One of the first significant military campaigns in the American Revolutionary War's southern colonies was the Snow Campaign. Colonel Richard Richardson led an army of up to 3,000 Patriot militiamen in a march on South Carolina's Loyalist recruitment sites, driving them out and impeding the Loyalists' efforts to organize. Due to significant snowfall in the latter phases of the battle, the Patriot expedition came to be known as the Snow battle.
There were differing opinions among the free people of the Province of South Carolina when the American Revolutionary War broke out in Massachusetts in April 1775. While a sizable portion of the backcountry population, many of whom were immigrants from Germany and Scotland, opposed the uprising, many English coastal people were either indifferent or supported it. Thomas Fletchall, a strong and outspoken opponent of plans to rebel the King and Parliament, led the backcountry's loyalist opposition. Both sides had formed substantial militia units by August 1775 as a result of the province's escalating Patriot and Loyalist tensions.
Although there were sporadic incidents of tarring and feathering, the majority of the events were peaceful for a while. However, emotions were high as the factions fought for possession of the armaments. William Henry Drayton and Reverend William Tennent were sent to Ninety Six by the Patriot Council of Safety in early August in order to mobilize Patriot support and quell escalating Loyalist activity in the countryside. In September, Drayton was successful in negotiating a shaky pact with Fletchall that was only temporary.
The main structure that overlooked Charleston Harbor, Fort Johnson, was taken by Patriot troops on September 15. Governor William Campbell disbanded the provincial legislature and fled aboard the Royal Navy warship HMS Tamar out of concern for his own safety. The provincial capital was then under the jurisdiction of the Council of Safety. On November 11 and 12, Patriot-controlled positions and Royal Navy ships engaged in a non-lethal cannon fire duel in the port while the council started strengthening and extending Charleston's coastal fortifications.
When the Council of Safety started planning a massive reaction to Loyalists' October capture of a shipment of munitions and gunpowder meant for the Cherokee, things also became more heated. The Camden militia commander, Colonel Richard Richardson, was sent by the Council of Safety on November 8 to retrieve the cargo and apprehend opposition leaders.
Major Andrew Williamson, who had been recruiting Patriots in the backcountry, was informed of the gunpowder seizure as Richardson was gathering soldiers in Charleston. Early on November 19, he and 560 soldiers landed at Ninety Six. Since the little town was not particularly defendable, he set up camp on John Savage's property, which served as a field of fire for the force's three swivel cannons and was guarded by a makeshift stockade. Recruitment of Loyalists had been more effective; Williamson had heard that Major Joseph Robinson and Captain Patrick Cuningham were in charge of a sizable Loyalist army (about 1,900 strong) that was moving in the direction of Ninety Six. That day, the Patriot commanders resolved in a war council not to march out to confront the Loyalists. The next day, the Loyalists showed up and encircled the Patriot camp.
Loyalists captured two Patriot militiamen outside the stockade as the leaders of the two groups were discussing a resolution to the situation. A two-hour-long shootout ensued, with both sides suffering minor losses. The Patriots remained under siege for two more days, during which time there were sporadic gunfights. After a compromise, the Patriot commanders were given permission to lead their troops out of the camp in exchange for giving up their swivel guns, which were eventually given back, and the siege was lifted. The Patriots retreated into Charleston, while the Loyalists crossed the Saluda River.
Meanwhile, Colonel Richardson had started to march into the wilderness. With perhaps 1,000 troops, he arrived at the Congaree River on November 27. He crossed the river and added additional militia units to his army during his several-day stopover there. He had around 1,500 men in his army when he left camp. He gathered more and more militiamen as he made his way to the Dutch Fork area, which is situated between the Saluda and Broad Rivers, by December 2. He stopped to Evan McLauren's residence there and apprehended a number of local Loyalist officials. Desertion was causing the Loyalist troops to dwindle, hindered by the loss of leadership. The remaining organized group withdrew into Cherokee territory near the Saluda River's headwaters.
Richardson continued the march with a force of around 2,500 after issuing proclamations demanding the restitution of the stolen ammunition and the arrest of Loyalist commanders. He pursued Loyalist commanders as his army, which was steadily expanding, marched toward the Enoree River. Richardson said on December 12 that he had 3,000 men in his command and had taken Fletchall, who had been discovered sheltering in a cave, along with a number of other Loyalist leaders. During a search of Fletchall's property, letters from Governor Campbell and other private communications were discovered.
Richardson's army was increased to between 4,000 and 5,000 soldiers at the Enoree by the addition of militia troops under Williamson and more militia from North Carolina under Colonels Griffith Rutherford and William Graham. After searching the backwoods, these troops discovered a 200-person Loyalist camp on the Reedy River, which was situated several miles within Cherokee territory. To assault the camp, Richardson sent 1,300 soldiers, including William Thomson. On December 22, Thomson and the volunteers ambushed the Loyalist camp, capturing ammunition, guns, and supplies while also taking captives. Only five or six Loyalists were killed and one of Thomson's men was injured at the Battle of Great Cane Brake, demonstrating his ability to manage his troops and prevent a massacre.
As the Patriot troops moved back toward the shore on December 23, it started to snow. Due to their lack of weather preparation, the Patriot force had a difficult march home. The majority of the Patriots went back to their homes, and Richardson's army was disbanded. On January 2, 1776, Richardson sent the 136 captives he had taken to Charleston under escort.
After a third vessel arrived, Governor Campbell, who was still residing on the Tamar, contemplated attacking Fort Johnson. However, the British navy departed Charleston in January 1776 as Patriot soldiers worked to fortify the port. The last significant British action in the South until late 1778 was a failed June 1776 assault on Charleston by British soldiers under Sir Henry Clinton.
Large-scale Loyalist activity in the backwoods was eradicated as a consequence of the campaign. The Patriot leadership freed the majority of the detainees "as a conciliatory gesture to their backcountry friends." A few Loyalist commanders were able to avoid being apprehended. One of the most well-known of them was Thomas Brown, a farmer from South Carolina who escaped to East Florida. Between 1778 and 1780, the British carried out his plans to retake Georgia and finally South Carolina. He was a key player in the guerilla fight along the Georgia-Florida border.
At the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, Patriot and Loyalist troops clashed at the backcountry town of Ninety Six, South Carolina, during the siege of Savage's Old Fields (sometimes called the first siege of Ninety Six, November 19–21, 1775). Following the bloodless capture of many military outposts in the province, it was the first significant battle in South Carolina throughout the war.
Major Andrew Williamson's Patriot soldiers had been sent to the region to retrieve a supply of munitions and gunpowder meant for the Cherokee that the Loyalists had stolen. Around 1,900 Loyalists encircled Williamson's troops, which numbered around 500, while they built a stockaded fort close to Ninety Six.
The siege was carried out in a futile manner and was essentially a standoff since the war was still in its early stages and the partisan conflict in the southern backcountry had not yet reached its most terrible stage. Two days later, with four dead and twenty injured compared to one Patriot dead and twelve wounded, the Loyalists departed. The Patriots likewise retreated toward the shore, but shortly after, a significant Patriot incursion led to the majority of the Loyalist leadership being arrested or fleeing.
There were differing opinions among the free people of the Province of South Carolina when the American Revolutionary War broke out in Massachusetts in April 1775. While a sizable portion of the backcountry population, many of whom were immigrants from Germany and Scotland, opposed the uprising, many English coastal people were either indifferent or supported it. Thomas Fletchall, a strong and outspoken opponent of Patriot efforts to rebel against King and Parliament, dominated loyalist feeling in the backcountry. Both sides had formed substantial militia units by August 1775 as a result of the province's escalating Patriot and Loyalist tensions.
Although there were sporadic incidents of tarring and feathering, the majority of the events were peaceful for a while. However, emotions were high as the factions fought for possession of the armaments. In order to mobilize Patriot support and quell burgeoning Loyalist support in the backcountry, the Council of Safety sent William Henry Drayton and Reverend William Tennent to Ninety Six in early August. In September, Drayton managed to work out a shaky ceasefire with Fletchall.
The main structure that overlooked Charleston Harbor, Fort Johnson, was taken by Patriot troops on September 15. Governor William Campbell disbanded the provincial legislature and fled aboard the Royal Navy warship HMS Tamar out of concern for his own safety. The province capital was then under the Patriot Council of Safety's jurisdiction. A bloodless cannon fire battle between Patriot positions and Royal Navy ships in the port on November 11 and 12 was the result of the council's efforts to strengthen and extend Charleston's coastal fortifications.
Additionally, things became more heated when Loyalists confiscated a shipment of ammunition and gunpowder that was provided to the Cherokee by the Council of Safety in October. In response, the council planned a massive expedition to retrieve the ammunition. It decided to dispatch Colonel Richard Richardson, the Camden militia commander, to retrieve the package and arrest Loyalist leaders on November 8.
Major Andrew Williamson, who had already been recruiting in the back country, found out about the gunpowder seizure as Richardson was gathering his soldiers. Early on November 19, he and 560 soldiers landed at Ninety Six. He set up a camp on John Savage's property, which gave the force's three swivel cannons a field of fire, since he thought the little town was not particularly defendable. He ordered the building of an improvised stockade and started reinforcing the camp. Recruitment of Loyalists had been more effective; Williamson had heard that Major Joseph Robinson and Captain Patrick Cuningham were in charge of a sizable Loyalist army (about 1,900 strong) that was moving in the direction of Ninety Six. That day, the Patriot commanders resolved in a war council not to march out to confront the Loyalists. The next day, the Loyalists showed up and encircled the Patriot camp.
Loyalists captured two Patriot militiamen outside the stockade as the leaders of the two groups were discussing a resolution to the situation. This triggered a roughly two-hour-long shootout. The two sides began long-range fire on one another the next morning. In an effort to create a smokescreen from which to approach the stockade, the Loyalists tried to start fires. The soggy ground thwarted this endeavor. In an attempt to draw incendiaries closer to the fort, the Loyalists next built a massive wooden shield, but according to one account, they were only successful in "setting Fire to their own Engine themselves" and it was unable to stop the Patriots' firearms.
The Patriots had a war council in the afternoon of November 21 and made the decision to go out that evening. At twilight, they were getting ready for this action when a Loyalist with a parley flag came along. Other than agreeing to meet the next morning, nothing was resolved during the meeting. During that discussion, the Patriots decided to demolish the fort, and the Loyalists agreed to retreat over the Saluda River. In addition to avoiding interfering with one another's interactions with their respective political authorities, both sides were required to release captives held since November 2. Additionally, the Patriot commanders had to give up their swivel weapons, however they were given them back three days later. The Council of Safety said that Colonel Richardson's troops was exempt from the provisions of the ceasefire, which also called for reinforcements for both sides.
It is unclear why the Loyalists decided to negotiate the ceasefire. Historian Martin Cann surmises that Colonel Richardson's approach or preparations may have contributed to the Loyalists' lack of effective leadership, as Governor Campbell put it. By the end of November, Richardson had raised almost 4,000 men from the initial 2,500 he had organized. During their search of the backcountry, this group arrested or expelled the majority of the Loyalist leadership. When 15 inches (38 cm) of snow fell on the region on December 22, the campaign was essentially over. Unprepared for the snow, Richardson's soldiers had to make an arduous journey down to the lowlands.
Thomas Brown was among the Loyalist commanders who escaped Richardson's expedition and made their way to West Florida, where they joined the British army's regular and irregular soldiers. Although what was essentially a civil war intensified in the years that followed, these actions brought a stop to widespread Loyalist involvement in the southern Appalachians. Following the siege of Charleston in 1780, Ninety-Six became an outpost of Great Britain and was besieged in 1781 by troops led by Nathanael Greene. The arrival of a rescue force compelled Greene to cease that siege, but the British soon abandoned Ninety-Six.
During the American Revolutionary War, on December 22, 1775, a skirmish known as the Battle of Great Cane Brake took place in what was then South Carolina's Ninety-Six District, which is now Greenville County.
A significant number of "King's men" in the upcountry resisted the patriot administration in Charles Town as the American Revolution approached. Both parties agreed to provide the Indians hunting ammo because they understood how important it was to foster relations with the Cherokees in a region of the state that was all but lawless.
The Charles Town revolutionary Council of Safety sent 1,000 pounds of powder and 2,000 pounds of lead to the Indians in October 1775, but the wagon train was stopped by a loyalist army led by Patrick Cunningham. After a failed attempt to reclaim the munitions, the authorities of Charles Town decided to use an overwhelming force of militiamen led by Colonel Richard Richardson in an effort to weaken the upcountry loyalists. The King's forces were vastly outnumbered and retreated into the Piedmont. Richardson may have had up to 5,000 men under his command by the end of December, and he had taken the main loyalist commanders into custody.
Richardson sent 1,300 soldiers, led by Major William "Danger" Thomson, to drive the loyalists into Indian territory on December 21. In a "Brake of Canes," Thomson marched 25 kilometers through the night to a camp where loyalists had taken refuge from freezing rain and snow flurries. Thomson's men attacked at daybreak and almost surrounded the camp, but were caught because the ground was damp and the loyalists had been burning cane stalks that burst and crackled. Cunningham fled without his breeches and on an unsaddled horse, yelling at each man "to shift for himself." The Cherokees' ammunition was reclaimed by the patriots, who also caught 130 of them and had them sign a pledge to never use weapons again. Thomson had to keep his troops from hurting the detainees, some of whom were sent in chains to Charles Town, but only five or six loyalists were slain.
The next day, despite the Patriot victory, there was an unusually hard blizzard that caused a great deal of misery for the militiamen who had been called into battle on short notice without tents or proper gear. Some suffered frostbite and exposure injuries that were irreversible. The episode was thereafter dubbed the "Snow Campaign." The Cherokees quickly joined the loyalists in what turned out to be a bloody civil war on the South Carolina border, despite Richardson's belief that his triumph had calmed the upcountry.
Although the precise site of the conflict is uncertain, it happened around 7 miles southwest of Simpsonville, South Carolina, close to the Reedy River. On Fork Shoals Road, south of Old Hundred Road (County Road 565), there is a state historical marker.
Comments
Post a Comment