Historyman blogs…
Ferguson was frustrated. At the Battle of Wofford’s Iron Works (Spartanburg) on August 8, 1780 American Col. Isaac Shelby and his frontiersmen played cat and mouse with Cornwallis’ man and eluded his British force with taunts and jeers on a hillside out of musket range.(1) This came just a little over a week after Loyalists surrendered …
Two ladies loyal to the King helped Tarleton put another jewel in his Crown while the “Gamecock” was saved by cattle, sheep and a low hanging branch. On August 15, 1780, the day before Camden fell, Col. Sumter won at Cary’s Fort. Guarding the Wateree crossing, Cary’s Fort was located on the west side of …
Perhaps the story of British occupation is best taught through the perils of the women on the home front, especially those of the frontier settlements. Forced to reckon with Indian raids and bands of outlaws, these were not the women of the genteel plantations in the parishes outside of Charleston along the Cooper, Ashley, Stono, and …
Hannah’s Cowpens near the intersection of SC Hwy 11 and Hwy 221, near the North Carolina line was; once again, an army camp. In October 1780 it was the Patriots chasing British Major Ferguson on their way to Kings Mountain. They had camped on these grounds to cull out a “flying column” of riders to …
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1777 Northern Theater of American Revolution “Too Cautious” was the description of General Gates by his subordinates at the battles at Saratoga. Indeed, Benedict Arnold’s ultimate treason of the American cause had much to do with his dissatisfaction of General Horatio Gates; who he called ‘the greatest poltroon in the world and many other genteel qualifications.’ Major General …
Captain Johnson had a hard time wrestling Tory Captain Patrick Moore into submission. Moore and his Loyalist sympathizers had been on the run from their defeat at Ramsour’s Mill near Lincolnton, NC for 12 days and were not too willing to fall into the hands of these Liberty Men. At six foot seven inches tall(1), Moore was …
They came in droves, as if the flood gates had opened on some Scots Irish dam across the sea. With their recent inclusion into the United Kingdom they sought freedom and land in the British colonies as new British subjects. They disembarked at New York, Philadelphia, Wilmington and Charleston. They pooled money and families together and …
Col. William Davie yelled to the British at Hanging Rock in Lancaster county, \”Soldiers, if you value your lives, ground your arms, and officers surrender at once!\” They didn\’t. He won. He later harassed Cornwallis\’ 2000 man army in the streets of Charlotte with only 150 cavalry, and was probably the reason Charlotte was called a …
A mass grave in Lancaster, South Carolina entombs 113 men from Virginia who died at the hands of British soldiers! Eyewitnesses said the Virginians were throwing down their guns and trying to surrender when the British soldiers, led by Colonel Tarleton, began hacking them to death with their swords. Another 150 men were treated for severe injuries in …
\”My hearers,\” he said, in his broad Scotch-Irish dialect— \”talk and angry words will do no good. We must fight!\” Highway 97 in York and Chester counties was part of the New Acquisition District during the revolutionary war. We find stories of valor and intrigue dotting the various communities along that holy thoroughfare. Reverend William Martin preached a …
Murder or self defense? You would be hard pressed to second guess a man like Josiah Culbertson. A Hunter and tracker, he would join one Patriot band and then another as a situation arose. At times he served under Col Roebuck\’s Spartan Regiment and Col. Shelby’s “Over the Mountain Men.\” He was a true Son of Liberty. …
When asked his name Noah replied, “Hampton.” Enraged, “they cursed him for a Rebel, and ran him through with a bayonet.”(1) Yet the British were having the worst of this running battle from July 12-16, 1780. Loyalists Captain James Dunlap ran into the Hampton’s, Capt. John Jones and other Patriots under General McDowell in and around Landrum. Night raids were made …
Victory thwarted by treachery and deceit in July of 1775! Patriot Major James Mayson\’s men successfully snatch the gunpowder and supplies from Fort Charlotte (Savannah River) on the 12th. But they lose it 5 days later when the militia at Ninety Six turn back to the Crown. Mayson\’s men march into Ninety Six and are …
The Patriot fires blazed hot by the banks of the Broad River on November 9, 1780. Colonel Thomas Taylor had convinced General Sumter of prudent measures against an impending attack.British Major Wemyss and his band of loyalists charged into the light of the fires, intent on finally killing General Thomas Sumter and his warriors. What they found …
