Southern AdventuresHammond’s Old Store

The Battle of Hammond’s Old Store
30 December 1780, about noon
On the Bush River, Little River District (now Laurens County), South Carolina

Jorge Perez-Rubio's painting of the Battle of Hammond's Old Store — *Hammonds Store 1780* by Jorge Perez-Rubio, courtesy of the Laurens County Museum. See more of his SC Liberty Trail art.

In March of 2022 I had the opportunity to go on an unplanned adventure, by chance. After attending a field trip to Hayes Station, I was invited to tag along with historian, lecturer, preservationist (and inspiration!) Durant Ashmore to visit a raw site close by: the site of Hammond’s Old Store. It was the first of many trips to this special place. My blog post from that first visit is a good place to start.

The battlefield is now protected and open to visitors as part of South Carolina’s Liberty Trail. Donate to the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust to help preserve and interpret this sacred place. The SCBPT is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, established in 1993, that preserves South Carolina’s historic battlegrounds and military sites.

South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust

At a Glance

When: 30 December 1780, “about twelve o’clock” (Gen. Daniel Morgan’s report, 31 Dec. 1780).
Where: a frontier store on the Bush River in the Little River District of the old Ninety Six District, now eastern Laurens County, about forty miles from Morgan’s camp at Grindal Shoals.
Patriots: Lt. Col. William Washington’s 3rd Continental Light Dragoons (about 75, with a handful of the 1st), about 200 South Carolina mounted state troops, and militia riflemen on the flanks, including Col. Joseph Hayes’s Little River Regiment, Col. Thomas Brandon’s 2nd Spartan Regiment, and Maj. Samuel Hammond’s Lower Ninety Six Regiment. The American Battlefield Trust puts the total at 540; most other accounts count about 280.
Loyalists: 260 to 280, many of them Georgians (American Battlefield Trust), who had been plundering Patriot homes in what are now Spartanburg and Union counties. Who led them is disputed.
Result: an American victory. 150 Loyalists killed or wounded, 40 taken prisoner, and 50 horses captured, with no American losses (American Battlefield Trust). Morgan reported it was done “without the Loss of a man.”
What followed: the fall of Fort Williams the next day, and the Battle of Cowpens eighteen days later, on 17 January 1781.

The Store

Hammond’s Old Store was a crossroads trading post near the Bush River, founded by LeRoy Hammond. In 1770 Hammond sold the store and 150 acres around it to James Williams, who would become the Patriot colonel of the Little River Regiment (Elliott and Elliott, 2023). It was the center of the community: a place to buy dry goods, to vote, and to muster. Several veterans remembered being “mustered into service at Hammond’s old store,” among them Zadok Wood (pension S3612), William Teague, and John Hall, who volunteered there “about the beginning of June in the year 1776.”

The store stayed a meeting place for the regiment. In a note preserved in Capt. James Dillard’s pension file, Capt. Levi Casey wrote: “I have appointed the officers of my Regt. To Meet at Hamonds old store on the first Saturday in October Next.” (S6797; see my note on the date.) After James Williams was killed at Kings Mountain in October 1780, the property passed to his family. Durant Ashmore writes that it went to his eldest son, Capt. Daniel Williams.

The Battle

Picture the South Carolina backcountry at the end of 1780. Charleston had fallen in May and Camden in August, and out here the war had become neighbor against neighbor. In December Gen. Daniel Morgan was camped at Grindal Shoals on the Pacolet River, sent by Gen. Nathanael Greene to “spirit up the people.” Meanwhile a band of Loyalists had gathered at Fair Forest and was plundering Patriot homesteads across what is now Spartanburg and Union counties. On Christmas Eve, Lt. Col. William Washington wrote to Greene: “The Distress of the Women and Children stripp’d of every thing by plundering Villains cries aloud for redress.” You can hear the anger in that line.

Here is where my own research comes in. While digging into how Morgan’s men were fed, I found a receipt dated 26 December 1780 for 350 pounds of bacon supplied to Col. William Washington’s Regiment of Dragoons (Audited Account 2647, James Gamble), and a commissary account of Joseph Adair, Sr. listing ten bushels of oats “for Col. Washington’s men.” In the days before the charge, the families of the Duncan Creek neighborhood were feeding the men who would make it.

On 29 December Morgan sent Washington after the raiders with his dragoons and the mounted militia. Robert Long of the Little River Regiment remembered crossing the Pacolet “at sunset” and riding “that night about 16 miles.” Local tradition says the column halted near Duncan Creek Presbyterian Church. I would love to find the document that proves it! The Loyalists, meanwhile, fell back toward Fort Williams, the fortified plantation of the late Col. James Williams.

Around noon on 30 December the Loyalists stopped to rest and eat at Hammond’s Old Store. They had no idea what was coming. About three miles out, Washington’s men picked up a few stragglers, who told them everything about the Loyalist position. Then they topped the hill opposite the Bush River, and there they were. Thomas Young, a sixteen-year-old militiaman riding with Washington, remembered that “the tories had formed in line on the brow of the hill opposite to us. We had a long hill to descend and another to rise.” Then the dragoons “gave a shout, drew swords, and charged down the hill like madmen.” The Tories, Young said, “fled in every direction without firing a gun.” The dragoons worked with their sabers while the riflemen closed in on the flanks, and the chase ran on for seven miles. Young’s full account, including a boy dragoon who swore he would “kill a man that day or die,” is below in In Their Own Words.

Jorge Perez-Rubio's drawing of the battle on the battlefield kiosk — Jorge Perez-Rubio’s drawing of the battle on the kiosk at the site.

Morgan reported the result to Greene the next day:

“He came up with them next day, about twelve o’clock, at Hammond’s store-house, forty miles from our camp.” … “150 were killed and wounded & About 40 Taken Prisoners” … “Attained without the Loss of a man.”

— Gen. Daniel Morgan to Gen. Nathanael Greene, 31 December 1780

Morgan had his account at second hand, from the Baron de Glaubec, a volunteer on the expedition. He promised “a more particular account,” but no written report followed. Greene asked for one on 8 January; Morgan instead sent an officer, Col. Malmedy, to brief him in person. As a result, no full official report of the battle has survived.

The Battle of Hammond's Old Store, painting by Dale Watson — The Battle of Hammond’s Old Store. Original art by Dale Watson, all rights reserved.

How Many? The Numbers, Source by Source

Every source agrees that the Patriots lost no one. They disagree on almost everything else. No Loyalist account of the battle survives.

Source	Patriots	Loyalists	Loyalist losses
Morgan to Greene, 31 Dec. 1780	Washington’s dragoons and mounted militia	—	150 killed and wounded; about 40 prisoners
Battlefield kiosk (SCBPT)	80 dragoons; 200 mounted riflemen	250	150 killed or wounded; 40 captured; 60 escaped
Andrew Waters, Journal of the American Revolution (2018)	about 80 dragoons; about 200 militia	about 250	follows Morgan
Paul Wood, Bloody Bill Cunningham (2026)	285 (85 dragoons)	250	follows Morgan
American Battlefield Trust	540	260–280	150 killed or wounded; 40 prisoners; 50 horses
Life, Liberty, Laurens	—	—	140 killed or wounded; 40 captured; 60 escaped
Durant Ashmore, “The Williams-Cunningham Feud”	85 dragoons; 200 mounted riflemen	250	100 killed; 50 wounded; 40 captured; 50 horses
Durant Ashmore, “The Magic of LIDAR”	—	—	100 killed; 50 wounded; 50 captured; 40 escaped

The American Battlefield Trust’s 540 is far higher than any other count. We have not yet found the source behind it.

Who Led the Loyalists?

Nobody knows for certain. The candidates:

Col. Thomas Waters of Georgia. Morgan’s report names “Waters,” and Wood has Lt. Col. John Harris Cruger at Ninety Six placing Waters over a 250-man force. But Andrew Waters (2018) found “no direct evidence” that put Thomas Waters at the store.
Col. John Moore of North Carolina. Several men who fought there, including Robert Long, remembered it as “Col. Moore’s defeat.”
Capt. Thomas Pearson, Col. Benjamin Wofford, and Capt. Patrick Cunningham, leading the Little River, Spartanburg, and Ninety Six Loyalist militias. This is the version on the battlefield kiosk, and Joseph McJunkin’s account also names Pearson and Wofford.
William “Bloody Bill” Cunningham. Two veterans, Henry Smith and William Grant, named him as commander. Wood concludes that both were mistaken, though Cunningham was there and escaped.

The likeliest answer is that the band was a mix of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia Loyalists under several leaders. As the kiosk puts it, “These men were neighbors.”

In Their Own Words

Robert Long of the Little River Regiment, in his pension application (S7157): “we were sent off by Gen. Morgan under the command of Col. Washington … in pursuit of Col. Moore, of the Tories, who we came up with, and defeated on the 28th of December; and on the next day took Williams’ Fort.” Long’s dates run two days early, a common slip in memories recorded fifty years later. Read more about Robert Long.

Thomas Young, who rode with Washington, told the story in his memoir:

“We came up with them at Hammond’s store; in fact, we picked up several scattering ones, within about three miles of the place, from whom we learned all about their position. When we came in sight, we perceived that the tories had formed in line on the brow of the hill opposite to us. We had a long hill to descend and another to rise. Col. Washington and his dragoons gave a shout, drew swords, and charged down the hill like madmen. The tories fled in every direction without firing a gun. We took a great many prisoners and killed a few.

“Here I must relate an incident which occurred on this occasion. In Washington’s corps there was a boy of fourteen or fifteen, a mere lad, who in crossing Tiger River was ducked by a blunder of his horse. The men laughed and jeered at him very much, at which he got very mad, and swore that boy or no boy, he would kill a man that day or die. He accomplished the former. I remember very well being highly amused at the little fellow charging round a crib after a tory, cutting and slashing away with his puny arm, till he brought him down.”

— “Memoir of Major Thomas Young,” The Orion, 1843 (transcription)

William Grant (pension W1757): “attacked the Tories at Hammond’s Old Store & defeated them there under the Bloody William Cunningham & took two wagons loads with arms & a good many prisoners.”

Henry Smith (pension W2183) was “sent to pilot Col. Washingtons troops to Cunninghams Camp on Bush river, where they were defeated by Col. Washington who took a number of prisoners.”

Grant and Smith are quoted from Wood, Bloody Bill Cunningham, pp. 67–68.

The Next Day: Fort Williams

The survivors fled to Fort Williams, James Williams’s plantation house, which the Loyalist Gen. Robert Cunningham had seized and fortified as an outpost of Ninety Six. As Washington turned back toward Morgan’s camp, he sent Col. Joseph Hayes after them. On 4 January Morgan described the party as “about forty Militia Horsemen, under Colonel Hayes, and ten dragoons, under Mr. Simmons” (Cornet James Simons). Hayes demanded a surrender under a flag of truce. The garrison, including all three Cunninghams, slipped away toward Ninety Six. Hayes killed several and took twenty or more prisoners, and the stockade may have been burned (Wood). Durant Ashmore puts the Loyalist dead at eight.

Read Durant’s essay The Battle of Fort Williams, and see Jorge Perez-Rubio’s illustration of Fort Williams for the SC Liberty Trail.

Why It Mattered

Eighteen days later, on 17 January 1781, Morgan defeated Banastre Tarleton at Cowpens. Hammond’s Old Store helped make that possible. It stopped the raiding, and it showed backcountry militia that the Continentals could protect them. In the words of the battlefield kiosk, “1,000 ‘spirited up’ Patriot militiamen came to the aide of Daniel Morgan, and only 50 dispirited Loyalist militia came to the aide of Banastre Tarleton.”

The raid also exposed how thin Morgan’s supplies were. “Forage and Provisions are not to be had,” he wrote on 4 January. “Here we cannot subsist so that we have but one alternative, either to retreat or move into Georgia.” Two weeks later he stood and fought at Cowpens instead.

For the long story of the feud between the Williams and Cunningham families, from the 1778 election at this store to the massacre at Hayes Station, read Durant Ashmore’s essay The Williams-Cunningham Feud. For what happened eleven months later, four miles away, see Hayes Station.

Rediscovering the Battlefield

For two centuries the exact site was lost. When Durant first found it, the ground was wild and completely inaccessible. In early 2022 Durant Ashmore secured access to the private land, and a team of volunteer metal detectorists led by John Allison went to work. Their finds showed where the fighting happened. In March 2023 archaeologists Daniel and Rita Elliott of the LAMAR Institute began a study for the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust, which included a cadaver-dog search in October 2023 that detected “deceased human scent at two locations” (Elliott and Elliott, 2023).

Map of the Hammond's Old Store battlefield by Durant Ashmore — Map by Durant Ashmore.

Diagram of the battle by Durant Ashmore, 2022 — Diagram by Durant Ashmore, 2022. We keep this early diagram because it shows how far this place has come. When Durant found the site it was wild and inaccessible. Today he owns an acre of it, and 30 more acres have been purchased and are being developed as a battlefield park. Much has been learned since.

The Magic of LIDAR

LIDAR image of the battlefield with artifact find locations — LIDAR image of the battlefield. Colored dots mark artifacts found by John Allison’s team; map by Bryan Tate.

LIDAR strips away the trees and shows the shape of the ground. The deep gash through the center is the colonial road, “one of the most distinctive examples left in the state.” The finds fall on both sides of it, which showed that what looked like two sites was one battlefield, about 150 yards wide. Read Durant Ashmore’s full essay, The Magic of LIDAR.

Map of artifacts found and their locations — Artifacts found and their locations.

The colonial road trace at Hammond's Old Store — The colonial road trace.

Flags marking finds on the battlefield — The colonial road trace.

Durant Ashmore pointing out the colonial road — Durant Ashmore points out the colonial road, where Col. Washington came up from the Bush River crossing.

What the Ground Gave Up

The searches recovered dozens of lead musket balls, rifle balls, and shotgun pellets, along with buttons, buckles, and other pieces of 1780. They are now housed at the Laurens County Museum in Laurens, where some are on display.

Artifacts from the Hammond's Old Store battlefield — Artifacts from the battlefield at the Laurens County Museum.

Buckles found on the battlefield — Buckles

Buttons found on the battlefield — Buckles

The Hammond's Old Store exhibit at the Laurens County Museum — The Hammond’s Old Store exhibit at the Laurens County Museum.

One find ties the battlefield to the families who lived here. Among the artifacts is an iron barrel strap, used to hold the staves of a barrel together. The museum’s label notes: “During the war Joseph Adair, on Barrel Stave Road in Laurens County, made barrels using straps like this.” Read more about Joseph Adair, Sr., cooper, elder of Duncan Creek Church, and commissary of the Little River Regiment.

Iron barrel strap with the Joseph Adair museum label — The barrel strap and its label.

The iron barrel strap held in hand — The barrel strap and its label.

One piece in the exhibit is my own find. On a visit to the site I picked up a large chunk of slag, the glassy waste left over from working metal. The archaeologists have not examined or dated it, so we can’t say whether it goes back to 1780, but the museum included it in the display.

The spot at Hammond's Old Store where Lisa found the slag — Where I found the slag at Hammond’s Old Store.

A large piece of slag found at the Hammond's Old Store site — Where I found the slag at Hammond’s Old Store.

The Site Today

In August 2023 the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust bought 30 acres of the battlefield, with grants from the SC Conservation Bank, South Carolina 250, and the Laurens County 250th Commission, and added it to The Liberty Trail, the Trust’s joint project with the American Battlefield Trust. Durant owns an adjoining acre. A small park with an interpretive kiosk now stands where there was only a field in 2022. You can visit at 1503 Greenplain Road, Clinton, where traces of the colonial road are still visible. Both Hammond’s Old Store and Hayes Station are on the Laurens County 250 Revolutionary War Driving Tour.

The Hammond's Old Store battlefield park today — The battlefield park today.

Durant Ashmore at the interpretive kiosk — Durant Ashmore at the kiosk.

The Hammond's Old Store site in 2022, before the park was built — The site in 2022, before the park was built.

Aerial view of the Hammond's Old Store site — Photo courtesy of Jake LaFoy.

The colonial road at Hammond's Old Store — The Colonial Road

The metal detecting team at work — The Colonial Road

A flag at sunset at Hammond's Old Store — Sunset at Hammond’s Old Store.

Sources

Daniel Morgan to Nathanael Greene, 31 Dec. 1780 and 4 Jan. 1781; Greene to Morgan, 8 Jan. 1781; William Washington to Greene, 24 Dec. 1780. The Papers of Nathanael Greene, vols. 6–7. Morgan’s first report is also printed in James Graham, The Life of General Daniel Morgan (1856), p. 272.
Pension applications, transcribed by Will Graves and C. Leon Harris at Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements: Robert Long S7157; James Dillard S6797; Zadok Wood S3612; Henry Smith W2183; William Grant W1757.
Daniel T. Elliott and Rita F. Elliott, Progress Report, Hammond’s Store Battlefield (LAMAR Institute for the SC Battleground Preservation Trust, 19 Dec. 2023).
Paul Ariel Wood, Jr., Bloody Bill Cunningham (South Carolina 250 Commission, 2026), pp. 67–68.
Andrew Waters, “Hammond’s Store: The ‘Dirty War’s’ Prelude to Cowpens”, Journal of the American Revolution (Dec. 2018).
Interpretive kiosk at the battlefield, South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust.
American Battlefield Trust, “Hammond’s Store” (battle summary and statistics).
Thomas Young, “Memoir of Major Thomas Young, a Revolutionary Patriot of South Carolina,” The Orion (Oct.–Nov. 1843). Transcription online.
Audited Account 2647 (James Gamble) and the commissary account of Joseph Adair, Sr., South Carolina Department of Archives and History; from my research in progress on feeding Morgan’s army.
Durant Ashmore, “The Williams-Cunningham Feud” and “The Magic of LIDAR”.
Artwork by Jorge Perez-Rubio, courtesy of the Laurens County Museum. See his Hammonds Store 1780 and the full SC Liberty Trail series.

Open Questions

Who led the Loyalists? Waters, Moore, Pearson and Wofford, or no single commander?
How many died? Morgan’s 150 killed and wounded came to him second hand. The breakdowns of 100 killed and 50 wounded appear only in later accounts.
Where are the dead buried? The 2023 cadaver-dog survey detected human scent at two locations.
Did Washington’s column stop at Duncan Creek? The supply records place his men in the neighborhood, but the tradition of a halt at the church rests on a single informant.
Who commanded the militia? Some sources credit Maj. James McCall; Andrew Waters argues he was not there in that role.

How You Can Help

Do you descend from someone who rode with Washington, or with the Loyalists, that day? Do you have a family record, letter, or pension file that mentions Hammond’s Old Store, or a document that puts Washington’s men at Duncan Creek on the way? Please get in touch. Every new piece of evidence helps. You can also donate to the SC Battleground Preservation Trust to support the park.

Hammond’s Old Store

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