of the Southern Theatre to Lt.Gen. Charles Cornwallis and onJune 5, he sailed north back to NewYork. On May 18th Cornwallis and2,500 British troops marched out ofCharleston with orders fromClinton to subdue the Carolinabackcountry and establish outposts.The British quickly established out-posts at Georgetown, Augusta,Georgia, and positions at Camden,Ninety-Six, Cheraw, Rocky Mountand Hanging Rock in SouthCarolina. The British would con-tinue to occupy Charleston untilDecember 1782, well after theirsurrender at Yorktown in Octoberof 1781.

THE BATTLE OF THE WAXHAW’S(Buford’s Massacre) May 24, 1780 Colonel Abraham Buford led aforce of 350 Virginian Continentalsof the 3rd Virginia Detachment toassist the Patriot forces in the Siegeof Charleston. Before arriving, theylearned that the city had alreadybeen captured by the British, andthey turned back to Virginia.

British Colonel Banastre Tarletonheard that South Carolina’sGovernor John Rutledge was trav-eling with Buford. Anxious to cap-ture Rutledge, Tarleton pursuedwith a force of roughly 230 men,consisting of 130 Legion dragoons,100 Mounted British Legioninfantry, and a three-pounder can-non. Buford’s troops were at least10 days ahead of Tarleton. SinceBuford had such a large lead onthem, Tarleton was given discretionby Cornwallis to continue the pur-suit, turn back, or attack Buford ifhe caught up with him. Ridingnight and day, Tarleton’s mencaught up with the Patriots by cov-ering more than 100 miles in 54hours. Buford learned of Tarleton’sapproach and sent Rutledge, with asmall detachment, to continue toHillsboro while the remainder ofthe Patriots would stop and engagethe British.Tarleton sent a messen-ger ahead requesting that Bufordsurrender. In the message, Tarletonexaggerated his forces in hopes of

scaring Buford into surrendering.Buford declined surrender by reply-ing: “Sir, I reject your proposals,and shall defend myself to the lastextremity. At 3pm on May 24th,Tarleton caught up with Bufordnear the Waxhaw’s District inSouth Carolina, 185 miles north ofCharleston and 6 miles south of theNorth Carolina border. Tarleton’sBritish Dragoon Cavalry chargequickly routed Buford’s forces. Thebattle lasted for about 15 minuteswith Buford quickly flying a white

flag of surrender. During thecharge Tarleton’s Horse was shotout from under him, and his men,thinking that their commander hadbeen shot and killed under a flag oftruce, angrily attacked again. Theyslashed at anyone and everyone,including men who were kneelingwith their hands up in surrender.The Patriots claimed that Tarletonhimself ordered the renewed attackbecause he didn’t want to botherwith taking prisoners. Based on hisaggressive style and zeal for brutalcharges in other engagements, thePatriot claims are usually givenmore credence. Tarleton became

known as “Bloody Ban”, and “Banthe Butcher”. For the remainder ofthe war in the South, “Tarleton’sQuarter” meant to show no mercy.“Buford’s Massacre” became a rally-ing cry for the Patriots. Before themassacre, popular opinion held thatthe Southern states were lost to thePatriot cause and would remainloyal to Britain. The reports of theWaxhaw Massacre, however, mayhave changed the direction of thewar in the South. Many who mighthave stayed neutral flocked to the

Patriots, and “Tarleton’sQuarter!” and“Remember Buford”became rallying cries forthe Whigs.

THE BATTLE OFWILLIAMSONPLANTATION (Huck’s Defeat) July 12, 1780 Around the first of June,1780, the British armyestablished a fortified out-post at Rocky Mount onthe upper Catawba River,near the North Carolinaborder, and placed a gar-rison there underLieutenant ColonelGeorge Turnbull, a careerBritish officer . In earlyJuly, Turnbull orderedChristian Huck, aPhiladelphia lawyer and acaptain in Tarleton’sBritish Legion, to find

the rebel Patriot Whig leaders andpersuade other area residents toswear allegiance to the king. Anative of Germany, Huck was oneof many Pennsylvania Loyalistswhose property was confiscatedafter the British evacuatedPhiladelphia. He was then banishedfrom the state and joined theBritish army at New York. Huckheld a great deal of bitternesstoward the Patriots in general, andthe Scotch-Irish Presbyterians inparticular. During an earlier incur-sion into what was is now ChesterCounty, South Carolina, his troopshad murdered an unarmed boy,

reportedly while he was reading aBible, and burnt the home andlibrary of Rev. John Simpson, aWhig leader and influentialPresbyterian minister. A week later,Huck and his men invaded theNew Acquisition District of YorkCounty, South Carolina, anddestroyed the ironworks of WilliamHill, another influential Whig.

Huck’s style in the Catawba RiverValley was to rough-up backcoun-try women, confiscate food andhorses, and generally threatenprison and death to any who daredresist the British. This simplyencouraged more men to join therebels, who were organizing a mili-tia brigade under Brigadier GeneralThomas Sumter. On July 11, 1780,Huck raided the home of thePatriot leader Captain JohnMcClure on Fishing Creek in pres-ent-day Chester County, caught hisbrother and brother-in-law withnewly made bullets, and sentencedthem to hang as traitors at sunrisethe next day. Huck’s detachment,consisting of about 35 BritishLegion dragoons, 20 New YorkVolunteers, and 60 Loyalist militia,then advanced once more into theNew Acquisition and arrived at theplantation of another Whig militialeader, Colonel William Bratton,later that evening. Shortly there-after, one of Huck’s soldiers put areaping hook to the neck of Col.Bratton’s wife, Martha, in an unsuc-cessful attempt to discover Bratton’swhereabouts. Huck’s second-in-command, Lieutenant WilliamAdamson of the New YorkVolunteers, intervened and disci-plined the offending Loyalist sol-dier. Huck next arrested three eld-erly neighbors of the Brattons,including Col. Bratton’s olderbrother Robert, and told them theytoo would be executed the next day.

Huck then proceeded a quarterof a mile southeast of Bratton’splantation to the neighboring houseof an elderly Whig named JamesWilliamson, where he and hisapproximately 115 men made campfor the night. The five prisonerswere secured in a corncrib to await

execution.With intelligence provided by

John McClure’s younger sister,Mary, and a Bratton slave namedWatt, the loosely organized Patriotforces swarmed after Huck. About150 arrived in the vicinity ofWilliamson’s plantation that night,commanded by experienced militiaofficers. Huck’s security wasextremely lax. Shortly after sunrise,at least two of the Patriot groupsmanaged to attack simultaneously.The British and Loyalist troopswere caught completely by surprise,many were still asleep. The Patriotmilitia rested their rifles on a splitrail fence, from which “they tookdeadly aim at their opponents asthey emerged.” Huck mounted ahorse to rally his troops and wasshot in the head by John Carroll,who had loaded two balls in hisrifle. Some of the Loyalists surren-dered while others fled, hotly pur-sued by Whigs seeking vengeance.Tory losses were very high.Tarleton later reported that onlytwenty-four men escaped. Patriotlosses were one killed and onewounded; the five prisoners werealso released from the corncribunharmed.

Although the numbers engagedwere small, the importance of theskirmish was immediately clear, theentire backcountry seemed to takeheart. Frontier militia had defeatedsoldiers of the feared BritishLegion. Volunteers streamed in tojoin the patriot militia brigade ofGeneral Thomas Sumter. Huck’sDefeat was a major turning point inthe American Revolution in SouthCarolina. It was the precursor andled the way to the major Patriotvictories at King’s Mountain inOctober and Cowpens in January1781.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR BATTLESIN NORTH CAROLINA

The Battle of Ramseur’s MillLincolnton, North Carolina June 20, 1780.

British Loyalist (Tories) wereencamped at Ramsour’s Mill

through the efforts of Lt. Col. JohnMoore and Maj. Nicholas Welch.These officers left the victoriousBritish on the march fromCharleston and arrived at theirhomes in North Carolina early inJune. By June 20, a force of 1,300zealous British loyalists had collect-ed at Ramsour’s Mill, and wasactively engaged in their organiza-tion and military training to marchand unite with the British in SouthCarolina. They occupied a well-chosen and advantageous positionfor offense and defense. It was on ahigh ridge that slopes three hun-dred yards to the mill and Clarke’sCreek on the west. Militia Patriotleader Col. Francis Locke collecteda force of 400 Rowan andMecklenburg militia to engage theTories. His troops met at MountainCreek, 16 miles from Ramsour’s onMonday, June 19th. The mountedPatriots were under the commandof Captains McDowell, Brandon,and Falls, marching slowly towardthe Tories position they followedthe road due west to the camp, andwere not to attack until the foot-men under Col. Locke coulddetour to the south, and make asimultaneous assault.

The mounted men came upon aTory guard some distance from thecamp, were fired upon, and chargedthe camp, but recoiled from theirdeadly fire. The shots hurriedLocke into action, and a like volleyfelled many of his men. Atop theridge, Colonel Francis Locke wasunable to reform his line andordered a retreat; however, CaptainJohn Dickey disobeyed ColonelLocke’s orders to retreat and led hiscompany to an advantageous posi-tion, where their marksmanshipsoon turned the battle into victory.When ordered by his superior offi-cer, Colonel Locke, to retreat, hesoundly swore, that he would notretreat. Captain Dickey called out,“Shoot straight, my boys, and keepon fighting; I see some of thembeginning to tumble.” The Patriotsrenewed the action, which soonbecame furious on both sides.

The Patriots made a charge

beyond the crest of the ridge, and,advancing from tree to tree, withunerring aim picked off the enemy’sofficers and men, and hastened thetermination of the conflict. Whenthe Patriots reached the summitthey saw the Tories collectedbeyond the creek, with a white flag

flying. Captain Dickey was creditedwith saving the day at the Battle ofRamsour’s Mill.

THE BATTLE OF CHARLOTTECharlotte, NCSeptember 26, 1780 The battle took place at theMecklenburg County CourtHouse, which is now the site of theBank of America tower at Tradeand Tryon Streets in uptownCharlotte. Following his successfulrouting of a second ContinentalArmy at Camden in August 1780,British General Lord Cornwallispaused with his army in theWaxhaw’s region of northern SouthCarolina. Believing British and Loyalistforces to be in control of Georgiaand South Carolina, he decided toturn north and address the threatposed by the Continental Armyremnants in North Carolina. Inmid-September he began movingnorth toward Charlotte.Cornwallis’ movements were shad-owed by Patriot militia companiesfrom North and South Carolina.One force under Thomas Sumter

stayed back and harassed Britishand Loyalist outposts in the SouthCarolina backcountry, while anoth-er, led by Major William R. Davie,maintained fairly close contact withportions of his force as Cornwallismoved northward. Davie success-fully surprised a detachment ofCornwallis’ Loyalist forces atWahab’s Plantation on September20, and then moved on toCharlotte, where he set up anambush to harass Cornwallis’troops.

Charlotte was then a small town,with two main roads crossing at thetown center, where theMecklenburg County courthousedominated the intersection. Daviepositioned three rows of militia atand north of the courthouse, withone behind the stone wall, andplaced cavalry companies on theeast and west sides of the court-house, covering the roads leadingaway in those directions. Finally, heput a company of 20 men behind ahouse on the southern road, wherehe was expecting the Britishadvance.

Cornwallis would normally havesent Lieutenant Colonel BanastreTarleton and his British Legion toinvestigate the town. However,Tarleton was ill, so Cornwallis gavethe assignment to Tarleton’s subor-dinate, Major George Hanger, ayoung Englishman from an aristo-cratic family. Cornwallis ordered Hanger to cau-tiously enter the town and checkfor militia, which he expected to bein the area. Contrary to Cornwallis’orders, Hanger and his cavalry gal-loped into town and were immedi-ately engaged by Davies troops.Even after the 20 men behind thehouse opened fire, Hanger’s mencontinued to ride on until he wasmet by heavy fire from the line ofmilitia behind the stone wall. Whenthe first militia line maneuvered tomake way for the second, Hangermisinterpreted their movement asretreat, and continued the charge.This brought him into a witheringcrossfire from the second line andthe cavalry companies stationed to

the east and west. Hanger wentdown with a wound, and his cavalryretreated in some disarray back toCornwallis and his infantry.Cornwallis, alerted by the sound ofbattle, rode forward to assess thesituation. Sarcastically calling out“you have everything to lose, butnothing to gain”, the earl orderedthe legion forward once more. Bythis time the main army’s lightinfantry had also begun to arrive,and Davie withdrew his forces.Instead of advancing on Hillsboro,Cornwallis occupied Charlotte. Hisposition was never entirely secure,because the Patriot militia inter-fered with any significant attemptsto communicate with the country-side. Cornwallis’ left flank, com-manded by Patrick Ferguson, wasvirtually destroyed in early Octoberat Kings Mountain, and Cornwalliseventually withdrew to Winnsboro,South Carolina in November onreports of persistent Patriot militiaactivity in South Carolina.

THE BATTLE OF COWAN’S FORD February 1, 1781 Mecklenburg County NCThe battle took place when 5,000British troops led by BritishGeneral Cornwallis following theBattle of Cowpens ,which tookplace in January, who was intent ondestroying the American forces ledby General Nathanael Greene thatwere retreating to GuilfordCourthouse North Carolina.General Greene had instructedMilitia leader General William LeeDavidson and his force of approxi-mately 900 militia patriots to slowthe British Army’s crossing of theCatawba River at Cowan’s Fordbetween Lincoln and Mecklenburgcounties. General Greene andDaniel Morgan then left to accom-pany their forces.For three days,the British forces camped atRamsour’s Mill, where they werejoined by the remains of BanastreTarleton forces. Cornwallismarched his forces eastward towardthe river to Jacob Forney’s, wherethey camped for another three days

after he had determined that theCatawba River at Beatties Ford wasimpassable because of the ragingcurrent.Davidson dispatched acompany of cavalry and infantrysouthward four miles to Cowan’sFord. The cavalry was to see thatthe British did not make a surprisecrossing under cover of darkness.Toward nightfall Davidson joinedthe detachment at Cowan’s Ford.Near daybreak, after a difficultmarch in which the British lostsome of their cannon, Cornwallis’sarmy reached Cowan’s Ford.Without hesitating, the Britishbegan crossing the swollen streamstraight across along the wagonford and soon the horses were over

their heads in the raging torrent.Davidson’s forces immediately

began to confront the Redcoats.The militiamen were picking offmany British soldiers as they strug-gled in the water. The Redcoat’sreturn fire was heavy. Shortly afterarriving on the scene, Davidson wasstruck from his horse by a rifle ballthrough the heart.It was thoughtthat a local Tory guide fired thefatal shot. Late that eveningDavidson’s naked body was found.His corpse was evidently robbed byBritish soldiers, a fact establishedon July 3, 2001 when Davidson’swallet was brought back fromEngland where it had been held inthe Public Records Office in

London since the Revolution.General Davidson is buried atHopewell Church in MecklenburgCounty, NC.

THE BATTLE OF GUILFORDCOURTHOUSE March 15, 1781 Greensboro, Guilford CountyNorth Carolina

On March 14, 1781, whileencamped in the forks of the DeepRiver, Cornwallis was informedthat Greene was encamped at theGuilford Court House. With himwas a body of North Carolina mili-tia, plus reinforcements fromVirginia, totaling between 4,000-5,000 men. Cornwallis decided to

give battle, though he had only1,900 men at his disposal and setoff with his main force, arriving atGuilford at midday.Cornwallisfound the Americans in position onrising ground about one and a halfmiles from the court house. To hisfront he saw a plantation with alarge field straddling both sides ofthe road, with two more furtherover on the left separated by 200yards or so of woodland. To hisright beyond the fields the wood-land extended for several miles. Onthe far side of the first field was afenced wood, 1 mile in depth,through which the road passed intoan extensive cleared area aroundthe court house. Along the edge of

this woodland was a fence formingthe American first line of defensewith 6-pound cannons on each sideof the road.

General Greene had prepared hisdefense in three lines. NorthCarolina militia formed the firstline, with backwoods riflemen onthe left and right flanks to snipeadvancing British. In the secondline, he placed the Virginia militia.Two more 6-pound cannons werelocated in the center of the line.His third and strongest line consist-ing of his regulars, included theVirginian Regiment, Delawareinfantry, and the 1st and 2ndMaryland regiments was 400 yardsfurther on. While superficiallyresembling the deployment suc-cessfully used by Daniel Morgan atCowpens, the lines were hundredsof yards apart and could not sup-port one another. Cornwallis optedto attack and moved his men for-ward. When they were about 150yards short of the fence, a volleywas fired from the Americans, butthe British continued until theywere within musket shot then firedtheir own volley in return. On acommand from Webster, they thencharged forward, coming to a halt50 paces from the American linesbecause the North Carolina Militiahad their arms presented and rest-ing on the picket fence, and weretaking aim with deadly precision.Urged onwards by LieutenantColonel James Webster the Britishcontinued to advance. The NorthCarolina Militia, to the west of theroad, fired their muskets thenturned and fled back through thewoods, discarding their personalequipment as they ran. The Britishadvanced on the second line. Heavyresistance was shown, but Websterpushed around the flank and on tothe American 3rd line. The Britisharmy forced its way through thefirst two lines with significant loss-es.

While many British soldiers werekilled from friendly fire, theAmericans broke off and retreatedfrom the field. During the battle,Cornwallis had a horse shot from