The darkest hour of the War for Independence from the British Empire in South Carolina was on this day 238 years ago. As mentioned in my previous post, the 4000 Continentals led by Horatio Gates, hero of Saratoga, and Major General Johann DeKalb faced Lord Cornwallis and Lt. Colonel James Webster and other British leadership on the fields just south and west of present day DeKalb, SC which is north and west of Camden, SC. More in depth information on the Battle of Camden can be researched here.
The mismatch in the troops was apparent from the first shots as volunteers from Virginia were ordered to march within 50 yards of the British and hesitated at that command. Facing the best of the British army, the 23rd and 33rd regiments, is an unnerving experience. The Virginians saw the expertise being aimed at them and broke. The ripple effect of this continued past the Virginia militia, to the North Carolina militia and even to the Maryland Continentals.
This alone was all it took to have Major General Horatio Gates mount a fast horse and ride hard and long for 60 miles, about 2-3 hours, leaving any further damage control and subsequent retreat to other officers on the field.
The 1st Maryland Brigade put up a heroic fight against the British as things were coming apart at the seams, keeping this event from being a rout. This delay helped other units on the field but ultimately the troops had to flee into the nearby swamps that kept Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s horse from pursuing them in this terrain allowing them to live to fight another day.
The 2nd Maryland, Delaware Continentals and North Carolina militia (one unit) remained on the field but were outnumbered 600 to 2000. Major General Baron Johann DeKalb led many bayonet charges for over an hour and had his horse shot out from under him. In his final assault he killed a British soldier and then went down to bayonet and bullet wounds. His troops protectively closed around him and opposed another bayonet charge from the overwhelming British forces.
Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton returned from his pursuit of the 1st Maryland in the swamps and chased the rear of the balance of the American troops. This battle was over.
The type of warfare typical to the 18th Century had Lord Cornwallis taking Baron DeKalb back to Camden and had him seen by his personal physician. Unfortunately Baron DeKalb died in Camden and is buried in Camden with a monument that has been erected to his memory on the old battlefield.
The final tally was about 700 American troops killed or taken prisoner out of 3000 troops that actually engaged in fighting, that Gates had abandoned, while the British lost 300 troops who were wounded or killed (68) out of 2200 engaged in this fight.
This fight effectively left a huge power vacuum in South Carolina that would take the Americans months to recover from. It is into this vacuum that men like Francis Marion would step up and into for the cause they had on their hearts.
August 1780 was a time when men of this region had to put into action, the words they had on their lips for the previous four years. Effectively, the resulted in an internal civil war in South Carolina. The method that men chose to fight would be known for generations to come and the legacy of the Swamp Fox would be born.