Battle of Eutaw Springs

Battle of Eutaw Springs
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Date September 8, 1781 Location near present-day Eutawville, South Carolina 33.40728°N 80.29875°W / 33.40728; -80.29875 Result British tactical victory American strategic advantage
Belligerents
United States	Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Nathanael Greene	Alexander Stewart
Strength
2,200	2,000
Casualties and losses
119 killed; 382 wounded; 60 captured; 18 missing Total 579	85 killed; 297 wounded; 70 wounded prisoners; 430 captured Total 882

The Battle of Eutaw Springs was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, and was the last major engagement of the war in the Carolinas.

Background

In early 1781 Major General Nathanael Greene of the Continental Army began a campaign to end British control over the South Carolina backcountry. His first major objective was the capture of the British controlled village of Ninety Six. On May 22, 1781, Greene laid siege to the fortified village. After nearly a month Greene became aware that reinforcements under Lord Rawdon were approaching from Charleston. Forces under Greene's command assaulted Ninety-Six on June 18, but were repelled. To avoid facing the force commanded by Rawdon, Greene retreated toward Charlotte, North Carolina. Rawdon pursued Greene for several days, but was compelled to abandon the pursuit because his men were exhausted by days of forced marching and he lacked sufficient supplies to continue. Despite the fact Ninety Six was the only remaining inland British outpost after the fall of Augusta, Georgia, Rawdon decided to burn and abandon it, and withdrew the garrison to Charleston. In poor health, Rawdon sailed for England in late August, leaving Charleston under the command of Colonel Alexander Stewart.

After Rawdon's departure, Greene turned his army around and headed toward Charleston. His men were also exhausted by many days of marching and combat, so he set up camp above the Santee River to allow his main force to rest, while several detachments continued to harass the British as they withdrew toward Charleston. On August 22, his force prepared to face the remaining British forces garrisoned in Charleston.

Colonel Stewart led a force of 2,000 men from Charleston's British garrison in search of Greene's army. The force camped at Eutaw Springs, about 10 kilometers east of present-day Eutawville, then in Charleston District (but both now in Orangeburg County).

Battle

In order to make up for a shortage of bread in his supplies, Stewart had been sending out foraging parties each morning to dig up yams, unarmed except for a small guard detail. At around 8 a.m. on September 8, Captain John Coffin and a detachment of his South Carolina Loyalist cavalry were reconnoitring ahead of Stewart’s main force when he encountered a mounted American scouting party under Major John Armstrong. Coffin pursued Armstrong, who led him into an ambush. Attacked by Henry Lee’s 2nd Partisan Corps, Coffin escaped but left 4 or 5 of his men killed and 40 more captured. The Americans then came across Stewart’s foragers and captured about 400 of them.

Greene's force, with around 2,200 men, now approached Stewart's camp while Stewart, warned by Coffin, deployed his force. When the Americans realized they were approaching the British force, they formed two lines, with the militia in the front line and the North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia regulars in the second line. The British charged the American position and broke the center of the American forces' first line. The North Carolina Continentals in the second line reinforced the first, and were temporarily successful until they too were broken by a British charge. The Virginia and Maryland regulars then came to the aid of their comrades. This attack stopped the British advance and the British began to retreat in disorder.

The Americans pursued the retreating British soldiers into the British camp, where a majority of the Americans stopped to plunder the British supplies. The tables now turned again. At the north-east corner of the camp was a strong brick house defended by a British battalion commanded by Major John Majoribanks. This battalion had driven off an earlier American cavalry attack before falling back to the house. An American assault on the house failed, and Majoribanks was able to restore order to the rest of the British force. The British forces launched a counterattack and drove the American forces from the British camp. One American battalion was able to delay the British advance sufficiently to allow the American army to retreat in good order.

The Battle of Eutaw Springs on 8 September 1781

Casualties

The British casualty return stated the loss as 85 killed, 351 wounded and 257 missing. However, Greene reported that he had captured 500 prisoners, including 70 wounded. When Stewart moved camp on September 9, he left 54 of his wounded behind with a surgeon to attend them. These men were included in Stewart’s casualty report under the category “wounded” but the remaining 16 wounded captured by Greene would have been returned as “missing”. The disparity between Stewart’s report of 257 missing and Greene’s figure of 500 prisoners may be due to Stewart regarding the capture of his foraging party as a separate engagement and not including their losses in his casualty return for the battle. Including the loss of the foraging party, and counting the 54 wounded men whom Stewart decided to leave behind on September 9 in the "wounded prisoners" category instead of as "wounded", this gives total British casualties of 85 killed, 297 wounded, 70 wounded prisoners and 430 other prisoners.

There were three successive versions of the American casualty return. The first, compiled soon after the battle, gave 251 killed, 367 wounded and 74 missing. The second, compiled somewhat later and published by the Continental Congress, reduced the losses to 138 killed, 375 wounded and 41 missing. The third and final revision, compiled on September 25, 1781, arrived at figures of 119 killed, 382 wounded and 78 missing. The British took 60 prisoners, including the wounded Colonel William Washington, and two artillery guns.

Aftermath

The claim of several historians that the British won the battle is challenged by Christine Swager in her book The Valiant Died: The Battle of Eutaw Springs September 8, 1781. The book argues that, first, at the end of the battle, the British held the majority, but not the entirety, of the field where the main battle took place. Greene held part of the field where the initial skirmish spilled out of the woods into the clearings. Swager also argues that Greene meant to re-engage the enemy on the following day, but was prevented from doing so because the excessively wet weather conditions negated much of his firepower.

Both armies did not leave the vicinity for at least a full day following the battle. When Greene withdrew, he left a strong picket to oppose a possible British advance, while Stewart withdrew the remnants of his force towards Charleston. His rear was apparently under constant fire at least until meeting with reinforcements near Moncks Corner.

Despite winning a tactical victory, the British lost strategically. Their inability to stop Greene's continuing operations forced them to abandon most of their conquests in the South, leaving them in control of a small number of isolated enclaves at Wilmington, Charleston, and Savannah. The British attempt to pacify the South with Loyalist support had failed even before Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown.

Lord Edward Fitzgerald, later to become famous as a United Irish rebel, served as a British officer at the battle and was badly wounded.

The State Song of South Carolina contains the line "Point to Eutaw's Battle Bed" in reference to this battle.

Sources

• Adams, William Henry Davenport (1974). Famous Regiments of the British Army: their Origin and Services. Wakefield: E P Publishing. ISBN 0715810294. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authorid= ignored (help)
• Boatner, Mark Mayo (1966). Cassell's Biographical Dictionary of the American War of Independence, 1763–1783. London: Cassell & Company. ISBN 0-304-29296-6.
• Lumpkin, Henry (1981). From Yorktown to Savannah: The American Revolution in the South. New York: Paragon House Publishers. ISBN 0-913729-48-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authorid= ignored (help)
• Pancake, John (1985). This Destructive War. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0817301917.
• Rankin, Hugh F. (1971). The North Carolina Continentals. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-1154-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authorid= ignored (help)
• Swager, Christine R. The Valiant Died: The Battle of Eutaw Springs September 8, 1781.
• Battle of Eutaw Springs at HistoryOfWar.org
• Ward, Christopher (1952). The War of the Revolution. New York: The Macmillan Company. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authorid= ignored (help)

Further reading

• Morrill, Dan (1993). Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. Nautical & Aviation Publishing. ISBN 1877853216.