The Battle of Hammond’s Store, American victory, December 30, 1780 (some sources give Nov. 29th), was one of the more brutal and savage encounters of the war. Tory loyalists, mainly from Georgia, were raiding patriot settlements in South Carolina when Continental dragoons with mounted militia, under the commanded of Colonel William Washington, pursued and attacked. In mid-December, 1780, Major General Nathanael Greene, the new commander of the American Southern Theatre, split his force “partly from choice and partly from necessity”. Headquartered at Charlotte, North Carolina, a region depleted by war, the American army could not sustain itself in food and forage when one large unit. There was ample food in areas of South Carolina that supported the rebellion. With an eye to remain within striking distance of the British army, Greene took one half of the army southeast into South Carolina. The other half, commanded by Brigadier General Daniel Morgan went southwest. Colonel Washington’s detachment was among Brigadier General Daniel Morgan’s force.
On or just after Christmas, 1780, a scout informed Morgan that a large Tory raiding party was pillaging and torching patriot homes in the region of Fair Forest Creek, just below modern-day Spartanburg, only twenty miles distant. Morgan immediately sent a detachment of cavalry under Colonel Washington after them. It was a resounding defeat for the loyalists who lost approximately 150 Tories killed or horribly wounded with forty captured. Incredibly, the Americans suffered no casualties.
Background
Toward the end of November, 1780, what remained of the Southern Continental Army was still under its discredited leader, Major General Horatio Gates, but not for long. When the British had postponed their invasion of North Carolina, Gates had marched south from Salisbury, to Charlotte near the South Carolina border. The British under Lt. General Lord Charles Cornwallis were sixty-six miles south of Charlotte at Winnsboro, South Carolina. Gates, having abandoned his army right after the first shots were fired at the Battle of Camden, August 16, 1780, hoped to gain some shred of his former reputation. He ordered militia general Thomas Sumter to stay near Cornwallis’ army. The testy and uncontrollable South Carolina militia commander was to keep Gates informed of British movements, reinforcements, and to harass the enemy whenever possible.
On November 20th, Sumter fought a battle at Blackstock’s Farm in which a large detached force under Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton was thoroughly defeated. The British suffered twenty times more casualties than the rebel militia; however, Sumter was one of the rebel wounded. The news was encouraging for the resurrected Southern Continental Army. Each engagement with British casualties weakened Cornwallis’ force by the loss of regular troops that were irreplaceable. While with each American victory, the patriot cause gained strength in additional recruits ready to answer the next call to battle. Blackstock also temporarily removed the contentious and independent minded Sumter from command of southern militia; a boon for the southern war, occurring at a time when partisan militia cooperation was paramount to patriot success.
A game changer and significant shift towards rebel success occurred when two men rode into the American camp at Charlotte. Former commander of rifleman, Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, arrived in November. He was considered one of the patriot rebellion’s most able field commanders. He had returned to duty to take command of a brigade in the southern army after Congress finally promoted him to brigadier. The other able commander rode into the American camp on December 2, 1780; Major General Nathanael Greene. The next day he accepted leadership of the Southern Theatre from General Gates. And that same day, Morgan rode in from patrol to congratulate his new superior. The two would soon combine talents that would eventually break the back of the war’s stalemate; both south and north.
General Greene was unlike Gates; the meticulous and cautious administrator. Greene exhibited a mixture of caution and daring and was not fearful of taking risks that other lesser officers would shy from. A master of detail, he took the time to know his terrain, the men who fought under him, and the advantages the land and people offered. He was immediately cognizant of the effectiveness cavalry and mounted militia offered in a vast region where conflicts spanned over many miles. Unlike Gates, he encouraged the use of horse to gather intelligence as well as seek out bands of Tory and detached British regulars to attack. He also sought to gain the confidence and cooperation of rebel partisan militia by incorporating them as an intricate part of his plan for defeating the British. Under Greene’s leadership, it would be a different war in the south.
Prior to Battle
It was obvious that the army Greene inherited was not ready to stand up to Cornwallis’ command. The Southern Continental Army had been decimated at Camden, was malnourished, and then allowed to forgo strict military discipline; sacrosanct when at war. Drastic actions were required. Discipline was restored almost instantly. A soldier who had wondered off without leave and nonchalantly returned was tried, condemned to death, and hanged before the entire army. Those witnessing accepted and readily adhered to the old adage; ‘new Lord, new Rules.’ Resupplying, and reorganization became paramount to further readying his command for battle. As to food, Greene had the answer.
The forage around Charlotte was depleted. Food stocks were available in regions of South Carolina favorable to the rebel cause that had not been foraged to ruin. Though adequate in sustenance, each on its own could not support the whole army. Also, Greene had to remain in the Catawba River backcountry to stiffen the resolve of partisan militia. The solution was at hand. He would divide his army before a superior enemy, considered death by military analysists (a tactic General Robert E. Lee would use effectively in another war). But the measured quaker did not believe his enemy would decamp in mid-winter. So too, his adversary could not afford to march after one part, leaving his outposts exposed to the other.
Decision made, on December 21, 1780, 600 foot and horse marched west of the Catawba River into South Carolina under the command of General Morgan. He was to establish his camp near the fork of the Broad and Pacolet Rivers (about 65 miles southwest of Charlotte) and there call out the North and South Carolina militia. Greene’s order to the old wagoner were unequivocal; “…you will proceed to the west side of the Catawba River, where you will be joined by a body of volunteer militia…all officers and soldiers engaged in the American cause to be subject to your command.” So too, of considerable importance to the action at Hammond’s Store, Greene was “to give protection to that part of the country and to spirit up the people.” And to do so, Morgan needed to defend them. Greene’s larger detachment had already left on December 16th to begin their seventy-five-mile march to the southeast, setting up camp across the Pee Dee River from Chernow in South Carolina. These positions aligned the two American detachments at northern triangular corners, east and west of Cornwallis’ army at Winnsboro; about 50 miles south.
Among Morgan’s detachment was Colonel William Washington, a distant cousin to General George Washington, leading the 3rd Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons. He had been wounded at the Battle of Long Island (Aug. 27, 1776), and recovered in time to be wounded again, though less severely, at the Battle of Trenton (Dec. 26, 1776). Sent to the south, he had already come up against the British Legion commanded by Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton. In two defeats, Monck’s Corner (April 14, 1780), and Lenud’s Ferry (May 6, 1780), he had barely escaped with his life. After witnessing his fellow dragoons ruthlessly cut down, Washington had a vengeful axe to grind and was itching for a fight.
Combatants
Tory Militia
Approximately 250 militia raiders were mostly from Georgia led by Lt. Colonel Thomas Waters*
- Wilkes County [Ceded Lands] Militia (GA) commanded by Lt. Col. Thomas Waters
- Spartan District (SC) – Most likely led by Major Ben Wofford: unknown number
- Ninety-Six District (SC) – Most likely led by Lt. Col. Thomas Pearson: unknown number
*General Morgan’s report mentioned the Tories were led by Waters; in probable reference to prominent Georgian Thomas Waters of Wilkes County, Georgia. Waters had conducted a similar raid to the Fair Forest region earlier that fall in Wilkes County, Georgia. Research surfaced three other names listed in primary source pension applications: Pensioner Rober Long claimed an officer named Moore led the Tories [author Lyman Draper suggested it was Loyalist Col. John Moore of NC; Joseph McJunkin’s pension application listed Col. Pearson [Lt. Col Thomas Pearson of Ninety-Six Dist. Tory Militia] and Major Ben Wofford [Spartan Dist. Tory Militia] as leading the Tory raid.
American Force
Approximately 285 men included Continental Dragoons and South Carolina militia commanded by Lt. Colonel William Washington with Colonel Joseph Hayes* from the Little River District leading mounted militia
- 3rd Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons (VA) commanded by Lt. Col. William Washington and Major Richard Call: 3 companies of 75 cavalrymen
- 1st Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons (VA) led by Capt. John Watts: detachment of 10 horse
- Little River District Regiment of Militia (SC) commanded by Col. Joseph Hayes: 3 companies
- 2nd Spartan Regiment of Militia (also known as the Fair Forest Regiment) (SC) commanded by Colonel Thomas Brandon: 1 company detached
- Lower Ninety-Six District Regiment of Militia (SC) led by Maj. Samuel Hammond: 1 company detached
- Georgia Wilkes County Refugee Militia (GA) led by Major John Cunningham: unknown number
*Only secondary sources, none primary, list Colonel James McCall of the Upper Ninety-Six District as the militia leader during the battle. The first mention of McCall was the 1802 published memoir of General William Moultrie. The second was by Colonel McCall’s son, Hugh McCall, in his 1805 text History of Georgia. A search of primary pension applications list Robert Long as stating Col. Joseph Hayes led the militia at Hammond. So too, there was no mention of McCall in General Daniel Morgan report; only that Hayes of Little District and Major Tomas Brandon of the 2nd Spartan District [also called Fair Forest] had returned leading the militia.
Battle
When Morgan called out the local militia, bands of patriot Georgia militiamen joined his force. Refugees driven out of Georgia, they had been campaigning with Carolina militia. But shortly after Christmas, 1780, one of Morgan’s scouts on an intelligence mission returned to the rebel leader’s camp at Grindal’s Shoals, 18 miles southeast of present-day Spartanburg. He reported that there were other Georgians in the area besides patriots. Tory commander Lt. Colonel Francis Waters of Wilkes County, Georgia (Ceded Lands), along with 250 Georgian loyalist militiamen, were raiding and destroying patriot settlements only twenty miles south of Morgan’s location.
Almost nothing is known of this raiding party, nor has a loyalist account of the upcoming action at Hammond’s Store been uncovered. Reported raiding party commander, Lt. Col. Thomas Waters, had lead horse rangers at the start of the war and by 1780, was commanding the Ceded Lands Tory militia from Wilkes County, Georgia. After the mid-September, 1780 failed Augusta Siege by patriot militias under Elijah Clark and Andrew Pickens, Lt. Colonel Waters led a punishment raid against the Wilkes County Georgia rebel settlements. In what had become a hateful civil war, he destroying over a 100 homes while executing known patriot militiamen. In December, 1780, Lt. Colonel John Harris Cruger of the Ninety-Six District Tory Militia (SC), commanding the Georgia and South Carolina Tory militias, reportedly ordered Lt. Colonel Waters and his Ceded Land militia north to do the same to the Fair Forest region of South Carolina.
Soon as the raid was reported to Morgan, he acted immediately. Lt. Colonel William Washington of the 3rd Continental Light Dragoons with eighty-five horse (some accounts place the number at 75 troopers) was ordered to go after the raiders. With him were 200 mounted militia led by Colonel Joesph Hayes of the Little River District, along with two detached companies from two other South Carolina militias and a handful of Georgia refugees. All were experienced veterans of numerous actions. Two days after Christmas, the 280 battle-hardened riders left camp and rode towards present day Spartanburg, South Carolina. Either driven by personal hatred or the countless encounters against a callous enemy, each man must have harbored a ruthlessness towards their enemy so severe that in the coming action, none would show mercy, nor quarter.
Washington’s last report placed the raiders only twenty miles south of him. But the Georgians got word of the rebel approach and began to pull away from the area. Washington’s men trailed the Tories twenty miles further south and on December 30th, the rebels caught up to their prey at Hammond’s Store on the Bush River; three miles south of Clinton, South Carolina. Sixteen-year-old Thomas Young rode with Colonel Thomas Brandon’s Fair Forest (2nd Spartan) Regiment. He had joined the rebel militia to avenge the death of his brother John during a raid led by the cutthroat loyalist, William ‘Bloody Bill’ Cunningham. Young published his memoir of the war in 1843 in which he described the action that day. He wrote “…we picked up several scattering ones, within about three miles of the place [Hammond’s Store], from whom we learned all about their position.” It was noon when Washington came upon the Georgia raiders.
Little is known about the 150-acre site that included what was called Hammond’s Old Store. Prior to the war, the store was a meeting place for local elections and active ‘liberty boys.’ In the will of militia leader General James Williams (killed at the Battle of King’s Mountain, Oct. 7, 1780) he described the old Hammond Store and property he had purchased from Col. Leroy Hammond; influential tobacco planter who had set up various Native American trading outposts in the western South Carolina backcountry. Maj. Samuel Hammond was present at the battle and may have been a distant relative of Leroy Hammond, both hailing from Edgefield, South Carolina with Samuel having once been a captain in Leroy’s patriot militia.
The rebel column emerged upon a rise and witnessed the Tory raiders forming in line on a hill opposite them. Washington quickly assembled his men for battle. The rebel militia were split and placed on the wings of the Continental dragoons. Young wrote, “When we came in sight, we perceived that the Tories had formed in line on the brow of the hill opposite us. We had a long hill to descend and another to rise.”
Viewing the Tories within striking distance, Washington did not hesitate. Young continued, “Col. Washington and his dragoons gave a shout, drew swords, and charged down the hill like madmen. The Tories fled in every direction without firing a gun.” It is not surprising the loyalists from Georgia scattered without firing a shot. Georgia had been reclaimed by the British the year before with limited action. Many of Waters’ loyalists were most likely new and inexperienced recruits; nothing like the howling warriors charging them with deadly steel blades.
The Tories did not break ranks quickly enough. While trying to escape, they were run down by slashing, rebel horsemen who hacked at them without mercy. What occurred next can only be described as unrelenting slaughter; like the barbarous actions at Waxhaws, Fishing Creek, and two months later, Haw River or Pyle’s Massacre. Where Light Horse Harry Lee’s dragoons lashed out with heavy sabers, killing and dismembering all but a few Tories while accepting scant prisoners. Those who were not killed outright were horribly mangled with deep slash wounds from the long cavalry swords.
Young’s narrative included a macabre description that even for a youth of sixteen, illustrated the hardened fighter that found amusement in death: “Here I must relate an incident which occurred on this occasion. In Washington’s corps there was a boy of fourteen or fifteen, a mere lad, who in crossing Tiger River was ducked by a blunder of his horse. The men laughed and jeered at him very much, at which he got very mad, and swore that boy or no boy, he would kill a man that day or die. He accomplished the former. I remember very well being highly amused at the little fellow charging round a crib after a tory, cutting and slashing away with his puny arm, till he brought him down.”
Casualties
General Morgan summed up the casualty report writing to Greene, “150 were killed and wounded & About 40 Taken Prisoners. What makes this success more Valuable it was Attained without the Loss of a man.” The rebels were able to round up fifty horses of those slain. Of the wounded, many were cut to the bone or with limbs hanging by thin strips of carved flesh. Most injuries proved mortal. The fact that there were no rebel casualties is attributed to the Georgians panicked terror and not offering to fight. They were cut down or shot from behind while trying to escape. Among those who did escape, was Lt. Colonel Waters, who remained active for the remained or the war.
Aftermath
Following the attack, the fifty or so Tory survivors fled toward Williams Fort, a fortified structure on the confiscated property of patriot James Williams. It was about seven miles further south and fifteen miles northeast of the strong British outpost at Ninety-six. Washington ordered forty men from Joseph Hayes’ militia along with a small detachment of approximately ten dragoons under Cornet [2nd Lt.] James Simon to pursue them.
The Williams stockade was garrisoned by approximately 150 Tory militia. With the advent of Hammond’s survivors, their numbers rose to around 200. The outpost was under the bombastic bragger, loyalist Brigadier of militia Robert Cunningham, newly commissioned by Cornwallis who wrote General Clinton he had done so “because of his zeal.” But Cunningham’s determination to fight for his King, though strongly proclaimed at Cornwallis’ camp, did not extend to a small backcountry outpost. When reported that rebels were approaching, he did not bother to learn their strength. He immediately abandoned the stockade, leaving Hayes and Simon to burn the fort before rejoining Washington.
Morgan needed everyman he had and was concerned by Washington’s advanced detachment, open to an attack by forces that could rally from Ninety-Six or Cornwallis’ camp at Winnsboro. Morgan sent a rider to Washington calling in his men to Grindal Shoals while dispatching two hundred men to secure their arrival. When word of the overwhelming defeat of the Tory band reached Greene, he expressed satisfaction in a letter to Morgan writing “Nothing could have afforded more pleasure than the successful attack of Lt. Col. Washington, upon the Tories. I hope it will be attended with a happy influence upon both Whig & tory, to the reclaiming of one, and encouragement of the other.”
Hammond’s Store was one of several battles and major skirmishes won by patriot forces over Tory militia. Such actions continued to discourage Carolina and Georgia loyalists from joining British General Cornwallis’ banner. In that respect, its sheer brutality and savagery most likely encouraged many prospective loyalists to remain at home. Today Hammond’s Store receives little attention. It is remembered as one of the chain of events that led to Tarleton’s pursuit of Morgan, leading to Morgan’s decisive victory at The Battle of Cowpens, January 17, 1781.
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RESOURCES
American Revolution in South Carolina. “Hammond’s Store.”
Buchanan, John. The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas. 1997: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY.
Commager, Henry Steele & Moris, Richard B. The Spirit of ‘Seventy-Six, The Story of the American Revolution as Told by Participants. 1958: 1775: Harper Collins Press. 1995: Da Capo Press, New York, NY.
Crawford, Alan Pell. This Fierce People, The Untold Story of America’s Revolution in the South. 2024: Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY.
Davis, Roger Scott. “Fighting in the Shadowlands; Loyalist Colonel Thomas Waters and the Southern Strategy.” 2024: Journal of the American Revolution
Walter, Edgar. Partisans and Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution. 2001: Harper Collins, New York, NY.
Waters, Andrew. “Conflict and War.” 2018: Journal of the American Revolution
Young, Thomas. “Memoir of Major Thomas Young.” Originally published in the Orion Magazine, October and November, 1848. South Carolina Militia in the Revolutionary War at carolinamilitia.com.