Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth (1746–1825)

American Federalist politician and soldier. In 1796 he was sent as US minister to France, but the French government refused to receive him, and he had to take refuge in Holland. Later President John Adams sent him back to France, accompanied by Elbridge Gerry. The French diplomat Talleyrand declared the mission unacceptable unless certain conditions were fulfilled; when the facts became known in the USA 1798, there was a popular demand for an immediate declaration of war on France. The French then withdrew their demands.

Pinckney was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and educated at Oxford, England, and at a military college at Caen, France. Returning home, he practised as a barrister, became a member of the South Carolina provincial legislature, an officer in the South Carolina militia, and president of the South Carolina senate. Serving with the army of the colonists in the American Revolution, he was captured by British forces 1780 and held prisoner for nearly two years.