John Featherston – Patriot Marine Gunner

John was a free black man before the Revolution. He enlisted under Captain Tufts as William Henry Drayton was building a South Carolina Navy in 1775, to sail on the schooner, Defence in Charleston Harbor. He trained with a total of seventy seamen and marines with ten guns to sink four ships hulls in the harbor and prevent the British from entering. On the second day of the two-day battle, Nov. 12, 1775, the Patriots on the Defence encountered heavy fire from two British ships, the Tamar and the Cherokee. Through a miracle of a fierce wind, they were protected from one hundred-thirty shots at the Defence. It was astonishing no one was killed and only minor injuries. Citizens watched from the end of Market street and were amazed. William Campbell, the last British Royal Governor of South Carolina, watched from the Cherokee. The Defence returned fire with it’s heaviest guns. The British finally gave up. For seven months John Featherston served on the Defense, but only had two months wages. So he accepted a gunner position with General Moultrie at the new Fort Moultrie, where he continued to shoot at the British until they gave up and went home. John Featherston played an important part in Revolutionary history.

RANDAL LEE JR. PORTRAYED JOHN FEATHERSTON

Randall starred as MacDuff in Clarence Felder’s American MacBeth and as Edgar in Mr. Felder’s adaptation of King Lear for Actors’ Theater of South Carolina at the Threshold Theater in Charleston. He portrayed Aaron in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus at Flowertown Underground Theater in Summerville, South Carolina. Randall was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and acted in productions of Shakespeare in high school. However, his career as the talented musician and keyboard artist, “RJ Brooklyn Lee” has taken him all over the world, performing with such companies as The Original Gospel Keynotes.

Brigadier General Daniel Morgan – Architect of Victory at Cowpens

Daniel was a pioneer in Kentucky and helped explore and settle the wilderness of Missouri. With his cousin Daniel Boone, he ran teams and wagons for the British. But, after an argument with an officer, he was sentenced to 500 lashes. Somehow, he was able to survive this extraordinary punishment, but he suffered in later life as a result. 

When the Revolutionary War was heating up, he created a company that became known as “Morgan’s Riflemen” many of whom fought with him at the battles of Quebec, Saratoga and other encounters. He became the Colonel of the 11th Virginia Regiment.

Later, in South Carolina he had been given a number of regiments by General Nathanael Green and was being chased by “Bloody Ban” Tarleton across South Carolina. He decided to make a stand and created one of the most famous battle strategies in U.S. history. It has been called a “tactical masterpiece.”  He understood the special skills of each group of soldiers and used all the best talents in the militia companies as sharp-shooters to great advantage at the Battle of Cowpens, as well as the Continental troops he was leading.  The victory was instrumental in turning the tide of the war and defeated Lord Cornwallis in South Carolina, sending him toward Yorktown.

CLARENCE FELDER PORTRAYED BRIGADIER GENERAL DANIEL MORGAN

Clarence is the executive producer, co-writer and leading actor for the film. Clarence Felder’s long career in the entertainment industry spans five decades as a lead actor in films, television and Broadway. His numerous roles include a two year run on ABC’s hit series Hooperman and films such as The Last Boy Scout, Ruthless People, After Hours, John Laurens’ War, Echoes of Glory, Heroes from the American Revolution, John at Patmos an Allegory, Horntak, and The Final Trials ofAnne Hutchinson. Felder co-starred in ten productions on Broadway, performing with such stars as Christopher Walken, Danny Devito, Glenn Close and Meryl Streep. His American theatre appearances include over 160 productions, including starring roles in most of Shakespeare’s plays. A prolific writer/ producer, Felder co-founded Actors Theater of South Carolina with his wife, Chris Weatherhead. Felder was commissioned to write a play about his sixth great-grandfather, Captain Felder’s Cannon, which became the basis for the film All for Liberty. 

Rebecca Brewton Motte – Brave Patriot Widow

Lt. Colonel John Laurens 

Lt. Colonel, John Laurens, was a unique combination of passionate abolitionist, top aide and personal secretary to General George Washington and brave combat officer.  He was the son of Henry Laurens of Charleston, South Carolina.

John was raised at Mepkin plantation in the Lowcountry of South Carolina and grew up with roughly 230 slaves. By 1772, as a young man, he was a student in Switzerland under some of the great masters of Geneva. He questioned the horrors of slavery he observed as a child.  

He is now remembered for his rare eloquence and passion to end slavery ninety years before it ended in America and his fight to convince the Continental Congress to pass a bill to create a regiment of 3,000 slaves for him to train and lead with patriots for mutual battle for freedom from the English King. The bill passed but was blocked by the South Carolina legislature.

In 1777, John left studies in London and his pregnant wife, Martha, to join the Continental Army in America.  He then travelled to Philadelphia with his father who had recently been voted president of the Continental Congress. He immediately enlisted at Valley Forge.           

The next year, John continued his fight to end slavery. He was convinced it must be abolished before the war was resolved in order for America to be truly a free nation. Anything less would render our society hypocritical.

In August of 1782, John Laurens was leading an ambush against a British raiding party near Beaufort. The British had been warned and were waiting for him. He was surprised and killed.  In that day, America lost a potential leader as well as one of the most dedicated abolitionists our nation has ever known. He was 27 years old.

ROBBIN KNIGHT PORTRAYED LT. COL JOHN LAURENS

Mr. Knight is a native Charlestonian theater and film actor who owns a photography business in Charleston, South Carolina. 

He is also a charter member and past president of the Carolina Film Alliance. He has an Associates Degree in Film and TV Broadcasting from Trident Technical College. Mr. Knight has worked with various theaters and film companies in the southeast.  His other films for Moving Images Group at ATSC, are In the Sea of Grace, (Roman Guard in John at Patmos) and Seven Rivers (working title) as Hamlet.  He has also performed in stage productions for Actors Theater of South Carolina including creating the the role of John Laurens in the original stage production of Radical Son, as well as Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, and A Christmas Carol. 

Peter Harris 

Peter was born and and raised in present day Fort Mill, South Carolina in a Catawba village, which was overcome by an epidemic of small pox, killing most of the people, including his parents. He stayed in the village for two more years until he was taken in by a nearby farmer, Thomas Spratt, a friend of the tribe.

Harris became a warrior in the fashion of King Hagler, who was a wise, brave and fierce fighter. When the Catawba Nation chose to support the fight for independence of the patriots, Peter enlisted as a private in 1777 fighting with a battalion of Georgia Minutemen. Later he enlisted in Oliver Towels 3rd South Carolina regiment. In the Battle of Stone Ferry, he sustained a shrapnel wound in June of 1777. After recovering, he joined General Thomas Sumter’s Militia Brigade in 1780. He fought in the Battle of Rocky Mount, Hanging Rock and Blackstock’s Farm.

After the war ended, he received a land grant of 200 acres of land on Fishing Creek. He spent his later years teaching youth about the war and his experiences. He is recorded as saying, “I am one of the few stalks left in the field…I fought against the British for your sake… I pursued the deer for my subsistence… God ordained me for the forest…but the strength of my arm decays…in my youth I bled in battle that you might be independent, let not my heart I old age bleed for want of your commiseration.” Signed by his mark.

Francis Marion – the Swamp Fox, Brigadier General 

(1732 -1795)

There has rarely been a military mind so brilliant and able to think quick and use tactics allowing him to strike his enemy very hard and then disappear, than Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox.  From Huguenot ancestry, Marion had to overcome malformed legs as a child and later survive a shipwreck, all making him strangely a very brave man. He learned a great deal in the French & Indian War and by 1774, as the Intolerable Acts of taxation were enraging colonists he enlisted in the patriot army and fought at Sullivan’s Island (now Fort Moultrie). He rose through the ranks and began to use guerrilla tricks on the British he’d learned from the Cherokee. He escaped the Siege of Charleston by providentially breaking his ankle which gave him a major opportunity to build his unique militia company of specially gifted soldiers, including freemen, slaves and tribal warriors. His childhood friend and right-hand man, Oscar Marion, was always with him as well as black men like Jim Capers, Joseph Willis and Joshua Braveboy. 

Marion’s men and other militia regiments were able to disrupt British supply lines and make South Carolina a dangerous place for Lobster-back leaders like Cornwallis, Rawdon and Tarleton. In one skirmish Francis and only fifty men routed a British camp releasing 150 American prisoners. It was common for him to take on a force much larger that his own, yet he was always craftier than his opponents.

In 1781-82, Francis Marion’s relentless charge across the colony to rout the British along with the bravery of many militia groups, was a key factor in the ultimate victory to achieve the signing of the Treaty of Paris in September of 1783, officially ending the roughly eight years war.

Note: In December 2006, Oscar Marion was recognized as an “African American Patriot” in a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. A proclamation signed by President George W. Bush expressed the appreciation of a “grateful nation” for Oscar Marion’s “devoted and selfless consecration to the service of our country in the Armed Forces of the United States.”

MICHAEL EASLER PORTRAYED FRANCIS MARION

A veteran actor of over 140 theatrical productions, Michael has appeared in numerous roles for the Actors’ Theatre of South Carolina. He portrays Governor Rutledge in All for Liberty and Thomas Jefferson in John Laurens’ War. He also portrayed General Beauregard in the National Geographic Special: Secret Weapon of the Confederacy, co-starred as Dr. Walsh in Cold Soldiers and has been featured other films, including Chattahoochie with Dennis Hopper and Gary Oldman, as well as on television series and documentaries. He spent several years in residence at Greenville Café And Then Some Comedy Theatre as an actor, writer and musician. He has starred in notable plays such as Breaker Morant, the Little Foxes, and Cabaret.

Mary Oliver – Merciful Patriot Slave Woman & Mother

 Mary Oliver is a fictional character created from a story of a real historical lady, a brave a true Christian patriot.  Mary in Echoes of Glory is a symbolic character based on an original incident described in African-American Patriots in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution, edited by Bobby G. Moss and Michael C. Scoggins. The incident took place when Lord Cornwallis was marching through the Waxhaws in 1780 after taking Charleston, they were raiding local houses too. The brave woman is described as a “colored servant” working for an elderly patriot man who apparently treated her and her sons so well that when the Loyalists came to assault him she wanted to help him.

It had been widely rumored the man had some gold and the King’s men wanted it. The robbers demanded the gold and the man repeatedly refused to tell them where it was. The woman and her sons were hiding, but when they saw a rope going over his head and the vandals stringing him up, the woman quickly devised a plan. It took great courage to risk her life and those of her sons to save him but they decided to try. The story is symbolic of likely countless women who, under great pressure, accomplished extraordinary  acts of bravery in the American Revolution.

MICHELLE P. WARREN PORTRAYED MARY OLIVER

Ms. Warren is an actress, voiceover artist, screenwriter, producer, director and owner of Breakthrough Pictures, LLC. Ms Warren has performed many roles in theatrical and film productions in South Carolina. Most notable, are co-starring in For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange produced by Art Forms Theatre Concepts and as the evil daughter, Regan, in Clarence Felder’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear for Actors’ Theater of South Carolina. On film, Ms. Warren also presented excerpts from Ecclesiastes, in the Biblical film, Light For Your Journey, Words of Solomon, Isaiah, David, and Paul, for Moving Images Group at Actors’ Theater of South Carolina, now in world distribution with Bridgestone Multimedia Group/TwinEngines. In 2019, Michelle became the producer/director of “Its a Good Time to Be you!”, a Christian talk show airing on CTN, producing 52 episodes. Shortly after, she became producer/director for another Christian talk show, “In Context”, airing on both CTN and Preach The Word Network. She then moved to scripted series work with her writing team/business partners at Breakthrough Pictures, which has completed two pilot scripts and produced three short films entered in film festivals.

American General William Moultrie

(1730 – 1805)

 General Moultrie was a politician and farmer. in 1776 he prevented the British from taking Charleston, and Fort Moultrie was named in his honor. In 1776, he was commissioned as colonel of the Carolina Regiment of provincial troops, and required to defend a small fort which was being built on Sullivan Island (later Fort Moultrie). Standing firm through heart-stopping attacks from British ships, the little fort, defended by Moultrie, William “Danger” Thompson and Francis Marion, was able to persevere, stopping Sir Henry Clinton and Sir Peter Parker from taking Charlestown.

It should be noted that General Charles Lee, who at that time, was commanding the Southern Department of the war, looked at the fort and suggested they surrender because he was convinced it would be nothing more than “a slaughter pen.” He was later court-martialed for not obeying orders and for cowardice at the Battle of Monmouth, New Jersey.

General Moultrie had said to Lee, even if the fort were knocked down he would rally his men and  “lay behind the ruins and prevent [the British] from landing.” In February 1779, at the Battle of Beaufort, Moultrie commanded a largely militia force and defeated the British, boosting patriot morale after the British capture of Savannah, Georgia.

After Charleston surrendered in May 1780, General Moultrie was imprisoned at Haddrell’s Point and at Snee Farm. He did admirable service in representing fellow Continental Army POWs and advocating against harsh treatment from the British commandant of Charleston, Lt. Col. Nisbet Balfour. William Moultrie was sent to Philadelphia, where he was later exchanged in early 1782.

British General, Sir Banastre Tarleton

(1754 – 1833)

In what is called a masterpiece of military strategy, Morgan lured Tarleton into the jaws of a deadly trap January 17th 1781. Ban took the bait and lost 86% of his men to death, injury or capture then ran for his life after Colonel William Washington nearly killed him in a hand-to-hand encounter.

Note: 

At Waxhaws, out of 330 patriot soldiers, whose commander, under white flag, surrendered, Tarleton instead ordered to attack and slaughtered 113 soldiers and wounded 150. It is how he got the name “Bloody Ban.” Tarleton fled north with fifty men, never to fight in South Carolina again.

British Francis Lord Rawdon

(1754-1826)

Lord Rawdon is spoken of in the films, All for Liberty, and Echoes of Glory, Heroes from the American Revolution. Francis Marion was particularly enraged and bitter about the Isaac Hayne incident in 1781 in Charleston, of which Rawdon was the commanding officer and perpetrator.

 Rawdon was a British military commander who became known for his lack of any moral fiber. He was a vicious man who expressed open ridicule toward American women, encouraging his soldiers to commit atrocities against patriot women as a weapon of war.  Rape and gang rape was used to demoralize the women of the colonies and also the men. The focus of his sadistic behavior was to destroy all resistance to the crown.

However, Rawdon was also a coward. When responding to battle losses during the war, he refused to admit any fault of his own, arrogantly blaming defeats on “a series of accidents.”

Details of Prisoner-of-war, Isaac Hayne incident in Charleston, SC:

Lord Rawdon was in command in Charleston.  After the Siege of Charleston surrender, 5,000 patriot prisoners were required to swear an oath of allegiance to the crown in exchange for their parole. An officer, Isaac Hayne, reluctantly agreed to sign because his family had been infected with smallpox. He was told he would not have to bear arms against his countrymen if he signed.

But, the British Southern campaign soon was hammered by clever strategies of General Francis Marion, strong militias and General Sumter outside of Charleston, making life very difficult for the top leadership of the enemy.

Suddenly, the King’s leaders called Hayne up to bear arms against his country. Hayne felt the British had clearly broken their parole agreement by demanding he fight his countrymen, so he left his home and went back into the fight on the Patriot side. He was captured. Lord Rawdon reacted with uncommon severity in respect to treatment of prisoners-of-war.  He ignored the hundreds of pleas for mercy to not take Hayne’s life, but Rawdon went ahead with no trial allowed and set the date for execution.

Continental General Nathanael Greene was told the petition for Hayne’s life had only two words written on it when returned. “John Andre.”  A year earlier, British Major John Andre had been arrested as a result of negotiating a betrayal of America with the traitor, Benedict Arnold.

The particularly vengeful behavior of Rawdon horrified many British leaders as well as Americans. Shortly after the hanging, Rawdon claimed to be ill and sailed back to England. Parliament nearly voted for an investigation of his behavior but it was delayed and then disappeared. The incident seemed to be triggered by the British losses in the Southern Strategy of the King.

The Loyalist help the British had hoped for did not materialize and by July of 1781, they held nothing in the south but the city of Charlestown. They were being were surrounded. Cornwallis had marched north at the end of the Battle of Cowpens. After a few more patriot victories, like the Battle of Ninety-Six and Battle of Eutaw Springs in South Carolina, and Yorktown a month later in the north, the war wound down and was officially over by 1783. In the process, Lord Rawdon’s reputation as a heartless monster had been set.

ON-CAMERA SCHOLARS FOR JOHN LAURENS WAR and ECHOES OF GLORY,
Heroes from the American Revolution

Damon Lamar Fordham – On-Camera Scholar, Author, Historian

Mr. Fordham was born in Spartanburg, SC on December 23, 1964 to Anne Montgomery and was adopted by Pearl and Abraham Fordham of Mt. Pleasant, SC the following year. Damon has received a Master’s Degree in history from the College of Charleston and The Citadel, and his undergraduate degrees at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. He is an adjunct professor of World Civilizations, United States, and African-American History at Charleston Southern University and The Citadel in Charleston, SC. Professor Fordham is the author of The 1895 Segregation Fight in South Carolina (Charleston: History Press), Mr. Potts and Me (Charleston: Evening Post Books) Voices of Black South Carolina-Legend and Legacy (Charleston: History Press), True Stories of Black South Carolina (Charleston: History Press). Articles by Mr. Fordham appear in many books, including Sweetgrass Baskets and the Gullah Tradition by Joyce Coakley, South of Main by Beatrice Hill and Brenda Lee, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African-American Folklore for the University of Missouri Press, Cecil Williams and Sonny DuBose’s Orangeburg 1968, and The Malcolm X Encyclopedia for the University of Southern Mississippi Press in 2001. Mr. Fordham went on visits to Senegal and Gambia, West Africa, where he toured the Slave Port at Gorre Island and spoke students at the University of Gambia in Banjul.

Alexia Jones Helsley – On-Camera Scholar, Author, Historian

Ms. Helsley has been an on-camera scholar for several film projects of Actors’ Theater of South Carolina’s film division, Moving Images Group, including John Laurens’ War and Freedom Fighters of Calhoun County. She has served on numerous panels for their historical, Shakespeare, and English literature productions. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Furman University and holds an MA in history from the University of South Carolina. As a student, she worked with the Furman Theatre Guild and is an advisory board member of Actors’ Theater of South Carolina. Currently, Ms. Helsley is a Senior Instructor in History and University Archivist at the University of South Carolina Aiken, where she teaches South Carolina, World and Public History. She has published widely on the history of the South Carolina. Her publications include Beaufort, South Carolina: a history, Wicked Edisto: the dark side of Eden, and The Lost History of Aiken County, South Carolina, as well as requested chapters for Remembering the Piedmont Past, II and The Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy. Prior to her teaching career, she worked for many years with the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Recipient of the South Carolina Governor’s Archives Award and the SC State Daughters of the American Revolution Bobby Gilmer Moss Award. Helsley is a former president of the SC Historical Association and committed to the preservation of historical archives and manuscripts, keys to understanding the past.

Trevor Erickson – Co-Director, Co-Producer, Cinematographer, Editor, Sound Design

Mr. Erickson is a former member of the US Marine Corps and graduate of the Film Program at Trident Technical College in South Carolina and a graduate of B.S. International Business & Japanese Studies at College of Charleston. He was Assistant Director and Combat Coordinator on the award-winning film, All for Liberty, and created the co-starring role of Henry Felder, Jr. He served as co-producer, editor, co-star, and stunt coordinator for the indie feature, Cold Soldiers and was Co-Director/cinematographer/Editor of the award-winning John at Patmos, An Allegory, Light for Your Journey and The Final Trials of Anne Hutchinson.

Production Company: 

Actors’ Theater of South Carolina and film division, Moving Images Group

The award-winning and visionary Actors’ Theater of South Carolina ( 501c3 non-profit company) was co-founded by nationally known actors, Clarence Felder and Chris Weatherhead. They brought experience in directing, writing and producing when they came to South Carolina from decades of film, TV and theater in NYC, Hollywood and Canada. ATSC trains actors and directors and focuses on inspiring stories of courage in American history and great literature.

ATSC has been creating films and theater productions since 1995, including touring “Beethoven: His Women & Music” to US Virgin Islands, “Frederick Douglass, No Turning Back” to the 33rd National Black Theatre Festival in Winston/Salem, North Carolina and performing many years as guests at the Piccolo Spoleto International Theater Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.

The film division, Moving Images Group, has won twenty-nine international film awards including two docudramas, “All For Liberty” and “John Laurens War” on unsung heroes of South Carolina in the American Revolution. They both are in world-wide distribution through Bridgestone Multimedia Group. Also, the film version of “Frederick Douglass, No Turning Back” starring Kyle Taylor, won a Gold Remi Award at Houston WorldFest Film Festival, a Leading Actor award from Accolade Global Film Competition in California, a Silver Crown Award in Nashville at the ICVM Awards. It is also worldwide with Bridgestone Multimedia Group/Twin Engines. “In the Sea of Grace,” and “Echoes of Glory, Heroes from the American Revolution” won Silver Remi Awards in Historical Film & Video Production at Houston Worldfest. Actors Theater of South Carolina has staged 109 live theater productions and produced 40 original scripts, often touring to other states, including Atlanta History Center, Clemson University, Appalachian State University, Richmond Virginia, Chautauqua Festival in Greenville, SC, the National Black Theater Festival, N.C., and Theatre Festival in Madison, Georgia.