ARP275 The War Goes Dutch

We last looked in on European affairs in Episode 252, when the summer of 1780 saw several riots in London and Dublin thanks to difficulties caused by the American Revolution.

British-Dutch Naval Battle, 1781

British leaders increasingly found themselves in a political bind.  The war that started with the colonial rebellion in North America had spread, first to France in 1778, then Spain in 1779.  Britain was used to going to war with these traditional enemies.  But usually it had a few European allies by its side.  In this war, Britain was not only fighting its own colonists, and two of its traditional foes, but was also doing so alone as its traditional allies in the German states and Portugal were mostly sitting out this one.  They provided a few paid mercenaries, but major powers like Prussia were not fighting along Britain's side against powers like France and Spain.

Despite the forces allied against it, by late 1780, Britain decided it was time to add a third enemy combatant to the war, the Dutch Republic.

Anglo-Dutch Relations

I should say at the outset that the Dutch Republic was not really a republic as we use that word today. The people were not electing their leaders or anything crazy like that.  Seven small nation-states had united in a confederation to provide mutual defense protection against outside enemies, primarily France at the time, but also Austria.  The Dutch government met in the Hague, where representatives from each state could debate and vote on important issues.  As a confederation, the individual states largely ruled themselves for internal matters, coming together for issues involving foreign policy and military defense. By this time, however, states sovereignty had been reduced as the states were effectively controlled by the monarch who led the powerful House of Orange.

For most of the prior century, Britain and the Dutch Republic had largely been allies.  Both countries were protestant, which naturally, created some common interest against the Catholic powers of Europe that wanted to destroy them.  

British and Dutch leaders had gone to war three times between 1652 and 1674.  The Dutch had developed a formidable navy and trading fleet that was a challenge to British colonization and international trade.  

Oliver Cromwell

The First Anglo-Dutch War began under Oliver Cromwell when the English demanded they be recognized as “lord of the seas’ and ordered all foreign vessels to salute them.  Britain used Dutch refusals as an excuse to capture Dutch merchant fleets and enforce Britain’s monopoly trade with its colonies.

After England restored its monarchy with Charles II, the two countries went to war again in the 1660s, largely to limit the growing power of the Dutch East India Company.  It was during this war that the British took the New Netherlands colonies from the Dutch and renamed them New York.  That said, the Dutch mostly got the better of the fighting in this war.  In the Raid on Medway against Britain, the Dutch fleet destroyed or captured more than a dozen British ships of the line, forcing King Charles to sue for peace.

The Third Anglo-Dutch War only five years later in the 1670’s saw an unusual alliance of England and France against the Dutch.  King Charles II of Britain cut a deal with the King of France, who was trying to capture the Spanish Netherlands, an area that today is part of Northern France and Belgium.  King Louis paid off King Charles to provide some support to France.  The British king went along because the money gave him some independence from Parliament.  

Unsurprisingly, Parliament opposed the war, in part because it was giving the King more political leverage over them, and also because Protestant Parliament did not want to fight a war alongside Catholic France and against the Protestant Dutch Republic.  Parliament cut off other funds for the war and stopped repaying the King’s debts, leading to a domestic financial crisis.  

The Dutch did surprisingly well against the combined forces of France and Britain, using privateers to capture several thousand British and French merchant ships.  When Parliament cut off the King’s funds, he had to sue for peace and the war ended rather quickly.

For the next century though, Britain and the Netherlands got along pretty well.  There were the occasional trade disputes, but nothing that led to an all-out war.  Things got much better about a decade after the third Anglo-Dutch War.  The Dutch Prince William of Orange married Princess Mary of Britain, the niece of King Charles II of Britain.  After Charles died, his brother, Mary’s father, became King James II.  The Parliament then got rid of James II for being too Catholic, resulting in the Glorious Revolution of 1689.  So, despite the fact that William had been leading a war against Britain less than two decades earlier, now Parliament invited the Dutch Prince William and his wife Mary to become  the new King and Queen of Britain.  Royal intrigue can be funny that way.

Anyway, after the British-Dutch alliance brought about by the Glorious Revolution, the Dutch Republic became much weaker as the British East India Company dominated world trade and the British Navy dominated the seas.  The Dutch mostly tried to stay out of wars and had remained neutral in the Seven Years War.  

William V

When the American Revolution began, William the V ruled the Dutch Republic.  William’s title as stadtholder, rather than king.  That said, the position was largely the same as a king.  The stadtholder served as the head of government and as commander-in-chief of the army.  It was also an inherited position.  But it wasn’t always filled.  Before and after William III, the position was empty for decades.  The Prince of Orange in the Netherlands tended to be the most powerful man in the Dutch Republic, but he did not always have the title of stadtholder.

William V,
Prince of Orange

After William III died childless in 1702, the British monarchy went to his sister-in-law, Queen Anne.  His title as Prince of Orange in the Dutch Republic went to his cousin John William Friso, who also held the position of stadtholder of several individual states within the Dutch Republic.  After Friso’s death in 1711, his son became William IV, Prince of Orange.  William IV revived the position of Stadtholder of all the United Provinces in 1747 during the War of Austrian Succession.

When William IV died of a stroke a few years later in 1751, he was only 40 years old.  His son, William V inherited his titles and positions.  The problem was that William V was only three years old at the time.  The practical requirements of leadership during his youth were handled by his mother and grandmother until their deaths.  Another man, Duke Louis Ernest, ended up serving as the military commander and eventually as co-regent after William’s mother died. The Duke was from the German State of Brunswick, but had family ties to both Prussian and Austrian leaders. William IV (William V's father) had appointed him a field marshal in the Dutch Army.

William V turned 18 in 1766 and took over his duties as stadtholder, but kept on the Duke as a counselor.  The Duke helped to arrange William’s marriage to Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia.  She was a niece of Frederick the Great of Prussia and a cousin of George III of Britain.

While William was the titular leader of the Dutch Republic, he was not a particularly powerful leader.  It seems that Duke Ernest and William’s wife Princess Wilhelmina vied for most of the behind the scenes power.  William seemed happiest focusing on his art collection.  He opened an art gallery in the Hague in 1774.  When the war began in America the following year, he was still only 27 years old.

The Dutch in the American Revolution

The goal behind all the strategic marriages among European royalty was that they were supposed to help maintain good international relations.  After all, you wouldn’t want to go to war with a country where your daughter was Queen and where your grandson would someday rule.  

This often meant, though, that leaders had allegiances and interests that were quite different from those of the people over whom they ruled.  The Dutch Republic, also sometimes called the United Provinces, had other state leaders with influence. There were also very wealthy and influential merchants who ran Dutch trade worldwide and who had their own sets of interests. 

When the British colonies rebelled in 1775, the Dutch leader, William V, tended to be pro-British and was open to supporting Britain.  He was the cousin of George III.  It also made good sense to maintain good diplomatic ties with Britain since Britain was crucial in keeping Catholic countries like France and Austria from encroaching on Dutch territory.

Initially, Britain hoped the Dutch would be an ally. George III even tried to rent some Dutch troops to fight in America, as he did with several German states.  While William was open to this alliance, other interests in the Dutch Republic quashed that idea rather quickly.

Dutch merchants, particularly powerful in Amsterdam, were opposed to any alliance that empowered Britain.  The merchants were long frustrated by Britain’s dominance of the seas, and its willingness to use that dominance to limit Dutch trade.   

All Dutch factions knew that joining a war on either side would prove costly.  As such, they attempted to remain neutral in this fight, even while different factions pursued their own interests.  British diplomats attempted to invoke several treaties to gain Dutch support.  However, as they had in the Seven Years War, the Dutch refused to get involved in the war and remained neutral.

Amsterdam merchants saw opportunity in trade with the British colonies.  This was made possible by the rebellion.  In return for guns and munitions, the Dutch merchants got rich importing tobacco and indigo from America, primarily through its Caribbean colony at St. Eustatius.  As the war began, these merchants made a fortune in this trade.

Dutch merchants made even more money after France went to war with Britain in 1778.  The British Navy blocked imports into France.  Dutch merchants could sell military goods to France at huge profits.  Based on treaties signed after the second and third Anglo-Dutch Wars, Dutch traders were guaranteed free trade to Britain’s enemies of all but a few narrowly-defined military items.  Dutch merchants were making a fortune selling ship’s supplies to France, most of which were being used to build or repair French Navy vessels that were being used against Britain.

Britain decided that, whatever the treaties said, it was going to seize and Dutch vessels trading anything with France that might advance France’s war efforts.  The Dutch merchants continued to risk the wrath of the British given the profits they were making.  When John Paul Jones sought harbor in the Dutch port of Texel aboard a captured British naval vessel, Dutch officials had to force him to leave, but allowed Jones time to repair his ship and to escape the British ships trying to catch him.

Fielding & Bylandt Affair

About the same time Jones slipped away from the British fleet near Texel, in late December 1779, British and Dutch officials clashed over another incident.  A Dutch merchant fleet of 17 ships also left Texel, supported by 5 Dutch Navy ships.  

The British caught up with the Dutch fleet near the Isle of White in the English Channel.   British commodore Charles Fielding demanded a physical search of the ships for contraband.

Admiral Bylandt

Rear Admiral Lodewijk van Bylandt, despite being badly outnumbered, refused, although he did offer to turn over the ships’ manifests.  Overnight, twelve of the seventeen merchant ships managed to sail away under cover of darkness.  The following morning, the British tried to board and search the remaining merchant ships.

The Dutch fleet opened fire, despite being heavily outnumbered.  The British returned fire, at which time the Dutch struck their colors and surrendered.  The British then seized the merchant fleet and took them to Portsmouth as prizes.  They allowed the Dutch warships to remain at sea, as long as they fired a salute to the British flagship.  The Dutch navy followed its captured merchantmen to Portsmouth, where they filed a complaint with the Dutch Ambassador.

Back in Holland, Dutch leaders were outraged by this seizure of neutral vessels, not carrying contraband.  Up until that time, the Dutch had been bending over backwards to try to comply with most of the British demands about what their ships could or couldn’t carry.  After this incident, the Dutch, removed these restrictions.

By April of 1780 the British responded by abrogating a 100 year old treaty that respected Dutch commerce.  These incidents helped encourage Russia’s creation of the League of Armed Neutrals, where neutral European countries agreed they would support each other militarily against searches and seizures of their ships on the open sea. The Dutch south to join the league in December of 1780.

Declaration of War

The Dutch Republic’s decision to join the League of Armed Neutrals created a greater diplomatic headache for the British.  Future searches of Dutch vessels could result in Russia and other countries in the League going to war against Britain as well.

To avoid this, Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic, citing a number of other issues.  In doing this, they hoped to keep the rest of the League members, especially Russia, from joining the war against Britain.  The Dutch only had about 20 ships of the line, so if the fight could be limited to them alone, the risk to Britain was not that great.  The important thing was keeping Russia and the rest of the League of Armed Neutrals from combining with the Dutch against Britain.

Russia had no desire to go to war with Britain, and seemed willing to cut loose the Dutch if they had diplomatic cover to do so.  Britain made every effort to provide that cover by arguing that the Dutch Republic was not acting as a neutral.

One issue the British raised was the Dutch granting safe harbor to John Paul Jones aboard the captured British Navy ship Serapis a year earlier.  For more details go back and listen to Episode 233.  The main issue, however, fell into British hands a few months earlier in September 1780.

Henry Laurens

Recall that the Continental Congress had sent its former President, Henry Laurens, to the Dutch Republic in order to establish diplomatic relations and secure more loans from Dutch merchants for the American war effort.  Although Congress made the appointment in October of 1779, a series of delays prevented Laurens from crossing the Atlantic until August of 1780.

The British navy intercepted Laurens’ ship, the Mercury, and took Laurens prisoner.  Laurens had attempted to throw overboard any documents he did not want captured.  The British managed to pull at least one of Laurens’ chests out of the water.  It contained a draft treaty of commerce, worked out by William Lee and an Amsterdam Banker named Jean de Neufville.

The treaty was just a draft, not written by any Dutch government officials and with no legal basis.  It was simply a document with some ideas that the two men in Europe had discussed as something the Americans hoped would be a basis for negotiating a future treaty.  The document had been carried to America, where Laurens received it in Congress.  He took it with him in hopes that he could use it as a reference point to start negotiations with the Dutch.

The British, however, presented the document as proof that the Dutch were already in the process of negotiating a treaty with the Americans, and therefore were not neutral.  As a result, the League of Armed Neutrals should not support the Dutch Republic as part of its league.

Britain’s declaration of war caught the Dutch by surprise.  The British managed to capture several Dutch warships in the West Indies, before the Dutch officers knew that the two countries were at war.  Britain also seized hundreds of Dutch merchant ships and prevented hundreds more from being able to leave port and engage in any trade.  Much of the Dutch Navy remained anchored at Texel, unable to challenge the blockading British fleet. Over the next few months, Britain would capture several Dutch colonies, including Saint Eustatius and Saint Martin.  Britain also captured all the Dutch colonies on the Indian subcontinent.  Britain attempted to capture South Africa, but failed in that effort.

Because they were so heavily outgunned, the Dutch first turned to Catherine the Great of Russia to negotiate a resolution to the conflict.  Russia agreed to mediate.  Both sides participated in the mediation, but neither was really willing to compromise and so the mediation came to nothing.

In frustration, the Dutch Republic eventually reached an understanding with France that the two countries would act in concert against Britain.  The two countries never signed a formal treaty though.

American Treaty

Given the poor state of its Navy, the Dutch Republic could do little to impact the outcome of the war.  The British strategy of declaring war on the Dutch to prevent the League of Armed Neutrals from going to war with Britain had paid off well.  

Britain’s need to maintain a blockade against the Dutch coast helped to weaken its naval forces elsewhere and may have contributed to some naval losses against France and Spain.  A third European enemy in this war was the last thing Britain needed.

After Henry Laurens got thrown into the Tower of London, John Adams took up his role with the Dutch Republic. Adams traveled from France to negotiate with the Dutch.  Adams eventually secured more loans, and by 1782 concluded a treaty of amity and commerce between the US and the Dutch Republic.

Next Week: we are back in America, where General Washington welcomes the new year of 1781 with the mutinies of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Lines in the Continental Army.

- - -

Next Episode 275 Mutiny in the Continental Army 

Previous Episode 274 Green Takes Command

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Further Reading

Websites

Anglo-Dutch Wars: https://www.heritage-history.com/index.php?c=resources&s=war-dir&f=wars_anglodutch

Anglo-Dutch Wars: https://geheugen.delpher.nl/en/geheugen/pages/collectie/Nederland+en+Engeland%3A+de+band+tussen+twee+naties/De+Engels-Nederlandse+oorlogen

The Netherlands and the American Revolution https://www.amrevmuseum.org/the-netherlands-and-the-american-revolution

Morgan, Kenneth. “Anglo-Dutch Economic Relations in the Atlantic World, 1688–1783.” Dutch Atlantic Connections, 1680-1800: Linking Empires, Bridging Borders, edited by Gert Oostindie and Jessica V. Roitman, Brill, 2014, pp. 119–38, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctt1w8h3c9.11

Scott, H. M. “Sir Joseph Yorke, Dutch Politics and the Origins of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War.” The Historical Journal, vol. 31, no. 3, 1988, pp. 571–89, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2639757

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Edler, Friedrich The Dutch Republic and the American Revolution, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1911. 

Piggott, Francis Taylor & Omond, George W. T. Documentary history of the armed neutralities, 1780 and 1800, together with selected documents relating to the War of American Independence 1776-1783 and the Dutch War 1780-1784, London University Press, 1919. 

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

Jacob, Margaret C. The Dutch Republic in the Eighteenth Century: Decline, Enlightenment, and Revolution, Cornell Univ. Press, 1992.

Jones, J.R. The Anglo-Dutch Wars of the Seventeenth Century, Longman, 1996 (borrow on Archive.org).

Schama, Simon Patriots and Liberators: Revolution in the Netherlands, 1780-1813, Knopf, 1977 (borrow on Archive.org). 

Simms, Brendan Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire, Basic Books, 2008.

* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

ARP273 Fishdam Ford & Blackstock

Last week, we left the British Army in South Carolina.  They had pulled back out of North Carolina after a hostile reception there, and the defeat at King’s Mountain.  The British spent most of the fall battling malaria and dealing with small parties of partisans who continued to harass them.

Fishdam Ford

I spent the last episode mostly recounting how Francis Marion had been causing trouble for the British.  I wanted to mention Thomas Sumter’s actions as well.  While Colonel Marion had led smaller groups, General Sumter had been able to raise larger armies to challenge British control of the Carolinas.  Sumter had managed to miss the battle of King’s Mountain because he was away from his army meeting with South Carolina Governor John Rutledge to confirm that he had the right to command.  Days before King’s Mountain, Rutledge had given a commission to a Virginia colonel named James Williams.  This forced Sumter to visit Rutledge to confirm his right to command the army.  Sumter did not actually have a formal commission.  Rutledge granted him one, but it meant that Sumter was absent at King’s Mountain.  It might have been just as well.  His rival, James Williams was killed there.

Thomas Sumter

Sumter caught up with the army shortly after the victory at King’s Mountain.  Many men had begun to return home, but Sumter convinced many to stay.  The victory also encouraged more men to join the fight.  By November, 1780, Sumter had a command of over 500 militia.  

The British became aware of Sumter’s position along the Broad River, at a place known as Moore’s Mill, about 25 miles from the main British camp at Winnsboro.  Normally, this would be a mission for British Colonel Banastre Tarleton to take on, but in early November, Tarleton was chasing down Francis Marion.  Instead, General Cornwallis assigned command of the attack to Major James Wemyss.  I’ve mentioned Wemyss before.  He was a Scottish officer in the regular army and had a long combat history by this time.  He had a reputation similar to Tarleton's, as far as brutality.  He believed in hard charging the enemy and treating the locals rather harshly.  He had spent much of the fall burning plantations and hanging traitors.

Major Wemyss led about one hundred of his regulars from the 63rd Regiment, along with forty dragoons that Tarleton had left behind.  The men rode out of Winnsboro on November 8, planning to attack Sumter’s camp the following morning at dawn.  Wemyss had received intelligence about Sumter’s position and numbers from a local Tory who we only know by the last name of “Sealy.”  

Sumter had captured this man and then paroled him after he convinced Sumter that he really believed in the patriot cause.  Upon release, Sealy rushed to the British camp to give his intelligence.  Sealy rode with Major Wemyss as a guide, but also had a special mission, to take a five-man team that would capture or kill General Sumter during the attack.

As the British patrol rode out on the night of November 8, they received new intelligence that Sumter had relocated his camp about five miles to a place known as Fishdam Ford.  At around 1:00 AM on the ninth, Wemyss stumbled across some of Sumter’s pickets, who fired and knocked the major off of his horse.  The second in command, a young lieutenant named John Stark,* ordered the regiment to charge into the enemy camp.  The alert patriots had fled into the woods and began firing on the British, who made themselves targets by passing by the enemy campfires.

The British withdrew after taking casualties.  Lieutenant Stark then ordered the men to  dismount and led them in a bayonet charge.  The patriots received the charge by returning a devastating volley at short range, creating more British casualties.

While the battle raged, Sealy led his attack team to General Sumpter’s tent.  Sumter, who had been asleep and was still not dressed, managed to slip out of the tent just ahead of the attack team.  He ran through a briar patch and hid in the creek bed.

The fighting ended rather quickly as Lieutenant Stark withdrew his men.  The British suffered four dead and about twenty wounded. The Americans similarly suffered four dead and ten wounded.  

Among the twenty five captured British soldiers was the wounded Major Wemyss.  When taken, he had a paper that recorded the men he had hanged and the plantation he had burned.  General Sumter, having returned to camp, interrogated Wemyss and found the document.  He threw it into a campfire, knowing that his men would probably hang the major if they saw it.  As it was, Sumter later exchanged Wemyss for a captured American officer.

Blackstock's Plantation

The defeat of British regulars at Fishdam Ford only enhanced Sumter’s reputation.  It also caused Cornwallis to recall Colonel Tarleton from his fruitless attempts to capture Colonel Marion.  Tarleton took command of the effort to defeat Sumter. After receiving his orders, Tarleton rode his legion back to the British camp in a hard three day ride.  Without resting, he collected more of his legion and rode out in pursuit of Sumter with about 500 men on the same day he rode into camp.

Following his victory at Fishdam Ford, locals rushed to volunteer with Sumter.  His ranks swelled to about 1000 men, many of these were overmountain men who were veterans of the King’s Mountain Battle.

Despite having a larger force than Tarleton, Sumter was reluctant to fight.  Tarleton had a reputation for defeating larger numbers of militia with his well trained and ruthless legion. When a British deserter alerted Sumter about Tarleton’s numbers and presence, Sumter called a council of war to decide how to respond.  No one seemed eager to fight Tarleton, but retreating would likely mean that they would be run down by the enemy at some point and forced to fight anyway.  Also, the patriots did not want to cede the territory to the British.  The council decided that they would find a good defensive position and fight Tareleton on ground of their choosing.

Sumter chose an area on a plantation owned by Captain William Blackstock.  Sumter left Captain Patrick Carr between the main American force and the enemy in order to provide warning of the attack.

The British legion under Tarleton lived up to his reputation of hard riding and sniffing out the enemy.  When a scouting party under Tarleton encountered Carr’s patriots, they immediately charged them causing the Americans to scatter and run.  Five men remained and tried to surrender, but they were immediately cut down by Tarleton’s men.  Later it was learned that the men trying to surrender had been loyalists, captured by Carr and were abandoned when the British attacked, but they were killed by their own side before they could make that fact known.

When Tarleton arrived at Blackstock’s farm, he had only about 270 men from his legion with him. The rest were out on extended scouting patrols. Despite being outnumbered and with the enemy on favorable ground, Tarleton opted to attack.

Battle of Blackstock's Farm

Tarleton ordered a young lieutenant named John Money to dismount eighty men from the 63rd Regiment and take out about 100 Georgia riflemen on the American left flank.  General Sumter saw this move and ordered about 400 American reinforcements to support the Georgians.  Despite being outnumbered by about 6-1, the British advanced into the field.  As frequently happened, the American militia lost their nerve, they fired a volley while the enemy was too far away, causing no real harm.  The British then charged in with their bayonets, causing the Americans to run back up the hill, past the main farmhouse where Sumter had set up command.

As the British advanced toward the main buildings, South Carolina sharpshooters under Colonel Henry Hampton took their toll.  About one-third of the advancing regulars fell, including Lieutenant Money.  Despite the fire, the regulars held their ground and returned fire.

As all this was happening, General Sumter had ridden to the American right where he ordered Colonel Edward Lacey to advance on Tarleton and the rest of his legion, who were still mounted on high ground as Tarleton watched Money’s advance.

As Tarleton began taking fire on his left, and saw Money’s division being decimated on his right, he realized he was in trouble.  Still, Tarleton charged his division across the field to support Money’s regulars.  Under fire, Tarleton dismounted, picked up the wounded lieutenant and rode off the field with him.  General Cornwallis was particularly close to Lieutenant Money and thought of him as a son.  Despite Tarleton’s efforts to save him, Money died of his wounds shortly after the battle.

As the British legion withdrew, the apparent results were a lopsided American victory.  The Americans lost three killed and four wounded. The British lost 92 killed and 76 wounded - about two-thirds of those engaged.  Some accounts put British losses even higher.

One of the American wounded was General Sumter himself.  The battle had raged for several hours before Sumter was the recipient of a British volley that hit him in the chest and shoulder.  Despite his wound, Sumter remained mounted and continued to command forces still engaged in the battle.

After the British withdrew, Sumter returned to the main house and called for a doctor, his blood loss had greatly weakened him to the point where he was barely conscious. A doctor performed battlefield surgery, removing the balls without any anesthetic.

Meanwhile, Tarleton, despite his loss, withdrew only about two miles away and prepared for a second attack the following day. He soon discovered, however, that the Americans had withdrawn.  In his reports to Cornwallis, Tarleton tried to cover the mistake he made by attacking a superior force on ground of their choosing by claiming the Americans had attacked first and that he had to defend himself. He also claimed to have taken only about fifty casualties.

Sumter, despite his injuries and the need to recuperate, called on General Gates to launch a final attack on Cornwallis at Winsboro.

Lynches Creek Massacre

Of course, Marion was also still actively fighting in December.   Many incidents did not really rise to the level of a battle, but still showed the intense violence between Tories and patriots. Colonel Francis Marion noted that he had sent Lieutenant Roger Gordon and a few men on a scouting expedition.  The party stopped at a local tavern along Lynches Creek when a larger group of loyalists under an officer named only as Captain Butler attacked them. 

According to Marion’s report, the loyalists set fire to the tavern.  Rather than be burned alive, the patriots agreed to quarter, exited the building and grounded their arms.  Once disarmed, Butler’s loyalists cut the patriots to pieces, killing all of them.  The event became known as the “Lynches Creek Massacre” and only fueled the burning hatred between the two sides.  

Around this same time, the patriots discovered the two brothers of a loyalist officer Major John Harrison, both sick and in bed with smallpox.  The patriots murdered the two loyalists in their sickbeds.

Rugeley’s Mills

Gordon’s scouting mission that ended in his death had been to seek out the position of bands of loyalists who were in the area.  The loyalists where trying to intercept patriot supply trains along Lynches Creek.  

William Washington

On December 4, the day after General Greene took command of the southern army, General Morgan deployed his cavalry under Colonel William Washington to take out a group of loyalists who were working out of a local mill owned by a loyalist Colonel Henry Rugeley.  Washington arrived at the mill with 80 Continental cavalrymen.  It appears Washington’s numbers were supplemented by several companies of local militia.

Inside the mill Colonel Rugeley had 112 loyalists.  The loyalists had fortified the mill to face an attack and dug a ditch to prevent attackers from rushing the mill.  The American cavalry opened fire on the mill, while the loyalists inside returned fire.

Washington really needed a cannon to take the mill.  Since he did not have one, he had his men cut down a pine tree and posed it to look like a cannon. Then, under a flag of truce, he informed the loyalists that they could surrender or the American artillery would blow up the mill with them in it.  Cologne Rugeley agreed to surrender and his loyalists were taken prisoner.  Washington offered parole to the surrendering loyalists and burned down the mill.

Halfway Swamp

Patriots, of course, were not the only ones who knew how to bluff in order to win a battle.

About a week later, Colonel Marion intercepted a group of loyalist recruits marching to Camden who were trying to cross at the Catawba River at a spot known as Halfway Swamp.  The recruits were being taken by British Major Robert McLeroth and a detachment of regulars from the 64th regiment.  

The American militia drove in the British pickets and began skirmishing with the main force.  Most of the loyalist recruits were inexperienced, and likely not even armed.

Major McLeroth stalled for time by sending out a flag of truce.  He complained that shooting at his pickets was contrary to the laws of war.  Marion thought it crazy that someone would argue that shooting at the enemy violated the laws of war.  That pretty much was the point of war.

McLeroth then offered to settle the dispute with a duel of sorts.  He suggested that each side choose twenty sharpshooters to fire at each other and settle the matter.  The two sides discussed the terms, such as the distance from which the two sides would fire and who would volunteer for the duel.  

Of course, McLeroth did not believe the nonsense he was spouting.  His complaints were designed to keep the Americans talking rather than attacking his force.  As soon as he had become aware of the presence of Marion’s advance guard, he sent a messenger to a group of 140 loyalists on horseback who were nearby.

As McLeroth dragged out the discussions with the enemy.  When the loyalist cavalry arrived, Marion’s militia beat a hasty retreat.

Marion, however, was not done.  After Marion’s men retreated, the cavalry once again left McLeroth to march his men to Camden on their own.  Marion set up another ambush down the road the following day.

McLeroth, fearing another attack, set up camp for the night.  He built up his campfires and made lots of noise, but sometime after midnight, the British abandoned their camp and baggage and slipped away.

Marion then rushed some of his men on horseback to get in front of McLeroth’s retreating party.  Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Horry took his men to Singleton Hill, where they set up defenses to fire on the approaching British column.  The Americans began to fire, but then immediately stopped and ran away.  It turned out that the Americans discovered that the home they were using to launch their attack was filled with a family recovering from smallpox. The patriots quickly departed.

McLeroth did finally reach Camden with his recruits.  However, rather than being praised for his clever ruse, Lord Rawdon criticized him for his failure to engage with the patriot militia, and for his failure to burn down the plantations of patriots that he passed along the way.  McLeroth decided he had enough of military life.  He resigned his commission and left for Charleston.

Long Canes

Marion, of course, was one of several partisan bands causing trouble for the British. Another British outpost near Fort Ninety-Six in western South Carolina, near the Georgia border, also remained on alert.

Elijah Clarke

On December, 12, about the same time Marion and McLeroth were dueling at Halfway Swamp, Colonel Elijah Clarke was causing problems for the British about a hundred miles to the west.  Clarke had been active in the fall, fighting at Kings Mountain and Blackstocks, but afterwards returned home to Georgia.  By December, he was back out on the march with a combined force of about 500 Georgia and South Carolina militia.  Although they were near the British outpost of Fort Ninety-Six, their goal was to recruit more militia to continue the fight.

A loyalist officer in the region, General Robert Cunningham, became aware of Clarke’s recruiting efforts and requested that Lieutenant Colonel John Harris Cruger send a force from fort Ninety-Six to disperse the rebels.  Cruger deployed loyalist Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Allen at the head of 200 battle hardened New Jersey loyalists, another 200 local loyalist militia and 50 dragoons.

As the loyalists force set out after Clarke, the Americans planned an ambush.  Clarke personally led an attack with about 100 patriot militia, forcing the loyalists to retreat despite having a larger force.  Once Allen realized the size of the attacking force, he rallied his loyalists and turned the battle back against the patriots.  The two sides clashed in a heated battle, during which Clarke was badly wounded.  His men then retreated.  During the battle and the loyalist pursuit, the Americans lost 14 killed, 7 sounded, and 9 captured.  The loyalists took lighter casualties of two killed and nine wounded.

The wounded Colonel Clarke managed to escape, but it was feared his wounds would prove mortal.  He would survive, but the popular militia colonel would be out of commission and recuperating for the next three months.

The skirmish did not end the fighting in the region.  Two days later, on December 14, patriot Colonel Joseph Hayes clashed with loyalist major Moses Buffington.  The loyalist force of about 25 men occupied a plantation along Indian Creek.  Hayes’ patriots attacked the defenders with about 50 men.  In the skirmish, Buffington and three other loyalists were wounded, and seven or eight of them were captured.

* When I originally wrote this episode, I read many sources referring to British Lt. Stark's first name being "John."  I believe these sources were in error - that someone confused Lt. Stark's name with  that of Continental General John Stark.  Other sources indicate the the British lieutenant's name was Henry Bethune Stark.

- - -

Next Episode 274 Green Takes Command 

Previous Episode 272 Chasing the Swamp Fox

 Contact me via email at mtroy.history@gmail.com

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Further Reading

Websites

Fishdam Ford: https://revolutionarywar.us/year-1780/battle-fish-dam-ford

Fishdam Ford: https://www.carolana.com/SC/Revolution/revolution_battle_of_fishdam_ford.html

Blackstock’s Plantation: https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/blackstocks-plantation

Blackstocks: https://www.carolana.com/SC/Revolution/revolution_battle_of_blackstocks.html

Lynches Creek Massacre: https://carolana.com/SC/Revolution/revolution_lynches_creek_massacre.html

Rugeley Mills: https://carolana.com/SC/Revolution/revolution_rugeley_mills_2.html

Halfway Swamp: https://carolana.com/SC/Revolution/revolution_halfway_swamp_1.html

Long Canes: https://carolana.com/SC/Revolution/revolution_long_canes.html

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Coleraine, George (ed) The Life, Adventures, and Opinions of Col. George Hanger, Picadilly: J. Debrett, 1801.

Crow, Jeffrey (ed) The Southern Experience in the American Revolution, Univ. of NC Press, 1978. 

Gregorie, Anne King Thomas Sumter, Columbia, SC: E.L. Bryan Co. 1931 (borrow only)  

Landrum, John Belton O'Neall Colonial and Revolutionary History of Upper South Carolina, Greenville, S.C., Shannon & Co., 1897. 

McCrady, Edward The History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780-1783, New York: Macmillan Co. 1902.

Weigley, Russell Frank The Partisan War: the South Carolina Campaign of 1780-1782, Univ. of SC Press, 1970 (borrow only). 

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

Bass, Robert D. Gamecock: The Life And Campaigns Of General Thomas Sumter, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1961 (Read on Archive.org). 

Buchanan, John The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas, Wiley, 1999. 

Edgar, Walter B. Partisans and Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution, New York: Morrow, 2001 (borrow on archive.org) 

Ferling, John Winning Independence: The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778-1781, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021. 

Lumpkin, Henry From Savannah to Yorktown: the American Revolution in the South, Univ of SC Press, 1981 (borrow on archive.org). 

Piecuch, Jim South Carolina Provincials: Loyalists in British Service During the American Revolution,  Westholme Publishing, 2023. 

Russell, David Lee. The American Revolution in the Southern Colonies. McFarland & Company, 2000 (borrow on Archive.org). 

Swisher, James K., The Revolutionary War in the Southern Back Bountry, Pelican Publishing, 2008 (borrow on Archive.org). 

Wickwire, Franklin B. Cornwallis and the War of Independence, Houghton Mifflin, 1971 (borrow on archive.org). 

* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

ARP272 Chasing the Swamp Fox

We’ve been away from the southern command for the last few episodes.  We last checked in on the southern command in Episode 268 when Patriot militia, primarily Overmountain men from the frontier defeated a large group of Loyalist militia under the command of British Major Patrick Ferguson.  

Francis Marion

After losing his loyalist fighters, British commander in the south General Charles Cornwallis, pulled out of North Carolina - abandoning his occupation of Charlotte to regroup in South Carolina.  Cornwallis was awaiting the arrival of reinforcements under the Command of General Alexander Leslie.  General Clinton had sent Leslie to conduct raids in Virginia.  But after the loss of the loyalists, Cornwallis requested that Leslie bring his 1500 men by sea to Charleston so that the larger force could make another push into North Carolina.

At the time, though, the Continental army in the south was more theoretical than threatening.  The southern army under General Horatio Gates was almost completely eliminated at the Battle of Camden in August.  Almost all of the Continental soldiers at the battle were killed or captured.  The militia, many from out of state, simply fled back to their homes and no longer existed as a fighting unit.  Gates, himself, abandoned the army and fled nearly two hundred miles in a matter of days to Hillsboro, North Carolina.

Despite the absence of an enemy army in his front, General Cornwallis had to spend much of his time paying attention to his rear.  Much of that was thanks to the efforts of Colonel Francis Marion. Even before the battle of Camden, General Horatio Gates had sent off Marion to harass the enemy in guerilla fighting, apart from the main army.  With the dissolution of the army after Camden, Marion was largely on his own.  He wrote to Gates regularly, hoping to get more men or supplies, but heard back nothing.  At one point, following Camden, Marion had no more than a dozen men with him.  He almost never had more than 60 or 70 at this time.  In some cases, men who had served under him had joined loyalist regiments, trying to get on the winning team.

Marion’s desperate task was to keep the rebellion alive in South Carolina and deny undisputed British control of the state.  Marion made it his goal to be the biggest headache for the British in the south following the American loss at Camden.  His focus was on disrupting travel and communications between Camden and Charleston in eastern South Carolina.

Blue Savannah

Marion was not at Camden because General Gates considered him more valuable operating in enemy territory and disrupting whatever he could.  Over the summer and fall of 1780, Marion’s men were sowing chaos among British control of South Carolina.  

Marion Rescues Prisoners

Marion began his post-Camden campaign by capturing a British detail escorting American prisoners from Camden.  In late August of 1780, Marion received word that a British force of 90 regulars were escorting 150 prisoners from the Maryland and Delaware lines who were captured at Camden to a POW camp.  Marion’s men attacked the party at night, capturing 23 of the enemy and freeing all of the prisoners.  

For some reason I don’t entirely understand, a majority of the freed prisoners expressed a desire to continue their march to Charleston, where they would be held as prisoners of war.  Marion tried to get the remainder to join his militia force, but almost all of the men dropped away over the next few days.  In the end, only three of the 150 liberated prisoners remained with Marion for any length of time.  Another 60 made their way back and rejoined their corps back in North Carolina.  

Shortly after Marion’s raid to free the prisoners, a  loyalist militia officer named Micajah Ganey attempted to capture Marion, who he learned was camped near Port’s Ferry.  Ganey raised about 250 loyalist militia and rode out to capture Marion and the 50 or so partisans that were camped with him at the time.

Marion learned about the enemy coming at him.  He could have retreated further west, but did not want to cede control of the region to the loyalists.  He also could have found good defensive ground and met the enemy on the ground of his choosing.  But Marion was most comfortable when moving.  Instead, he decided to ride toward the larger force in early September, in hopes of catching them by surprise.

Marion sent an advance guard under local Kingstree militia Major John James to locate the enemy.  When one of James’ scouts located the enemy, the major spurred his horse forward to attack.  James spotted the enemy commander among the small group of loyalist militia, and charged directly at the commander.

Just before reaching the enemy, James looked back to find out that none of his men had charged along with him, and that he was galloping at the enemy on his own.  Thinking quickly, he turned around and shouted at no one: “come on boys, here they are!” That was enough to spook Major Ganey and the loyalists with him into thinking a larger enemy force would be upon them in seconds.  They wheeled their horses and galloped away.

From a captured prisoner, Marion learned that the main contingent of loyalists was on the march about three miles away, in an area known as Blue Savannah, about 10 miles southeast of the modern town of Marion, South Carolina.  There, Marion’s forces ran into the main loyalist force. 

Since Major Ganey was not with the main force, second in command Captain Jesse Barefield was in command.  Barefield had learned how to fight as an officer serving under Marion earlier in the war.  But after receiving some slight from another officer, and getting no resolution from Marion, Barefield has resigned his commission and returned home.  He later signed up with the loyalist militia and was now facing his old commander in battle.

Barefield drew his 200 militia into a line of battle and prepared to meet Marion’s charge of about 50 horsemen.  Seeing a charge across that distance as a deadly mistake, Marion pulled up and called for a retreat.  Seeing his advantage, Barefield marched his men forward after the fleeing enemy.  Marion, however, as soon as his men were in the woods and out of sight, circled around and ambushed the enemy.  Marion’s 50 horsemen charged the enemy line, which stood and delivered volley, knocking three of Marion’s men off their horses.  The charge continued.  Marion later reported killing or wounding 30 of the enemy, while suffering for wounded among his own men.  The remainder of the loyalists fled into a nearby swamp where the horsemen did not follow.

Marion had successfully dispersed the Tory militia and had restored some hope that British control of the region was not final.  About sixty local militia soon joined with Marion, doubling the size of his force.

Black Mingo

Even before the attack at Blue Savannah, Cornwallis realized he needed to deal with Marion.  Recall back in Episode 267, in September of 1780, Cornwallis was still focused on moving his army into North Carolina and capturing Charlotte.  He deployed loyalist Major James Wemyss to take care of Marion.  Wemyss took with him a regiment of British regulars and called on any loyalist forces to provide support to rooting out Marion and his partisans.

Wemyss had to march his men 150 miles to reach Marion.  To accomplish this, he decided to mount his infantry.  Horses were difficult to come by, so Wemyss ordered all local farmers to meet with him.  When they complied, Wemyss went on a long and rambling speech about how the British were there to rescue them and that they were not doing enough to help.  The speech was not really meant to do anything.  While he spoke Wemyss had sent his men to travel to all of the farms and confiscate any horses that they found.  The farmers soon learned what had happened, but the British now had their horses and there was nothing they could do about it.

As Major Wemyss rode his mounted infantry toward Kingstree, Major James, the same officer who had tried to charge an enemy line by himself, managed to capture the rearguard of the mounted infantry.  He brought his prisoners back to Marion who interrogated them.  Marion learned that the British had assembled a force of about 800 loyalist militia and regulars in the region, while Marion had a force of only about 100 militia.  

He held a council of war with his top officers, who could not decide what to do.  Some wanted to attack despite the numbers.  Others called for them to disperse and go into hiding until the enemy also returned to other duties.  In the end, Marion agreed it was best to lay low for a while.  He dismissed most of his men, retaining a local contingent of about fifteen men to collect intelligence, and leading another 60 northward into the swamps and eventually into North Carolina.  So that he could march faster, he spiked his captured cannons and dumped them in the swamp.

With Marion’s men out of the way Major Wemyss began a campaign of destruction, burning homes, churches, and destroying whatever he could among the rebellious population.  His men shot cows, burned farming equipment and mills, and even hanged anyone they believed had participated in the rebellion, including a number of Marion’s men who he had sent home until the heat was off.

Advance on Black Mingo

By late September, Marion and his men returned to South Carolina.  By this time the loyalist militia was scattered throughout the region, camped in small groups.  Although Marion’s men had been resting for the last two weeks, they had fought another deadly enemy.  Swarms of mosquitoes had left much of his force sick with malaria.

Marion learned that loyalist Colonel John Coming Ball was camped with a few dozen loyalist militia near Dollar’s Tavern on Black Mingo Creek.  The loyalists did not realize that Marion had returned to the region, and were mostly sleeping in camp or drinking in the tavern.  Marion’s men approached the tavern after dark on September 25.  An alert loyalist picket fired an alarm shot, at which point Marion and his men charged the tavern.  

Marion figured that the British would mount a defense from the tavern. But Colonel Ball heard the alarm and led his men into a dark field to the west of the tavern.  A contingent of Marion’s force under militia Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Horry was marching toward the tavern when they unknowingly marched in front of Ball’s hidden loyalists.  The loyalists fired a deadly volley from 30 yards away, taking down three of Horry’s officers.  The rest of Marion’s force quickly realized the enemy was in the woods near the tavern and moved to intercept them.  A short fight ensued, as the loyalists retreated into nearby Black Mingo swamp.  The patriots had managed to kill or wound three of the enemy and captured or wounded another 13, taking two killed and eight wounded themselves.  Most of the loyalists had escaped, but lost their guns, horses, and supplies to the enemy.

Georgetown Parade

Following the victory at Black Mingo Creek, many of Marion’s men wanted to return home and check on their farms.  The loyalists had burned so many homes that the men needed to see to their families.  Once again, Marion’s force dwindled to about 60 men.

About a week later, in early October, Marion’s men moved on Georgetown, a coastal town which, at the time, had the second largest population in the state, behind only Charleston.  A few days earlier the British had a contingent of about 250 regulars and militia at Georgetown.  But almost the entire force had marched off for Camden in late September, just a few days after Marion had attacked the loyalists at Black Mingo.  This was when Cornwallis was still trying to secure North Carolina by taking Charlotte and just about the same time that the Overmountain men were attacking the loyalists at King’s Mountain.

The British had left a small garrison at Georgetown.  While Marion’s attacking force was larger, the garrison held a good defensive position that Marion could not take without cannon.  Marion also knew that if he hung around too long that reinforcements would arrive for the enemy and drive him out.

Instead of attacking, Marion paraded his men down main street, just to show that the British were not in control.  He captured several prominent loyalists in town, who he immediately paroled and allowed to return home.  His men then rode off with some of the horses and supplies they captured from the garrison.

Tearcoat Swamp

A few weeks later, Marion learned of a Tory militia group commanded by Colonel Samuel Tynes, about 50 miles to his west, at a place called Tearcoat Swamp.  Tynes had once been a part of the patriot militia, but had switched sides and had become a local leader for the loyalists.

Tearcoat Swamp

Along the way, Marion managed to recruit militia for the action, bringing his numbers up to around 150 men, still smaller than the 200 man Tory force that he planned to attack.  Despite their numbers, on October 25 Marion’s attackers managed to surprise the loyalist militia camped at Tearcoat swamp.  Marion’s men approached the camp through the forest at night, avoiding enemy pickets along the main road.  Marion divided his men, who attacked the camp from three directions in a night attack.  The enemy was completely unaware of the attack until after it began.  Few of them even mounted a defense.

Marion’s militia killed six of the enemy, wounded fourteen, and captured another 23. Perhaps more importantly for Marion, his men captured about 80 horses and saddles, as well as a cache of badly needed muskets.  Marion did not lose any of his men in the fight.

The bulk of the surprised enemy, including Colonel Tynes, managed to escape into the nearby woods.  Marion’s men spent the next few days tracking down the enemy.  They managed to capture Tynes at one point, but he escaped his captors and fled once again.

Tarleton Unleashed

By the time that Marion launched his attack at Tearcoat Swamp in late October, the British were reeling from their loss at Kings Mountain and Cornwallis was pulling his forces out of North Carolina and back into South Carolina for the winter. This focused even more British attention on Marion.  On top of all the military setbacks, much of the British army including Cornwallis himself was suffering from malaria.   

Banastre Tarleton

Marion’s attacks had made it almost impossible to recruit more loyalist militia or move supplies between towns without being captured.  With Cornwallis still on his sick bed, some of his junior officers took a more active role. Colonel George Turnbull had been a captain in the regular army before the war.  He had resigned his commission and settled in New York.  When the Revolution began, Turnbull raised the Loyal American Regiment of New York and soon rose to lieutenant colonel.  He took his regiment of New York loyalists to the south when Clinton took Charleston and took an ever increasingly important role under Cornwallis’ effort to subdue the south.

Turnbull requested that it was time to bring in the A-team to take out Marion’s partisans once and for all.  Everyone had come to believe that the man who could make this happen was Colonel Banastre Tarleton.  For the prior few months, Tarleton had been laid out with a bad case of malaria. A great many British officers and men were sick from the mosquito borne disease.  By November, Tarleton was ready to get back into the saddle.

The first thing Tarleton wanted to do was get more horses.  He had a combination of cavalry and infantry under his command.  He constantly had to wait for his infantry to catch up, blunting the power of his speedy advances on the enemy.  Tarleton’s men began confiscating every horse that they could find.  Soon, he had a force of 400 men, all mounted.  He also carried with him two pieces of field artillery.

By November 7, Tarleton’s force was in the field, camped at the plantation of General Richard Richardson, a patriot militia officer who had been captured at the fall of Charleston.  He was released to go home after getting sick, but died a short time after returning home. 

Tarleton knew that Marion was in the area.  He concealed most of his legion in the woods, and spread the word that they had left the area.  A few men built up large campfires to make their position obvious.  Marion received word of the loyalist encampment and led an assault force to ambush them in a night attack. He was about two miles from the plantation when he came across a rider, Captain Richard Richardson, the son of the deceased general.

Tarleton attacks a plantation

Richardson informed Marion that his force was riding into a trap, that he would find Tarleton’s full legion ready and waiting from him, and that they were backed up by artillery.  With this warning, Marion’s men retreated about six miles before dawn.  As they retreated, a loyalist prisoner that they had taken managed to escape Marion’s men.  He rode to Tarleton’s camp and informed the colonel that Marion had discovered the trap and had fled.

When Marion became aware that the prisoner had escaped, he assumed that Tarleton would learn of his whereabouts.  Instead of resting, Marion and his men continued their retreat.  The chase was on.  Tarleton’s men pursued Marion’s smaller force.  After trying to ride down the retreating patriots all day, Tarleton finally gave up and announced that “as for this old damned fox, the Devil himself could not catch him.”  It is generally believed that this resulted in Marion gaining his nickname, the “Swamp Fox.”

An exasperated Tarleton returned to the Richardson plantation where he took out his frustration on Richardson’s widow.  He dug up the general’s body to torment the family, and ordered Richardson’s widow to be flogged.  He also had his men put all of the plantation’s livestock into the barn and then set it on fire, killing all of them.  His men then burned another thirty plantations in the region, to punish the locals for providing support to Marion’s militia.

A few days later, Cornwallis recalled Tarleton.  As soon as the legion left the area, Marion and his men returned.

Next week: Despite the absence of a Continental Army in the region, the British under Cornwallis remain frustrated in their efforts to control South Carolina as General Thomas Sumter and others continue to defy British control of the state.

- - -

Next Episode 273 Fishdam Ford & Blackstock

Previous Episode 271 Advancing on Detroit

 Contact me via email at mtroy.history@gmail.com

 Follow the podcast on Twitter @AmRevPodcast

 Join the Facebook group, American Revolution Podcast 

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American Revolution Podcast Merch!

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American Revolution Podcast is distributed 100% free of charge. If you can chip in to help defray my costs, I'd appreciate whatever you can give.  Make a one time donation through my PayPal account. You may also donate via Venmo (@Michael-Troy-20) or Zelle (send to mtroy1@yahoo.com)

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Email*       

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Further Reading

Websites

Blue Savannah: https://www.carolana.com/SC/Revolution/revolution_blue_savannah.html

Battle of Blue Savannah: https://revolutionarywar.us/year-1780/battle-blue-savannah

Micajah Ganey: https://www.carolana.com/SC/Revolution/FMS_2022_Micajah_Ganey_Timeline.pdf

Black Mingo https://www.carolana.com/SC/Revolution/revolution_black_mingo.html

Death of the Cardplayer at Tearcoat Swamp http://departments.fmarion.edu/fmutrailcommission/cardplayer.htm

Tearcoat Swamp https://www.carolana.com/SC/Revolution/revolution_tearcoat_swamp.html

The Fox and the Hound: Francis Marion & Micajah Ganey https://www.carolana.com/SC/Revolution/FMS_2022_Micajah_Ganey_Timeline.pdf

Disney's Swamp Fox (VIDEO): https://youtu.be/-SBPnw5riLM

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Holbrook, Stewart Hall The Swamp Fox of the Revolution, Random House 1959. (borrow only) 

McCrady, Edward The History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1780-1783, New York: The Macmillan Co. 1902.

Ramsay, David The History of the Revolution of South-Carolina, from a British province to an independent state, Vol. 2, Trenton: Isaac Collins, 1785.

Simms, William G. The Life of Francis Marion, New York, Derby, 1854. 

Weigley, Russell Frank The Partisan War: The South Carolina Campaign of 1780-1782, Columbia: Univ of South Carolina Press, 1970 (borrow only). 

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

Bass, Robert D. Swamp Fox: The Life and Campaigns of General Francis Marion, Henry Holt And Company, Inc. 1959.

Buchanan, John The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas, Wiley, 1999. 

Edgar, Walter B. Partisans and Redcoats: The southern conflict that turned the tide of the American Revolution, New York: Morrow, 2001. (borrow on archive.org) 

Ferling, John Winning Independence: The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778-1781, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021. 

Lumpkin, Henry From Savannah to Yorktown: the American Revolution in the South, Univ of SC Press, 1981. (borrow on archive.org).

Oller, John The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution, Da Capo Press, 2016. 

Piecuch, Jim South Carolina Provincials: Loyalists in British Service During the American Revolution,  Westholme Publishing, 2023. 

* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.