Volume 1, Number 2
EYES RIGHT!
Fall 2005
Pg. 2
| Ongoing Campaigns | After Action Report |
|
225th Anniversary of the Battle
of Ramsour's Mill,
June 11, 2005  Photo
courtesy of Compatriot Sam
Powell  This group of reenactors represents the Patriot forces who gathered under the command of Col. Francis Locke to battle the Loyalist's atop a ridge at Ramsour's Mill.  LTCOL Joe Harris, President of the NCSSAR, meets fellow SAR Compatriots on June 11, 2005 at Ramsour's Mill   The wreath garden at Ramsour's Mill, June 11, 2005 A Photo Gallery of this event may be found here. |
The Battle of Ramsour's Mill, 1780 The Tories were embodied at Ramsour's Mill through the efforts of Lieutenant Colonel John Moore and Maj. Nicholas Welch. These officers left the victorious British on the march from Charleston and arrived at their homes early in June, 1780. Colonel Moore was an active partisan throughout the Revolution. Major Welch was of Scottish descent, of great fluency of speech and fine persuasive power. They bore English commissions, were arrayed in splendid official equipments and made lavish display of British gold. By the twentieth of June, these zealous loyalists collected at Ramsour's Mill a force of 1,300 Tories, and were actively engaged in their organization and drill preparatory to marching them to unite with the British in South Carolina. They occupied a well-chosen and advantageous position for offense and defense. It was on a high ridge that slopes three hundred yards to the mill and Clarke's Creek on the west and the same distance to a branch on the east. Col. Francis Locke collected a force of Rowan and Mecklenburg militia to engage the Tories. His detachments met at Mountain Creek, sixteen miles from Ramsour's on Monday, the 19th of June, 1780; when united, their party amounted to four hundred men. They marched at once to the assault the Tory position. At the dawn of day on the morning of the 20th and two miles of Ramsour's, they were met by Adam Reep, a noted scout, with a few picked men from the vicinity of the camp, who detailed to Colonel Locke the position of the enemy. A plan of attack was formed. The mounted men under Captains McDowell, Brandon, and Falls, were to follow the road due west to the camp, and not attack until the footmen under Colonel Locke could detour to the south, reach the foot of the hill along the Tuckaseegee road, and make a simultaneous assault. They proceeded with no other organization or order, it being left to the officers to be governed by circumstances when they reached the enemy.
The mounted men came upon the
Tory picket some distance from the camp, were fired upon, and charged
the Tory camp, but recoiled from their deadly fire. The firing hurried
Colonel Locke into action; a similar volley felled many of his
men, and they likewise retired. The Tories, seeing the effect of their
fire, came down the hill and were in fair view. The Whigs renewed the
action, which soon became general and obstinate on both sides. In about
an hour the Tories began to fall back to their original position on the
ridge a little beyond its summit, to shield a part of their
bodies from the destructive fire of the Whigs, who were fairly exposed
to their fire. In this situation the Tory fire became so effective the
Whigs fell back to the bushes near the branch; and the Tories, leaving
their safe position, pursued their attackers half way down the hill.
At this moment Captain Hardin led a company of Whigs into the field from the south and poured a galling fire into the right flank of the Tories. Some of the Whigs obliqued to the right, and turned the left flank of the Tories; while Captain Sharpe led a few men beyond the crest of the ridge. Advancing from tree to tree, with unerring aim his men picked off the enemy's officers and men, and hastened the termination of the conflict. The action now became close and warm. The combatants mixed together, and having no bayonets, struck at each other with the butts of their guns. When the Whigs reached the summit they saw the Tories collected beyond the creek, with a white flag flying. While this was going on, John Moore told his troops to scatter. When the officer with the flag returned only fifty remained, and they left almost immediately. Moore, with thirty men, returned to the main British camp at Camden. The British were furious with him for having risen prematurely and seriously considered a court-martial, but decided it would be politically unwise. Cornwallis later wrote "Although I had my apprehensions that the flame would break out somewhere, the folly and imprudence of our friends are unpardonable."  At Ramsour's Mill, meanwhile, seventy men, including the five Whig and four Tory captains, lay dead on the field, and more than two hundred were wounded; the loss on each side being about equal. In this contest, armed with the deadly rifle, blood relatives and familiar acquaintances and near neighbors fought in the opposing ranks, and as the smoke of the battle occasionally cleared away recognized each other in the conflict. Excerpts from the series, The
Revolutionary War Battles,
The Battle of Ramsour's Mill June 20, 1780 at Ramsour's Mill, North Carolina http://www.myrevolutionarywar.com/battles/800620.htm |
| Future Planning |
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January
14, 2006 - 225th
Anniversary, Battle of Cowpens, SC (SAR Wreath Laying Ceremony,
Revolutionary War Reenactments) January 28, 2006 - 225th Anniversary Celebration of the Battle at Cowan's Ford February 10 & 11, 2006 - 225th Anniversary Reenactment of the Crossing of the Dan, South Boston, VA February 18 & 19, 2006 - 225th Anniversary Reenactment of the Battle at Cowan's Ford, Huntersville, NC February 24 & 25, 2006 - Spring 2006 National Meeting for Trustees, Committees, and Officers, Louisville, KY February 25 & 26, 2006 - Celebration of the Battle at Moore's Creek Bridge, Currie, NC March 4, 2006 - Board of Managers meeting (BOM), Raleigh, NC March 18 & 19, 2006 - 225th Anniversary Reenactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, Greensboro, NC April 7 - 9, 2006 - NCSSAR Annual Convention, North Raleigh Hilton hotel, Wake Forest Road, Raleigh, NC May 13, 2006 - 10th Annual Celebration of Patriot's Day, Alamance Battleground State Historic Site July 8 - 12, 2006 - NSSAR 116th Annual Congress , International Hotel, Dallas, TX Underlined
links indicate a hyperlink to another Webpage with more information
about a particular event
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| Crossroads |
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Four
rare battle flags captured during the American War of Independence by a
British officer have been returned after more than two centuries to be
auctioned. The regimental colours seized in 1779 and 1780 by
Lt Col Banastre Tarleton, who remains one of the conflict's most
controversial figures, have already aroused huge interest among
American military historians. They are expected to fetch
between 3 million and 4 million dollars at Sotheby's
in New York next year.
Until
recently the flags had hung in the Hampshire home of Capt Christopher
Tarleton Fagan, the great-great-great-great nephew of the lieutenant
colonel. 
From an
Article by Will Bennett, the News.Telegraph, November 22, 2005
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