Monday Meme: Well Something Had To Make The Hardtack Taste Better

 

The Destruction Of Hill's Ironworks: Huck's Reign Of Terror Continues -- June 17, 1780

Living history re-enactors portraying Captain Christian Huck and officers of the British Legion
Cavalry and Loyalist Militia.
(Photograph courtesy of Historic Brattonsville, York County, SC)

The Destruction Of Hill's Ironworks
Huck's Reign Of Terror Continues

Saturday, June 17, 1780  

By: C.W. Roden

(Part 5 of a 15 part series)

On Sunday, June 11th, the same day that a detachment of the dreaded British Legion and Loyalist militia under the command of Captain Christian Huck was destroying Reverend John Simpson's home and library, another pastor, Reverend William Martin, and his congregation were meeting at their church on Rocky Creek in modern-day York County. So many people turned out in fact that the service had to be held outside under the shade of the trees.

Though none of those assembled were yet aware of Huck's activities to the north along Fishing Creek, they were fully aware of the recent fall of Charleston and the massacre of Buford's Continentals at the Waxhaws the previous month, and very much aware of the more recent responses of many of their neighbors and relatives at Alexander's Old Field and Mobley's Meeting House.

That Sunday morning, Reverend Martin preached a sermon full of righteous fire and anti-British sentiment that was long remembered in the Rocky Creek community. In the sermon, Martin reminded the largely Scotch-Irish congregation of the hardships that their fathers had suffered, that they had been forced out of Scotland and again out of Ulster in Northern Ireland, had come to America where they were free men and where they had built their homes and church. Now the British were coming and would once again drive them from their homes. He told them that there is a time to pray and a time to fight and the time to fight had come. This sermon inspired many of them to take up arms against the British and their Loyalist neighbors.

The next morning, Monday, June 12th, a group of Martin's churchgoers and local Patriots assembled at a muster ground seven miles from Rocky Mount and began drilling under the command of Captain Ben Land. Unknown to Land and his men, a local schoolmaster and Loyalist named Montgomery had tipped off the British commander at Rocky Mount about the militia gathering. Huck's green-coated dragoons caught the Patriot militia by surprise, then charged upon them, slashing them with their sabers. The militiamen ran for their lives. Captain Land himself was surrounded by the dragoons and attempted to defend himself with his sword, managing to wound a couple of the horsemen before he was cut to pieces and killed.

About two miles from the muster ground, about half a dozen of Martin's neighbors assembled at the shop of a local blacksmith and free-man-of-color, George Harris. These men were getting their horses shod when the Legion dragoons also surprised them and killed one of their number. Huck's men then proceeded to the home of Reverend Martin, where they arrested and then took him back to their post at Rocky Mount a prisoner. Huck's dragoons also put Reverend Martin's home to the torch. The Patriot minister was transferred to the jail at Camden where he would remain for several months before being released by General Cornwallis.

D.A.R. marker at the site of Reverend Martin's Rocky Creek
"Covenenter" Church (Meeting House) located 2 miles
east of the Catholic Presbyterian Church.

The Meeting At Hill's Ironworks

On the same day that Reverend Martin was captured, a meeting took place in the New Acquisitions District at William Hill's Ironworks. A Loyalist envoy had been sent there from Lord Rawdon to the assembled locals with a British proclamation claiming that the Continental Congress had abandoned Georgia and South Carolina. The envoy also claimed that George Washington's Continental Army was in flight before General Sir Henry Clinton's British and Hessian Forces in the north. After making these bold claims, the Loyalist envoy then encouraged the people of the New Acquisitions District to take the oath pledging loyalty to the British Crown.

At this point Hill interrupted the commissioner and refuted the claims made by the officer. Hill informed the audience that the Continental Congress had not abandoned them, that instead Washington himself was sending one of his best officers south to form a new Southern Continental Army to take back South Carolina from the British occupation.

As the operator of a large ironworks that supplied weapons and material to the Continental Army, Hill had extensive contacts with important officials and prominent citizens in Charlotte, Salisbury and throughout western North Carolina. These contacts kept Hill well informed of developments with the war in the north and with the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. 

As a native of Ireland, Hill also had little love for the British authorities.

Hill's information was correct for the most part about the new Continental Army being formed in North Carolina. Two brigades of Maryland and Delaware Continentals under the command of Major General Johann DeKalb (also known simply as Baron DeKalb) would arrive in Hillsborough over a week later, forming the nucleus of a new Southern command. These Continentals were among Washington's best soldiers. Also included in this new army were Virginia and North Carolina militia volunteers. The Board of War appointed by the Continental Congress however overruled Washington's choice to command the Southern Army Major General Nathaniel Greene and instead appointed Major General Horatio Gates, the so-called "Hero of Saratoga" to the job. This choice would later have serious and disastrous consequences.

The crowd's reaction to these revelations was immediate. They sided with Hill and the  Loyalist envoy left quickly with his proclamations for fear of being detained, or possibly tarred and feathered by the angry crowd of Scots-Irish Patriots. The men of the New Acquisitions agreed to form a new militia regiment and elected Andrew Neel as their colonel with Hill acting as lieutenant colonel. Hill's Ironworks became the headquarters of the reconstructed New Acquisitions Regiment. Word quickly spread about the formation of the unit, and soon men from Georgia and western South Carolina added to the growing Patriot force.


The British & Loyalist Response

On Wednesday, June 14th, Colonel Neel and Hill both received intelligence that an Irish Loyalist named Matthew Floyd was raising men in the Broad River settlements to join his militia regiment to reinforce the British outpost at Rocky Mount. The reports also mentioned Floyd's Loyalists terrorizing Patriot inhabitants along the river.

Upon hearing this news, Colonel Neal collected a number of men and set off in pursuit of the Loyalists, leaving only a small garrison to guard the ironworks during his absence. Floyd and about 30 of his Loyalist neighbors from the Broad, Tyger and Enoree Rivers headed to Rocky Mount to offer their services to the British command there, unaware that he and his men were leaving their homes and friends unprotected.

Floyd and his men arrived at Rocky Mount on Thursday, June 15th about the same time that Captain Huck and his forces were returning from their foraging expedition. In addition to confiscation horses and food supplies from known local Patriots and destroying the homes and churches of Scots-Irish Presbyterians, whom Huck held in particular disdain; Huck informed the commander of the post, Lt. Colonel Turnbull that the local Whig militia under Colonels Edward Lacey and William Bratton had "fled to the mountains" (a reference to the hilly area of the northwestern part of modern-day York County, SC).

Turnbull was pleased to have Floyd and his men fill the ranks, considering the staunch Loyalist an asset and giving him a Royal commission of Colonel of militia in the Upper Spartan District (modern-day Spartanburg County). Floyd's son Abraham was granted a commission of captain.

Later that evening, a courier arrived with intelligence that Neel and his forces had left Hill's Ironworks and were advancing on the area west of the Broad River wreaking havoc on the Loyalist settlements where Floyd and his men lived.

Turnbull knew that the ironworks were a refuge for Rebels, as well as a source of weapons in the upcountry and that the time had come to deal with it. The British officer ordered Huck with a mobile force of British Legion cavalry and sixty mounted Loyalist militia under the newly commissioned Captain Abraham Floyd to march on Hill's Ironworks and to destroy it along with any Whig forces in the area.

Huck and his Loyalist forces set out early the next morning on Friday, June 16th.

At the ironworks, Colonel Hill received word that now General Thomas Sumter was north in Salisbury, recruiting men and preparing to join Patriot General Griffith Rutherford, who commanded the Salisbury Militia Brigade, at Charlotte for a major attack against Loyalist forces near Ramsour's Mill.

Hill made plans to rendezvous with Rutherford at Tuckasegee Ford on the Catawba River in North Carolina. He left about 15 men to guard the place, taking the rest of his militia north, unaware that Huck and his Loyalists were on their way to the ironworks.


The Destruction Of Hill's Ironworks

After securing his camp, Captain Huck set out for Hill's Ironworks in the early morning hours of Saturday, June 17th. Employing a local loyalist named John Dennis as a guide, Huck's men made their way into the New Acquisition District.

Along the way Huck's Loyalist force stopped at the home of local Whig militiaman, James Simril, along Allison Creek, a tributary of the Catawba River. There they confiscated what provisions they could find, and then set fire to the barn before they left. Next they arrived at the home of Moses Ferguson, another Whig sympathizer who lived on Rocky Allison Creek about two miles south of Hill's Ironworks. Huck ordered Ferguson under threat to kill him and destroy his home to show him the best route to take in order to outflank and take the Patriot militia stationed at the ironworks by surprise.

Captain John Henderson of the Patriot force left at the ironworks had been scouting the area for Loyalists when he was captured by Huck's advance forces. Huck confiscated Henderson's horse and saddle, then sent the prisoner under guard to Rocky Mount while he continued to the ironworks.

The store, furnace, and mills that made up the ironworks themselves were built on the south side of Allison Creek. The Patriot militia accordingly set up their encampment there and prepared for an attack from the same direction they believed Huck would come from. Two of Colonel Hill's sons, Robert and William Jr., procured a one-pound swivel gun manufactured at the ironworks and set it up on a hill overlooking the south road, where they could train it on the approaching Tories.

Huck however had anticipated such a defense and instead attacked the Patriots from the north, catching the defenders completely by surprise. After exchanging a couple of volleys with Huck's forces, the outnumbered Patriots mounted their horse and road north to North Carolina. Huck overtook the rear of the militia's detachment killing several and taking about four prisoners. Huck also captured both of Hill's sons, though later released them. The Loyalists stripped the prisoners of their belongings -- including reportedly their rings.

One of the men captured by Huck was Hill's iron molder, an Irishman named Calhoun. Calhoun was hung by the neck and ordered to tell Huck where Colonel Hill was, but being true to his employer he refused to do so. The Loyalists left him hanging there, but one of Hill's slaves who had been hiding and witnessed the whole thing, cut Calhoun down and helped restore the man to health.

That afternoon, the Loyalists then plundered the ironworks and Whig camp of everything they could, and once that task was completed, Huck ordered the ironworks and all of the surrounding buildings burned to the ground. Huck burned the forge, furnace, sawmills, all of the outbuildings and even the slave huts. Around 90 African-American slaves were also taken as "contraband" and several would end up becoming servants to the British commander of Rocky Mount, Turnbull, and a few of Huck's officers.

After demolishing the ironworks, Huck moved his forces southwest down to Fergus Crossroads, where the town of York, South Carolina stands today, and made camp for the evening.

Immediately following the destruction of Hill's Ironworks, Huck and his task force moved back down Fishing Creek towards Brown's Crossroads. In addition to the Whig prisoners and captured slaves, Huck sent a dispatch with a report to Turnbull claiming that he had "defeated 150 rebels" and completely destroyed the ironworks.


Aftermath

The destruction of Hill's Ironworks was not only a serious blow to the Patriot cause in the South Carolina backcountry, but also to the American cause itself. The ironworks had been a major producer or guns and ammunition that supplied the Continental Army in the north.

Worse for the people of the area, it was also a major producer of both kitchen utensils and agricultural implements depended on heavily by the farmers in the surrounding communities along the border of both Carolinas. The destruction of the ironworks was nothing less than a complete disaster which literally meant that some of these farmers had to return to briefly return to the wooden plough.

Because of the latter, the destruction of Hill's Ironworks, while a legitimate act of war because of the former, ended up working badly against the British cause of pacifying the South Carolina backcountry. It also added to the list of grievances that the people of the local area had against Captain Christian Huck -- a list of abuses that would rapidly grow over the next month.

Believing that he and his men had dispersed the last body of armed Whigs from the district and secured the region for the Crown, Huck began to send his men throughout the area, posting notices and notifying the inhabitants of the region informing them that Huck would be holding an assembly at the Brown's Crossroads  on Thursday, June 22nd, where the citizens could sign the oath of allegiance and take British protection. 

Since most of the young men in the area were now in North Carolina with Colonels Hill, Bratton, and Neel at General Thomas Sumter's camp, the only men who attended Huck's assembly were primarily older citizens from the New Acquisition District and the upper part of what is modern-day Chester County. 

There it was reported to Colonel Hill by eyewitnesses that Huck verbally harangued the locals, spitting out blasphemous statements that no doubt deeply offended these Scots-Irish Presbyterians, and then proceeded to order his men to confiscate their horses. As the now outraged local men were forced at bayonet point to disperse and now walk many miles home on foot, the "Swearing Captain" then went on to boastfully declare in a mocking tone that: "Even if the rebels were thick as the trees, and Jesus Christ would come down and lead them, he could defeat them!"

Because of this most of these men refused to take the Oath of Allegiance. Indeed, some of these men had, until then, been neutral in the fighting. Huck's theft and blasphemy, along with his destruction of the Hill's Ironworks and the mockery he threw at the local Patriot militia ended up having quite the opposite effect that he'd intended on the locals.  

The Bible makes it very plain that God will not be mocked. Huck himself would learn that lesson the hard way and it would be at the hands of those same faithful upstate Presbyterians Patriots that he insulted and terrorized that the Lord's vengeance would be delivered upon the Pennsylvania Loyalist. It would take place less than a month later at a place called Williamson's Plantation in modern-day York County, which we will discuss in detail in the next chapter of this series. 

The grave of Colonel William Hill in the churchyard
of historic Bethel Presbyterian Church near
Clover, South Carolina.

For more information about the destruction of Hill's Iron Works please consult the following sources that were used to help with this blog post:

The outstanding books: The Day It Rained Militia by Michael C. Scoggins (2005) ISBN 1-59629-015-3

 Partisans & Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned The Tide of the American Revolution by Walter Edgar (2001) ISBN 0-308-97760-5

Monday Meme: You're Gonna Need A Waaaaay Bigger Boat!

Happy 250 Birthday United States Army!

The United States Army was founded 250 years ago this weekend on Wednesday, June 14, 1775 by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The next day, on Thursday, June 15, 1775, Virginia-born George Washington -- a Colonel in the Virginia militia during the French and Indian War (1754-1763) -- would be formally appointed as general and commander in chief of what was then simply known as the Continental Army.

The Continental Army of George Washington, which seldom fielded more than 13,000 to 20,000 men at any given time, would later go on to defeat the British Army in North America and secure American independence over the course of the eight years of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783).

Over the course of the next two-and-a-half centuries, the U.S. Army would go on to become one of the greatest military organizations in world history.

Happy Birthday, U.S. Army!

Happy Friday The 13th Y'all!

Well everyone, I start my new summer job as a summer camp counselor today, but for some reason I feel somewhat nervous about it? Also, only a few people applied for the job? Humm....wonder why?

Remember the rules for surviving today: don't drink alcohol and do drugs, don't have unprotected premarital sex, don't walk off alone, don't leave sharp objects laying around, and no investigating strange noises.

Have a happy -- and hopefully safe -- Friday the 13th everyone!

The Burning Of Justice Gaston's Home: The Loyalists Strike Back -- June 11, 1780

The Burning Of Justice Gaston's Home

The Loyalists Strike Back

Sunday, June 11, 1780 

By: C.W. Roden 

(Part 4 of a 15 part series)

In the space of just three days, those backcountry Patriots who were content to sit out the rest of the war following the fall of Charleston the month before struck back against their oppressive Loyalist neighbors and their British allies in two short, but important battles.

These small acts of defiance alone were not enough to completely erase the fear of the British occupiers. Yet they were enough to send a clear message to the British commander at the Rocky Mount outpost, Lieutenant Colonel George Turnbull, that the Upstate was not completely in British control. That many of the Patriots in the New Acquisition and the upper District between the Broad and the Catawba Rivers still had not submitted to the Crown's authority, neither would they lay down their arms without a fight.

Since taking command of the post at Rocky Mount days earlier, Turnbull, in keeping with the overall British Southern strategy, had been actively organizing a Loyalist militia regiment to reinforce his own New York Volunteers and detachment of British Legion dragoons. But the incidents at Alexander's Old Field and Mobley's Meeting House had demonstrated the Loyalist militia's lack of fortitude in the face of the more experienced Whig partisans. Turnbull had little confidence at that point in his own militia's abilities.

Loyalist spies informed Turnbull that Patriot colonels William Bratton and John McClure were camped at the Upper Fishing Creek Presbyterian Meeting House -- the church of the local minister, Reverend John Simpson, and were rallying men to their cause, both Patriot leaders winning support with their recent successes.

Turnbull realized that a show of force was going to be necessary to keep the rebels in the District Between the Broad and Catawba area in check.

On Saturday, June 10th, Turnbull dispatched his detachment of the dreaded British Legion dragoons under the command of Captain Christian Huck and mounted militia under Loyalist Captain James Ferguson with orders to either kill or capture McClure, Bratton, Simpson, and other Patriot leaders; as well as commandeer any supplies of wheat, corn and horses in the area.


Huck The Swearing Captain

Captain Christian Huck of the British Legion cavalry, was born in one of the German principalities of Europe about 1748 and immigrated to Pennsylvania sometime before the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War where he became a successful lawyer in Philadelphia. Because of his outspoken Loyalist views, the State of Pennsylvania branded Huck a "traitor" and confiscated his property in 1778. That same year Huck formed a company of Loyalist militia and joined the British Army in New York where he was commissioned a captain.

By 1780, Huck and his Provincials were a part of Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton's British Legion cavalry and took part in the Siege of Charleston -- particularly the Battles of Monck's Corner and Lenud's Ferry, both British victories. Huck was also among Tarleton's cavalrymen at the Battle of the Waxhaws the month before where Virginian Continentals under Colonel Abraham Buford were all but slaughtered in what many in the South Carolina back country saw as a massacre.

Huck was a loudly profane man who hated the South Carolina Upcountry and had a special dislike of the largely Scotch-Irish Presbyterians that inhabited the region. He was arrogant, short-tempered, profane, and blasphemous to those he considered rebels and traitors to the Crown. His tendency to use such colorful language earned him the nickname "the Swearing Captain."

He considered the Scotch-Irish and Ulster Scots people who lived in South Carolina's upstate and their Christian faith to be beneath him. During his raids on the local farms, Huck and his men would be known to burn the homes of those found with Presbyterian Bibles, swearing blasphemous insults at those he rendered homeless. 

Such statements, matched by his brutal contempt for the local population and their faith, would make Huck's name an anathema across the upper districts alongside his infamous commanding officer, "Bloody Ban" Tarleton.


Huck's Raid On Fishing Creek

On Sunday, June 11th, Captain Huck and his force arrived in the upper Fishing Creek settlements in western Chester County with his dragoons and Ferguson's Loyalist militia riding hard toward the Fishing Creek Meeting House where intelligence put McClure, Bratton, and most of their Patriot militia, along with a number of Simpson's Presbyterian congregation attending morning worship service. Huck planned to catch them all by surprise.

Huck's forces then stopped at the neighboring home of Janet "Jenny" Strong, a widow and sister of Justice John Gaston. Her family were known to be staunch Patriots. Her eldest son, Christopher, was 20 and had served in the local militia for years. Her younger son, William, was 17 and had joined the local Patriot militia earlier that year. 

Huck's men entered the Strong home and plundered it of anything valuable, with emphasis on corn and wheat. When some of his men entered the barn where her youngest son, William, was hiding and reading his family Bible. The Loyalists shot him dead and dragged his body from the barn into the yard. There several of the Legion soldiers began to hack at the body until the grieving Mrs. Strong rushed from the house and covered her dead son's body with her own to stop the mutilation.

Monument dedicated to the memory of
Reverend John Simpson (1740-1808)
at Fishing Creek Presbyterian Church.

According to one local account, a tame pigeon landed in the yard drawn by some of the accidentally scattered wheat, and was cut in half by Huck's saber. He then said in mockery to Mrs. Strong: "Madam, I have cut the head off of the Holy Ghost." The grieving woman reportedly responded prophetically to Huck by saying, "You will never die in your bed, nor will your death be that of the righteous!"

Huck then ordered the Strong home and barn burned, leaving Mrs. Strong homeless in the yard with her dead son. The Loyalists then marched on towards the Fishing Creek Meeting House.

As they approached the Loyalists surrounded the building and went inside, finding the place empty with no Rebel militia in sight. From local Tories, they learned that the Whig militia -- tipped off that the Loyalists were on their way -- had already left the day before headed towards the New Acquisitions District. Furious at missing his chance to capture the Patriot leaders, Huck ordered his dragoons and Ferguson's men to sack and burn the meeting house.

Huck then ordered his men to remount and proceed to the Simpson's home where they hoped to capture the Whig minister. Several of Reverend Simpson's slaves were standing nearby and overhead Huck's declaration to "burn the rascal out." They hastened to the Simpson home to warn them.

Fishing Creek Presbyterian Church is located
on SC Highway 32 (Fishing Creek Church Rd.)
near the town of Edgemoor, SC
in Chester County.

A quarter mile away at the Simpson home, the pastor's wife, Mary Simpson, was having breakfast with her children when she heard the sound of gunfire. The slaves arrived just ahead of Huck's Loyalists and alerted Mrs. Simpson of the destruction of the meeting house and Huck's imminent arrival. She directed them to take the children and hide in the woods nearby.

Huck and his Loyalists arrived moments later, demanding that Simpson surrender himself. Mrs. Simpson informed them that he was gone, sending Huck into another blasphemous rage where he reportedly uttered: "God almighty had become a Rebel, but if there were 20 Gods on that side, they would all be conquered!" He ordered the home plundered and burned to the ground.

The Loyalists stole clothes, family silver, and anything of value they could find; even tearing open the feather beds with their bayonets and scattered the feathers in the yard. Huck himself threw the Reverend Simpson's Bible into the fireplace, intending to burn it. Mrs. Simpson quickly saved it, further enraging Huck. Once the house was aflame, Huck's men also set fire to the barns and an outbuilding that the Reverend Simpson used as a study.

As the British soldiers departed, Mrs. Simpson ran into the burning study at great risk to her life -- she did in fact suffer terrible burns -- and saved two aprons full of the books. She and her children were now homeless and had to stay with a neighbor.

Huck and his forces then returned to Rocky Mount, having failed in their mission to capture Simpson, McClure and Bratton, but having inflicted some degree of punishment to the rebellious Scotch-Irish Whigs. 


Aftermath

Huck's raid on the Fishing Creek community, and the subsequent cruelties he and his British Legion detachment and Loyalist militia subjected the local population to over the next month, would add to the terrible reputation of the British Legion and continued to strike both fear and a great deal of resentment to much of the South Carolina Upcountry's population.

As bad as his destruction of the Fishing Creek Church and the Reverend Simpson's home would be, Huck's next act of terror would have long-lasting repercussions to the people of the Chester and York County areas, which will be explored in the next chapter of this series.
 

For more information about Huck's Raid on Chester County please consult the following sources that were used to help with this blog post:
The Chester County Historical Society: http://www.chestercohistorical.org/

The outstanding books: The Day It Rained Militia by Michael C. Scoggins (2005) ISBN 1-59629-015-3

 Partisans & Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned The Tide of the American Revolution by Walter Edgar (2001)
ISBN 0-308-97760-5

More Diverse Springtime Backyard Birds

Today, I have more photos of backyard birds that I captured for y'all to enjoy. I took these photos over the course of several weeks in late April to the end of May of these North American birds visiting my backyard feeders. 

The birds shown include: Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater), male and female Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), Carolina Chickadees (Poecile carolinensis), Mourning Doves (Zenaida macroura), Northern Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos), and a House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus).