Q 01/05

Which pirate blockaded Charles Town harbor in May 1718, holding citizens hostage until he was sent medical supplies?

A) Blackbeard

B) Captain Kidd

C) Calico Jack

D) Henry Morgan

Answer · why

A) Blackbeard

Blackbeard threatened to send the hostages' heads to the governor, then freed them once the drugs arrived, though he kept their valuables and fine clo...

Q 02/05

Logs from which spongy tree let a half-built Charleston harbor fort absorb British cannonballs in June 1776?

A) Live oak

B) Palmetto

C) Bald cypress

D) Longleaf pine

Answer · why

B) Palmetto

Palmetto wood quivered and swallowed the shot instead of splintering, which is why the tree now stands on South Carolina's state flag.

Q 03/05

Which crop did teenage plantation manager Eliza Lucas begin testing in 1739, making it a leading South Carolina export?

A) Tobacco

B) Cotton

C) Indigo

D) Sugarcane

Answer · why

C) Indigo

Indigo took her three years of failed attempts to master, and she then shared seed with other planters, lifting exports from 5,000 pounds to 130,000 b...

Q 04/05

Which grain, grown by enslaved Africans, made South Carolina one of the richest colonies?

A) Wheat

B) Barley

C) Maize

D) Rice

Answer · why

D) Rice

Rice was the colony's main source of wealth, and the labor it demanded meant enslaved Africans were a majority of South Carolina's people from 1708 un...

Q 05/05

Where did the British lock up South Carolina merchant Henry Laurens after capturing him at sea during the Revolution?

A) Newgate Prison

B) Edinburgh Castle

C) Windsor Castle

D) Tower of London

Answer · why

D) Tower of London

Tower of London guards held Laurens for a little over a year, the only American ever imprisoned there, until he was exchanged for General Cornwallis.