Ramsour's Mill

On June 20, 1780, near what is now Lincolnton, North Carolina, opposing militias clashed at Ramsour's Mill as part of the broader British effort to seize the southern colonies during the Revolutionary War. Historians still dispute exact troop numbers on either side, though it is generally agreed that Loyalist militiamen, a group that included many German Palatine settlers from the surrounding region, held a numerical edge over their Patriot counterparts.

Fought through fog that blanketed the morning, the engagement lasted somewhere between one and two hours and drew in no regular soldiers from either army. Instead, it pitted relatives, friends, and neighbors against one another, and combatants running short on ammunition resorted to swinging their muskets like clubs. The conflict produced tragic instances of kin killing kin. Loyalist Peter Costner died at the hands of his own brother, Thomas, who afterward buried him where he fell. On the Patriot side, scout William Simpson charged into the fray intent on finding and killing his brother Reuben, only to arrive once the fighting had already ceased. Reuben, who had sustained a severe but ultimately survivable wound, had already left the field, and William was never able to track him down.

Though facing superior numbers, the Patriot fighters ultimately carried the day. Beyond the immediate outcome, the clash carried lasting consequences, dealing a blow to Loyalist morale throughout the South and eroding the base of support the British depended upon there.

Background

Near Charlotte, North Carolina, Patriot commander Griffith Rutherford received word on June 18, 1780, that a substantial body of Loyalists had gathered at Ramsour's Mill, close to what is now Lincolnton. He ordered his men toward that location, and the following day, June 19, he dispatched instructions to Lieutenant Colonel Francis Locke and several other militia officers in the area, directing them to muster their own forces.

At Mountain Creek, roughly sixteen miles northeast of Lincolnton, Locke assembled 400 men between cavalry and infantry. Scouting reports revealed that the opposing Loyalist body outnumbered them better than three to one, yet concern over the possibility of additional British reinforcements pushed Locke's officers to strike at dawn rather than wait for Rutherford's column to arrive. By daybreak on June 20, his men stood just a mile away from the Loyalist encampment, which occupied a hill some 300 yards east of Jacob Ramsour's mill.

Loyalist recruiting

Having fought alongside the British during the siege of Charleston, John Moore came home to a spot only a few miles from Ramsour's Mill carrying stories of combat, and this made him something of a local figure among Loyalists. On June 10 he gathered roughly 40 supporters and passed along Cornwallis's guidance: they were to hold off on organizing until British forces had actually moved into the region, since acting too soon would be risky. Word reached the gathering that some twenty Patriots were hunting for Moore and his fellow leaders. Rather than wait, Moore and his followers set out to track down and confront this group, though the effort came to nothing. He sent his men home afterward, telling them to reconvene with him at Ramsour's Mill within a few days. When June 13 arrived, 200 men had gathered at that location, and their ranks swelled as the days passed, fueled further by word of the British triumph at Waxhaws. Numbers at the Loyalist encampment climbed to approximately 1,300 by June 20, though a quarter of these recruits had no weapons.