The Siege of Savage's Old Fields (also known as the First Siege of Ninety Six, November 19–21, 1775) is an encounter between Patriot and Loyalist forces in the back country town of Ninety Six, South Carolina, early in the American Revolutionary War.
It is the first major conflict in South Carolina in the war, having been preceded by bloodless seizures of several military fortifications in the province.
Patriot forces under the command of Major Andrew Williamson had been dispatched to the area to recover a shipment of gunpowder and ammunition intended for the Cherokees that had been seized by Loyalists.
Williamson's force, numbering over five hundred, had established a stockaded fort near Ninety Six, where it is surrounded by some nineteen hundred Loyalists.
Because the war is in its early days and the partisan war in the southern back country has not become as brutal as it will be later in the war, the siege is conducted desultorily, and is effectively a stalemate.
After two days the Loyalists withdraw, having lost four killed and twenty wounded to one Patriot killed and twelve wounded.
The Patriots also withdraw toward the coast, but a major Patriot expedition not long after results in the arrest or flight of most of the Loyalist leadership.
