PINCKNEY, THOMAS American statesman and diplomat, was born in Charleston, S.C., on Oct. 23, 1750, a younger brother of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (q.v.). Edu cated in England, he returned to Charleston in 1773, and was admitted to the bar in 1774. During the American Revolution his early training at the French military college at Caen enabled him to render effective service to Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, Count d'Estaing and Gen. Horatio Gates. In the battle of Camden he was badly wounded and captured, remaining a prisoner for more than a year. Subsequently he was governor of South Carolina in 1787-89; presided over the State convention which ratified the Federal constitution in 1788; and was United States minister to Great Britain in 1792-96. During part of this time he was also envoy extraordinary to Spain, and in this capacity negotiated (1795) the important Treaty of San Lorenzo el Real; by that treaty the boundary between the United States and East and West Florida and between the United States and "Louisiana" was settled (Spain relinquishing all claims east of the Mississippi above 31`) N. lat.), and the United States secured the freedom of navigation of the Mississippi to its mouth. In 1796 Pinckney was the Federalist candidate for vice president, and in 1797-1801 he was a Federalist representative in Congress. During the War
of 1812 he was a major-general. He died in Charleston on Nov. 2, 1828. The Pinckneys, like many other South Carolina revolu tionary leaders, were of aristocratic birth and politics, closely con nected with England by ties of blood, education and business re lations. This renders the more remarkable their attitude in the American Revolution, for which they made great sacrifices.
See C. C. Pinckney, Life of General Thomas Pinckney (Boston, 1895).
(Erodium cicutarium), an annual herb of the geranium family (Geraniaceae), called also hemlock stork's-bill, and red filaree. It is widespread as a weed in the Old World, and is extensively naturalized in North America from Nova Scotia to the Pacific coast, being especially abundant from Texas and Colorado westward to California and Oregon where it is highly esteemed as a forage plant. The larger white-stemmed pin clover, musk clover or filaree (E. moschatus), native to Europe and locally naturalized in the United States, has become very abundant in California valleys.