| Notes |
- Excerpts from Margaret Haynes' "Items of Family HIstory" written 1902;
"Miles tried to presuade against rebellion against the Crown. To him, the quarrel betwen the American Colonies and the Crown had always seemed merely a fight for Magna Charta in the New World. In 1774 he had written to Josiah Quincy that "if Boston would only persevere and be prudent, her sisters and neighbors would work out her salvation, without taking the musket". After Congress adjourned and George Washington became commander-in-chief of the American Army; the battle of Bunker Hill had been fought. Miles Brewton and WIlliam Drayton, as members of the Committee of Public Safety, were able to secure five thousand pounds of powder in Savannah, which they forwarded to the rebels in Boston.
Inspired by word that Indians in the northern part of the state were being incited by the British to murder the Colonials and rumours that Charles Town slaves had been bribed to kill their masters, Miles felt he must leave his beloved Charles Town and found passage, along with his wife and children, bound for Philadelphia. The ship they were on apparently perished in a great storm of Cape Hatteras and they were never heard from again. In his will, he left everything to his sister Rebecca Brewton."
"Miles house is described as; had trellises hung in heavy "cloth of gold" roses. There were other roses, some deep red, some white than the masters favorite snowdrops which he had brought from London at the time he had contracted for the cargo of bricks for his great Georgian House. The house was built by Exra Wright, "Civil Architect, Housebuilder, and London carver" who planned and constructed this King Street residence that had a special appeal to Charles Town's people."
And well built it must have been, being amoung the very few houses which witstood the earthquake in Charleston, Sept. 1886. It was selected in 1781 as headquarters by Lord Rawdon, then in command of British Forces. At this time the house was occupied by Mrs. Motte, wife of Jacob Motte, whose father had been treasurer of the Carolinas under British rule, 1776. At the time referred to above Mrs. Motte was a confirmed invalid and died shortly after.
Miles Brewton has this epitaph carved on his tomb in St. Philip's: A faithful patriot, He builded better than he knew.
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1731 - 1775 (44 years)
