William Moultrie (23 November 1730 – 27 September 1805) was Governor of South Carolina from 11 February 1785 to 20 February 1787, succeeding Benjamin Guerard and preceding Thomas Pinckney, and again from 5 December 1792 to 17 December 1794, succeeding Pinckney and preceding Arnoldus Vanderhorst.
Biography[]
William Moultrie was born on 23 November 1730 in the port of Charleston, South Carolina to a family originally from Scotland, and he fought in the Anglo-Cherokee War in 1761 during the French and Indian War. Moultrie was commissioned as colonel of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment in 1775 at the start of the American Revolutionary War, and his defense of Charleston at the Battle of Sullivan's Island in 1776 earned him the thanks of the Continental Congress and promotion to Brigadier-General. Moultrie failed to prevent the fall of Savannah to Great Britain in 1778, however, and in 1780 he was captured at the siege of Charleston. Moultrie would be released in a prisoner exchange and promoted to Major-General in 1782, and in 1785 he was elected as Governor of South Carolina after the war's end. He would be re-elected in 1792, serving until 1794. Moultrie died in 1805 at the age of 74.