Thomas Sumter swam half a mile through icy water to recover a runaway canoe, sat broke in a Virginia debtor’s prison, and became the partisan general Lord Cornwallis called his greatest plague. This episode traces his 97-year life, from humble beginnings as the son of a former indentured servant to his self-financed role in the Timberlake Expedition and his journey to London escorting Cherokee leader Ostenaco.

We explore how he rebuilt his fortune in South Carolina through a store, a sawmill, and marriage to a wealthy widow, then led guerrilla campaigns after the fall of Charleston. We also confront his controversial recruitment bounties paid in enslaved people, follow his long career in the House and Senate, and examine the many places and symbols that carry his name today.

• Why Virginia’s refusal to reimburse his diplomatic expenses landed him in debtor’s prison
• How partisan warfare used the Carolina terrain to harass and exhaust British forces
• His victories at Hanging Rock and Blackstock’s Farm, and the musket ball removed from his shoulder
• How Banastre Tarleton’s complaint gave rise to the Gamecock nickname and the University of South Carolina mascot
• Family ties to French nobility and Aaron Burr, and Fort Sumter’s place in the start of the Civil War