Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson (1682–1735) served as the governor of South Carolina from 1717 to 1719 and from 1729 to 1735. Johnson ordered Colonel William Rhett to engage the notorious pirate Stede Bonnet's sloops in the Battle of Cape Fear River with the Charleston Militia on sea in 1718. His grandson was South Carolina Senator Ralph Izard. Life Robert Johnson was the son of Sir Nathaniel Johnson and inherited a considerable estate from his father. On April 30, 1717, he was commissioned governor of South Carolina. Like his father, he soon won the confidence of the people, but coming at a time when the powers of the proprietors were already tottering, he was baffled in his efforts to conciliate the colonists, by the proprietors' own greed and folly, and in his endeavors to sustain their authority he lost whatever influence he might have exercised. Settling the Frontier During his time as governor Johnson oversaw an innovative new approach to settling the South Carolina frontier with the hope of providing a buffer between Native Americans in the west and Charles Towne on the east coast. This "Township Scheme" was essentially a government subsidized settlement plan that involved the creation of townships which were treated as mini-colonies, each comprising about 20,000 acres. New settlers would be given 50 acres a piece and once a township had reached 100 settlers it would be given two seats in South Carolina's Commons House of Assembly. Townships created under this program were Purrysburg, New Windsor, Fredericksburg, Queensborough, Kingston, Amelia, Williamsburg, Saxe Gotha, Welsh Tract, and Orangeburg. Pirate Wars