Non-Profit Dedicated to Historical Education of the American Revolution and the Colonial Period
Speak of South Carolina’s role in the American Revolution and four names rise above all others: William Moultre, Andrew Pickens, Thomas Sumter, and of course, Francis ‘Swamp Fox’ Marion. But turn the browned pages of early historical texts, and one name appears first and foremost among South Carolina’s founding fathers; Richard Richardson (May, 1704[1] – …
On January 17, 1777, Major General William Heath, under orders from General George Washington, took approximately 5,000 militia troops of the Hudson Valley army south to the Spuyten Duyvil at Kingsbridge, about a 15-mile trek. Washington had marched his main army into New Jersey to counter British General Howe’s threatened attack on Fort Washington and …
General William Heath was an excellent administrator. Versed in military training from his militia leadership role during the French and Indian War, he was loyal, hardworking, and dedicated to duty. In fact, it could be said that Heath was everything a good commander could be, except one major flaw; he was rubbish in combat. Early …
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, …
On Christmas Day, 1780, famed rifleman General Daniel Morgan received a present of enormous consequence. A small band of sixty South Carolina militiamen rode into 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 …
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 …
Colonel Elijah Clarke, b. December 10, 1736 (some give 1733 & 1742) – December 15, 1799, was one of the unsung heroes of the American Revolution. Fierce and determined in battle, the Georgian militia leader was always in the thick of the fight, having received multiple wounds throughout the war; two life threatening. From Florida …
The First American Siege of Augusta, Georgia (September 14 – 18, 1780) was a partisan militia clash of arms by equal numbers of Georgia and South Carolina against Tory and Native American allies. The siege was called off after a stiff defense by Tory defenders and the sudden expected arrival of a British relief force …
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. …