the battle of fishing creek--10/7/24

07 Oct 2024

the battle of fishing creek--10/7/24

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Today's selection-- from This Fierce People by Alan Pell Crawford. One of the most lopsided defeats for the Americans in the War for Independence came in 1780 in South Carolina at the Battle of Fishing Creek (or Catawba Ford):

“At dawn, when movement by the British indicated that they were forming up to attack, de Kalb and his Maryland and Delaware regiments received orders from Gates to move now, which they did. Dudley, who had been taking care of Porterfield all night, suddenly heard ‘the most tremendous firing I have ever heard, accompanied by the continued roar of cannon.’ Smoke was everywhere, and, as Cornwallis recalled, the morning mist over the swamp prevented the smoke from rising, which ‘occasioned so thick a darkness, that it was difficult to see the effect of a very heavy and well-supported fire on both sides.’

“When the British could see well enough to move, they rushed forward with their bayonets; when they were within two hundred yards, Gates ordered the Virginia militia to answer with their bayonets. This they did, but the sight of the steel ends of the enemy's weapons, pointed at them from ranks moving shoulder to shoulder and firing as they advanced, Williams said, ‘threw the whole body of militia into such a panic, that they generally threw down their loaded arms and fled, in the utmost consternation.’

“Garret Watts, a twenty-four-year-old private with the North Carolina militia, was positioned just to the right of the Virginians when they engaged with the enemy, and ‘the loud roar soon became general from one end of the line to the other.’ Watts opened fire, too, convinced that he might have been the first of the North Carolina boys to do so, ‘not-withstanding the orders: for we were close to the enemy who appeared to maneuver in contempt of us & I fired without thinking except that I might prevent the man opposite me from killing me.’

“Watts was not only the first who fired, but—by his own admission—he was ‘amongst the first that fled-the cause of that I can not tell except that every one I saw was about to do the same. It was instantaneous,’ and there was no effort made to prevent their flight, ‘no encouragement to fight. I threw away my gun,’ and skedaddled. He realized that having discarded his weapon, he might be punished for being without arms, so he picked up a drum. But the drum made such a racket when touched by the smallest tree branch that he threw it down as well.

Portrait of Banastre Tarleton by Sir Joshua Reynolds

“The British had quickly cleared the battlefield on one side of the road, but the Continentals from Maryland and Delaware on the other side—on the patriot right, to the west—held strong, and the resistance they were putting up was impressive. Some of the Marylanders had straddled the road and actually moved forward against the tide of the fleeing militia, eventually taking a position near de Kalb. ‘When we had gone,’ Watts said, ‘we heard the roar of guns still, but we knew not why. Had we known, we might have returned,’ because it came from ‘that portion of the army commanded by de Kalb fighting still.’ De Kalb had rallied his men, first on horseback, but then his horse was shot from under him, and he fought on foot, wielding his saber. There were now maybe six hundred Continentals left to fight off some three thousand redcoats, and whatever odds might have seemed to favor the more numerous patriots under Gates the night before were shifting rapidly against them. Cornwallis sensed this and rode confidently among his troops, but both times Rawdon's men charged through the smoke and haze, the troops under de Kalb pushed them back.

“By this time, however, Tarleton's cavalry, stationed in the rear, were sweeping around to the left and hit Gates's Continentals from behind, and even the men from Delaware and Maryland were trying to flee. Only de Kalb and a few of his men held on, and the British swarmed over them. It was then that de Kalb was mortally wounded, providing a note of dogged heroism to what would nevertheless constitute a staggering setback for the Continental army.

“In little more than an hour, some nine hundred men in Gates's army had been either killed or wounded, with a thousand captured, and it was not over. Two days later, in Gates's words, ‘Fortune seem'd determined to continue to distress us.’ Cornwallis was aware that Sumter was nearby. The British commander also knew that the men Sumter had with him were the only battle-ready troops in South Carolina, such as they were. Sumter had failed to seize the supply train he told Gates he could bag, though he was transporting a good deal of other booty he had taken from the British and was moving up the Wateree River, where he was close enough to have heard the guns from the Battle of Camden. Now, though Sumter did not know the disaster that had befallen the Americans there, he was nonetheless trying to get his own troops out of danger.

“Cornwallis ordered Tarleton to go after Sumter, and the race began. Still lacking horses, Tarleton again double-mounted his men, and for a time, the two small forces—Tarleton's and Sumter's—marched north, on opposites sides of the river, though Sumter never seemed to realize he was being pursued. At noon on August 17, Tarleron's hundred dragoons and sixty infantrymen splashed across to the other side, and that night they overtook Sumter's rear guard. Sumter heard the commotion but, told that this was only the sound of the camp butchers killing beef cattle, went back to sleep.

“Tarleton's men rode on, and at about noon the next day, at a point overlooking Fishing Creek, they saw to their amazement that their prey was camped below, oblivious to the peril they were in. Their arms were stacked. Some were cooking. Some were asleep under trees. Some were drunk from puncheons of rum they had seized along the way. A few were swimming in the river. Sumter himself had taken off his coat and hat and boots, put a blanket beside a wagon, laid down, and gone to sleep.

“‘The decision and the preparation for the attack were momentary,’ Tarleton wrote in his memoirs. ‘The cavalry and infantry were formed into one line, and giving a general shout, advanced to the charge.’ The camp erupted in ‘universal consternation,’ and except for some opposition ‘made from behind the waggons, in front of the militia,’ the rout was complete. ‘Colonel [Sumter], who had taken off part of his clothes on account of the heat ... amidst the general confusion,’ climbed onto the back of a wagon horse and, after failing to rally his men, galloped toward the safety of the swamp, and ‘made his escape.’

“The losses were appalling. Only sixteen of Tarleton's men were killed or wounded, but 150 under Sumter lost their lives and a hundred were wounded. Another three hundred were taken prisoner, and one hundred redcoats who had been captured along the way were released. The British Legion, by Tarleron's account, also took eight hundred horses, ‘two three pounders, two ammunition wagons, one thousand stand of arms, forty-four carriages, loaded with baggage, rum, and other stores.’

“Within a week, the British were back at Camden, and the garrison there was now stronger by far than it had been before. Lord Germain informed King George of the triumphs at Camden and Fishing Creek, and His Majesty passed along, in Germain's words, his ‘approbation of their judicious and spirited Conduct,’ which included ‘a double Claim of Praise for [Tarleton's] great Alertness in overtaking General Sumter's detachment before they were apprized of [Gates's] defeat, and by their destruction rendering the Victory at Camden still more decisive.’ The Royal Gazette, the loyalist newspaper in New York, reported a ‘perfect victory’ for their cause.”