Andrew Pickens (September 13, 1739–August 11, 1817) was a militia leader in the Revolution and a U.S. Congressman from South Carolina.

Pickens was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the son of immigrants from Ulster, Ireland. In 1752 his family moved to the Waxhaws on the South Carolina frontier. He sold his farm there in 1764 and bought land in Abbeville County, South Carolina near the Georgia border.

He married Rebecca Calhoun in 1765. They had 12 children, including Andrew Pickens who later became governor of South Carolina.

Military Career

He served in the militia campaign against the Cherokee Indians in 1760-1761. When the revolution started, he sided with the rebel militia, and was made a Captain. He rose to the rank of Brigadier General during the war. On February 14, 1779, he was part of the rebel militia victory at the Battle of Kettle Creek in Georgia.

Andrew was captured and later paroled at the Fall of Charleston in 1780. When the British didn't honor the terms of his parole, he returned to militia service. He saw action at the Battle of Cowpens, Siege of Augusta, Siege of Ninety-Six, and the Battle of Eutaw Springs.

Political Career

• South Carolina House of Representatives (1781-1794 and 1800-1812)
• Georgia-South Carolina Boundary Commission (1787)
• State Constitutional Convention (1790)
• Third U.S. Congress (1793-1795)
• Unsuccessful candidate for U.S. Senate (1797)

Andrew Pickens died near Pendleton, South Carolina on August 11, 1817. Fort Pickens in Florida is named in his honour.

Further reading

The Fighting Elder: Andrew Pickens, 1739-1817; by Alice Waring; 1962; University of South Carolina Press.

External link

• His Congressional Biography (http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=P000320)