History of the American Revolution
On April 14, 1780, at 3 AM, Banastre Tarleton’s Partisan Legion, a loyalist mixture of dragoons and mounted infantry, thundered out of the dead of the night in a terrifying charge. Sabers slashed downward on startled Americans torn from their sleep. The surprise attack on mainly patriot light dragoons, both Continental troopers and South Carolina …
At the Battle of Waxhaws, May 29, 1780, also labeled Buford’s Massacre, Colonel Abraham Buford’s troops were defeated by Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s saber welding mounted Partisan Legion forces. A victory by Loyalist and British regulars, this action resulted in a brutal slaughter and horrendous injuries to most of the Continental soldiers; wounds that later …
Philip Abbot (also spelt Phillip Abbot or Phillip Abbott) fought and died at the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, Charlestown, a hefty stone throw over the Charles River to Boston, Massachusetts. Philip was a slave, owned by Nathan Abbott who survived the carnage. We don’t know much about Philip. Except he was there; …
More a major skirmish, the Battle of Black Mingo, just prior to midnight, September 28, 1780, [some accounts incorrectly give the date as September 14th] helped propagate the legend of one who would be termed the ‘Swamp Fox.’ Lt. Colonel Francis Marion was a militia leader and obstinate patriot who preferred to fight his war …
To call the fight there a battle would lend it a formality it did not possess. It was a clash of two armed mobs. Toward the end the fighting resembled an old-fashioned Pier 6 brawl between longshoremen and strikebreakers. Historian/Author John Buchanan The Battle of Ramsour’s Mill, also spelt Ramseur, and Ramsaur, for Derick Ramsaur, …
Battle of Tearcoat Swamp (also known as Tarcote and Tarcot), fought Oct. 25, 1780, was one of a string of battles that highlighted the military ingenuity of what legend has labeled, the Swamp Fox. By the fall of 1780, it became apparent that the new American Congress had blown it in selection of commanders of …
The Battle of Beaufort, also known as the Battle of Port Royal Island, February 3, 1779, near Beaufort, South Carolina, was considered an American victory that, along with the Battle of Kettle Creek, Georgia, exactly one month later, on March 3, 1779, was a shot in the arm for American forces in the south. As …
At the start of the American Revolution, not all British colonies on the mainland of North America rebelled against the mother country. Thirteen did; however, the four distinct colonies to the north that made up Canada and, in the south, East and West Florida, did not. They remained loyal to England. As such, the rebellious …
The Battle of Kettle Creek, February 14, 1779, was a partisan clash of arms between Loyalists and Patriot militias; approximately sixty-five miles northwest of Augusta and eight miles west of present-day Washington, Georgia. By 1778, the southern colonies of the American Revolution had become a battleground of partisan warfare. A bloody civil war had erupted …
Literally caught between a rock and a hard place, the American position at Brier Creek, Georgia, on March 3, 1779, commanded by Brigadier General John Ashe of North Carolina militia, proved to be a death trap. Situated on a triangular plot of land, the American choice of encampment was fatally flawed. Their backs were to …