Battle of the Coweecho River | |||||||
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Part of the American Revolutionary War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Cherokee Loyalist militia | Patriot militia Catawba | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Unknown, possibly Ostenaco | Col. Andrew Williamson | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
300 Cherokee 50 Loyalists | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
4 confirmed killed [1] 8 wounded 13 captured | 13 killed 26 wounded |
The Battle of the Coweecho River (also known as Black Hole) took place in what today is Macon County, North Carolina between Patriot militia and their Catawba allies and Cherokee warriors with their Loyalist allies on September 19, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. [2] [3]
The region of the Appalachian mountain range and nearby areas became the scene of a dispute between the Cherokee and Anglo-European settlers who were continuing to expand west. In response to this, the Cherokee initiated raids into these settlements in July and August 1776. The colonial governments coordinated counter-offenses to these attacks. Brigadier General Griffith Rutherford of the North Carolina militia and Colonel Andrew Williamson of the South Carolina Militia planned to rendezvous and attack the middle and lower Cherokee settlements located in both the Carolinas. [4] [5]
En route to meet with General Rutherford, the South Carolinians with their Catawba scouts were ambushed by the Cherokee with their Loyalist allies on September 19, 1776. [1] [6] Due to the terrain of the steep gorge there was no way to counter-attack except to charge straight towards the enemy, which the Patriot forces did, clearing a path with the use of bayonets. The Cherokee, running low on ammunition, were forced to withdraw. [7]
Eventually, Col. Andrew Williamson met up with Brigadier General Griffith Rutherford at what today is Murphy, North Carolina on September 26, creating a combined force of 4,500 Patriots to take further action against the Cherokee, but this would not come to be.
Today, a state historic marker entitled with the name of the battle denotes the site of the engagement. It reads as follows: "During the American Revolution, S.C. forces under Colonel Andrew Williamson defeated the Cherokees, nearby, at the "Black Hole, Sept. 1776." [8] [9]
Andrew Pickens was a militia leader in the American Revolution. A planter and slaveowner, he developed his Hopewell plantation on the east side of the Keowee River across from the Cherokee town of Isunigu (Seneca) in western South Carolina. He was elected as a member of the United States House of Representatives from western South Carolina. Several treaties with the Cherokee were negotiated and signed at his plantation of Hopewell.
The Battle of Cowpens was a military engagement during the American Revolutionary War fought on January 17, 1781, near the town of Cowpens, South Carolina. American Patriot forces, estimated at 2,000 militia and regulars under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan faced 1,000 British troops under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton.
South Carolina was outraged over British tax policies in the 1760s that violated what they saw as their constitutional right to "no taxation without representation". Merchants joined the boycott against buying British products. When the London government harshly punished Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, South Carolina's leaders joined eleven other colonies in forming the Continental Congress. When the British attacked Lexington and Concord in the spring of 1775 and were beaten back by the Massachusetts Patriots, South Carolina Patriots rallied to support the American Revolution. Loyalists and Patriots of the colony were split by nearly 50/50.
Margaret Catherine Moore Berry operated as a scout and guide for Brigadier General Daniel Morgan during the American Revolutionary War. Morgan learned that General Charles Cornwallis was preparing for a battle against the American patriots. With 600 soldiers, the patriots would be outnumbered by 1,000 British and loyalist soldiers. Morgan sent Barry on a mission to assemble more patriot soldiers. She rode through the South Carolina backcountry to rally the militia, recruits, and South Carolina Rangers that brought the American forces to 1,600 men. She was named "heroine of Cowpens" for significantly increasing the number of soldiers that led to the victory of the Battle of Cowpens. Her husband, Andrew Barry, and her brother, Thomas Moore, served with distinction during the battle.
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James Moore was an American military officer who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Moore was born into a prominent political family in the colonial Province of North Carolina, he was one of only five generals from North Carolina to serve in the Continental Army. He spent much of his childhood and youth on his family's estates in the lower Cape Fear River area, but soon became active in the colonial military structure in North Carolina.
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