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

Visiting Blackstocks Battlefield In Union County

Hello y'all!

Very recently I once again returned to neighboring Union County, South Carolina to visit the site of one of the more significant battles of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War in my corner of the Palmetto State.

The Battle of Blackstock's Farm (also known locally as the Battle of Blackstock's Plantation, Battle of Blackstock's Hill, or simply Blackstocks) took place on Monday, November 20, 1780 between backcountry Patriot militia under the command of Brigadier General Thomas Sumter and British army regulars and Loyalist provincials commanded by British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton of the British Legion.

The battle was a significant American victory as it was the first major battle in the South Carolina backcountry where Patriot militia defeated British army regulars and a personal defeat for "Bloody Ban" Tarleton himself -- who was infamous in the South Carolina upstate for his alleged massacre of Virginia Continentals at the Battle of Waxhaws (Monday, May 29, 1780) the previous summer.

Blackstocks is also significant because this was the battle that earned Thomas Sumter his famous nickname "The Fighting Gamecock" for his aggressive defensive fighting style.

The Battle of Blackstock's Historic Site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The site of the battlefield is Blackstock hill, the site of the farmhouse and the surrounding open fields where the fighting largely took place. Today the hill is barren save for a small grove of trees, the farm itself long consumed by nature.

The historic site is located in Union County just off Blackstock Road adjacent to SC Highway 56 near Cross Keys, South Carolina.

The following are the photos I took of the site of the battlefield.

The Blackstocks historic battlefield site.

Battlefield Monument.

The Life of General Thomas "Gamecock" Sumter (1734 - 1832) -- The Longest Lived General of the American Revolutionary War

Brigadier General Thomas "Gamecock" Sumter
(August 14, 1734 – June 1, 1832).
Painting by American artist Rembrandt Peale, 1795.

Thomas Sumter was born on Wednesday, August 14, 1734 in Hanover County, Virginia.

His father, William Thomas Sumter, was a former indentured servant as a youth in England to order to immigrate to Virginia where he met and married widow Elizabeth Patience Iveson in 1728. William Sumter owned and operating his own gristmill in Albemarle County, Virginia near the modern-day Charlottesville. Thomas was the fourth of six children the couple would have. 

Most of young Thomas Sumter's early years were spent tending livestock and helping his father at the gristmill, not in school. After his father’s death in 1752, Sumter cared for his mother’s sheep and plowed his neighbor's fields. He was given a rudimentary education living on what was then the American frontier.

Thomas Sumter would spend much of his life as a soldier.

At the age of 20, Thomas Sumter served as a sergeant in the Virginia Militia during the French and Indian War (1754-1763) under the command of then Colonel George Washington. He was present during the disastrous expedition of British Major General Edward Braddock to capture Fort Duquesne (modern-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) and fought in the Battle of the Monongahela (Wednesday, July 9, 1755) where Braddock fell.

Later in the war, Sergeant Thomas Sumter would take part in the Anglo-Cherokee War of 1760-1761. The war with the Cherokee and the Colony of Virginia ended in early November of 1761 with the Treaty of Long-Island-on-the-Holston.

Following the end of the war with the Cherokee, Sumter took part in the Timberlake Expedition which he helped to finance. Sergeant Sumter accompanied Lieutenant Henry Timberlake, Mr. John McCormack (who served as their interpreter), and an unknown African-American servant, traveling into the Overhill settlements area to deliver a copy of the treaty with Virginia to the Cherokee. The expedition left Long-Island-on-the-Hulston on Saturday, November 28, 1761 and arrived in the Overhill village of Tomotley on Sunday, December 20th, where they were greeted by the Cherokee leader Ostenaco.

In May of 1762, Sergeant Sumter accompanied Lieutenant Timberlake and three Cherokee leaders (including Ostenaco) to London, where the chief had an audience with King George III, and has his portrait painted by British artist Sir Joshua Reynolds. The Cherokee returned to North America with Sergeant Sumter on Wednesday, August 25, 1762, arriving in Charleston, South Carolina weeks later.

Upon returning to the colonies, Sumter became stranded in South Carolina due to financial difficulties. He petitioned the Virginia Colony for reimbursement of his travel expenses, but was denied. He was subsequently imprisoned for debt in Staunton, Virginia. A friend and fellow Virginia militia soldier, Joseph Martin, visited and spend the night with Sumter in jail. He gave Sumter ten guineas and a tomahawk. Sumter used the money and the weapon to escape jail. When the two men were reunited some thirty years later, Sumter repaid Martin the money.

Around 1764 Sumter fled to South Carolina settled in St. John’s Berkeley Parish near the Santee River (modern-day Orangeburg County, South Carolina) and opened a country store. The mercantile venture prospered and Sumter soon owned considerable property. He earned such respect from the local community he was made a justice of the peace in 1766.

In 1767 he married Mary Cantey Jameson, a wealthy, crippled widow eleven years his senior. Sumter and his wife moved into her plantation, Great Savannah, across the Santee in St. Mark’s Parish (Orangeburg County) and became successful planters. The couple had one child, Thomas Sumter Jr., who was born on Tuesday, August 30, 1768, a year after their marriage.

Sumter was a man of many interests including tobacco and cotton farming and silk worms. He also bred and raised racing horses. As a prominent plantation owner, Sumter was believed to have owned just under 100 African-Americas throughout his lifetime.

Because he was a prominent property owner, Thomas Sumter was elected a delegate from the district eastward of the Wateree to the First and Second South Carolina Provisional Congresses that met in Charleston in 1775 and 1776, and was made a member of the Council of Safety. He would be present and took part in the adoption of the new State Constitution on Tuesday, March 26, 1776 which made South Carolina an independent sovereignty.

Following the Battles at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts on Wednesday, April 19, 1775 which began the American Revolutionary War, Sumter was appointed a Captain of Rangers and took part in Colonel Richard Richardson's Snow Campaign against American Loyalists, which ended with a Patriot victory at the Battle of Great Cane Brake (in modern-day Greenville County, South Carolina) on Friday, December 22, 1775 .

In 1776, Sumter was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Second Regiment of the South Carolina Line of which he was later appointed full Colonel. He and the 2nd Regiment were present in Charleston during the decisive American victory at the Battle of Sullivan’s Island (Friday, June 28, 1776) but did not participate in the action.

Colonel Sumter later took part in the Cherokee campaign (July-October 1776), and engagement with Loyalist militia forces in Georgia between 1777 and 1778. In 1778 Sumter joined with General Robert Howe in planning the aborted invasion of Florida, but contracted malaria. On Saturday, September 19, 1778, Sumter formally left the army still at the rank of Colonel and returned to private life.

He was still in retirement with his young son and crippled wife when the City of Charleston fell to British forces under General Sir Henry Clinton following a six-week siege on Friday, May 12, 1780.

Two weeks later, on Sunday, May 28th, 1780, a detachment of Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton's British Legion Cavalry made their way through the High Hills of the Santee River. Commanded by Captain Charles Campbell of the Legion, the Loyalist provincials had orders by Tarleton to bring in Sumter -- a noted Continental officer despite having been retired for almost two years by that point.

Sometime about 10 AM on Sunday, May 28th, then 11-year-old Thomas Sumter Jr., the young son of Colonel Sumter, was riding his horse when a neighbor rode past in full gallop, crying that British cavalry was on its way. Tom rode his horse home to inform his father what he had heard. His wife, Mary, pleaded for her husband to run. Sumter called to Soldier Tom, his African-American manservant, and ordered him to saddle their horses. After donning his old uniform of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment, Sumter bid farewell to Tom and Mary, and headed to North Carolina with Soldier Tom only an hour, or so, ahead of the British Legion.

Campbell's detachment arrived at Sumter's plantation home to find Sumter had already alluded them. The British Legion soldiers then plundered the home and put it to the torch, leaving the Sumter's family homeless and Colonel Thomas Sumter vengeful against the British invaders and their Loyalist allies.

It would be during this stage of the war, with Patriot fortunes in South Carolina at their lowest, that Thomas Sumter would made his greatest contribution and secure his legacy as an American soldier.

Over the course of the summer and fall of 1780, Colonel Thomas Sumter's name would be the rally cry for upcountry South Carolina Patriots in their struggle against their occupiers. He organized a brigade of partisan militia to harass the British and their Loyalist allies. Along with other Patriot leaders like Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion who operated in the South Carolina lowcountry, these Patriots militiamen would conduct hit-and-run tactics on British outposts, disrupting lines of communication and badly needed British supplies.

Colonel Sumter was informally elected by his men as Brigadier General on Thursday, June 15, 1780. Afterwards, Sumter's Brigade would serve as the only organized Patriot force in South Carolina during the summer of 1780 conducting various raids on British and Loyalist targets in the upstate Piedmont in modern-day York, Union, Chester, and Lancaster Counties.

York and Chester County Patriot militia that made up the core of Sumter's Brigade were instrumental in the first defeat of Loyalist militia and a detachment of Tarleton's Legion at Williamson's Plantation (known locally as Huck's Defeat) in York County on July 12, 1780 -- although Sumter himself was not at the battle himself. This victory was instrumental in encouraging upstate Patriots to join the fight.

A month later, Sumter himself led an unsuccessful assault on the Loyalist stronghold at Rocky Mount (Tuesday, August 1, 1780) on the Catawba River in Chester County, but this was followed by a victory over Loyalist forces at nearby Hanging Rock (Sunday, August 6, 1780) in Lancaster County less than a week later. 

When Major General Horatio Gates' Southern Continental Army arrived in South Carolina that same month, Sumter's Brigade was tasked with harassing British supply lines in the central Piedmont area and his men would capture two supply convoys and dozens of prisoners. Because of this Sumter would not be present for Gates' defeat at the Battle of Camden on Wednesday, August 16, 1780.

Two days later, on Friday, August 18, 1780, Tarleton's Legion surprised Sumter's men at camp near Fishing Creek along the Catawba River in Chester County, completely routing the Patriots and nearly capturing Sumter (having been asleep when the attack started), who escaped on a wagon horse barebacked leaving behind his hat, coat, and boots. He fled with most of his men back to Charlotte, North Carolina.

This would be Sumter's only major defeat of the war at the hands of Banastre Tarleton's provincials -- one the proud American officer would be determined to avenge. Despite this one setback, Sumter's Brigade had done its part in delaying the planned British invasion of North Carolina and preventing the British from firmly establishing their occupation of South Carolina's upstate.

Because of the actions of his Patriot brigade, the commander of British forces in South Carolina, General Lord Charles Cornwallis considered Sumter such an annoyance that he referred to him in correspondence as "daring and troublesome" and "our greatest plague in this country."

On Friday, October 6, 1780, exiled South Carolina Governor John Rutledge writing from his temporary headquarters in Hillsboro, North Carolina, officially commissioned Thomas Sumter as Brigadier General and commander of South Carolina militia.

A day later, on Saturday, October 7, 1780, the decisive Battle of Kings Mountain took place, ending any further plans for a British invasion into North Carolina. Sumter would once again return to the upstate and wreak havoc on the British and Loyalists through the fall of 1780.

On Thursday, November 9, 1780, British forces under the command of Major James Wemyss of the 63rd Regiment of Foot, attempted to surprise Sumter's Brigade camped along Fishdam Ford on the Broad River in Chester County. Sumter's men where prepared for such an attack and repulsed the British, capturing Wemyss who was wounded in the engagement.

Following the British defeat at Fishdam Ford, Tarleton Legion was sent in pursuit of Sumter's Brigade where the two forces engaged in battle at Blackstock's Farm on the Tyger River in southwestern Union County on Monday, November 20, 1780. 

It was at Blackstocks that General Sumter earned his greatest success of the war. The battle was a Patriot victory, the first major victory against "Bloody Ban" Tarleton's forces since Huck's Defeat months before. Sumter's Brigade aggressively beat back the arrogant young British officer's provincials and British infantry.

He not only avenged his defeat at Tarleton's hands three months before, but also earned the nickname he would be best remembered for due to his resolve and aggressive fighting style in the battle. Tarleton himself reportedly commented in his battle report (where he claimed victory despite his men retiring from the field) that Sumter had "fought like a gamecock" during the battle, in grudging admiration.

General Sumter himself would be wounded in the battle when a musket ball struck him under his left shoulder. He would spend three months recovering before returning to the field in February of 1781 where he would again led his militia brigade in battles in the central portion of the state. 

Sumter attempted an unsuccessful assault at Fort Granby (near present-day Columbia, South Carolina) on Monday, February 19, 1781. The next day Sumter tried again with a Quaker gun and was again unsuccessful. He was forced to abandon the siege two days later on Wednesday, February 21st, when British reinforcements arrived, but  was successfully able to ignite the magazine and destroy other provisions. Two days later on Friday, February 23, 1781, he defeated the British at Manigault's Ferry on the Congaree River and captured a supply train. On February 28th, he launched an unsuccessful attack against Fort Watson (in modern-day Clarendon County, South Carolina). 

Although known for being a good leader and a tenacious fighter, Sumter was also known for his personal pride who bristled at the idea of taking orders from others. When the Continental army returned to South Carolina in the spring of 1781, Sumter was less than cooperative with Major General Nathanael Greene, preferring to act independently with his command, preferring to fight his own little war.

In April of 1781, when Greene needed his support at Hobkirk's Hill near Camden, Sumter again struck at Fort Granby instead of assisting him. He broke off that attack to capture Orangeburg on May 11th -- during which time Colonel "Lighthorse" Henry Lee (the father of future Confederate General Robert E. Lee) of the Continental army successfully captured Fort Granby. This embarrassed the proud "Gamecock" who threatened to resign as a result. Greene refused to accept his resignation, largely because he needed Sumter's help with gathering new recruits for the army and South Carolina militia.

With spring planting season coming and militia recruits returning home after their enlistments expired, in an effort to gain new recruits, Sumter would also become infamous for his controversial "Sumter's law". This plan included a bounty to recruit a certain number of volunteers into the army who would receive captured Loyalist-owned slaves as a reward, as well as other booty from those still loyal to the Crown. It was a vile practice, but one that most of the Continental Army largely looked the other way on for the time being.

"Sumter's law" succeeded in assembling men who were all-too eager to revenge themselves upon the local Loyalists and plunder their property, but this also touched off a renewed wave of the vicious civil war between Patriots and Loyalists and earned the Patriot general a disreputable reputation as a result.

Finally, on Tuesday, July 17, 1781, General Sumter -- with Marion and Lee now under his direct command -- launched an ill-fated frontal attack at Quinby Bridge on a tributary of the Cooper River north of Charleston. On Wednesday, July 25th, Sumter sent a force to plunder Loyalists in Georgetown. The British retaliated by virtually destroying the town on Thursday, August 2, 1781.

These actions led many of his followers to abandon him and return home. Now perceiving Sumter's policies as counterproductive, Governor Rutledge issued a proclamation formally terminating "Sumter's law" by prohibiting plundering.

As the war was beginning to wind down, and his frustrations over militia reorganization and the aftermath of "Sumter's law" continued to plague him, Sumter finally resigned his military commission in February of 1782.

After a brief investigation into his use of "Sumter's law", General Sumter was exonerated, and the legislatures of North and South Carolina forbade state courts to entertain damage suits connected with this matter. He was given the thanks of the South Carolina Senate and a gold medal for his wartime contributions -- particularly his contributions in the summer and fall of 1780. 

In the years following the American Revolutionary War, the remainder of Sumter’s public life was spent in politics. He was elected to the State Senate in 1782 and attended the South Carolina General Assembly at Jacksonborough. 

Thomas Sumter would later be elected five times by the Camden District to represent the State of South Carolina in the United States House of Representatives, serving his first and second terms from Wednesday, March 4, 1789, to Sunday, March 3, 1793; and his third through fifth terms from Saturday, March 4, 1797, to Tuesday, December 15, 1801. He later served in the United States Senate, having been selected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Charles Pinckney who had been appointed by then U.S. President Thomas Jefferson to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Spain. Sumter resigned from his seat in the U.S. Senate on Sunday, December 16, 1810. Sumter was a dedicated Jeffersonian, who remained devoted to his backcountry republican values. He would serve under four U.S. Presidents.

Sumter also founded the town of Stateburg, South Carolina. In 1785, Stateburg became the county seat of what was then Claremont County and served as such until the county was dissolved in 1800 and became Sumter County, in honor of the general. When he retired from public service, Sumter returned to his rebuilt home at South Mount and lived out the rest of his days there.

General Thomas "Gamecock" Sumter died on Friday, June 1, 1832 at the age of 97, the longest lived general of the American Revolutionary War. He is buried in the High Hills of the Santee at the Thomas Sumter Memorial Park in Stateburg, Sumter County, South Carolina along with members of his family.

The South Carolina Revolutionary War Generals Memorial at the State Capitol in Columbia, dedicated on Tuesday, November 11, 1913 and commissioned by the South Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution, honors Generals Thomas Sumter, Andrew Pickens, and Francis Marion for their service.

The Sumter National Forest in the South Carolina upstate -- the scene of two of his greatest wartime exploits (Fishdam Ford and Blackstocks Plantation) -- was named in his honor in July of 1936 by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Sumter Counties in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina are also named in his honor.

Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, planned after the War of 1812 (1812 - 1815) was named in his honor. The shots initiating the War Between The States (American Civil War) were fired there on Friday, April 12, 1861.

To this day the sports teams of the University of South Carolina in Columbia are called the "Gamecocks" in General Sumter's honor.

The tomb of General Thomas "Gamecock" Sumter at Thomas Sumter Memorial Park
in Stateburg, Sumter County, South Carolina, USA.

This blogger would like to thanks the following sources for information in this article:

Bass, Robert D. Gamecock: The Life and Campaigns of General Thomas Sumter. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961.
Gregorie, Anne King. History of Sumter County. Sumter, S.C.: Library Board of Sumter County, 1954.
Sumter, Thomas. Thomas Sumter papers. Madison: Wisconsin State Historical Society.
The University of South Carolina (USC) and the The South Carolina Department of Archives & History in Columbia, S.C.