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The expedition of Major Ferguson and his party to “the back country” of the Carolinas,
to which reference has been made, had encouraged some of the Tories in that part of the country
to assemble to active duty in support of the Royal cause. One of these parties
-- about two hundred in number -- had met at Musgrove’s Mill, on the Enoree River
in what is now the southwestern part of Union District, South Carolina.
Information of this was conveyed to Colonel James Williams,
who with Colonels Bratton of South Carolina, Clarke of Georgia, and Shelby of Virginia,
was on the southern borders of North Carolina.
On the sixteenth of August, with about two hundred men, they moved towards the Broad River; crossing it on the following day. The march was silently and skillfully conducted, and about daybreak on the morning of the eighteenth, they arrived in the immediate vicinity of the enemy. Two trusty men were sent forward to reconnoitre, but were discovered and fired on by a patrol, and they returned to the main body with no other information than that which showed the enemy was posted on the opposite side of the river. It appeared, subsequently, that the Tories had been strengthened, a few hours previously, the arrival of Colonel Ennis with two hundred regular troops and one hundred Tories, making an aggregate force of five hundred men. Dispositions were immediately made by Colonel Williams and his associates in command to receive the enemy, who had been alarmed by his patrol. The main body was dismounted, and the horses, guarded by sixteen men, were picketed three hundred yards in the rear. Sixteen expert riflemen, well mounted, moved forward towards the bank of the river to reconnoitre, with orders that, if the enemy manifested any desire to attack them, to draw towards the main body, and afterwards, if possible, to fall on his left flank. Meanwhile Captain Shadrick Inman of Georgia, with a similar party, moved so that he could co-operate with the other party and fall on the enemy’s right. The main body, now reduced to but little more than a hundred men, was formed into a single line in open order across the road and along the ridge on the top of which it was posted. Every man was ordered to “take his tree”, to reserve his fire until Colonel Shelby fired, and “then to take his object sure”. In the mean-time the sixteen riflemen who had been sent forward discharged their duty and succeeded in drawing the enemy over the river. Anticipating an easy victory he came up on a brisk trot -- the regulars under Major Fraser in the centre, the Tories on the right and left. When he had come within a hundred and fifty yards of the line he displayed and opened a heavy fire, but it was not noticed except by the two small flanking parties, who kept up a well-directed fire in reply. Perceiving that his attack at so great a distance was ineffectual, he soon afterwards trailed arms and in open order approached the American line. When he had come within eighty yards Colonel Shelby’s rifle conveyed the fatal order and -- to use the expressive words of an eye-witness -- his “ranks were thinned.” The unerring rifles had sent death into his ranks and before a second fire could be given he had fallen back in disorder. Rallying his troops, Colonel Innis advanced a second time, and the same result followed. A general fire was then opened at a greater distance, and for fifteen minutes it was continued warmly on both sides. At the end of that time the enemy gave way in great confusion, the Americans rushing after them with more energy than prudence. The thirty-two mounted men under Captain Inman charged the disordered ranks of the fugitives while the main body, on foot, pressed on their rear until they reached the river, and succeeded in capturing several prisoners. While on the bank of the river waiting for their horses in order to continue the pursuit, an express arrived with intelligence of the defeat of General Gates [at Camden SC], and of the approach of Major Ferguson, so the pursuit was continued no farther The loss of the Americans was Captain Inman and four men killed, and eleven men wounded. The enemy lost Major Fraser, four captains, and eighty-five men killed; Colonel Innis, and several officers and men wounded; and three captains and seventy-three privates (mostly regulars) prisoners. |