Gilmore Simms biography of Francis Marion was one source that actor and director Mel Gibson consulted to fashion his character, Ben Martin, the protagonist of his film, The Patriot, which takes place during the Revolutionary War. This powerful film vividly dramatizes how the savagery of war dehumanizes its participants, often stripping away the thin veneer of civilization that prevents soldiers from committing atrocities against the lives and property of innocent civilians. Barbarous acts against Colonials by British Redcoats are not only described in the film’s dialogue, but vividly depicted in action scenes.

In one especially grisly segment, British Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton sets fire to a church after locking the helpless congregation inside. This particular scene infuriated many Britons, who vigorously denied that such an act of cruelty could have been perpetrated by British soldiers. But whether the incident was factual or simply a matter of creative license on Gibson’s part does not negate the fact that manifold acts of brutality against civilians have been faithfully attributed to Colonel Tarleton and other British officers.

On one occasion, the widowed mother and mistress of the home where Colonel Tarleton’s troops were bivouacked, secretly learned that Tarleton had set a trap for Francis Marion. Tarleton’s plans were thwarted when the courageous widow sent one of her sons to warn Marion. Furious that his chance to capture the famous Swamp Fox had been sabotaged, Colonel Tarleton attacked the widow, lashing her with his whip as her children watched in horror. He then burned their house and barn with all their terrified livestock inside.

Throughout the War, Colonel Tarleton and other British officers took odious responsibility for torching private homes, destroying crops, slaughtering livestock, and allowing Colonial women to be raped by British soldiers. Innocent civilians were tortured and murdered. Colonial soldiers attempting to surrender were often shot. Even women who remained behind to nurse wounded soldiers were sometimes killed. Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton also slaughtered numerous Colonial prisoners of war. For his legendary cruelty, Tarleton was given the nickname “Bloody Ban”.

Historical records indicate that many churches were burned during the Redcoat’s destructive forays through the Carolinas. Lt. Col Tarleton’s memoirs contain a reference to a Colonel Rawdon, stating: “When Rawdon left the settlement (the Waxhaws) the church had been burned because all Presbyterian churches are shops of sedition.” It is also documented that, apparently angered by the continuous success of Francis Marion’s raids, British Major James Wemyess proceeded on a seventy mile path of destruction through the Lowcountry, during which he “burned many Presbyterian churches.”

But it was not only Presbyterian churches that were incinerated. The British even applied the torches to many of the official churches of England that were located throughout the Anglican parishes of the South Carolina colony. Among the Anglican churches torched were St. John’s Berkeley, St. Bartholomew’s, Christ Church, St. George’s, St. Mark’s and Prince William. Some of these torched Anglican churches decayed and perished long ago. But those constructed of sturdier material, brick and tabby, valiantly withstood complete annihilation. The Anglican church of Prince William Parish was among the few that were rebuilt after the Redcoats burned them.

Prince William Parish was carved out of the parish of St. Helena in 1745, after wealthy planters began acquiring large tracts of land abandoned by the Yemassee. Rich, swampy soil along the Combahee, Coosawhatchie and Pocotaligo Rivers was ideally suited for rice plantations. The parish was named after William, Duke of Cumberland, the son of King George II, famous for his defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie at Culloden. The Prince William Parish Church was built in 1755 so that local parishioners would not have to make the arduous trek to the St. Helena Church in Beaufort. This horse-drawn carriage trip involved a long ferry boat ride, although there was no charge for ferrying on Sunday.

The church was situated on 50 acres of donated property between the lands of the Tomotley Barony and the manor of the Bull family, the family of aristocrats that provided most of the funds for the church’s construction. William Bull christened his Lowcountry estate “Sheldon Plantation” in honor of Sheldon Hall, his Warwickshire, England, ancestral home.

The red-brick ruins remaining, including the still-standing four Doric columns, allow one to visualize the neoclassical temple form of this place of worship. It is considered by many to be the first example of Greek Revival architecture in the New World. In concert with the ornate altar, it contains a baptismal fountain and burial vaults. The vault of William Bull I, a South Carolina lieutenant governor, is located beside the solitary altar. An equestrian statue of Prince William was located near the church’s residence. Colonials supposedly melted the statue in order to produce bullets to use against the British enemy. The churchyard is graced with ancient moss-covered oaks. Parishioners no doubt tethered their horses and carriages under these very trees during Sunday services.

It is not known who designed or built the Prince William Parish Church. One theory asserts that the church was constructed according to abandoned plans for St. Mary-le-Strand Church in London. Its design has also been attributed to a Scottish architect, Colin Campbell. Builders of the church also remain unnamed. Still, some claim that four “figure eight” marks outlined in the bricks were hieroglyphs identifying the craftsmen. Others insist that the figure eight is a Christian symbol. Jesus rose from the dead eight days after he entered Jerusalem. Another floating hypothesis is that the four mysterious markings represent God’s mercy, grace, wisdom, and love. Interestingly, a horizontal figure -eight is the time-honored symbol for infinity, usually interpreted to mean “without end.”

Curiosity also exists surrounding the location of the church; it is alone in the wilderness, remote from any town or community. One explanation for its isolated location is that the sanctuary was situated on that site to offset the influence of a congregation of Presbyterians, referred to as “dissenters”, whose house of worship was nearby on the banks of the Pocotaligo River. These Presbyterians were followers of Evangelist George Whitefield, whose passionate revivalist doctrines were perceived as a threat to the Church of England. British soldiers believed that Presbyterians as well as other Protestant groups espoused seditious views.

Prince William Parish Church was heralded by all who traveled to visit it. It was considered architecturally comparable to Charleston’s two most famous churches and considered finer by many. This was the opinion of a visiting missionary who wrote in 1766: “This is the second best church in the Province, and by many considered a more beautiful building than St. Phillip’s. It is more elegant than St. Michael’s, and it is beautifully pewed and ornamented.” But the church’s elegance and grandeur could not shield it from the merciless scourge of war.

In May of 1779, British troops under orders from General Augustine Prevost, burned not only the Prince William Parish Church, but also the Bull family estate on Sheldon Plantation. British Redcoats justified this assault on the church with the claim that Colonials used the facility to store gun powder and weapons. An extra annoyance for the British was the fact that much of the gun powder had been confiscated from British ships. But gun powder and weapons might have been seized without demolishing the place of worship. And there was no strategic justification for destroying the Bull family estate.

It has been suggested that the British may have spared the church if the statue of Prince William mounted on his horse still stood outside the entrance. But the detachment of troops that incinerated the structure was commanded by Major DeVeaux, a member of an old Beaufort family who had only recently become a loyalist, joining British forces. Although the DeVeaux family had enjoyed an amiable association with the Bull family, a feud developed between the two. As the church was so intimately associated with the Bull family, the equestrian statue of Prince William, an imposing bronze reminder of the Crown, might not have deterred Major DeVeaux from applying the torch.

Whether an act of Providence or merely happenstance, the walls of the church did not completely crumble, and much of the structure was left intact. Over the next three decades, Nature reclaimed the forsaken sanctuary and its graveyard. Even the interior of the structure filled with trees. But this particular house of God has an inexplicable tenacity to survive. So, in 1815, devout parishioners cleaned up the grounds and made the remains of the church serviceable. Trees inside the walls were cut down, and planks were placed over their hallowed stumps to create makeshift pews. Worship services were held in what must have been South Carolina’s first al fresco sanctuary.