Non-Profit Dedicated to Historical Education of the American Revolution and the Colonial Period
Capture of the British outpost Fort Galphin, May 21, 1781, by Continental troops and South Carolina militia under Lt. Colonel Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee was more akin to an episode from the 1960’s western comedy sitcom ‘F-Troop.’ Lee had sent a small diversionary force to assault the fort, serving as bait to draw out the …
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 …
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 Hanging Rock, South Carolina, August 6, 1780, was fought in present day Lancaster County south of Heath Springs. It was a patriot victory between rebel militia (North and South Carolina) that included Catawba Native Americans against a British outpost garrisoned by Tory regulars, mounted infantry of Banastre Tarleton’s Legion (Tarleton was not …
The Battle of Lenud’s Ferry, South Carolina, May 6, 1780, also known as Lanneau’s Ferry, was a sounding patriot loss and further blow to American cavalry in the south. It was a continuation of the sudden and vicious attacks on patriot dragoons and militia by Banastre Tarleton’s Loyalist Legion of Dragoons and Mounted Infantry. At …