Fort Balfour

In 1781, near the Pocotaligo River in Beaufort County, South Carolina, forces loyal to the militia leadership of Francis Marion won a minor but notable clash during the American Revolutionary War. A detachment under Lt. Col. William Harden moved against a Loyalist garrison holding Fort Balfour and succeeded in seizing the position along with its defenders.

Background

With roughly 100 militiamen under his command, Lt. Col. William Harden departed on April 13 as part of a force detached from Francis Marion's army, aiming to strike the British garrison at Fort Balfour. Col. Nicholas Lechmere held command there. The post sat above the Pocotaligo River Bridge, at a point midway between Charlestown and Savannah.

Brief siege

After approaching the stronghold, the Patriot force quietly took up positions surrounding it. Harden dispatched Capt. Tarleton Brown along with a mounted detachment of 13 men, hoping to lure the South Carolina Loyalist defenders out into the open.

At that moment, Fenwick, Col. Nicholas Lechmere, and a party of 7 dragoons happened to be away from the fort's walls, tending to matters at a nearby hospital, and were seized as prisoners. With their capture, command of the garrison fell to Lt. Col. William Kelsall. The Loyalists then organized themselves to charge at the surrounding Patriots, but upon learning that the besiegers had no intention of pulling back, they retreated inside the fort once more. Harden subsequently called upon the garrison to surrender, a demand that Kelsall rejected.

Mutiny and Surrender of the Fort

Not long afterward, Harden dispatched a fresh call for the garrison to lay down its arms, warning that refusal would mean no mercy shown to the Loyalists inside. Kelsall responded by requesting twenty minutes in which to weigh the matter. Before that time had passed, the men within the walls rose up against their command, and this uprising pushed Kelsall toward giving in and yielding the post. Two hours after the surrender terms had first been issued, the defenders filed out from the fort and were placed into captivity.