James Woods
@RealJamesWoods
The Swamp Fox wins the Battle of Blue Savannah
On this day in history, September 4, 1780, the Swamp Fox wins the Battle of Blue Savannah. Lieutenant Colonel Francis Marion was a continual thorn in the side of the British who occupied South Carolina. After a successful invasion captured Charleston in May of 1780, and much of the Continental Army’s southern division was captured or killed at Camden in August, South Carolina was securely in British hands.

Marion, a 5 foot tall veteran of the Cherokee campaigns of the French and Indian War, led a guerrilla style offensive against the British in the area. With only a few dozen men, Marion led one of the few pockets of remaining resistance in the colony, staging numerous attacks on British troops and their Loyalist co-conspirators. Marion earned the nickname, the “Swamp Fox,” for his ability to elude British troops through the swamps in his home area around the Pee Dee and Santee Rivers.
After the overwhelming defeat at Camden, Marion and his men freed 150 Maryland prisoners who were being taken back to Charleston. The soldiers believed the war was over, however, after their overwhelming defeat, and refused to join Marion. Marion then hid at a camp near Port’s Ferry and learned that Loyalist troops under Major General Micajah Gainey were pursuing him.

Rather than flee from Gainey’s 200 Loyalists, Marion and his 60 men decided to attack them head on. On September 4, Marion’s advance scouts ran into Gainey’s advance troops and routed them. Marion then performed a pretend retreat to trick Gainey into advancing and quickly routed Gainey’s main body of men.
Gainey’s troops scattered and Marion regrouped at Port’s Ferry. The Battle of Blue Savannah, as it is called, served to break the back of Loyalist recruitment and military action in the Pee Dee and Santee Rivers area. It also encouraged the South Carolina militia to stand up and begin resistance again after the dreadful defeat at Camden.
6:27 PM · Sep 4, 2023
James Woods
@RealJamesWoods
This account of the Battle of Blue Savannah by William Dobein James:
“On the second or third day after his arrival, General Marion ordered his men to mount white cockades, to distinguish themselves from the tories, and crossed the Pedee, at Port’s ferry, to disperse a large body of tories, under Major Ganey, stationed on Britton’s neck, between great and little Pedee. He surprised them at dawn in the morning, killed one of their captains and several privates, and had two men wounded.
Major James was detached at the head of a volunteer troop of horse, to attack their horse; he came up with them, charged, and drove them before him. In this affair, Major James singled out Major Ganey, (as he supposed) as the object of his single attack. At his approach Ganey fled, and he pursued him closely, and nearly within the reach of his sword, for half a mile; when behind a thicket, he came upon a party of tories, who had rallied. Not at all intimidated, but with great presence of mind, Major James called out, “’Come on my boys! — Here they are! — Here they are!’ And the whole body of tories broke again, and rushed into little Pedee swamp.
Another party of tories lay higher up the river, under the command of Capt. Barefield; who had been a soldier in one of the South Carolina regiments. These stood to their ranks, so well, and appeared to be so resolute, that Gen. Marion did not wish to expose his men, by an attack on equal terms; he therefore feigned a retreat, and led them into an ambuscade, near the Blue Savannah, where they were defeated. This was the first manoeuvre of the kind, for which he afterwards became so conspicuous.”
7:27 PM · Sep 4, 2023
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