“B” is for Bryan, Hugh (1699-1753)

“B” is for Bryan, Hugh (1699-1753). Planter, evangelist. As a youth, Bryan was captured by Indians during the Yamasee War of 1715. According to later testimony, while a captive he “met with the Bible among the Indians,” which sustained him during his ordeal and laid the groundwork for his future spirituality. A leading rice planter in St. Helena’s Parish, Bryan actively evangelized among his slaves and prophesied that the colony would be destroyed by “African Hosts” unless it repented and turned from its misguided ways. In 1742 the Commons House ordered his arrest. He fled and underwent a crisis of faith. Shortly thereafter Hugh Bryan wrote to the Speaker of the House apologizing for “the Dishonour I've done to God as well as the Disquiet which I may have occasioned to my Country.”