White Hall Plantation Site

White Hall Plantation, once located on Port Royal Island in Beaufort County, was the primary residence of Thomas Heyward Jr. and served as a focal point for British aggression during the Revolutionary War. As the home of a “rebel” signer of the Declaration of Independence, the plantation was a high-profile target designed to represent the price of defiance against the British Crown.

A Target of the “War of Plunder”

In February 1779, during the British naval and land incursion into the Beaufort District, a raiding party led by Captain Patrick Murray landed on Port Royal Island. Their mission was not merely territorial; it was punitive.

The British systematically targeted the properties of Patriot leaders, and White Hall was singled out for total destruction. The main house and outbuildings were burned to the ground, and the plantation’s resources were seized or destroyed to cripple Heyward’s financial ability to support the rebellion.

The “Signer” in the Field

At the time his home was being destroyed, Thomas Heyward Jr. was not a distant politician; he was a Captain in the Charleston Battalion of Artillery. He was actively commanding the Patriot guns that successfully repelled British regulars at the Battle of Port Royal Island (Gray’s Hill) on February 3, 1779—the very same campaign that saw his home reduced to ashes.

Captivity and Aftermath

Following the fall of Charleston in 1780, Heyward was captured and sent to the British prison fortress at St. Augustine, Florida. Upon his return after the war, he faced the daunting task of rebuilding his life from the ruins of White Hall. While he eventually shifted his focus to other family holdings like Old House Plantation, the site of White Hall remained a symbol of the immense personal sacrifice Heyward made for the American cause.