Little is known of Revolutionary War Sgt. William Jasper’s 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 won lasting fame during the British attack on Sullivan’s Island, near Charleston. When an enemy shot brought down the fort’s 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’s 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.
Jasper became a national hero as a character in the historical novel by Mason L. Weems, The Life of Gen. Francis Marion (1809). Weems based this work loosely on a manuscript by Peter Horry. Although Horry dismissed Weems’s book, he and other Revolutionary War veterans confirmed Jasper’s great personal courage. Eight counties (including Jasper County, South Carolina), numerous towns, and thousands of Americans were named for the man described as “the Brave Sergt. Jasper.”
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