BGuthrie Photos: SC -- Ninety Six NHS

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:
1. 96_180211_020.JPG: Walking Tour of the Park Follow the paved path to explore a colonial roadbed, Revolutionary War siegeworks and the original Star Fort, the site of the early town of Ninety Six, the reconstructed Stockade Fort of 1781, and the Logan Log House. The one-mile walk starts out in sparse woods and meanders through fields. There is a steep incline between the old town site and the Stockade Fort, which may be a challenge for some people. To avoid the climb you may start your tour on the path to the right of the park entrance, which loops in reverse to Logan Log House, Williamson's Fort, and other places of interest. Smaller unpaved routes, shown on the map, like the Cherokee Path Trail and the Gouedy Trail, offer a chance to hike in the woods and enjoy the natural scenery. • Stay on the trail and be alert for poison ivy, stinging insects, and venomous snakes • Please give yourself at least an hour and bring plenty of water, especially in summer. • This is a National Park Service area. Please help us preserve the park by respecting the grounds and the exhibits. Digging for and collecting artifacts are prohibited. If you find such things during your visit, please tell a park ranger.
2. 96_180211_022.JPG: Walking Tour of the Park
3. 96_180211_040.JPG: Cherokee (Tsalagi) The Cherokee referred to themselves as Tsalagi or Aniywiyai which means the "Principal People." Cherokee used the area around Ninety Six as a hunting ground, where they hunted deer, turkey and even buffalo.
4. 96_180211_042.JPG: Environmental Change From Forest to Park Once dense forest, this area was gradually cleared by people. Fire, storms, and the introduction of non-native plants and animal species also contributed to changing the landscape. If you lived here in the 1700s, you would have seen these woods give way to farmland. By the time Patriot troops arrived to camp nearby in 1781, there were open fields dotted only by tree stumps. Loyalists in the town, hoping to keep the approaching enemy in view and deny them cover in the woods, had cut down trees for up to a mile in each direction. Pre-settlement: This region is home to many American Indian groups, including the Saludas, Waterees, and Congarees, who hunt nearby. Plants: Dense forests of oak, hickory, elm, locust, and poplar. Animals: White-tailed deer, turkey, squirrel, rabbit, fox, raccoon, beaver, muskrat, bison, quail, wolves, and panthers. 1730s-1750s: The Cherokee predominate, but white traders, hunters, and trappers come into the area from Charleston. Early settlers include English, Irish, Scotch-Irish, French Huguenots, and Germans. Hostilities erupt between the Cherokee and white settlers. Plants: Less dense, area burned and cleared for farming wheat, corn, indigo, and flax. Fields are used for grazing. Animals: Ample wildlife, including deer, rabbit, squirrel, fox. Small farms support cattle, hogs, and sheep. 1780s: Ninety Six is occupied by Loyalist troops. All land in and around the town is cleared. The town is burned and abandoned in 1781. Plants: Indian corn, oats, hemp, cotton, flax, and indigo are planted in fields outside the town. Clusters of hickory, oak, and black walnut trees grow beyond the settlement. Animals: Farm animals graze in pastures. Hunting grounds are sparse and more remote. 1850s-1960s: The land around Ninety Six is used for agriculture until the 1960s, when Greenwood County creates a historic site at Ninety Six. Plants: Cotton is the dominant crop. Animals: Farm animals graze in pastures and wooded areas are occupied by deer, raccoon, rabbit, and squirrel. 1970s-present: Extensive archaeological excavations of the battlefields are undertaken in the 1970s. The site becomes a national park in 1976. Native plants and animals are protected. There is a second growth of forest where land had been cleared in 1780. Plants: Winged elm, black walnut, pine, red maple, redbud, poison ivy, and Virginia creeper. Animals: Deer, raccoon, rabbit, and squirrel.
5. 96_180211_062.JPG: Trader with Pack Horse Roads and paths allowed trade between the Cherokee and early traders. In 1753 Robert Gouedy set up the first permanent trading post at old Ninety Six. Many road traces can still be seen today.
6. 96_180211_066.JPG: Island Ford Road The earliest roads in Ninety Six were Indian trails, used for travel by foot and horse and for hunting. White settlers followed these trails to explore the countryside, trade, and eventually, to settle. As the stream of settlers into the region increased, better roads were required to transport supplies safely and easily. The historic roadbed before you, the Island Ford Road, was an important travelers route from places east and north of Ninety Six. Years of heavy use and erosion caused the road's sunken appearance. A ferry was established at Island Ford, a shallow crossing of the Saluda River, as early as 1775. Travelers would cross there and take the Island Ford Road about 10 miles southwest directly to Ninety Six. Revolutionary War Loyalist and Patriot troops used this route to transport supplies to Ninety Six. Imagine how this road would have appeared to colonial inhabitants. Wagons and carts pulled by horses or oxen were piled high with sacks of flour, bolts of cloth, and kegs of gunpowder. They clattered by on the unpaved surface. The uneven road was probably mired in mind or swirling in dust, depending on the season. It was often perilous, as cart wheels could give way or become stuck, causing passengers to fall and valuable loads to spill.
7. 96_180211_076.JPG: May 21-22, 1781 The Patriot Force Arrives After a series of disastrous defeats in South Carolina, George Washington, head of the Continental Army, took action. He named General Nathanael Greene to command Patriot forces in the South in December 1780. Greene drove into the backcountry hoping to take key Loyalist strongholds, like Ninety Six. By May 22, 1781, Greene's troops descended on these grounds from the Island Ford Road in the rainy darkness. Soaked to the skin by a heavy spring rain, they toted heavy artillery, supplies, and tools. The troops consisted of Continental Army soldiers from Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia, and North Carolina militia. This force of almost 1,000 split and fanned out around the town, converging on it from two directions to seal off access to food, water, and reinforcements. But Lieutenant Colonel John Harris Cruger, the Loyalist commander garrisoned at Ninety Six, had expected Greene's arrival and prepared well. His defenses were strong. The arriving Patriots would have seen a town fortified with a strong stockade, blockhouses and bastions, as well as earthworks to protect the town's water supply. A large star-shaped fort defended the north side of town near the Island Ford Road. As Greene's tired men set about establishing a camp near here on May 22, the commander pondered his options. He had inadequate artillery and no promise of reinforcements. On the advice of his chief engineer, he decided to launch a siege against the heart of the Loyalist defense: the Star Fort.
8. 96_180211_104.JPG: May 28-June 1, 1781 First Parallel After several days of digging an approach trench to get to this point, a first parallel was established. In siege warfare a series of trenches that face the enemy's defenses are called parallels. The first parallel established a secure position from which Greene's men could advance. The trenches were dug mostly under the cover of darkness and involved backbreaking labor.
9. 96_180211_113.JPG: Patriot Soldier General Nathanael Greene had about 1,000 Patriot troops from Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. The average height of an adult during the Revolutionary War was 5 feet 5 inches. See how you stand up to this Patriot while standing in the footsteps of a soldier.
10. 96_180211_120.JPG: Stand in a Revolutionary soldier's footprints...
11. 96_180211_127.JPG: May 22-June 18, 1781 The Patriots Lay Siege to the Star Fort "Our success is very doubtful." -- General Nathanael Greene, May 23, 1781 General Greene entrusted Colonel Thaddeus Kosciuszko with the task of creating siegeworks -- a system of trenches -- that would allow his men to approach and capture the Star Fort. The Continental Army engineer, a 35 year-old native of Poland, had received his military education in Warsaw and Paris. The Revolutionary War trench lines before you provide a picture of how Kosciuszko conducted the siege against the Star Fort according to traditional rules of warfare in the 1700s. A series of parallels or earthen tranches were dug, providing cover for troops and allowing them to move artillery close to their target. Angled approach trenches connecting the parallels, forming a "Z" pattern leading up to the fort. The trenches you see here are partially reconstructed. Archaeological investigations revealed their original locations, but they have not been fully excavated. The Star Fort posed a formidable challenge to Greene's troops. Its eight-pointed design allowed soldiers inside to direct their gaze -- and their guns -- in many angles and over a wide area. Standing here in 1781, you would have noticed a wide ditch encircling the perimeter of the fort and glimpsed dirt walls thick enough -- perhaps 10 to 15 feet wide -- to stop musket and cannon balls. The walls rose 14 feet high from the bottom of the ditch. You might have flinched at the menacing rings of abatis -- sharpened tree branches -- around the fort, which were intended to hinder the enemy's approach.
12. 96_180211_160.JPG: June 1, 1781 The Artillery Once a parallel was dug, troops could move artillery forward and place cannon in position to batter the enemy garrison. Greene's six-pounders (guns firing six pound cannon balls) were placed here on platforms that sat on earthen fortifications about 20 feet high and allowed artillerists to fire directly into the Star Fort. These guns were manned by specially trained crews.
13. 96_180211_161.JPG: June 2, 1781 Approach Trench "Not a man could shew his head but what he was immediately shot down." -- General Nathanael Green Approach trenches, called saps, connected one parallel to the next. These angled ditches allowed troops to move toward the fort without taking direct fire from the enemy. Sappers, or laborers who dug the tranches, broke through the hard red soil sometimes with only candlelight to guide them. Dangerous musket volleys often cost them their lives.
14. 96_180211_162.JPG: June 6, 1781 Second Approach Trench "Our approaches are going on but slowly owing to the want of men to dig." -- General Nathanael Greene Early in the siege Greene set up a rotation to relieve the exhausted sappers. One team dug while another returned to camp to fashion gabions (large baskets filled with earth) or gather wood for fascines (large bundles of sticks and branches) to fortify trench walls.
15. 96_180211_172.JPG: June 13, 1781 The Rifle Tower In a single night -- June 13 -- a 30-foot tower made of interlocking logs was erected under Kosciuszko's supervision. From the wooden platform marksmen could aim down into the fort. The Loyalists responded to this threat by making the walls nearly three feet higher with sandbags. The Loyalists tried unsuccessfully to burn down the tower by firing heated cannon balls.
16. 96_180211_182.JPG: Begun June 9, 1781 The Mine "We shall be in the ditch of the enemies works by tomorrow night or early morning; and the powder is wanting to blow up the works. I beg you will send the powder the moment this reaches you." -- General Nathanael Greene to General Andrew Pickens, June 11, 1781 Now that the Patriots were in striking distance of the fort walls, Kosciuszko decided to use another classic siege tactic -- a mine. The plan was simple. Gunpowder packed in the mine's primary tunnel would be detonated, causing a breach, which would allow Greene's men to rush into the fort from nearby approach trenches. Using picks and shovels to carve out the hard earth, laborers began to dig the main shaft on June 9. Progress in the late spring heat and under constant Loyalist fire was painfully slow. The Star Fort siege ended before Kosciuszko's mine could prove its worth. Learning that the Loyalists were getting reinforcements, Greene called off the effort, and digging stopped short of the fort's ditch. The cone-shaped earthen passage with no beams or supports, ran 125 feet from end to end, and is a unique example of Revolutionary War-era mine construction. The mine is one of the few remaining earthworks of the Revolutionary War. It is not accessible to visitors.
17. 96_180211_189.JPG: June 18, 1781 The Forlorn Hope Having established the third parallel and dug a mine, the Patriot troops were exhausted. Promised reinforcements from the Virginia militia failed to arrive. A frustrated Greene wrote to Congress: "...our poor Fellows are worne out with fatigue, being constantly on duty every other Day and sometimes every Day." Circumstances forced Greene to make a difficult choice. News arrived that Lord Rawdon's 2,000 troops were headed to Ninety Six to relieve Cruger. The construction of the siegeworks did not go as quickly as Greene had hoped. He was not yet in a position to breach the Star Fort and his tired troops would be no match for Rawdon's. Spurred by his officers and men to storm the fort before Rawdon's arrival rather than give up the siege, a reluctant Greene agreed to an assault. Fifty men volunteered to lead the charge. This brave group -- called the Forlorn Hope -- surged from the trenches at noon on June 18, 1781. Armed with axes these Patriots tried to cut through the outer defenses along the fort perimeter so that soldiers following with hooks could pull down the sandbags and breach the walls. They were quickly pinned in the ditch around the Loyalist earthwork, caught in the crossfire of marksmen in the star-shaped fort and surprised by 60 Loyalists, who ran out the fort entrance and came at them from each side. Of the 50 Patriots assaulting the Star Fort, 30 were killed or wounded.
18. 96_180211_206.JPG: 1781 The Star Fort Heart of the Loyalist Defense On assuming command of Ninety Six in 1780, Lieutenant Colonel Cruger set out to fortify the town in the event of a Patriot attack. The Star Fort was the center of his defense and today offers a rare view of original British military field fortifications from the 1700s. It is one of the best-preserved Revolutionary War earthworks in the nation. Imagine the high walls, now eroded, steep outer ditch, and protruding fraises, or sharpened stakes, driven into the ramparts (walls of the fort), that rose before the Patriots huddled in the trenches. The eight-pointed fort was erected by slaves, who struggled along with British soldiers to fashion it from the heavy red soil. To out eyes, the interior hardly seems adequate space for 200 Loyalists -- and their artillery -- trapped here during the weeks of the 1781 siege. In the hot South Carolina spring, with limited provisions and difficult access to water, the Loyalists withing must have questioned their survival. Notice the ridge in the center. It is a traverse, of fallback provision, in case the Patriots breached the walls. The ingenious design of the Star Fort permitted soldiers to fire from its many angles. Attackers from any direction were immediately caught in the crossfire. This defense proved fatal to many of the Forlorn Hope during Greene's final assault in June 18.
19. 96_180211_207.JPG: Begin June 12, 1781 The Well Water was critical to the survival of the men confined to the Star Fort, but the town's only water source, Spring Branch, lay well beyond its walls and within range of Patriot fire. Cruger hoped to remedy this dire situation by digging a well inside the fort. But at 25 feet, no water was found and the effort was abandoned.
20. 96_180211_220.JPG: 1781 Covered Way The trench that ran here, from the fort to the stockaded town, was not actually covered, but was used for cover. It was the route for official couriers, Loyalist relief troops, and slaves who risked Patriot fire to bring water from Spring branch to the Star Fort. With walls only three feet high, they had to crouch low to get through the passage unharmed.
21. 96_180211_223.JPG: 1775 Ninety Six Colonial Center in a Time of Change The convergence of roads at Ninety Six ensured its success as a hub of commerce, center for law and order, and haven for settlers in colonial times. In 1775 the village had a dozen dwellings, a jail, and, most importantly, a courthouse, making it a seat of power in the area. Residents included blacksmiths, coopers, carpenters, field hands, and slaves. While the 1775 population is not known, a record shows 79 males living here by 1776. American colonists, recent immigrants from Europe, and slaves were among the residents. Cherokee traded here. The land was cleared for crops and animals grazed freely. Water from nearby Spring Branch was plentiful. It was remote and often dangerous in the surrounding wilderness, but inhabitants of Ninety Six achieved a fragile peace in the backcountry. That was changed with the Revolutionary War. In Charleston, Patriot supporters formed an independent government and on September 15, 1775, the royal governor of the South Carolina colony fled to a British warship in Charleston Harbor, leaving the colony in the hands of the Americans. Confused and concerned by these events, backcountry residents split between those remaining loyal to the King and those siding with the Patriots. In Ninety Six, William Henry Drayton, a representative from the new government, successfully converted the townspeople to the Patriot cause, fortified the jail, and sent militias out to contain the Loyalist threat. But the town was too small to accommodate the garrison and Williamson's Fort was built nearby.
22. 96_180211_234.JPG: Woman and Child As many as 100 Loyalist families took refuge in the town of Ninety Six during the 1781 siege. They had to suffer the same hardships and disease as the Loyalist soldiers. After the battle many families followed the British Army to Charleston, never to return to Ninety Six.
23. 96_180211_244.JPG: July 1781 Why Did the British Burn Ninety Six? The quiet field before you was the site of the once-thriving 1700s town of Ninety Six. In 1781 it had about a dozen homes, a courthouse, and a jail. When Lieutenant Colonel Cruger arrived in 1780, he fortified it against attack. One visitor observed, "Its houses, which were intierly [sic] wood, were comprised within a stockade. The commandant immediately set the garrison, both officers and men, to work to throw up a bank, parapet high, around the stockade, and to strengthen it with abatis." During the siege of 1781, many Loyalist families from the backcountry, fleeing from Greene's advancing Patriot army, took refuge in the fortified town. Packed into the stockaded village, already filled with Cruger's troops and sick or wounded soldiers carried out from the Star Fort, these refugees lived in constant fear of Patriot gunfire and dwindling food and water supplies. After the Patriot's defeat, Cruger was ordered to evacuate the town. The British command decided that Ninety Six was too far from Charleston and too deep in hostile territory to be of further value to their cause. So in July 1781, Cruger's men, with Loyalist families in tow, abandoned the village and burned it to the ground, denying Patriots further use of the site.
24. 96_180211_256.JPG: Gouedy Trail and Charleston Road The Gouedy trail is a 1.5-mile nature path that takes you through the woods and into a lesser known for historically significant part of the park. This route passes the presumed location of Robert Gouedy's trading post, established in 1751, and the archaeological remains of Fort Ninety Six. It also leads you into an unmarked cemetery, where body-length depressions in the earth and rough stone markers indicate the final resting place of about 50 unnamed people perhaps from the colonial era. The old Charleston Road intersects this trail. One of the oldest Indian trails in upper South Carolina, and later a major colonial route between the town and the coast, it is sunken from are and use. Walking the Gouedy Trail allows you to see nature as the Indians and the first settlers did, and conveys a sense of what life was like here in the 1700s. Cherokee Attacks of 1760 In 1759 and 1760 Cherokee raids threatened the settlers of Ninety Six. Much of the violence was generated by a larger conflict between France and England, known as the French and Indian War. In late 1759, Royal Governor William Henry Lyttelton arrived here with militia, occupied Gouedy's trading post, and converted it into a fort to protect local settlers. The fort was attacked twice by the Cherokee, on February 3 and March 3, 1760. In the March attack, 250 Cherokee warriors besieged the fort for 36 hours, but the garrison held strong.
25. 96_180211_265.JPG: 1773 Law and Order in the Carolina Backcountry The Jail and the Courthouse The Ninety Six jail stood on this site and the courthouse was about 100 yards from it, near the Charleston Road. After the Revolutionary War, the jail fell into disrepair and its bricks were reused for other purposes. But from 1772, when it was completed, through the siege of 1781, the jail and nearby courthouse elevated this frontier town's status from a remote wilderness outpost to a place of law, order, and civilization. Unlike colonial South Carolina's coastal communities, the early backcountry settlements were sparsely populated and had virtually no law enforcement. with the courts far away in Charleston, a vigilante group called Regulators emerged. Ninety Six was the center for the Regulator movement. By 1767 there were about 4,000 Regulators, whose self-appointed duties including tracking down bandits, punishing immoral women, and expelling vagrants. The Regulator movement was replaced by a circuit court system in 1769, and by the time the courthouse was built a judge from Charleston came twice a year -- in April and November -- to hear cases and impose sentences. The buildings were also an important part of the town's defenses during the Revolutionary War. David Fanning, a Loyalists captured by Patriots, manage four impressive escapes from the Ninety Six jail, and described his last incarceration: "I was chained and ironed as before, in the centre of a room, 30 feet square; forty-five from the ground, the snow beating in through the roof, with 4 grates open night and day. I remained in this state eleven days. I got my chains off in the night for the 12th." Once unshackled, Fanning loosened an iron bar from a window, pried a plank from the floor, and made his break from the lower level.
26. 96_180211_270.JPG: David Fanning, a Loyalists captured by Patriots, manage four impressive escapes from the Ninety Six jail, and described his last incarceration: "I was chained and ironed as before, in the centre of a room, 30 feet square; forty-five from the ground, the snow beating in through the roof, with 4 grates open night and day. I remained in this state eleven days. I got my chains off in the night for the 12th." Once unshackled, Fanning loosened an iron bar from a window, pried a plank from the floor, and made his break from the lower level.
27. 96_180211_284.JPG: Cherokee Path Trail
28. 96_180211_292.JPG: November 18-21, 1775 The American Revolution Comes to the South Six Years Before the Star Fort Siege There Was Williamson's Fort You are standing at the site of the first southern land battle of the Revolutionary War. The men fighting here were all Americans. The Loyalists supported British rule; the Patriots wanted independence from the Crown. The location of Ninety Six at the junction of several major routes between the interior backcountry and the coast made it a strategic post during the American Revolution. The battle here in 1775 was precipitated by Loyalists, who seized a shipment of gunpowder intended as a gift of friendship from the Provincial Congress to the Cherokee Indians. In response to this hostile act, Patriot Major Andrew Williamson mustered 500 troops at Ninety Six and prepared to meet the enemy. His men built a makeshift fort in this field. The simple square structure was made of fence rails, baled hay, and beef hides and enclosed a barn and outbuildings. On November 19, 1775, Loyalist commanders Captain Patrick Cunningham and Major Joseph Robinson arrived with 2,000 men. Though greatly outnumbered, the Patriots in the fort would not surrender. Several days of fighting followed, leaving several wounded on both sides and one Patriot dead. James Birmingham was the first Patriot killed in the South in the American Revolution. A Loyalist officer, Captain Luper, also died. Days later a truce was arranged. The fort you see now is not an original structure but a partial reconstruction of the 1781 Stockade Fort.
29. 96_180211_295.JPG: Spring Branch A plentiful water source was essential for the colonial residents of Ninety Six and for both Patriot and Loyalist troops garrisoned here during the Revolutionary War. The water surely flowed more freely in colonial times. During the sweltering months of the Star Fort siege of 1781, access to the spring was cut off by Patriot guards, causing panic among Loyalist troops and civilians.
30. 96_180211_318.JPG: June 12, 1781 "Light Horse Harry" Lee Takes the Stockade Fort You are standing in a partial reconstruction of the Stockade Fort as it appeared in 1781. Archaeologists have identified remnants -- see the outlines -- of log buildings that existed here. An elevated firing step, called a banquette, was located at the base of the palisade wall. Step up to the banquette before you and peer through the vertical wooden posts. This is the view Loyalist soldiers had as they stood guard over the town of Ninety Six. In June 1781, while General Greene's tired troops laid siege to the Star Fort on the north side of town, Patriot Lieutenant Colonel Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee and his Continental troops arrived here on the west side of Ninety Six to lend support. Accompanying Lee was Brigadier General Andrew Pickens, commanding 400 South Carolina militiamen. Lieutenant Colonel Lee's mission was to capture this Loyalists stronghold for the Patriots. His initial attempt did not succeed. At noon on June 18, as part of Greene's final assault on the Star Fort, Lee's men attacked here again. This time they easily breached the stockade walls, but their success was short-lived. Greene's failure to take the Star Fort forced all Patriot troops to make a swift exit from Ninety Six before British reinforcements arrived.
31. 96_180211_325.JPG: James Birmingham Sacred to the Memory of James Birmingham Volunteer Long Cane Militia Killed at this Site In the Battle of November 19-24, 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
32. 96_180211_332.JPG: Monument to James Birmingham This stone honors James Birmingham, the first South Carolinian to lose his life for freedom during the Revolutionary War. Birmingham, a member of the Long Cane Militia, received his fatal wound from a Loyalist musket ball. He fought under the command of Major Andrew Williamson at Ninety Six in November 1775 in the first Revolutionary War land engagement in the South.
33. 96_180211_336.JPG: 1783 - c. 1850 The Lost Town of Cambridge After the Revolution, the American government confiscated land that belonged to prominent Loyalists. You are standing on such a tract, and it became the site of a new town of Ninety Six in 1783. The old town, near the Star Fort -- never rebounded from its occupation by the Loyalists, who left the village in ruins after the siege of 1781. In 1785 the state legislature voted to establish a "College of Cambridge" here, and in 1787 the town was officially renamed Cambridge. But by the early 1800s Cambridge was already beginning to decline. In 1806, one resident described the village as "nothing more than a snug little village of 15 or 20 houses and stores on top of a small hill...The Village has seven stores and three taverns...Its appearance is not all flourishing." About 200 people lived in the town. By about 1850 it had almost disappeared, and today there is no visible trace of a town. Why did Cambridge disappear? There were several factors. In 1800 the judicial seat was moved to Abbeville, and when railroads came to this region in the 1850s, Cambridge was not on the main line. The closest depot was two miles north, and the modern town of Ninety Six grew along this section of track, which connected the cities of Columbia and Greenville. Isolated, residents moved away from Cambridge. The courthouse was razed in 1856, and the post office closed in 1860. The only attraction left standing was the Star Fort from the Revolutionary War era.
34. 96_180211_359.JPG: Logan Log House Built by Andrew Logan in the late 1700s, this well preserved example of a log house of that time was discovered in nearby Greenwood. The historic stricture has been hidden under siding and obscured by alterations from a much later period. Realizing its value as an extraordinary artifact, the Star Fort Commission, which managed this site before the National Park Service, had it moved here in 1968. The two-story house of logs and chinking mortar is typical of colonial-era backcountry buildings. A fireplace would have been used for heat and cooking, furniture would have been scant and simply, and animals might have been quartered in a side-yard pen. The Logan Log House is now used for living history programs.
35. 96_180211_376.JPG: Why Is It Called Ninety Six? A Colonial Backcountry Settlement The origin of Ninety Six's unusual numeric name remains a mystery. There are many theories. One plausible explanation is that English traders who passed through here in the 1700s estimated this location to be 96 miles from the Cherokee village of Keowee to the northwest, near present-day Clemson. The first known historical reference to Ninety Six is on a map of 1730, created by George Hunter, surveyor general of South Carolina. Long before the Europeans arrived in the 1700s -- as early as 900 B.C. -- bands of hunter-gatherers roamed here. The heavily forested land changed with time, as did the native groups, who began to clear fields for farming, weave cloth from natural fibers, and fashion pottery from the area's red clay soil. Of the many Indian groups who inhabited the backcountry near Ninety Six, it was the Cherokee who predominated and used this area as their hunting grounds. Positioned at the crossroads of several critical trade routes that linked Cherokee territory to the city of Charleston on the coast, Ninety Six became a seat of power in the British colony of South Carolina. The town offered settlers a safe haven, fertile fields, and ample wildlife. Captain George Chicken of the colonial militia recorded that he "killed a boflow" when camping here with his men in 1716. Steady population growth around Ninety Six eventually led to hostilities between European settlers and Indians. A fort built on this site withstood Indian attacks in 1760.
36. 96_180211_381.JPG: 1781 The Siege of Ninety Six In November 1775 -- just months after American and British troops traded musket fire at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts -- the first southern land battle of the Revolutionary War was fought here in Ninety Six. Later, in 1781, the longest field siege of that war -- 28 days -- took place at Ninety Six. After an unsuccessful final assault by the Patriots, American forces withdrew. One month later, the British abandoned Ninety Six, laying the fort and town to ruin. The site of the siege of 1781 offers a unique opportunity to see Revolutionary War earthworks and understand how warfare was waged in the 1700s. The story of the siege also offers insight into the strategies used by commanders of the opposing armies: Lieutenant Colonel John Harris Cruger of the British Army and Major General Nathanael Greene of the American Continental Army.
37. 96_180211_391.JPG: Ninety Six National Historic Site A Revolutionary War Landmark Ninety Six National Historic Site is a unit of the National Park Service, which preserves lands of national significance. This park features the site of the old town of Ninety Six, an important seat of power in the backcountry of South Carolina during colonial times. The park includes some of the best preserved earthworks -- the Star Fort and a military mine -- of the American Revolution. Here you can follow the trails of the Cherokee Indians who first hunted these woods, explore the land where early traders, colonists, and African slaves settled, and visit the scene of struggles for independence from Britain during the Revolutionary War. This map present an aerial view of the entire park. A walking tour from the park entrance past the Star Fort, the Stockade Fort of 1781, and ending at the Logan Log House takes approximately one hour. With more time you may want to venture farther afield to the Gouedy Trail, Cherokee Path Trail, and Star Fort Pond, to enjoy the natural beauty and tranquility of this area that once echoed with the clatter of ox carts and the roar of cannon fire.
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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