The Battle of Earle’s Ford and Fort Prince, South Carolina, July 15, 1780, [some sources state the 14th while others list the 17th] were both American victories that involved the same belligerents. At Earle’s Ford on the Pacolet River, just south of the North Carolina border, a British force of Provincial Dragoons and South Carolina militia, led by Major James Dunlop, staged an early morning attack against what Dunlop thought was a small camp of raiding rebels from Georgia. After the Georgians were routed, Dunlop realized too late that they were camped next to a much larger body of North Carolina militia, led by Colonel Charles McDowell. Thirty-eight rebel militiamen were killed and wounded with only three casualties for the British before McDowell’s camp rallied and Dunlop wisely retreated.
The British were pursued by a company of around fifty rebel militia, commanded by Captain Edward Hampton. The patriots caught up with their enemy five miles from the British outpost Fort Prince. A surprise rebel volley against the British while still in column killed five men. The loyalists were routed and rode hard for the fort with the patriots hot on their heels. Eight more loyalists were killed and one captured before the dragoons arrived at the fort; most of the loyalist militia had scattered in the countryside. Captain Hampton, unsure of the forces defending the fort, returned to Earle’s Ford. However, the fort had already been abandoned by the garrison, leaving the dragoons, along with their wounded, to continue their retreat to the defensive town of Ninety-Six, some seventy miles further south.
Background
With a stalemate in the north, British Supreme commander of British forces in America, General Henry Clinton, looked south and sailed a large invasion fleet to Charleston, South Carolina, arriving in late February, 1780. In March, he besieged the city and the Southern Continental Army under General Benjamin Lincoln. On May 12th, the city fell and the American Army surrendered; over 5,000 men including arms and supplies. The British began setting up communication outposts from Georgia to the North Carolina border. Many rebel militiamen offered parole while a die-hard faction continued the fight, using guerrilla tactics to strike back in both small and large skirmishes. Clinton returned to New York leaving General Lord Charles Cornwallis in charge to mop up rebel resistance and organize a push into North Carolina. To solidify their hold on Georgia and South Carolina, detachments of regulars and mounted dragoons were scattered among the established outposts.
In June, 1780, the British had advanced into the Carolina backcountry and set up fortified posts in the Ninety-Six region, around 180 miles northwest of Charleston; so named because when settled, the native trading center was ninety-six miles from the nearest Cherokee village. From there other posts were fixed. Fort Prince was seventy miles almost directly north of Ninety-Six in present day Spartanburg County near Fair Forest, just west of Spartanburg, SC. The small garrison of loyalist militia and partisan troops was established in early July and commanded by Colonel Alexander Innes. He led a detachment of American Volunteers; partisan regulars from New York trained and equipped as British infantry and cavalry.
Under Innes was Major James Dunlop commanding a detached troop of dragoons. Dunlop had been a captain in the Queen’s Rangers; first on Long Island, New York under Robert Rogers of Rogers’ Rangers fame and later Colonel Graves Simcoe. When he arrived in the south, he commanded a company of dragoons and was assigned to Colonel Patrick Ferguson’s command of Loyalist militia that formed Cornwallis’ far western left flank. As such, Dunlop would head up both foraging parties as well as lead bands of loyalists in pursuit of reported rebel militia.
Though the rebels had relinquished Ninety-Six in June with the approach of British forces, patriots banded together and continued to resist. On July 12th, local South Carolina loyalist militia suffered the first of several setbacks when defeated at what is called the First Battle of Cedar Springs. Sixty Spartan rebels under Major John Thomas were encamped near the North Carolina border. One hundred and fifty militiamen, whose commander remains a mystery, attacked at night, but the forewarned rebels set an ambush and routed them. Five days later the loyalists would attack again, this time with British regular partisan aid.
Prior to Battle
Loyalist militiaman Colonel Zacharias Gibbs was in command of the Spartan Regiment of Royal Militia. He was captured at Kettle Creek (Feb. 14, 1779) and imprisoned, only recently released on April 3rd, 1780. On July 14th, he went to Colonel Alexander Innes (commander at Fort Prince) with information that a rebel raiding party was in the region. They were 35 Georgian refugees (so named after Georgia became the first and only rebellious colony reinstated under royal control) commanded by Col. John Jones who rode north to join a band of South Carolina militia. Jones staged a nighttime attack against 40 sleeping loyalists (survivors from Cedar Springs) at nearby Gowen’s Fort (blockhouse), on Blackstock Road near the South Pacolet River. They sieged the blockhouse, killed one loyalist, and captured 32 others. Innes ordered a detachment after the rebels; 60 Old Tryon County Tory Militia of North Carolina under Ambrose Mills, and 14 American Volunteer Dragoons – all commanded by Major James Dunlop.
Earle’s Ford
Colonel Jones had learned that a large force of North Carolina militia, around 400 strong led by Colonel Charles McDowell, had moved into South Carolina. They included McDowell who commanded his Burke County Militia (6 companies), Rutherford County Regiment commanded by Col. Andrew Hampton (6 companies), and one company of Rowan County Militia led by Captain James Roddy. Jones joined them at Earle’s Ford, about 20 miles north of Fort Prince and set up camp nearby along the east bank of the Pacolet River. Aided by loyalist guides, Major Dunlop followed Jones’ militia and in the early morning hours of July 15th, discovered the Georgian’s camp. Eager to attack in the predawn hours, Dunlop crossed the Pacolet, unaware that instead of a few dozen militiamen, he would have to contend with a force over four times his own.
The dragoons and mounted militia charged the camp, catching many rebels still sleeping. Some sources state a sentry had spotted the loyalists and raised the alarm. Dunlap later reported that he had attacked “a party from Georgia who had been plundering that day [Jones’ attack on Gowen’s Fort] within a few miles of my post [Fort Prince]. When he charged into the camp, he wrote that he “killed and wounded about 30 of the rebels and making them retreat some distance.” It was then that Dunlap discovered he had bit off more than he could chew. Colonel McDowell had rallied his camp and nearly 400 rebels counter attacked the loyalists. Dunlap decided in the best interests of survival, he best point his horses south and beat a hasty retreat back to Fort Prince. But the leader of dragoons had stung the rebels during their initial attack, killing 8, wounding 30, with one captured. In return, the loyalists suffered 2 killed and 1 wounded.
Note: One of the patriot killed was Noah Hampton. Most internet articles and a few historical texts report that Noah was the son of Captain Edward Hampton who led the rebel pursuit after Dunlap’s loyalists; seeking revenge for his son’s death. Though colorful in legend, this is incorrect. Noah was the son of Colonel Andrew Hampton.
Fort Prince
It was still predawn when Dunlop called off the attack and retreated hell bent for Fort Prince. Captain Edward Hampton organized his company of fifty-two Rutherford militia and rode hard after the fleeing loyalists. Dunlap wrote, “the rebels, getting the better of their consternation and finding the smallness of my force, pursued me with a party of horse.” Hampton’s men came upon Dunlop’s force on the Blackstock Road, about five miles from Fort Prince. The loyalists were riding quietly, most likely resting their horses after the desperate fifteen-mile race from Earle’s Ford. They were unaware of the rebel presence when an explosive volley of musket and rifle tore into their ranks. Panic stricken, the loyalists galloped down the road towards the fort with many militia scattering into the nearby woods. Dunlop wrote that “The moment they appeared in my rear, the militia ran off to the woods and left me with only ten mounted infantry to make good my retreat.” Hampton’s men followed close on the loyalists’ heels in a running battle to the fort.
Accounts vary as to loyalist casualties in the opening volley and hot pursuit. Some state five fell dead from their saddles. Others place the number at eight with a high of thirteen loyalist militiamen killed by the time Dunlop’s men reached the fort. Dunlop would report to his superiors later he lost none of his dragoons in this mad dash to the fort. During the pursuit, Captain Hampton later reported he lost only one man captured.
Reports vary as to what Dunlop found when he was safely behind the fort’s gates. A few panicked Tory militia had arrived earlier and spooked the garrison, describing hordes of rebels about to overwhelm the post. Some accounts state a dozen had remained while others give none present. Dunlop later indicated he had just over twenty men left to defend the post. The lone rebel captive was questioned, setting Colonel McDowell’s North Carolina strength at over four hundred men. Dunlop wrote that he was “…Expecting every moment to be attacked.” But the loyalists soon discovered they were given a window of opportunity, though no telling how long it would remain open.
Around three hundred yards from the fort Hampton halted his pursuit and held his men back. He was unsure of the garrison’s strength, especially since it had been reinforced with those he had been chasing. With no way of knowing the post had been abandoned, he decided to ride back to camp and report to McDowell. But the rebels did not return empty handed. Thirty-five Tory horses were rounded up, including the arms and equipment abandoned by the panicked militia and provincials. With no sign of rebel activity outside the fort, Dunlap sent word of the attack to Captain Abraham DePeyster and that he was abandoning the fort.
DePeyster was a wealthy New York loyalist who led a regiment of American Volunteers (also called King’s American Rangers); posted to South Carolina he was second to Major Patrick Fergusson. DePeyster immediately headed north to Dunlop’s with 100 partisan troops from his regiment. The two parties met at McIlwain’s Creek, present day Piedmont, SC, about twenty miles south of Fort Prince. Dunlop later wrote he had withdrawn from the fort “without molestation.” Even though forced to retreat with his militia scattered, Dunlop’s personal reputation for coolness and bravery under fire remained intact.
Afterward
Of Dunlap, Lt. Col. Nisbet Balfour, British commander at Ninety-Six until relieved by Lt. Colonel Harris Cruger, described Dunlap as “active, knowing in the country and the manners of the country people, and very spirited. Whilst with me, he behaved rather well, rather too far forward in his patrols, by which he got into scrapes, but it is a fault which soon mends.” Unfortunately, it was a fault that did not mend as Dunlap went far forward too many times and at Beattie’s Mill, March 23, 1781, his force was wiped out with Dunlap captured and later murdered while captive.
The Spartanburg region of northwest South Carolina above Ninety-Six saw six major actions between partisan forces in four weeks, each resulting in a rebel victory. It had begun with the First Battle of Cedar Springs, July 12, 1780. With each clash of arms, the violence escalated from Gowen’s Fort, Earle’s Ford, Fort Prince, Second Battle of Cedar Springs, and Musgrove Mill. McDowell’s North Carolinians remained in the region under the command of Major James McDowell (Colonel Charles’ second). A month after Earle’s Ford, joined Colonel Isaac Shelby’s ‘over the mountain men,’ at Musgrove’s Mill, August 18, 1780. It was a bloodbath that pitted rebel militia against a larger British force, mainly partisan regulars. A decisive British defeat led by the same commander of Prince Fort who abandoned the fort without firing a shot – based on reports of panicked militiamen; Col. Alexander Innes.
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RESOURCE
American Revolution in South Carolina. “Earle’s Ford,” “Prince Fort.”
Bailey, Rev. James Davis. Commanders at Kings Mountain (Gaffney, SC: DeCamp, 1926), 345-348.
Crawley, Ron. “Major James Dunlop: An Officer of Much Energy and Promptitude.” Paper presented at the Sept. 2008 American Revolution Symposium in Spartanburg, SC. Theme – Redcoats: The British in South Carolina.
Lynch, Wayne. “Major James Dunlap: Was He Murdered Twice?” January 14, 2016. All Things Liberty.
McCrady, Edward. History of South Carolina in the Revolution 1775-1780, Vol. III (New York: Russell, 1969) 636-640.
Nutt, Karen. “McDowell’s Fort Really Earle’s Fort.” 2002: Spartan Herald.