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On August 19, 1780, near a ford of the Enoree River in northwest South Carolina, a short and savage encounter occurred between Rebel militia and a combined force of Loyalist militia and Provincial regulars. Despite the Rebel’s being outnumbered more than two to one, it was an overwhelming victory for the American cause. The Rebels defended from the top of a ridge, inflicted heavy casualties on the Loyalist force as it advanced, then charged and drove the enemy from the field of battle. Just as Bunker Hill had done on a larger scale in Massachusetts, this clash of hundreds of soldiers in the Carolina backwoods invigorated the Rebel cause and led directly to the Battle of King’s Mountain, the turning point of the war in the South. This battle is also remarkable because instead of one leader the Rebel force was directed by a joint command of three colonels.
The Battle of Musgrove’s Mill, 1780, by award-winning historian John Buchanan, begins by describing the situation in South Carolina following the British invasion of 1780 before introducing the three colonels: Isaac Shelby, James Williams, and Elijah Clarke. These men led Rebel militia from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia in an effort to disrupt British operations and their Loyalist support. The colonels and other leaders led mounted Rebel militia in a sweeping and bloody guerilla war that played an essential role in opening a path to the eventual British surrender at Yorktown and Britain’s loss of America.
Book Purchase: To purchase this book please click on this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594163936
About Jack Buchanan:
The former Chief Registrar of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in charge of worldwide art movements, upon retirement John took up my
first love, writing, and have published four histories. (1) The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas; (2) Jackson’s Way: Andrew Jackson and the People of the Western Waters; (3) The Road to Valley Forge: How Washington Built the Army That Won the Revolution; (4) The Road to Charleston: Nathanael Greene and the American Revolution. He has also published short stories in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and a self-published novel, The Rise of Stefan Gregorovic. He is now working a volume for the small battle series of the Revolutionary War; and a longer work on the Indian wars from the Powhatan War of 1622 to the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend.