Hello y'all!
Very recently I once again returned to neighboring Union County, South Carolina to visit the site of one of the more significant battles of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War in my corner of the Palmetto State.
The Battle of Blackstock's Farm (also known locally as the Battle of Blackstock's Plantation, Battle of Blackstock's Hill, or simply Blackstocks) took place on Monday, November 20, 1780 between backcountry Patriot militia under the command of Brigadier General Thomas Sumter and British army regulars and Loyalist provincials commanded by British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton of the British Legion.
The battle was a significant American victory as it was the first major battle in the South Carolina backcountry where Patriot militia defeated British army regulars and a personal defeat for "Bloody Ban" Tarleton himself -- who was infamous in the South Carolina upstate for his alleged massacre of Virginia Continentals at the Battle of Waxhaws (Monday, May 29, 1780) the previous summer.
Blackstocks is also significant because this was the battle that earned Thomas Sumter his famous nickname "The Fighting Gamecock" for his aggressive defensive fighting style.
The Battle of Blackstock's Historic Site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The
site of the battlefield is Blackstock hill, the site of the farmhouse
and the surrounding open fields where the fighting largely took place. Today the hill is barren save for a small grove of trees, the farm itself long consumed by nature.
The historic site is located in Union County just off Blackstock Road adjacent to SC Highway 56 near Cross Keys, South Carolina.
The following are the photos I took of the site of the battlefield.
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| The Blackstocks historic battlefield site. |
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| Battlefield Monument. |
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