Tag: Fort Watson

07-12MAY1781: Fort Motte is the Next British Stronghold to Fall

In my last post concerning this Spring 1781 effort to take back South Carolina from the grips of the British Empire, I mentioned how Cornwallis had left the region for good and was in route to Virginia.

Fort Motte was constructed in and around the Motte Plantation house 30 miles up river from Fort Watson. 06MAY1781 started yet another siege of a fort as now the post-by-post elimination of British strongholds set in motion. Rebecca Motte, recent widowed, aristocrat and ardent patriot had been moved into the overseers log cabin by the British who took over her house perched on a 250 foot hill was now surrounded by protective wall of wooden stakes 10 foot high with a seven foot wide, six foot deep ditch around the walls. Inside were 80 Redcoats, 59 Hessians and 45 loyalist Tories led by Lt. McPherson, a Scottish unit that had proved itself in Canada and was now a part of the Brit regulars.

Lt. Col. Lee (‘Lighthorse’ Harry) had 250 and Brig. Gen. Marion 150 with one six-pounder cannon. The plan was to use slave labor to build zig-zag trenches close to the fort using patriot sharpshooters to protect the laborers.

In the middle of this siege, Marion fell into his deepest sour mood to date having done nine months being chased by “death squads” and having no practical consistent military help and being prodded to give, give, give. Again it was the request of horses that set him off (triggered in today’s language), but the root issues included

  • The undermining from other militia leaders who said “Marion had come across plenty of horses”
  • The outright murder of a patriot on his own front porch in front of his family by Tories
  • Typical comings and goings of a militia army.

Marion offered to quit and go north to Philadelphia to be assigned elsewhere. Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene, whom he had yet to meet, wrote back and backed off on the horses but saying the cause and his state needed him at such a time as this. Marion ended up sending Greene one quality horse with a promise of more horses when they could.

Word came on 11MAY1781 that the British commander at Camden, Francis Lord Rawdon had left for Charles Town and was in route to reinforce Fort Motte. The tower that worked at Fort Watson would not work in this instance, but raining down fire was the action agreed upon when Lee and Marion met with Rebecca Motte for permission, which she gave.

So on 12MAY1781 the main house was targeted with fire, and with the cannon used to spread canister shot, the Brits could not put out the fire and surrendered. Details from J.D. Lewis’ work called “The Evolution of Marion’s Brigade after the Fall of Charlestown 1780 to 1782” follows:

Waiting until noon when the roof has become hot and dry, Lt. Col. Lee orders the house to be set on fire.

[Weems (known for the fiction about George Washington cutting down a cherry tree) writes that Mrs. Motte lends the Patriots a bow and “African arrows.” However, William Dobein James is there and in his later book about Marion he writes, “the house was not
burnt, as is stated by historians, nor was it fired by an arrow from an African bow, as sung by poets. Nathan Savage, a private in Marion’s brigade, made up a ball of rosin and brimstone, to which he set fire and slung it on the roof of the house.”]

As the roof catches fire, Lt. McPherson sends a detail aloft to rip off the burning shingles. Capt. Samuel Finley fires upon those on the rooftop using his 6-pounder with grapeshot. When Lt. McPherson’s men begin jumping from the burning house, he raises the white flag on May 12 th .

As soon as the British and Loyalists lay down their arms, Brig. Gen. Marion sends his men to the house to help put the fire out. He offers the enemy generous terms. When they march out, Lt. Col. Lee accepts the surrender of the British regulars, while Brig. Gen. Marion accepts the surrender of the Loyalist militia – this is how fractured the Patriots are at that point in time – Continentals versus militia.

Basically, the patriots saved the house from fire, the prisoners were granted generous conditions even keeping their recent loot. The Brits lost no men and the patriots lost two. McPherson surrendered to Lee and the Tories to Marion. McPherson thought he was surrendering to a gentleman BUT three months earlier Lee himself had employed tactics (i.e. “Tarleton’s Quarter”) used by the hated Banastre Tarleton himself. This tendency that all leaders on all sides of conflicts struggle with will be highlighted in the next few hours.

After the surrender, Lee again received wrath from Marion when Francis learned that Lee was hanging Tories:

Mrs. Motte invites both the Patriot and British officers to dine with her that night. The dinner is marred when one of Lt. Col. Lee’s officers, Cornet William Butler Harrison, orders three Loyalists to be hanged.

Brig. Gen. Marion is seated at the table when Lt. McPherson receives the news of this hanging. Brig. Gen. Marion leaps up from the table and storms out of the mansion, arriving to find two dead Loyalist on the ground and one swinging from a noose.

He orders the man cut down and strongly tells Lt. Col. Lee’s men that he is in charge and that he will kill the next man
who harms any prisoners.

Lee complained but said that Marion’s humanity among the ranks could not be overcome.

THIS is a critical point! If the rank and file are empowered to interject morals into the middle of war, then long term relationships after the conflict could be so much better. Total war drives wedges into society that lasts generations. Examples include not only “Tarleton’s Revenge”, but also Sheridan’s burning of the Shenandoah Valley and Sherman’s 50 mile wide path through Georgia and South Carolina! Same goes for the CIA taking out the democratically elected president of Iran in 1953. But I digress.

It was finally at this point for the first time that Greene met with Marion personally and cleared the air. There were no more threats of quitting from this point forward. Again, from J.D. Lewis:

Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene finally meets Brig. Gen. Francis
Marion in person at McCord’s Ferry on the Congaree River. They all camp here for the night.

The Brit Rawdon arrived at Nelson’s Ferry on 14MAY only to hear that Fort Motte was gone and dismantled and all the supplies taken by the patriots. From there his only recourse was to move his troops to within 30 miles of Charles Town at Monck’s Corners.

It seems that the tide is turning into a flood, and mid-May 1781 will come more changes as this internal civil war rages on in South Carolina between Tories and Whigs, British regulars and Continentals and everyone else caught in between.

-SF1

14APR-22APR1781: Tough Times Can Produce Innovations that Matter

In my last American Revolutionary War post, I suggested that after some darkness, that change was in the air, and that a new course might be upon the efforts in South Carolina to exit the British Empire. Time to hoist the sails, capture that wind and move forward:

Francis Marion believes it is time to slip away into North Carolina to preserve their numbers in light of the nearby British force bent on Marion’s destruction. On this night, a detachment from Lt. Col. Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, part of the Continental Army, arrives and all talk of slipping away is put aside. The rest of Lee’s Legion is on their way. Not only that, news was delivered that Gen Greene had stopped Corwallis at Guilford Courthouse in North Carolina.

Marion and Lee wasted no time in embarking on some new tactics toward controlling most of South Carolina and Georgia for the cause. It is interesting that the great military minds that do adapt to new strategies sometimes, when they have a second chance, they can then secure a region militarily. In this case, General Greene of the Continental Army was about to adopt the “war of posts” strategy that he had dissed before.

What had allowed the freedom to operate was that Cornwallis was so impacted by the Guilford Court House battle in North Carolina that he decided to move his troops to Wilmington NC on the coast to recover. After this his plan was to then invade Virginia never again to enter South Carolina. Greene used this opportunity to secure South Carolina and Georgia land so that if a peace treaty were to be achieved, the colonies would have these territories.

With Cornwallis’ exit from the deep south colonies, the various Tory elements in South Carolina started to melt away into the countryside as news spread of Cornwallis’ departure from the region. The British left only significant forces at Camden, Georgetown and Charleston along with other troops at various posts across the colony numbering 8,000 in total. These posts were along the supply line that kept forces 800 strong supplied in Camden which is over one hundred miles away from the coast and ports.

Greene’s army numbered only 1,400 but was on the move now deep into South Carolina. In this scenario, Watson gave up chasing Marion and dumped his artillery and heavy baggage into a creek and sped toward Camden to join forces with British officer Rawdon and then circled back steering clear of the rebel forces going back to the coast at Georgetown.

“Lighthorse” Harry Lee arrived at Marion’s camp on April 14th, 1781 and filled in Marion on the details of Guilford CH, a bloody battle that the British technically won but having outrun their own supply line, Cornwallis’ troops were a mess. British cavalry officer Tarleton himself had several finger amputated from wounds he suffered in the conflict.

Lee articulated how his troops would now focus on the larger garrisons at Camden and Ninety-Six while the militia (Pickens, Sumter and Marion) work away on the smaller posts in SC. However, it was another target that Lee had in mind that Marion did not see “eye-to-eye” on. Lee wanted to lay siege to Fort Watson WITH Marion, while Marion wanted to continue his chase of British office Watson. Marion had seen first hand both the disastrous Savannah siege in 1779 and also Thomas Sumter’s attempted siege in which he got impatient and lost a lot of his men.

While the 49 year old Marion was technically in charge and 25 year old Lee was second in command, the fact that Lee had 300 troops to Marion’s 80 at this time probably led to Marion acquiescing.

Fort Watson was surrounded on April 15th, however, all the trees around the fort were gone so there was no way sharpshooters could be utilized. The British had learned much from previous militia encounters. Cutting off the water supply was also attempted but the the well right outside the fort could be used at night through a covered passage had been built. After the siege had started, the 120 defenders started digging a well inside the fort and struck water on the fourth day of the siege.

The rebels had requested a six-pounder from Greene which would have made quick work of this fort since it had no cannon of its own, but the men bringing the cannon got lost and returned to Greene’s location outside Camden.

The bottom line was that Marion’s men were not prepared for a siege and were not experienced at it. This was not their strong suite. Morale was sinking and Marion was corresponding with various militia’s around the state about some significant issues that distracted Marion from a situation he was not comfortable in:

  1. Militia Capt. Snipes was free-lancing/looting around the state and bad-mouthing Marion suggesting that people should not send supplies to him
  2. “Sumter’s Law”, which paid ten months of service to men with plunder from local Tories (horses, clothing and slaves), was causing many potential militia members to join Sumter instead of Marion’s militia. Marion did not agree with the plunder reward, but was in the minority opinion on this one.
  3. Rumor was out that Marion’s men killed three prisoners in their care according to the Brit commander in Charleston and Marion’s mentor suggested in a letter that he half-believed it.

The siege was taking its toll on the ones facilitating the siege until an innovative spirit emerged in militia leader Lt. Col. Hezekiah Maham. A tower would be built out of range from the Brits in the fort, but tall enough for sharpshooters to do their work. The fort walls were 7 foot on top of a 23 foot mound so the tower would have to be very, very high. Geometry as well as ballistics played a part in this experiment.

By April 22nd it was ready with a perch at the top with openings for the long rifles. The rebels sharpshooters rained down fire into the fort and simultaneously a patriot unit was taking down the stockade section of the fort itself. A surrender request was made and the commander McKay put up the white flag. In his journal it seemed the British inside the fort refused to fight any longer. Generous terms were offered and the British troops made their way to Charleston.

Lee and Marion reaped a bounty of ammunition and public praise was awarded to Maham and his innovation. Lee, whose ego usually precedes himself, actually came to praise Marion publicly and asked to be formally placed under Marion’s leadership “in some degree”. Greene wrote Marion and said praise would travel to General Washington and the world.

With Fort Watson out of the picture, it would be the first of many dominoes to fall for the British in South Carolina as the summer heat started returning to the region.

-SF1