Non-Profit Dedicated to Historical Education of the American Revolution and the Colonial Period
The Battle of Cape Henry, March 16, 1781, occurred just outside the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay off the Cape of Henry. Though the French fleet of eight ships-of-the-line and one frigate under Admiral Charles Destouches inflicted far greater damage as they bested the seven ships-of-the-line under British Vice Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot, Destouches did not …
By the spring of 1781, six years of war in America had witnessed thousands of homes and homesteads plundered and torched. British and American punitive raids and foraging parties scoured coastal and inner regions. Politics and hatred morphed into one as a civil war erupted between militia bands of patriots and loyalists. In early April, …
The surrender of British outpost Thicketty Fort and ninety-six British loyalists on July 26, 1780 (one sources gives July 30th) to six-hundred-armed patriot militiamen, many frontiersmen carrying rifles, was strategic not as a battle, no shots were fired, but for what the fort’s capitulation meant to future British plans to placate the south. In the …
The Battle of Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780, around thirty-five miles southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina and just over the border into South Carolina, was an overwhelming patriot victory. Scholars believe that Kings Mountain was the major turning point in the war in the south, eventually leading to Cornwallis’ defeat at the Battle of Yorktown, …
The Battle of Cane Creek, September 12, 1780, a loyalist victory, was a small action between North Carolina militiamen led by Colonel Charles McDowell and a larger Tory force of Partisan regulars and militia led by British officer Major Patrick Ferguson. However, Crane Creek was far more important than a brief clash of arms. After …
The important thing to remember about the Ferguson Rifle is that it was not invented by Patrick Ferguson. The breechloading rifle that historians, novelists, gun enthusiasts, and countless internet articles state was born of the creative mind of Major Patrick Ferguson (1744 – 1780), had been around since the early stages of firearms. Breechloading matchlocks …
On Christmas Day, 1780, famed rifleman General Daniel Morgan received a present of enormous consequence. A small band of sixty South Carolina militiamen rode onto camp. The leader was church elder Colonel Andrew Pickens (1739-1817); rigid, somber, a man of few words, and the south’s greatest militia fighter. And for Morgan, who would face the …
I highly recommend Mr. Kidder’s most recent text Defending Fort Stanwix. His research is impeccable; the story vivid and captivating. He delves beyond facts to present a frontier war with terrors beyond modern comprehension. It is Mr. Kidder’s focus on humanity and the sacrifices taken by those thrust into a world spiraling beyond control that …
Colonel Isaac Shelby (1750-1826) was an exceptional leader of patriot militia who, by the end of his life, became one of the country’s most admired men. Born to fight, he grew up in the wilderness where at an early age, stood second in command to his father’s company against the Shawnee. When war with England …
The Second Battle of Cedar Springs, also known as the Battle of Wofford’s Iron Works, or Battle of Peach Trees, August 8, 1780, [some accounts give the 7th with one stating it occurred a month later] is best described as a draw. The American militia, 600 strong under Colonels Isaac Shelby of North Carolina and …
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 …
The Battle of Beattie’s Hill, March 23, 1781, was an American victory. It pitted 180 mounted Georgia and South Carolina patriot militia against reportedly 90 British loyalists that included 75 Partisan Dragoons with a company of mounted light infantry; New Jersey Volunteers – all trained and equipped as British Regulars. So too, among the loyalists …
Long Canes, December 12, 1780, was a major skirmish resulting in a patriot loss. It occurred twenty-eight miles southwest of British held Fort Ninety-Six at Cambridge, South Carolina in the Long Canes Settlement. An after-action raid by British partisan regulars plundered Andrew Pickens home and molested his family. This, plus a month’s confinement at Fort …
The Second Siege of Augusta, Georgia, May 22 – June 5, 1781, was an American victory. It pitted the same two main antagonists who were present during the First Siege of Augusta, September 14 – 18, 1780; Georgia rebel militia leader Colonel Elijah Clarke, and Georgia loyalist militia leader Colonel Thomas ‘Burnfoot’ Brown. The difference …
Colonel Thomas Brown was a fierce partisan fighter. An able leader, he was always in the thick of battle, deploying his men skillfully and encouraging them to fight on. Passionate to the cause, he would have been at the forefront of America’s Revolutionary heroes, had he been a patriot; but he was not. Brown was …