My last post on the adventures of Francis Marion written about a month ago, his militia was down to 100 men and they had just written off fellow militia leader Thomas Sumter and his tactics.
Marion goes to Cordes’s Plantation and sets up camp to break from the exhaustive mid-July battles at Quinby’s Bridge and Shubrick’s Plantations. After one year of fighting the British, much of which without direct support from the Continentals, he had to be proud of what was accomplished. These last few months in the summer of 1781 with the Continentals had its positives, but it also had its negatives.
Lt. Col. Henry Lee and his Continentals proceed to bury their dead and move to join Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene in the High Hills of the Santee as the militia melts back to their homes in South Carolina.
Reflecting on these days later, Greene told Lafayette that the “Dog Days Campaign” had some success but admitted it was far short of what needed to be accomplished. Driving the British out of Monck’s Corner and Dorchester only lasted a few weeks before the Brits were back. On the plus side, 140 prisoners, 200 horses and ammunition were to be had.
The rift between the principled Marion and the opportunist Sumter was also widened by another of Sumter’s actions, in that 720 guineas (gold coins) were found and distributed to Sumter’s men and some of Lee’s men BUT not Marion’s.
Sumter’s men were also getting disillusioned as his 10-month enlistees were on their way home at this point, dissatisfied with Sumter’s Law.
Sumter now was desperate, and tried to plunder more by going near Georgetown and seizing slaves, horses, indigo and salt from the Tories there. The British retaliated on 01AUG1781 by bombarding Georgetown from a warship with many innocent people caught in the crossfire. Gov. Rutledge generally favored harsh treatment of Tories BUT finally started seeing this from Marion’s point of view as that practice usually gave significant blowback.
Finally, on 05AUG1781, Rutledge signed a proclamation strictly forbidding plundering for any purpose essentially nullifying Sumter’s Law. Sumter took this personally and resigned but Greene talked him into staying on but that would old last a few months as Sumter had fought his last battle.
Just as the patriots alter their ways to ensure they were seen as leading a noble cause, respecting the innocent people’s life, families and property, the British decide once more to turn the burner up on violence. The British decide towards “making an example” of someone, in a typical bully move.
The British proceed to arrange a public hanging that took place in CharlesTown South Carolina which was still in British hands. On 04AUG1781 a 35 year old Col. Issac Haynes, a much beloved planter/patriot in the Low-country region, was hanged as an example to the people of the colony of South Carolina.
There is quite a backstory to this event that will be the subject of my next American Revolutionary post .. coming soon!
In my last update on the slow attrition of British forces in South Carolina the summer of 1781 as well as the condition of the American Continentals:
Summer fighting in South Carolina requires a lot of a man should he come from Virginia or further north. Greene concluded that the American forces were weakened by the heat and could not survive on the rice in the region and needed bread again. With no beef they resorted to frogs and alligators, because they taste like chicken.
After the next encounter in July 1781, Greene would then moved his troops to the High Hills of the Santee for the rest of the summer.
To recap quickly, Georgetown and Ninety-Six had fallen and so two significant outposts remained slightly inland, Monck’s Corner 30 miles north of Charleston and Dorchester 20 miles northwest of Charleston.The only other occupied outpost is Ninety-Six which has a Loyalist contingent in place there many miles away from the action down state.
The British army was basically in Charleston, in these outposts, and then just one regular British army in the field at Orangeburg. Sumter convinced Greene that he should take out the two outposts cutting off the Brit army in Orangeburg from Charleston, using Lee’s and Marion’s forces of course. Greene’s objective was then to get the Brits stuck on the coast in a land siege and then pray the French Navy could bottle them up in Charleston.
05JUL1781: American Continental leader Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene orders Brig. Gen. Francis Marion and his militia to march from Ancrum’s Plantation towards Moncks Corner in an attempt to cut off Lord Rawdon who is in the field at Orangeburg. Marion and his men passes around Lord Rawdon, whose troops are sick, exhausted, and almost mutinous and goes in the direction of Moncks Corners and the British forces that are in route to Orangeburg.
08JUL1781: At “o’dark thirty”, Marion quietly breaks camp
and begins moving stealthily down the highway between Orangeburgh
and Moncks Corner looking for Lt. Col. Alexander Stewart and his forces. They pass each other as they took different roads and so at daylight, Marion learns of this mistake and sends Lt. Col. Peter Horry back to pursue Stewart but it is too late. Marion gets word to return to Ancrum’s Plantation where Greene finally has almost all of his army with him at one location – Sumter, Marion, Washington, and Lee. Pickens is the only SC Brigadier General not there.
12JUL1781: July 12th marks the day that Marion followed his orders and took his 180 man force to Moncks Corner while Lee and his 150 man force moved on Dorchester. Sumter remained in the rear with his 200 infantry and one six-pounder.
Marion’s force had just went through some leadership changes with Hugh Giles retiring, a 27 year old John Ervin taking his place and Greene’s commissioning of Peter Horry and Hezekiah Maham to lead two dragoon forces within the Continental Army which meant signing on for one year. Complicating the matter was that both promotions were dated the same day, and if that was not enough, it was never made clear as to who they really reported to .. Greene OR Marion. This was never made clear and made for issues down the road from this day.
The target Greene had in sight at Moncks Corner was a British force of 500-600 redcoats from 19th Regiment of Foot was led by Lt. Col James Coates which had two field howitzers. In addition to this force were 100-150 provincial cavalry under Major Fraser (SC Royalists) which were remnant forces from SC Rangers and Queen’s Rangers, all native SC men who knew the back-country as well as Marion and Sumter.
16JUL1781: Sumter wanted to surround Coates cutting off his escape routes and any reinforcements from Orangeburg. Lee easily pushed the British out of Dorchester and so upon hearing this Coates surprises the patriots by moving five miles northeast to St. James Goose Creek Church which is locally called Biggin Church (a structure with three foot thick walls and where Marion himself worshiped as a boy). As the patriots adjusted to Coates new position, Maham’s dragoons were sent to destroy Wadboo bridge so Coates would not have an easy time getting to Charleston, unfortunately, Coates men were able to repair if overnight and were all set to escape down the Cooper River if and when they needed to.
17JUL1781: With insignificant skirmishing on July 16th at 4am the next morning the Biggin Church was ablaze and Coates had a head start toward Charleston. As the patriots chased Coates they found the Wadboo bridge had been destroyed by the British this time, and so they had to ford the river farther upstream wasting valuable time.
The Brits then went 18 miles south and settled briefly at a vacant plantation of patriot Col. Thomas Shubrick. They posted a howitzer at Quinby Bridge to guard the crossing and started tearing up the planks when Lee, Wade Hampton and some of Marion’s cavalry arrived. Some of the men crossed the creek and started their assault on the British forces, Lee himself chose not to send his cavalry across the 20-yard wide creek due to the muddy bottom. On the other side there was a causeway that led to deadly hand-to-hand combat. Many of the green recruits of the 19th Foot threw down their weapons and fled only to realize how few patriots made is across the creek. The Brits were able to fight their way back to the plantation for cover. Fraser’s Brit cavalry left for Charleston for reinforcements.
Lee and Marion saw the plantation to well fortified and chose to wait for Sumter and his six-pounder. When Sumter arrived WITHOUT his cannon he decided to attack anyway against Lee and Marion’s advice. Marion’s men had to advance across open field and then finding Taylor’s men facing a bayonet charge (NOTE: there are no bayonets on patriot rifles) diverted on an oblique to save Taylor and his men but took a lot of causalities. Forty minute battle was finally called off by Sumter whose troops as well as Lee’s remained in reserve. Fifty killed or wounded, mainly from Marion’s men was the result.
Reflection time: What does one do when a superior, errr, I mean a higher ranking officer gives an ill-advised order? Well the obedient will “just follow orders”, however, the militia volunteers will never forget!
.. Maj. John Baxter is knocked from his horse by a musket ball. He shouts to Lt. Col. Peter Horry, “I am wounded, colonel.” Horry replies, “Think no more of it, Baxter, but stand to your post.”
Baxter shouts, “But I can’t stand, I am wounded a second time!” Horry shoots back, “Lie down then, Baxter, but quit not your post.”
Baxter is hit a third time and says, “They have shot me again, colonel, and if I stay any longer here, I shall be shot to pieces.” Horry then says, “Be it so, Baxter, but stir not.”
Baxter obeys, but he was hit a fourth time.
Fifty of Brig. Gen. Marion’s men are killed or wounded in this assault. Col. Thomas Taylor finds Brig. Gen. Sumter “sitting cooly under the shade of a tree.” He says, “Sir, I don’t know why you sent me forward on a forlorn hope, promising to sustain me and failed to do so, unless you designed to sacrifice me. I will never serve a single hour under you,” and then retires from Brig. Gen. Thomas Sumter’s command.
There is no post battle comments are on record from Marion to Sumter but to Greene he implied that he too was sent on a fools errand. Most evident of Marion’s true feelings was that he and Lee left the night of the battle and went 15 miles away to camp without informing Sumter. All but 100 of Marion’s men left at this point and Marion internally knew he was done with Sumter.
Within a month, things would change in the leadership of the South Carolina state militias yet again.
Stay tuned for what the conclusion of the “Dog Days Campaign”, what was won and what was lost.
In my last post that focused on May1781, Francis Marion had successfully kicked the British out of Georgetown on the coast of South Carolina, however, the British remained on their ships in Winyah Bay and would not leave until 11JUN1781.
Continental Maj. General Nathanial Greene had started a siege of Ninety-Six which I described in my last post as the following:
The fortification was intense and artillery consisted of three three-pounders and 550 motivated soldiers knowing that this was the last significant outpost in the interior of South Carolina where once the British had over 30 strongholds and now only had a dozen mainly located near CharlesTown.
It seems that all three militia innovations were attempted during this 28 day siege, Mahem’s tower, flaming arrows and even a tunnel but all were compensated for by the Brits. Both Greene and militia leader Brig. Gen. Thomas Sumter present at Ninety-Six, they earnestly desired to have Marion’s men present as well for the final assault.
To show the timeline:
05JUN1781: Brig. Gen. Francis Marion writes to Maj. Gen. Nathanael
Greene – the evacuated British garrison of Georgetown is still
sitting in their boats in Winyah Bay.
05JUN1781: Marion receives another message – On 02JUN1781 British Col.
Pasten Gould lands another 2,000 new British Regulars from Cork
at CharlesTown. Marion forwards the news to Brig. Gen. Thomas Sumter
and asks Sumter to forward it to Greene.
06JUN1781: Marion camps at Murry’s Ferry. He continues to have great
difficulty in raising men. Both Greene and Sumter attempt to get him
to move, but Marion sits tight.
07JUN1781: British leader Francis Lord Rawdon marches out of Moncks Corner and heads to Ninety-Six to break the stalemate between Maj. Gen. Greene and Lt. Col. John Harris Cruger, Loyalist Commandant of Ninety-Six.
16JUN1781: Marion leaves Murry’s Ferry and slowly marches toward
Ninety-Six. He stops at Nelson’s Ferry to again wait for his men to
come in, but they continue to linger.
So what is up with Marion’s men? They can be fast and accurate!
Well, first the excuses that Marion offered:
Sumter assuming Rawdon was going to another fort and not Ninety-Six at first and him giving Marion orders that conflicted each other (halt, resume march, halt, etc). Mixed signals from leadership ALWAYS has the unintended consequences of this nature!
Marion mentioned that there were crops to be protected for Greene’s provisions as well as a growing presence at Monck’S Corner.
Unstated was the primary reason, Marion’s men refused to travel so far from their homes.
Psyche.
Actually, Marion’s men have no desire to fight under or with the Gamecock, Brig. Gen Thomas Sumter. Sumter’s method of fighting did not mesh with those under Marion’s leadership.
There were key philosophical differences between these two militia leaders. “Sumter’s Law”, enacted just a few months before in April 1781 was a recruiting plan that offered slaves and other Loyalist property, taken by the troops during the campaign, as an enlistment bounty granted to men willing to serve for a period of ten months in the state forces. Marion’s men found this morally wrong EVEN THOUGH it was “legal”!
Brig. Gen. Thomas Sumter
19JUN1781: Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene breaks off his siege of Ninety-
Six. He is acutely aware that British leaders Francis Lord Rawdon is on his way. He takes his army northward, across the Bush River.
Maj. Greene then issued a scathing report on 25JUN1781 of how the militia failed him yet again (and added that the Virginia militia did not show up either thanks to Thomas Jefferson). Greene now orders Marion to cooperate with Sumter “in any manner he may direct.”
Greene failed to look in the mirror as his inexperience in the ways of sieges had his troops not discover the water source for Ninety-Six fortification that could have made that fortification fall in less than two weeks instead of almost a month. Marion never responded to this letter but I am sure he had words ready for that opportunity should he see Greene again face-to-face.
How does Marion and his men respond? Marion’s Militia still refuses to join him – most of his men have no desire to fight under Sumter, yet they all know it is almost inevitable.
This is the way it should be. The negatives of militias are outweighed by this important fact, real men should be able to “consent” to an action of their own free will. The militia actually acted as a check on the powers that standing armies have in at any time opt for decisions that a amoral and an offense to society as a whole. Bring a true civil war in South Carolina, this Whig/Tory and Patriot/Loyalist split would someday have to be healed for all to live in community once the violence could subside after the British exited the colony.
So how bad was the real impact of Marion not showing up at Ninety-Six? Two weeks after the siege and assault failed, the British left Ninety-Six and they tried to go after Greene but the Irish in wool uniforms and 100F heat were not holding up well and 50 died from heat-stroke.
Returning to Ninety-Six briefly, Rawdon saw that it could not be held as the troops could not be provisioned there and battles won made little difference if the troops were starving. The loyalists in the area (non-military) left with Rawdon and Cruger as their protection and safe passage for Charleston.
Greene had actually won by losing at this point in the conflict. He called together Sumter, Lee and Marion to take advantage of the momentum offered. On 26JUN1781, Brig. Gen. Marion finally collects about 400 men, and after Lt. Col. William Washington urges him to meet up at the
Congarees, he leaves Nelson’s Ferry and marches northward to meet personally with Lt. Col. Washington and Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene at Ancrum’s Plantation.
Summer fighting in South Carolina requires a lot of a man should he come from Virginia or further north. Greene concluded that the American forces were weakened by the heat and could not survive on the rice in the region and needed bread again. With no beef they resorted to frogs and alligators, because they taste like chicken.
After the next encounter in July 1781, Greene would then moved his troops to the High Hills of the Santee for the rest of the summer.
