The Revolution was like a Civil War!

[Artfuldodger]

Reading about the siege of Augusta, it occurred to me how much it was like the Civil War in the fact that men from the same country were fighting each other.

I think all the troops at Fort Cornwallis in Augusta were Loyalist. In a way it was Patriots against the Loyalist. In that battle, maybe more battles at the start of the war.

Often lost in a study of the Revolution are the "horrors of civil war" among Americans themselves—among supporters of independence (Patriots/Whigs), opponents (Loyalists/Tories), and the ambivalent Americans who were angry with Britain but opposed to declaring independence.

 

[Resica]

Wasn't it mostly American vs. American at King's Mtn.?

 

[trad bow]

Wasn’t that the case on most of the frontier in the southern states? Memory somewhat short at my age but there was a woman who held off some Tories at her home till her husband came back home with several more patriots and hung the Tories.

 

[Nicodemus]

It was an ugly war, like they all are. Study up on the British prison ships, and also an englishman name Banastre Tarleton and his raiders.

 

[westcobbdog]

Tarleton was ruthless and to be feared. Was he the inspiration for the same type character in the movie The Patriot?

 

[JustUs4All]

Frontier Georgia was a nightmare with neighbors burning out neighbors. Some of the trouble was about political differences, some about settling old scores. It was a bloody mess.

 

[Nicodemus]

Tarleton was ruthless and to be feared. Was he the inspiration for the same type character in the movie The Patriot?

Yes, and Mel Gibson`s character was based on the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Reading about the siege of Augusta, it occurred to me how much it was like the Civil War in the fact that men from the same country were fighting each other.

I think all the troops at Fort Cornwallis in Augusta were Loyalist. In a way it was Patriots against the Loyalist. In that battle, maybe more battles at the start of the war.

Often lost in a study of the Revolution are the "horrors of civil war" among Americans themselves—among supporters of independence (Patriots/Whigs), opponents (Loyalists/Tories), and the ambivalent Americans who were angry with Britain but opposed to declaring independence.

It was a civil war. We won, unlike the second one. So we got to call it something else.

 

[mrfudd]

Wasn't it mostly American vs. American at King's Mtn.?

Almost entirely colonists- the lone exception was Maj Patrick Ferguson, reportedly the best marksman in the British Army

 

[Jethro Bodean]

It was a civil war. We won, unlike the second one. So we got to call it something else.

That's how I see it, too. For a long time, I have called the Civil War, Rev. War II. Independents fighting against imperialists, plain and simple.

 

[Resica]

Almost entirely colonists- the lone exception was Maj Patrick Ferguson, reportedly the best marksman in the British Army

Apparently, he and maybe his Ferguson rifle had an opportunity to shoot a high ranking Colonial on horseback at The Battle of Brandywine. Most folks knowledgeable about those sort of things think it was George Washington. Glad he didn't take the easy shot. I believe he said it was not soldierly to do such.

 

[Artfuldodger]

Was camping up by the Broad River and ran across a reconstructed cabin of Nancy Hart. Interesting Patriot who hated Loyalist and Tories. It is said that she was a skilled herbalist, hunter, and marksman – skills which served her and her family well. This cabin is close to Tignall across the Broad River in Hart County.

https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/nancy-hart-ca-1735-1830

 

[mark1j]

Yes, and Mel Gibson`s character was based on the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion.

I enjoy reading and researching this kind of stuff. Yall keep posting.

 

[Artfuldodger]

Wasn’t that the case on most of the frontier in the southern states? Memory somewhat short at my age but there was a woman who held off some Tories at her home till her husband came back home with several more patriots and hung the Tories.

That was Nancy Hart. My daughter and I just randomly passed her place up on the Broad River. Then I was reading about the Battle of Kettle Creek and then the siege of Augusta.
Then noticed the similarities to the Civil War.

 

[Artfuldodger]

Banastre Tarleton

Briefly looked at him and the slave ships. Tarleton made rank fast, said he put ambition over ethics. Did he shoot men after they surrendered?

 

[redneck_billcollector]

Wasn't it mostly American vs. American at King's Mtn.?

I seem to recall that there was only one actual British soldier at the battle of King's Mountain, and he was a rather interesting historical figure, Major Patrick Ferguson, the inventor of the Ferguson Rifle. If I recall correctly, he was killed in that battle. The rest were either Patriot or Tory militias with the Tories being pretty much all South Carolinians.

 

[redneck_billcollector]

In GA we had Col. Thomas "Burnt Foot" Brown of His Majesty's King's Rangers which was composed of, from various times, Tory militiamen from South Carolina, Georgia and both British East and West Florida along with numerous Creek and Seminole fighters. He became known as the Terror of the Georgia Frontier, he gained an almost "Boogey Man" status. He is another of my favorite characters from out history (for some reason I tend to have an affinity for Tory characters). He was a younger son of a British Lord, who due to the way their law worked was not in line for inheriting any of his Father's estate so he came to GA to be a planter and become a landed gentleman in his own right. He strongly supported the English Government and did not keep his loyalties to himself and came to the notice of the Sons of Liberty in Augusta where he was tarred and feathered, permanently injuring one of his feet....hence his nick name. He also became the British Minister of Indian Affairs and had a close working relationship with Alexander McGillivray who was a prominent person among the Upper Creeks, the son of a loyalist Scottish trader in the Indian towns and a woman from a prominent family of the Wind Clan in Talisi/Tallassee in what is now Alabama. This relationship helped Brown fill his ranks with numerous warriors for the Tory cause. The fact that Elijah Clarke and his frontier militia along with other frontier Whig Militias, saw the conflict, from its beginning, as a chance to grab treaty lands from both the Cherokee and the Creek nations. Brown found more than willing allies in the native population in GA. He also spent a lot of time in the Indian Towns on the lower Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers solidifying native support against Whig elements in British West Florida and along south GA frontier and against the Spanish out of New Orleans who were wanting to retake Florida. Col Brown also played a large role in repelling an incursion into British East Florida by GA militia. Col. Thomas Brown was a prominent character in Jimmy Carter's historic novel "The Hornet's Nest" and has gotten somewhat of a bad rap in GA history, more so than he deserved.

 

[westcobbdog]

Was camping up by the Broad River and ran across a reconstructed cabin of Nancy Hart. Interesting Patriot who hated Loyalist and Tories. It is said that she was a skilled herbalist, hunter, and marksman – skills which served her and her family well. This cabin is close to Tignall across the Broad River in Hart County.

https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/nancy-hart-ca-1735-1830

Have a book about her. The only county in Ga named for a woman.

 

[Gary Mercer]

Years and Years ago, I went with some fellow College Students and a professor into Santee Swamp in SC to see if we could find and identify, Francis Marion's hideout.
WE had done a lot of research on the location, and had been making field trips for several years. (The professor that is.) We located a Hammock that we were sure fit the bill. I understand that while I was vacationing in Nam, they made some positive identification of the spot and designated is as such.
I have ever been there since, but I understand the State has a historical "Marker" at that spot now, AND POSSIBLY A SMALL PARK.
Would love to revisit the place, but probably won't happen.
I spent the summer of 57 working for a surveyor on the path of I-26 from Bowman SC to what would become the Jedburg Exit. (coincidence is a strange animal. That exit was to take a piece of our family farm.)
But my point in telling you about the surveying, was to tell you about all the history that is tucked away in those swamps we surveyed. Really a bunch including the second war in that area.

 

[Artfuldodger]

Years and Years ago, I went with some fellow College Students and a professor into Santee Swamp in SC to see if we could find and identify, Francis Marion's hideout.
WE had done a lot of research on the location, and had been making field trips for several years. (The professor that is.) We located a Hammock that we were sure fit the bill. I understand that while I was vacationing in Nam, they made some positive identification of the spot and designated is as such.
I have ever been there since, but I understand the State has a historical "Marker" at that spot now, AND POSSIBLY A SMALL PARK.
Would love to revisit the place, but probably won't happen.
I spent the summer of 57 working for a surveyor on the path of I-26 from Bowman SC to what would become the Jedburg Exit. (coincidence is a strange animal. That exit was to take a piece of our family farm.)
But my point in telling you about the surveying, was to tell you about all the history that is tucked away in those swamps we surveyed. Really a bunch including the second war in that area.

I used to travel US78 from Augusta to Charleston and visit Moncks Corner. Then there was a short road over to I-26 that we took as well to avoid Summerville. I've seen a lot about Francis Marion but never really investigated it much.
The Four Hole Swamp area looks interesting as well.