he held for five years. Isaac Huger married Elizabeth Chalmers on March 23, 1762 and was the father of eight children. He died in Charleston.
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