The Patriot Response to the Cherokee Attacks

Gov. Rutledge

Once survivors began to make their way to settlements where they could get protection and spread the alarm the people of the back country began to rally to protect their homes and loved ones. The first major attempt of organizing resistance was with Major Andrew Williams who sent out the word for the word for his Ninety Six Militia Regiment to assemble to repel the Cherokee onslaught. This effort for some days was meet with futility as few people reported to Williams call because of fear of their homes being attacked while they were gone. Also during this time period riders where sent down to Charlestown to inform the government there of what was transpiring on the frontier. At this point the officials in Charlestown, including General Lee and Gov. Rutledge were still watching for a possible second attack from the British forces located in Charlestown Harbor when word reached them of the new enemy attacking along the frontier. After several days of waiting the South Carolina government released the Third South Carolina under Thomson, the Fifth under Huger, and the Sixth South Carolina under Sumter to begin the track up the Cherokee trail to assist the local militias with dealing with the attacks. The first to get up the Cherokee Trail was the Third South Carolina and Fifth South Carolina with the Sixth following behind them collecting supplies for the troops already in the Back Country and for future operations.

As Major Andrew Williams was continuing gathering his forces the first of the other Militia Regiments began to combine with his force. The first to come to his assistance was that of Major Andrew Pickens know as the “Wizard Owl” or the “Fighting Elder” with his Lower District Militia Regiment.  Other Militia Regiments began to form and moved towards Major Williams camp to help push back the Cherokee and to punish them for these attacks. These other militia regiments included the New Acquisition Regiment, Spartan Regiment, Little River Regiment, Camden Regiment, Fairfield Regiment, Upper Craven County Regiment, a Georgia Militia Regiment under the command of Col. Samuel Jack, and a group of Catawba Indians who had been fighting against the Cherokee for many generations and were more than happy to help settle an old debt with an old enemy.  Another group also offered their help against the Cherokee also, this was the Loyalist of the Back Country who had only a few months before been fighting against the Patriots in the Snow Campaign. These Loyalist were lead by Captain Robert Cunningham who offered to raise his Loyalist Regiment to help defeat the Cherokees. When Captain Cunningham offered his sword and that of his men to fight along with the Patriots they were refused. For logical reason we can understand why Williams refused Cunningham whom he had just been fighting some months before, but the question must also be asked why Cunningham and his men fighting alongside the Cherokee as other Loyalist wasn’t were at this time?  Did they not know this was an attack orchestrated by the crown or did they not want to be known among their friends and peers as those whom had assisted in this unleashing of total war?

William Henry Drayton

As this back country army formed they received unofficial orders for their expedition against the Cherokee nation from William Henry Drayton. In his letter Word to the Wise he told the expedition to “cut up every Indian corn field and burn every Indian town.” This letter was not official and surely not needed as a catalyst to let the back country know what they could or could not do against the Cherokee. These were people use to no prisoners taken type of fighting against the Cherokee Nation as they had already fought with the Cherokee numerous times and   understood this was not a war of territory, but that of survival for each. Whoever was left standing after this war would be masters of these lands and both knew the cost would be total war along the frontier. Once the Cherokee Nation started these attacks the gloves were off and nobody from Charlestown need worry what the back country population would do to the Cherokee once they organized and went out for vengeance.

On July 15^th it was found out by the Patriots that the Loyalist were more involved than what they thought in the 

Cherokee attacks. On July 15^th a siege lead by the Cherokee was broken by the Patriots at Fort Lyndley which was the first check against the Cherokee since the attacks began two weeks earlier. After the siege was lifted, Loyalist were captured dressed as Indians who had help in the attack against the Patriot fort. This only hardened the feelings of the Patriots against the Cherokee and the Loyalist in the battles to come.

As Major Williams force grew he began to move closer to the Cherokee lands to set up a base of operation to shield the settlements from further attack and to act as a jump off point to attack the Cherokee towns across the border.

Our next article will be about the Patriot Counter Attack against the Cherokee.

The last preperations of the Patriots; Part 12 Battle of Sullivan's Island

By June 18th General Lee knew that Clinton had landed on Long Island with several thousand troops and was planning to attack Charlestown at either Sullivan’s Island or the main land at Mount Pleasant. As a result of this development, General Lee tried to desperately finish the fortifications on Sullivan’s Island and to send more troops to Mount Pleasant to assist with its defense since its coast line could be attacked at several different points. On June 15th Lee had appointed General Armstrong the overall commander of the Patriot forces on Mount Pleasant and Sullivan’s Island and had sent a letter to Col. Moultrie for him to report to Armstrong directly to help unify the available forces in this area of the Charlestown defenses. To help defend Mount Pleasant General Lee and General Armstrong had agreed to pull troops from Col. Thomson’s command at the advanced post since they felt his area was smaller to defend and that the troops could be put to better use on Mount Pleasant. These troops could also be sent back to Sullivan’s Island if they were needed in an attack if enough boats were available or the bridge that Lee had ordered built between Sullivan’s Island and Mount Pleasant could be completed between the cove that separated them on the southern part of the island.


General Lee had ordered the construction of a floating bridge between the island and main land on June the 10th. The purpose of the bridge was the movement of troops to Sullivan’s Island and for an escape route if needed. However you must remember that Lee did not want to defend Sullivan’s Island even calling the unfinished fort a “slaughter pen” and had come in direct conflict with Gov. Rutledge over it. Lee did back down and left Col. Moultrie and Col. Thomson on the island, but with as limited amount of men and powder as he could. The bridge was Lee’s top concern in letter after letter to Moultrie, Armstrong, Rutledge, and others about its completion being vital for an escape route for the troops if the British began to overrun the island. This obsession with an escape route seemed to make the South Carolinians cautious of Lee and his plans. There was such a concern about Lee ordering the troops off of the island, that Gov. Rutledge sent a letter to Moultrie telling him to only leave his post if he ordered it and him alone. Please remember that when Rutledge gave Lee control of the South Carolina troops on June 9th that it was before the Declaration of Independence and Lee was in South Carolina to help coordinate the troops and had no real power unless the state gave it to him. The state did so, but they could also remove the South Carolina troops at their pleasure from his command at a moment’s notice, an item that would become a hindrance to all later in the American Revolution. The bridge took hours of man power and material to try to build that could have been used finishing other fortifications around the harbor. Instead man and material was poured into its construction at the insistence of Lee. After two weeks of construction being ordered, the Patriots tried to send Col. Horry’s regiment across it on the 25th and they refused to go across because they were in fear of their lives. The work continued on the bridge after this to make it more stable, but it was not resolved before the battle. As a result, the main way of moving troops from the main land to the island would continue to be the limited amount of boats that were available. So if assistance was needed quickly or an evacuation of the island ordered it would take precious time.

In the mean time another concern for Lee was the amount of powder that Col. Thomson and his troops were using to keep the HMS Lady Williams and HMS Raven at bay with on Hamlin Creek. The two Royal Navy ships were trying to sound the creek to check for depths and Col. Thomson let lose his 18lb cannon on them to keep them at bay and even according to his men hitting the British ships a couple of times before they withdrew back up the creek on June 22nd. This exchange of cannon fire caused alarm in Charlestown as they felt it might signal the start of the battle. Once Lee found it what the cause of the firing was he sent a letter to tell those on Sullivan’s island to save the powder they did have for the real attack. The day after this exchange of cannon fired occurred the last of the Continental troops arrived in Charlestown that would participate in the battle with entrance of Col. Muhlenberg and his 8th Virginia who were sent to Mount Pleasant.

Lee continued to grow frustrated with the leadership of Moultrie on the island for Lee in letters worries Moultrie is not pushing hard enough for the completion of the bridge or the fortifications. When Moultrie is asked if he can hold his position he says he can, but Lee is not satisfied and on the 27th orders Col. Nash of the 1st North Carolina to report to him on the 28th. His purpose was to give orders to Nash to take command of the unfinished fort on Sullivan’s island. However on the morning of the 28th Nash hears cannon fire as he was making his way to Lee’s headquarters and returns to his command to prepare for the battle which has now began on Sullivans Island.

The final touches to the Charleston Defense; Part 5 Battle of Sullivan's Island

At the end of May 1776 the British fleet began to move down the coast of North Carolina into South Carolina towards Charleston. As they did this they did not try to hide their movements as they proceeded southward staying alongside the coast most of the way. As a result the Patriots were able to send riders to the capital with the size of the British Fleet and updates of its location along the coast. Examples of this coastal watch program are noted by Gov. Rutledge in written exchanges between himself and patriot officers in the harbor such as Col. Moultrie and Brigadier General John Armstrong who had been named the head of the defenses of Charleston. General Armstrong was an experienced soldier from Pennsylvania who had won praise in the French and Indian War as a commander of Pennsylvania troops and was also an engineer who had began to organize and build the defenses in Charleston. The information gathered and shared by these men told of the British fleet being around forty ships and their location as they came past each parish and safe harbor such as Bulls Bay near Georgetown, North of Charleston.

As the news spread of the impending British Fleet movement’s people began to flee Charleston and head inland to other homes and anywhere where they could safely move their families to. Charleston began at the first of June to resemble a military post rather than one of the busiest commercial harbors in North America with most of the foreign and commercial vessels leaving port and going to safe harbors in the Caribbean and towards Savannah to await the outcome of the impending battle. Also at the start of June, Gov. Rutledge ordered all of the outlying Parish Militia to turn out and to report to Charleston with all speed. This call to the county side was headed by the local and backwoods Parish militia and they started to report in piecemeal to the capital for its defense. For most of this militia it was their first time to Charleston and they were greeted with open arms for the by the Low Country rice gentry who had previously always had looked down on their unwashed cousins from the woods such as the Scotch-Irish, Dutch, and German settelers. You can only imagine what the scene was on the roads to and from Charleston as the town folks from Charleston were heading inland on their buggies and carts with their valuables as the back woods men with their buckskin shirts and hunting rifles passed each other on the roads.

Also starting at the first of June with the sighting of the fleet moving toward Charleston every slave and able body man went to work around the clock on the defenses in Charleston. This building of additional fortifications or finishing fortifications was on the Islands of James and Sullivans, the town proper, and other key points in the harbor.

By June the 7th most of the British fleet had moved into Charleston Harbor and was heading to an anchorage known as Five Fathom Hole in the outer harbor. From this point they could clearly see the fortifications on James and Sullivans Island and began to finalize their plan of attack on Charleston without fear of Patriot interference.

On June the 8th General Charles Lee arrives in Charleston from Williamsburg, Virginia with troops from Virginia and North Carolina and took command of its defense from General John Armstrong who then became the second in command. This change of command was made with the British sitting in the outer harbor with an attack emanate to the Patriots at any moment that the tides and winds were favorable to the British. Charles Lee was born and raised in England and came to the American causes with vast military experiences with the British Army having served in the French and Indian War as a lieutenant and with the 44th Regiment of Foot as a captain. He also has served as a soldier of fortune for the King of Poland before moving to America in 1773 to settle in Virginia. He was considered a military treasure by most of the Patriots from New England to the South. His vast military knowledge made him on par with Washington in the eyes of his new country. So with his arrival in Charleston it made its defenders feel even more confident than before knowing they had a commander with vast amounts of knowledge and experience to help defend their city. Also behind General Lee were a few more troops making their way through North Carolina from Virginia to further aid the defense.

Once General Lee meet with Gov. Rutledge and the Council he took over the defense of Charleston officially and began to examine the defenses. During this process he had some defenses torn down, some built up, and others moved to better effect a defense in Charleston. His biggest issue was with the fortification on Sullivans Island that Col. Moultrie and the 2nd South Carolina along with slaves and other workers were trying to finish with work around the clock under the direction of French engineer Baron Massenbourg . When Lee went to Sullivans Island he found the fort unfinished and his mind undependable. He went so far as to utter a now famous description of the fort as a “slaughter pen” and wanted to remove the troops and cannon from Sullivans Island to be disbursed in other defense positions in the harbor. This idea was floated to Gov. Rutledge and his council where the answer came back a resounding no to leaving the fortification on Sullivans Island. You must remember the Continental Army was still in its infancy and it needed the states support to exist. The states wrote the checks for the army under the Articles of Confederation, but they did not give up their rights. So the first political question came up to General Lee should he try to order the troops off the island or should he give into local authorities? General Lee chose to give in to Gov. Rutledge, but with strings. He ordered as many troops off the island as he could without alarming the local government and removing as much powder as he could also. Thus if the British were able to overrun the island and fortification Lee would limit his initial loses in men and material. Another concern for Lee was the plan for evacuation of the fortification and other island defenses if the British were able to land successfully on the island. While all of this political move and counter move was happening in the city the British Fleet was making preparations for their attack of Charleston just outside of the harbor, but still visible to the Patriots.

General Lee found out that there were not enough boats that could be left on stand by ready for an evacuation of the Sullivans Island or any plans for doing so. As a result Lee ordered a floating bridge from Mount Pleasant be built using barrels as the floating bases for boards to be put across for the troops to escape or reinforce as needed. This bridge was not stable or safe and troops asked to cross over it refused to on the grounds they were in fear for their lives.

Another defense position that Lee found on Sullivans Island was a small fortification being built by a French engineer who had donated his services to the American cause, Captain Ferdinand de Braham that would play a major role in the battle. This fortification was made out of palmetto logs, sand, and some say tabby structure was located on the North East side of the island and it was guarding Breach Inlet which stands between Sullivans Island and Long Island (later renamed Isle of Palms). The purpose of this fortification originally was to prevent small British ships from entering the harbor through Breach Inlet thus getting behind Sullivans Island and making their way into the harbor proper. The ships that could get through this breach would have to be very shallow drafted ships to make it clear and were not considered much threat from this point, however a defensive position was placed there for safety sake. This position was commanded by Col. William Thomson of the 3rd South Carolina Ranger Regiment. This regiment was formed for the defense of the back country of South Carolina by the men of this region. It was formed as a mounted regiment that would fight on foot so that its members could carry a fight to the natives, Loyalist, or other threats with all the speed they could muster. This regiment was accompanied by a detachment of the 4rth South Carolina lead by a Lt. Mitchell (the artillery regiment) to man the 18lb and 6lb guns, Col. Clark with his 1st North Carolina Regiment, Col. Daniel Horry with South Carolina militia, a company of Catawba Indians and other local tribes which had joined this company lead by Captain Boykin, and a company of riflemen calling themselves the Raccoon Company lead by Captain Allston bringing the total to around 750 men at this point. The men at this position also had a 6lb cannon and an 18lb cannon for the defense of Breach Inlet. Fortifications of some type were built to shield the men and the cannon from the expected British attack by ship. This position was referred to as the “Advance Guard” by the Patriots. Just a quick note this position was built before the British landed on Long Island as a deterrent to ships so please keep this in mind as we look at events as they unfold.

On June the 8th the entire British Fleet had entered the outer parts of Charleston Harbor and was resting in Five Fathom Hole. It was at this point that General Clinton sent a message to the defenders of Charleston to surrender. This was rejected by Gov. Rutledge without any discussion and thus the stage is set for the Battle of Sullivans Island in Charleston Harbor.

On June the 9th the British started to land in large numbers on Long Island and began to set up camp and to put pickets across Breach Inlet form the Patriot Advance Guard position on Sullivans Island. The two enemies were now separated by Breach Inlet which the Americans knew to be at least seven feet deep at low tide and which the British were about to learn the same.

According to Chief Justice of South Carolina at the time of the attack William Henry Drayton through his noted that his son John Drayton published at the time of the British attack o Charleston was defended by “6,500 men coming from 1,400 Continentals from North Carolina; 500 Continentals from Virginia; 1,950 Continentals form South Carolina; 700 Charleston militia; 1,972 Parish militia.” It will become very interesting to see how very few of these troops though never fired a shot in the battle to defend Charleston.

The next article will be the British plan of attack.

Battle of Sullivan's Island Part Three

As the British began to pull anchors and set sail for Charleston Harbor, the Patriot forces there were putting their defenses in the ready. This process had already started in January of 1775 when the colony voted to leave the British Empire and set up its own government. This was done after they had sent five representatives to the Continental Congress in September of 1774 in hopes of repairing the relationship between colony and mother country. The Continental Congress was unable to solve the problems and all hope was lost when word reached South Carolina of the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts in May of 1775. Once the South Carolines knew there was to be a shooting war they began to build up defenses and recruit troops.


The first troops raised to fight the British Empire in South Carolina were the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th South Carolina. The first two were to be of the line with the third being a ranger regiment to control the inland region of South Carolina and the forth was designated an artillery regiment. Also in the fall of 1775 South Carolines started to take control of key military sites in the harbor and the city proper. This included the fort on James Island, Fort Johnson, the powder magazine in downtown Charleston, and other strategic points in the harbor. The other strategic points included Haddrell Point and at the water front of Charleston, where cannons were placed to defend the city and to help dislodge Governor Campbell from the harbor, where he was still trying to govern from two British warships sitting there. The other keep point that the Patriots began to place guns was on Sullivan’s Island. Sullivan’s Island is located on the Northern approach to the harbor and with it being fortified caused the governor and the British fleets to leave before damage could be done to them in the late fall of 1775. While this was going on in Charleston, militia in the outer parishes of South Carolina began to drill and prepare for the British.

While the South Carolina Provincial Government was preparing for the expected British attack the merchants in Charleston were producing goods as fast as they could. These goods were for the war effort in the North and also for the new trade routes that opened once South Carolina decided to leave the Empire. The workshops and the docks were at full capacity bringing in much need war material and profit for the local merchants. Ships from many nations were in and out of Charleston harbor as fast as they could load and unload. These ships were not involved in diplomatic relations; they were involved in moving valuable cargo to and from Charleston to the Caribbean and other points on the globe. This preparing for war and making a profit for the local merchants and farmers went on for a few months. That was until the return of John Rutledge in February of 1776 from the Continental Congress with word of a British fleet heading south from New England. In February of 1776 the first meeting of the General Assembly occurred and they elected John Rutledge President of South Carolina.

The election of John Rutledge (pictured to the right) marked a turning point in creating a stronger defense of Charleston. Besides the election of Rutledge in February in March the Continental Congress also started to take the threat of a British invasion of the South very seriously and they appointed General Charles Lee as Commander of the Southern Theater of operations. General Lee made his head quarters in Williamsburg, Virginia as he felt that either Virginia or South Carolina would be the place that the British struck in the South. Also in March of 1776 President Rutledge ordered a fort built on Sullivan’s Island to defend the Northern approach to the harbor. He gave this task to Col. William Moultrie and his command, the 2nd South Carolina.

In the next article we will discuss how the fort was built on Sullivan’s Island and

how other defenses were created in Charleston.

Col. William Moultire