{"id":8571,"date":"2016-06-08T17:45:42","date_gmt":"2016-06-08T17:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lichen.csd.sc.edu\/sce\/entries\/jasper-william\/"},"modified":"2022-08-05T18:21:53","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T18:21:53","slug":"jasper-william","status":"publish","type":"entry","link":"https:\/\/www.scencyclopedia.org\/sce\/entries\/jasper-william\/","title":{"rendered":"Jasper, William"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;\"><span style=\"font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Times',serif;\">Soldier. Little is known of Jasper\u2019s origins. Traditionally he has been identified as Irish, but others have argued that he was of German ancestry.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;\"><span style=\"font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Times',serif;\">On July 7, 1775, in Halifax District, Georgia, William Jasper enlisted in the elite grenadier company of the Second South Carolina Continental Regiment. On June 28, 1776, as a sergeant, he won lasting fame during the British attack on Sullivan\u2019s Island, near Charleston. When an enemy shot brought down the fort\u2019s flag, Jasper restored the banner while under enemy fire. In 1779 he led dangerous guerrilla raids against British pickets and patrols. At least once, he passed through enemy lines by posing as a deserter. During the Franco-American attack on the British lines around Savannah on October 9, 1779, Jasper received a mortal wound while rescuing one of his regiment\u2019s flags. He had placed another flag on a British entrenchment, which is now preserved in the Smithsonian Institution. Jasper left a widow and at least two children, although apparently no descendants are living today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;\"><span style=\"font-size: 13.0pt; font-family: 'Times',serif;\">Jasper became a national hero as a character in the historical novel by Mason L. Weems, <i>The Life of Gen. Francis Marion <\/i>(1809). Weems based this work loosely on a manuscript by Peter Horry. Although Horry dismissed Weems\u2019s book, he and other Revolutionary War veterans confirmed Jasper\u2019s great personal courage. Eight counties (including Jasper County, South Carolina), numerous towns, and thousands of Americans were named for the man described as \u201cthe Brave Sergt. Jasper.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times',serif;\">Gamble, Thomas. \u201cThe Story of Sergeant William Jasper, Hero of the Revolution: 1775 to 1779.\u201d Scrapbook. Georgia Department of Archives and History, Morrow, Georgia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times',serif;\">Jones, George Fenwick. \u201cSergeant Johann Wilhelm Jasper.\u201d <i>Georgia Historical Quarterly <\/i>65 (spring 1981): 7\u201315.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soldier. Little is known of Jasper\u2019s origins. Traditionally he has been identified as Irish, but others have argued that he was of German ancestry. On July 7, 1775, in Halifax District, Georgia, William Jasper enlisted in the elite grenadier company of the Second South Carolina Continental Regiment. On June 28, 1776, as a sergeant, he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":-1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","class_list":["post-8571","entry","type-entry","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ecms-a-z","ecms-charleston-county","ecms-colonial-period-1670-1764","ecms-colonial-unrest-american-revolution-and-new-republic-1765-1789","ecms-encyclopedia","ecms-j","ecms-literature","ecms-lowcountry","ecms-military"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Jasper, William - South Carolina Encyclopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scencyclopedia.org\/sce\/entries\/jasper-william\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jasper, William - South Carolina Encyclopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Soldier. Little is known of Jasper\u2019s origins. Traditionally he has been identified as Irish, but others have argued that he was of German ancestry. On July 7, 1775, in Halifax District, Georgia, William Jasper enlisted in the elite grenadier company of the Second South Carolina Continental Regiment. 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Little is known of Jasper\u2019s origins. Traditionally he has been identified as Irish, but others have argued that he was of German ancestry. On July 7, 1775, in Halifax District, Georgia, William Jasper enlisted in the elite grenadier company of the Second South Carolina Continental Regiment. 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