North Carolina: June, 1780

In June, 1780, the British completed their conquest of South Carolina and were making preparations for an eventual invasion of North Carolina. In anticipation of this invasion, large bands of Loyalist militia began to organize in North Carolina. For the moment, at least, North Carolina remained firmly in American control. Large bodies of North Carolina militia had been embodied, supported by a division of Continentals, a brigade of Virginia militia, and South Carolina refugees. The map shows the approximate distribution of these forces shortly before the battle of Ramsour's Mill (June 20). Please note that some small concentrations of troops have been omitted from this map.

British and American Forces in North Carolina in June, 1780 (click to enlarge). Red letters refer to British forces, blue letters to American forces. Placement of letters is approximate with respect to troop location.

Loyalist Militia:

A: A body of Loyalist militia at Ramsour's Mill, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel John Moore. This force was estimated to have 1,000 to 1,300 men.

B: A body of Loyalist militia at the forks of the Yadkin River, under the command of Colonel Samuel Bryan. This force was estimated to be as many as 800 men.

American Forces:

A: Continental forces at Hillsborough under the command of Major-General Johann de Kalb. This force included the Maryland division with 1,278 effectives, the 1st Continental artillery with 140 effectives, the Virginia state regiment of artillery with 175 effectives, 36 North Carolina Continentals, and 20 officers from South Carolina and Georgia.

B: American forces at Cross Creek under the command of Major-General Richard Caswell. This forced included approximately 1,500 North Carolina militia and the 200 infantry and cavalry of Armand's Legion.

C: North Carolina militia in the vicinity of Charlotte under the command of Brigadier-General Griffith Rutherford. Rutherford commanded approximately 1,100 men, including detachments sent to counter Moore. Nearby, South Carolina refugees were organizing under Thomas Sumter.

D: Virginia militia in Roanoke. This force included the vanguard of Brigadier-General Edward Stevens' approximately 2,500-man militia brigade.

E: American forces in Guilford County. This force included an unknown number of Guilford County militia, 80 Virginia State infantry under Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Porterfield, and 55 Virginia State cavalry under Major John Nelson.

F: American cavalry in Halifax. This force included the remnants of the 1st and 3rd Continental Light Dragoons, which had suffered serious losses during the Charleston campaign. According to one estimate, they now numbered about 200 men.

Note: The above is based on a variety of different sources, the most important of which is a letter from Johann de Kalb to George Washington dated June 29, 1780.

Battle of Fishing Creek 1

The Battle of Fishing Creek
Part 1: Sumter's Third Target
Next: Cary's Fort and Camden

[This account follows an earlier series of posts describing the battle of Hanging Rock. Some earlier posts provide useful background information, see especially Occupied South Carolina, Sumter's Brigade Forms, and Rawdon's Defense of South Carolina].

Rawdon's Dilemma

On the evening of August 6th, 1780 a trickle of Provincials and Loyalist militia arrived in Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Rawdon's camp at East Lynche's Creek. These men described how Thomas Sumter had routed their units and seized the British post at Hanging Rock. The news was a shock. Sumter had evidently cleared a route towards his base of operations at Camden. Worse, Sumter’s men were mounted; his were on foot.

Rawdon knew that even if Sumter could not seize Camden, he could at least get in rear of his command. This was a most unwelcome prospect because the main American army under Major-General Horatio Gates was simultaneously approaching from in front.

Deciding that no time was to be lost, Rawdon decided to abandon his strong post and make a night march towards Camden. He thought the situation might even turn in his favor if he could catch and defeat Sumter before Gates appeared. In the morning (August 7), however, he learned the truth of the battle of Hanging Rock: The British Legion infantry, aided by other detachments, had held their ground, forcing Sumter to withdraw. By now, the movements of Gates' army made it too hazardous to reestablish the post at East Lynche’s Creek. Rawdon therefore settled on a new (and weaker) defensive line closer to Camden. The troops at Hanging Rock were withdrawn to Rugeley’s Mill, and Rawdon's command encamped at West Lynche’s Creek. The post at Rocky Mount was not in imminent danger, but on August 12 Rawdon gave orders for it to withdraw as well to a more secure position [1].

Sumter Advances

Although Sumter was forced to withdraw from Hanging Rock, he took comfort in the fact that in the following days, "both British and Tories" were "pannick struck," by the Americans' gains [2]. As Gates' army closed with Rawdon's new position, Sumter wished to contribute to his operations by cutting the flow of men and supplies into Camden. To accomplish this, he proposed to march his brigade down the western side of the Catawba/Wateree River [3] and take control of key ferry crossings south of Camden [4]. On about August 13, Sumter's brigade set out on this mission. Sumter's brigade was much reduced in size by this time: in addition to the men killed and wounded at Hanging Rock, he lost the services of all of his North Carolina troops [5]. Some of his South Carolinians also left him in order to protect the western part of their native state from the Loyalist militia [6].

Rawdon's New Defensive Line: 1) British base at Camden, 2) British post at Rugeley's Mill, 3) British post at West Lynche's Creek. The arrow at upper left shows route of Sumter's advance (Sumter was in the marked area on or about August 14). The arrow at upper right shows Gates' advance (Gates' vanguard was in the marked area on August 8). (Compare with this map).

On August 14, Sumter informed Gates that a wagon train bringing men, ammunition, and clothing was approaching Camden from the south and that he was poised to capture it. By this time, Gates had maneuvered Rawdon out of his second defensive line and had become confident of his ability to take Camden. To support Sumter's small force (now only about 250 men), Gates lent him 100 Continentals, 300 North Carolina militia and 2 pieces of artillery. These men left Gates' army the night of August 14-15 and joined Sumter at daybreak [7].

Notes:

1. Letter from Francis Rawdon to Colonel McMahon, January 19, 1801. Letter from Josiah Martin to George Germain, August 18-20, 1780. Journal of Lieutenant Anthony Allaire, in Lyman Copeland Draper. (1881). King's Mountain and Its heroes: History of the Battle of King's Mountain.

2. Letter from Thomas Sumter to Thomas Pinckney, August 9, 1780.

3. The river is known as the Wateree in the vicinity of Camden, but as the Catawba at Rocky Mount and points further north.

4. Letter from Thomas Sumter to Thomas Pinckney, August 9, 1780. Letter from Thomas Sumter to Thomas Pinckney, August 12, 1780.

5. William A. Graham (1904). General Joseph Graham and His Papers on North Carolina Revolutionary History.

6. Will Graves. (2005). What Did Joseph McJunkin Really Saye? Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution, Volume 2, Issue 11.

7. Letter from General Gates to the President of Congress, August 20, 1780. Otho Holland Williams. A Narrative of the Campaign of 1780. Journal of Johann Christian Senf [extract].

The Continental infantry was drawn mainly from the Maryland line, although there were also a few of the 1st Delaware and a company-sized detachment of Armand's Legion. The whole was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Woolford of the 5th Maryland. Two 3-pounder cannon, accompanied by a small crew, were detached from the Continental artillery. The North Carolina militia were commanded by Colonel Elijah Isaacks.

See: Prisoners Taken at Catawba Fords. Pension application of Peter Scrum, transcribed and annotated by C. Leon Harris. Letter from General Gates to the President of Congress, August 20, 1780. Pension application of Thomas Bartley, transcribed and annotated by C. Leon Harris.

The American Cavalry at Cowpens - Part 1

[Minor edits 12/28/09]

Brigadier-General Daniel Morgan commanded a mixed force of Continentals and militia at the battle of Cowpens. The majority of these men fought on foot. However, a number of his men fought on horseback, and these men played a critical role in the American victory. In this post I concentrate on the American cavalry.

Varying estimates have been provided as to the number of Continental dragoons present during the battle. The number stated by different sources includes:

• 50 - Brigadier-General Edward Stevens (in a letter to Thomas Jefferson in the Jefferson Papers; source not online).
• 60 - Major-General François-Jean de Chastellux.
• 70 - Private Benjamin Copeland of the American 3rd light dragoons; mounted militiaman Thomas Young
• 75 - Brigadier-General William Moultrie.
• 80 - Brigadier-General Daniel Morgan, U.S. Congressional Resolution of March 8, 1781.

Perhaps the most definite statement appeared in the pension application of North Carolina rifleman Josiah Martin, who stated that “Col. Washington was there with his company of Cavalry which amounted to 72 as counted by the applicant the day before the battle.”

The men in Washington's command appears to have been derived from several sources. Washington himself was an officer in the 3rd Light Dragoons, and most of the Continental cavalry at the Cowpens were from this regiment as well. However, the Americans had few properly equipped dragoons in the south at this period. Lawrence Babits, in A Devil of a Whipping, pointed out that pension applications place some men of the 1st Light Dragoons and Virginia State Dragoons were attached to Washington's regiment as well. The pension application of James Busby indicates that Washington may also have had some veterans of Pulaski's and Armand's legions.

Presumably, Josiah Martin's 72 men includes all of 1st and 3rd Light Dragoons, and perhaps also whatever number of uniformed Virginia State Dragoons were present. It's possible that the reason why some sources stated that there were fewer than 70 men with Washington is that they were counting only the number of men from the 3rd Light Dragoons present at the battle.

General Morgan understood that this small mounted force was insufficient to cope with the approximately 300 mounted men available to his British counterpart. Therefore, at the end of December he wrote General Greene to say that, "I have sent for one hundred swords, which I intend to put into the hands of expert riflemen, to be mounted and incorporated with Lieut. Col. Washington's corps.” Whether he actually received 100 swords is unknown. The number of militia dragoons employed at the Cowpens appears to have been a considerably smaller number. According to Major Joseph McJunkin of South Carolina, “On the night before the battle forty-five militia soldiers were enrolled as dragoons and placed under the command of Col. McCall and annexed to Washington's cavalry." McJunkin's statement confirmed that these were the "expert riflemen" that Morgan was looking for. "These officers and men, in the respective commands, were far from being tyros in the art of war. They were marksmen and had generally been in the war from the commencement.”

American Cavalry at Cowpens. Washington's regulars are on the left; the mounted militia are on the right. The 3rd Light Dragoons are believed to have worn a white uniform with blue facings. The blue-coated dragoon represents other Continental dragoons and/or state troops attached to Washington's command.

Sources:

François-Jean de Chastellux. (1787). Travels in North-America, in the Years 1780, 1781, and 1782.

Will Graves transcribed the pension application of James Busby (.pdf).

For Joseph McJunkin's accounts of the battle, see:

• James Saye. Memoirs of Major Joseph McJunkin, Revolutionary Patriot.
• Will Graves. (2005). What Did Joseph McJunkin Really Saye? Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution, Volume 2, Issue 11. (.pdf file).

John Moncure's The Cowpens Staff Ride and Battlefield Tour webpage has a transcription of the statements by Copeland, Young, Martin, and McJunkin.

William Moultrie. (1802). Memoirs of the American Revolution.

Theodorus Bailey Myers. (1881). Cowpens Papers (Has the number by Morgan and a copy of the U.S. Congressional Resolution).

Susan K. Zimmerman and R. Neil Vance transcribed the pension application of Josiah Martin (.pdf).

The re-created 3rd Light Dragoons depicts the regiment as it appeared during the Southern Campaign.