Colhoun, John Ewing | South Carolina Public Radio

"C" is for Colhoun, John Ewing (ca. 1749-1802). U.S. senator. Born in Virginia, Colhoun moved with his family to Long Canes (present-day Abbeville County). He graduated from Princeton in 1774. During the Revolution he was an aide-de-camp to General Andrew Pickens. After the war, he concentrated on his plantations in the lowcountry and in Ninety Six District where he controlled thousands of acres and owned at least 108 slaves. Colhoun entered the General Assembly in 1779 and over a span of two decades represented several different districts. He was elected to the U.S. senate in 1800 as a Jeffersonian. However, he soon broke with the administration when he sided with the Federalist opposition in supporting the preservation of an independent judiciary. John Ewing Colhoun’s Senate service was cut short by his untimely death in 1802.