Lt. Anthony Allaire's letter, 1781:

from Rivington's Royal Gazette, New York, February 24, 1781:

Extract from a letter from an officer [Anthony Allaire], dated Charlestown, January 30th, 1781.
This gentleman went from New York with a detachment drawn from the Provincial Brigade, which was commanded by the brave Major Patrick FERGUSON.
This letter gives the most circumstantial account yet received of the action at King's Mountain, in South Carolina, Oct. seventh.

"I think the last letter I wrote you was from Fort Moultrie, which I left a few days after.
We marched to a place called Ninety Six, which is about two hundred miles from Charleston; we lay there about a fortnight in good quarters, after which we proceeded to the frontiers of South Carolina, and frequently passed the line into North Carolina, and can say with propriety, that there is not a regiment or detachment of his Majesty's service, that ever went through the fatigues, or suffered so much, as our detachment.
That you may have some faint idea of our suffering, I shall mention a few particulars.
In the first place we were separated from all the army, acting with the militia; we never lay two nights in one place, frequently making forced marches of twenty and thirty miles in one night; skirmishing very often; the greatest part of our time without rum or wheat flour-rum is a very essential article, for in marching ten miles we would often be obliged to ford two or three rivers, which wet the men up to their waists.
In this disagreeable situation, we remained till the seventh of October, when we were attacked by two thousand five hundred Rebels, under the command of Gen. Williams.
Col. FERGUSON had under his command eight hundred militia, and our detachment, which at that time was reduced to an hundred men.
The action commenced about two o'clock in the afternoon, and was very severe for upwards of an hour, during which the Rebels were charged and drove back several times, with considerable slaughter.
When our detachment charged, for the first time, it fell to my lot to put a Rebel Captain to death, which I did most effectually, with one blow of my sword; the fellow was at least six feet high, but I had rather the advantage, as I was mounted on an elegant horse, and he on foot.
But their numbers enabled them to surround us and the North Carolina regiment, which consisted of about three hundred men.
Seeing this, and numbers being out of ammunition which naturally threw the rest of the militia into confusion, our gallant little detachment, which consisted of only seventy men, exclusive of twenty who acted as dragoons, and ten who drove wagons, etc., when we marched to the field of action, were all killed and wounded but twenty, and those brave fellows were soon crowded into an heap by the militia.
Capt. DePEYSTER, on whom the command devolved, seeing it impossible to form six men together, thought it necessary to surrender, to save the lives of the brave men who were left.
We lost in this action, Maj. FERGUSON, of the Seventy-first regiment, a man strongly attached to his King and country, well informed in the art of war, brave, humane, and an agreeable companion-in short, he was universally esteemed in the army, and I have every reason to regret his unhappy fate.
We lost eighteen men killed on the spot-Capt. RYERSON and thirty-two Sergeants and privates wounded, of Maj. FERGUSON's detachment.
Lieutenant M'GINNIS of ALLEN's regiment, Skinner's brigade, killed; taken prisoners, two Captains, four Lieutenants, three Ensigns, one Surgeon, and fifty-four Sergeants and privates, including the wounded, wagoners, etc.
The militia killed, one hundred, including officers; wounded, ninety; taken prisoners about six hundred; our baggage all taken, of course.
The Rebels lost Brig.-Gen. Williams, and one hundred and thirty-five, including officers, killed; wounded nearly equal to ours.
The morning after the action we were marched sixteen miles, previous to which orders were given by the Rebel Col. Campbell (whom the command devolved on) that should they be attacked on their march, they were to fire on, and destroy their prisoners.
The party was kept marching two days without any kind of provisions. The officers' baggage, on the third day's march, was all divided among the Rebel officers.
Shortly after we were marched to Bickerstaff's settlement, where we arrived on the thirteenth.
On the fourteenth, a court martial, composed of twelve field officers, was held for the trial of the militia prisoners; when, after a short hearing, they condemned thirty of the most principal and respectable characters, whom they considered to be most inimical to them, to be executed; and, at six o'clock in the evening of the same day, executed Col. MILLS, Capt. CHITWOOD, Capt. WILSON, and six privates; obliging every one of their officers to attend at the death of those brave, but unfortunate Loyalists, who all, with their last breath and blood, held the Rebels and their cause as infamous and base, and as they were turning off, extolled their King and the British Government.
On the morning of the fifteenth, Col. Campbell had intelligence that Col. TARLETON was approaching him, when he gave orders to his men, that should Col. TARLETON come up with them, they were immediately to fire on Capt. DePEYSTER and his officers, who were in the front, and then a second volley on the men.
During this day's march the men were obliged to give thirty-five Continental dollars for a single ear of Indian corn, and forty for a drink of water, they not being allowed to drink when fording a river; in short, the whole of the Rebels' conduct from the surrender of the party into their hands is incredible to relate.
Several of the militia that were worn out with fatigue, and not being able to keep up, were cut down, and trodden to death in the mire.
After the party arrived at Moravian Town, in North Carolina, we officers were ordered in different houses. Dr. JOHNSON (who lived with me) and myself were turned out of our bed at an unseasonable hour of the night, and threatened with immediate death if we did not make room for some of Campbell's officers;
Dr. JOHNSON was, after this, knocked down, and treated in the basest manner, for endeavoring to dress a man whom they had cut on the march.
The Rebel officers would often go in amongst the prisoners, draw their swords, cut down and wound those whom their wicked and savage minds prompted.
This is a specimen of Rebel lenity-you may report it without the least equivocation, for upon the word and honor of a gentleman, this description is not equal to their barbarity. This kind of treatment made our time pass away very disagreeably.
After we were in Moravian Town about a fortnight, we were told we could not get paroles to return within the British lines; neither were we to have any till we were moved over the mountains in the back parts of Virginia, where we were to live on hoe cake and milk; in consequence of this, Capt. TAYLOR, Lieut. STEVENSON and myself, chose rather to trust the hand of fate, and agreeable to our inclinations, set out from Moravian Town the fifth of November, and arrived at the British lines the twentieth.
From this town to Ninety Six, which was the first post we arrived at, is three hundred miles; and from Ninety Six to Charlestown, two hundred, so that my route was five hundred miles.
The fatigues of this jaunt I shall omit till I see you, although I suffered exceedingly; but thank God am now in Charlestown in good quarters."

Loyalist Robert Gray's "Observations"

Colonel Robert Gray resided in Cheraws District, South Carolina, and served as Justice of the Peace for that district in 1766. His name was listed on the roll, dated 2 September 1775, of a volunteer Rangers company from Camden District. He most likely joined the Loyalists after 1776. After the War, Gray relocated to Nova Scotia.

From "Colonel Robert Gray's Observations on the War in Carolina," South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. XI, No.3, July 1910:

The want of paying sufficient attention to our militia produced daily at this time the most disagreeable consequences. In the first place, when the rebel militia were made prisoners, they were immediately delivered up to the regular officers, who, being entirely ignorant of the dispositions and manners of the people, treated them with the utmost lenity and sent them home to their plantations upon parole and in short they were treated in every respect as foreign enemies. The general consequences of this was that they no sooner got out of our hands than they broke their paroles, took up arms, and made it a point to murder every militia man of ours who had any concern in making them prisoners. On the other hand whenever a militia man of ours was made a prisoner he was delivered not to the Continentals but to the rebel militia, who looked upon him as a State prisoner, as a man who deserved a halter, and therefore treated him with the greatest cruelty. ...

[The inhabitants of Williamsburg Township, South Carolina] carried on a continual predatory war against the rebels and sometimes surprised them at their musters. In short, they carried on the war against the rebels precisely as they had set the example and as the post at George Town supplied them with arms and ammunition they overawed and harassed Marion's brigade so much that he was obliged to leave the inhabitants of the Cheraw District at home to protect their properties while he could only call out the people of Williamsburgh Township and the neighborhood of George Town; when a small party of rebels ventured among them they were cut to pieces—when a large body invaded them, which they found they could not withstand, they hung in small parties on their skirts, harassed them with false alarms, killed their sentries, drove in their pickets, and soon compelled them to leave the country. It may not be improper to observe that the rebel militia did not at all times turn out voluntarily under their leaders, for when they were averse to an expedition they compelled them on pain of death and there have been often severe examples made of them. On the other hand the Little Pee Dee men only defended their own country and never went upon a more distant expedition than to Georgetown. The rebel militia from Bladen County in North Carolina at times also harassed the loyal inhabitants of Little Pee Dee, but with little effect. ...

Lord Rawdon finding [the rebels] had out marched him sent for Major Frazer of the South Carolina Regiment to march with it and intercept them at Lynch's Creek. They had just crossed the creek when Maj. Frazer came up with them who attacked them and routed their whole body in a few minutes. They were now exceedingly dejected; instead of 300 men under Lord Rawdon's command they had seen so many different detachments of troops superior to their whole force that they despaired [sic] of success and notwithstanding Sumpter who had carried off a number of Negroes, offered one to every person who would enlist for ten months as a dragoon to form a body of state cavalry, he could hardly procure a single recruit and he began to grow extremely unpopular. ...

We soon lost great part of the backcountry, the cruelty exercised by the rebels on our militia exceed all belief. Lord Rawdon finding he could not bring [Nathanael] Greene to action embarked for England on account of his health. ...

[F]rom this place to what is now called the Ridge betwixt Saluda and Edisto Rivers on the road to Ninety Six on one hand and from a few miles to the Southward of Santee to the Salkehatchie on the other, the inhabitants refused to submit to the rebels although left by the army and surrounded at almost every hand the enemy who were in possession of Ninety Six district and the disaffected inhabitants of the Forks of Santee, the country betwixt Salkehatchie and Savannah Rivers and all the rice lands from thence to Ashley River in short, the whole province resembled a piece of patch work, the inhabitants of every settlement, when united in sentiment being in arms for the side they liked best and making continual inroads into one another's settlements. ...

The district of Ninety Six being all this while much divided in sentiment suffered severely. The Tories in many places would neither submit nor go to Charles Town, they hid themselves in the swamp, from whence they made frequent incursions upon their enemies. When opposed by a superior force they dispersed, when the storm blew over they embodied again and recommenced their operation. A petty partisan [war] started up in every settlement and headed the Whigs or Tories, both parties equally afraid of the other, dared not sleep in their house, but concealed themselves in swamps, this is called lying out. Both parties were in this condition in general all over Ninety Six District and every other part of the province wherever it was checkered by the intersection of Whig and Tory settlements. ...

The swamps were filled with Loyalists, the rebels dare not sleep in their houses, and Sumpter irritated by the hostility of the Country, got the Catawba Indians to track the Loyalists from the swamps, which were at the same time traversed by large parties of armed rebels to kill or take the Tories. ...

Gen. Rutherford who commands the militia brigade from Mecklenburg and Salisbury is a perfect savage and bears the most rancorous hatred to Tories. ...

Ninety Six, South Carolina

Ninety Six National Historic Site, Island Ford Road

The South Carolina settlement of Ninety Six was established in the early 1700s. It was named by traders, who (mistakenly) believed that it was 96 miles from Keowee, the nearest Cherokee settlement. The town figured prominently in the Anglo-Cherokee War and also in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. In 1775, the first land battle of the Revolution south of New England was fought there. Ninety Six became a Loyalist stronghold early in the war and was fortified by the British in 1780. From May 22 to June 18, 1781 Major General Nathanael Greene, with 1,000 patriot troops, staged the longest (yet unsuccessful) siege of the Revolutionary War against the 550 American Loyalists who were defending Ninety Six.

The Cunningham Mess, part 4: A Defection, A Lie & First Blood

From The History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780, by Edward McCrady, published 1901, Macmillan & Co., ltd., South Carolina, pp. 89-92:

In the meanwhile the Congress men under Williamson and the King's men under Cuningham continued embodying their forces. Williamson lay almost a fortnight at Ninety-Six Court House, receiving those who came in and waiting for Colonel Thomson with the Rangers. Captain Richard Pearis, who, then acting with the Revolutionary party, had accompanied Mr. Drayton on his visit to the Indians, disappointed that he had not received the military position he desired, now changed sides and joined the King's party. He charged the Council of Safety with the design of bringing down the Cherokees upon the settlements to cut off all the King's men. He went so far as to make affidavit that the ammunition taken by Patrick Cuningham was on the way to the Cherokee Nation for that purpose. As it was known that he had brought the Indians who had met Mr. Drayton in September, it was naturally supposed that he was acquainted with the intentions of the Council, and his assertions were readily believed. The King's party was thus speedily swelled in numbers, while Williamson's militia came in but slowly. Williamson, however, could not believe that the Loyalists would dare to attack him, until the 18th of November, when he received certain information that they were in full march upon him and had actually crossed the Saluda River for the purpose. Major Mayson now joined him with a small party of Rangers and proposed to march at once, themselves assume the offensive, and attack their opponents in camp. A council of war was called which, as councils of war usually do, overruled this vigorous plan of operations. On the contrary, Williamson with his forces fell back to a position near the Court House, where they fortified themselves as far as they could before the appearance of the opposing forces. They had hardly closed their slight fortification when on Sunday, the 19th of November, Major Robinson and Captain Patrick Cuningham appeared with their party. A conference was called, and a meeting took place between Major Mayson and Captain Bowie on the one side, and Robinson, Cuningham, and Evan McLaurin on the other. Robinson and his party demanded that Major Williamson's militia should surrender their arms and disband. While Williamson was considering this demand two of his men were seized by the other party, whereupon he gave orders to rescue them, and thus brought on a conflict, the first bloodshed in the Revolution in South Carolina. For two hours and a half the firing on both sides was incessant. The garrison including officers consisted of 562 men, while the number of besiegers was about 1890. The siege lasted two days, during which Major Williamson's men suffered great hardship, though but one man was killed and twelve wounded; while on the other side several were killed and about twenty wounded. On Tuesday, the 21st, at sunset the King's party displayed a white flag and called a parley, in which Major Robinson renewed his former demand, allowing only one hour for answer. Captain Bowie was sent at once with the joint answer of Majors Williamson and Mayson, that they were determined never to resign their arms. In two hours Major Robinson returned with Captain Patrick Cuningham, and upon their withdrawing the peremptory demand for surrender it was agreed that a conference should take place the next morning. Accordingly, at the appointed hour, Majors Williamson and Mayson with Captains Pickens and Bowie met Major Robinson, Captain Cuningham, Evan McLaurin, and Pearis, when it was agreed that hostilities should immediately cease, that the garrison should be marched out of their improvised fort and their swivels given up, which by a secret agreement for that purpose were in a day or two privately restored. This mock surrender of the swivels was agreed upon by the leaders to appease a large party of the besiegers who, while the negotiation was progressing, demanded their surrender. The treaty further stipulated that the public differences should be submitted to Lord William Campbell the Governor on the part of the King's men, and to the Council of Safety on the part of Major Williamson and those under his command; that each party should send messengers to their principals, and twenty days be allowed for their return; that Major Robinson should withdraw his men over the Saluda River, and keep them there or disperse them as he pleased until he should receive his Excellency's orders; that no person of either party should be molested in returning home; that should reinforcements arrive, they should be bound by the treaty; that all prisoners should be set at liberty, the fortifications levelled, and the well which had been dug in the forts filled up.

1775: SC Regiment Command, per Wells

From History of South Carolina, by Yates Snowden, Henry Gardner Cutler, published 1920, The Lewis Pub. Co., page 316:

According to Well's "Register and Almanac" for 1775 the colonels of the thirteen regiments were as follows: Of the one regiment of horse, William Moultrie; and of the infantry, Charlestown district, Charles Pinckney; Berkeley County, Richard Singleton; Granville County, Stephen Bull, of Sheldon; Craven County, Job Rothmahler; Colleton County, Joseph Glover; Orangeburg, William Thomson; Cheraws, George Gabriel Powell; Ninety-six, John Savage; Camden, Richard Richardson: Forks of Saluda, Robert Starke; Upper Saluda, Thomas Fletchall; New [Acquisition] District, Thomas Neel. Probart Howarth was colonel and governor of Fort Johnson, and Owen Roberts was captain of the artillery company with headquarters in Charlestown.

The Cunningham Mess, part 2: The Ammunition

From The History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780, by Edward McCrady, published 1901, Macmillan & Co., ltd., South Carolina, page 87:

... Drayton while on his mission in that part of the country [Ninety Six District] had had a "talk" with the Cherokees, and had promised to send them a supply of powder and lead; and in compliance with this promise the Council of Safety on the 4th of October [1775] had dispatched a wagon with one thousand pounds of powder and two thousand pounds of lead as a present to them. It unluckily happened that about this time Robert Cuningham's arrest became known; whereupon Patrick Cuningham immediately assembled a party of about sixty armed men to rescue his brother. They failed in doing that, but seized the ammunition on its way to the Indians. Upon this Major Andrew Williamson, who then resided in Ninety-Six, embodied his militia for the purpose of recovering the powder and lead. He formed a camp at Long Cane, and sent a letter to Edward Wilkinson and Alexander Cameron, the Indian agents then in the Cherokee Nation, informing them of the seizure, and requesting that the matter should be explained to the Indians so as to prevent them from revenging themselves upon the people of this frontier. On the other hand, the Cuningham party represented that the ammunition had been sent to the Indians to arm them against the King's friends, who formed so large a part of that population. This unfortunate event added greatly and not unnaturally to the opposition to the government of the Congress and was of great influence in assisting the collection of a considerable force in arms between the Broad and Saluda.

Lord Cornwallis to Banastre Tarleton, Wynnesborough, Jan. 2d, 1781, seven o'clock A.M.

Dear Tarleton,

I sent Haldane to you last night, to desire you would pass the Broad river, with the legion and the first battalion of the 71st, as soon as possible. If Morgan is still at Williams', or anywhere within your reach, I should wish you to push him to the utmost: I have not heard, except from M'Arthur, of his having cannon; nor would I believe it, unless he has it from good authority: It is, however, possible, and Ninety Six is of so much consequence, that no time is to be lost.

Yours sincerely,

Cornwallis

Let me know if you think that the moving the whole, or any part of my (c.) corps, can be of use.

(from: A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781, in the Southern Province of North America, by Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton, pp 244-245)

Lt. Col. Thomas Brown & the King's Rangers

From the New Georgia Encyclopedia, "Thomas Brown (1750-1825)", by Edward J. Cashin, Augusta State University:

Commanding a regiment of loyalists known as the King's Rangers, Thomas Brown took part in several important actions in Georgia during the Revolution. ...
Born in 1750 in Whitby on the North Sea coast of England, Brown was the son of a wealthy merchant and alum manufacturer. When he was twenty-four his father outfitted a ship for him and recruited more than seventy indentured servants in Yorkshire and the Orkney Islands for a voyage to Georgia. Young Brown and his servants established Brownsborough in St. Paul Parish, above Augusta, Georgia, in November 1774. Governor James Wright appointed him a magistrate in that region.Brown's arrival coincided with the increase of Revolutionary sentiment in Georgia. He strongly opposed the efforts of the Sons of Liberty to enforce the continental association against trade with Britain. As a result the "Liberty Boys" made an example of him, almost killing him. When he recovered Brown rallied Loyalists in the South Carolina upcountry but was advised by the royal governor, Sir William Campbell, to await the arrival of British troops. Under threat of arrest by the Revolutionary government of South Carolina, Brown fled to British East Florida. He unveiled his plan for the subjugation of Georgia and Carolina to Patrick Tonyn, the governor of Florida, and he volunteered to raise a regiment of rangers who would ride with the Indians against the people on the frontier, in conjunction with the invasion of British troops along the coast. Governor Tonyn became an ardent advocate of the plan, sometimes known as the "southern strategy." Tonyn commissioned Brown as a lieutenant colonel of the Florida Rangers in June 1776.
Brown formed his regiment of rangers, recruited Indian allies, and began a campaign of harassment of the Georgia frontiers. In response Georgia staged three abortive invasions of Florida to secure the borderlands. When General Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander in chief, adopted the southern strategy in 1778, he sent an army under Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell to land on the Georgia coast, march to Augusta, and there meet Indian allies. Brown's rangers joined Campbell's regulars in Savannah and marched to Augusta. On the way they attempted to rescue Loyalists in the Burke County jail; Brown was wounded in the effort.
The Indians were slow to arrive, and a contingent of Loyalists were caught by Georgia and South Carolina militia under Elijah Clarke, John Dooly, and Andrew Pickens and defeated in the Battle of Kettle Creek on February 14, 1779. The British retreated from Augusta, only to turn on the pursuing Americans in the Battle of Briar Creek, March 3, 1779. The British victory there permitted the restoration of royal government in Georgia and the return of Governor James Wright and his council.
During the French and American Siege of Savannah in October 1779 Brown and his rangers helped defend the city. Sir Henry Clinton dispatched more troops to Georgia and South Carolina and laid siege to Charleston. When that important city fell to the British on May 12, 1780, American opposition generally collapsed. Thomas Brown and his rangers, now styled the King's Rangers, garrisoned Augusta. In 1779 Brown became superintendent of the Creek and Cherokee Indians and attempted to employ them against rebel resistance according to his original plan. In September 1780, however, Brown was surprised by a raid of approximately 600 Georgians under Clarke. In the course of a four-day battle Brown was again wounded but was relieved by British reinforcements from Ninety-Six, South Carolina. Either Brown or Lieutenant Colonel John Harris Cruger, who outranked him, ordered thirteen American prisoners hanged in accordance with Lord Cornwallis's standing order regarding those who swore to lay down their arms and took them up again.
For better protection of Augusta, Brown constructed Fort Cornwallis on the grounds of St. Paul's Church, dismantling the church in the process. He withstood a siege by continentals under Lieutenant Colonel Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, Georgians under Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clarke, and South Carolinians under General Andrew Pickens. After two weeks of fierce fighting, during which Americans dug trenches near the fort and mounted a cannon on an improvised tower, Brown, together with his rangers and their Indian allies, surrendered on June 5, 1781.
Brown was taken under escort to Savannah and paroled. When he was exchanged for an American officer held by the British, he recruited another regiment of rangers and engaged in skirmishes outside Savannah with encircling American troops under General Anthony Wayne. After Savannah surrendered, in July 1782, Brown joined the thousands of refugees who went to British Florida, only to be forced to leave when that province was returned to Spain in the peace treaty of 1783. Some Loyalists migrated to Nova Scotia, but Brown and many of his rangers settled on Abaco Island in the Bahamas. Loyalists regarded Brown as a hero and elected him to the Bahamian legislature.

Archeology at Ninety Six: Williamson's Fort

Williamson's Fort of 1775 (38-GN-2)
The trenches exposed in this area were found to enclose an area 85 by 150 feet. These trenches were found to end at three places with each of these places containing "footing holes" (post holes) for three structures. The south structure had seven footing holes that formed a rectangle 15 by 30 feet, the west structure was represented by six footings forming a square 19 by 21 feet, and the north structure had four footing holes and measured 21 by 32 feet. When matched with a 1821 map that portrayed Williamson's Fort of 1775, these three structures matched those structures identified as John Savage's barns shown on the map. A fourth building was also shown on the map, but South didn't investigate this; he simply extrapolated its location. A bastion was found just west of the south barn location. Most of the fort had been intruded upon by Holmes Fort. Very little excavation was done in the ditches (which were found to be one foot wide and two feet deep). Near the center of the area of Williamson's Fort, a rectangular pit was found measuring 3.8 by 8 feet, and 2 feet deep; thought to be a possible burial, there was no evidence of a body. A few feet to the north of the south barn, a larger shallow feature containing a two by six feet burial pit was found [pictured]. This pit contained human remains, a large pocket knife (at the hip), large brass coat buttons (near the center of the body), pewter buttons (near the rib cage), and brass wire eyes (near the ankles) (South 1972:30). It is possible that these are the remains of James Birmingham of the Long Cane Militia, who was the sole fatality in the brief conflict at the fort between Loyalists and Patriots in 1775.

(info: "A Research Design for Archeological Investigations at Ninety Six National Historic Site," SEAC 1996, by Guy Prentice)

The Siege of Williamson's Fort

From South Carolina Revolutionary Battles: Part I, Institute for Southern Studies, University of South Carolina:

In the final days of October [1775], the Council of Safety had dispatched a wagon load of ammunition as a present for the Cherokees. Patrick Cunningham's band of Tories had intercepted the shipment at Mine Creek, in present Saluda County, and had taken possession of it. If the Patriots were apprehensive that the Indians might side with the King's men in this struggle, the Loyalists were equally suspicious of the Patriots' motives in sending them ammunition. Before long, both factions were again massing troops.
The conflict finally came on November 19-21 at Ninety Six. The Patriot army under Major Andrew Williamson and Major James Mayson hastily erected a stockade fort at Savage's old field, the plantation of John Savage, some distance west of the court house town. They were invested by a Loyalist force three times their number, commanded by Major Joseph Robinson and Captain Patrick Cunningham. Thus commenced the siege of Williamson's Fort not to be confused with William's Fort or Williamson's Plantation, which will be mentioned later. During the course of the fighting, both sides sustained a number of casualties, and James Birmingham became the first South Carolina Patriot to die in the cause of Liberty. The affair ended in a truce on the evening of the 21st.

Blackstock's, According to Tarleton

From Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton's, A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781, in the Southern Provinces of North America, 1787:

On the evening of the 18th, Tarleton obtained information, that General Sumter, with upwards of one thousand men, was moving towards Williams' house, a post occupied by friendly militia, fifteen miles from Ninety Six.At daybreak next morning the light troops directed their course for Indian Creek, marched all day with great diligence, and encamped at night, with secrecy and precaution, near the Enoree River.
Another day's movement was intended up the banks of that river, which, if completed without discovery, would, perhaps, give an opportunity of destroying General Sumter's corps by surprise; or certainly would prevent his accomplishing a retreat without the risk of an action.
This encouraging hope was frustrated in the evening by the desertion of a soldier of the 63rd, and the American commander at twelve o'clock at night obtained intelligence of his danger.
Tarleton pursued his march at dawn, and before ten o'clock in the morning had information of the retreat of General Sumter:
He continued his route to a ford upon the Enoree, where he expected to gain farther intelligence, or perhaps meet the Americans.
On his arrival near that place, he found that the advanced guard and main body of the enemy had passed the river near two hours, and, that a detachment to cover the rear was waiting the return of a patrole:
The advanced guard of the British dragoons charged this body, and defeated them with considerable slaughter.
From prisoners it was learned, that the sudden movement of the Americans was owing to the treachery of the deserter, by whose information General Sumter had fortunately escaped an unexpected attack, and had now the option to fight or retire.
Though greatly superior in number, he did not wait the approach of the British, but by a rapid march endeavoured to cross the rivers in his rear; beyond which, if pressed to extremity, he could disband his followers in the woods, and without great detriment assemble them again at an appointed quarter to the northward of the Pacolet River.
The march already made by the British infantry, he imagined must soon render them unable to keep up with the cavalry; which circumstance, he flattered himself, would impede the advance of Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton, or, at the worst, produce only a partial engagement.
Influenced by such reflections, he continued an indefatigable march, which was followed without intermission by the British.
Tarleton, unwilling to divide his corps, and risk an action against a great superiority with his dragoons and the 63rd, pressed forward his light and legion infantry, and three pounder, in a compact body, till four o'clock in the afternoon; at which time it became evident, that the enemy would have an opportunity of passing unmolested the Tyger River before dark, if he did not alter his disposition:
He therefore left his legion and light infantry, who had made meritorious exertions during the whole day, to march on at their own pace, whilst he made a rapid pursuit with one hundred and seventy cavalry of the legion, and eighty mounted men of the 63rd.
Before five o'clock the advanced guard charged a detachment of the Americans, who gave ground after some loss, and retreated to the main body.
Sumter now discovered, that he could not with safety immediately attempt to pass the Tyger, and that the ground which he possessed on its banks gave him a favourable opportunity to resist the efforts of the cavalry.
Regular information of his being pressed at this period by the mounted part of Tarleton's corps had been communicated to him; which, without such report, he might have calculated by the distance and duration of the movement:
A woman on horseback had viewed the line of march from a wood, and, by a nearer road, had given intelligence that the British were approaching without infantry or cannon.
Decide by these considerations, the American commander prepared for action, and made a judicious disposition of his force:
He posted the center of his troops in some houses and out-houses, composed of logs, and situated on the middle of an eminence; he extended his right along some rails, which were flanked by an inaccessible mountain; and he distributed his left on a rugged piece of ground that was covered by a bend of the river; a small branch of water ran in front of the whole rising ground, which was called Blackstock's Hill:
The great road to the ford across the river passed through the center of the Americans, and close to the doors of houses where the main body were stationed.
The whole position was visible, owing to the elevation of the ground, and this formidable appearance made Tarleton halt upon the opposite height, where he intended to remain quiet till his infantry and three pounder arrived:
To encourage the enemy to do the same, he dismounted the 63rd to take post, and part of the cavalry to ease their horses.
Sumpter observing this operation, ordered a body of four hundred Americans to advance, and attack the 63rd in front, whilst another party approached the dragoons in flank.
A heavy fire and sharp conflict ensued: The 63d charged with fixed bayonets, and drove the enemy back; and a troop of cavalry, under Lieutenant Skinner, bravely repulsed the detachment which threatened the flank.
The ardour of the 63rd carried them too far, and exposed them to a considerable fire from the buildings and the mountain.
Though the undertaking appeared hazardous, Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton determined to charge the enemy's center with a column of dragoons, in order to cover the 63rd, whose situation was now become dangerous.
The attack was conducted with great celerity, and was attended with immediate success.
The cavalry soon reached the houses, and broke the Americans, who from that instant began to disperse: The 63rd immediately rallied, and darkness put an end to the engagement.
A pursuit across a river, with a few troops of cavalry, and a small body of infantry, was not advisable in the night; a position was therefore taken adjoining to the field of battle, to wait the arrival of the light and legion infantry.
An express was sent to acquaint Earl Cornwallis with the success of his troops, and patroles were dispatched over the river at dawn, to discover if any part of the enemy remained in a body:
Intelligence was soon brought across the Tyger, that the corps was entirely dispersed, except a party of one hundred, who remained in a compact state, in order to escort General Sumpter, who was wounded in the action.
This news, and some rumours of approaching reinforcements, impelled Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton to follow the late advantage, by pursuing the fugitives; which would prevent their rallying to assist their friends, if the report was true concerning their advance.
Accordingly, leaving a guard to protect the wounded, he again commenced his march:
The men who had remained with their general since his misfortune, upon hearing of the approach of the British, placed him in a litter between two horses, and dispersed through the woods.
After a toilsome pursuit of three days, in which a few stragglers were secured, intelligence was obtained that General Sumpter had been conducted across the country by five faithful adherents, till he was removed out of danger.
Three of the enemy's colonels fell in the action, and General Sumter received a severe wound in the shoulder. Upwards of one hundred Americans were killed and wounded, and fifty were made prisoners.
On the side of the British, Lieutenants Gibson and Cope, of the 63rd, were killed; and Lieutenant Money, aide-de-camp to Earl Cornwallis, who had commanded the detachment of mounted infantry, with great gallantry, was mortally wounded:
Another officer of the 63rd, and two subalterns of the British legion, were likewise wounded. The former corps had also thirty, and the latter fifteen, non-commissioned officers and men, with thirty horses, killed and wounded.
General Sumter made proper use of the good fortune which had manifested itself in his favour previous to the action; and if he had waited in his strong position at Blackstock's till dark, without advancing a corps to attack the 63rd, and the cavalry, he might have withdrawn, in all probability, without his adversaries' knowledge.
But, he would have been completely protected in the operation, even if they had notice of his intention; owing to the superiority of his numbers, and the advantages he derived from the situation of the ground, and the river; which could not be approached, after dark, by the British, till the light and legion infantry arrived; previous to which event, the rear guard of the Americans might certainly have passed the Tyger.
The light troops made very great exertions, to bring General Sumter to action, and the hazard incurred by the cavalry, and 63rd, was compensated by the complete dispersion of the enemy.

The Battle of Kettle Creek

Kettle Creek flows into the Little River near the Tyrone community in Wilkes County. It likely takes its name from a local fish trap, called a kittle.

During the American Revolution several incidents occurred along its banks. The South Carolina militia established a station there in 1776; an Indian attack on Robert McNabb's Fort in November 1778 resulted in McNabb's death; and in the last days of the Revolution, the rebel partisan and horse thief Josiah Dunn met his death in a skirmish nearby.

The most important event to occur at Kettle Creek, however, took place on Sunday, February 14, 1779. On that morning 600 American supporters of the British cause, popularly known as Loyalists or Tories, encamped atop a hill in a bend of the creek. They were following an established trail to the nearby Quaker settlement of Wrightsborough en route to Augusta. Aside from the defensive qualities of the position, the hill offered the new arrivals food in the form of cattle penned there.

The leader of this expedition, James Boyd, an Irishman from Raeburn Creek, South Carolina, had traveled to Georgia with a British invasion force from New York. He carried an open commission (as a colonel) to recruit southerners for the British military from settlements behind the rebel lines. Boyd left Savannah sometime after January 20, 1779, and reached Wrightsborough, deep within the Georgia backcountry, by the 24th, looking for guides to the South Carolina frontier. Within a week he established a camp near present-day Spartanburg, South Carolina. With 350 recruits he set out for Augusta on February 5. During their march south along the Indian frontier, Boyd and his followers were joined by 250 North Carolinians under the command of John Moore.

The Loyalists were ineffectively pursued by small groups of rebel militiamen. Boyd's command captured Fort Independence and the outpost at Broad Mouth Creek in South Carolina, but they declined to attack the garrison of McGowan's Blockhouse on the Cherokee Ford of the Savannah River. The Loyalists crossed the river further north at Vann's Creek on February 11. The garrison of Cherokee Ford, with reinforcements, attacked Boyd's men at the crossing but were repulsed. As Boyd and his men camped at Kettle Creek on February 14, he dispatched his prisoners to Augusta. He could not know that the British troops sent there to rendezvous with him had that morning begun a withdrawal toward Savannah.

At the same time 340 South Carolina and Georgia militiamen, under Colonel Andrew Pickens of South Carolina and Colonel John Dooly and Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clarke of Georgia, were preparing to attack Boyd's camp at Kettle Creek. They had been besieging Loyalist horsemen at Robert Carr's Fort on nearby Beaverdam Creek when they abandoned their prey to intercept Boyd's party. Four days of pursuit brought them almost to where they had started.

Pickens led his 200 men in a direct assault on the rocky hill on Kettle Creek, while Dooly and Clarke attacked the camp across the creek on the left and right respectively. Pickens's advance guard disobeyed orders and fired on the Loyalist sentries, announcing the attack. Boyd led his men in ambushing Pickens's troops while Dooly's and Clarke's men were entangled in the swamp.

Boyd fell mortally wounded, shot by a party of Georgia militiamen who had become lost and found themselves in the Loyalist camp. With their leader down, the Loyalists panicked and were driven across the creek. Boyd and nineteen of his men were killed, and twenty-two others were taken prisoner. Pickens and Dooly lost seven men, and fifteen were wounded. Counting the Loyalists who went home and later surrendered to local authorities, about 150 of Boyd's men were eventually taken prisoner. They were held at Augusta and later at Ninety Six, South Carolina. Five of their number at Ninety Six and two others in North Carolina were eventually hanged.

Two hundred and seventy of Boyd's command escaped the Battle of Kettle Creek and safely reached the British army. They were formed into the North Carolina Royal Volunteers under John Moore and the South Carolina Royal Volunteers (later the second battalion of the South Carolina Royalists Regiment). Both units virtually disappeared by the summer of 1779 because of desertions and transfers.

The Battle of Kettle Creek provided the rebel cause with a victory, however small, in the midst of a string of much larger defeats. The British had expected thousands of loyal southerners to rally to their flag and restore the whole South to the king. However, Boyd proved only able to assemble 600 men, some of whom were criminals in flight. Other men who traveled with him were allegedly coerced into joining under threats to their lives and property.

After Kettle Creek, British leaders should have realized that practical Loyalist military support in the South, if it ever existed, had disappeared.

(from: New Georgia Encyclopedia, "Battle of Kettle Creek", by Robert Scott Davis Jr., Wallace State College, Hanceville, Alabama; http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1088)

The Treaty of Ninety-Six, 1775

TREATY OF NINETY-SIX.
SOUTH CAROLINA — NINETY-SIX DISTRICT.
Whereas, misunderstandings but too often precipitate men and friends into quarrels and bloodshed, which, but for such misunderstandings, never could have happened: And whereas the present unhappy disputes between Great Britain and North America, have unhappily occasioned uneasiness between a part of the people living between Broad and Saluda rivers and other adjacent parts, and the other inhabitants of the Colony aforesaid, from misunderstandings as aforesaid, inasmuch as the said part of the people as aforesaid, having tender consciences, declined to accede to the Association signed in Congress on the 4th of June last; and the said other inhabitants thereby thinking that the said declining to accede, proceeded from principles and designs, in them the said part of the people, inimical to the proceedings and designs of the said other inhabitants; and that they, the said part of the people, did mean to aid, assist and join the British troops if any should arrive in the Colony aforesaid, during the present unhappy disputes as aforesaid: And whereas these are all misunderstandings, and it being the sincere wish and desire of all parts of the Colony to live in peace and friendship with each other: Wherefore, for the clearing up of the said misunderstandings, and for the manifestation of the wish and desire aforesaid, Colonel Thomas Fletchall, Captain John Ford, Captain Thomas Greer, Captain Evan McLaurin, the Reverend Philip Mulkey, Mr. Robert Merrick and Captain Benjamin Wofford, deputies for, and sent by the part of the people aforesaid, have repaired to the camp of the Honorable William Henry Drayton, Esquire, acting under the authority of the Council of Safety for this Colony; and, for the purposes aforesaid, it is hereby contracted, agreed, and declared by the Honorable William Henry Drayton, in pursuance of powers vested in him by the Honorable the Council of Safety as aforesaid on the one part, and the deputies aforesaid, in pursuance of powers vested in them by the said part of the people on the other part:

1st. That the said declining of the part of the people aforesaid, to accede as aforesaid, did not proceed from any ill or even unfriendly principle or design, in them the said part of the people, to or against the principles or designs of the Congress of this Colony, or authorities derived from that body, but proceeded only from a desire to abide in their usual peace and tranquility.2d. That the said part of the people, never did mean to aid, assist or join the British troops as aforesaid; and hereby it is declared, that if at any time during the present unhappy disputes between Great Britain and North America, any British troops shall or may arrive in this Colony, the deputies aforesaid, for themselves and the part of the people aforesaid, by whom they, the said deputies, are authorized, and whom they do represent, declare that if any British troops as aforesaid, shall arrive as aforesaid, they, the said deputies, on the part of the people aforesaid, shall not, and will not give, yield, or afford, directly or indirectly to, or for the use, advantage or comfort of the said British troops, or any part of them, any aid or assistance whatsoever, or hold with them the said troops, or any part of them, any communication or correspondence.
3rd. That if at any time during the unhappy disputes as aforesaid, any person or persons of the part of the people aforesaid, shall, by discourse or word, reflect upon, censure or condemn, or by any conduct oppose the proceedings of the Congress of this Colony, or authorities derived from them, the said Congress, the Council of Safety, or General Committee, as the case may be, shall, without being deemed to give any umbrage to the part of the people aforesaid, send to any of the deputies aforesaid to make requisition, that any and every such person or persons as aforesaid, offending in any of the premises aforesaid, against the proceedings of the Congress or authorities aforesaid, may, and shall be delivered up to the authority of the Congress, or the tribunals under that authority, to be questioned and tried and proceeded against, according to the mode of proceedings by authority of Congress; and if such person or persons as aforesaid, be not delivered up as aforesaid, within fourteen days after requisition as aforesaid; then, in such case, the Congress or Council of Safety, or General Committee, may, and shall be at liberty to use every means, to apprehend any, and every such person or persons as last aforesaid; and question, try, and proceed against as aforesaid, every such person or persons as aforesaid.
4th. That if any person or persons who has, or have signed, or shall sign the Association aforesaid, shall, without authority of Congress, molest any person or persons of the part of the people aforesaid, in such case, application shall be made to the said Congress, or Council of Safety, or General Committee, in order that such person or persons so molesting, be punished for, and restrained from molesting as aforesaid.

And it is hereby declared, that all and every person of the part of the people as aforesaid, not offending in or against any of the premises aforesaid, shall, and may continue to dwell and remain at home as usual, safe in their lives, persons, and property. Such being nothing more, than what has been, and is the aim, intention and inclination of the Congress of this Colony, and the authorities under that body.
All persons who shall not consider themselves as bound by this treaty must abide by the consequences.
Done at the camp, near Ninety-Six, this 16th day of September, 1775.
WM. HY. DRAYTON,
THO. FLETCHALL,
JOHN FORD,
THO. GREER,
EVAN McLAURIN,
BENJ. WOFFORD.
Witness,
WM. THOMSON,
ELI KERSHAW,
FRANCIS SALVADOR.

South Carolina Districts & Counties, 1785

(click image to enlarge)

The 1785 act gave the Cheraws District the counties of Chesterfield, Marlboro, and Darlington; it divided Camden District into York, Chester, Fairfield, Lancaster, Richland, Claremont, and Clarendon counties. It gave Ninety-Six District the counties of Spartanburg, Union, Laurens, Newberry, Abbeville, and Edgefield. And it divided Orangeburg District into Orange, Lewisburg, Lexington, and Winton (an early version of Barnwell) counties.

(Source: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, http://www.state.sc.us/scdah/guide/countymap2.htm)

South Carolina Districts, 1769-1784

(click image to enlarge)

Georgetown District extended from the North Carolina line to the Santee River. Charleston District lay between the Santee and the Combahee Rivers. Beaufort District sat between the Combahee and the Savannah Rivers. Northwest of Georgetown was the Cheraws District, bounded on the west by Lynches River; west of the Cheraws was the large district of Camden, bounded on the west by the river system of the Santee, Congaree, and Broad; south and west of Camden, two more large districts extended to the Savannah River—Orangeburg District to the south, and Ninety-Six District to the north.

(Source: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, http://www.state.sc.us/scdah/guide/countymap2.htm)

Samuel Campbell Clegg (1740-1779)

There's a great little book, Partisans & Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution, by Walter Edgar, © 2001. It focuses on the South Carolina campaign, which, much like Washington's January 1777 Battle of Princeton, was an ultimate tide-turner when things were going terribly wrong for the patriots. Most interesting (to me, at least) was how, between the covers of this book, the Neels, McDowells, and other ancestors of mine all came together in this relatively small area of the Carolina backcountry, the Waxhaws. Apart from the patriots, though, I have to remember my loyalist 6x great-grandfather Samuel Campbell Clegg.

After the successful siege of Savannah by the British forces, a Colonel Boyd was dispatched to recruit a band of Loyalist militia in the back country of the Carolinas and to join the British forces in Augusta, Georgia. Colonel Andrew Pickens and his patriot forces planned to engage the Loyalists before they could cross the Savannah River. However, his scouts discovered the Loyalist band of about 600 men encamped on Kettle Creek, near present day Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia. On 14 February 1779 the Loyalists were surprised and defeated by the Whigs commanded by Colonels Andrew Pickens, John Dooly and Elijah Clarke. About 20 men were captured and 78 surrendered. All were marched to the stockade in Augusta, Georgia.
South Carolina authorities proclaimed the men criminals under civil jurisdiction, rather than prisoners of war; and most of them were marched to the Ninety Six jail in South Carolina. "On March 8, the prisoners crossed the Savannah and were held one night at Mathis Pond near Edgefield. A second night they were crowded into an unsanitary, cramped bull pen on Williamson's [Col. Andrew Williamson] Whitehall Plantation. They arrived under guard at the Ninety Six jail on March 10." They were charged with sedition and treason, crimes punishable by hanging and forfeiture of all property. For various reasons, about half of the men were released and charges dropped. About 20 men were sentenced to death and scheduled to be executed on April 17. The men were transferred to Orangeburg for security reasons. All but five men were granted reprieves and those were marched back to Ninety Six where they were hanged at Star Fort in late April 1779. The five men were Samuel Clegg, James Lindley, John Anderson, Aquilla Hall, and Charles Draper. (Source: Wikipedia)

Within Col. Elijah Clarke's command were my 5x great-grandfather William Lewis Queen, his brother (my uncle) Samuel Queen, and my 4x great-grandfather Joseph Wise. William Lewis Queen had been previously wounded and captured by the Tories, and imprisoned for about six weeks at Ninety Six. He probably had few regrets about what went down in 1779, but who knows. Seems the Southern campaign during the Revolution was essentially a civil war, loyalists vs partisan patriots, sometimes brother vs brother, with few Brits involved outside the officers. Very emotionally complex times.