Tag: North Carolina

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

14DEC1780: Nelson’s Ferry Skirmish – When 700 Patriots Engage a Supply Boat

When you can field 700 instead of 20, 40 or 80, you are able to intimidate the enemy without bloodshed to obtain well needed supplies from their supply line. Lord Cornwallis is attempting to supply himself from the South Carolina coast but due to Marion’s streak of wins and his reputation, Lt. Col. Nisbet Balfour modifies the normal port of Charlestown to Camden supply route that includes a stretch from the Nelson’s Ferry and the Santee Road over to a “bypass” from Moncks Corner to Friday’s Ferry on the Congaree River. There is one supply boat does not receive this order in time and the Patriots board the vessel at Nelson’s Ferry on 14DEC1780 and Col. Marion’s men remove all supplies of military value, then they apply the torch.

The British 64th Regiment happened to be near Nelson’s Ferry at the time of this raid, but their numbers are not even adequate to pursue Col. Marion’s large number, 700 of them, mounted men.

The British and Loyalists continue their “no quarter ways” as the story comes out in December 1780 that Patriot leader Lt. Roger Gordon wast out with a small force to patrol on Lynches Creek, stopping at a house for provisions and refreshments., is attacked by Capt. Butler with a much larger force of Loyalists and they set the house on fire. Gordon then capitulates on the promise of quarter, but no sooner has his Patriots grounded their muskets than they are all put to death.

In addition to this, the British have a “Christmas present” for Marion, on 21DEC1780, Maj. Gen. Alexander Leslie arrives in Charlestown with 2000 British regulars. The gloves are coming off in South Carolina as the British desperately desire to move into North Carolina in early spring and take aim at Continental Gen. George Washington in the north.

Stay tuned for details as to how Marion deals with the swarming British forces that are all after neutralizing him and getting on with routing these farmers with pitchforks!

-SF1

08SEP1780: In Only Two Weeks of Irregular Warfare, Marion’s 150 Men are Targeted by the British

The last we heard of Marion, he had split his militia force in the face of larger British/Tory numbers into three units. Maj. James had some intel that indicated on the evening of 07SEP1780 that 400 Redcoats/Tories under Wemyss were in Kingstree only 20 miles west of Marion with orders to finish Marion off. Marion was also made aware of 200 more Redcoats coming north out of the port of George Town heading his way as well.

With the news of overwhelming forces headed their way, Marion took counsel with the militia leadership and decided to move back east and north away from this pressure. Many of the men we audibly anxious about this news as they knew their homes in the Williamsburg area would be subjected to the pillaging efforts of the British as they gave chase to the fox (Marion).

The morning of 08SEP1780, Marion had more intel about the same force he had dispersed at Blue Savannah, Gainey and his Tory militia was headed toward Marion from the east. It is at this point that Marion makes the call to release those under his command to go and give aid and comfort to their own families as well as other patriotic families in the region and left with the balance, 60 men in all, to move north. Maj. James with a small band of men were to move directly in the path of Wemyss in the Williamsburg area to do what they can to counter act the wrath of the British.

By this time, from the west, the British force under Wemyss was only two miles away and so Marion decided to address the items he had that slowed him down, two old iron artillery pieces, probably six-pounders, and dumped them in the swamp just before crossing the North Carolina border.

By 15SEP1780, Marion and his men would be safely in Great White Marsh which is in eastern North Carolina, 30 miles past the border. Francis Marion, like a fox, sensed eminent danger and pressure from all sides and safely withdrew into a swamp area that offer protection and rest for the remainder of his men. Without a direct conflict in a week, Marion reflects on his efforts in late August / early September 1780.

With two weeks of irregular warfare with NO support from the Continentals prompted Francis Marion to use this time in relative safety to write Gen. Gates and explain that he and his men would remain in North Carolina until he heard from Gates or had another opportunity.

In Marion’s absence, the British left an indelible impression on the region:

Upon his arrival in Indiantown around September 7 Wemyss burned the Presbyterian church there, calling it a “sedition shop.” (Ironically, Wemyss was himself a Presbyterian.) Over the next few days he put the torch to several more homes, including that of Major James, allegedly because James’s wife refused to provide information as to her husband’s whereabouts.

He also hanged Adam Cusack, a local ferryman, in front of his wife and children as they pleaded for his life. According to American accounts, Cusack was executed either for refusing to ferry Wemyss’s officers across a creek or because he fired a shot across the creek at a slave of Tory militia captain John Brockinton. When Dr. James Wilson tried to intercede on Cusack’s behalf, Wemyss burned his house too. …

On his march north from Kingstree to the town of Cheraw, Wemyss cut a path of destruction seventy miles long and five miles wide on both sides of the Pee Dee River, burning fifty houses and plantations along the way. He claimed that these “mostly” belonged to people who had broken their paroles or oaths of allegiance and were now in arms against the British. (He offered no justification for burning the others.) Wemyss also ordered his men to destroy blacksmith shops, looms, and mills and to shoot or bayonet any milk cows and sheep not taken by the British for themselves. The residents thus lost not only their shelter but also their means of livelihood, food, and clothing. Wemyss’s scorched-earth policy would have echoes in Sherman’s famous march through the South in the Civil War.

Oller, John. The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution (Kindle Locations 1093-1106). Da Capo Press. Kindle Edition.

There is a term that is used in the 21st century to describe the unintentional consequences of this kind of warfare on the civilian population, BLOWBACK. The US Empire’s CIA is well aware of what happens when these kind of tactics are used in that a majority of the population is so incensed that freedom fighters/insurgents are “birthed” at incredible rates. This is what would be the case in 18th century South Carolina, where any gains the British had after practically overrunning the whole state by the end of May 1780 would be erased by the conduct of British officers and Tory/Loyalists.

While it was tempting for the patriotic forces to mimic the British in a “tit-for-tat” move, for the most part Marion was able to control those under his command. While some junior officers did go rogue and follow the British “total war” strategy, Marion sought to distance himself from this and communicated with Gen. Gates specifically which officers had crossed that line. Unfortunately, there were few if any British officers that reined in their men like Marion did, and the civilian population in South Carolina took the brunt of this immoral use of military troops directly on families, their livelihood and their property.

-SF1

July 1780 Continentals Attempt Quick Victory Against British in South Carolina

13JUL1780: Major General Horatio Gates (BLUE) arrives in Hillsborough, NC. He served the British army before he moved to the American Colonies and volunteered as a Staff Officer in the Continental Army in 1775. In September and October 1777 he commanded the army that defeated the British invasion from Canada at Saratoga, NY. He sends out notice to all Continental officers still at liberty in the south to join him as soon as possible.

Note that for South Carolina forces alone, most regiments were at 10% strength as compared to their JAN1780 numbers. While SC Governor John Rutledge fled to North Carolina before MAY1780, SC Lt. Governor Christopher Gadsden was a POW, as well as 10 of 13 officers (Major General Lincoln, Brigadier Generals and Colonels) in the highest ranks. In addition to this, the British have occupied SIX major areas of South Carolina since the fall of Charleston on 12MAY1780.

One would think that this is the low ebb for the patriot/rebel cause in South Carolina, but things are going to get much worse before they get better.

25JUL1780: Gates meets Major General Baron DeKalb at Deep River, NC (just south of Greensboro) and assumed command of the Southern Military Department of the Continental Army. Lt. Colonel Francis Marion (decades later called “Swamp Fox”) and Lt. Colonel Peter Horry along with 20 others including servants are present to offer their services and receive direction.

27JUL1780: The Continentals and the SC militia unit start their 150 mile march toward Camden, SC. Faulty intelligence and a route that offered little in the way of food for these troops meant that their condition upon arrival in South Carolina will not be good.

03AUG1780: The Continentals and SC militia are joined by NC militia at the Pee Dee River in Anson County, NC. A week later Lt. General Lord Cornwallis would lead his British forces north from Charleston, SC for a showdown.

Stay tuned.

SF1