As Daniel Morgan collected his prisoners on the morning of January 17, 1781, he knew Charles, Lord Cornwallis, could not be far behind. “The Troops I have had the Honor to command have been so fortunate as to obtain a compleat Victory,” Morgan would later report proudly to Nathanael Greene. At the Battle of Cowpens earlier […]
Dr. John Moultrie was born in 1729 in South Carolina to a father of the same name, one of five brothers. Educated in Edinburgh, he graduated in 1749 before returning to the United States where he took up residence in Charleston. In subsequent years, he held numerous prominent positions within the colony. In 1763, when […]
As November 1780 begins, we find Cornwallis continuing to wait at Winnsborough, South Carolina, in the hope of being joined by Major Gen. Alexander Leslie, a junction on which the winter campaign to the northward depended. Bound for the Chesapeake and placed under the orders of Cornwallis, Leslie had sailed from New York on October […]
Little is known about the colonial-era history of Hammond’s Store, though the site appears to have been a local meeting place prior to the American Revolution. A 1775 proclamation of South Carolina’s Second Provincial Congress listed “Hammond’s old store” as the election polling place for the newly established “Little River” electoral district.[1] A letter from […]
On October 9, 1771, a ship arrived at the southwestern tip of England. The Earl of Halifax had spent twenty nine days crossing the Atlantic from New York, and now its captain and crew peered at the shore to find the entrance to Falmouth harbor. The sun was going down in the west, but the sails […]
No British officer was more reviled by Patriots in the South during the American Revolution than Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton. Based partly on fact and partly on myth, Tarleton’s name became synonymous with brutality to many Americans. Another British officer, although less infamous, earned a similar reputation for his actions in South Carolina in 1780. […]
George Washington surrounded himself with the best and the brightest young men involved in the revolutionary cause. Alexander Hamilton, Tench Tilghman, Robert Harrison, the Marquis de Lafayette, James McHenry, and John Fitzgerald were a few of the talented people that served alongside Washington in his “family” at various times. One of them, John Laurens of […]
As Nathanael Greene retreated from Ninety Six in late June 1781, following his unsuccessful siege there, Thomas Sumter was eager to campaign in lower South Carolina. This was a stratagem the Gamecock had employed before. Following Greene’s defeat at Hobkirk’s Hill on April 25, 1781, Sumter quickly opened a campaign against the British supply depots […]
In February 1781, Thomas Sumter emerged from his three-month convalescence to begin his next campaign in the South Carolina interior. Having been wounded seriously in the back, chest, and shoulder at the Battle of the Blackstocks, leading his militia army against a combined force of British regulars and volunteers commanded by the notorious Lt. Col. […]
South Carolina, by several measures, was the most affluent and economically important pre-revolutionary British colony in North America. Largely agrarian and sparsely settled, it contained plantations that used slave labor to grow the valuable cash crops of indigo and rice for European, Caribbean, and American markets. Indigo, used to make blue dye, was one of […]
As events would prove, the autumn campaign was a very risky venture indeed, yet despite the operational difficulties attending it Cornwallis saw no option but to go on to the offensive after his victory at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina, on August 16, 1780. As he had explained to Clinton, “It may be doubted […]
“We Have Sacrificed Our All.” Thus, stated eleven loyalist officers from Ninety-Six and Camden Districts of South Carolina in a petition intended for the King of England. What happened to them, and the three hundred more named in the petition, is part of the equation leading to the question of how many families lost husbands […]
Its occupation by the British, the character of its inhabitants, and its flora, fauna and terrain Overall, I am of opinion that militarily the broad picture of the Revolutionary War has not markedly altered since the 1970s, but almost all interpretive works are written from an American perspective that does not always coincide with my […]
Deep in South Carolina’s back country the Loyalist world came apart in the fall of 1781. British occupation ended with their retreat into the Charleston area and proclamations concerning safety of the loyalist families had been largely ignored by local Patriots. Vengeance and plunder were the priorities for far too many. The time of oppression […]
The American War of Independence produced many dramatic episodes, but none surpassed the campaign that Lt. Gen. Charles, Second Earl Cornwallis, conducted in North Carolina during the first three months of 1781 for hair-raising suspense and heartbreak. Things got off to a bad start for the British on January 17, 1781, at the Battle of […]
Even under the strange, somewhat inept leadership of Loyalist Col. John Moore, the task of hampering Spartanburg’s Fair Forest role as a Patriot stronghold should have been straightforward. What could not have been known is what would happen when the frontier’s best sharpshooter teamed up with three lovely, most remarkable of women along with a […]
“What say you now, Sir Peter Parker!”[1] The high and mighty will sometimes do seemingly odd things in order to make a point. Like, for instance, having oneself rowed into a channel in front of Fort Moultrie to see if the water’s depth was sufficient to accommodate an attacking ship. The date was May 27, […]
The story repeated itself time and again across the southern districts of Georgia. Alarms raised loudly across a broad area with tales of imminent Indian raids and McGirth’s banditti coming from every direction against every plantation. The men would arm themselves and hunker down to protect home and family from these raiders. However, while the […]
In March 1778, several hundred South Carolina Loyalists began a march to the British province of East Florida to seek refuge from persecution and assist the British. Their successful effort threw the Whigs of South Carolina and Georgia into a panic and provided a valuable accession of military manpower to East Florida. The Loyalists’ actions […]
Select any narrative from the dozens of sources that tell the story of what happened on July 12, 1780 at Cedar Springs, South Carolina, and basically here is what you get: Sometime during the night of July 12 a group of Tory militia, said to be one hundred and fifty strong, less than half a […]
Known primarily through a mix of fact and legend as the most notorious Patriot of the southern campaigns, Paddy Carr was also claimed to have an “amiable and benevolent” nature. As if that contradiction were not enough to create complexity of character, Carr, a stone cold killer of Tories, never swore or uttered blasphemy. Instead, […]
In January of 1781, Loyalist Maj. James Dunlap raided the Long Cane settlement in South Carolina that included the homes of notorious rebel leaders James McCall and Andrew Pickens. Among the most respected of all the Whig military men, Pickens had only renounced his parole the month before. Lord Cornwallis’s response was to send Dunlap […]
If early American history is your beat, a trip to Musgrove Mill State Historic Site outside of Clinton, S.C., will likely give you a fresh, first-hand perspective on the Revolutionary War and the upper South Carolina militia forces that fought in it. The Battle of Musgrove Mill, which took place on August 19, 1780, was […]
Walk Where Battles Were Fought and Heroes Were Forged The Ninety Six National Historic site is an area of unique historical significance. There is always curiosity as to the origin of the name Ninety Six. There are several legends surrounding how Ninety Six got its name but the most popular one is a romanticized legend […]
Everything we know about Brig. Gen. Andrew Williamson leads to one question: Did he become a traitor to the Patriot cause—the “Arnold of the South,” or is he a scapegoat, a victim of powerful men seeking to avoid blame and censure? This is a look at a two week period following the death of Williamson. […]
For Sir Henry Clinton, the capitulation of Charleston, South Carolina constituted not only the most stunning British victory of the war, but something of a personal vindication as well. In truth, the May 12, 1780 surrender of the vital southern port was a staggering blow to the Patriot war effort. Clinton enthusiastically claimed to have […]
I plan to write about how the Tory guerrilla David Fanning changed after being made a Loyalist Colonel and given his own red coat, but I keep being lured down Carolina bypaths. For this present detour, on Fanning’s official adversary, Brigadier General John Butler of the North Carolina Militia, I compiled first-hand statements from men […]
Had he made it through the war, John McClure’s name would likely draw equal fame and respect as the nation’s most celebrated southern patriots. Indeed, not only can John be considered the first officer in the field against British occupation after the disaster at Charleston in June 1780 but, without his courage and leadership, the […]
When British Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton began operations against Charleston in March 1780, he decided not to call upon the Loyalists in the South Carolina backcountry to assist him. Although employing Loyalists to aid the regular army was a key element of British strategy in the South, Clinton believed that they would be endangered […]
Busy with the Siege of Augusta and subsequent exodus from Georgia, Elijah Clarke and most of the Refugees missed the battle of King’s Mountain. Instead, they spent time in Watauga with the Overmountain Men helping guard against raids from the Cherokee while the local militia traveled to South Carolina and dealt Cornwallis a serious blow […]
One of the great literary mysteries of colonial American history is the identity of “An American,” the anonymous author of American Husbandry (London, 1775). This writer dared to publish a plea to an unsympathetic British public not to allow the wealth and potential for the thirteen American colonies to slip away. A critic in 1776 […]
Eighteenth century politics remain an incredibly interesting topic. The history of the American Revolution provides a number of good examples. For instance, following the recommendations of the 1st Continental Congress in January 1775, the Provincial Congress of South Carolina decided to form a Secret Committee that would work to promote the Patriot Cause in South […]
At the battle of Camden in August of 1780, Lord Cornwallis dealt the Americans under General Horatio Gates a shocking defeat. Also known as the Hero of Saratoga, General Gates had recently proven a serious competitor to George Washington’s command of the Continental Army. Because of the debate over command, the defeat drew all sorts […]
During 1780 and 1781, Brigadier General Francis Marion earned a reputation as the “Swamp Fox,” a virtually unbeatable partisan commander who foiled British efforts to pacify South Carolina and who defeated or evaded every British attempt to destroy his force. It was not until 1782 that Marion finally encountered an opponent capable of beating his […]
Book Review: Parker’s Guide to the Revolutionary War in South Carolina; Battles, Skirmishes and Murders (2nd edition) By John C. Parker, Jr. Infinity Publishing, West Conshohocken, PA, 2013. Paper. $39.95 ISBN 978-0-9841058-1-6; 530 pages, 8.5 x11. Historian John C. Parker, Jr. has created an incredible resource for anyone caring to trace the Revolutionary War in […]
It had been a tense three weeks in the Carolinas for General Nathanael Greene, the commander of the American southern army. In the wake of General Daniel Morgan’s decisive victory at Cowpens on January 17th, 1781, General Greene moved to reunite his divided army. While Morgan’s 550 man light corps slowly withdrew northeastward into North […]
Rebuffed in his attempt to command the South Carolina militia, newly commissioned General James Williams returned to North Carolina with his small Regiment. While there, he requested permission to recruit men for his regiment and a return to the south. On September 8, Governor Nash of North Carolina provided him with written orders to recruit […]
An ardent Patriot from the early days of the American Revolution, Colonel James Williams commanded the Little River Regiment of the South Carolina militia. His letters home indicate a man not only zealous for the cause but also attentive to his business and his religion. After all, “to fear God is the first and great […]
British Lt. Gen. Alexander Leslie, 50, was burned out, ill, missed his daughter, and wanted to go home. He had arrived in South Carolina in late 1781 to command the Southern colonies. Leslie needed to ensure the security of the few enclaves the British still controlled. He had to feed not just his own army, […]
