Battle of James Island

Last updated
Battle of James Island
Part of the American Revolutionary War
DateNovember 14, 1782
Location
Result British Victory
Belligerents
Flag of the United States (1777-1795).svg United States Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Royal Banner of Stanislaw II of Poland.svg Tadeusz Kościuszko Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg William Dansey
Strength
70 300+
Casualties and losses
5 killed, 5 wounded 2 killed, 3 wounded

The Battle of James Island was a minor engagement on November 14, 1782, just outside Charleston, South Carolina, between American and British forces. British troops were on the move attempting to evacuate most of the Americans. [1] In an effort to encourage the evacuation of British troops, American forces attempted to ambush British troops cutting wood; however, reinforcements were quickly brought to the British side and the American soldiers were forced to retreat. About 70 American troops had attempted to rout and defeat British troops in the area. [2]

The British, after receiving reinforcements, numbered more than 300 soldiers and vastly outnumbered the Americans. [3] Several Americans were killed, including Captain William Wilmont, the last continental soldier killed in the Carolinas. [4] [5] In addition to Wilmont, William Smith, an enslaved African American who assisted Patriot troops during the battle, was taken captive by British forces and subsequently died in captivity. [6] As the skirmish finished, the remaining American troops retreated. The British would soon withdraw from the Americas, marking the end of the American Revolutionary War.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Revolutionary War</span> 1775–1783 American war of independence

The American Revolutionary War, also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was an armed conflict that was part of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris (1783), which resulted in Great Britain ultimately recognizing the independence and sovereignty of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Marion</span> American military officer, planter and politician (1732–1795)

Brigadier General Francis Marion, also known as the "Swamp Fox", was an American military officer, planter, and politician who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. During the American Revolution, Marion supported the Patriot cause and enlisted in the Continental Army, fighting against British forces in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War from 1780 to 1781.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Harlem Heights</span> Battle of the American Revolutionary War

The Battle of Harlem Heights was fought during the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War. The action took place on September 16, 1776, in what is now the Morningside Heights area and east into the future Harlem neighborhoods of northwestern Manhattan Island in what is now part of New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Legion (American Revolutionary War)</span> British unit of the American War of Independence

The British Legion was an elite British provincial regiment established during the American Revolutionary War, composed of Loyalist American troops, organized as infantry and cavalry, plus a detachment from the 16th Light Dragoons. The unit was commonly known as Tarleton's Legion, after the British officer who led it on campaign, Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton. It was a unit the size of a regiment, consisting of artillery, cavalry, and light infantry, and able to operate independently.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Jersey in the American Revolution</span>

New Jersey played a central role in the American Revolution both politically and militarily. It was the site of more than 90 military engagements, including the pivotal battles of Trenton, Princeton, and Monmouth. George Washington led his army across the state four times and encamped there during three hard winters, enduring some of the greatest's setbacks of the war as well as seminal victories. New Jersey's decisive role in the conflict earned it the title, "Crossroads of the American Revolution".

Timeline of the War of 1812 is a chronology of the War of 1812, including a list of battles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants)</span> Military unit

The 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) was a British regiment in the American Revolutionary War that was raised to defend present-day Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada from the constant land and sea attacks by American Revolutionaries. The 84th Regiment was also involved in offensive action in the Thirteen Colonies; including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and what is now Maine, as well as raids upon Lake Champlain and the Mohawk Valley. The regiment consisted of 2,000 men in twenty companies. The 84th Regiment was raised from Scottish soldiers who had served in the Seven Years' War and stayed in North America. As a result, the 84th Regiment had one of the oldest and most experienced officer corps of any regiment in North America. The Scottish Highland regiments were a key element of the British Army in the American Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philadelphia campaign</span> 1777–78 British offensive during the American Revolutionary War

The Philadelphia campaign (1777–1778) was a British military campaign during the American Revolutionary War designed to gain control of Philadelphia, the Revolutionary-era capital where the Second Continental Congress convened and formed the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander in 1775, and authored and unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence the following year, on July 4, 1776, which formalized and escalated the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War</span>

The southern theater of the American Revolutionary War was the central theater of military operations in the second half of the American Revolutionary War, 1778–1781. It encompassed engagements primarily in Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Tactics consisted of both strategic battles and guerrilla warfare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Stono Ferry</span> June 20, 1779 battle in the American Revolutionary War

The Battle of Stono Ferry was an American Revolutionary War battle, fought on June 20, 1779, near Charleston, South Carolina. The rear guard from a British expedition retreating from an aborted attempt to take Charleston held off an assault by poorly trained militia forces under American General Benjamin Lincoln.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War after Saratoga</span>

The northern theater of the American Revolutionary War after Saratoga consisted of a series of battles between American revolutionaries and British forces, from 1778 to 1782 during the American Revolutionary War. It is characterized by two primary areas of activity. The first set of activities was based around the British base of operations in New York City, where each side made probes and counterprobes against the other's positions that sometimes resulted in notable actions. The second was essentially a frontier war in Upstate New York and rural northern Pennsylvania that was largely fought by state militia companies and some Indian allies on the American side, and Loyalist companies supported by Indians, British Indian agents, and occasionally British regulars. The notable exception to significant Continental Army participation on the frontier was the 1779 Sullivan Expedition, in which General John Sullivan led an army expedition that drove the Iroquois out of New York. The warfare amongst the splinters of the Iroquois Six Nations were particularly brutal, turning much of the Indian population into refugees.

The 71st Regiment of Foot was a British Army regiment of infantry raised in 1775, during the American Revolutionary War and unofficially known as Fraser's Highlanders. It was disbanded in 1786.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capture of Savannah</span> 1778 engagemetn of the American Revolutionary War

The Capture of Savannah was a battle of the American Revolutionary War fought on December 29, 1778. It pitted an American garrison of Continental Army and militia units against a British invasion force commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell. The capture of the city led to an extended occupation and was the opening move in the British southern strategy to regain control of the rebellious Southern Colonies by appealing to the relatively strong Loyalist sentiment there.

The Battle of the Combahee River took place during the American Revolutionary War on August 27, 1782, near Beaufort, South Carolina, one of many such confrontations after the Siege of Yorktown to occur before the British evacuated Charleston in December 1782. Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, a 27-year-old Southern abolitionist, previously a diplomat and an aide-de-camp to George Washington, who was lauded as "one of the bravest and most gallant of the American officers," was killed during the confrontation.

The Province of Georgia was a significant battleground in the American Revolution. Its population was at first divided about exactly how to respond to revolutionary activities and heightened tensions in other provinces. Georgia was the only colony not present in the First Continental Congress in 1774. When violence broke out in 1775, radical Patriots took control of the provincial government, and drove many Loyalists out of the province. Georgia subsequently took part to the Second Continental Congress with the other colonies. In 1776 and 1778, Georgia served as the staging ground for several important raids into British-controlled Florida. The British army captured Savannah in 1778, and the American and French forces failed to recapture the city during the Siege of Savannah in 1779. Georgia remained under British control until their evacuation from Savannah in 1782.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia in the American Revolution</span>

The history of Virginia in the American Revolution begins with the role the Colony of Virginia played in early dissent against the British government and culminates with the defeat of General Cornwallis by the allied forces at the Siege of Yorktown in 1781, an event that signaled the effective military end to the conflict. Numerous Virginians played key roles in the Revolution, including George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson.

William "Bloody Bill" Cunningham (1756–1787) was an American loyalist infamous for perpetrating a series of bloody massacres in South Carolina's backcountry in the fall of 1781 as commander of a Tory militia regiment in the Revolutionary War. Though his family were loyal to the British crown, Cunningham initially enlisted in the Continental Army as part of the State of South Carolina's 3rd regiment in 1775. His tenure in the rebel army was an unhappy one and Cunningham changed sides to fight for the British in 1778. He earned the nickname "Bloody Bill" for the violent, ruthless nature of his raids on rebels and patriot civilians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Army during the American Revolutionary War</span>

The British Army during the American Revolutionary War served for eight years in the American Revolutionary War, which was fought throughout North America, the Caribbean, and elsewhere from April 19, 1775, to September 3, 1783. The war formally commenced at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in present-day Massachusetts. Two months later, in June 1775, the Second Continental Congress, gathered in the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia, appointed George Washington to organize patriot militias into the Continental Army and lead them in a war against the British Army. The following year, in July 1776, the Second Continental Congress, representing the Thirteen Colonies, declared themselves free and independent from colonial governance.

The Battle of Cherokee Station took place during the American Civil War between the Union Army and the Confederate Army near the town of Cherokee Station Alabama on 21 October 1863.

The Battle of Summerfield was a skirmish, in the area that today is Summerfield, North Carolina in present-day northern Guilford County, between Patriot forces under the command of Col. Henry Lee III and British forces of Banastre Tarleton on February 12, 1781. One month prior to the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, the armies of Col. Otho Williams and Col. Henry Lee stopped to dine at the home of a Patriot supporter, Charles Bruce. While they were encamped at the home of Bruce, a farmer and supporter of the Patriot cause, Isaac Wright, appeared to inform the soldiers that a group of British Dragoons was on the march and not far from their location. Col. Otho Willims directed Lee to investigate this finding. Lee dispatched a division of his men under the command of Captain James Armstrong, to follow him and to see if they could verify Wright's report.

References

  1. "The Charleston Museum | News and Events » Battle of Dills Bluff". www.charlestonmuseum.org. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
  2. "List of Revolutionary War Battles, Raids & Skirmishes for 1782 • American Revolutionary War". revolutionarywar.us. 19 November 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  3. "List of Revolutionary War Battles, Raids & Skirmishes for 1782 • American Revolutionary War". revolutionarywar.us. 19 November 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  4. "List of Revolutionary War Battles, Raids & Skirmishes for 1782 • American Revolutionary War". revolutionarywar.us. 19 November 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  5. "The American Revolution in South Carolina - James Island". www.carolana.com.
  6. "The Charleston Museum | News and Events » Battle of Dills Bluff". www.charlestonmuseum.org. Retrieved 2018-05-24.