Battle of Hanging Rock

The Battle of Hanging Rock (August 6, 1780) was a battle in the Revolutionary War that occurred between the American Colonies and the British.

Precursor

Charleston fell into British hands in May 1780. Within weeks, Cornwallis' army had spread over South Carolina, setting up stations at major towns, such as Camden. Each station had outposts whose role was to intimidate the locals and disrupt any attempts of the Patriots to organize. [ [http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=147382 225th Anniversary of the Battle of Hanging Rock ] ]

Location

The battle occurred was in present-day Lancaster county south of Heath Springs, South Carolina, about a mile and a half from a place known as Hanging Rock. [ [http://www.lancastercountysc.net/ Lancaster County ] ]

Preparations

British Strength

A British Garrison was located just south of Heath Springs. It was well fortified with more than 1400 British troops, including the 500-man Prince of Wales Regiment of the regular army, led by Major Carden of the British Army.

American Strength

The Americans were under Gen. Thomas Sumter, commanding troops made up of Maj. Richard Winn's Fairfield regiment, Col. Edward Lacey's Chester regiment, Col. William Hill's York regiment and Maj. William Richardson Davie of the Waxhaws of Lancaster county with Col. Robert Irwin's cavalry of Mecklenburg county, NC. [ [http://www.northcarolinagenealogy.org/mecklenburg/battle_of_hanging_rock.htm Battle of Hanging Rock ] ]

The Battle

Sumter decided on a plan of attack of attacking the camp in three mounted detachments. The initial assault was made early in the morning where Winn's and Davie's men completely routed Bryan's corps. Capt. McCulloch’s company of the British Legion after presenting a volley was also routed by Sumter’s riflemen. The Prince of Wales Regt. also came under heavy fire and suffered very severe losses, including Carden who was badly wounded. The King’s Carolina Rangers then came up, and having cleverly deployed themselves in some woods, checked the rebel assault with a surprise crossfire. This allowed the British to drew up on a hollow square in the enter of the cleared ground, and further protected themselves with a three-pounder which had been left by some of Rugeley’s Camden militia. [ [http://www.myrevolutionarywar.com/battles/800806.htm The Battle of Hanging Rock ] ]

Then, in the heat of the battle, Major Carden of the British Command lost his nerve and surrendered his command to one of his junior officers. This was a major turning point for the Americans. At one point, Capt. Rousselet of the Legion infantry, led a charge and forced many Sumter’s men back. Lack of ammunition made it impossible for Sumter to completely knock out the British. The battled raged for 3 hours without pause, causing many men to faint from the heat and thirst.

Aftermath

At the end, the British had lost 192 soldiers; the Americans lost 12 killed and 41 wounded. It should have been a total American victory but the American militia were untrained and suffered from extreme thirst. A small group of Americans came across a storage of rum in the British camp and became so drunk that it was necessary prematurely to start the march back to the base camp at Waxhaw. Thus, the intoxicated Americans were in no condition to take prisoners and let the remainder of the British army retreat to Camden. [ [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~scyork/RevWar/HangingRock.html Battle of Hanging Rock ] ]

Notes