Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Craven, Charles

CRAVEN, Charles, colonist, d. in 1754. He was secretary of the proprietors of South Carolina, and governor of the colony from 1712 till 1716. During 1712 he was ordered to sound Port Royal river, and it is supposed that he then founded Beaufort. Three years later all of the Indians from Cape Fear to St. Mary's river combined under the leadership of the Yemassees for the purpose of destroying the colony on Ashley river. Gov. Craven at once proclaimed martial law, laid an embargo on all ships to prevent the departure of men or provisions, and at the head of 1,200 men, part of whom were faithful blacks, met the Indians in a series of desperate encounters and finally drove them beyond the Savannah.