In Forgotten Founder: The Life and Times of Charles Pinckney, Marty Matthews begins with an introduction describing the process of finding the lost grave of Charles Pinckney over 100 years after his death. Pinckney's resting place is eventually tracked to an unmarked plot in St. Phillip Cathedral's graveyard in Charleston, but there is still some doubt about whether or not this grave is actually his. How can the life of one of the signers of the Constitution and a governor of South Carolina from an extremely powerful family end in an unmarked grave in unknown location? Charles Pinckney spent the majority of his life in public service to his state and country. During his 68 years, he served in the South Carolina Senate, the South Carolina House …show more content…
The Patriots and their French allies did not succeed, and the sight of his friends and countrymen dying at the hands of the British would drive Pinckney even further towards the revolutionary cause and shape him into one of the staunchest advocates for American independence. As a result of his service and political role, Pinckney was paroled to his home at Snee Farm after the Siege of Charleston. He was later placed in the horrible conditions of a British prison ship named the Pack Horse, where one-third of all prisoners died. While imprisoned, Pinckney wrote a letter to British Colonel Balfour describing the impriosnment as "a most injurious and disagreeable confinement" and "regunant to the laws of war." Pinckney and several others were later exchanged less than a month later. He was sent to Philadelphia, where he lived in a boarding house with his cousin Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Declaration of Independence signer Arthur Middleton, and was in close contact with Pierce Butler. After the war, Pinckney returned home after the death of his father to help his mother with their large