After the Revolutionary War, General Thomas Sumter, the "Gamecock," settled in the High Hills of the Santee on the east side of the COWASEE Basin in Sumter County. The High Hills are erosion- resistant bluffs and hills that line the east side of the Wateree Valley and average more than 300 feet above sea level. Their height is accented because of the precipitous drop to the flood plain valley some 200 feet below. Even before the Revolution, the High Hills had become a desirable place to live because of the climate and close proximity to a major river system and an overland trading path.

In addition to being a warrior, Sumter had a strong entrepreneurial spirit and began acquiring thousands of acres in the High Hills. He built a store and hotel in the growing community of Stateburg and constructed a 14- room plantation, Home House. He established Sumter's Ferry on the Wateree a few miles above Garner's Ferry, and a grist mill on Rafting Creek.

Sumter, like many Revolutionary war veterans, became active in politics. He became a leader of the Up Country contingent to counter the influence of the aristocratic Low Country, and was elected, but declined to serve, as a congressman to the Continental Congress in 1783.

Statue of General Thomas Sumter in front of the Sumter County Court House In 1785, Sumter was appointed to a committee to come up with a central location for the new capital of South Carolina. Sumter realized the economic advantages he would acquire if the capital were located in Stateburg and pushed hard for a new capital in the High Hills of the Santee.

Sumter's High Hills lost out to Col. Thomas Taylor's Plantation on the east bank of the Congaree River. But he had strong words with another committee member, Commodore Alexander Gillon, and the two almost came to blows in the General Assembly.

Sumter was later involved in a street- naming committee for the new capital of Columbia. As expected, heroes of the Revolution in South Carolina, such as Marion, Pickens, Huger, Wayne, Sumter, and others had streets named after them, but the name of the architect of victory in the South, General Nathanael Greene, was conspicuously absent. Sumter had feuded with Greene during the War and had a long memory. It took the City of Columbia nearly 200 years to correct this oversight and put an "e" on the end of Green Street to honor the General.

Sumter served three terms in the U.S. Congress and was elected U.S. Senator in 1801. A new village sprang up on the banks of Turkey Creek in the old Camden District and was named Sumterville (and later Sumter) in his honor. Sumter resigned his Senate seat in 1810 at the age of 76 to tend to his ailing wife, but he still retained good health and vigor.

Unfortunately, the general and his family had suffered some serious business reversals, which resulted in his taking on considerable debt and the loss of much of his extensive land holdings.

But he remained revered throughout South Carolina and the nation. In 1828 at the age of 94, he visited some of his old battle sites along the Catawba Valley including Hanging Rock, where he had taken a British bullet that he was still carrying.

The end came for the Gamecock on June 1, 1832, at the age of 98. He had been the last surviving general officer of the Revolution. His grave and those of his family are located in an attractive roadside park near Stateburg that is open to the public.

(Next week: Col. Thompson of Belleville)