Battle of Blackstock’s Plantation, 1780 (Tyger River, SC)

The Battle of Blackstock’s Plantation
November 20, 1780
Tyger River, about 5 miles northeast of Cross Anchor, Union County, South Carolina

Open grassy field at Blackstock's Battlefield with pines and a gravel road beyond
Blackstock’s Battlefield today.

At a Glance

  • Date: Monday, November 20, 1780, late afternoon until dark.
  • Where: William Blackstock’s plantation, on the south side of the Tyger River at Blackstock’s Ford, in what is now Union County.
  • Patriots: Brig. Gen. Thomas Sumter, with militia from South Carolina and Georgia. Estimates run from about 400 to 1,000 men.
  • British: Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, with British Legion cavalry and mounted men of the 63rd Regiment. Roughly 250 to 350 men reached the field ahead of his infantry and cannon.
  • Result: Tarleton’s attack was thrown back with heavy losses. Sumter was badly wounded, and his men slipped away across the Tyger that night. Both sides claimed the victory.
  • Laurens County connection: Mary Ramage Dillard’s ride, and Tarleton’s march across the Little River District the two days before.

On This Page

Before Blackstock’s: Fishdam Ford

Eleven days earlier, on the night of November 8–9, 1780, Major James Wemyss tried to surprise Sumter’s camp at Fishdam Ford on the Broad River, on the Chester–Union line. He had about 100 men of the 63rd Regiment and the British Legion. Sumter’s men were awake and ready. The first volley broke Wemyss’s arm and knee, and after about twenty confused minutes in the dark both sides pulled back. Wemyss was left behind under a flag of truce and later paroled.

Sumter could now say he had beaten British regulars, and men flocked to him. Cornwallis took the threat seriously. He called Tarleton back from chasing Francis Marion in the Lowcountry and sent him after Sumter.

Tarleton’s March to the Tyger

On November 18 Tarleton crossed the Broad River at Shirer’s Ferry. He passed “Williams’ house”, probably Col. James Williams’s plantation (later Williams’s Fort), whose owner had been killed at Kings Mountain six weeks before. He then marched to Indian Creek and camped on the Enoree.

On November 19 Tarleton crossed the Enoree and pushed on toward the Tyger. Family tradition says that Mary (Ramage) Dillard, at her home on the Enoree near Jones Ford, overheard a Loyalist supper party talking over the plan and rode through the night to warn Sumter. Tarleton’s own memoir mentions an unnamed “woman on horseback” who reached Sumter first. Her warning that the British were coming “without infantry or cannon” helped Sumter’s officers decide to stand and fight.

The Little River Regiment, now under Col. Joseph Hayes, had moved south of the Enoree to watch the Loyalist garrison at Williams’s Fort. Capt. Samuel Ewing’s company was sent to scout near Ninety Six, so it missed Blackstock’s altogether.

The Battle

Sumter’s men had stopped at Blackstock’s to eat when scouts warned that Tarleton was close. Tarleton had raced ahead with his mounted troops and left his infantry and artillery behind. Sumter put his men on the ridge among the farmhouse, the log outbuildings and the stout rail fences along the lane, with the Tyger River at their backs.

  • Sumter sent riflemen forward to draw Tarleton into attacking before the rest of the British force came up.
  • Major John Money led the mounted 63rd across the field with bayonets and pushed back the Georgians on Sumter’s left.
  • Tarleton’s cavalry charged up the road toward the buildings. Rifle fire from behind the fences and walls broke both attacks. Major Money was mortally wounded.
  • Col. Edward Lacey’s horsemen struck the dragoons in the flank.
  • Late in the fight Sumter was badly wounded. Col. John Twiggs of Georgia took command.
  • The British pulled back at dusk, in the rain. That night Twiggs left the campfires burning and took the men across the Tyger.
Grassy rise at Blackstock's Battlefield with pine woods behind
Open field at the edge of the woods at Blackstock's Battlefield
Gravel road through the fields at Blackstock's Battlefield
The fields of the battlefield today.

Among the Patriot officers were Elijah Clarke, John Twiggs and Benjamin Few of Georgia, Thomas Taylor, William Bratton, Richard Winn and William Hill, Major Samuel Hammond, and Major James McCall of the Upper Ninety Six District Regiment.

Casualties

The numbers depend on who is counting. Most modern sources give the Patriot loss as 3 killed and 4 wounded. Patrick O’Kelley counts 2 killed, and Col. Richard Winn, who was there, recorded only 1. British losses are given as 92 killed and 76 to 100 wounded, while Tarleton admitted to about 50 killed and wounded. Local tradition says 92 British soldiers were buried in common graves on the field.

What It Meant

Tarleton claimed a victory because Sumter’s men left the field. Still, Blackstock’s was the first time Tarleton’s Legion had been stopped in South Carolina, and backcountry militia had done it against cavalry and bayonets. Georgia’s Major James Jackson told Winn that “the Salvation of this Country depends on this One Single fight.”

Sumter was carried off toward Wofford’s Iron Works and then North Carolina, and he was out of action for months. Six weeks later the war came back to the Little River District at Hammond’s Old Store and Williams’s Fort, and in January the regiment faced Tarleton at Cowpens.

Visiting the Battlefield

Granite monument on Monument Hill at Blackstock's Battlefield
Plaque reading November 20, 1780, near this spot was fought the Battle of Blackstock
The monument on Monument Hill among the pines
The monument on Monument Hill. Its plaque reads: “November 20, 1780. Near this spot was fought the Battle of Blackstock.”
South Carolina historical marker, Battle of Blackstocks, beside the highway
Battle of Blackstocks information panel at the park
Blackstocks Battlefield State Historic Site information panel
The state historical marker on SC 49, and the information panels at the park.
Gravel trail through tall grass at Blackstock's Battlefield
Mown path across the field toward the trees
Open field and treeline under a summer sky
Walking the battlefield on the Palmetto Trail.
  • Blackstock’s Battlefield (South Carolina State Parks), 568 Monument Road, Enoree, SC 29335. Open daily 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., free. The site is undeveloped: stay on the Palmetto Trail loop (about 1.5 miles) or the gravel road. Rangers lead hikes for groups of 10 or more by reservation; call Musgrove Mill State Historic Site at 864-938-0100.
  • A monument stands on Monument Hill. The battlefield was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
  • Historical markers: Battle of Blackstock’s (SC 49 at Blackstock Road, near Cross Anchor), and the interpretive panels at the park.
  • Nearby: Musgrove Mill, whose staff look after Blackstock’s. See the Site Guide for more places to visit.

Sources and Resources

Open Questions

  • Who was the woman on horseback? Tarleton never named her. Family tradition and state park sources say Mary Dillard, but no record from 1780 names her.
  • Were Little River men at Blackstock’s? Ewing’s company was not. Did any other men on the Honor Roll fight there?
  • How many fought, and how many fell? Estimates of Sumter’s strength range from 400 to 1,000.

How You Can Help

Does your ancestor’s pension application mention Blackstock’s, or the Tyger River in November 1780? Please get in touch.

Related pages: Mary Ramage Dillard · Kings Mountain · Hammond’s Old Store · Cowpens · Little River Regiment · Honor Roll · Site Guide · Timeline