The Battle Of Musgrove's Mill: The Prelude To Kings Mountain -- August 19, 1780

Colonel Issac Shelby's Overmountain Men crossing the Pacolet River on their way to
Musgrove's Mill. August 1780.

 The Battle of Musgrove's Mill

The Prelude To Kings Mountain

Saturday, August 19, 1780

By: C.W. Roden

(Part 11 of a 15 part series)

On the evening of Friday, August 18th, a force of about two hundred mounted Partisans under the joint command of Colonel Isaac Shelby, Lieutenant Colonel James Williams and Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clarke were preparing to raid a Loyalist camp at the site of Musgrove's Mill and farm, which controlled the local grain supply and guarded a strategic ford along the Enoree River in the Spartan District (present-day Spartanburg, Laurens, and Union Counties in South Carolina). 

Women's Monument at the Musgrove Mill State Historical Site
dedicated to Mary Musgrove, the daughter of the mill owner
and possibly a spy for the Patriot cause during the
Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War.
While her story may, or may not, have been fictional, this
monument stands in memory of Patriot women of South
Carolina who defended the State and American independence.

The owner of the mill, Edward Musgrove, was a local farmer, road manager, and land surveyor. At the time of the war he was considered a fairly aged man at about 64 years old. Like many in that part of the State, he wanted to remain neutral and wanted no part in the bloody backcountry civil war between those still loyal to the British Crown and those who supported the independence of South Carolina and the other former British colonies.

In the summer of 1780, however, the war came to his doorstep. His home and land along the river were used by the Loyalists as an encampment and his grist mill used to provide an important source of food for the hungry soldiers.

There have been rumors that his daughter, Mary Musgrove, was a spy for the local Patriots and would listen in on the British and Loyalists camped on her father's lands, then run to the Patriot's camp to relay their plans. This was never actually proven to be true though and there is come speculation that the rumors actually come from a fictional character in a 19th century novel by John P. Kennedy called Horseshoe Robinson: A Tale of the Tory Ascendancy published in 1835.


Shelby's Campaign & Battle Of Fort Thicketty
 

During the summer of 1780, a group of Overmountain Men (Scots-Irish, or Ulster Scotch settlers from the western Appalachian regions of North Carolina, Virginia, and what is today eastern Tennessee and Kentucky) led by Colonel Isaac Shelby joined up with Colonel Charles McDowell to raid Loyalist outposts in the Piedmont mountain region of northwestern South Carolina.

Born in Maryland before moving further west, Shelby had his first experience fighting Native Americans as a teenager during Pontiac’s War of 1763. It was during this that, at just 13 years old, Shelby scalped an Indian scout during the conflict.

Shelby was surveying lands in Kentucky in 1780 when he heard of the Southern Continental Army's defeat at Charleston. He hurried to North Carolina, where he found a request for aid from General Charles McDowell to defend the borders of North Carolina from the British. Shelby assembled three hundred militiamen and joined McDowell.

Just prior to joining General Horatio Gates' "grand army" on their ill-fated attempt to defeat Cornwallis at Camden, General Thomas Sumter had learned that the British Major Patrick Ferguson's Loyalist troops were moving beyond the Broad River and he directed Lt. Colonel Elijah Clarke and his band of Georgia partisans to move towards that area. Clarke met up with McDowell on July 15th at Earle's Ford along the Chattooga River then moved their camp to Cherokee Ford along the Broad River.

On Tuesday, July 25th McDowell detached Shelby's Overmountain men and Clarke's Georgia Patriots, along with Rutherford County (North Carolina) Regiment of Militia under Colonel Andrew Hamilton and Colonel William Graham to attack Fort Anderson (also known locally as Thickety Fort) on the Pacolet River. Along the way they met up with two companies of the South Carolina 1st Spartan Regiment of Militia led by Captain John Collins and Captain Josiah Culbertson. A total force of about 600 men.

On the morning of Wednesday, July 26, 1780, Shelby and his 600 Patriot militia surrounded the British stronghold. The fort, a log structure built in the early 1760s during the Anglo-Cherokee War, contained a Loyalist garrison commanded by Captain Patrick Moore. 

Shelby sent Captain William Cocke to immediately demand the fort's surrender. Captain Moore replied that he would defend the fort to the last extremity. Shelby brought his men and formed them within musket range and again demanded surrender.

Though the fort likely would have withstood the attack, Moore lost his nerve and capitulated, not wishing a repeat of the Loyalist defeat at Ramsour's Mill the previous month. Without firing a shot, Shelby's men captured 94 prisoners (93 Loyalists and a British Sergeant Major who was assigned to train the Loyalists), along with 200 badly needed muskets and ammunition. The Loyalists' muskets had been loaded with buck and ball shot and were at the ready at the nearby portholes, and likely would have been sufficient to stop twice the number of men that Shelby had.

Shelby and his men moved back to Cherokee Ford with their prisoners. The British would later censure Moore for the loss of the garrison.


The Engagement At Wofford's Iron Works & Cedar Springs 

 
After Shelby’s success at Thicketty Fort, McDowell detached about 600 men under Colonels Isaac Shelby and Elijah Clarke from his camp at Cherokee Ford to monitor British Major Patrick Ferguson’s backcountry movements with his loyalist militia and provincials. Ferguson knew of Shelby and Clarke’s partisan bands and hoped to catch them by surprise.

They rode first down the Broad River before retreating 30 to 40 miles to the northwest, stopping along Fairforest Creek about a mile from Cedar Springs. Early on August 8, they learned from the wife of a local patriot that a detachment of Ferguson’s men under Major James Dunlap -- British Legion troops and Loyalist militia --were only a half-mile away. The Patriots quickly decamped and moved about four miles toward Wofford’s Iron Works, taking a position near a peach orchard.

When Dunlap and his mounted men rode hard into the camp, the patriots, who had lined the road, opened fire, knocking many from their saddles and throwing the rest into confusion. Once Dunlap regained control, the fighting devolved into hand-to-hand combat, which Shelby described as “An action severe and bloody” that lasted about an hour. Dunlap retreated with thirty men killed and fifty taken prisoner, pursued by Shelby and Clarke for two miles. However, he met Ferguson coming up with reinforcements, and the retreat became an advance against the Patriot militia.

Ferguson was meeting the Overmountain Men in battle for the first time.

Shelby's men were gathering peaches from an orchard when they were surprised by some of Ferguson's Loyalists on a reconnaissance mission. Shelby's men quickly readied their arms and drove back the Loyalist patrol. Soon, however, the redcoats were reinforced and the patriots fell back. The pattern continued, with one side being reinforced and gaining an advantage, followed by the other. Shelby's men were winning the battle when Ferguson's main force of 1,000 men arrived.

Overwhelmed by numbers, Shelby and Clarke retreated, stopping at points to fight and hold off the loyalist advance. Ferguson pursued for four miles, until the rebels crossed the Pacolet River; he halted pursuit and watched as the patriots taunted them from atop a hill across the river where British musket fire could not reach them. Now safe, they taunted the British, and Ferguson's force withdrew from the area, thus ending the Battle of Cedar Springs. Shelby and Clarke continued toward Cherokee Ford with their fifty prisoners, having lost only four killed and twenty wounded.


Moving On Musgrove's Mill

General McDowell then ordered Shelby and Clarke to take Musgrove's Mill. They rode all night with 200 men including another North Carolina officer, Colonel James Williams, reaching their location about the evening of Friday, August 18, 1780.

The Patriots revealed their presence when several of their scouts clashed with a Loyalist patrol across the river. Two Rebels were wounded in the brief clash. Because surprise was now out of the question, Clarke, Williams, and Shelby fell back, taking a defensive position half a mile away from Musgrove's Ford.

In the meantime the Patriots encountered a local farmer who informed them that, contrary to their initial intelligence, the Tory garrison, commanded by Colonel Alexander Innes, had been recently reinforced by an additional 100 Loyalist militia under Colonel Daniel Clary and 200 Provincial regulars. The Provincials included a company of the Royal New Jersey Brigade under Captain Abraham de Peyster, and about 100 mounted infantry of the South Carolina Loyalist regiment, part of Innes's own command, as well as North Carolina Loyalists under Captain David Fanning. A total of approximately 500 Loyalists in the camp who were preparing for join Major Ferguson's force.

Shelby's men and horses were too tired for a retreat and they had lost the element of surprise. With their position compromised by an enemy patrol and horses unable to go on without rest, the Patriots understood that they must stand and fight despite being outnumbered better than two to one.

Outfits worn by the Patriot militia and British Provincials
in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War.
(Photo courtesy of the Musgroves Mill State Historical Site)

The Battle

Outnumbered, and having lost the element of surprise, Shelby, Williams, and Clarke held a council of war that night and came up with a plan that displayed the best tradition of guerrilla tactics. They would lure Innes' Loyalists into an ambush.

Early the next morning at the top of a ridge across the road leading down to Musgrove Mill, the partisans quickly formed a semicircular breastwork of brush and fallen timber about three hundred yards long. In half an hour the makeshift fortifications were complete.

A band of about twenty Georgia men under the leadership of Captain Shadrach Inman Jr. then crossed the Enoree and engaged the enemy. Feigning confusion they retreated back across the river. Colonel Innes, believing that he could overrun and capture the Patriot force, took the bait and ordered the pursuit.

Inman's force reached the hidden line of ambush, closely pursued by the Loyalists. The Patriots were ordered to hold fire until they could distinguish the buttons on the clothes of the approaching Loyalists. When Innes’s men were within 70 yards, they spotted the Patriot line and fired too early. However, the Patriots held their fire until the Loyalists got within killing range of their muskets and opened fired with devastating effect.

Nonetheless, the Provincials were well-trained and disciplined and nearly overwhelmed the Patriot right flank with a bayonet charge. Lacking bayonets with which to defend themselves in hand-to-hand combat, the frontiersmen fell back. Attempting to relieve some of the pressure on the imperiled Patriot line, Colonel Clarke attacked the enemy’s right flank. At around the same time, one of Shelby’s men shot and wounded Innes, who fell from his horse. Shelby ordered his reserve of Overmountain Men to support him. They rallied and returned to the fray as the Loyalists began to waverand they rushed into the battle shrieking Indian war cries. Patriots ran from their positions yelling, shooting, and slashing at their enemies. The Patriots pressed home their attack, and the Loyalist wavered after a number of their officers went down, then they broke and retreated back across the river in a rout, some of them throwing their muskets as they ran.

The whole battle took perhaps less than an hour. Within that period, 63 Tories were killed, about 90 wounded, and 70 were taken prisoner. The Patriots losses were negligible, with about 5 dead and 12 wounded. Among those killed was Captain Inman himself, who played the key role in implementing the Patriot strategy.

Marker at the Musgrove Mill National Battlefield Park
at the site where Captain Shadrach Inman fell in battle.

Aftermath

With their demoralized enemy driven back across the river, the Patriot leaders briefly considered following up on their success and attacking the British stronghold at Ninety Six. They were preparing to do so when a messenger arrived from Colonel Charles Caswell with the news of Gates' defeat at Camden three days before.

The savage action fought at Musgrove's Mill was a clear victory for the backcountry Partisans and the Overmountain Men, but it could not mitigate the double disasters at Camden and Sumter's rout at Fishing Creek. Shelby was also informed that Ferguson's Loyalists were headed their way from Ninety Six in pursuit. 

With this new intelligence, the Patriots decided to disperse their forces and withdraw north towards North Carolina. Shelby's forces covered sixty miles with Ferguson in hot pursuit before making good their escape. Williams conducted the prisoners taken at Musgrove's Mill to Hillsborough, North Carolina, where the remnants of Gates' defeated Continental Army were slowly reassembling. Shelby and his Overmountain Men fled back into North Carolina and returned to their settlements on the western side of the Appalachians. With the approach of the 1780 harvesting season, most of the Overmountain Men returned to their farms on the frontier, though it would not be the last time many of these men faced the Loyalists. McDowell remained in South Carolina to continue with harassing the Loyalists in the area with Sumter, while Clarke returned to British occupied Georgia to raise more partisans to continue the fight.

Despite yet another setback in the South Carolina backcountry, General Cornwallis, emboldened by his decisive victory of Gates' Continental army north of Camden and Tarleton's defeat of Sumter at Fishing Creek, would soon be preparing to lead his British Army north to try and implement the next stage of the British Southern Strategy -- the invasion and subjugation of North Carolina. 

Nonetheless, the Battle of Musgrove’s Mill signaled that resistance to British rule had not been snuffed out. The defeat of the Loyalists there would also play a role in the upcoming campaign that would turn the tide of the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War decisively in the favor of the American Patriots less than two months later at a place called Kings Mountain on the border between the two Carolinas, which will be the discussed in detail in the next chapter of this series.

 

For more information about the Battles of Fort Thicketty and Musgrove's Mill and their significance to American history please consult the following sources that were used to help with this blog post: 
Partisans & Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned The Tide of the American Revolution   

by Walter Edgar (2001) ISBN 0-308-97760-5
South Carolina's Revolutionary War Battlefields: A Tour Guideby R.L. Barbour (2002) ISBN 1-58980-008-7 (pbk.)

The Battle Of Fishing Creek: "Blood Ban" Tarleton Routes Sumter -- August 18, 1780

Tarleton's British Legion Cavalry attacking Sumter's men
at Catawba Ford along the Catawba River in Chester County, SC.

 The Battle of Fishing Creek

"Bloody Ban" Tarleton Routes Sumter

Friday, August 18, 1780 

By: C.W. Roden 

(Part 10 of a 15 part series)

Heading north along the western bank of the Catawba River at a leisurely pace, Brigadier General Thomas Sumter was unaware of the disastrous outcome at Camden, unaware that General Horatio Gates, the so-called "Hero of Saratoga" had abandoned his own army and retreated into North Carolina to avoid being captured. 

It wasn't until the evening of Wednesday, August 16th that a dispatch rider, 13-year-old Andrew Jackson, from Major William Richardson Davie informed Sumter of the disaster at Camden and the disgraceful retreat of General Horatio Gates -- whom Davie had encountered only hours before.

Despite this alarming news, Sumter did not increase his pace.

Among Sumter's force were about 700 mounted militia and 100 Maryland Continentals and two artillery pieces detached to his force by Gates only a few days before. Traveling with Sumter's force were also fifty wagons full of captured British supplies and about 250 prisoners of war. The latter was severely slowing Sumter's usual quick progress.

Unwilling to abandon his captured plunder, Sumter and his men continued to move slowly north along the river towards Charlotte and safety.

The Pursuit of Sumter

In the immediate aftermath of his decisive victory just north of Camden, General Lord Cornwallis gave orders to the Loyalist British Legion commander Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton to pursue Sumter's backcountry militia and recapture the prisoners and supplies taken by the Patriot leader.

Lord Cornwallis considered Sumter such an annoyance that he called him one of his "great plagues" -- an accurate description given the work that Patriot militia under his command had accomplished disrupting British outposts in the backcountry over the course of the summer. He gave Tarleton orders to capture, or kill, Sumter if possible.

The British Legion had just returned to camp following their pursuit and slaughter of routed Patriot militia and Continentals following the retreat from Camden. Tarleton was more than eager to take up his mission and immediately set out up the eastern bank of the Catawba River with about 350 men -- including a detachment of the 71st Regiment of Foot (Fraser's Highlanders) riding double with the Legion cavalry.

The proud English aristocrat sought revenge for the defeat of a detachment of his own British Legion under Captain Christian Huck at Williamson's Plantation the month before at the hands of Patriot militia from Sumter's command. It had been a blow to the reputation of his Legion as a force to be feared in the back country. 

By the evening of Thursday, August 17th, Sumter had crossed the rover and only moved as far as Rocky Mount, setting up camp in the open along the riverbank not far from the now abandoned British outpost. From the other side of the river, Tarleton could easily spot the partisan camp, seeing their cooking fires in the darkness. To keep his own position secret, Tarleton ordered his own men not to build fires. Crossing over the next morning and moving with characteristic speed, he reached the site of Sumter's camp, once again finding that Sumter had already moved on. Picking around 160 dragoons from his Legion and leaving the infantry to cover his rear and follow at their own pace, Tarleton continued the pursuit.

The stifling 90F degree August heat and the difficult conditions continued to slow Sumter's progress. About noon, after an eight-mile march, Sumter halted his force near Catawba Ford (in modern-day Chester County, South Carolina), where Fishing Creek feeds into the Catawba River.

In spite of warnings he had received, Sumter took no special security precautions, save for a few sentries posted along the road. Most of his men were using the halt in the march for rest and recreation. They stacked arms and relaxed, many taking the opportunity to swim and bathe in the creek, while others, including Sumter himself, decided to take a nap in whatever shade they could find. Sumter rested underneath one of the captured wagons.

Fishing Creek in Chester County, South Carolina as it would
have appeared in mid-to-late August in the summer of 1780.

The Battle

Tarleton's dragoons finally caught up to Sumter that afternoon, overwhelming the posted sentries before they could raise the alarm. He quickly formed them for attack. Despite being outnumbered about four-to-one, Colonel Tarleton and the British Legion dragoons charged into the Patriot camp, catching the militia and Sumter completely by surprise and quickly gaining control of the stacked arms.

The Patriot militia, many of which were caught literally with their pants down, were completely routed. Sumter woke from underneath the wagon as the green-coated Legion cavalry swept into the camp. Unable to get to his own horse, he cut the harness of a draft horse from the wagon and, riding bareback, tried to rally his panicked men. Ultimately, this proved futile as the Patriots were routed; each man for himself in the escaped. General Sumter fled into the nearby woods half-dressed, leaving behind his hat, coat, and boots; barely escaping capture himself.

The British Legion cavalry virtually decimated the militia and Continentals. The losses were one-sided and severe. The Patriots lost about 150 men killed and wounded, and more than 300 prisoners were taken. The Legion also freed the 250 captured British prisoners and captured all of Sumter's supplies and captured war material, including: 800 horses, 1,000 individual weapons, and his two artillery pieces. Tarleton himself only lost 16 men killed and wounded.

Not long after the battle, the rest of the British Legion infantry and the detachment of Highlanders that had been left behind arrived to help take charge of the prisoners and recaptured supplies.

"Blood Ban" Tarleton and his British Legion had their vengeance.


Aftermath

Two days later, following the battle at Fishing Creek (also known as the Battle of Catawba Ford) Sumter arrived in Charlotte and joined up with Major Davie's militia. He was a brigadier general without servant, soldiers, or baggage. He would soon gather another force of upcountry militia for the coming campaign that many of them now dreaded. Many of the Patriot militiamen from the District Between the Broad and Catawba Rivers who'd avoided capture by Tarleton's Legion would continue to resist the Loyalist militias and their British allies on their own over the course of the next couple of months.

The defeat of Gates at Camden and the routing of Sumter at Fishing Creek were terrible blows to the morale of the upcountry partisans. Lord Cornwallis, on the other hand, was jubilant. The news of the twin defeats would reach London, making the earl the toast of the capital. When the Comte de Vergennes, King Louie XVI's foreign minister, learned of the defeats, he believed that the American cause was lost. He floated a peace feeler based on uti possidetis ("as you possess") that would have left South Carolina and Georgia as British colonies.

Tarleton himself believed that the defeat of Sumter would be enough to eliminate any further organized resistance to the Crown in the upcountry. Lord Cornwallis himself was not as certain of that since Sumter himself had not been captured, or killed. None-the-less, the British general now felt that the time was right to begin the next step in the conquest of the American South -- the invasion of North Carolina.

However, all was not lost to the upcountry South Carolina Patriots. Help would soon come from an unexpected ally from the North Carolina Appalachians and the British Southern strategy would find itself coming to a grinding halt -- the beginning of which will be discussed in detail in the next chapter of this series.

Monument near the site of the Battle of Fishing Creek
(also known as the Battle of Catawba Ford) near Great Falls,
SC in Chester County.

For more information about the Battle of Rocky Mount and its significance to American history please consult the following sources that were used to help with this blog post:

 Partisans & Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned The Tide of the American Revolution  

by Walter Edgar (2001) ISBN 0-308-97760-5

The Battle Of Camden: Cornwallis Defeats Gates -- August 16, 1780

The Maryland Continental Line fighting against the 71st Regiment of Foot "Frazer's Highlanders" at the
Battle of Camden, August 16, 1780. 

 
The Battle of Camden

Cornwallis Defeats Gates

Wednesday, August 16, 1780 

By: C.W. Roden 

(Part 9 or a 15 part series)

In April of 1780, General George Washington, responding to the call for reinforcements by General Benjamin Lincoln in Charleston, South Carolina, sent two Maryland Line regiments and the Delaware Line regiment supported by the 1st Continental Artillery Regiment with 18 guns to the southern theater. These men were under the command of Major General Baron Johann de Kalb.

Portrait of Baron Johann de Kalb
by Charles Wilson Peale.

Baron de Kalb was perhaps one of the more interesting personalities that supported the American cause.

He was born in 1721 in Hüttendorf, a village near Erlangen, Principality of Bayreuth (modern-day Bavaria, Germany) and later earned a military commission as a lieutenant in the Loewendal German Regiment of the French Army in 1743. He trained in the military school of Marshall Maurice de Saxe -- called “the Professor of all the generals of Europe” by Frederick the Great. A veteran of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) and the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), Baron de Kalb was promoted to lieutenant colonel and won the Order of Military Merit in 1763, and was elevated to the nobility with the title of baron.

When the American States declared their formal independence from Britain, Baron de Kalb sailed with eleven other European officers on the ship fitted out by the Marquis de Lafayette. They arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in July 1777 and joined the Continental Army. He was appointed to the rank of major general on Friday, September 5, 1777. Baron de Kalb would spend the winter of 1777-87 at Valley Forge and serve in the Northern campaign against the British and fought at the Battle of Monmouth on Sunday, June 28, 1778.

De Kalb preferred to march on foot with his men rather than riding and hike up to 30 miles a day. He drank only water and was always a completely sober and controlled person. He would sleep by a camp fire with is soldiers, wrapped in his horseman's cloak. A perfect example of a classical field officer, he was well loved and respected by the men under his command.

These reinforcements departed New Jersey on Sunday, April 16, 1780, but were unable to reach Charleston before the city surrendered after a six week siege by British forces on Friday, May 10th.

General de Kalb remained with his troops in Granville County, North Carolina. It was hoped that the presence in the area of the Continentals would boost Patriot morale and entice recruitment after the disasters at Charleston and the Battle of the Waxhaws. Unfortunately, during those early months, very few recruits appeared.

The Continentals also experienced several hardships with campaigning in the South in late spring and early summer -- particularly an infestation of chiggers (Redbugs) and ticks that infested their camps, as well as mosquitoes that breed near the rivers and swampy areas. It must have been a miserable time for the Maryland and Delaware Continentals being covered in severe bites and suffering diseases contracted from the bugs. 

Short of proper food and with many his men sickening and suffering from the unaccustomed heat, bugs, and poor diet. Major General de Kalb moved his troops to camp near Buffalo Ford on the Deep River, 30 miles south of Greensboro, North Carolina, in July.

It would be here that his new commanding officer, General Horatio Gates arrived in camp near the end of the month.


"The Hero Of Saratoga"

Baron de Kalb was an excellent soldier, but as a foreigner did not have very much influence with the Continental Congress, where decisions of command were ultimately made -- for better, or worse.

General Horatio Gates, on the other hand, was widely admired by most of the Congress, largely for his supposed role in the major American victory at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 -- a battle that was largely won because of the efforts of the field officers, notably: Benedict Arnold, Enoch Poor, Benjamin Lincoln, John Stark and Daniel Morgan. The battle was instrumental in winning the French over to the cause of American independence. Because he was in overall command of the soldiers, the title "Hero of Saratoga" was bestowed upon Gates by the Continental Congress.

General Horatio Gates in a 1794 portrait
by Gilbert Stuart.

Horatio Gates was born in Maldon, Essex, Great Britain in 1727.  In 1745, Gates obtained a military commission with financial help from his parents and political support from the Duke of Bolton. Gates served with the 20th Regiment of Foot in Germany during the War of the Austrian Succession. Later he arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia under Edward Cornwallis (uncle of British General Lord Charles Cornwallis, against whom he would later fight) and later was promoted to captain in the 45th Regiment of Foot the following year.

During the French and Indian War (1754-1763), Gates served with British General Edward Braddock in America. In 1755, he accompanied the ill-fated Braddock Expedition in its attempt to control access to the Ohio Valley. This force included other future Revolutionary War leaders such as: Thomas Gage, Charles Lee, Daniel Morgan, and George Washington. Gates was severely injured early in the action, among many other British soldiers. His experience in the early years of the war was limited to commanding small companies, but he apparently became quite good at military administration, and achieved the rank of major.

Later he would resign his commission in the British Army due to frustration with achieving higher rank from his lack of connections and settle in Virginia. When the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1775, he volunteered to serve in the newly formed Continental Army where he found himself at odds with Washington. Later he would become a major figure in the infamous Conway Cabal, which sought to replace Washington for Gates as commander in chief of the Continental Army.

When General Lincoln surrendered Charleston in May of 1780, the Continental Congress assigned Gates to take command in the Southern theater. Washington himself was never even consulted, though his low opinion of General Gates was well known. If Washington would have had his way, command in the South would have gone to Major General Nathaniel Greene, the quartermaster general of the Continental Army and one of Washington's best field officers. Greene would later get the job in the late fall of 1780, but not until after the tragic events that would soon transpire for the Patriots in South Carolina under the dubious command of Gates.

With Gates' appointment begins the tragic story of a series of mistakes and bad judgments that would lead to one of the worst disasters in American military history. 


Gates Marches Into South Carolina

Horatio Gates and Baron de Kalb met at camp near the Deep River on Tuesday, July 25, 1780. Gates was greeted with all proper ceremony -- including a 13-gun salute as he took command of the entire Southern Department. Major General de Kalb was confirmed in his leadership of the Maryland and Delaware Continentals and made second in command. 

The "Grand Army" as Gates called it, was not much of an army at this point. It consisted of de Kalb's Continental infantry, three companies of artillery with 8 guns -- de Kalb had been forced to leave behind 10 of his 18 cannons in Granville County due to a lack of proper horses -- and Colonel Charles Armand's Legion of 60 dragoons and 60 foot soldiers. 

Baron de Kalb's original plan was to march southwest through Salisbury, North Carolina, taking advantage of the strong support for the Continental Army in that area and the rich farmland for provisions, then march on to Camden, South Carolina. 

However, Gates did not approve of taking the longer route. Instead, two days later on Thursday, July 27th, against the advise of his officers, including de Kalb and Colonel Otho Holland Williams of the Maryland Line, the "Hero of Saratoga" decided to march the army from Deep River directly on to Camden.

Although this route was fifty miles shorter than the one proposed by Baron de Kalb, it traversed the poor and somewhat barren Carolina Sandhills region. Gate's route also ran through the Cross Creek country, one of the Carolina's most pro-Loyalist areas, meaning the Patriots would find no local help with supplies as they struggled along the roads and through the creeks and swamps. What little food they found -- usually the occasional peach orchard, green corn, or small herds of sickly cows -- made the men sick as they were mercilessly pushed hard by their commanding general.

All of the troops had been short of food since arriving at Deep River, so once the army finally reached the Pee Dee River, they found crops of green corn which was harvested and eaten by the hungry men, with unhealthy consequences.

The "Grand Army" was soon joined by cavalry dragoons under Colonel William Washington and Colonel Anthony White, both of whom had taken refuge with their remaining men in North Carolina after both had been badly beaten by Tarleton's Legion at Moncks Corner and Lenud's Ferry back in May. They rode into camp expecting to join forces for the attack on Camden.

General Gates informed them that he did not want their help because he erroneously believed that cavalry was not useful for the southern field. A bizarre view given the successes of the mounted partisan bands operating in South Carolina since the fall of Charleston.

As military historian Henry Lumpkin explained in his 1981 book From Savannah to Yorktown: The American Revolution in the South:

"The South was especially well adapted to use of cavalry because of its wide reaches of open pine barrens, broad savannas, great distances, wild forests and swamps for concealment, and year-round natural forage for horses. Francis Marion, William Davie, Thomas Sumter, and Elijah Clarke -- all the great partisans on both sides -- were to prove time and time again the value of fast-moving, heavily armed, well mounted men in southern warfare."

The people in the South were natural horse soldiers, practically raised in the saddle, but this fact was apparently dismissed by Gates. The fact that William Washington was second cousin to Gates' rival General George Washington might also have been a huge factor in his decision. Gates' foolish pride and his uninformed decision would deprive his army of essential troops in the coming battle.

Other partisans came forward to meet with Gates, including General Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion, who offered his services, as Washington and White had. Gates however had little use for Marion and his men, despite their successes in the Lowcountry against the British and Loyalists -- especially the hated "Bloody Ban" Tarleton. Gates had little use for militia, his view of them largely clouded due to experiences in the North with undisciplined guerilla bands like Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys, and treated Marion and his men with utter contempt.

Fortunately for the State of South Carolina and the future United States of America, Gates ordered Marion to leave his camp and move into the coastal regions to observe and harass the enemy there.

On Thursday, August 3rd, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Porterfield, an officer with an excellent record as a captain in the Continental Army, arrived at Gates' camp with 100 Virginia troops. The half-starved army then crossed the Pee Dee River and continued its ill-advised march through the sparsely populated enemy country.

Brigadier General Francis Lord Rowdan of the
Volunteers of Ireland.

The arrival of Gates' "Grand Army" did not go unnoticed by the British. General Francis Lord Rawdon was watching the approaching Patriots from the other side of the Little Lynches River with a strong reconnaissance force consisting of Loyalists from his Provincial Volunteers of Ireland. As he watched the Americans approach, Rawdon ordered his forces and those stationed at Rugely's Mill, 15 miles north of Camden, to fall back to a post called Log Town, a mile above Camden. Despite de Kalb's advise to outflank Lord Rowdan by a forced night march, Gates pushed forward in broad daylight.

On Sunday, August 6th, General Richard Caswell arrived with 2,100 North Carolina militia, which now doubled Gates' army.  At Rugely's Mill Gates halted and was soon joined by an additional 700 Virginia militia under the command of General Edward Stevens.

During this time the upcountry Patriots under the command of Brigadier General Thomas Sumter had been operating on the British supply line to Charleston. He sent a courier (possibly young Andrew Jackson) to Gates requesting reinforcements to attack a British wagon train bringing supplies and ammunition to Camden.

For some reason, in spite of his dismissal of Marion, Gates seems to respond to Sumter favorably. Despite the fact a major battle was in the offering the closer he reached Camden, Gates somehow saw merit in Sumter's plan. Against the advice of his officers, he sent 100 of his Maryland Continentals and 300 North Carolina militiamen with two cannons to assist Sumter. This reduced his artillery to seven guns (an additional gun had come in with Caswell's militia).

For his part, Sumter wasted little time in implementing is plan. This time he hit a small outpost on the Wateree River below Camden. A garrison of 30 men defended a makeshift fort at a ferry crossing -- a vital link in the British communications chain. A detachment of Sumter's band commanded by Colonel Thomas Taylor took the outpost by surprise and captured the entire garrison and thirty-six wagons full of war supplies. In questioning his prisoners, Taylor discovered that a wagon convoy was en route from the British outpost at Ninety Six. Taking advantage of this intelligence, Taylor planned and executed a successful ambush of the convoy. 

Sumter informed Gates of the capture of the crucial ferry crossing and said that he would defend it until he received instructions to the contrary. No sooner had he sent the report than the British Army began crossing the Wateree River in large numbers below the ferry. Without hesitation, Sumter withdrew his men and moved his command ten miles up the river in order to protect his captured prisoners and supplies. 

Gates, anxious to score more praise from Congress for himself in the South, had pushed his now starving army to the point of exhaustion. At one point the miserable soldiers came close to mutiny. Totally oblivious to the condition of his men, the "Hero of Saratoga" pressed on, anxious to force a confrontation with Cornwallis.

He wouldn't have much longer to wait.


The British Response And Line of Battle 

General Lord Cornwallis, having been informed by courier of Gates' advance on Camden, rode from Charleston to Camden in four days. He also detached four companies of light infantry on a forced march from Ninety Six to Camden.

Lieutenant General Charles Lord Cornwallis,
British commander of the Southern Campaign
in the Carolinas 1780-81 from a painting
by Thomas Gainsborough.

The combat elements of the British forces included: three companies of the 23rd Regiment Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the 33rd Regiment of Foot, five companies of the 71st Regiment of Foot (Frazer's Highlanders), the Royal North Carolina Regiment, Lord Rawdon's Volunteers of Ireland, Tarleton's Legion of horse and foot, 170 men of the royal artillery with four 6-pounders and two 3-pounders, as well as an additional 300 South Carolina Loyalist militia. Cornwallis and Rawdon now had around 2,200 men, mostly British regulars and highly trained provincials, some of the best men in the British Army.

Meanwhile Baron de Kalb's Maryland and Deleware Continentals had been reduced to 900 men by sickness, desertion, and the 100 soldiers that Gates sent to aid Sumter. Armand's Legion consisted of 60 horsemen and 60 foot soldiers. Lieutenant Colonel Porterfield commanded 100 Virginia light infantry, while Stevens and Caswell both led a combined 2,800 Virginia and North Carolina militia. Also included were about 70 South Carolina militia and 100 artillerymen with seven guns. Gates' "Grand Army" totaled around 4,100 Continental regulars and militia, but only 3,000 of which were fit for duty due to sickness caused by poor rations.

With an army composed primarily of untrained militia, Gates ordered a night march to commence at 10 PM on Tuesday, August 15th. A night march in column is a difficult and complicated maneuver even for well-trained regular soldiers to perform, let alone for militia. Armand's 60 dragoons had been assigned the task of leading the army. Gates ignored the protests of Armand that cavalry had no place in the lead because of the noise the horses hooves made over great distances.

To make matters worse for the Patriot forces, beef, corn meal, and molasses that had been served for the evening rations. These had been procured locally in adequate quantities and the men prepared them hastily over fires before the march began. These men had been half-sick from a diet of green apples and corn, combined with bad water and the long march in hot and muggy August weather. The hastily cooked supper unfortunately acted as a purgative causing severe stomach cramps and diarrhea. While they marched many of the men had to stop and go to the woods to relieve themselves all night long.

Apparently Gates planned on building defensive works a few miles north of Camden in an effort to force British abandonment of that important town. Gates told his aide Thomas Pinckney he had no intention of directly attacking Cornwallis with an army consisting mostly of militia, despite having the British outnumbered.

According to tradition, as Gates watched the column of his army file by, he is said to have boasted to his aides that he would have breakfast the next morning with Cornwallis as his prisoner and guest at his table.

Unknown to Gates however, Cornwallis' army was also commencing a night marching north on the road from Camden with Tarleton's dragoons at the lead of the British column, intent of fighting Gates just outside of the town.


The Battle

The first encounter between the two forces happened when Armand's horsemen ran into Tarleton's dragoons around 2 AM on the morning of Wednesday, August 16th. After some pistol firing in the dark, the aggressive Tarleton ordered a saber charge and smashed Armand's cavalry back on the leading elements of the American infantry commanded by Porterfield and Armstrong. In the confused night skirmish, Porterfield fell mortally wounded by a stray bullet as he swung his light infantry out of the woods and caught Tarleton's dragoons in an enfilading fire, forcing them to withdraw under the support of British infantry.

It was then, for the first time, that Gates discovered that he had literally stumbled into Cornwallis. 

With an army composed largely of inexperienced and undisciplined militia, most of them sick from the poor rations, and his plan to fortify and let Cornwallis come to him in ruins, Gates once again made another military gaffe. Against the advise of Maryland Line's Colonel Otho Williams -- who believed rightly that the best strategy would have been to retreat, find a good defensive position, and await the British attack -- Gates instead took the advise of the Virginia militia commander who insisted it was too late to retreat and that the army must fight. Gates concurred and ordered the army into a line of battle.

The battle was fought astride the road between the Waxhaws and Camden with a narrow, open forest of pine trees almost free of undergrowth on both sides. Flanking both sides were swamps impassable by wagons. Gates held a better position on slightly rising ground with a clear escape route behind him.

Gates formed his troops just before first light. Mordecai Gist's 2nd Brigade of three Maryland and one Delaware Continental regiments were stationed to the right of the road. On the left from the road Caswell's North Carolina militia and Steven's Virginia militia stood with the now leaderless Virginia light infantry on the flank and Armand's small legion in support. Smallwood's 1st Maryland Brigade was held in reserve behind the 2nd Maryland, and the seven artillery pieces were placed on the road in front of the center and between Caswell and Stevens. Baron de Kalb was given the place of honor, command of the right wing, while Gates and his staff took position some 600 yards to the rear of the line.

In the very early morning, Colonel Otho Williams, riding along the waiting American line, saw the British advancing up the road. He summoned Captain Singleton of the artillery who estimated the enemy to be about 200 yards away. Williams ordered him to open fire. The British promptly unlimbered their advance field guns and replied.

The main battle was now joined. 

Williams rode back and reported to Gates that the enemy were deploying from column into battle lines and that if he attacked them before they were fully formed he could throw them into confusion. Gates ordered Stevens and de Kalb to attack -- it was the last recorded order Horatio Gates gave in the battle.

Opposing Gates, Cornwallis quickly formed his line of battle with the Royal North Carolina Regiment, the infantry of Tarleton's Legion, and Lord Rawdon's Volunteers of Ireland from the left of the road, with Bryan's North Carolina Volunteers a short distance behind them on the left flank. Command of the left flank was given to Lord Rawdon. On the right were detachments of the 23rd Welsh Fusiliers and 33rd Regiment of Foot with the 4th Light Infantry company hugging the right flank. The right was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Webster. The five companies of the 71st Highlander Regiment were held in reserves behind the center with two 6-pounder field guns. Two more 6-pounders and two 3-pounders were placed in the front of the British center. Tarleton's dragoons waited in the rear of the battle line, ready to exploit any retreat by the enemy. 

A detailed map of the Battle of Camden.

At the same time both commanders order their armies to attack. The outcome of the battle was no contest, as Gates would make his final -- and ultimately fatal -- gaffe of the entire campaign.
 

A British Soldier of the 33rd
Regiment of Foot.

Being a former member of the British army, Gates followed British military tradition to the letter, including placing the best soldiers in the "position of honor" on the right flank in any major deployment. The problem here was that Cornwallis followed the same military tradition and did the exact same thing in his own deployment for the battle. Meaning that Gates' less experienced troops -- the inexperienced Virginia and North Carolina militiamen (most of them still suffering the ill-effects from their poor rations) -- were now facing the battle-hardened Welsh Fusiliers and the 33rd Regiment of Foot, some of Cornwallis' best and most disciplined soldiers; all of whom were far from unfit for duty that day.

Williams dismounted and called for volunteers, leading some 80 or so men within 40 yards of the deploying British, taking cover behind trees, and delivering harassing fire at close range. Cornwallis ordered Webster to counter-charge.

The 800 strong 33rd Fusiliers and 23rd Regiment closed ranks, fixed bayonets, and drove forward on the double quick, shoulder-to-shoulder. The 2,500 Virginia and North Carolina militia heard the deep British "Huzzah!" and saw the red coated line advancing on them with bayonets towards them in perfect order. They hesitated, a few of them firing and a few of the British soldiers dropped. This was the first time that most of these militiamen had been in battle or seen a real line of enemy soldiers, and a dreadful fear of those cheering soldiers and their steel-tipped muskets gripped the entire line.

A Virginia militiaman.

The entire left wing of Gates' "Grand Army" collapsed as the Virginia militia broke and ran. A moment later the North Carolinians on their flank also fled, many of them without even firing a shot, throwing down their still-loaded muskets and rifles. The Virginians fled so fast that they suffered only 3 wounded. The North Carolinians fled all the way back to Hillsborough, North Carolina. The fleeing militia broke through the 1st Maryland Brigade stationed in reserve behind the line, throwing the Continental unit into confusion. Tarleton's dragoons chased many of these men down, their sabers inflicting many casualties on the retreating Virginians and North Carolinians -- a number of them unarmed.

Seeing half of his army break and run from the British, the now-panicked Horatio Gates, the "Hero of Saratoga" and the darling of the Continental Congress, mounted his horse believing the day was lost, turned and raced away, deserting the remainder of his army at full gallop to their fate. He did not stop until he reached Charlotte sixty miles away, and only then to procure a fresh horse and gallop off another 120 miles to Hillsboro to put as much distance between him and Cornwallis' victorious army as he could.

A Continental soldier of the
Delaware Line.

General de Kalb and Mordecai Gist with the American right wing and the 1st Maryland Brigade still held the field. One regiment of North Carolina militia under the command of Colonel Henry Dixon did not join in the rout of the other militia on the left and fell back linking up with the Delaware Continentals. De Kalb called for the reserves, and Otho Williams, finding that Smallwood had also fled the battle, tried to bring the regulars to the left of the 2nd Brigade and Dixon's militia to form an L-shaped defensive line. However they could end up getting no closer than several hundred feet. Elements of the British 23rd and 33rd Regiments and already had advanced between the two American brigades and the gap could not be closed. Instead of ordering a pursuit of the routed militia, Cornwallis sent in Webster and his regulars against the 1st Marylanders. They fought, retreated, rallied around their colors and then finally broke completely, some of them escaping to safety through the swamps along the nearby Wateree River.

Now only the 2nd Maryland Brigade, the Delaware Regiment, and Henry Dixon's North Carolina militia continued to struggle against Cornwallis -- about 600 Continentals and militia against 2,000 British and Provincial regulars. The numbers now favoring the redcoats.

Twice Radwon's wing of the British army attacked the Continentals with bayonet charges, only to be driven back. The Continentals had even managed to take a few prisoners. The Continental troops then launched a counterattack which came close to breaking Rawdon's line, which began to falter. Cornwallis rode to his left flank and steadied Rawdon's men. For another hour both sides charged, reformed, then charged again. De Kalb led his men personally on foot and with sword in hand, his horse having been killed early in the battle. Despite being wounded by a saber cut and being urged by his officers to withdraw while they still could, de Kalb refused to consider retreat. 

Baron de Kalb himself led one more charge, killing at least one British soldier opposing him, until finally being brought down mortally wounded after sustaining 11 wounds (the saber cut, 2 bullet wounds, and 8 bayonet cuts). His men closed ranks and repelled another bayonet attack courageously. By this point Tarleton had returned with his green-coated dragoons and attacked the American rear. The last remnant of the 2nd Maryland Brigade, the Delawares, and Dixon's militia stood and fought for a few moments, then broke and ran. However, Gist was able to move 100 Continentals in good order through a swamp, where the cavalry could not follow. Additionally, about 60 Maryland and Delaware Line Continentals, under the leadership of Major Archibald Anderson, Colonel John Gunby, Lieutenant Colonel John Eager Howard, and Captain Robert Kirkwood, were able to retreat in good order from the battle through the surrounding woods in a compact fighting group. 

The rest of Gates' "Grand Army" were either killed, wounded and captured, or scattered throughout the forests and swamps being pursued by Tarleton's Legion.

The Battle of Camden lasted just barely over an hour. 

Scene depicting the fallen Baron de Kalb being protected by his aide-de-camp at the Battle of Camden. 
 Engraving from painting by artist Alonzo Chappel.

The Aftermath

When British soldiers ran up to finish off Baron de Kalb, who lay mortally wounded on the field where he fell, his aide-de-camp and friend, Charles-Francois du Buysson (a cousin of the Marquis de Lafayette), put his own body between the fallen general and the enemy bayonets shouting out de Kalb's name and rank. The wounded general was then propped up against a wagon wheel by the British soldiers and sat there until Cornwallis rode up seeing de Kalb and recognizing him.
 
Cornwallis told him, "I am sorry, sir, to see you, not sorry that you are vanquished, but sorry to see you so badly wounded." The British general then ordered Baron de Kalb carried on a litter to Camden to be given proper medical treatment. It is reported that Cornwallis supervised as de Kalb's wounds were dressed by his own surgeons.

As he lay dying, de Kalb was reported to have said to a British officer, "I thank you sir for your generous sympathy, but I die the death I always prayed for: the death of a soldier fighting for the rights of man."

Baron Johann de Kalb's grave in front of the
Bethesda Presbyterian Church in Camden.

According to legend, Cornwallis ordered this after he discovered that de Kalb was also a fellow Freemason. While this is likely, it was also customary in the 18th century for wounded captured officers to be given proper -- sometimes preferential -- treatment.

The brave Baron Johann de Kalb died with great courage and dignity three days later. Cornwallis had him buried with full military and Masonic honors in the churchyard of the Bethesda Presbyterian Church. Cornwallis, Lord Rawdon, and all the British and Loyalist officers attended the funeral.

Years later, after the war, George Washington himself would visit the grave of General de Kalb. He was reported to have said: "So, there lies the brave de Kalb. The generous stranger, who came from a distant land to fight our battles and to water with his blood the tree of liberty. Would to God he had lived to share its fruits!"

The British casualties at Camden were 68 officers and men killed, 18 officers and 245 enlisted personnel wounded, and 11 men missing -- a total of 342 casualties. American losses were never fully reckoned, but 3 officers were killed in action with another 30 captured. From the 3,000 men Gates had at Camden, around 700 - 900 were killed or wounded, and another 1,000 were captured by the British.

The defeated Patriots -- those who were able -- fled north towards Charlotte, relentlessly pursued by Tarleton's Legion. Charles Steadman, an American Loyalist officer in Cornwallis army, reported the aftermath of the battle:

"The road for some miles was strewed with the wounded and killed, who had been overtaken by the legion in their pursuit. The number of dead horses, broken wagons, and baggage, scattered on the road, formed a perfect sense of terror and confusion: knapsacks and accoutrements found were innumerable: such was the terror and dismay of the Americans."

Patriot Major William Richardson Davie, who'd been on detached duty from General Sumter's brigade escorting wounded from the attack at Hanging Rock just over a week before to the field hospital at Charlotte, was riding back to join Sumter and possibly Gates' army, when he first received information of the disaster at Camden from one of the militia deserters. The tragic news of the defeat was soon confirmed by the sudden appearance of General Gates himself, shouting to Davie as he rode by that Tarleton and his dragoons were not far behind them. When Davie inquired if he and his men should ride to Camden and bury the American dead. Gates is reported to have told Davie that retreat was the only possible course of action -- that the dead could bury the dead. Gates did not stop any longer and continued his retreat.

The Battle of Camden ended in utter disgrace for the Continental Army. Despite having Cornwallis outnumbered, the many blunders made by Gates: marching his army through barren and hostile territory, the lack of proper provisions, ignoring the advise of his officers and men like Francis Marion and William Washington, and finally his tactical errors in the battle itself; all of which contributed to the costly defeat of the Southern Continental Army -- the second major defeat in three months. The tactical genius and expert skill of the experienced General Lord Cornwallis and Lord Rowdan were also factors. The only redeeming actions by the Americans were the steadfast courage of Baron de Kalb and his Continentals, as well as Dixon's North Carolina militia.

The story of Gates abandoning his command completely destroyed his reputation. Many in the Continental Congress were prepared to place Gates before a board of inquiry and a possible court-marshal for his actions. Fortunately for Gates, his previous efforts at Saratoga were enough to give his allies in Congress the room to allow him to simply retire from the army. Gates never held another command for the rest of the war. 

Even more fortunately for American independence, the disgrace of Horatio Gates gave George Washington the opening to recommend to Congress that his original choice, General Nathaniel Greene, should be given command of the Southern Department. This time the Congress was willing to listen to the commanding general and approved Greene's appointment. 

In the meantime, the Patriot forces in South Carolina were once again on their own, and just two days following the disaster at Camden, General Thomas Sumter and his men would find themselves facing off against Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton and his British Legion, which will be detailed in the next chapter of this series.

For more information about the Battle of Camden and its significance to American history please consult the following sources that were used to help with this blog post:

 Partisans & Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned The Tide of the American Revolution  

by Walter Edgar (2001) ISBN 0-308-97760-5

   From Savannah to Yorktown: The American Revolution in the South by Henry Lumpkin (1981) ISBN0-87249-408-X

South Carolina's Revolutionary War Battlefields: A Tour Guide by R.L. Barbour (2002) ISBN 1-58980-008-7