Attachment_B_NISI_Graphic_Layouts_012024-final.pdf

MARSHA P. JOHNSON

STATE PARK

Signage and Exhibits

30 PCT Design

October 16, 2020

NINETY SIX

NATIONAL

HISTORIC SITE

Production Design 2

Graphic Layouts January 11, 2024

Attachment B

2Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

DESIGN SUMMARY

The exhibit will occupy a 525 sf gallery with a 10’ ceiling. The gallery has one entryway, no windows, a ceiling fan, and two fire safety elements:

exit signage and a fire extinguisher. The entryway is inside the historic site’s gift shop, left of the main information desk. It stands directly opposite to an identical entryway that leads into a theater where visitors can view a film about historic events at Ninety Six.

The pathway of the exhibit follows a horseshoe around a central element. The central element is a tactile scale model of the Star Fort as it appeared on June 18, 1781, the day the historic siege transitioned into battle and ultimately ended. The model also includes the siegeworks, stockaded Town of Ninety Six, and Fort Ninety Six, also known as Williamson’s Fort.

The perimeter is composed of three continuous elements: a backdrop mural, wall display, and interactive reader rail. The mural presents an evolving context for the events of Ninety Six, from the 1740s - 1780s. The wall display over the mural is a collage of objects, images, and graphic panels, organized into five visually-identifiable themes that present the people and powers involved in the events of Ninety Six. The reader rail also adheres to the themes and offers interactive and other deeper explorations of them.

In three places, the continuous elements are punctuated by stand-out displays. In each, a single object demonstrates how different groups of people may have seen the events of Ninety Six differently. These displays are set on tables visitors can walk around, and that feature a design element that references the Star Fort. The design gesture indicates that interaction between peoples is an important aspect of the history of Ninety Six.

Altogether, including the central and punctuating elements, there are eight thematic areas that organize the exhibit while allowing for self-directed navigation. They are:

01 Introduction

02 Backcountry

03 Crossroads

04 Village

05 Nations

06 Battleground

07 Legacy

08 Many Sides

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GRAPHIC LAYOUTS

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IN THIS DOCUMENT

v

ROBERT GOUEDY’S TRADING POST

On foot or at posts like Gouedy’s, Cherokees traded deerskins for European manufactured goods.

Robert Griffing, Paramount Press Inc.

loyalist pr isoner :

zachar ias gi bb s

Captain Gibbs was captured in February, 1779. He was sentenced to hang but was held instead for a whole year in an overcrowded cell with a view of others’ hangings.

Non-rectangular graphic files have visible pink cutlines in this document. These are for graphic production, and do not print. Cutfiles are not visible in rectangular graphics.

5Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

GRAPHIC STYLES

Pantone 127C

Pantone 424C

Pantone 188C Pantone 7456C

Pantone 7527C

Loyalist Red Patriot Blue

Pantone 295C Pantone 7562 C White

Pantone 4625C Black

Color Palette Swatches

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GRAPHIC STYLES

Typefaces and key use sizes

Gill Sans SemiBold 72 pt

Garamond Premier Pro Bold Subhead 36 pt

Garamond Premier Pro Bold Subhead 36 pt small caps

Garamond Premier Pro Medium 36 pt

Gill Sans SemiBold 18 pt

Gill Sans Regular 18 pt

Gill Sans Italic 14 pt

Garamond Premier Pro Caption 48 pt

TITLE

Subheading paragraph intro

CAPTION TITLE

Image credit

Main quote

Body copy for main text

Caption copy

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01 INTRODUCTION

Objectives

• Announce the exhibit to visitors in the gift shop

• Inspire visitors to enter the exhibit

• Introduce the exhibit and provide a starting point

• Clearly communicate that Ninety Six is an American Revolutionary War site

• Pique visitors’ interest in what happened here

Interpretive Summary This section invites people into the exhibit and introduces its principal themes. It is composed of a gateway leading from the gift shop, and an introductory kiosk.

The gateway clearly states that this is a Revolutionary War site, but the kiosk raises questions right away by offering examples of everyday tools as evidence of conflict.

The idea is that there is much more to war than soldiers firing bullets, and Ninety Six is a good place to explore that fact. Meanwhile, the introductory kiosk also creates a pause moment. It positions visitors to survey the entire exhibit from this first step inside and especially consider the element directly in their view, which is a tactile scale model of the Star Fort and its surroundings on the morning of June 18, 1781 (see thematic section 06 Battleground).

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01 INTRODUCTION

GL 01-02-100

Intro Text Panel 23.5” W X 10” H shown at 50% of actual size

TOOLS OF WAR

Loyalists with enslaved laborers built a massive fort from soil and forest materials.

Patriots dug trenches and a tunnel to approach it. Both needed shovels, pickaxes, and other tools as much as they needed guns, cannons, and other weapons.

Touch the replica pickaxe. How would you feel using it under fire in the summer heat of South Carolina?

NINETY SIX

Two tests of American loyalties two battles were fought at Ninety Six in the American Revolutionary War. The first was during the first months of the war in 1775. Neighbors fought against neighbors at a makeshift fort. On one side, neighbors remained faithful to England. On the other, they supported a risky rebellion.

The second battle was in 1781. It was a monumental conflict at a star-shaped fort, following the longest land siege of the war. Major General Nathanael Greene commanded the patriot army outside the fort. Lieutenant Colonel John Harris Cruger commanded the British loyalists inside it. The soldiers on both sides were colonists. They were rebels versus loyalists struggling to define the future of our nation.

9Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

02 BACKCOUNTRY

Objectives

• Describe the setting of the Backcountry as it relates to Ninety Six

• Show how certain natural resources helped shape the events of Ninety Six

Interpretive Summary To truly understand the story of Ninety Six, it is important to recognize what South Carolina was like at the time, and how people perceived and valued it. This section introduces this notion, and especially focuses on the red clay under the area’s ground cover, and the white tailed deer in the forests.

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GL 02-01-010

Wall Mural 71.53”W X 95”H

IM 02-01-011

shown at 6% of actual size

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GL 02-01-001

Reader Rail Background 63.73”W” X 18.54” H shown at 15% of actual size

GL 02-01-011

Dimensional Title Backer 60” W X 8” H shown at 15% of actual size

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BACKCOUNTRY

Once a wilderness rich with resources this place was once a wilderness. Hunter-gatherers came as early as 9,000 BCE. Over time, it became home to Cherokees, Catawbas, and other Native Americans.

Later it became home to European immigrants.

The soil here is a dense red clay. The forest had enormous trees and many edible and medicinal plants. Its white-tailed deer were important to Native Americans and colonists. They traded deerskins throughout the 1700s. During the Revolution, armies used the clay soil to build battlements.

GEORGE HUNTER’S MAP, 1731 (cropped) Royal Governor Arthur Middleton sent George Hunter to map the Cherokee Path. On his map, Ninety Six is ninety-six miles from the Cherokee town of Keowee. It is written as a number, 96. This is the first known appearance of Ninety Six on a map. Some people say it is the origin of the town’s name.

South Carolina State Library, South Carolina State Documents Depository

GL 02-01-100

Backcountry 18.5” W X 29.5” H shown at 30% of actual size

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R E D C L AY

The soil in the Backcountry is red because it has iron in it. Colonists found it good for farming flax, hemp, indigo and other crops. Its density made it hard for soldiers and enslaved laborers to dig during the Revolutionary War.

GL 02-01-200

Red Clay 12.5” W X 11.75” H shown at 40% of actual size

IM 02-01-201 - photo

WHITE-TAILED DEER

cherokee people living in the Backcountry since at least 1400 CE relied on white-tailed deer for leather and other uses. This changed in the 1700s when they began trading deer hides with European immigrants. By the mid- 1700s the hides were one of South Carolina’s largest exports. Europe became tied to the Cherokees. Cherokee society changed forever.

The deer population declined until South Carolina restocked it in the mid-1900s.

DEER CLAN

Many Cherokee people identify with one of seven matrilineal clans.

One of these is the Deer Clan, Ani-kawi. Ani-kawi may have its origins in Kawi-yi. Kawi-yi is the name of two former Cherokee towns in present day North and South Carolina.

As the Cherokee creator of this artwork explains, “Members of the Deer Clan were historically known as fast runners and hunters. Even though they hunted game for subsistence, they respected and cared for the animals while they were living amongst them. They were also known as messengers on an earthly level, delivering messages from village to village, or person to person.”

John Guthrie

GL 02-01-300

Deer 14” W X 23.5” H shown at 40% of actual size

IM 01-01-102 -

antlers icon

IM 02-01-301 -

painting

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CAROLINA, 1732

England claimed it owned the Carolinas. The Carolinas reached west to the Appalachian Mountains. Near the mountains, there were many Cherokee villages.

Herman Moll Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division

TOWN OF NINETY SIX

PELT

Cherokee tanners stripped the pelts after the hunt.

FROM LIVING THING TO LUXURY LEATHER

Although Cherokee people made garments and goods from deerskin, Europeans shipped the material to make their own. Typically a Cherokee hunter killed a deer to trade. A Cherokee tanner then stripped its pelt and cleaned and tanned

it. A Cherokee trader then brought the hide to

Gouedy’s or another European trading post at Ninety Six. A European trader took the hide from here to Charleston, where it was then shipped to England or another port.

Merchants there brought it to a manufacturer to be processed into gloves or other goods.

HIDE

Cherokee tanners soaked and cleaned the pelts of their fur.

Touch each item. Feel how a pelt becomes a sale item.

SOFTENED HIDE

Cherokee tanners scraped the hides and dried them in the sun.

DEERSKIN GLOVE

Cherokees made deerskin gloves, but in the trade, deerskin was processed into goods abroad.

GL 02-01-400

Carolina 1732 Focus 22” W X 14” H shown at 30% of actual size

IM 02-01-401 - map

GL 02-01-500

Deerskin Focus 25” W X 14” H

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03 CROSSROADS

Objectives

• Highlight key elements and traditions of Cherokee society in the 1700s

• Emphasize the importance of the deerskin trade to the Cherokee Nation

• Show that relations between Cherokee people and European settlers were complex and sometimes confrontational

• Show how tensions eventually ignited in the French and Indian War, and how that contributed to the American Revolutionary War

• Demonstrate that the Ninety Six Historical Site includes a portion of the Cherokee Path

Interpretive Summary This thematic section explains that Cherokee people engaged in direct contact with European emigrants in the Ninety Six region, especially through the deerskin trade. It posits that such relations began with misunderstandings, continued with mistrust on both sides for decades, and at times erupted in violence, including in the French and Indian War and twice at the first Fort Ninety Six: the fortified property of Robert Gouedy.

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MURAL

GL 03-01-010

Mural 116.5”W X 95”H

IM 03-01-011

shown at 6% of actual size

GL 03-02-010

Mural Continuation 97.19”W X 95”H

IM 03-02-011

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GL 03-01-001

Reader Rail Background 66.27”W” W X 18.54” H shown at 15% of actual size

GL 03-01-011

Dimensional Title Backer 52” W X 8” H

18Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024 cherokees, creeks, catawbas, and other Native American tribes traded with each other across the Southeast. Coastal tribes traded seashells and other goods as far west as Tennessee. Interior tribes traded deer pelts and other goods all the way to Florida.

Traders traveled over extensive footpaths.

Europeans began traveling the paths in the late 1600s.

Native Americans traded with them as well. By the mid- 1700s the area of Ninety Six was a busy crossroads.

Here, mostly Cherokee people traded with Europeans.

They exchanged deerskins for manufactured items and sometimes worldly possessions.

Trade routes and cultures intersect

CROSSROADS

GL 03-01-100

Crossroads Panel 14” W X 23.5” H shown at 40% of actual size

IM-03-01-100 star icon

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CHEROKEE-ENGLISH

TENSIONS

Treaties, lies and misunderstandings roughly 15,000 cherokees lived near Ninety Six in the 1700s. They lived in some 50 settlements. The Cherokees were unified by language. However, each settlement had its own government, economic interests, and dialect. Likewise, British colonists lived in different towns with different governments.

Their interests sometimes competed.

Cherokee and colonial leaders made agreements. They regulated trade. They offered protections. They acknowledged land boundaries. But different individuals and groups saw such treaties in different ways. For example, in 1757 the Chota town leader Connecorte visited Fort Loudon. He complained that colonists abused their trade. He called all the Papers from Carolina “nothing but lies.” In the midst of such confusion, both colonists and Cherokees defended what they believed was theirs. Often, this escalated into raids and massacres on both sides.

TRADE ROUTES

The Cherokee Path was the prime route of the Cherokee deerskin trade. It was more than 300 miles long. It connected Keowee and other Cherokee towns to Charleston, and it crossed several other trade routes that were later used by marching armies. You can walk on the path in the park today.

Jaques Nicolas Bellin, 1764, Library of Congress, Geography and Maps Division

Island Ford Road

Path to Muscogee Nation

Cherokee Path

Path from Charleston to the Creek Nation

Road from Augusta, Georgia to Fredericksburg (Camden)

Road from Ninety Six to Augusta, Georgia

MAP KEYTOWN OF NINETY SIX

GL 03-01-200

Cherokee-English Tensions 18.5” W X 29.5” H shown at 30% of actual size

IM 03-01-200 star icon

IM 03-01-601 map

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VESSEL

Reconstructed clay vessel, fragments were found at the site of the original town of Ninety Six

This vessel’s construction matches known Indigenous styles. Its location here suggests wide-reaching trade activities occurred among the settlers of the area and Native Americans.

NPS archaeology collection

TEACUP AND SAUCER, 1700s Ceramic

Fine tableware like this was not made in the Backcountry. It must have arrived here by trade, possibly as part of the deerskin trade.

NPS archaeology collection

GL 03-01-301

Object label Vessel 6” W X 3.5” H shown at 100% of actual size

GL 03-01-401

Object label Teacup and Saucer 5” W X 3.5” H shown at 100% of actual size

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CATAWBA DEERSKIN MAP, c .1721 This is one of the few surviving maps made by Native American people of the time in the present-day Southeast U.S. It is focused on relations rather than geography. On it, the Catawba town of Nassaw is at the center of a trade network. The network links several Native American groups between Charleston and Virginia. The long Cherokee Path to Charleston is at the top. The Path is accessible from the Ninety Six National Historic Site today.

Library of Congress, Geography and Maps Division

GL 03-01-700

Object label - trade goods 8” W X 3.5” H shown at 60% of actual size

GL 03-01-600

Catawba map 25” W X 14” H shown at 35% of actual size

IM 03-01-600 - map

TRADE OBJECTS

Pipe stem (stone), pipe bowl (kaolin), trade beads, and oyster shell and fragments, found at the sites of the original town of Ninety Six, the Jail, and Holmes Fort

Look at the deerskin map to the right and imagine how Indigenous trade networks might have brought these items to Ninety Six.

NPS archeology collection

22Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024 tensions between Cherokees and British colonists increased. England began constructing forts throughout the Backcountry. Most were crudely built stockades around existing farms and other properties.

One was Robert Gouedy’s. Gouedy was a trader in the Cherokee Lower Towns. He purchased land along the Cherokee Path in 1751. He established a trading post and expanded it. Soon his property included several plantations worked by enslaved Africans.

When British colonists murdered a group of Cherokee hunters in 1758, Royal Governor William Henry Lyttleton sent supplies from Gouedy’s as a peace offering, but relations only worsened. Virginia bounty hunters killed several more Cherokees.

Cherokees took colonist lives in revenge. Meanwhile, rumors spread that the Cherokees were planning to attack the colonies with the French, in the west.

Lyttleton ordered Gouedy’s property stockaded in November 1759 as Fort Ninety Six. Three months later, Cherokee warriors attacked it twice.

ROBERT GOUEDY

A trading post becomes Fort Ninety Six

“240 or 250 Indians attacked the fort...and fired upon it for 36 Hours, without scarce any intermission.”

— S O U T H C A R O L I N A G A Z E T T E , 1 7 6 0

GL 03-02-100

Robert Gouedy 14” W X 23.5” H shown at 35% of actual size

IM-03-01-200 Star icon

23Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024 france valued relations with the Cherokees as much as England did. The French had settlements in the Ohio region. By the 1750s they had exhausted the beaver trade there. They turned their attention to the Cherokees in the Southeast. Some Cherokee leaders favored the British. They did so even as colonists pushed into their territory. Others favored France.

They sometimes raided English villages.

England declared war on France in 1756 over their colonial interests. The two nations clashed around the globe. In America, Native Americans joined the conflict on both sides, though greater numbers sided with the French. Most of the fighting was farther north but its effects rippled throughout the Backcountry. This inspired Cherokee attacks on several forts. South Carolina residents often retaliated.

THE FRENCH AND

INDIAN WAR

Further pressures on relations in the backcountry

GL 03-02-200

F&I War 14” W X 23.5” H shown at 35% of actual size

IM-03-01-200 Star icon

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“ There shal l be a perpetual peace and perfect good understanding betwixt his Majesty King George’s subjects of South Carolina and the Nation of Indians cal led Cherokees.”

—FIRST OF SEVENTEEN ARTICLES OF TREATY,

NOVEMBER 26, 1751

GL 03-02-400

Quote 14” W X 8.25” H shown at 45% of actual size

GL 03-02-300

Seventeen Articles 14” W X 13.5” H shown at 45% of actual size

IM 03-02-401 - treaty se v en teen articles of tr e at y, nov em ber 26, 1751

Cherokee and other tribal leaders signed this with Royal Governor James Glen in Charleston, in 1751. It ended the “Panic of 1751.” This was a period of tensions and violence between Cherokees, Creeks, South Carolina, and Virginia. But the origins of the Panic date back to at least 1730 or 1746. In both years Cherokee leaders and Royal authorities reached agreements that were quickly broken. Similarly, the Treaty of 1751 did not last.

University of South Carolina Libraries James Glen Papers

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DUTCH MUSKET

Wood and metal

A musket like this one might have belonged to a European colonist. It was a common type of firearm in the Backcountry at this time.

McGee Collection

GL 03-02-502

Object label - Dutch musket

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GL 03-02-001

Reader Rail Background 52.68”W” W X 18.54” H shown at 25% of actual size

IM 03-01-200

Star icon

THE DEERSKIN

TRADE

Flip the pages to see a worldwide business centered in South Carolina.

BACK UP THE PATH

European traders headed back up the Cherokee Path to sell guns, kettles, and other goods from England.

Robert Griffing, Paramount Press Inc.

v

IM 03-02-706 (Last page of GL 03-02-700 Flipbook) is printed on GL 03-02-001 Reader Rail Background

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GET IT AT GOUEDY’S

Robert Gouedy’s store was the supercenter of Ninety Six.

Cherokee and European shoppers found almost all their needs there. The store was just one of Gouedy’s ventures.

Robert Gouedy was an influential person in the Backcountry.

Touch the replica items.

What would you pay for these if the next closest seller was at least a two-day journey from here?

SCISSORS NEEDLE AND THREAD AXE HEAD

GL 03-02-600

Trade Items 25” W X 14” H

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Flipbook pages 12.5” W X 9.79” H each shown at 30% of actual size

GL 03-02-700

IM 03-02-700

FPO

GL 03-02-703

IM 03-02-703

GL 03-02-701

IM 03-02-701

GL 03-02-704

IM 03-02-704

GL 03-02-702

IM 03-02-702

GL-03-02-705

IM 03-02-705

Note: Flipbook pages are single sided.

Double sided HPL printing is not available at this thickness. Back of panel will be black HPL.

IN CHEROKEE TERRITORY

Cherokees hunted deer and removed, cleaned, and tanned the hides.

FPO

TBD, The People’s Path

FROM CHARLESTON

Ships carried more than 50,000 hides per year out of Charleston.

Courtesy of Old Salem Museums & Gardens v

ROBERT GOUEDY’S TRADING POST

On foot or at posts like Gouedy’s, Cherokees traded deerskins for European manufactured goods.

Robert Griffing, Paramount Press Inc.

TO ENGLAND

Ships loaded with hides arrived at ports in England.

George D. Heumann, 1691–1759, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

FROM THE BACKCOUNTRY

Europeans carried the deerskins to Charleston on the Cherokee Path.

Library of Congress, Geography and Maps Division

CONSUMER MARKET

The hides made their way to shoemakers, bookbinders, and others.

Denis Diderot, Les Archives Digitales, Alamy

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04 VILLAGE

Objectives

• Show what life was like in Ninety Six for European colonists and enslaved Africans

• Demonstrate the unique conditions in Backcountry life, including its distance from Charleston

• Describe the Regulator Movement and its role in bringing prominence to Ninety Six

Interpretive Summary This thematic section shows how people of European descent arrived in the Backcountry, staked their claims, and built homes and a society far from the coast and its Royal Carolina government.

After a home-grown police force arose to fight crime, the government established districts in the Backcountry and had a jail and courthouse built at Ninety Six. This gave the town prominence and helped make it a strategic point in the Revolution.

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MURAL

GL 04-01-010

Mural 144.12”W X 95”H

IM 04-01-011

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GL 04-01-001

Reader Rail Background 89”W” X 18.54” H shown at 15% of actual size

GL 04-01-011

Dimensional Title Backer 30.22” W X 8” H

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EUROPEAN EMIGRANTS, 18TH CENTURY

A family with an ox-drawn cart stops on the Island Ford Road to talk with a farmer. Like other roads in the Backcountry, the Island Ford Road was a Native American footpath that had been widened for wagon traffic.

Ninety Six NHS Collection

NEW ARRIVALS

Emigrants came on a contract with the Crown beginning in 1740, the British Crown funded the settlement of poor white people in “the frontier part of this Province.” This was according to Act 669 of the South Carolina Assembly. Those who accepted came from other colonies and Europe. The Crown gave them land, livestock, and tools. In exchange, they paid taxes and promised to protect South Carolina from “negroes” and “savages.”

The emigrants came for abundant game and trade. They steadily populated the area. Their numbers especially grew after the Cherokees signed a treaty in 1761, following two attacks at Fort Ninety Six. By the time the Revolution arose, European emigrants had settled a place far remote from both England and Charleston.

GL 04-01-100

New Arrivals 18.5” W X 29.5” H shown at 30% of actual size

IM 04-01-110 wheel icon

IM 04-01-100 horse cart

33Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024 t ypical hom e

Most colonists lived in a one-room log cabin with clay floors, pine shingle roofs, rough wood shutters, and a stone chimney. Such homes were scattered for miles near small creeks that provided water.

GL 04-01-210

Typical Home 14” W X 10.25” H shown at 50% of actual size

IM 04-01-210 cabin

GL 04-01-200

Quote 10.25” W X 14” H shown at 15% of actual size

“A man can stand in his door and kil l more game than would be sufficient to support two families.”

—ANTHONY PARK, BLACKSMITH,

CONSTABLE, AND MILITIA

WAGONMASTER, 1750s

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GL 04-01-301

Object Label - Bowl 5” W X 3.5” H shown at 100% of actual size

GL 04-01-401

Object Label - Plate, Fork and Knife 5” W X 3.5” H shown at 100% of actual size

HANDMADE BOWL

Reconstructed clay

Most Backcountry emigrants were subsistence farmers. A few held enslaved Africans for various purposes. The handmade nature of this bowl suggests it was made by an enslaved African.

NPS archaeology collection

PLATE, FORK AND KNIFE

Bone, metal and reconstructed ceramic

Most colonists had wooden dinnerware. Some had specialty items like these. They typically ate beans, turnips, collards, hominy, and other vegetables. Sometimes they also ate venison, beef, and bacon cooked in a hearth.

NPS archaeology collection

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HEAR A JAW HARP

The jaw harp first came to the Backcountry in the 1700s. European colonists traded them with Native Americans. Soldiers in the Revolution sometimes carried them in their pockets. Imagine yourself as a soldier. Would you want music with you?

Press to hear a traditional English country dance on the jaw harp and coopered drum.

In the Fields of Frost and Snow Performed by Wayne Hill and Stephen Christoff

Courtesy of Colonial WilliamsburgAlexander Sobol, Shutterstock Images

GL 04-01-600

Hear a Jaw Harp interactive 12” W X 14” H shown at 50% of actual size

IM 04-01-600 Jaw Harp

Button

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GL 04-01-500

Object Label - Everyday Life 5.3” W X 4.5” H shown at 100% of actual size

GL 04-01-700

Object Label - Work Items 5.5” W X 4” H shown at 100% of actual size

EVERYDAY LIFE

Colonists made most of their own belongings. They only purchased goods when they could afford them.

1. Teapot spout, Ceramic

2. Comb, Horn

3. Toothbrush, Wood

4. Dice, Bone

5. Jaw Harp, Iron

All items come from NPS archaeology collection

WORK AND PRODUCTIVITY

Most Backcountry colonists worked their own farms. They even combed their own plant fibers to make textiles. On some larger plantations, enslaved Africans did the work.

Colonists who raised horses and cattle for sale marked them with branding irons.

1. Hackle, Wood and iron

2. Branding iron, Iron

All items come from NPS archaeology collection

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THE REGULATORS

Far from Charleston, the Backcountry made its own law and order.

there was no local government in the Backcountry.

Disputes were frequent. So was robbery, looting, and vandalism.

To bring “justice,” groups of vigilantes pursued and punished anyone they deemed a criminal. This included anyone from bandits to women they proclaimed immoral. The vigilantes were known as the Regulators.

By 1767 there were thousands of Regulators. They formed an organization and made Ninety Six their headquarters. The South Carolina Assembly grew concerned and passed the Circuit Court Act of 1769. This sectioned the province into judicial districts.

Ninety Six was one of them. Its county seat was the Town of Ninety Six. Like the other county seats, Ninety Six was given a jail and courthouse. The Regulators faded away but Ninety Six became an important place in a valuable territory.

HORSE THIEVERY

Horse thievery was common in the Backcountry. Sometimes it ended in murder. There was no official law and order. Vigilantes, called Regulators, enforced their own version of it. They decided who the criminals were.

They apprehended and punished those people.

Ninety Six NHS Collection

GL 04-01-800

The Regulators 18.5” W X 29.5” H shown at 30% of actual size

IM 04-01-810 Wheel icon

IM 04-01-811 Horse illustration

38Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024 th e ni net y six jai l

The Regulator Movement caused turmoil. In response, the South Carolina Assembly passed the Circuit Court Act of 1769. The Act provided for the construction of a jail. It was the first brick building in the area. It gave Ninety Six a sense of permanence and importance.

Park archeologists have found and marked its location.

GL 04-01-900

Jail 14” W X 10.25” H shown at 50% of actual size

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HORSE BIT AND STIRRUP

Iron

This bit fit in a horse’s mouth and attached to reins for steering. The stirrup held a rider’s boot. Most colonists had horses, and some kept dozens for sale or trade. All were vulnerable to horse thievery, which was common in the mid-1700s.

All items come from NPS archaeology collection

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Object Label - Horse Bit

39Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

DRAW THE LINES

When the South Carolina Assembly passed the Circuit Court Act of 1769, it drew lines across the map of the Royal Province. The lines designated seven judicial districts. Each district was given a jail and courthouse in its county seat town. Prior to the Act, the Regulators—a vigilante police force —kept their version of law and order in the Backcountry. Now the Town of Ninety Six would have a court and jail.

The Act transformed the Backcountry.

It clarified its value to the Crown.

It ushered in an era of increased European immigration.

a courtroom scene

Before 1769, the nearest court was in Charleston.

Backcountry residents had to settle disputes on their own. The Circuit Court Act brought law, order, and prominence to Ninety Six.

Slide the slider to see the districts created by the Circuit Court Act of 1769.

No boundaries

Boundaries

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Mechanical interactive 25” W X 14” H shown at 50% of actual size

IM 04-01-911

Courtroom

40Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

Catawba Reservation

Ninety Six

Charleston

CHEROKEES

Before the circuit court act of 1769 Would you have walked six days to Charleston to settle a legal dispute?

Eastern section of the Cherokee Path

Catawba Reservation

Ninety Six

Charleston

CHEROKEES

Indian

B ou nd ar y

Camden Long Bluff

Georgetown Orangeburgh

NINETY SIX CHERAWSCAMDEN

GEORGETOWN

ORANGEBURGH

CHARLESTON

BEAUFORT

Beaufort

After the circuit court act of 1769 Now there are districts. Each has a courthouse, including Ninety Six.

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Mechanical interactive - slider 15.5” W X 7.5” H shown at 50% of actual size

IM 04-01-902 before IM 04-01-903 after

41Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

05 NATIONS

Objectives

• Demonstrate the value of the Backcountry in a global context

• Describe how nations persuaded people, and to what effect

• Present the 1775 battle, Southern Campaign, Star Fort siege and battle, and destruction of Ninety Six

• Demonstrate that decision-making in major conflicts is complex and personal

• Show that some people did not have the luxury of choice

Interpretive Summary This section presents the two battles that took place at Ninety Six in 1775 and 1781.

While it focuses on how established and emerging global powers challenged one another for dominance here, it emphasizes human experiences, including that people in town chose and sometimes swapped allegiances for personal reasons.

It also highlights that part of what makes Ninety Six unique is its enduring ability to demonstrate the importance of military engineering in battle. Two computer interactives appear in this section; one is about people’s choices, the other engineering.

42Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

MURAL

GL 05-01-010

Mural 202.31”W X 95”H

IM 05-01-011

43Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

GL 05-01-001

Reader Rail Background (left) 42.57”W” W X 18.54” H shown at 15% of actual size

GL 05-01-002

Reader Rail Background (right) 66.42”W” W X 18.54” H shown at 15% of actual size

GL 05-01-011

Dimensional Title Backer 36.13” W X 8” H

44Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024 in january, 1775 a committee in Charleston began promoting a revolution. It also raised militias to fight

it. Some people in the Backcountry joined. Greater numbers enlisted with loyalist militias also forming.

One loyalist militia intercepted a wagon of ammunition on November 3. Rumors spread that the patriots were arming the Cherokees.

Soon after, Major Andrew Williamson led his patriots to build a small fort near Ninety Six. Meanwhile, loyalists led by Major Joseph Robinson occupied the jail and courthouse in town. On November 19, loyalists captured two patriot guards outside Williamson’s Fort. The two sides clashed for three days. A truce ended the fighting with only one life lost per side. The South was now at war and divided against itself.

The Revolution’s first battle on Southern soil, November 19-21, 1775

THE BATTLE OF

WILLIAMSON’S FORT

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1775 battle 14” W X 17.75” H shown at 40% of actual size

IM 05-01-100

star fort icon all th e hor ror s of a civ i l war

In February, 1776, Lady’s Magazine of London described a civil war at Williamson’s Fort. Patrick Cunningham had “declared for his Majesty and Great Britain against the rebels” who had “taken possession of a stockade fort” under “Col. Williamson.”

“By a letter from Savannah, in Georgia, dated Nov. 29, 1775, we are informed, that the province of South Carolina is involved in all the horrors of a civil war.”

“A Col. Williamson, with 1200 men first arriving, took possession of a Stockade Fort, where he was instantly besieged by Cunningham with his party.”

Ninety Six NHS collection

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Lady’s Magazine 14” W X 7.63” H shown at 40% of actual size

IM 05-01-102 - Lady’s magazine cover IM 05-01-101 - page detail

45Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024 the southern campaign

The Siege of Ninety Six was part of the Southern Campaign. England focused its war effort in the north until October 17, 1778. When the Continental Army won at Saratoga, NY, the British looked South. Here, loyalty to the Crown was more popular. Initially, the British won victories at Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC. The new British strategy looked promising, but things turned in the Backcountry. A patriot combination of traditional and guerilla military tactics outwitted loyalist armies. It also disrupted supply lines. Soon the British could only see defeat.

C hesapeake Bay

A P P A L A C H I A N

M O

U N

TA

I N

S

V I R G I N I A

N O RT H C A R O L I N A

S O U T H C A R O L I N A

G E O R G I A

NPS SITES

North

1778 1781

SAVANNAH

December 29, 1778 September 16, 1779

HOBKIRK’S HILL

April 25, 1781

EUTAW SPRINGS

September 8, 1781

YORKTOWN

September 29, 1781

COWPENS

January 17, 1781

GUILFORD COURT HOUSE

March 15, 1781

CHARLESTON

February 11-May 12, 1780

KINGS MOUNTAIN

October 7, 1780

CAMDEN

August 16, 1780

HANGING ROCK

August 6, 1780MUSGROVE’S MILL

August 18, 1780

WAXHAWS

May 29, 1780

KETTLE CREEK

February 14, 1779

PORT ROYAL ISLAND

February 3, 1779

PYLE’S DEFEAT

February 25, 1781

NINETY SIX

June 19, 1781

NPS Maps

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Southern Campaign 14.75” W X 21” H

IM 05-01-201 map

46Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

GL 05-01-301

Object Label - Swivel Gun 5” W X 3.5” H shown at 100% of actual size

SWIVEL GUN FRAGMENT

Iron

Swivel guns were small cannons mounted on forked posts. A shooter could pivot the cannon to fire at targets in a wide range. A few were mounted at Williamson’s Fort. The patriots gave them to the loyalists in a peace agreement after the battle ended in a draw.

NPS Archaeology Collection

47Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

GL 05-01-400

Take A Stand monitor frame graphic 23.13” W X 18.54” H

48Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024 the british took charleston in May, 1780. Next, they marched into the Backcountry over former trade roads and made Ninety Six a stronghold. British-loyalist troops built a stockade around the town. Then they constructed an earthen, star-shaped fort to defend it.

This is the only fort of its kind from the Revolution that survives today.

When patriot forces arrived in May of 1781, they cut off supply routes with encampments. This began the siege. The patriots aimed to starve the loyalists inside into submission. The loyalists needed to survive on what they had. For almost four weeks the Patriots slowly approached by digging trenches in the dense red clay.

The patriot strategy nearly worked until they received intelligence that British reinforcements were coming.

The longest land siege of the Revolutionary War, May 22-June 18,1781

THE SIEGE OF

NINETY SIX

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Siege of Ninety Six 14” W X 23.5” H

IM 05-01-500 star fort icon

49Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024 patriot soldier firing from a trench

The patriot forces were mixed. They included about 1,000 Continental soldiers, local militias, and some enslaved Africans.

Major General Nathanael Greene was their commander. He frequently requested reinforcements. He never received them.

The soldiers worked around the clock. They dug trenches toward the Star Fort under cover from marksmen.

GL 05-01-510

Patriot Soldier 10.25” W X 14” H shown at 50% of actual size

IM 05-01-511 Patriot loyalist soldier firing from williamson’s fort

The loyalists were colonists, not British soldiers. There were around 500 of them. They also had enslaved Africans. Their commander was Lieutenant Colonel John Harris Cruger. He led them to survive a twenty-eight-day siege.

They were trapped inside three positions. These included the Star Fort, stockaded village, and Williamson’s Fort. The patriots attacked Williamson’s Fort twice. The patriot attackers were led by Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lee.

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Loyalist Soldiers 14” W X 10.25” H

IM 05-01-521 Loyalists

50Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024 greene’s report

Major General Greene reported his losses at Ninety Six to General George Washington on June 20, 1781. Part of his report appeared in the London Chronicle that September. Londoners may have read it as a victory. However, the loyalists had evacuated Ninety Six, and the British had moved to Yorktown.

Patriots then laid a siege at Yorktown that ended the war.

“In my letter of the 9th, I informed your Excel lency that the enemy had received a considerable reinforcement at Charlestown, and that I was apprehensive they would march out and interrupt our operations.

On the 11th, I got intel l igence they were advancing...”

“In this stage of the approaches I found the enemy so near us that it would be impossible to reduce the place without hazarding a storm. This, from the peculiar strength of the place, could only be warranted by the success of a partial attempt to make a logement on one of the curtains of the Star redoubt”

“ ...the loss was principal ly at the Star Fort, and in the enemy’s ditch...”

“ The troops have undergone incredible hardships during the siege;

and though the issue was not successful , I hope their exertions wil l merit the approbation of Congress.”

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London Chronicle 14” W X 23.5” H shown at 40% of actual size

IM 05-01-531

newspaper

“I have only to lament that such brave men fel l in an unsuccessful attempt.”

—MAJOR GENERAL NATHANAEL GREENE

JUNE 20, 1781

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Quote Panel - Greene’s Letter 14” W X 10.25” H

51Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

OBJECTS OF COMBAT

Throughout the siege and in the final day of combat, soldiers fought with the weapons of the era. They fired muskets from trenches and fortified stations. They attacked with bayonet blades at the ends of their guns.

They provided cover and defense with cannons and swivel guns. But disease posed the biggest threat. Surgeons used bullet extractors on the wounded.

1. Bayonet, Iron

2. Musket balls, Lead

3. One-pounder swivel gun shot, Iron

4. Bullet extractor, Iron

All items come from NPS Archaeology Collection

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Object label - combat 7” W X 5” H

52Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

05 NATIONS05 NATIONS

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monitor frame graphic - Built for Battle 23.13” W X 18.54” H

53Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

06 BATTLEGROUND

Objectives

• Provide a centerpiece that adds focus to the exhibit

• Celebrate the resource that exists today

• Provide a close-up experience with the Star Fort and its surroundings during the siege and day of battle

• Showcase the remarkable engineering and labor that gave shape to the battle

Interpretive Summary This section appears on and under a centerpiece table. The table presents a tactile, audio-equipped, scale-model of the Star Fort and its surroundings as they appeared on June 18, 1781. It includes the siegeworks, Star Fort, stockaded town, communication trenches, and Williamson’s Fort. Beneath the table, a model of a section of Kosciuszko’s mine allows young people to crawl through and imagine digging during the Siege.

54Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

06 BATTLEGROUND

BATTLEGROUND

By the morning of June 18, 1781, British-loyalist forces occupied three positions. These included the Star Fort, stockaded village, and Williamson’s Fort. The positions were connected by communication trenches. To approach the two forts, the patriot-Continental forces had dug zigzag trenches and batteries known as siegeworks. They had dug in the dense, resistant red clay for nearly a month. Time was running short. They attacked the forts at noon.

Touch the buttons to hear about the fortif ications and siegeworks.

LOYALIST FORCES

PATRIOT FORCES

THE MINE BELOW

Beginning on June 8, 1781, patriot-Continental soldiers dug a mine from the siegeworks toward the Star Fort. They planned to plant explosives under the fort. After ten days, the patriots received intelligence that loyalist reinforcements were near. The mine had not reached far enough, so the patriots decided to attack the fort above ground. The mine largely survived the battle and almost two centuries of farming. Much of it is still in the landscape today.

The tunnel below is a model of a section of the mine.

Remember the red clay dirt? Imagine digging through it in the hot summer!

A soldier digs his way underground. He would have been one of many under the command of Tadeusz Kościuszko.

Ninety Six NHS collection

GL 06-01-011

Mine 21.5” W X 9.5” H shown at 40% of actual size

IM 06-01-551 mine digger

GL 06-01-100

Battleground 14” W X 11.5” H

55Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

06 BATTLEGROUND Labels for Battleground Table shown at 30% of actual size

Graphics have been designed to accommodate braille lettering at sizes that meet ADA guidelines. All sizes will need to be confirmed during fabrication in conjunction with the braille signage vendor.

STAR FORT

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8” W X 2” H

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8.5” W X 2” H

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14.5” W X 2” H

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11” W X 2” H

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14” W X 2” H

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10” W X 2” H

GL 06-01-108

11” W X 2” H

GL 06-01-113

11” W X 2” H

GL 06-01-109

12” W X 2” H

GL 06-01-114

10” W X 2” H

GL 06-01-110

11.5” W X 2” H

GL 06-01-116

7” W X 2” H

GL 06-01-115

11.5” W X 2” H

GL 06-01-102

12.5” W X 2” H

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10” W X 2” H

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9.5” W X 2” H

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9.5” W X 2” H

COMMUNICATION TRENCHES

SIX-POUNDER BATTERY

ISLAND FORD ROAD

KOSCIUSZKO’S MINE

RIFLE TOWER

KOSCIUSZKO’S SIEGEWORKS

SPRING CREEK BRANCH

KEOWEE-WHITEHALL ROAD

COMMUNICATION TRENCH

TOWN OF NINETY SIX STOCKADE

MARTIN TOWN ROAD

LEE’S SIEGEWORKS

GREENVILLE ROAD

WILLIAMSON’S FORT

JAIL REDANJAIL REDAN

GREENE’S MAIN CAMP

56Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

07 LEGACY

Objectives

• Describe the effect of the war in the years that immediately followed

• Show what people decided to do as a result of the town’s demolition

• Facilitate connections between history and current events

• Reveal “how do we know what we know” processes

Interpretive Summary This section examines the final throes of the Siege, the battle’s aftermath, and the continued pursuit by archaeologists and scholars to understand what happened at Ninety Six. It includes one computer interactive, which offers an opportunity to “go into” a 3D model of Kosciuszko’s mine, created through a collaboration between NPS, the University of South Florida, and the Alliance for Integrated Spatial Technologies. The interactive also includes footage from the making of the model, featuring archaeologists at work with cutting edge tools.

57Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

MURAL

GL 07-01-010

Mural 156”W X 95”H

IM 07-01-011

58Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

GL 07-01-001

Reader Rail Background 78.5”W” W X 18.54” H

GL 07-01-011

Dimensional Title Backer 36.13” W X 8” H

59Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

THE NEW PATRIOTISM

The defeat at Ninety Six is part of the American victory with 58 killed, 76 wounded, and no access to the Star Fort, the patriots stalled truce negotiations through June 19, and secretly departed on June 20. The loyalists suffered only 27 killed and 58 wounded. Their reinforcements did arrive on June 21, but with orders to evacuate and destroy the fort and town. What had become a loyalist stronghold was soon reduced to ashes. The loyalists dispersed to Canada, England, the Caribbean, and beyond.

Despite the loyalist victory at Ninety Six, the patriots pushed on in the Southern Campaign. Throughout South Carolina, patriot militias bested the British in skirmishes and battles.

They broke nearly all their communication and supply lines.

The British were pressured to remove to the coast. There, the patriots trapped them at Yorktown, Virginia with additional forces from the North. On October 19, the British admitted defeat at Yorktown. The patriots were left to decide what America should be.

LEAVING NINETY SIX

After the siege, the British ordered Cruger to destroy the Star Fort and town. Ninety Six was too far inland and too deep in a now hostile region. If the British ever returned, they could not afford to give such a fearsome fort to their opponents. The families that took shelter at Ninety Six during the war were forced to leave. Those that had left had no home to return to.

Ninety Six NHS collection

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New Patriotism 18.5” W X 29.5” H shown at 30% of actual size

IM 07-01-110 star icon

IM 07-01-201 painting

60Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

CONTINUED PURSUITS

Unearthing history and more questions the star fort, is an earthwork fort. It is among the largest surviving from the Revolution today. The tunnel is the war’s only surviving mine. We know this from archaeological studies.

We also know this from local history. In the 1800s, Cambridge residents remembered events here. In the 1960s, South Carolina created the Star Fort Historical Commission. Also in the 1960s, the University of South Carolina conducted archaeological digs. More have been conducted since. In 1976, the National Park Service acquired the historical assets. Today, studies include exciting technologies. These can find remains without disturbing the land. The National Park Service continues studies at Ninety Six. It does so with universities and organizations.

“ The Siege of Ninety Six is a favorite topic of the people in this vicinity.”

— E D WA R D H O O K E R , C A M B R I D G E

C O L L E G E S C H O O L M A S T E R , 1 8 0 6

Sp r i ng B ra nc h

Town of Ninety Six site 1781 stockade site

Star Fort

Siege Trenches

Stockade Fort

Com mun ica tio n t ren ch si te

Communication trench site Jail site

Rifle Tower

Mine Entry

Traverse

WellH ist or ic r ou te o f I sla nd F or d

Ro ad

Historic route of Whitehall Road

Parking

To site of Gouedy’s Trading Post

(1751–1775)

Walking Tour

C he ro ke e P at h

T ra il

Visitor Center

Title of photo Descriptive caption Date

Title of photo Descriptive caption Date

Title of photo Descriptive caption Date

Title of photo Descriptive caption Date

Title of photo Descriptive caption Date

Credit

Credit

Credit

Credit

NPS Maps

Credit

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Continued Pursuits 18.5” W X 29.5” H shown at 30% of actual size

IM 07-01-102 map

IM 07-01-200 - star icon

IM 07-01-101 B IM 07-01-101 E

IM 07-01-101 C

IM 07-01-101 D

IM 07-01-101 A

61Ninety Six National Historic Site | Production Design II | January 11, 2024

GL 07-01-305

Forlorn Hope Background (shown with labels…