Tag «South Carolina»

Battle of Lenud’s Ferry: Tarleton’s Continuous Attack on American Cavalry

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 …

The Virginians’ 800-Mile March to Save Charleston

BY MARK MALOY FIRST POSTED ON EMERGING REVOLUTIONARY ERA ON APRIL 7, 2021 It is a pleasure to feature Mark Maloy;s scholarly work on Revolutionary War Journal. Mark is a historian currently working for the National Park Service in Virginia. He is the author of Victory or Death: The Battles of Trenton and Princeton, December 25, 1776 …

Battle of Moncks Corner

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 …

Battle of Waxhaws: Tarleton’s Quarter

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 …

Thomas Heyward Jr. Signer of the Declaration of Independence: The Largest Slaveholding Family in America

Thomas Heyward Jr (July 28, 1746 – March 6, 1809) was a planter, lawyer, judge, politician, and soldier. One of the Founding Fathers who attended the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, he was among the last to sign the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776. On February 3, 1779, as captain of artillery in …

Battle of Beaufort

Battle of Beaufort, Feb. 3, 1779. Artwork by Jeff Trexler.

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 …

Battle of Kettle Creek: American Victory in a Bloody Civil War

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 …