One of the last and bloodiest major battles of the Revolutionary War (1775-83), the clash between the British and Revolutionary armies at Eutaw Springs helped to determine the outcome of the war in the South. After Lord Cornwallis fought General Nathanael Greene's Continentals at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse (March 15, 1781), the British general marched to Wilmington on the coast and then headed for Virginia. Greene, unaware of Cornwallis's intention, in the meanwhile decided to retake the rest of South Carolina, and in the spring and summer of 1781, almost every British outpost fell to his forces. He received a serious rebuff, however, at the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill (April 25, 1781) outside of Camden. The British commander, Lord Rawdon also successfully relieved the garrison during the siege of Ninety-Six (May 22-June 19, 1781). The situation remained difficult for the British, as the support of Loyalists within the state evaporated. Rawdon, worn out by years in the field, headed for England, leaving Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Stewart in charge. By September, Stewart was encamped along the Santee River about 30 miles northwest of Charleston, but without much local support, he had no idea about the location of Greene's army. Greene, on the other hand, knew exactly where he could find his opponent.

By the morning of September 8, Greene had brought his army undetected to within a few miles of the British. The two sides each had about 2,200 men. Greene began to advance on the British position and might have caught Stewart entirely by surprise had the British not sent out a scavenging party of 80 men to collect yams for the troops. Greene's army met this small British detachment and soon overwhelmed it, but the noise of the encounter brought a small troop of horse, who alerted the British army. Greene had deployed his men in what was now his usual fashion, with the militia in the front and the Continentals in the rear. The plan was that once the militia provided an initial volley or two, they would fall back and the British would rush ahead, expecting victory but instead meeting well-trained Continentals. The plan almost worked as the militia fell back and the British advanced in disorder. The Continentals broke the British advance and, joined by the militia, pursued the retreating enemy, but the cavalry, waiting in the wings, was unable to dislodge a British regiment in some thick underbrush. Withering fire from the British took its toll; moreover, once the Revolutionaries reached the British encampment, they began looting it, many drinking rum, creating disorder in their ranks. Just behind the camp, the British had drawn up a defensive position behind some walls at Burwell's Plantation. From this protection they broke the Revolutionary advance and compelled Greene's army to retreat. A complete disaster was avoided when a battalion of Maryland Continentals maintained order and delayed the counterattack. Greene's men managed to withdraw with just enough order to prevent a hot pursuit.

The British held the field, but the battle cost both sides dearly. Greene lost one-fourth of his army as missing, killed, or wounded. The British fared worse: They had less dead but lost more than a quarter of their forces, many either missing or captured by the enemy. Soon after the battle, Stewart withdrew to Charleston, surrendering all of the South Carolina countryside. The British held onto that city until they evacuated it after the peace agreement that ended the war.

Bibliography:

1) Don Higginbotham, The War of American Independence: Military Attitudes, Policies, and Practice, 1763-1789 (New York: Macmillan, 1971)

2) Robert Middlekauf, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1783-1789 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982)

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