Williamson's Plantation, South Carolina

WILLIAMSON'S PLANTATION, SOUTH CAROLINA. 12 July 1780. Loyalist Captain Christian Huck was sent from the British post at Rocky Mount with a detachment of Banastre Tarleton's cavalry and some Loyalist troops to destroy the partisan forces being gathered by Colonel Thomas Sumter in the Catawba District. Huck's force of thirty-five cavalry, twenty mounted infantry of the New York Volunteers, and sixty other Loyalists reached James Williamson's plantation (now Brattonville) on 11 July. At the house of Captain James McClure, Huck caught the younger James McClure and his brother-in-law, Edward Martin, melting pewter dishes to make bullets. He looted the house, announced that he would hang the two rebels the next day, and slapped Mary McClure with the flat of his sword when she pleaded for their lives. The raiders then looted the house of Colonel William Bratton before camping at the plantation half a mile away. Mary McClure slipped off and rode thirty miles to Sumter's camp, where she informed her father of the raid. Bratton and McClure started off with 150 mounted volunteers and were joined by another 350 under Captain Edward Lacey Jr., Colonel William Hill, and Colonel Andrew Neal. But a great number of these men, more than half, left the column before they reached their goal.

During the approach, Lacey had posted a guard around his own house to keep his Loyalist father from alerting the enemy; the enterprising old gentleman escaped, was recaptured, and the son ordered him tied to his bed. When the column reached Bratton's house, a quarter of a mile from Huck's camp, they found that the enemy had pitched their tents between the rail fences that lined the road to Williamson's house.

Taking advantage of Huck's lack of security and his vulnerable situation, the rebels launched a surprise attack at dawn. They approached in two groups from opposite sides so as to cut the enemy off from their horses. Reveille came as the Americans opened fire at seventy-five yards. The Loyalists tried to fight back, but the rail fences kept them from charging with their bayonets and the rebel fire inflicted heavy casualties. Huck was mortally wounded when he rushed from the house and tried to rally his troops. Only 12 of the Legion cavalry and about the same number of others escaped from the force of about 115 Loyalists in the camp. The rebels had one man killed. Young McClure and Martin were found tied in a corncrib and freed.

Tarleton was in Charleston when this action took place. His violent reaction to the misuse of his Legion by Lieutenant Colonel Francis Rawdon in such dangerous piecemeal operations led General Charles Cornwallis to write Rawdon a sharp note. This episode was the beginning of Tarleton's bitterness not only toward Rawdon but also toward Cornwallis.

The rebels' success greatly assisted Sumter's recruiting and enabled him to attack Rocky Mount, 1 August 1780.

SEE ALSO Huck, Christian; Rawdon-Hastings, Francis; Rocky Mount, South Carolina; Tarleton, Banastre.

                              revised by Michael Bellesiles