The skirmish of Sawney’s Creek was a follow up to the battle
of Hobkirk’s Hill in Camden. Nathaniel
Greene pulled his force back across the Wateree River to cut off the supply and
communication routes to Granby (modern day Cayce), Ninety Six and Augusta. Posting his troops in an abandoned house and
on the high ground around Twenty Five mile creek, Greene waited in anticipation
of the British.(1) It was May 8, 1781 and I am sure the weather was beginning to
heat up. Lord Rawdon crossed the Wateree with reinforcements
from Georgetown that had just arrived.
Rawdon stated in his report, “ Having
driven in his pickets, I examined every point of his situation; I found it everywhere
so strong, that I could not hope to force it without suffering such loss as
must have crippled my force for any future enterprise; and the retreat lay so
open for him, I could not hope that victory would give us any advantage
sufficiently decisive to counterbalance the loss.”(2) Lord Rawdon and the
British flinched, fell back, burned Camden and retreated to Charleston. I have crossed this bridge many times over
the years to go fishing and kayaking at the dam in Lugoff. It is with new found excitement that I have
become aware of the sacrifices for my freedom fought so many years ago in the
same woods, creeks and rivers that I enjoy today.
(1) Parker's Guide to the American Revolutionary War in South Carolina, John C. Parker Jr.
(2) Swamp Fox: The Life and Campaigns of General Francis Marion, Robert D. Bass
(1) Parker's Guide to the American Revolutionary War in South Carolina, John C. Parker Jr.
(2) Swamp Fox: The Life and Campaigns of General Francis Marion, Robert D. Bass
