When I think about history, it isn’t the names and dates that stick out. It’s stories about the real people who shaped our communities long before we came to inhabit them.
My home county of York boasts as rich a heritage as anywhere in South Carolina.
One of the area’s earliest European settlers was Thomas Spratt, who inherited land north of Twelve Mile Creek, near what is now Fort Mill, in 1757. There, he befriended the Catawba people, hunting with them and fighting alongside them against the Shawnee. The Catawbas gave him the name Kanawha, after the West Virginia river where those battles took place. A bronze statue of Spratt and Catawba chief King Hagler honors their unique relationship along Charlotte’s Trail of History.
Decades later, some of the Revolutionary War’s most consequential battles took place in York County. In 1780, the British had near-complete military control in South Carolina—except in the backwoods that patriot militias relentlessly patrolled. One British officer, Capt. Christian Huck, was sent to crush them for good.
Huck’s methods were ruthless. As he and his troops moved through what is now York County, they arrived at the plantation of Col. William Bratton, a local militia leader. There, one of Huck’s soldiers pressed a reaping hook to the neck of Bratton’s wife, Martha, demanding to know her husband’s whereabouts. She refused, and only the intervention of a British officer saved her life.
Fortunately, Bratton and his men were nearby. By sunrise, they had surrounded Huck’s encampment and launched a surprise attack, killing Huck and an estimated 35 of his soldiers. This victory, known as Huck’s Defeat, marked the first major patriot militia victory over the British and helped shift the tide of the war.
Generations later, on a much larger battlefield, Col. Rufus Bratton—a descendent of William and Martha and a native of York—oversaw Far East Intelligence for the U.S. War Department. On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, he was among the first officers to intercept messages warning of an imminent Japanese attack in the Pacific. But due to bureaucracy and bad weather, those critical warnings were delayed. By the time the messages reached Pearl Harbor, the attack was already underway. At the end of World War II, Bratton was part of the liberation of Europe under Gen. George S. Patton.
These stories of York County heroes lead us to a more recent figure of impact. Congressman John Spratt, who died this past December, was a descendent of both Thomas Spratt and the Brattons. Deeply rooted in York County and blessed with unique intelligence and humility, my friend John left a mark that extended beyond his home county.
A graduate of York High School and Davidson College, where he served as student body president, John went on to become a Marshall Scholar at Oxford and earn his law degree from Yale. He later served as an Army captain, receiving the Meritorious Service Medal.
In 1971, John returned home to practice law, run his farm and serve his community. While I was working as his law clerk, he won a seat in Congress. Over 28 years, he earned the respect and trust of colleagues on both sides of the aisle, eventually rising to chair the House Budget Committee.
One of my favorite memories of John comes from those years in Washington. I once brought a box of cupcakes for his staff, including coconut cupcakes just for him. I’ll never forget the sight of one of the most powerful men in Washington with white coconut flakes scattered across his dark suit and tie.
As Congressman Jim Clyburn eulogized at John’s funeral, John was “an inconspicuous genius and the most ordinary, extraordinary person I’ve ever known.”
Pondering John’s place among the great figures of my community’s history fills me with pride and inspiration.
I believe every community in our state was shaped by those who came before. John’s life is a testament that every generation has an opportunity to make the next chapter of history even better than the last.