A Tribute to Haitian Soldiers for Heroism in the American Revolution

Very interesting article 

http://the44diaries.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/a-tribute-to-haitian-soldiers-for-heroism-in-the-american-revolution/

Thank you to SAR

Thank you to the General Moultrie Camp of the Sons of the American Revolution who invited us to speak at their Spring Social about General Moultrie in Dorchester County. The presentation went well and what a great group of people to talk with. The presentation site was very cool also, it was at the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site.

Two presentations already set for April

Seeking forgotten fort on Ashley

Potential park site might hold key

BY BO PETERSEN

bpetersen@postandcourier.com

Monday, February 13, 2012

 
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SUMMERVILLE -- The slight rise above the Ashley River takes on an eeriness as Steven Steele speaks about it: 300 horses, hundreds of men and an earthen redoubt with a field of fire that could turn artillery against attack from upstream or down.

This could be the spot where "Swamp Fox" Francis Marion camped and trained militia, where he guarded the bridge between Round O and the White Meeting House that was the social hub of Colonial Dorchester. It could have been the sneak backwoods river crossing to attack Dorchester and Charleston's less protected rear during the Revolutionary War.

This spot might just have held Gen. William Moultrie's "lost fort," one of the most significant regional sites from the period still to be located. And the property is in negotiations to become the next Dorchester County park.

County leaders are beginning to realize just how historically important a park there might be -- an inland counterpoint of Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island, the national monument whose palmetto log walls withstood a British bombardment and became a state emblem. The promise quickly has become one of the reasons for the purchase, said council Chairman Larry Hargett.

To save the history for the county, as Steele says bluntly.

"This was Charleston's 'hanging flank.' Whoever controlled this crossing had the flank of Charleston," Steele says as he looks around the wooded rise. "This is a major site for Revolutionary War, win, lose or draw, especially for Dorchester County. We're within 50 feet of it right now."

The property is near today's Bacon's Bridge on Bacon's Bridge Road outside of Summerville. Steele is a local historian who specializes in the period and posts the Swamp Fox Brigade blog. He suspected the 83-acre tract might hold the site, and asked county leaders to give him access when they toured it. He and County Councilman David Chinnis, both Revolutionary War re-enactors who have studied battle strategies, reached the rise at the river's edge, stopped and stared.

"This bump in the river gives you a 180-degree field of fire," Chinnis said. "That's what you want. You want the artillery out in front." He's found other indications.

The "bump," it turned out, also sits along a high ground corridor from the Ashley River Road straight to the White Meeting House on Dorchester Road, the common sense route to run a wagon road through wetland bottoms. It sits roughly across the river from an historic cemetery and what archaeologists think might be the site of a fortified frontier settlement of a century earlier.

Steele says the place fits descriptions from Marion's and Moultrie's letters. The flat ground behind it is expansive enough to have held an Army camp that would have included everything from drill grounds and graves to latrines -- unlike other locations nearby. And the contour of the land has a sculpted quality that is different than anything upstream or down.

Steele wants to do core samples and other tests to try to confirm his assessment. The samples could turn up soil evidence or even artifacts from a fort in the period. If he's right, a park there could become one of those places history buffs come to see.

Bacon's Bridge is one of the more under-appreciated pieces of history in the region anyway, a place where skirmishes, ambushes and hairs-breadth escapes took place between Patriot and British fighters during the Revolution, among two centuries of lore.

"It's a very, very important staging area at very strategic crossing on the Ashley River," said Ashley Chapman, manager of the Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site two miles down the river.

Locating the redoubt and the camp would create an opportunity for people to learn about a missing link to the history that includes Colonial Dorchester and its tabby fort, the river plantations and other toured spots. "We're all connected."

Reach Bo Petersen at 937-5744.

Francis Marion

General Moultrie's Lost Fort

Most people know the story of General Moultrie’s fort on Sullivan's Island that was named for him after he lead the forts defense against the British on June 28^th in  1776. This fort becomes the symbol of resistance in Charlestown against the crown after its walls of palmetto logs were able to with stand the bombardment of the British Navy and Col. Thomson at the other end of Sullivan's Island was able to keep the British troops on Long Island (Isle of Palms) from crossing Breech Inlet and attacking the fort by land.

General Moultrie’s forgotten fortification can be found in Dorchester County on the Ashley River. This is the earth redoubt that he built to guard the access to Charlestown near Summerville, SC. This was an important crossroad for the defense of Charlestown 28 miles up the Ashley River. This was the bridge that leads across the Ashley River to White House Meeting House named in the honor of Reverend White, which the British burned under General Provost during his raid against Charlestown in 1778 and to Dorchester Road which was the main road leading directly to Charlestown. This fortification was built between January and February of 1780 to block any British advance coming up from Savannah that were going to link up with the British General Clinton who had landed on Johns Island and was already moving his forces to James Island under the protection of the Royal Navies big guns.  At this fortification he had over 300 hundred horseman that were used as a reconnaissance force and or a rapid response force should the British appear at other crossings to impede their crossings. This cavalry force was composed of the 1st Continental Dragoons under the command of Lt. Col. Anthony White and the 3rd Continental Dragoons under the command of Lt. Col. William Washington, Col. Daniel Horry’s South Carolina Light Dragoons and other mounted troops from the local militia and unattached cavalry. This group of cavalry was put to good use in late March of 1780 by checking a British Calvary force consisting primarily of the British Legion and the 17^th Light horse under the command of Col. Tarlton who had yet to earn his American nickname Bloody Tarleton.  The infantry force was composed of the 2^nd South Carolina with around 250 men who defended the palmetto fort on Sullivan’s under Moultrie’s command in 1776 and whom at this time were under the direct command of his second in command at Fort Moultrie, Francis Marion. Marion’s other role at Bacon's Bridge was to form the local militia from the surrounding parishes and have them ready to defend Charlestown. This was no easy task because the locals were in fear of the British burning their homes while they were away.

Once General Lincoln, who was in total command of the defenses of Charlestown realized the British planned to cross at Stono Ferry he began to pull all his available forces to Charlestown proper  and General Moultrie’s position on the Ashley River was abandoned as his forces reported to Charlestown.  

This did not end the importance of this site since Marion would returned under the command of General Lincoln as a General in the South Carolina Militia and with a well earned nickname “The Swamp Fox”. Marion would come back to the site several times to check possible British advances or passing through to other areas of operations.

Today the spot where the fortification was located has been located and is now in the process of being protected for future generations so they won’t forget Moultrie’s lost fort as previous generations have.

Fort Moultrie

Yesterday we visited Fort Moultrie, Thomson Park, and Breech Inlet and took some pictures. The additions at Breach Inlet was a very nice tribute to Col. Thomson and his men who fought there. Next time we go we will take better pictures, the sun was murder on the camera. 

A great site with more info on the Battle of Sullivan's Island at Breach inlet is http://thomsonpark.wordpress.com/

View from signal station at Fort Moultrie

Thomson Park 

                                         

 Thomas Park

American Revolutionary leaders in present day Dorchester County

So the next step is to figure out which American Revolutionary leaders where in present day Dorchester County and when and where skirmishes took place in the county. The reason we are doing is so that we can start looking at personal and official correspondences to see where they where and what they did while they were in the county.

Who do we know for sure was in the present day county of Dorchester during the American Revolution? We have Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter in command of the fort at Dorchester at different times for short periods of time. We have Light Horse Henry Lee and William Washington fighting skirmishing near the fort at Dorchester at different times. Nathaniel Greene with Andrew Pickens encamped with the Southern American army within three miles of Bacon’s Bridge on the Ashley River near the end of the war. Thus we know all of the big four of South Carolina in the American Revolution where in present day Dorchester County.  

On the British side we had Loyalist, the 30 Regiment of Foot, and Lt. Col. Alexander Stewart at the fort at different times.

From this information we will now start to form a time line for Dorchester County in the American Revolution.

Dorchester County in the American Revolution

At this point I want to explain the importance of the letter from Marion to Horry. This letter lets us know that in fact the Southern American Army under Nathaniel Greene was camped in Dorchester County and skirmishing with the British on an almost daily occurrence as the American forces began to close the ring around Charles Town late in the war. So the  question becomes where were Marion, Greene, Lee, Washington, and the other American forces camped at during this time period and at other time periods in the war.

Thus begins the project, who, when, and where were American and British forces in Dorchester County during the American Revolution?



 

Francis Marion letter to Peter Horry

"Bacon Bridge, SC - 3 May 1782

I am posted here, two miles in front of the Continental army, within three-quarters of a mile of the above bridge. The General, according to custom, keeps me between him and the enemy."

The two mile mark he speaks of is a site near present day Colonial Dorchester State Park, in Dorchester County.