Editing Ninety Six, South Carolina (section)

=== 18th century ===
Ninety Six was established on the frontier of the early [[18th century]], roughly around 1730.<ref name=":3" /> For a time it was known as "Jews Land" because some prominent [[Sephardic]] Jewish families of [[London]] bought extensive property there.<ref>{{Cite web |title=South Carolina - The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia - |url=https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tje/s/south-carolina.html |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=StudyLight.org |language=en}}</ref> The Salvador and DaCosta families bought {{convert|200000|acre|km2}}, intending to help poor [[Sephardic Jews|Sephardic]] families relocate from London to the New World.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pencak |first=William |title=Jews and Gentiles in Early America 1654–1800 |date=2005 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-11454-2 |location=Ann Arbor |page=124}}</ref> They began to settle it.<ref>Pencak, ''Jews and Gentiles in Early America 1654–1800'', p. 124.</ref>

The settlement became the capital city of the [[Ninety-Six District, South Carolina|Ninety-Six District]] when the latter was established in July 1769.<ref name=":3" />

Since the late 20th century, the [[National Park Service]] has operated the [[Ninety Six National Historic Site]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Parks {{!}} Ninety Six, Town of |url=https://townofninetysix.sc.gov/parks |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=townofninetysix.sc.gov}}</ref> at the site of the original settlement and British fort.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Local History {{!}} Ninety Six, Town of |url=https://townofninetysix.sc.gov/local-history |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=townofninetysix.sc.gov}}</ref>
Ninety Six figured prominently in the [[Anglo-Cherokee War]] (1758–1761).<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Six |first1=Mailing Address: Ninety Six National Historic Site 1103 Hwy 248 Ninety |last2=Us |first2=SC 29666 Phone: 864 543-4068 Contact |title=History & Culture - Ninety Six National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/nisi/learn/historyculture/index.htm |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}</ref> <!-- In what way? -->During the [[American Revolutionary War]], it was a site for [[Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War|southern campaigns]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The American Revolution in South Carolina - Ninety-Six (1775) |url=https://www.carolana.com/SC/Revolution/revolution_ninety_six_1775.html |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=www.carolana.com}}</ref> The first land battle of the revolution south of [[New England]] was fought here November 19–21, 1775.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Battle of Ninety-Six, Siege, 1775, Revolutionary War, Summary, Significance |url=https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/battle-of-ninety-six-1775/ |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=American History Central |language=en-US}}</ref>

On August 1, 1776, American militia forces led by Major [[Andrew Williamson (soldier)|Andrew Williamson]] were ambushed by [[Cherokee]] and [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] near here in the Battle of Twelve Mile Creek.  More than 4,000 Cherokee warriors had waged war on a long front beginning in June, from modern [[Tennessee]] to central South Carolina.<ref name="toulmin2">{{cite journal |last=Toulmin |first=Llewellyn M. |date=Spring 2012 |title=Backcountry Warrior: Brig. Gen. Andrew Williamson |url=http://libjournal.uncg.edu/jbc/article/view/509/296 |journal=Journal of Backcountry Studies |volume=7 |issue=1}}</ref> [[Francis Salvador]], a Sephardic Jewish immigrant from London and a planter, was one of the casualties.  He was the first Jew to be killed fighting with the Patriots in the Revolutionary War.<ref name="har2">{{cite news |last=Porter Brown |first=Nell |date=January–February 2003 |title=A 'Portion of the People' |url=http://harvardmagazine.com/2003/01/a-portion-of-the-people.html |work=[[Harvard Magazine]] |archive-date=September 4, 2018 |access-date=June 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904052526/http://harvardmagazine.com/2003/01/a-portion-of-the-people.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Ninety Six star fort SC1.jpg|thumb|Star Fort battle site]]
The Cherokee were allied with the British in an effort to expel European-American settlers from their territory. In fall 1776, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia raised rebel militias to retaliate. [[Rutherford's Light Horse expedition]] had several units that attacked the Cherokee Lower Towns; the Middle, Valley, and Out Towns; and the Overhill Towns, dealing widespread destruction of Cherokee towns and their stores of food.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":11" />

In 1780 the British fortified the strategically important frontier town with a [[Bastion fort|star fort]]. From May 22 to June 18, 1781, Major General [[Nathanael Greene]], with 1,000 [[Continental Army]] troops, [[Siege of Ninety-Six|besieged]] 550 American Loyalists who were defending Ninety Six. General Greene's chief engineer at the siege was Colonel [[Tadeusz Kościuszko]], a Polish officer who became world-renowned for his role in the Revolution; he was wounded at the siege. The Loyalists survived the siege and relocated after the war to [[Upper Rawdon, Nova Scotia#History of Rawdon Township|Rawdon, Nova Scotia]], Canada, with support from the Crown for resettlement.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-22 |title=The Siege Of Ninety-Six Begins – California SAR |url=https://www.californiasar.org/2024/05/the-siege-of-ninety-six-begins-2/ |access-date=2025-04-22 |language=en-US}}</ref>