Battle of Hammond's Store

Fought at Hammond's Old Store, close to what is today Clinton in Laurens County, South Carolina, this engagement grew out of the destructive raids Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Waters had been conducting against settlements loyal to the Patriot cause.

Word reached Brigadier General Daniel Morgan on Christmas Day, 1780, describing Waters' path of destruction across South Carolina, and he directed Lieutenant Colonel William Washington to move against him. Washington assembled a force of two Continental dragoons and four militias for the confrontation. When the fighting ended, victory belonged to the Patriots.

Background

When Daniel Morgan reached the Patriot encampment at Charlotte in November of 1780, he received a promotion to Brigadier General, having been tasked with commanding a brigade within the Southern army. The following month, on December 2, 1780, Washington dispatched Major General Nathanael Greene to that same camp, and Greene agreed to take charge of the Southern theater, stepping into the role previously held by General Horatio Gates.

Also during December, Greene chose to split his forces into two separate commands. Morgan took charge of the Backcountry region of South Carolina, while Greene retained oversight of the remaining troops himself. This decision to divide the Southern Department turned out to be a wise one, since it opened the door to greater opportunities for gathering supplies and recruiting new soldiers in the aftermath of the disastrous Battle of Camden.

Prelude

Grindall Shoals sat on the Pacolet River in South Carolina, and it was there, at the seized property of a Loyalist planter, that Brigadier General Daniel Morgan and his troops had set up camp by December 25, 1780. A scout brought Morgan word that day of a Loyalist officer, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Waters, who had joined forces with militiamen from Savannah near Fairforest Creek, in the stretch of land lying between Winnsborough and Ninety Six, with the aim of plundering, raiding, and setting fire to homesteads belonging to Patriot families.

Learning of these depredations, Morgan wasted no time in sending Lieutenant Colonel William Washington, along with his dragoons and accompanying militia, to press against and confront Waters directly. This William Washington, a second cousin to George Washington, had earned a reputation as an exceptionally capable officer while leading cavalry forces in the war's northern theater. He and his mounted troops and militia reached the area without delay. But word of their approach reached Waters and his band first, prompting them to fall back southward toward Fort Williams in Ninety Six, a plantation that had belonged to James Williams before his recent death and had since become a Loyalist stronghold.

Battle

On December 30, 1780, Waters and his militiamen, retreating ahead of advancing Patriot forces, paused for a midday meal at Hammond's Old Store, a spot lying 25 miles from the garrison at Ninety-Six. Unbeknownst to them, Washington and his men had been trailing them for more than 40 miles and now watched from a nearby hill.

Without hesitation, the dragoons drew their sabers and thundered down the slope toward the unsuspecting Tories. This cavalry charge was quickly followed by the militiamen, who joined in springing the trap. Rifle fire raked the Loyalist flanks as the militiamen opened up on them. Panic spread through the Tory ranks, and though many tried to flee, they were run down, cut apart, and killed by the pursuing Patriots. None among the Tories managed to fire back. Those who survived the onslaught were left grievously injured and maimed. Whatever Loyalists remained were rounded up and taken prisoner by Patriot soldiers.

Aftermath

Once the fighting ended, Brigadier General Daniel Morgan recorded a toll of 100 Loyalists dead, another 50 wounded, and 40 taken prisoner. Those Loyalists who made it out alive retreated toward William's Fort. In response, William Washington directed Colonel Joseph Hayes' Little River Regiment of Militia, alongside Cornet James Simon and his ten dragoons, to move against that stronghold.

The combined force of militia and cavalry advanced on the fort and offered its commander, Brigadier General Robert Cunningham, a man placed in that position by Lord Cornwallis, along with the other Loyalist leaders inside, a half hour to surrender before any assault would begin. During this exchange between the two sides, a number of Tory soldiers slipped away through the rear of the fort and vanished into the surrounding trees. Cunningham himself, along with additional men under his command, abandoned the post once the Patriots pressed their attack, and the resulting clash left five further Loyalists dead, thirty injured, and still more taken as prisoners. Accounts differ on what happened to the structure itself: some sources claim the fort was burned to the ground, while others hold that it remained standing and that only its provisions and supplies were carried off.

Word of these clashes at Hammond's Old Store and at William's Fort eventually reached Cornwallis, prompting him to send Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton southward toward Ninety-Six. This chain of events would ultimately culminate in the Battle of Cowpens.