Eutaw Springs

The Final Battle of the American Revolution's Southern Campaign

Robert M. Dunkerly, Irene B. Boland

• Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781611177596
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early American History
• Index: History

An in-depth analysis of one of the War for Independence's bloodiest and least understood conflicts. The Battle of Eutaw Springs took place on September 8, 1781, and was among the last in the War of Independence. It was brutal in its combat and reprisals, with Continental and Whig militia fighting British regulars and Loyalist regiments. Although its outcome was seemingly inconclusive, the battle, fought near present-day Eutawville, South Carolina, contained all the elements that defined the war in the South. In Eutaw Springs: The Final Battle of the American Revolution's Southern Campaign, Robert M. Dunkerly and Irene B. Boland tell the story of this lesser known and under-studied battle of the Revolutionary War's Southern Campaign. Shrouded in myth and misconception, the battle has also been overshadowed by the surrender of Yorktown. Eutaw Springs represented lost opportunities for both armies. The American forces were desperate for a victory in 1781, and Gen. Nathanael Greene finally had the ground of his own choosing. British forces under Col. Alexander Stewart were equally determined to keep a solid grip on the territory they still held in the South Carolina lowcountry. In one of the bloodiest battles of the war, both armies sustained heavy casualties with each side losing nearly twenty percent of its soldiers. Neither side won the hard-fought battle, and controversies plagued both sides in the aftermath. Dunkerly and Boland analyze the engagement and its significance within the context of the war's closing months, study the area's geology and setting, and recount the action using primary sources, aided by recent archaeology. "A well put together book that is easy to read, and it makes good use of graphic material. Eutaw Springs is recommended." — The Journal of America's Military Past "A long-overdue study of... Nathanael Greene's last main force Southern campaign engagement. Drawing from a wealth of resources including new research, archaeology and pension documents, the authors have created an easy reading account.... For students of the Revolutionary War, this is must reading because so much focus has been directed at Yorktown where the British abandoned an army instead of the more mobile war in the South where the war was finally won by wearing down the British." —Lawrence Babits, George Washington Distinguished Professor of History, East Carolina University "A very good analysis of the political, military, and physical environment, with some profiles of a number of interesting people, most notably Nathanael Greene, after Washington the most important American general of the war, though he never won a battle." — New York Military Affairs Symposium Review

— Chapter One —

COMMANDERS AND PERSONALITIES

Eutaw Springs brought together a number of commanders, among them some of the most famous of the southern campaign. Some were from the regulars, others were partisans, militia, or provincial officers. In addition, some of the most talented officers in both armies were present at the battle. Of particular interest is the fact that many partisans and militia groups joined the American regular army under Gen. Nathanael Greene; often these forces operated independently. On the British side, small detachments of regular troops were augmented by Loyalists, forming a conglomerate force.

The men who led these armies had varying personalities and experiences that shaped their abilities when under fire and their responses to adversity. While most of the commanders on both sides were experienced veterans, there was a notable lack of higher-grade officers on the British side. This is a reflection of how thin British forces had been stretched in South Carolina in 1781. At Eutaw Springs there were many American commanders who had led regiments and brigades, while most of the British leaders were at best regimental or company commanders. Despite the shortcoming Lt. Col. Alexander Stewart’s troops held their own under good leadership.

The standard combat unit at the time was a regiment, which at full strength numbered about six hundred men, though most were never at full strength once deployed in the field. Regiments were composed of ten companies of about sixty men. Four regiments made a brigade, often led by a brigadier general, colonel, or lieutenant colonel.

The American army consisted of three brigades of Continental troops and several militia units and cavalry regiments (also known as dragoons). The British forces were not organized into brigades, but Maj. John Marjoribanks commanded a group of flank companies known as light infantry, the most mobile and skilled of the companies. These were the best companies from other regiments, drawn off from their parent unit and put together into a formidable combat formation—a common practice at the time.

American Forces

Major General Greene, a Rhode Island Quaker, commanded the Southern Department of the Continental Army. He was a methodical planner whose patience and insight managed to see his army through numerous setbacks. While often defeated on the battlefield, he managed to hold his army together and maintain a view of the strategic situation. Greene’s perseverance resembled that of his friend and commander, George Washington. He was one of the best American generals of the war, possessing keen vision and an understanding of both battlefield tactics and larger strategy in a way that many of his contemporaries did not. His mastery of logistics was the key to his success.

General Nathanael Greene. Courtesy of Ninety Six Chamber of Commerce.

Greene was also eminently qualified for such a command. The Southern Department had been the site of the ruin of many American officers’ careers, including the most recent commander, Gen. Horatio Gates. Greene had served from the start of the war in New England and was rewarded for his service with steady promotion over the years. He soon became one of Washington’s most trusted subordinates.

He fought in all the large battles with the main army under Washington, in the New York campaign, Trenton and Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown. By 1780 he had commanded wings and divisions of the main army consisting of several thousand men. It was good experience for leading the small southern army, essentially similar in size to his earlier commands. During the winter at Valley Forge, Greene reluctantly served as the army’s commissary, a thankless job that nonetheless gave him invaluable experience in logistics and supply issues. In this capacity he learned to work effectively with governors, various political leaders, and military commanders to make the machinery of the army’s supply system work. These would be big challenges as he entered the sparsely populated Carolinas, a region that had been devastated by war and was lacking a good infrastructure.¹

His skills showed during the brilliant maneuvers of 1780 and 1781 in the Carolinas. Using terrain, roads, fords, and rivers to his advantage, he led the British army far from their base and effectively used river barriers to protect his army. Although forced from the ground at Guilford Courthouse, the culmination of the first campaign of 1781, his army could recuperate and draw on established supply bases, while the British forces found themselves worn out and far from support.²

After the war Greene moved to the South, where he had won fame and secured his reputation. He served as president of the Society of the Cincinnati, a veterans group, and attempted to pay his wartime debts. He and his wife, Caty, lived on a plantation on the Georgia coast until his death in 1786.

The veteran brigade of Greene’s three Continental brigades was commanded by Col. Otho Holland Williams of Maryland. He was an ambitions and hardworking soldier. An orphan since the age of twelve, he was a county clerk in Frederick and then a merchant in Baltimore when the war began. He joined the Frederick Rifle Corps and served as a lieutenant.³ Williams proved himself one of the best combat leaders of the Revolution. At the start of the war, he served with the Maryland Regiment and was captured in 1776 at Fort Washington, New York, where he shared a cell for a time with Ethan Allen. Exchanged in 1778, Williams joined the Sixth Maryland as a colonel. He fought at Monmouth, New Jersey, and was sent south with the Maryland Line, fighting at Camden, S.C. Greene chose him to replace Daniel Morgan as head of the rear guard during the crucial race to the Dan River in early 1781. Williams fought at Guilford Courthouse, Hobkirk’s Hill, and Ninety Six.⁴

In 1782 Williams was promoted to brigadier general; after the war he declined the offer of second in command of the US Army. He settled in Baltimore and served as customs collector. He also planned the town of Williamsport, Maryland. In poor health for many years, he moved to Barbados in hopes the climate would improve his condition. He returned to Maryland and died at age forty-five. Williams’s writings are one of the best sources of information on Eutaw Springs.⁵

Williams’s brigade consisted of two Maryland and one Delaware regiments. Lt. Col. John Eager Howard commanded the First Maryland Regiment at Eutaw Springs. When the Revolution broke out, Howard was serving with the Maryland Militia. He then entered Continental service, seeing action at White Plains, Germantown, and Monmouth with the Fourth and Fifth Maryland Regiments. He transferred to the Southern Department with the Maryland Line and was present at Camden, Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse, Hobkirk’s Hill, and Ninety Six. Howard left active service following Eutaw Springs, where he was wounded. Congress voted him a medal for his actions at Cowpens. After the war Howard served as governor of Maryland as well as a national and state senator. He turned down Washington’s offer to be his secretary of war. His last public service was an unsuccessful bid for vice president. Howard was one of the most talented small unit commanders. His service at Eutaw solidified that reputation.⁶

Lt. Isaac Duvall served under Howard in the First Maryland. He had enlisted in the Third Maryland Regiment in 1777 and fought with that unit in its subsequent battles. Transferred to the First Maryland, he served in the southern theater at Camden, Ninety Six, and Hobkirk’s Hill. At Ninety Six Duvall commanded part of the “forlorn hope” that led the attack on the Star Fort, hacking through abatis and other obstacles to clear the way for the main attack force. He was noted for bravery during this dangerous operation that cost Greene heavy casualties. During the fighting at Eutaw Springs, Duvall led his company forward toward the fortified house in Stewart’s camp and seized a British gun. While pushing forward he was hit and mortally wounded. Duvall died a few days later.⁷

Maj. Henry Hardman led the Second Maryland Regiment. Hardman served through the entire war. He first served as lieutenant in a Maryland Rifle Battalion in 1776; later he rose to be captain of the First Maryland Regiment. Hardman was captured in the defeat at Fort Washington in November 1776 and exchanged two years later. He was a captain in the Seventh Maryland and then in the Third. He had most recently commanded the Second Maryland at Ninety Six. Hardman brought a wealth of experience as a unit leader.⁸

Capt. Robert Kirkwood of the Delaware Regiment served with distinction throughout the entire Revolutionary War. Joining Washington’s main army in 1776, Kirkwood fought with the Delaware Regiment at Long Island and in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania campaigns. The regiment was sent south and was decimated at Camden in 1780. Reorganized, it fought again at Cowpens, Guilford, and the subsequent actions in South Carolina under Greene. Reduced in size, the Delaware troops were still formidable. Kirkwood was widely regarded by contemporaries as one of the best small-unit combat leaders of the war.⁹

Commanding the North Carolina Brigade was Brig. Gen. Jethro Sumner. He had previously served with the Virginia Militia in the French and Indian War. He was a planter and tavern owner in Halifax County, North Carolina, when the war broke out. Sumner served in the state’s Provisional Congress in 1775. He fought with the Third North Carolina, serving at Brandywine, Germantown, and Valley Forge.¹⁰

Sumner’s health suffered at the winter encampment, and he returned to North Carolina in the spring of 1778 to recover. He fought at Stono Ferry in 1779 and helped defend Charlotte in 1780. When his state troops were placed under the command of a Continental officer, he resigned. General Greene convinced him to rejoin the army in 1781.¹¹ He was chosen to command the newly recruited North Carolina Continentals and led them well at Eutaw Springs. After the war he returned to his civilian life as a planter and tavern owner. Sumner remains an unsung hero of North Carolina’s Revolutionary War effort. A monument to his honor stands at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, though he did not fight in that battle.

Thirty-three-year-old Lt. Col. John Baptista Ashe was one of North Carolina’s most prominent officers in the Revolution, active in the conflict from start to finish. He served at the Battle of Alamance under Gov. William Tryon in 1771, helping crush the Regulator movement, a pre-Revolutionary civil war in the state. He fought at Moore’s Creek, the first Revolutionary action in North Carolina. He then served with the First North Carolina Regiment. Ashe was the commander at the 1779 defeat at Briar Creek in Georgia. At Eutaw Springs he commanded the newly reconstituted First Regiment. Greene considered him one of his best unit commanders.¹²

Part of what made these North Carolina regiments so strong was the leadership of their officers. Capt. Dennis (or Denny) Porterfield commanded a company in the First North Carolina. An experienced veteran, he brought skill and good leadership to this new unit. Porterfield had fought since 1776, first as an ensign in the Sixth North Carolina, then as a lieutenant. He fought with the North Carolina Line in the Philadelphia campaign, then transferred to the First Regiment in 1778. The next year he was promoted to captain. Porterfield was killed at Eutaw Springs.¹³

Maj. Reading Blount served successively in the Third, Fifth, Second, and First North Carolina Regiments during the war. He was cited for bravery at Guilford Courthouse. During the Battle of Eutaw Springs, he commanded the newly raised Second North Carolina Regiment. As with Ashe, Greene considered him a firstrate combat leader.¹⁴

Maj. John Armstrong commanded the Third North Carolina Regiment at Eutaw Springs. He commanded a company of the Second North Carolina Regiment during the Pennsylvania campaign in 1777, where he was wounded, hit in the shin at Germantown; his men nicknamed him “Hickory Shins.” Armstrong was promoted to major and later lieutenant colonel of the Fourth North Carolina. He was wounded at Stono Ferry in 1779 and fought with the North Carolina Militia at Camden in 1780. Armstrong was an experienced unit commander who had seen his fair share of combat.¹⁵

Lt. Col. Richard Campbell led the Virginia Brigade of Greene’s army. Campbell resided in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia at the start of the war. He first served with militia at Fort Pitt on the frontier and led expeditions against Indians in the Ohio River Valley. Later he fought with the Main Continental Army in the Fourth, Eighth, Ninth, and Thirteenth Virginia Regiments. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel by the time of Eutaw Springs, commanding a brigade of two regiments. Campbell was at Camden (where he was wounded), Guilford Courthouse, Ninety Six, and Hobkirk’s Hill and brought valuable battlefield leadership to the field. Under his direction the newly formed Virginia regiments achieved a level of competence and dependability. Killed near the end of the battle at Eutaw Springs, he is virtually unknown today. Greene wrote that he was a “brave, active, and intrepid Soldier.”¹⁶

Maj. Smith Snead led the First Virginia Regiment at the battle, taking over command from the ailing Col. Samuel Hawes just after the defeat at Ninety Six. Snead had seen militia service in the 1760s and fought in the Revolution since 1776. Serving with the Continental Line, he rose to the rank of captain of the Ninth Virginia. He saw action at Brandywine and Germantown, where he was captured. Exchanged, he joined the reformed Virginia Continental troops prior to the battle of Guilford Courthouse. After the war he received six thousand acres for his service.¹⁷

Capt. Thomas Edwards, of Sussex County, led the Second Virginia Regiment at Eutaw Springs. Edwards had served as ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Prologue
• Chapter One — Commanders and Personalities
• Chapter Two — The War in the Carolinas and the March to Eutaw Springs
• Chapter Three — First Encounters
• Chapter Four — The Battle Develops
• Chapter Five — British Resurgence
• Chapter Six — Aftermath
• Epilogue
• Appendix One — Battlefield Archaeology, Preservation, and Tour
• Appendix Two — Unit Strengths and Losses, Officer Casualties, and the Return of the Army
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index