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How Revolutionary Patriots Forced The Surrender Of 125 Loyalists With A Wooden Log
A true story of the American Revolution
At the tail end of the American Revolution, forces on both sides of the fighting were exhausted. In the Carolinas, a brutal guerilla war had been fought between small savage bands of patriots, loyalists, and royal British forces. These fights were far from the grand battles taking place along the coast. Instead of large battles between professional standing armies, these fights were often carried out between bands of just a few dozen men. Cavalry and mounted dragoons chased each other through heavily wooded terrain and trapped each other at lonely homesteads.
By 1780, these bands had been at each other’s throats for years. They were hardened, flea-bitten, and battle-tested. On the American side, Colonel William Washington (second cousin to the more famous George Washington) was maneuvering his forces against the loyalists commanded by Colonel Rowland Rugeley. Rugeley had 125 men under his command.
After weeks of skirmishing, pursuit, and reconnaissance, Washington managed to pin Rugeley’s force at a farm near present-day Camden, South Carolina.
