Peter Manigault

{{short description|Attorney and legislator in colonial America}}

{{infobox officeholder

| name =

| image = Peter Manigault (South Carolina plantation owner).jpg

| caption =

| office = Speaker of the South Carolina House of Commons

| term_start = 1765

| term_end = 1772

| predecessor =

| successor =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1731|10|10}}

| birth_place = Charleston, Province of South Carolina, British America

| death_date = {{death date and age|1773|11|12|1731|10|10}}

| death_place = London, England

| parents = Gabriel Manigault
Ann Ashby Manigault

| spouse = {{marriage|Elizabeth Wragg|1755|February 19, 1773|reason=her death}}

| children =

| relations =

}}

Peter Manigault (October 10, 1731 – November 12, 1773) was an attorney, plantation owner, slaver, and colonial legislator native to Charleston, South Carolina. He was the wealthiest man in the British North American colonies at the time of his death and imprisoned hundreds of slaves. He was the son-in-law of Joseph Wragg, the largest slave trader of North America in the 1730s.

Early life

File:Coat of Arms of Peter Manigault.svg

Manigault (pronounced MAN-eh-go) was born in Charleston on October 10, 1731, and was part of a wealthy French Huguenot immigrant family.{{cite book |last=Garraty |first=John Arthur |date=1999 |title=American National Biography |volume=14 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=veEpAQAAMAAJ |location=London, United Kingdom |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=411|isbn=978-0-19-520635-7 }} Manigault was the son of Gabriel Manigault (1704–1781) and Ann (née Ashby) Manigault (1705–1782).{{cite book |last1=Gardner |first1=Albert Ten Eyck |last2=Feld |first2=Stuart P. |date=1965 |title=American Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art |volume=I |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ubYS_IV9rZMC&pg=PA17 |location=Greenwich, CT |publisher=New York Graphic Society |page=17}}{{cite book |last1=Gardner |first1=Albert Ten Eyck |title=American Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, Painters Born by 1815 |date=1965 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |page=17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ubYS_IV9rZMC&pg=PA17 |access-date=24 April 2020 |language=en}}

His paternal grandparents were Judith (née Jetton-Gitton) Manigault and Pierre Manigault, a French Huguenot who settled in the Santee area and became a successful rice planter.{{cite book |last=Ingham |first=John N. |date=1983 |title=Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders |volume=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Suu9yUKdA8IC&pg=PA851 |location=Greenwood Press |publisher=Greenwood Press |page=851 |isbn=978-0-313-23908-3}} His maternal grandparents were John Ashby and Constantia (née Broughton) Ashby (whose brother Thomas Broughton was Governor of South Carolina).{{cite book |last1=Lucas |first1=Silas Emmett |title=Genealogy of the Dodson (Dotson) Lucas, Pyles, Rochester, and allied families |date=1959 |page=[https://archive.org/details/genealogyofdodso00luca/page/237 237] |url=https://archive.org/details/genealogyofdodso00luca |access-date=24 April 2020 |language=en}}

He was privately educated in the Province of South Carolina and in England, traveled extensively in Europe, studied law at London's Inner Temple, and was called to the English bar in 1752.{{cite book |last=Salley |first=A. S. Jr. |date=1902 |title=The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine |volume=3 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=QZVIAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA87 |location=Charleston, SC |publisher=South Carolina Historical Society |page=87}}

Career

File:Mr. Peter Manigault and Friends.jpg

He returned to South Carolina in 1754, where he practiced law, became a successful merchant and banker, and managed his family's extensive plantation holdings. By 1774 Manigault was the wealthiest person in the British North American colonies, with a net worth - that included hundreds of slaves - of approximately £33,000 in 1770, which was equal to approximately $4 million in 2016.{{cite book|author=Walter B. Edgar|title=South Carolina: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EFSbwGk2szgC&pg=PA153|year=1998|publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press|page=153|isbn=978-1-57003-255-4}}

Manigault served in the South Carolina House of Commons in 1755, and again from 1765 to 1773.{{cite book |last=Board of Managers, Society of Colonial Dames of the State of New York |date=1913 |title=Register of the Colonial Dames of the State of New York, 1893-1913 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PXJDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA348 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Frederick H. Hitchcock |page=348}} From 1765 to 1772 he was Speaker of the House.{{cite book |last=Woodmason |first=Charles |date=1953 |title=The Carolina Backcountry on the Eve of the Revolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W2DqCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA269 |location=Chapel Hill, NC |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |page=269 |isbn=978-0-8078-4035-1}}[https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.425639/page/234/mode/2up?view=theater Dictionary of American Biography, Volume 12, page 235] He actively opposed the British Stamp Act 1765, and was identified with what became known as the Patriot cause.{{cite book |last=Ramsay |first=David |date=1809 |title=The History of South-Carolina |volume=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1TYVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA504 |location=Charleston, SC |publisher=David Longworth |pages=504–505}}

=Letters=

During Manigault's studies in London and travels in Europe, he exchanged frequent letters with his parents. This correspondence was published as part of several articles over several years in the South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine.{{cite book |last=Haw |first=James |date=1997 |title=John & Edward Rutledge of South Carolina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DOdwlJ5r_tYC&pg=PA357 |location=Athens, GA |publisher=University of Georgia Press |page=357 |isbn=978-0-8203-1859-2}}

A caricature drawn by George Roupell circa 1760 was entitled "Mr. Peter Manigault and his Friends" and depicts Manigault and several of his friends and acquaintances taking part in a drinking party.{{efn|The caricature depicts several South Carolina Huguenots and British officers of the 42nd Regiment of Foot (then the South Carolina Independent Company) at Manigault's Steepbrook home. The event must have occurred in 1754, which was the only year that all were alive and physically in South Carolina. Clockwise, the subjects are identified as: Captain Raymond Demeré (1702-1766); "Success to Carolina, g-d damn!" Captain Massey; "This one bumper, dear Isaac." Isaac Godin; "I shall be drunk, I tell ye Massey." Captain Richard Coytmore (d. 1760); "Squire Isaac, your wig you Dog." Lieutenant Colonel Probert Howarth; "Hey to the midnight, Hark a way, hark a way." George Roupell; "Pray less noise, gentlemen." Peter Manigault; "Your tost [sic] Howarth." Lieutenant Charles Taylor; "Whose tost [sic] is it?"}}

Personal life

File:Mrs. Peter Manigault (Elizabeth Wragg).jpg.]]

In 1755, Manigault was married to Elizabeth Wragg (1736–1773).{{cite book |last=Hain |first=Pamela Chase |date=2005 |title=A Confederate Chronicle: The Life of a Civil War Survivor |url=https://archive.org/details/confederatechron00hain_0 |url-access=registration |location=Columbia, MO |publisher=University of Missouri Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/confederatechron00hain_0/page/2 2] |isbn=978-0-8262-1599-4}} She was the daughter of Judith (née Dubose) and Joseph Wragg, an English-born American who was one of the largest slave traders in British North America.{{cite book |last=Friedman |first=Saul S. |date=1999 |title=Jews and the American Slave Trade |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zcs3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT165 |location=Milton Park, UK |publisher=Routledge (Taylor & Francis) |page=165 |isbn=978-1-3515-1075-2}} Their children included:{{cite book |date=1970 |title=The North Carolina Historical Review |volume=47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LuM7AAAAIAAJ&q=%22izard+family%22 |location=Raleigh, NC |publisher=North Carolina Historical Commission |page=17}}

Gabriel Manigault (1758–1809), who married Margaret Izard (1768–1824), a daughter of Continental Congressman and U.S. Senator Ralph Izard.{{cite web|title=Manigault, Morris, and Grimball Family Papers, 1795-1832|url=https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/00976/|website=finding-aids.lib.unc.edu|publisher=Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|access-date=14 December 2017}}
Anne Manigault Middleton (1762–1811), who married Thomas Middleton (1753–1797)
Joseph Manigault (1763–1843), who married Charlotte Drayton (1781–1855)
Henrietta Manigault Heyward (1769–1827), who married Nathaniel Heyward (1766–1851).

In 1773, Manigault's health worsened, and he left South Carolina for England in an effort to find a cure.{{cite journal |last=Webber |first=Mabel Louise, South Carolina Historical Society |date=July 1, 1914 |title=Six Letters of Peter Manigault |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4eg6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA113 |journal=The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine |volume=XV |issue=3 |location=Charleston, SC |publisher=Walker, Evans & Cogswell |page=113}} His wife died on February 19, 1773. Manigault's health did not improve, and he died in London on November 12, 1773.{{cite book |last=McDonough |first=Daniel J. |date=2000 |title=Christopher Gadsden and Henry Laurens: The Parallel Lives of Two American Patriots |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ILH-FlV4mU8C&pg=PA301 |location=Cranbury, NJ |publisher=Associated University Press |page=301 |isbn=978-1-57591-039-0}} He was buried at French Protestant Huguenot Church Cemetery in Charleston.{{cite book |last=Laurens |first=Henry |date=1981 |title=The Papers of Henry Laurens |volume=9 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=QjR_1XUHL7wC&pg=PA703 |location=Columbia, SC |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |page=151 |isbn= 978-0-87249-399-5}}

=Descendants=

Through his son, he was the grandfather of Elizabeth Manigault Morris (1785–1822), who married Col. Lewis Morris (a grandson of Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence), and were the parents of Capt. Charles Manigault Morris of the Confederate States Navy;{{cite web|title=Manigault, Morris, and Grimball Family Papers, 1795-1832|url=https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/00976/|website=finding-aids.lib.unc.edu|publisher=Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|access-date=14 December 2017}} Gabriel Henry Manigault (1788–1834); and Charles Izard Manigault (1795–1874).{{cite web|title=Charles Izard Manigault and His Family in Rome - Ferdinando Cavalleri - Google Arts & Culture|url=https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/asset/charles-izard-manigault-and-his-family-in-rome/2AHmFYiXTDBFIw?hl=en|website=Google Cultural Institute|access-date=14 December 2017}}{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite web|title=Charles Izard Manigault {{!}} Gibbes People's Choice|url=https://www.gibbespeopleschoice.org/portfolioentry/charles-izard-manigault/|website=www.gibbespeopleschoice.org|access-date=14 December 2017}}

The Manigault family has remained prominent in Charleston, including as owners of the city's daily newspaper, The Post and Courier, which was first purchased by Peter Manigault's great-grandson Arthur in 1896.{{cite web |url=https://eveningpostnewspaperjobs.com/?page_id=44 |title=Focus on the Community |website=About Us: Evening Post Publishing Newspaper Group |publisher=Evening Post Industries |location=Charleston, SC |access-date=June 13, 2022}}