Our Family Documents

History of Jeremiah in the Revolutionary War

Battle of Fort Motte

Fort Motte, May 6—12, 781

Shortly after the successful siege of Fort Watson in ApriL 1781, General Marion conducted the siege and capture of Fort Motte. In this military action, Marion was acting under the guidance of General Greene, who had asked him to “take all the posts upon the Congaree, and those posts that líe between Camden and the River.”16 Lee’s Legion of three hundred again reinforced Marion for this task.

Pre1iminary Action.

At the beginning of the siege of Fort Motte (or Motte’s Post), General Marion had about 150 men, making the combined Patriot strength approximately 450. British lieutenant Donald McPherson commanded the garrison of the fort, which had more than sufficient supplies. His garrison consisted of approximately 140 men, mostly British regulars of the Eighty-Fourth Regiment, along with a troop of Hessians and some local Loyalist militia. Their personnel size had recently been strengthened by a small detachment of British major Archibald McArthur’s dragoons, who had been escorting supplies from Charleston to Camden.17 The British at Fort Motte had one cannonade, One six-pound fieldpiece under the command of Captain Finley reinforced the Patriots on May 2.

Fort Motte was located on Buckhead Hill south of McCord’s Ferry, near the Congaree River close to where it converges with the Wateree River to form the Santee River. From this strategic location, the British stockpiled their supplies and established a strong point on their line of communications between Charleston and forces inland along the Charles Town to Rocky Mount Road. Additionally, from its walls, the British garrison actively sallied forth to attack and disperse local Patriot militia units.

The fort had originally been located at the plantation of CoL William Thomson, a Patriot offcer who would later serve in the South Carolina Senate. The British later moved Fort Motte a mile from this original site to take advantage of better terrain Located on the Mount Joseph Plantation, owned by Mrs. Rebecca Brewton Motte.9 Fort Motte was not a typical fort but rather the plantation’s large two-story mansion house, which the British had strongly fortified with a tall, heavy log stockade, a deep ditch, and an abatis. It appears to have been approximately 125 feet square with a blockhouse on each corner. Marion described the post as “Obstinate, and strong.”40 Despite the British presence, Mrs. Motte still lived on her plantation in an old log cabin formerly used by the plantation’s overseer. The stockade had firing apertures to give the defenders complete coverage of the hill. Mrs. Motte was a Patriot; her son-in-law was Maj. Thomas Pinckney, a Patriot wounded at Camden and now a prisoner of war of the British.

The Siege

Marion and Lee arrived at Fort Motte on May 6, 1781. Lee’s Legion occupied a nearby hill north of the fort, where Mrs. Motte’s overseer cabin was located, and the cabin served as Lee’s headquarters. Positioning themselves out of musket range to the east, General Marion’s unit moved across the valley to occupy the slope of the hill on which Fort Motte stood. Captain Finley's six-pound fieldpiece was located behind Marion’s unit and rested on a small mound of earth constructed by Marion’s men. Captain Finley positioned the piece to rake the northern face of the enemy’s parapet. The mound was two hundred yards east-northeast of the fort and appears to have been twelve feet high.41 Once the Patriot forces surrounded the fort, regular siege operations began, with slaves from neighboring plantations providing extra labor in constructing trenches and breastworks. Archeological evidence suggests some of these siege works were seven feet deep.42

On May 10, with the siege works progressing, the Patriots made a formal demand for the fort’s surrender. Waiting for British reinforcements from Camden, Lieutenant McPherson refused the proposal. The Patriot fieldpiece initiated fire, but the six-pound shot proved ineffectual against the fort’s thick wooden walls.Another event that would have a dramatic impact on the remaining siege, and eventual capture, of Fort Motte also occurred on May 10. Lord Francis Hastings Rawdon had decided to abandon Camden as a British post. His intent was to move back to Charleston and relieve Fort Motte on the way. Rawdon evacuated Camden on May 10, and word quickly reached the besieging Patriots at Fort Motte. Marion initially thought that the information was false and that scouts were reporting on a large foraging party. However, beacon fires on the distant hills along the Santee confirmed the scouts’ initial reports. The fort’s defenders also observed these beacon fires, which stiffened their resolve, on the evening of May 11; they knew that relief was less than forty-eight hours away. Marion later confirmed that the enemy had assembled boats at Nelson’s Ferry. Patriot siege operations continued at a harried pace. On May 12 Marion reported to General Greene, “Our approaches is now to their Abbittis & hope by tomorrow at furthest to reduce it.” The chance that the enemy could relieve the garrison with a fast cavalry detachment increased with time.

Lee and Marion urgently searched for a way to end the siege quickly. A Maham tower would require another day of effort and an assault from the siege works did not guarantee success. Settling on innovation, the men planned to set the roof of the mansion on fire. According to legend, on learning of the situation, Mrs. Motte reportedly volunteered a bow and arrows for use from her plantation’s stores. However, the reality was slightly different. According to his pension application after the war, Pvt, Nathan Savage of Marion’s Brigade mude a ball of rosin and brimstone, which he set afire and slung to the roof of the house to drive out the British.44

Before the attack by fire, Dr. Mathew Irvine of Lee’s Legion carried forward a second flag of truce to ask for the fort’s surrender. Again, the British response was negative. The shingles of the mansion were tinder dry from a long spell of hot weather. The Patriots scheduled their attack for noon on May 12, to allow time for the sun to dry any dew that remained from the morning. Nathan Savage readied his instruments of war, and the Patriot troops moved into the siege works in preparation for the assault. Ear1ier in the war, Savage’s house had been burned by British major James Wemyss; the siege of Fort Motte was his opportunity to avenge that atrocity.

At noon, Savage released fire against the target. He hit the roof of the plantation house, and it started to burn in at least three places. Lieutenant McPherson ordered his men to the roof to fight the flames, but grapeshot from the Patriot cannon fnistrated their efforts. At approximately one o’clock p.m. on May 12, 1781, his efforts to fight the flames exhausted, McPherson surrendered.