The first four decades of Carolina have been called the age of the Goose Creek Men, an influential political faction of Barbados planters who settled in Goose Creek, a community just north of Charleston. The “Goose Creek Men” were English planters, some who came to South Carolina from Barbados. They settled nearby, soon became wealthy through the Indian trade, and conducted an illegal trade in Indian slaves. The Goose Creek Men formed a political faction opposing the Lords Proprietors between 1670 and 1720. Maurice Mathews, one of the leading dealers in illegal Indian Slave Trade. James Moore, Sr. and his son James Moore, Jr. served as governor of the colony. Benjamin Mazyck, Thomas Smith, Robert Gibbes, Captain George Chicken, Thomas Smith, Jr and Nathaniel Johnson all served as Goose Creek Men. A decade before Carolina was settled white servants who had satisfied the condition of their indenture, small planters, craftsmen and the sons of large planters left Barbados. Some of them returned to England. Others ventured to other Caribbean islands and North American colonies. At Carolina, some of them first settled in 1665 at the Cape Fear River, then by 1670 at Goose Creek. As the colony was being established these independent and confident settlers were the kind of people the Proprietors had encouraged to join the colony to increase its chances of its success, but these settlers soon formed the core of political dissent. From 1670 to 1712, the Goose Creek men saw the Proprietors and their allies in the colony as a threat to the way they wanted to do business. After all, they came to Carolina for one purpose only “to make money” and they did not want anyone, not even the government, to interfere with their ability to profit from the illegal Indian slave trade.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 16:41:37 +0000
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