An insightful look at the establishment of the
Society of Cincinnati of the State of South Carolina
In 1783, soon after the end of the American
War of Independence, a group of former
Continental Line officers, men who had fought
with General George Washington, established
the Society of the Cincinnati, a fraternal
association that would provide mutual support
and keep strong the memories of their recent
struggle. In addition to the General Society,
constituent groups were formed in each of the
original thirteen states and in France.
The Fabric of Liberty recounts the distinctive
history, covering more than 225 years, of
the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of
South Carolina. Especially remarkable is the
organization's continuity—it is the only society
in the American South to exist continuously
from 1783—and its power to heal internal
and external dissensions, great and small.
Throughout South Carolina's history, the society
has been a vehicle for reconciliation between
warring political and economic factions: in
the aftermath of the American Revolution and
during the antebellum era, between Confederate
South Carolina and the victorious Union in the
Civil War, and in modern times between starkly
competing visions of South Carolina's place in
the nation and the world.
The Fabric of Liberty is extensively illustrated
with color and black-and-white depictions of
South Carolina heroes and Cincinnati luminaries,
including William Moultrie, Charles
Cotesworth Pinckney, Thomas Pinckney, and
the Marquis de Lafayette (who first reached
America near Georgetown, South Carolina).
Iconography, fine art, and depictions of historical
and modern monuments provide visual
context. Appendixes identify original members,
national officers from South Carolina, and state
presidents.
Alexander Moore is a historian of colonial South
Carolina, documentary editor, and student of southern
art history. The former director of the South Carolina
Historical Society, Moore is an acquisitions editor at the
University of South Carolina Press and the author or
editor of several works on Southern history, most recently
Selected Letters of Anna Heyward Taylor: South Carolina
Artist and World Traveler.
"Fabric of Liberty is appropriately named. Like an
elegant tapestry, the threads of the history of the
Society of the Cincinnati of the State of South Carolina
are carefully interwoven into the history of our
state and nation to create a rich, powerful story."—Walter Edgar, author of South Carolina: A History |