SC -- Ninety Six NHS:
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- 96_050308_038.JPG: You can see the star fort itself on the right. On the left is a recreation of the tower that was built by colonists in order to try to shoot into the fort.
- 96_050308_042.JPG: Island Ford Road:
Colonial roads often followed footpaths established by Indians. As Europeans moved into the Carolina upcountry, the roads were used by hunters, traders, soldiers, and settlers.
Island Ford Road ran from Ninety Six to a crossing on the Saluda River and on toward Camden. Other roads -- to Augusta, Charleston, and the Cherokee villages -- also converged at Ninety Six.
- 96_050308_052.JPG: The Patriot Force Arrives:
On May 22, 1781, a Patriot army, commanded by Major General Nathanael Greene, marched down Island Ford Road and began the siege of Ninety Six. Greene's army consisted of 984 men from Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and North Carolina and was later joined by Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lee's Virginia Legion and South Carolina militia.
Loyalist militia from New York, New Jersey, and South Carolina commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Harris Cruger and numbering about 550 men garrisoned the Ninety Six fort. Although the Loyalists were outnumbered, they held the strongest British outpost in backcountry South Carolina. Greene reported that "the fortifications are so strong and the garrison so large as so well furnished that our Success is very doubtful..."
- 96_050308_055.JPG: The First Parallel:
In a ravine nearly 400 yards from the Star Fort, the Polish-born engineer, Kosciuszko, trained the Americans in the art of siege warfare. Groups of soldiers whose main duties included building defense works began digging the first section of approach trenches which zig-zagged across the terrain for almost 100 yards.
Digging trenches in the baked red clay required exhausting labor. Kosciuszko commented that the "Ground was very hard and approached very much to Soft Stone..." Intense heat, clouds of mosquitoes, and booming cannon fire from the fort plagued the American sappers.
The completed the first parallel on June 1. This trench, four feed wide and three feet deep, ran 60 yards to intersect Island Ford Road. Troops standing in the first parallel provided covering fire for the sappers who continued the approach trenches toward the fort.
To strengthen their siege works, the Americans used gibbons (large earth-filled baskets) and fascines (bundles of tree limbs).own.
- 96_050308_062.JPG: Siege Trenches:
On the night of May 22, Greene began constructing an assault position only 70 yards from Star Fort, hoping to overrun the fort quickly with a frontal attack. The Americans were driven away, however, by heavy cannon fire and an attack party from the fort led by Lieutenant John Roney which captured their tools.
Greene and his chief engineer, Lieutenant Colonel Thaddeus Kosciuszko, then began digging siege trenches about 220 yards from the Star.
Construction of the American siegeworks required twenty-seven days and included approach trenches, parallels, and artillery batteries. These features were intended to allow Patriot troops, supported by cannon fire, to move close enough to the Star to make a successful assault.
The siege trenches you see from here are reconstructed outlines. The original trenches were dug according to procedures developed in Europe where siege warfare was common.rt to protect the eastern flank of the town.
- 96_050308_063.JPG: The British Fortifications:
Cruger assumed command at Ninety Six in August, 1780 and quickly strengthened the defenses. By October, he had built a stockade and ditch around "ye Court house and the principal houses" and added blockhouses, probably on the Island Ford and Charleston roads.
Cruger hinted to Lord Charles Cornwallis that "the Ideas of an Engineer would not hurt us..." Lieutenant Henry Haldane, a military engineer, reached the post in early December and reported "the works in a much better state than expected..." Haldane recommended adding an abatis (fallen trees arranged with sharpened branches facing an enemy) on a line 30 yards from the ditch and construction of the Star Fort to protect the eastern flank of the town.
- 96_050308_080.JPG: A chart shows things looking like this:
- Star Fort with an abatis circle around it, connected via a covered path to:
- The Town of Ninety Six, also encircled with by abatis, connected via a covered path to:
- Jail, connected via a covered path to:
- Stockade fort
- 96_050308_102.JPG: The Artillery:
The American army attacking Ninety Six and the Loyalist defenders used heavy cannon fire against each other.
Cruger had three small cannon, firing only three-pound shot, mounted on wooden platforms in the Star Redoubt. The British artillerymen were able to direct their fire against the Patriots until marksmen on the rifle tower drove the gunners to cover.
Greene's army had four six-pounded which he mounted on artillery batteries near the siegeworks. As the siege trenches moved toward the Star, Greene advanced his cannon to provide greater protection to the troops.
- 96_050308_104.JPG: Approach Trench:
The Americans "appear to be advancing by regular approaches, working very industriously..." Cruger reported to Lord Francis Rawdon, the British commander in Charleston.
Cruger and his men watched the American trenches inch closer to the fort. Occasionally, raids from the garrison were launched to harass and disrupt Kosciuszko's sappers, but the American progress was relentless.
The approach trenches ran generally perpendicular to the Star Fort and allowed Patriot troops to move closer to it. The sappers and the assault troops were protected by the angles of the approach trenches and by gabions set along the edge of the trench.
- 96_050308_111.JPG: The Second Parallel:
At the outset of the siege, Greene had violated the customary etiquette of war by failing to request an immediate surrender. On June 3, with the completion of the second parallel, Greene sent Colonel Otho Holland Williams "with a flag or truce" to demand the garrison's surrender.
Williams insisted that the Loyalist position was hopeless and urged Cruger to avoid further casualties. Since British losses numbered only one officer and eight privates killed, Cruger's situation was far from hopeless and he rejected Greene's summons to surrender.
- 96_050308_125.JPG: Approach Trench:
On June 3, 1781, Cruger reported to Lord Rawdon that the Patriot sappers "continue industriously at work [and] ... are within less than sixty yards of our Star Redoubt..."
The Americans pushed the approach trench relentlessly toward the Star Fort. By June 9, the siege trenches were within forty yards of the fort and Patriot troops could threaten the defenders with musket fire.
- 96_050308_132.JPG: The Rifle Tower:
As the Patriots moved within musket range of the Star Fort, British marksmen subjected them to intense fire. A number of Americans were killed or wounded.
To counter this hazardous fire, Greene ordered the construction of a rifle tower. On June 13, under cover of darkness, the Americans worked feverishly to build a log tower about thirty feet high. At daybreak on June 14, Greene stationed riflemen on the tower who could now fire over the fort wall at men inside. The American rifle fire was deadly. Greene reported that "not a Man could show his Head but he was immediately shot down..."
Cruger raised the fort walls an additional three feet with sandbags to give his men greater protection. He also attempted to burn the tower by firing heated cannon balls at it, but since the wood was green the effort failed.
- 96_050308_145.JPG: The Mine:
From the third parallel, Kosciuszko began constructing a mine. American sappers dug a perpendicular shaft about six feet deep, then began a tunnel toward the Star Fort.
Kosciuszko planned to extend the tunnel to a chamber beneath the fort wall. Gunpowder packed in the chamber would be exploded to blow an opening in the fort parapet and allow Patriot troops to charge inside.
Kosciuszko's mine was not used, however, because the siege ended before the tunnel was finished.
- 96_050308_148.JPG: The marked area is where the mine was dug to reach the Star Fort beyond
- 96_050308_152.JPG: The Attack:
By June 17, the Ninety Six garrison was low on food and ammunition. Cruger had expected a relief expedition from Charleston, but hope was turning to despair.
Suddenly, a farmer, casually riding near the American lines, spurred his horse and dashed into the fort through heavy Patriot fire. He brought word to the beleaguered garrison that Lord Rawdon, with 2,000 reinforcements, was only two or three days away. Greene learned of Rawdon's approach from his scouts the same day.
Greene reluctantly ordered a final assault against the Star Fort and the Stockade Fort, signalled by cannon fire at noon on June 18. Fifty men rushed into the ditch to pull down the sandbags on the fort parapets and open the way for the main body of American troops. A volunteer assault party from the fort circle from behind and charged the Americans with fixed bayonets. About forty patriots were killed or wounded and the attack was broken.
After three-quarters of an hour, "seeing little Prospect of succeeding without heavy Loss," Greene ended the attack and ordered his army to retreat toward Charlotte.
The British had held Ninety Six against the American siege, but they could not keep it. Lord Rawdon arrived on June 21 and ordered Cruger to abandon the post and withdraw to Charleston. By early July, the trenches were filled, the town burned, and stockade walls demolished, and Ninety Six was abandoned.a.
- 96_050308_159.JPG: The Star Fort:
The Star Fort was a regular earthen fortification laid out in the shape of an eight-pointed star. One point was replaced by a communications trench, or covered way, which connected the fort with the town stockade. The fort was surrounded by a deep ditch with an abatis placed on a line about 30 yards away.
The Star Fort was built to protect the eastern flank of the town and to control the approach along Island Ford Road.
During the siege, the fort was the major objective of the American attack. It was defended by about 200 New Jersey Loyalists and South Carolina militia.
- 96_050308_165.JPG: The Well:
By June 12, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lee's Virginia Legion was able to fire directly into the ravine where the British garrison's water supply was located. In the intense June heat, the lack of water caused great suffering among soldiers and civilian refugees alike.
Although Cruger set his men to digging a well inside the fort which reached a depth of 25 feet, they failed to find water. Until the siege ended on June 19, water was brought into the fort at night by naked slaves who slipped into the ravine "within pistol shot of the American pickets" and returned with a few pails to drink.
- 96_050308_180.JPG: Covered Way:
When Greene first saw the British fortifications at Ninety Six, he observed that "all the works communicated with each other by covered way."
A covered way was a trench 4-5 feet deep and 2-3 feet wide which allowed troops to move from one defensive position to another. Other covered ways connected the Star Fort, the town of Ninety Six, the jail, and the Stockade Fort.
- 96_050308_192.JPG: [The line of bushes marks the boundary of what was Ninety Six.]
- 96_050308_195.JPG: The Town of Ninety Six:
The village of Ninety Six developed about 1772 when a courthouse and jail were built to serve the westernmost judicial district of the province. Judges rode circuit and held court at Ninety Six twice each year. Trials typically involved horse-stealing, "uttering counterfeit money," and "keeping disorderly Tippling houses."
In 1780, a Loyalist officer, Anthony Allaire, described Ninety Six: "It is a village or country-town -- contains about twelve dwelling houses, a court-house and a jail... Ninety Six is situated on eminence, the land cleared for a mile around it, in a flourishing part of the country...."
Ninety Six because a strategic military post during the American Revolution chiefly because it controlled the junction of roads to Charleston, Augusta, Island Ford, and the Cherokee country. The defensive stockades were added shortly before the siege.
- 96_050308_199.JPG: You can see the Star Fort in the distance. The line of bushes is the boundary for the village of Ninety Six.
- 96_050308_210.JPG: The Jail:
The South Carolina provincial assembly passed a law in 1769 "for establishing Courts, building Gaols, and appointing sheriffs" in the colony. This act created seven judicial districts with a courthouse and jail for the westernmost district located at Ninety Six.
The Ninety Six jail was a two-story building with brick walls 16 inches thick, and included a third floor lookout room and a dungeon below ground.
In peacetime, the jail served as a district prison for horse thieves, counterfeiters, robbers, and murderers awaiting trial. The British, in 1780, fortified the jail to protect the western flank of the town.
- 96_050308_215.JPG: [The white markers indicate where the jail has been.]
- 96_050308_223.JPG: [The white stakes indicate where the communications trench was that connected the jail and Ninety Six to the stockade. The Star Fort itself is that mound you see in the distance.]
- 96_050308_224.JPG: Communications Trench:
A communications trench joined the town stockade with the Stockade Fort, which lay 200 yards to the west. This "covered way" allowed troops in the garrison to get water from Spring Branch or move from the town to the Stockade Fort without being exposed to rifle or musket fire.
- 96_050308_249.JPG: The Stockade Fort:
The British built this "stockade fort on the right" in 1781 on property owned by James Holmes, a Loyalist, to protect the garrison's water supply.
An irregular fortification built around a barn and several out buildings, the stockade was surrounded by a ditch and abatis, and was linked to the town by a communications trench.
When he arrived from Augusta, Georgia, in June 1781, Lt. Col. Henry Lee assumed command of the Patriot attack against the Stockade Fort. In the final American assault on June 18, Lee's men captured the redoubt but held it only until Greene ordered the attack ended.
- 96_050308_278.JPG: "Sacred to the Memory of James Birmingham, Volunteer, Long Cane Militia, killed at this site in the battle of November 19-21, 1775. The first South Carolinian to give his life in the cause of freedom.
"Erected by The American Legion, Star Fort Post 103, Ninety Six, South Carolina, November 19, 1975"
Battle of Ninety Six, November 19-21, 1775:
The first southern battle of the American Revolution occurred on this site November 19-21, 1775. A force of 532 Patriots, commanded by Majors Andrew Williamson and James Mayson, built a rude fort of fence rails, cow hides, and bales of straw on John Savage's plantation which they defended against a Tory army of 1,890 men, led by Colonel Joseph Robinson.
The Loyalists took possession of the Ninety Six jail and surrounded the Patriot fort. When they seized two Patriots who wandered outside the stockade, fighting began and continued for three days. The Patriots had the advantage of swivel cannon and the large Tory force was unable to overrun the fort. In this battle, James Birmingham was killed and became the first South Carolinian to die in the cause of American Revolution.
On Wednesday, November 21, a treaty was signed ending the battle. The Patriots were nearly out of powder and the Tories feared the approach of reinforcements. The Patriots agreed to demolish the fort and both sides agreed to withdraw from the field. No reinforcements were to enter the backcountry.
In December 1775, during the Snow Campaign, a Patriot army commanded by Colonel Richard Richardson destroyed the Loyalist opposition and captured most of the Tory leaders.
- 96_050308_313.JPG: Circa 1787.
Andrew Logan was the builder of this house around 1787. It was the first house built in the nearby town of Greenwood and was found in 1967 hidden in the core of an old house on Spring Street. It was moved to this site in 1971. It is portrayed as a backcountry tavern of the late 1700's. Taverns played a vital role in the community's life of this period. It was a place where a night's lodging, food, and drink could be purchased.
- Wikipedia Description: Ninety Six National Historic Site
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ninety Six National Historic Site is a United States National Historic Site located about 60 miles (96 kilometers) south of Greenville, South Carolina. The historic site was established by in 1976 to preserve the original site of Ninety Six, South Carolina, a small town established in the early 1700s.
History:
The unusual name of Ninety Six was bestowed upon it by traders who mistakenly believed that 96 was the number of miles from the town to the Cherokee village of Keowee to the north. During the French and Indian War of the mid 1700s, the town was twice attacked by the Cherokee.
Revolutionary War:
Ninety Six had become a prosperous village by the time the American Revolutionary War came knocking at the door. The first land battle of the war fought south of New England took place at Ninety Six in 1775. The village became a Loyalist stronghold early in the war and was fortified by the British in 1780. From May 22 - June 18, 1781, Continental Army Major General Nathanael Greene led 1,000 troops in a siege against the 550 Loyalists in the village. The 28-day siege, the longest of the entire war, centered on an earthen fortification known as Star Fort. Despite having more troops, Greene's patriots were eventually unsuccessful in taking the town.
A special ceremony was held the weekend of May 20, 2006 to commemorate the 225th anniversary of the Battle of Star Fort.
The site today:
Ninety Six National Historic Site is located two miles (3.2 kilometers) south of the present day town of Ninety Six on South Carolina Highway 248. The National Park Service maintains a visitor center at the site. A one mile (1.6 kilometer) interpretive trail begins at the visitor center and takes visitors to the remains of Star Fort as well as the original site of Ninety Six. Additional off-road trails weaving through the woods lead to Star Fort Pond, an old unidentified cemetery (believed to be a slave cemetery from post-colonial times), and to the graves of Major James Gouedy, a trader influential in the founding of Ninety Six and Major James Mayson, who captured a significant gun powder cache to be used by the Americans.
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