Eutaw Springs Orangeburg South Carolina United States
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Colonel Stewart had led a force of two thousand to twenty-three hundred men from Orangeburg to Thompson's Plantation, south of the Congaree River, then falls back on August 27 to Eutaw Springs, about two miles east of present-day Eutawville, at this time in Charleston District (but both now in Orangeburg County),
Stewart, in order to make up for a shortage of bread in his supplies, has been sending out foraging parties each morning to dig up yams, unarmed except for a small guard detail.
At around 8 a.m. on September 8, Captain John Coffin and a detachment of his South Carolina Loyalist cavalry are reconnoitering ahead of Stewart’s main force when he encounters a mounted American scouting party under Major John Armstrong.
Coffin pursues Armstrong, who leads him into an ambush.
Attacked by Henry Lee’s 2nd Partisan Corps, Coffin escapes but leaves four or five of his men killed and forty more captured.
The Americans now come across Stewart’s foragers and capture about four hundred of them.
Greene's force, with around twenty-two hundred men, now approached Stewart's camp while Stewart, warned by Coffin, deploys his force.
When the Americans realize they are approaching the British force, they form three lines, with the militia in front with two three-pounders, followed by the Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina Continentals with 2 6-pounders, with the Delaware Regiment and Washington in reserve.
The American start the attack at 9 AM with artillery and an advance by the militia.
Hand-to-hand combat ensues when the militia close with the British Line.
The British casualty return states the loss as eighty-five killed, three hundred and fifty-one wounded and two hundred and fifty-seven missing.
However, Greene reports that he has captured five hundred prisoners, including seventy wounded.
At around 8 a.m. on September 8, Captain John Coffin and a detachment of his South Carolina Loyalist cavalry are reconnoitering ahead of Stewart’s main force when he encounters a mounted American scouting party under Major John Armstrong.
Coffin pursues Armstrong, who leads him into an ambush.
Attacked by Henry Lee’s 2nd Partisan Corps, Coffin escapes but leaves four or five of his men killed and forty more captured.
The Americans now come across Stewart’s foragers and capture about four hundred of them.
Greene's force, with around twenty-two hundred men, now approached Stewart's camp while Stewart, warned by Coffin, deploys his force.
When the Americans realize they are approaching the British force, they form three lines, with the militia in front with two three-pounders, followed by the Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina Continentals with 2 6-pounders, with the Delaware Regiment and Washington in reserve.
The American start the attack at 9 AM with artillery and an advance by the militia.
Hand-to-hand combat ensues when the militia close with the British Line.
The British casualty return states the loss as eighty-five killed, three hundred and fifty-one wounded and two hundred and fifty-seven missing.
However, Greene reports that he has captured five hundred prisoners, including seventy wounded.
Rain prevents a continuation of battle the next day.
Instead, Stewart buries his dead, destroys supplies, including one thousand muskets, and retreats towards Moncks Corner, leaving fifty-four of his wounded behind with a surgeon to attend them.
These men are included in Stewart’s casualty report under the category “wounded” but the remaining sixteen wounded captured by Greene would have been returned as “missing”.
The disparity between Stewart’s report of two hundred and fifty-seven missing and Greene’s figure of five hundred prisoners may be due to Stewart regarding the capture of his foraging party as a separate engagement and not including their losses in his casualty return for the battle.
Including the loss of the foraging party, and counting the fifty-four wounded men whom Stewart decided to leave behind on September 9 in the "wounded prisoners" category instead of as "wounded", this gives total British casualties of eighty-five killed, two hundred and ninety-seven wounded, seventy wounded prisoners and four hundred and thirty other prisoners.
There are three successive versions of the American casualty return.
The first, compiled soon after the battle, gives two hundred and fifty-one killed, three hundred and sixty-seven wounded and seventy-four missing.
The second, compiled somewhat later and published by the Continental Congress, will reduce the losses to one hundred and thirty-eight killed, three hundred and seventy-five wounded and forty-one missing.
The third and final revision, compiled on September 25, 1781, will arrive at figures of one hundred and nineteen killed, three hundred and eighty-two wounded and seventy-eight missing.
The British take sixty prisoners, including the wounded Colonel William Washington, and two artillery pieces.
Instead, Stewart buries his dead, destroys supplies, including one thousand muskets, and retreats towards Moncks Corner, leaving fifty-four of his wounded behind with a surgeon to attend them.
These men are included in Stewart’s casualty report under the category “wounded” but the remaining sixteen wounded captured by Greene would have been returned as “missing”.
The disparity between Stewart’s report of two hundred and fifty-seven missing and Greene’s figure of five hundred prisoners may be due to Stewart regarding the capture of his foraging party as a separate engagement and not including their losses in his casualty return for the battle.
Including the loss of the foraging party, and counting the fifty-four wounded men whom Stewart decided to leave behind on September 9 in the "wounded prisoners" category instead of as "wounded", this gives total British casualties of eighty-five killed, two hundred and ninety-seven wounded, seventy wounded prisoners and four hundred and thirty other prisoners.
There are three successive versions of the American casualty return.
The first, compiled soon after the battle, gives two hundred and fifty-one killed, three hundred and sixty-seven wounded and seventy-four missing.
The second, compiled somewhat later and published by the Continental Congress, will reduce the losses to one hundred and thirty-eight killed, three hundred and seventy-five wounded and forty-one missing.
The third and final revision, compiled on September 25, 1781, will arrive at figures of one hundred and nineteen killed, three hundred and eighty-two wounded and seventy-eight missing.
The British take sixty prisoners, including the wounded Colonel William Washington, and two artillery pieces.