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 face
the Loyalists at Musgrove's Mill in mid-August 1780.
Artwork by American artist Richard Luce.

 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 (Scotch-Irish Americans, or Ulster Scots settlers from the western Appalachian regions of North Carolina, Virginia, and what is today eastern Tennessee and Kentucky west of the Blue Ridge Mountains) led by Colonel Isaac Shelby joined up with Colonel Charles McDowell and his Burke County Militia to raid Loyalist outposts in the Piedmont mountain region of northwestern South Carolina.

Portrait of Colonel Issac Shelby circa 1820 by
American artist Matthew Harris Jouett.

Born in 1750 in Maryland to Welsh immigrants 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. He would later serve in Lord Dunmore's War in 1774, and later helped establish what is now Sullivan County, Tennessee becoming its first magistrate and Colonel of the Sullivan County Militia. Shelby earned a reputation as a fierce Indian fighter, particularly during Cherokee raids on the Overmountain settlements in what is now eastern Tennessee and Kentucky.

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 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, Brigadier General Thomas Sumter had learned that the British Major Patrick Ferguson's Loyalist troops were moving beyond the Broad River and he directed Lieutenant 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.

Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Regiment of
Foot "Fraser's Highlanders" appointed Inspector
of Militia in the South in May of 1780.

Ferguson, a British army officer of Scottish aristocracy and formally a member of the 71st Regiment of Foot "Fraser's Highlanders", was the Inspector of Militia in the South, having been appointed by General Sir Henry Clinton earlier that year on Monday, May 22, 1780 just after the British capture of Charleston. His assignment was to raise and organize Loyalist militia units from the population of the Carolina backcountry.

By August, Major Ferguson had raised a force of around a thousand Loyalist militia, which he drilled and trained to fight in the traditional British military style; turning them into a formidable fighting force under his command.

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 Thicketty 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. On Tuesday, August 8th, 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 broke camp 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 30 men killed, or wounded, and 50 taken prisoner. Dunlap was 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 at what became known as the 2nd Battle of Cedar Springs (or the Battle of Wofford's Iron Works).


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 a South Carolina officer, Lieutenant 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 on October 7th.

 

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 Major 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 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, Lieutenant General Charles 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 backcountry. 

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), 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. Sumter was picked up by Captain John Steele and carried to another horse. Riding nonstop, Sumter reached the American Major William Richardson Davie’s camp at Charlotte, North Carolina two days later.

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.

Perhaps the only positive story to come of the affair for the Patriots was the daring escape of militia officers Lieutenant Colonel Henry Hampton and Colonel Thomas Taylor. Both officers had been taken prisoner by Tarleton, but managed to cut through their rope-tied hands with a pocketed knife and flee into the swamp. Colonel Hampton was the brother of Lieutenant Colonal Wade Hampton of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment and the grandfather of future Confederate General Wade Hampton III.

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 Battles Of Hanging Rock: Patriot Victory In Lancaster County -- August 6, 1780

The Hanging Rock near Heath Springs, South Carolina, site of
a major Patriot victory in the Southern Campaign of the
American Revolutionary War.

The Battle of Hanging Rock

Patriot Victory In Lancaster County 
Sunday, August 6, 1780

By: C.W. Roden
 

(Part 8 of a 15 part series)

On Saturday, August 5, 1780 following his aborted attempt to capture the British outpost at Rocky Mount, General Thomas Sumter and his backcountry partisans again joined up with Major William Richard Davie and his Patriot troops at Land's Ford on the Catawba River to discuss strategy.

Still smarting from his repulse at Rocky Mount, General Sumter was determined to strike at one of the British outposts. Both he and Davie weighed the strengths and weaknesses of each. Although the garrison at Rocky Mount was smaller, its defenses were formidable. There were more British and Loyalists at Hanging Rock, but there were largely camped in an open field.   

Because of the initial success that Davie's men had days before, it was decided that the combined Patriot force of just over 600 would attack the British and Loyalists at Hanging Rock.

On the evening of Saturday, August 5th, the force set out under the moonlight across the Catawba River towards Hanging Rock.  

The name Hanging Rock is somewhat misleading. The large boulder doesn't hang, it is firmly planted and is more accurately described as an overhang formed as though a triangular slice had been taken out of the bottom leaving a peaked roof above. The opening is large enough to shelter over 50 men from the elements.

More than 1,400 British troops, including the 500 man Prince of Wales American Volunteer Regiment, a Provincial unit of the British Army, local Loyalist militia, and some dragoons from the British Legion were stationed there. These forces were under the overall command of Provincial Major John Carden. Colonel Thomas Brown's regiment was also there -- both camped at the center of the line, in and around some houses. The Prince of Wales' American Regiment secured the right side. The left side, separated from the center by some trees, was held by North Carolina Loyalists. Part of this unit had been cut to pieces by Davie's forces days before. The entire front of the camp was covered by an excellent natural defense -- a deep ravine and creek.

The Battle

Sumter halted his men around midnight on Saturday August 5th within two miles of the enemy camp and began marching his men at daylight the next morning. Using the information that Davie had on the layout of the British defenses, he decided on a plan to assault the camp by dividing his command into three columns, each planning to attack the corresponding enemy unit on the left, center, and right. Davie disagreed with the plan, though Sumter's will prevailed.

The attackers had to negotiate Hanging Rock Creek and the steep ravine in order to reach the camp. It could have proven a disaster, however in avoiding enemy pickets, the guides became confused and the entire command struck the Loyalists on the left side of the camp at the weakest sector of the British defenses early in the morning.

Major Richard Winn commanding his Fairfield Regiment and Major Davie's men completely routed Loyalist militia Colonel Samuel Bryan's troops. Captain McCulloch's company of the British Legion, after presenting a volley, was also routed by Sumter's riflemen. These immediately broke and ran to the center, hotly pursued by Patriots. The Legion infantry and some of Colonel Brown's men tried to make a stand, but they were over-run and soon joined the fleeing Loyalists.

Other companies of Colonel Brown's regiment took advantage of the trees between the center and the Loyalist camp and worked around to the flank of the Patriots and offered deadly fire. The Patriot riflemen concentrated on officers and within minutes none were left to give any orders. By this time, many of the Provincials had also fallen and the remainder, being offered quarter, surrendered.

The Prince of Wales Regiment also came under heavy fire and suffered very severe losses. Part of the Prince of Wales Regiment then came up, and having cleverly deployed themselves in some woods, checked the rebel assault with a surprise crossfire. This allowed the Provincials on the right to form a square in the center of the cleared ground, and to further protect themselves with a two three-pound field pieces which had been left by some of Rugeley's Camden militia. 

A detailed map of the Battle of Hanging Rock.
Image courtesy of American Battlefield Trust.

In the heat of the battle, Major Carden lost his nerve and surrendered his command to one of his junior officers. This was a major turning point for the Americans. At one point, Captain Rousselet of the British Legion Infantry led a bayonet charge that forced many of Sumter's men back. The battle raged for just over three hours without pause, causing many men on both sides to faint from the heat and thirst.

Lack of ammunition made it impossible for Sumter to completely knock out the British. His men were out of range and refused to cross into the line of fire from the cannons. A group of Sumter's Patriots looted the Loyalist camp and came across a storage of rum. Some became so intoxicated they could not be brought back into the battle, to the mortification of Major Davie.

Sumter then decided to withdraw, having received Carden's surrender. He gave orders to look the camps of anything needed, take the paroles of the officers, and then prepare the litters for the wounded. Prisoners were also gathered up.

Under the watchful eyes of the squared Provincials, Sumter's men began a leisurely retreat with their captured prisoners and booty back towards the Catawba River.

At the end, the British Provincials and Loyalists lost an estimated 192 men killed and wounded with 73 taken prisoner. Sumter and Davie's Patriot forces lost around 40 men killed and 41 wounded.


Aftermath

The Battle of Hanging Rock is seen as a victory by the upcountry Patriots, though an indecisive victory because Sumter, Davie and their men withdrew before destroying the entire Loyalist force. 

Marker for the Battle of Hanging Rock at the site
of the battle near Heath Springs, SC.

   
Historian Lyman C. Draper wrote, "Cornwallis was heard to say that no battle fell heavier on the British, considering the numbers engaged, the battle of Bunker Hill excepted."

The Prince of Wales' American Regiment suffered heavy casualties and was no longer considered an effective fighting force, having been virtually wiped out. In addition, Major Carden was disgraced by resigning his command in the heat of battle. The British Legion had sixty-two of their men killed and wounded. Many of the Loyalists militia simply fled from the field. The British prisoners and wounded were taken to Charlotte to keep them out of striking distance of the British Regulars.

Major Davie later wrote that his corps, "suffered much while tying their horses under a heavy fire from the Tories." Also, despite his respect for Major Winn, Davie vowed he would never again serve under the arrogant Thomas Sumter.

One tragic loss in the battle stands out among others. Captain John McClure, the man who led the first act of defiance against the British occupation of the South Carolina upcountry at Alexander's Old Field two months before, was mortally wounded in the battle at Hanging Rock. He was taken to Charlotte, where he died two weeks later and buried in an unknown grave. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of major for his service.

Soon General Sumter and his men would be back in the saddle again, this time offering their assistance to the new Southern Continental Army commanded by General Horatio Gates as they marched from North Carolina towards the British post at Camden, South Carolina in their ill-fated campaign to liberate South Carolina which we will be covered in greater detail in the next chapter of this series.
 

SC highway marker to the Battle of Hanging Rock on August 1/6,
1780. The marker is located on the intersection of SC Hwy 15 and
US Hwy 521 in the town of Heath Springs in Lancaster 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
South Carolina's Revolutionary War Battlefields: A Tour Guide by R.L. Barbour (2002) ISBN 1-58980-008-7

The Battle of Rocky Mount: Sumter Goes On The Offensive -- August 1, 1780

A simple granite marker on the spot where the
British outpost at Rocky Mount sat in 1780-81
marks the site of the battle of Rocky Mount on
Thursday, August 1, 1780.
The marker is located on SR 20 2.4 miles from
HWY 21 in Fairfield County, just south of the
town of Great Falls, SC.

 
The Battle Of Rocky Mount

Sumter Goes On The Offensive

Tuesday, August 1, 1780

By: C.W. Roden 

(Part 7 or a 15 part series) 

In the aftermath of Huck's Defeat at Williamson Plantation, General Thomas Sumter received word from his camp at Old Nations Ford near Charlotte, North Carolina that Major General Horatio Gates "The Hero of Saratoga" had arrived in North Carolina, and assumed command of the Southern Department from Major General Johann de Kalb. Gate's Southern Army now consisted of around 1,200 Maryland and Delaware Continentals, 120 dragoons, and three artillery companies.

Intelligence gathered by Sumter's partisans showed that the British army stationed at Camden had only around 700 soldiers. Gates would soon begin a campaign to invader and take back the State of South Carolina from the British occupation.

Sumter, now with a brigade of around 600 Patriot militia under his command, was eager to start his own campaign to drive the British and Loyalist forces from their northern outposts at Rocky Mount and Hanging Rock. His home had been burned down by elements of Tarleton's Legion cavalry back in May and Sumter was ready to repay the British and their Loyalist allies back.

Sumter's forces consisted of the militia from the upper Broad and Catawba River district (Chester County) were commanded by now Colonel John McClure, while Colonels Andrew Neel and William "Billy" Hill commanded the reconstituted New Acquisitions District (York County). Colonel William Bratton now commanded a smaller battalion of volunteers formed from the congregations of Bethesda, Beersheba, and Bullock's Creek churches. Also joining Sumter's forces were 35 Catawba Indians led by General New River, with General Billy Ayers and Major Jacob Ayers. 

Sumter had learned from a spy that the defenses might be susceptible to small arms fire, a clear benefit since Sumter lacked any sort of field artillery. While the latter was certainly true, the former it turned out was misinformation and the spy might well have been a double-agent working for the British commander of Rocky Mount, Lieutenant-Colonel George Turnbull of the New York Volunteers.

On Friday, July 28th, he broke camp and moved his brigade down to Land's Ford (now Landsford Canal State Park) an important crossing on the Catawba River between modern-day Chester and Lancaster Counties, where he was joined by Major William Richardson Davie and his dragoons, along with additional North Carolina militia from Mecklenburg, Rowan, and the Waxhaws area at their camp at Waxhaw Presbyterian Meeting House.

Two months before Virginia Continental soldiers wounded during the Battle of the Waxhaws (Buford's Massacre) were brought to Waxhaw Presbyterian Meeting House where some died and are still buried in the historic cemetery on the site of the modern-day Historic Waxhaw Presbyterian Church.

Born into a Scottish family in Cumberland, England in 1756, William Richardson Davie emigrated with his family to America in 1764 and grew up from age nine in South Carolina. He was named for his maternal uncle, William Richardson, a prominent local Presbyterian minister, and when Richardson died, Davie always used his full name to honor his uncle.

Because he carried out his civil and political life in North Carolina and later in life retired to Lands Ford (Landsford) on the Catawba River in South Carolina, Davie is claimed by both States. Among other achievements after the war, Davie would become governor of North Carolina and the founder of the University of North Carolina.

In 1779, Davie was commissioned a Captain in the North Carolina Light Dragoons Regiment and was seriously wounded at the Battle of Stono Ferry on Sunday, June 20, 1779. He returned home to recover, after which he was then promoted to Major under Colonel Robert Irwin and Colonel Caleb Phifer in the Mecklenburg County Regiment of Militia.

After the fall of Charleston, Major Davie was given command of his own Independent Corps of Light Horse with the mission to harass British communications between their posts at Hanging Rock and Camden. His cavalry was often reinforced by South Carolina Militia under Major Robert Crawford (Turkey Creek Regiment), thirty-five Catawba warriors under their Chief General Newriver, and a part of the Mecklenburg County Regiment of Militia commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John William Hagan.

During the summer and fall of 1780, Davie used his own funds to raise and equip his own force of cavalry and mounted infantry. Noted for his dash and courage, as well as his excellent swordsmanship, by the end of the war Davie was reputed to have killed with his own saber more of the enemy than any other officer in the American army.

Also among Major Davie's militia was 13-year-old boy Andrew Jackson, the future 7th President of the United States of America and resident from the Waxhaws who'd previously witnessed the bloody results of Buford's Massacre. Jackson served as a courier for Davie's militia and often had to deliver dispatches through hostile backcountry territory in the summer and fall of 1780.

Major Davie and his men had been doing their job of harassing British supply lines, capturing a convoy of supplies at Flat Rock on Thursday, July 20th and had been involved in a small skirmish at Beaver Creek Ford (both in modern-day Kershaw County) on the same day.

Meeting there along the banks of the Catawba River on the afternoon of Sunday, July 30th that Sumter made the plans for the campaign. His forces would attack the Rocky Mount outpost, while Davie's militia would move towards Hanging Rock and later be joined by Sumter once Rocky Mount was secure. 


The Battle

Rocky Mount itself sat on a hill overlooking the Catawba River and consisted of three logs buildings surrounded by wooden and earthen abatis as fortification against attacks. The buildings themselves were wooden clapboard siding on the outside, but another wall had been built on the inside to fortify them better against rifle fire.

Since learning the news of Huck's defeat, Colonel Turnbull predicted that the rebels would soon pay him a visit and made efforts to strengthen his defenses against an attack by Patriot militia. He had in his garrison about 150 British Provincials, including the remaining members of Huck's unit of the British Legion cavalry and New York Volunteers that escaped the disaster at Williamson Plantation, along with some local Loyalist militia that he no longer held any confidence in. He also sent a messenger to Camden requesting reinforcements.

Sumter's force of 600 Patriot militia arrived at Rocky Mount early on the morning on Tuesday, August 1st. The newly promoted Major Richard Winn, with his Fairfield Regiment leading Sumter’s advance, first ran off 100 Loyalists camped outside the fort, many leaving their horses which were captured by the Patriots.

Believing that the intelligence he received that the wooden buildings of Rocky Mount were of flimsy construction Sumter ordered a bold frontal attack. Sumter's force had no cannons, and attempted to penetrate the abatis and the buildings with rifle fire. 

Colonel William Hill later wrote: "This was made under the impression that the enemy was in a large framed house; the walls of which were only thin clapboards, and we supposed that our balls have the desired effect by shooting through the wall…but the enemy…had placed small logs about a foot from the inside of the wall and rammed the cavity with clay…we injure them in no way, but by shooting in their port holes."

With their riflemen providing cover, the patriots under Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Neel charged twice more towards the fortifications with the intent to cut through the abatis. What brief success came with breaking through the tangled obstructions came at a price as Neal, two militiamen, and their Catawba Indian guide were killed. Neel was shot through the hip and fell from his horse dying close to the Loyalist position.

Planning to continue his assault, Sumter sent a message off asking for Turnball’s surrender of the fort. The shooting ceased for an hour before Turnball rejected Sumter’s request by stating, "Duty and inclination induce me to defend this place to the last extremity."

Over the next eight hours, there were several repeated attempts by the Patriots to break through the abatis, or destroy the buildings. Sumter found to his dismay that the intelligence about the strength of the fort was wrong.

A final plan was hatched where two men would cross over open ground under cover fire from their comrades, get behind a large rock near the buildings and attempt to set the buildings on fire with torches and smoke out the Loyalists.

Colonel William Hill himself volunteered for the desperate venture along with a young soldier, Sergeant Jemmy Johnson. Hill and Johnson raced the 100 yards of open ground to the bolder under intense fire from the three houses. Before they could ignite and hurl their firebrands, the Loyalists rushed out of the house and drove the two men back to the Partisan lines with their bayonets. The two volunteers tried again, this time protected by a heavy covering fire from an advanced screen of riflemen. The two men again reached the rock, lit the brands, then threw them onto the shingles of the smaller log house.

The plan seemed to work, despite Johnson being seriously wounded in the action. The roof of the smaller house began to smoke, and then a small blaze began. However one of the South's infamous summer downpours occurred shortly afterwards and extinguished the fire before it could do serious damage.

Completely frustrated in his failure to storm the post, Sumter was then forced to accept defeat and ordered his men to withdraw, suffering eight dead and several wounded. After leaving Rocky Mount, Sumter moved his men back to Lands Ford and his planned rejoining with Davie's forces.

Major Richard Winn wrote that on Wednesday, August 2nd the Rocky Mount garrison was reinforced with "eight hundred men and two field pieces." These troops were the Prince of Wales American Regiment, a Loyalist Provincial force under the command of Major John Carden, which had marched from the British base at Camden to reinforce Hanging Rock. 


The Hanging Of William Stroud Jr.

Sumter was unable to move his campsite until Thursday, August 3rd, due to the high water at Rocky Creek caused by all the rain. At 11 a.m. that morning Sumter crossed the creek with his force, and halted. The partisans "turned out their horses and scattered about in search of roasting ears and green peaches." This was all the men had to eat at the time.

While they were searching for food an alarm was sounded that Carden’s force was less than a mile away, and they had two pieces of artillery. Carden had stopped at Rocky Mount prior to continuing his march to Hanging Rock. Sumter was caught in the open and decided wisely not to fight the Loyalists.

Granite marker honoring the memory of young
William Stroud Jr., a sharpshooter in Colonel Edward
Lacey’s Rocky Creek Militia, hanged on
Thursday, August 3, 1780 about two miles
from Hanging Rock battlefield. 

He ordered Major Winn to take 100 men and delay Carden until they could all withdraw. Winn sent two men ahead, while he gathered the first 100 men who reached their horses. The two men that Winn sent ahead was a Captain Coleman from Georgia and young William Stroud Jr. of Chester County. These two men ventured too close to the British and were captured. The Loyalists had them striped and immediately hung by the side of the road.

According to oral history, Stroud's body was left to hang for six weeks as travelers rode by as a warning. His mother Sarah Stroud, sister Nancy Morris, and Colonel Edward Lacey himself, later cut him down and buried him beneath the tree from which he was hung on a dark, moonless night.

The two sides exchanged long-range fire, but did not get close enough to become engaged in a major skirmish. Major Carden did not anticipate finding hundreds of mounted partisans, and withdrew down the road back to Rocky Mount. Winn pursued them at a distance, but broke off as they neared Rocky Mount. The day after the skirmish Colonel Hawthorne was sent under a flag of truce to bury Colonel Neel.


Diversionary Engagement At Hanging Rock

At the same time as Sumter's assault on Rocky Mount, Major Davie with his force of less than 100 mounted infantry and dragoons planned a diversionary attack 15 miles east at Hanging Rock.

Davie knew his force was too small to take on the and British Provincials and Loyalist militia at the post, but he did find three companies of North Carolina Loyalists under Colonel Samuel Bryan at a farmhouse some distance from, but still in view of, the main camp at Hanging Rock.

Taking advantage of the fact the neither the Patriot or Loyalist militia wore uniforms, only their common farmer and civilian attire, Davie sent half of his men past the sentries and the house. They were not stopped, or even questioned at all. They rode unchallenged past the Loyalist sentinels, dismounted in a lane near the buildings, and opened fire. The other half waited until their comrades opened fire, catching the surprised Loyalists in a deadly crossfire.

The Loyalists fled toward the other end of the lane, but Major Davie had sent his dragoons on a circular path through the woods in anticipation. Cut off at both ends, the Loyalists tried the middle, but Major Davie also predicted that move and sent a small number of dragoons to close that escape route.

The Loyalists were cut to pieces within sight of their companions in the main camp. Before the main Tory force could be organized, Major Davie's troops remounted and withdrew from the scene back towards Lands Ford. Loyalist casualties are not recorded. Major Davie did not lose a man.


Aftermath

The final toll of the battle and subsequent skirmishes were 12 Patriots and 20 Loyalists killed and wounded -- all Americans as was the tragedy of the bloody civil war in the South Carolina backcountry in that dreadful summer and autumn of 1780.

The failed attack on Rocky Mount cost the backcountry Patriot militia one of their best militia commanders in Colonel Andrew Neel, though the destruction against the Loyalists inflicted by Davie near Hanging Rock made up somewhat for the loss.

Sumter was now moving to join up with Major Davie a few days later and their combined strength would be enough to take on the main British forces at Hanging Rock on Sunday, August 6, 1780, which will be explored in the next chapter in this series.

Colonel Andrew Neel is buried with his two brothers and father
at the Historic Bethel Presbyterian Church Cemetery in York County,
South Carolina -- all died in service during the
American Revolutionary War's Southern Campaign.

 

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:

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

The Battle Of Williamson's Plantation: Huck's Defeat In The South Carolina Backcountry -- July 12, 1780

Huck's Defeat at the Battle of Williamson Plantation on July 12, 1780.
Artwork by Don Troiani (2014).

The Battle of Williamson's Plantation

Huck's Defeat In The South Carolina Backcountry

Wednesday, July 12, 1780

By: C.W. Roden

(Part 6 of a 15 part series)

In the late spring and early summer of 1780, the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War was going full force in the upstate South Carolina Piedmont region.

A small and bloody civil war between largely Scotch-Irish Patriots and their Loyalist neighbors raged with bloody acts of cruelty and retribution perpetrated on both sides. Families were divided over loyalty to the British Mother Country and American independence, and old feuds between neighbors were being "settled" over the guise of patriotism and loyalty.

The area between the Broad and Catawba Rivers and New Acquisition District (present-day Chester and York Counties) had been the epicenter of several small battles between Patriot militia companies and Loyalists militia backed by their British allies striking out from their northern outpost at Rocky Mount near present-day Great Falls, South Carolina.

The British commander of Rocky Mount, Lieutenant Colonel George Turnbull, maintained a garrison of about 150 British Provincials (American Loyalists formally enrolled in the British Army) which included elements of his own regiment, the New York Volunteers, and a detachment of British Legion dragoons under Captain Christian Huck, not including local Loyalist militia. 

By July of 1780, Huck had quickly become one of the most feared and hated men in upstate South Carolina due to his brutality against the local population of the Catawba River Valley. He and his dragoons -- all of whom wore the hated and feared green uniform of Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton's British Legion -- took great delight in robbing and destroying the homes of local Patriots, arresting and killing suspected "traitors" and terrorizing the community. 

Huck himself, a blasphemous and hateful Pennsylvania Loyalist of German descent, had a special hatred of the local population, mostly Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. He would order the homes of anyone found with a Presbyterian Bible to be burned and their farms plundered, all the while cursing the people and mocking their faith.

His destruction of several religious meeting houses -- Presbyterian churches Huck condemned as "sedition shops" -- and the homes of the Reverend John Gaston and Reverend William Martin in June showed his brutal contempt for the Christian faith. His later theft of horses from the Scotch-Irish settlers along with the destruction of Colonel Hill's Ironworks and the subsequent loss to the community of needed farming and kitchen tools provided by the ironworks, only served to anger the very people that the British plan for subjugating the American South relied upon to either stay neutral, or support the Crown. 

Now the British commander in the South, General Charles Lord Cornwallis, had to deal with yet another setback in the British plans to conquer the rebellious American colonies.

On Tuesday, June 20th, a force of 400 Patriot militia under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Francis Locke Sr., a native to Ireland who lived near modern-day Rowan County, North Carolina, defeated a much larger force of around 1,300 Loyalists at Ramsour's Mill, now present-day Lincolnton, North Carolina. This defeat set back the timetable for Cornwallis' advance north into the State. 

Despite this good news for the Patriots, upstate South Carolina was still under the control of the British and their Loyalist supporters, the latter of which continued to raid their Whig neighbors for supplies for the British outpost at Rocky Mount and the main British forces at Camden. Much of this foraging also included stealing newly cropped wheat from the nearby farms and plantations. While the Loyalists -- under Cornwallis' orders -- offered payment vouchers for the goods they took, the local citizens, many of which up till this point had been largely neutral in the fight, saw this as nothing but theft of their hard work and labor. 

Because it was now early July and time to harvest the wheat crops, many of those in the Patriot militia returned to their homes to work the fields and get badly needed food supplies for their own forces. This also included Captain John McClure from the Fishing Creek area (in modern-day Chester County) and Colonel William Bratton of the New Acquisition District (modern-day York County). 

On Monday, July 10th, at his headquarters at Rocky Mount, Colonel Turnbull received intelligence that many of the local Patriots, including McClure and Bratton, had returned home to check on their wheat harvest and to enlist recruits for General Thomas Sumter’s Brigade. Bratton was distributing handbills in the area urging people to join the fight. Turnbull gave Huck instructions to ride up the South Fork of Fishing Creek and apprehend McClure and Bratton and disperse the rebels in the upper Fishing Creek and Bethesda communities.


Huck Marches North To New Acquisitions

That evening, after overseeing preparations for the new campaign, Huck set out from Rocky Mount with a Loyalist force that consisted of 35 men of his detachment of the British Legion dragoons, 20 mounted infantry from the red-coated New York Volunteers, and 50 mounted Tory militia commanded by Colonel Matthew Floyd from the Spartan District and Lieutenant John Adamson of the Camden militia, along with other local Loyalist militia.

After leaving Rocky Mount, Huck's detachment stopped for the night at the plantation of Nicholas Bishop located about four miles southwest of Walker's Mill near Brown's Crossroads (modern-day Lando, South Carolina).

The Bishops were a Patriot family and the four oldest sons -- Henry, James, William, and Nicholas Jr. -- were all veterans of the early campaigns of the war. Henry Bishop, the eldest son, had departed Sumter's camp a few days earlier and returned to his home on Fishing Creek to visit his wife who had just given birth to their first child. The rest of the bishops, who still lived with their father, received word that Huck was approaching their plantation. They hurriedly evacuated their home and went to Henry's plantation, loaded his wife and newborn child into a wagon, and made haste for Sumter's camp. It was there that sixteen-year-old Bishop, the youngest son, promptly joined the militia. 

The next day, on June 11th, Huck's force marched toward Upper Fishing Creek toward the home of Captain John McClure, located in what is now the Rodman community of northeastern Chester County.

Unaware of Huck's presence in the area, McClure and his brother Hugh had already left for Sumter's camp with his men, leaving behind their mother, Mary Gaston McClure, with her youngest daughter Mary, her son James, and Edward "Ned" Martin, the husband of her daughter Olive. Most of the family was in the process of building a new room onto the house while James and Ned were busily behind the house melting Mrs. McClure's pewder dishes and casting them into musket balls for the militia; planning to catch up with the rest of the militia once they were finished. 

Huck's Loyalists caught them by surprise and found the bullets in the young men's pockets, proof that they were members of the rebel militia. Huck ordered the men bound with ropes and sentenced them to hang at sunrise the next morning. When Mrs. McClure protested the captain's decision, one his men struck her with the flat of his cavalry saber. 

In the confusion, the Loyalists failed to realize that the daughter, Mary, eluded her family's tormentors and rode north to Sumter's camp to tell her father and brothers of Huck's invasion of the area.

Huck then entered the house and threatened Mary McClure demanding to know the whereabouts of her two other sons. When the woman refused to say, Huck angrily took the family Bible and threw it into the burning fireplace. Mrs. McClure managed to save the now singed family Bible from the fire, enraging Huck, who again cursed her and then ordered the destruction of the house. After looting the home, the Loyalists tore apart a partition and then set fire to the house. As they left, taking the two prisoners with them, the remainder of the family managed to put out the fire and save most of the house.

The Loyalists then made their way north towards the New Acquisition's District. Along the way they made several stops at the homes of local Patriots, including the home of a local bricklayer, William Adair Sr., a friend of Colonel Edward Lacey Jr. of the local militia, and his wife, Mary. Adair's two sons, John and James, were with Lacey. Another son, William, was serving in Washington's Continental Army. The couple's daughter, also named Mary, was the wife of Captain John Nixon, who commanded the Rocky Creek Militia. 

Huck's men confiscated all of the cornmeal, flower, and other foodstuffs and valuables they could find. They even took the silver buckles from the shoes of Mrs. Adair and the rings from her fingers. A couple of Huck's dragoons then dragged Adair out into the yard and put a rope around his neck, preparing to hang him because his sons were rebels. A few of their local Tory neighbors in the militia pleading against hanging the older man, blaming Mrs. Adair for encouraging the sons to the rebel cause, sparing him from being lynched by Huck. One Loyalist officer implored Mrs. Adair to bring her sons in and tell them to take the King's protection.

Later, Captain Huck and his men stopped at the home of Edward Lacey Sr., father of Colonel Lacey; but unlike his son, a staunch Loyalist. There he and his officers were warmly welcomed by the older man and were served breakfast. Despite having one son who was a "rebel and traitor" Lacey's other son, Reuben, was with Huck's command. Reuben, who had a somewhat poor reputation in the area for being a slacker, had actually been a Whig earlier in he war, but switched sides before the fall of Charleston. The man would later switch side again before the war in the South was concluded.

It was probably around this time that a local man named Joseph Kerr arrived at the Loyalist camp. Kerr had been crippled since birth and walked with a noticeable limp. This meant he could not fight, although he was useful to the Patriot militia as a spy. Several of the local Tories -- including probably Lacey Sr. himself -- accused Kerr (rightly) of being a rebel. Kerr's protests and his physical handicap however convinced Huck who ordered Kerr to remain with him throughout the day.

The next stop for Huck's Loyalists was the plantation of John "Gum Log" Moore Sr, which sat on a branch of the South Fork of Fishing Creek. Moore was busy processing his newly harvested wheat crop separating the wheat from the chaff. Assisting Moore were William Moore, one of his younger sons, and Isaac Ball, a nephew to Moore's neighbor Samuel Rainey, who was now serving in Colonel Bratton's militia. Three of Mr. Moore's sons -- John Jr., Samuel, and Nathan -- were also serving with Bratton. Huck arrested "Gum Log" Moore, placing him with the other two condemned prisoners. He also confiscated the two horses of the younger men and likely took the threshed wheat as well.


The Patriot Militia Responds

Meanwhile at General Thomas Sumter's camp on the east side of Old Nation Ford (near Charlotte) the news that Captain Huck was once again out in force began to arrive on the early morning of July 11th by way of the Bishop family. By this point the militia companies of Colonels William Bratton, John McClure, William Hill, Edward Lacey and Andrew Neel arrived at the ford. 

Sumter himself was not in camp. He was in North Carolina meeting at the time with the South Carolina governor, currently in exile at Hillsborough. In Sumter's stead, his adjutant was the now recently promoted Colonel Richard Winn, who had only a month earlier routed Loyalists from Mobley's Meeting House. Winn gave orders to the militia officers to go find as many men as they could and to return to camp as quickly as possible.

Some of the local militia however were not eager to go after Huck's force -- which included the detachment of the hated and fear British Legion dragoons. Ever since the Waxhaw's Massacre, the green-coated cavalrymen of Tarleton's British Legion evoked fear into the hearts of the local populace. 

However, despite this a small but determined force of Patriot militia made up of Colonel's Bratton, Hill, McClure, Neel, and Lacey's commands -- and those of other local militia captains from the District Between the Broad & Catawba Rivers -- prepared to go out and confront their hated enemy. All of these men had personal scores to settle with Huck. The men with them, though they feared the green-coated dragoons that accompanied the Loyalist militia, even more so they greatly hated Huck for his brutal and blasphemous attitude toward them and their families.

Late in the afternoon, John McClure's sister, Mary, rode into camp, bringing word that Huck had come to their home. The news that Huck and his men destroyed their home, captured his brother James and brother-in-law Martin, and that Huck had attacked his mother no doubt enraged McClure.

That afternoon, the Patriot force prepared to set out towards Walker's Mill, where they believed Huck's force was headed to try and take him by surprise, unaware that Huck and his command were at that moment marching upon the Bratton and Williamson plantations.

Incident At The Bratton Home and Williamson Plantation

It was now late afternoon when Huck's forced proceeded into the what is now lower York County, proceeding to the Bratton plantation, hoping to catch Colonel Bratton at home. Bratton's wife, Martha, had been in the field reaping wheat that day, with the assistance of several of their older neighbors.

The most detailed account of Huck's visit to the Bratton home was recorded later by Colonel Bratton's oldest son, Dr. William Bratton Jr., who was seven-years-old at the time. According to Dr. Bratton, the family's slave, Watt, had breathlessly come running to the field having already been warned ahead of time that a long line of "Red Coats" were on their way up the road. Martha Bratton then instructed Watt to go to Sumter's camp and warn Colonel Bratton that the Loyalists were in the area. Watt left on his mission only minutes before Huck's men appeared on the road.

A British Legion dragoon threatens Martha Bratton
with a reaping hook on her front porch as
Lieutenant John Adamson of the Camden Loyalist
militia comes to her rescue, as depicted in a
19th century lithograph.
(Photo courtesy of the York County Culture & Heritage Museum.)

A small squad of soldiers under Lieutenant Adamson was the first to arrive at the Bratton home. Martha met them on the porch and Adamson asked her for the whereabouts of her husband. When Martha informed him that she did not know, one of the Loyalists called her a liar and swore that he would make her tell them. The man grabbed a reaping hook from a peg on the porch -- possibly one Martha had been using before to help harvest the wheat crop -- and placed it around her neck and swore that he would cut her head off while young William clung to his mother's dress, wide-eyed in terror. Again Mrs. Bratton calmly refused, telling the simple truth in deliberate and measured tones that she did not know her husbands whereabouts and, according to William Bratton's accounts, added that she would not even if she did.

Before the violent Loyalist dragoon could make good on his threat, Lieutenant Adamson himself drew his sword and struck the man in the side with the flat of it. The Tory let go of Mrs. Bratton and began pleading for his own life as the now angry Adamson repeatedly beat the man with his sword and kicked him off the porch down the steps into the yard. Adamson then turned to Martha, apologized profusely and assured her of his protection. Martha turned without a word and went into the house with her son still clinging to her dress, where she no doubt lost composure after her close brush with death.

Following the incident the Loyalist soldiers waited in the front yard on Huck's arrival a few minutes later. Huck stepped up to the door and politely asked for an interview with Martha Bratton, which she granted.

At first, Huck treated the family very courteous and polite, even allowing young William to sit on his knee and letting him play with his watch. Huck told Martha that he was authorized to offer her husband, Colonel Bratton, a commission in the Loyalist militia at his current rank in the rebel forces, along with payment if she could influence him to accept the offer. Martha replied that she had no influence over her husband in those matters, and that (according to William Bratton's account) "It is useless to prolong the interview if that is its purpose. My husband is in Sumter's Army and I would rather see him die there, true to his Country and cause, than have him live a traitor in yours."

After this Huck showed his true colors. He sprang up from his chair, throwing the young William from his lap, causing the boy to land on his face breaking his nose. The "Swearing Captain" then lived up to his word, cursing Bratton and swearing obscene oaths of vengeance against the Rebels and Colonel Bratton. Huck then ordered Martha to prepare a supper for him and his officers, which she did. Martha briefly considered poisoning the food, but realized that the vengeful Loyalists might kill the family in retaliation. Huck also stated his intention to burn the Bratton's home just as he had the McClure's home, but decided to let that task wait till the next day when he and his men would execute their prisoners and head back towards Hanging Rock. 

Following supper, Huck made sure that the women and children in the house were confined upstairs and held prisoner. In addition to William, the family had four other children at the time: daughters Elisa (age 13), Jane (age 12), Martha (age 9) and Elizabeth (age 1). Huck also arrested the older neighbors who were assisting Martha in the field with the wheat harvest that day to prevent them from warning the Whig militia of his presence. 

Instead of camping for the night at the Bratton plantation, Huck made the fateful decision to move his force southeast a quarter of a mile to the home of the Bratton's neighbor James Williamson. The Williamson's had an oat field where the Loyalist cavalry could graze their horses. The house itself was an old two-story log house with several outbuildings and a corncrib near the south side of a small creek branch that fed into the South Fork of Fishing Creek near a spring. A wooden fence surrounded the house and also lined both sides of a short road called Williamson Lane off the main road. The oat field was situated across the lane. Four of Williamson's sons -- Adam, George, John, and Samuel -- were with Colonel Bratton's militia at the time.

At the Williamson's home, Huck apparently arrested two other visiting neighbors -- Thomas Clendennen and Charles Curry -- and put them with his other three prisoners, threatening to hang all of them the next morning. Williamson's corncrib became a makeshift jail for the condemned prisoners taken during the day, posting a guard to make sure they did not escape.

The red-coated New York Volunteers apparently set up camp in the lane itself, as the Tory militia was posted along the edge of the oat field about three hundred yards from the house. Another clear and open field was at the back of the house where the green coated British Legion dragoons were posted with their horses close at hand, ready at a moment's notice if needed. A peach orchard bordered this field.

Huck also posted four guards to keep watch during the night. Huck then informed the Williamsons that he was spending the night at their home, while the rest of the family (sixty-seven-year-old Williams himself, his wife, daughters and daughter in law, along with four-year-old James Jr.) were locked upstairs under guard.

At some point during the night, Joseph Kerr, managed to escape on horseback and went searching for the local Patriot militia.


In Pursuit Of Huck

The Patriot militia arrived in the vicinity of Walker's Mill around sunset that evening only to learn from an African-American "mill boy" that worked there that the Loyalists were headed up to Colonel Bratton's home. After a quick consultation of the officers they Patriot force set out northwest in pursuit of Huck's Loyalists.

By midnight, the Whig column was making its way up the Rocky Mount Road towards the Bratton home. Some of the Patriot militia fell behind and would miss the battle. There had also been some confusion after failing to find the Loyalists at Walker's Mill. Some of the men there didn't hear the order to go towards the New Acquisition District and instead headed back to Sumter's camp. Ultimately, by the time they located Huck's forces, the Patriot force itself consisted of about 150 men -- still more than the 120 Loyalists Huck had under his command.

Around 2 a.m. on the morning of Wednesday, July 12th, the Patriots stopped at the home of John Price and inquired if he had seen Huck and his party. Price informed the men that Huck had gone ahead to Colonel Bratton's home. After leaving Price's, the militia proceeded to the plantation of William Adair Sr., about three miles south of the Bratton's, where they found the old man and his wife still awake. Adair told them what Huck had done to their farm, how he was nearly lynched, and how he took their foodstuff and valuables.

Still distraught over what happened earlier the day before, Adair warned Edward Lacey that the British Legion would cut them all to pieces if they pursued and attacked them. Lacey was reported to have replied to the old man, "We will give them a good dressing before day light."  

As the Patriots were leaving, John Adair's parents told hold of him and attempted to keep him from going, convinced by the horror they endured the day before that Huck had the superior force and that the militia had no chance of defeating the Loyalists. The parents pleaded with him not to go, but he broke away from them and rode off on his horse, leaving them screaming and crying behind him. Young John Adair had his own score to settle with Huck now.

Sometime around this time, Watt, the Bratton's slave, found Colonel Bratton and told him that Huck came to the family home.

Edward Lacey Sr. lived about a mile up the road from the Adairs. It was here that Colonel Lacey had to deal with an unusual security problem. As a die-hard Tory, the elder Lacey made it very clear to his son that he had every intention of revealing the local partisans' plans to Huck. Lacey left four men to guard the old man, who still managed to escape the house and briefly get away -- he was recaptured before he made it two hundred yards. Lacey Sr. was then tied to his bedpost and left guarded until the next morning.

They were guided by a bright, waxing gibbous moon and the vibrant display of the aurora borealis, which many of the Patriot militiamen saw as a sign that God was on their side.

The Patriot militia approached to within about a mile and a half of the Bratton home, dismounted, and tied their horses in the woods. Then they proceeded on foot, despite Colonel Bratton's objections in another consultation with the other militia colonels. Bratton understandably feared for his family, assuming them to be held hostage by Huck.

It was there on the road that Colonel Lacey, accompanied by another militia officer, Lieutenant John Mills, encountered his brother Reuben on his way back toward their father's home. Reuben, who was blind in one eye and nearsighted, could not see very well in the dark, even with a clear moon and northern lights overhead. Disguising his voice, Lacey called out to his brother and pretended to be a "friend of the King" who had fallen behind the main force and wanted to find Huck's camp before morning. Reuben fell for the trick and informed Lacey and Mills that Huck was at Williamson's plantation down the road and the location of the sentries posted. After getting the information, they allowed Reuben Lacey to pass and proceed to his father's home, where he would end up joining the old man as a prisoner.

More intelligence came to the Patriot militia force as Joseph Kerr, having made his escape, found them and gave them the exact disposition of Huck's forces and their numbers. Also finding the partisans were William Moore and Isaac Ball, who were determined to get their horses back after Huck confiscated them at "Gum Log" Moore's home the day before. The two men had waited until the Loyalists were asleep, and then sneaked into the their camp, retrieved their horses, and then slipped quietly away. This revealed that despite the precaution of four guards, the sentries on duty were not particularly alert for danger.

The aurora before battle.
Artwork by Dan Nance (2014).

The Plan Of Attack

Colonel Bratton knew the countryside well and concealed the militia in a nearby swamp. After checking on his family to make certain they were safe, he personally went out and scouted the area. He quickly discovered the lax security as Kerr and the two young men had said, and there were no patrols out, just the four guards. All of the other Loyalists, including the British Legion dragoons, were asleep in their tents.

Upon Bratton's return from his one-man patrol, the militia colonels conducted a council of war. The Patriots made plans to attack at daybreak and divided their forces into two companies.

One group, comprised of largely New Acquisitions men under Colonels Bratton, Neel, Hill, and Winn would attack from the west end of the lane while the other group of militia largely from modern-day Chester County under Colonel Lacey and Captain John McClure would attack the east end, thus cutting off any chance for the Loyalists to escape to the main road.

The two groups then separated with Bratton's group continuing northward and McClure's group leaving the main road to cut across the woods to the east of the lane. Both groups were to "raise a war-whoop" and rush the fences on either side of the lane simultaneous to the attack as soon as either group fired the first shots. Men under militia Captain John Moffett would take position in the peach orchard and move in on the rear of the house.

The group led by Bratton and Neel had little difficulty getting into position for the attack. They passed one of the sentries, who was asleep at his post. Private Samuel Williamson -- one of the family's sons -- was left to guard the sentry with orders to shoot him if he stirred and tried to sound an alarm. In the waning darkness of early morning, the men quietly took cover behind the fence along the lane and field. 

The second group under Lacey and McClure had less of an easier time getting into position. After leaving the road, they found their progress slowed by briar bushes, trees, and the small swampy branches of the South Fork of Fishing Creek. In spire of the assistance from a local militia captain and a private, this group was delayed in getting into position before daybreak.


The Battle

At around 5 a.m. on the morning of Wednesday, July 12, 1780, some of Huck's men began to awaken and prepare breakfast. It was close to daybreak and there was still not enough light for them to see the approaching Patriots creeping up from the trees and taking position behind the fences around the Loyalist encampment. The morning activities of their fellow Loyalists caused the drowsy sentries to stir.

As soon as the sleeping Tory woke, Williamson shot him dead, as per his orders. Colonel Neel took aim at the sentry on the main road and dropped him. Lacey's men where within 25 paces of the third sentry when the shots were fired and he too woke and was shot dead. On the far side of the Williamson's peach orchard, the fourth sentry was far more fortunate. He saw the Patriots approaching through the orchard, fired a shot at them, then ran back towards the house and the detachment of British Legion dragoons, who heard the shots and were already preparing their horses.

Inside the house with his hostages, Captain Huck took great delight in frightening the Whig family, flourishing his sword over their heads and threatening the country folks with destruction unless they convinced their sons and husbands to quit the rebel militia and take the Crown's protection.

As he was about to walk out the door to see to his men, Huck reportedly turned to the terrified family and boastfully said, "We have driven the Regulars (Continentals) out of the country, and I swear if it rained militia from the Heavens, I would not value them."

No sooner had Huck uttered those words than the first shots of the battle were fired from the lane. Outside just as the sun was about to rise over the eastern horizon, Bratton's forces raised the "war-whoop" and started their attack from the fence line, firing into the New York Volunteers in the lane and the Loyalist militia in the field.

The startled Loyalist officer rushed outside on the porch to see what was happening. When he did so, the elder Williamson rushed the door and slammed it shut. The family barricaded the doors even as musket fire outside began hitting their wooden home. Huck had left his green dragoon jacket and personal gear inside, and was thus unable to retrieve it. In his white cotton shirt and dragoon cap, still clutching his sword in hand, Huck raced for his horse and his detachment of Legion cavalry. 

Many of the Loyalist militia, completely surprised at finding themselves nearly surrounded, fired a couple of shots and then fled the battlefield slaughter on foot, abandoning their horses. The Provincials of the New York Volunteers, many of them awakened and not wearing their red coats, managed to stand their ground and return fire. The fence that Bratton's force hid behind acted as a makeshift breastwork, providing some cover for the Patriot militia, while the New York Volunteers formed a line of fire and attempted at least one bayonet charge against the fence -- a favored tactic of the British line. The Patriots behind the fence took careful aim with their rifles and muskets, dropping the Provincials and broke up the charge.

Loyalist militia Captain James Ferguson was among the first of the Tories shot down by the vengeful Patriot militia, his shirt blackened by gunpowder from several aimed shots at close range. Revenge for his part in commanding the squad that murdered young William Strong at Fishing Creek Church the month before. Some reports say that he tried to surrender and was shot dead. 

Huck mounted his horse and began to wave his sword over his head and shouted into the nearby peach orchard, "Disperse you damned rebels, or I will put every man of you to the sword!" 

The Patriots instead opened fire on the Legion dragoons, dropping several of them from their horses. Urged on by a ranting and raving Huck, the dragoons made several ineffective charges against the Patriot militia in the orchard, but could not get close because of the trees.

Lieutenant Adamson attempted to rally the Loyalists for one more charge and tried to spur his horse over a ditch and was thrown from his mount face first, landing on the stump of a pine sapling, impaled through the chest. He lay on the ground seriously wounded when the Patriot militia rushed forward and he surrendered to them.

The other Loyalists and the New York Volunteers, seeing no chance for escape, quickly threw their weapons down and surrendered. After leaving some men to guard the prisoners, Bratton and Neel's men, along with some men from Lacey and McClure's command -- who were only now getting into position -- closed in on British Legion dragoons, opening fire on them at close to point blank range.

The death of Captain Christian Huck of the British Legion at the
Battle of Williamson Plantation "Huck's Defeat".
Artwork by Dan Nance (2014).

Huck, realizing now that his position was hopeless, rallied a small group of four dragoons and tried to break for the main road near the Bratton house and escape. Two local Patriots, Privates John Carroll and Lieutenant Charles Miles, fired the shots that sent two small musket balls that struck Huck in the head. Carroll's shot went behind Huck's left ear.

The "Swearing Captain" Christian Huck -- Pennsylvania Loyalist, member of Tarleton's British Legion, a man who helped slaughter Virginia Continentals at the Waxhaws, who had blasphemed the name of the Lord and mocked the faith of the local Scotch-Irish population even as his men pillaged, burned and murdered them over the last six weeks -- was dead before the sword dropped from his hand and his body fell from his saddle to the hard ground.

Those Loyalist militiamen and Legion dragoons who hadn't surrendered spurred their horses, or took off on foot for their lives into the nearby woods back south towards Rocky Mount. They were pursued ruthlessly by Patriot militia for over a dozen miles. It was later reported that many carcasses were found in the woods for miles, some of the retreating Loyalists receiving "Tarleton's quarter" -- a phrase declaring bloody retribution inspired by the Waxhaws Massacre two months before that would be uttered over and over again throughout the summer and fall of 1780 by revenge-minded Patriots against their Loyalist neighbors.

The battle of Williamson Plantation (known locally to this day as The Battle of Huck's Defeat) took less than 15 minutes.


Martha Bratton And The Honorable Tory

After the battle was over, the five prisoners held captive by Huck's men were released from their corn crib prison. One story says that while the guard had been distracted by the battle, one of the prisoners reached out and grabbed his musket from his grip taking him prisoner. The Williamsons emerged from their home and embraced their victorious loved ones in the militia.

The lane and the fields around Williamson's home were littered with dead and wounded Loyalists, some the Provincials in red and green uniform coats, others militia in simple hunting and farming clothes.

The Patriots were surprised by the number of familiar faces they found among the Loyalists. Some of them were their neighbors and, in a few instances, family. The civil war in the backcountry would find many such battlefield meetings replayed over and over again.

Someone -- possibly one of the former prisoners -- told Colonel Bratton about the reaping hook incident the day before, and incorrectly told him it was Lieutenant Adamson who had preformed the deed. Enraged by this, Bratton and one of his officers, Captain John Chambers, searched the battlefield and found the fallen Loyalist officer on the ground bleeding profusely from his chest wound. 

Bratton confronted Adamson with the accusation, which the man denied. The Patriot officers called him a liar and a coward. Then Bratton and Captain Chambers drew their swords, preparing to deliver a little of "Tarleton's Quarter" on the man he believed threatened his wife.

The wounded Loyalist then addressed them saying, "My life is of little consequence to me, sir, for you can only hasten the end which I feel is fast approaching, but I beg of you to consult Mrs. Bratton before you perpetrate so great a wrong." Something in the wounded man's voice caused Bratton to hold back. Still holding the wounded Tory at sword point, Bratton sent Lieutenant John Adair to locate his wife and bring her here.

The Bratton Home at present-day Historic Brattonsville, where the
infamous reaping hook incident took place in the front porch of
the home. The home also served as a makeshift hospital for
the wounded Loyalists following the battle.
The home is one of the oldest in York County, SC.

Throughout the night, Martha Bratton and her children had huddled in the second story of their home. When the battle took place, the family huddled together, though Mrs. Bratton made her youngest children sit in the fireplace for protection against a few stray shots that managed to hit the side of the house. One musket ball had actually passed through the upstairs wall, hit the fireplace, and fall to the floor, where young William Bratton grabbed it and would keep it as a treasured souvenir of the battle for years.

Once it was daylight and the shooting had stopped, the Brattons left the safety of their home and went outside into the early morning sunrise. Wounded men lay nearby, some of the Loyalists who had been shot down escaping down the road. The sounds of the wounded and dying men must have been terrible for the family. Some of the Loyalist wounded were brought into the house, and lay on the first story floor closely together.

Lieutenant Adair found them and directed Mrs. Bratton -- with young William close to her -- to the spot where Adamson lay with Colonel Bratton and Captain Chamber standing over him, both holding swords to him. Relieved to see her husband was alive, and shocked by the carnage of the battlefield around her, Martha rushed over to him. 

SC Historic Marker near the Bratton home site at
Historic Brattonsville in York County.

Adamson was so pale and blood-soaked that she did not recognize him from the day before. He spoke to her, "Madam, you were sent for at my request, more to save your husband from a cruel injustice than for any service you may be able to render me. He has heard that it was I who threatened your life." 


Once she heard the man's voice, Martha realized who he was and why her husband was standing over him with a drawn sword. Quickly she told the men what had happened and confirmed that it was Adamson who had in fact saved her from the reaping hook. Both Bratton and Chamber's attitudes toward the fallen Loyalist officer changed. They offered the man rum to dull his pain, then helped carry him back to the Bratton house where he was nursed personally by Mrs. Bratton. The attention she gave to nursing him saved Adamson's life. After the war, while many former Loyalists were "encouraged" to leave America, a petition by the Bratton family on Adamson's behalf allowed the man to live the rest of his life in the new nation at his Camden home.
 

Stone marker near the site of Huck's
Defeat at Historic Brattonsville
in York County, SC.

Mary Moore Adair and several other local women helped Martha Bratton nurse the wounded Loyalists. Among them was the captain that directed her the evening before to tell her sons to surrender themselves. As she dressed his wounds, she informed him, "Well, captain, you ordered me to bring in my rebel sons. Here are two of them; and if the third had been within a day's ride, he would have been here also." The Loyalist officer acknowledged the chiding rebuke saying he had indeed seen them before -- in the thick of battle. 

Lieutenant Benjamin Hunt, Huck's second-in-command, gave the paroles for the remaining Loyalist prisoners, giving his oath not to take up arms for the duration of the war, or until properly exchanged. The Patriot officers provided three wagons for the Tory wounded and prisoners so they could be returned to Rocky Mount.

One of the Loyalist officers who gave his parole was Major John Owens. After witnessing Huck's defeat firsthand, Owens decided to become a spy for the Patriots. He informed Colonel Winn that he had been at Rocky Mount the day before the battle. He made arrangements with Winn to gather intelligence about the layout and troop strength at the fort. This intelligence would prove invaluable to plans a few weeks later with General Sumter to attack Rocky Mount.


Aftermath

A copy of the headstone dedicated to Watt, an
African-American slave of the Bratton family,
who helped the Patriot militia locate Huck's
Loyalist force prior to the Battle of Huck's
Defeat. This marker is located at Historic
Brattonsville.
The actual headstone is located on private land.

The defeat of Huck's forces was total. Around 35 killed, 50 wounded and surrendered. Only 24 managed to escape capture and return to Rocky Mount and report the disaster to a shocked Colonel Trumbull. Of the Patriot militia, there was only one man wounded in the battle, and other man named Campbell from Chester County who was killed.

In the aftermath of the Patriot success, Martha earned recognition for her refusal to divulge her husband’s whereabouts under extreme duress. In addition, Watt’s endeavor to notify Bratton that Huck was in the area won him a place in local history. Both have markers in their honor: Martha's at Historic Bethesda Presbyterian Church where she is buried with her husband, and Watt's at Historic Brattonsville, both in York County.

The destruction of Huck’s Loyalist force at Williamson’s Plantation helped revive the morale of the local people in upstate South Carolina just when British victory seemed inevitable. It served as a rallying point for the backcountry Patriots to recruit more of their neighbors into the growing resistance against the British occupation. Although the numbers engaged were small, the importance of the skirmish was immediately clear, the entire backcountry seemed to take heart. Frontier Patriot militia had defeated soldiers of the feared British Legion, proving they were not invincible. This was also the very first battle in the South Carolina backcountry where British Provincials were defeated. Volunteers streamed in to join the patriot militia brigade of General Thomas Sumter. More volunteers would soon arrive at Sumter's camp at Old Nation's Ford.

SC Marker about the Battle of Huck's Defeat
(Williamson's Plantation) located on Brattonsville
Road off SC 322.

Many local Loyalists began to reconsider their loyalties as John Owens had and joined Sumter's Patriots switching sides. In one incident Lieutenant Colonel John Lisle, second-in-command of Colonel Matthew Floyd's Upper District Loyalist Militia Regiment, seized the opportunity to return to his former allegiance and defected to Sumter's Brigade, taking with him most of Floyd's regiment and well as its British issued arms and ammunition. Such acts would destroy Cornwallis' overall confidence in the Loyalist militia.

Indeed just as Colonel Turnbull sent Huck to his fate, General Cornwallis was issuing order to instruct the British outposts not to send small units of men beyond the confines of their posts and instead consolidate their forces when going on foraging expeditions. The news of Huck's defeat at Williamson's Plantation mortified the British general, who had just sent another letter to his commanding officer General Sir Henry Clinton in New York City proclaiming South Carolina a pacified colony. Equally outraged was Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the defeat of the detached force of his own British Legion at the hands of the backwoods militia -- although that did not stop him from laying all the blame for the defeat solely on the now dead Captain Huck.

The momentum for the Patriots following the Battle of Williamson's Plantation (known locally as Huck's Defeat) set the stage for the upcoming campaign by General Sumter in the upcountry, in conjunction with the offensive campaign of the now gathered Continental forces of the new Southern Army commanded by the so-called "Hero of Saratoga" General Horatio Gates.

The results of these campaigns will be discussed in the next chapter in this series.

For more information about the Battle of Huck's Defeat and its significance to American history 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
And special thanks to The Cultural & Heritage Museums of York County (SC).