The Stuart McCombs Family Home Page:Information about John Postell
John Postell (b. 1717, d. 1782)
Notes for John Postell:John Postell (of Georgetown)
John Postell (of Georgetown, S.C.) was the oldest son of John and Hannah Postell of Berkeley Co., S.C. He married Mary Moore, daughter of South Carolina Governor James Moore, on September 26, 1744. They were the parents of three sons: James, John, and Jehu Postell. John Postell had an impressive military career, which began at about the age of thirtynine years. On January 31, 1756 he began recruiting a company of volunteers consisting chiefly of Huguenots. Among the volunteers coming forward to join Postell were two young brothers, Gabriel and Francis Marion. Francis Marion was just about twenty-five years of age at the time, but he was eager to serve under Postell. John Postell received a captain's commission from Governor Glen on July 16, 1756, and was one of two men chosen to head the construction of Fort Loudon on the Little Tennessee River. This project kept him at work until the fort was completed in August of 1757. The Cherokee Indians continued to be hostile to the settlers along the South Carolina borders, and this threat caused Governor William Henry Lyttelton to expand the armed forces in the area. The Fort Loudoun adventure, and the Cherokee War, was not the end of Captain John's military career, but merely the beginning. He was very active in the Revolutionary War participating unofficially, but under the directives of General Francis Marion. He made a sizeable contribution by contributing much needed supplies to Marion and his men. On January 17, 1781, Captain Postell, who was by that time an elderly man of seventy years, was captured by the British during the fall of Charleston and imprisoned. After signing a parole, he was allowed to return home, but his peace was short lived. Hoping to make an example of old Captain Postell to others sympathetic to the fight for freedom from the British, Captain James DePeyster seized the Postell mansion and ordered his men to strip the plantation bare. After a long and patriotic military career, old Captain Postell died in South Carolina later in 1782.
More About John Postell:
Military service: 1756, Captain Cherokee War of 1756.
More About John Postell and Mary Moore:
Marriage: September 1744, Charleston, SC.
Children of John Postell and Mary Moore are:
- +James Postell, b. 1745, SC, d. March 10, 1824.
- +John Postell, b. 1747, SC, d. October 06, 1796.
- +Jehu Postell, b. 1749, Charleston, SC, d. December 30, 1797, Charleston, SC.