Huck’s Defeat
Encyclopedia
Huck’s Defeat or the Battle of Williamson's Plantation was an engagement of the American Revolutionary War
that occurred in present York County, South Carolina
on July 12, 1780, and was one of the first battles of the southern campaign to be won by Patriot militia.
and quickly occupied four vital courthouse towns: Camden
, Cheraw
, Georgetown
, and Ninety Six
. Believing the Whigs had been crushed in South Carolina, Sir Henry Clinton
abrogated the terms of surrender, which had allowed parolees to remain neutral for the remainder of the war. Under terms of the proclamation of June 3, 1780, Patriots
or Whigs (as they were commonly known) were compelled to either take an oath of loyalty to the king or be regarded as "rebels and enemies of their country." Clinton then departed for New York, leaving Lieutenant General Charles, Earl Cornwallis in command of the British army in the South.
In the absence of civil government in South Carolina (Governor John Rutledge
had fled to North Carolina when Charleston fell), backcountry Whigs selected their own leaders to continue the fight against the "senseless cruelty of the Tory
militia" and the "cruel and contemptuous treatment of the populace" by British Legion commander Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton
.
, a career British officer who commanded a British Provincial regiment called the New York Volunteers
. In early July, Turnbull ordered Christian Huck, a Philadelphia lawyer and a captain in Tarleton's British Legion, to find the rebel leaders and persuade other area residents to swear allegiance to the king. A native of Germany, Huck was one of many Pennsylvania Loyalist
s whose property was confiscated after the British evacuated Philadelphia. He was then banished from the state and joined the British army at New York. Huck was a remarkably poor choice for this assignment because he held a great deal of bitterness toward the Whigs in general, and the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in particular. During an earlier incursion into what was then called the Upper District between the Broad and Catawba Rivers (modern Chester County, South Carolina
), his troops had murdered an unarmed boy, reportedly while he was reading a Bible, and burnt the home and library of Rev. John Simpson
, a Whig leader and influential Presbyterian minister. A week later, Huck and his men invaded the New Acquisition District (roughly modern York County, South Carolina
), and destroyed the ironworks
of William Hill, another influential Whig. Residents who had only wanted to be left alone had then joined the Patriots.
After destroying Hill's Ironworks and putting the rebel garrison there to flight, Huck convened a compulsory meeting of the remaining male residents of the New Acquisition District (mostly men too old to fight), and proclaimed that "God almighty had become a rebel, but if there were twenty gods on that side, they would all be conquered." Huck then stated that "even if the rebels were as thick as trees, and Jesus Christ would come down and lead them, he would still defeat them," following which he and his troopers confiscated all the men's horses. Actions like these quickly earned Huck the nickname "the swearing captain" and further angered the Presbyterian inhabitants of the backcountry. After witnessing Huck's tirade, one resident, Daniel Collins, told his wife, "I have come home determined to take my gun and when I lay it down, I lay down my life with it."
Huck's style in the Catawba River
Valley was to rough-up backcountry women, confiscate food and horses, and generally threaten prison and death to any who dared resist the British. This simply encouraged more men to join the rebels, who were organizing a militia brigade under Brigadier General Thomas Sumter
. On July 11, 1780, Huck raided the home of the partisan leader Captain John McClure on Fishing Creek in present-day Chester County, caught his brother and brother-in-law with newly made bullets, and sentenced them to hang as traitors at sunrise the next day. Huck's detachment, consisting of about 35 British Legion dragoon
s, 20 New York Volunteers
, and 60 Loyalist
militia, then advanced once more into the New Acquisition and arrived at the plantation of another Whig militia leader, Colonel William Bratton, later that evening. Shortly thereafter, one of Huck's soldiers put a reaping hook to the neck of Col. Bratton's wife, Martha, in an unsuccessful attempt to discover Bratton's whereabouts. Huck's second-in-command, Lieutenant William Adamson of the New York Volunteers, intervened and disciplined the offending Loyalist soldier. Huck next arrested three elderly neighbors of the Brattons, including Col. Bratton's older brother Robert, and told them they too would be executed the next day.
Huck then proceeded a quarter of a mile southeast of Bratton's plantation to the neighboring house of an elderly Whig named James Williamson, where he and his approximately 115 men made camp for the night. The five prisoners were secured in a corncrib to await execution.
Huck's security was extremely lax. Shortly after sunrise, at least two of the Patriot groups managed to attack simultaneously. The British and Loyalist troops were caught completely by surprise; many were still asleep. The partisans rested their rifles on a split rail fence, from which "they took unerring and deadly aim" at their opponents as they emerged. Huck mounted a horse to rally his troops and was shot in the head by John Carroll, who had loaded two balls in his rifle. Some of the Loyalists surrendered while others fled, hotly pursued by Whigs seeking vengeance. Tory losses were very high. Tarleton later reported that only twenty-four men escaped. Patriot losses were one killed and one wounded; the five prisoners were also released from the corncrib unharmed.
.
Edgar has called Huck's Defeat "a major turning point in the American Revolution in South Carolina." It was the first of more than thirty-five important battles in South Carolina in late 1780 and early 1781, all but five of which were partisan victories. This chain of successes was essential to the major Patriot victories at King's Mountain
and Cowpens
.
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
that occurred in present York County, South Carolina
York County, South Carolina
York County is a county located in the north-central section of the U.S. state of South Carolina. According to the 2010 census, the county's population was 226,073. It is the second largest county in the Charlotte metropolitan area...
on July 12, 1780, and was one of the first battles of the southern campaign to be won by Patriot militia.
Background
In May 1780, the British captured the only significant American army in the South at Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
and quickly occupied four vital courthouse towns: Camden
Camden, South Carolina
Camden is the fourth oldest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina and is also the county seat of Kershaw County, South Carolina, United States. The population was an estimated 7,103 in 2009...
, Cheraw
Cheraw, South Carolina
Cheraw is a town on the Pee Dee River in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 5,524 at the 2000 census and center of an urban cluster with a total population of 9,069. It has been nicknamed "The Prettiest Town in Dixie." The harbor tub USS Cheraw was named in the...
, Georgetown
Georgetown, South Carolina
Georgetown is the third oldest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina and the county seat of Georgetown County, in the Low Country. Located on Winyah Bay at the confluence of the Great Pee Dee River, Waccamaw River, and Sampit River, Georgetown is the second largest seaport in South Carolina,...
, and Ninety Six
Ninety Six, South Carolina
Ninety Six is a town in Greenwood County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 1,936 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Ninety Six is located at ....
. Believing the Whigs had been crushed in South Carolina, Sir Henry Clinton
Henry Clinton (American War of Independence)
General Sir Henry Clinton KB was a British army officer and politician, best known for his service as a general during the American War of Independence. First arriving in Boston in May 1775, from 1778 to 1782 he was the British Commander-in-Chief in North America...
abrogated the terms of surrender, which had allowed parolees to remain neutral for the remainder of the war. Under terms of the proclamation of June 3, 1780, Patriots
Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
or Whigs (as they were commonly known) were compelled to either take an oath of loyalty to the king or be regarded as "rebels and enemies of their country." Clinton then departed for New York, leaving Lieutenant General Charles, Earl Cornwallis in command of the British army in the South.
In the absence of civil government in South Carolina (Governor John Rutledge
John Rutledge
John Rutledge was an American statesman and judge. He was the first Governor of South Carolina following the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the 31st overall...
had fled to North Carolina when Charleston fell), backcountry Whigs selected their own leaders to continue the fight against the "senseless cruelty of the Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
militia" and the "cruel and contemptuous treatment of the populace" by British Legion commander Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton
Banastre Tarleton
General Sir Banastre Tarleton, 1st Baronet, GCB was a British soldier and politician.He is today probably best remembered for his military service during the American War of Independence. He became the focal point of a propaganda campaign claiming that he had fired upon surrendering Continental...
.
Preliminaries
Around the first of June 1780, the British army established a fortified outpost at Rocky Mount on the upper Catawba River, near the North Carolina border, and placed a garrison there under Lieutenant Colonel George TurnbullGeorge Turnbull (soldier)
George Turnbull was a loyalist Lieutenant Colonel in the American Revolutionary War.Turnbull raised and commanded the New York Volunteers in January 1776; this regiment was renumbered in May 1779 as the 3rd American Regiment...
, a career British officer who commanded a British Provincial regiment called the New York Volunteers
New York Volunteers
The New York Volunteers was a American Loyalist provincial regiment which was served in the British Army during American War of Independence.It was raised in Halifax, January 1776. Two companies were in the 1776 New York campaign. It was at the raids on Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery...
. In early July, Turnbull ordered Christian Huck, a Philadelphia lawyer and a captain in Tarleton's British Legion, to find the rebel leaders and persuade other area residents to swear allegiance to the king. A native of Germany, Huck was one of many Pennsylvania Loyalist
Loyalist
In general, a loyalist is someone who maintains loyalty to an established government, political party, or sovereign, especially during war or revolutionary change. In modern English usage, the most common application is to loyalty to the British Crown....
s whose property was confiscated after the British evacuated Philadelphia. He was then banished from the state and joined the British army at New York. Huck was a remarkably poor choice for this assignment because he held a great deal of bitterness toward the Whigs in general, and the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in particular. During an earlier incursion into what was then called the Upper District between the Broad and Catawba Rivers (modern Chester County, South Carolina
Chester County, South Carolina
Chester County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. In 2000, its population was 34,068; in 2005 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that its population had dropped to 33,228. Its county seat is Chester.-Geography and climate:...
), his troops had murdered an unarmed boy, reportedly while he was reading a Bible, and burnt the home and library of Rev. John Simpson
John Simpson (Presbyterian)
The Reverend John Simpson , was a Presbyterian minister, Whig leader and Patriot in the American Revolution.-Life:Of Scotch-Irish descent, Simpson married Mary Remer in 1765 in New Jersey...
, a Whig leader and influential Presbyterian minister. A week later, Huck and his men invaded the New Acquisition District (roughly modern York County, South Carolina
York County, South Carolina
York County is a county located in the north-central section of the U.S. state of South Carolina. According to the 2010 census, the county's population was 226,073. It is the second largest county in the Charlotte metropolitan area...
), and destroyed the ironworks
Ironworks
An ironworks or iron works is a building or site where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and/or steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e...
of William Hill, another influential Whig. Residents who had only wanted to be left alone had then joined the Patriots.
After destroying Hill's Ironworks and putting the rebel garrison there to flight, Huck convened a compulsory meeting of the remaining male residents of the New Acquisition District (mostly men too old to fight), and proclaimed that "God almighty had become a rebel, but if there were twenty gods on that side, they would all be conquered." Huck then stated that "even if the rebels were as thick as trees, and Jesus Christ would come down and lead them, he would still defeat them," following which he and his troopers confiscated all the men's horses. Actions like these quickly earned Huck the nickname "the swearing captain" and further angered the Presbyterian inhabitants of the backcountry. After witnessing Huck's tirade, one resident, Daniel Collins, told his wife, "I have come home determined to take my gun and when I lay it down, I lay down my life with it."
Huck's style in the Catawba River
Catawba River
The Catawba River is a tributary of the Wateree River in the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina. The river is approximately 220 miles long...
Valley was to rough-up backcountry women, confiscate food and horses, and generally threaten prison and death to any who dared resist the British. This simply encouraged more men to join the rebels, who were organizing a militia brigade under Brigadier General Thomas Sumter
Thomas Sumter
Thomas Sumter nicknamed the "Carolina Gamecock" , was a hero of the American Revolution and went on to become a longtime member of the Congress of the United States.-Early life:Thomas Sumter was born near Charlottesville in Hanover County, Virginia in 1734...
. On July 11, 1780, Huck raided the home of the partisan leader Captain John McClure on Fishing Creek in present-day Chester County, caught his brother and brother-in-law with newly made bullets, and sentenced them to hang as traitors at sunrise the next day. Huck's detachment, consisting of about 35 British Legion dragoon
Dragoon
The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, dragoons evolved into conventional light cavalry units and personnel...
s, 20 New York Volunteers
New York Volunteers
The New York Volunteers was a American Loyalist provincial regiment which was served in the British Army during American War of Independence.It was raised in Halifax, January 1776. Two companies were in the 1776 New York campaign. It was at the raids on Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery...
, and 60 Loyalist
Loyalist
In general, a loyalist is someone who maintains loyalty to an established government, political party, or sovereign, especially during war or revolutionary change. In modern English usage, the most common application is to loyalty to the British Crown....
militia, then advanced once more into the New Acquisition and arrived at the plantation of another Whig militia leader, Colonel William Bratton, later that evening. Shortly thereafter, one of Huck's soldiers put a reaping hook to the neck of Col. Bratton's wife, Martha, in an unsuccessful attempt to discover Bratton's whereabouts. Huck's second-in-command, Lieutenant William Adamson of the New York Volunteers, intervened and disciplined the offending Loyalist soldier. Huck next arrested three elderly neighbors of the Brattons, including Col. Bratton's older brother Robert, and told them they too would be executed the next day.
Huck then proceeded a quarter of a mile southeast of Bratton's plantation to the neighboring house of an elderly Whig named James Williamson, where he and his approximately 115 men made camp for the night. The five prisoners were secured in a corncrib to await execution.
Battle
With intelligence provided by John McClure's younger sister, Mary, and a Bratton slave named Watt, the loosely organized Patriot forces swarmed after Huck. About 150 arrived in the vicinity of Williamson's plantation that night, commanded by experienced militia officers. After a brief reconnaissance and some discussion, they agreed to attack Huck from three directions simultaneously.Huck's security was extremely lax. Shortly after sunrise, at least two of the Patriot groups managed to attack simultaneously. The British and Loyalist troops were caught completely by surprise; many were still asleep. The partisans rested their rifles on a split rail fence, from which "they took unerring and deadly aim" at their opponents as they emerged. Huck mounted a horse to rally his troops and was shot in the head by John Carroll, who had loaded two balls in his rifle. Some of the Loyalists surrendered while others fled, hotly pursued by Whigs seeking vengeance. Tory losses were very high. Tarleton later reported that only twenty-four men escaped. Patriot losses were one killed and one wounded; the five prisoners were also released from the corncrib unharmed.
Importance
Although the numbers engaged were small, the importance of the skirmish was immediately clear. As South Carolina historian Walter Edgar has written, "The entire backcountry seemed to take heart. Frontier militia had defeated soldiers of the feared British Legion." Volunteers streamed in to join the partisan militia brigade of General Thomas SumterThomas Sumter
Thomas Sumter nicknamed the "Carolina Gamecock" , was a hero of the American Revolution and went on to become a longtime member of the Congress of the United States.-Early life:Thomas Sumter was born near Charlottesville in Hanover County, Virginia in 1734...
.
Edgar has called Huck's Defeat "a major turning point in the American Revolution in South Carolina." It was the first of more than thirty-five important battles in South Carolina in late 1780 and early 1781, all but five of which were partisan victories. This chain of successes was essential to the major Patriot victories at King's Mountain
Battle of Kings Mountain
The Battle of Kings Mountain was a decisive battle between the Patriot and Loyalist militias in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War...
and Cowpens
Battle of Cowpens
The Battle of Cowpens was a decisive victory by Patriot Revolutionary forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War...
.
Further reading
- Michael C. Scoggins, The Day It Rained Militia: Huck's Defeat and the Revolution in the South Carolina Backcountry, May-July 1780 (Charleston: The History Press, 2005)
- Michael C. Scoggins, "Capt. Christin Huck: A Biography" (July 2002)
- Walter Edgar, Partisans and Redcoats: The Southern Conflict that turned the Tide of the American Revolution (New York: William Morrow, 2001)
- Sam Thomas, "The 1780 Presbyterian Rebellion and the Battle of Huck's Defeat"
- Marcus J. Wright, "Huck's Defeat or the Battle of Williamson's Plantation, S.C., July 12, 1780," Publications of the Southern History Association, 1 (October 1897): 247-52.