Happy 4th of July!
It's the United States of America 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
I remember well the bicentennial celebrations 50 years ago, actually learned some things from the Bicentennial Minutes, wish they all were available today but I don't find them. I don't think there's as much interest in this half century mark as it was 50 years ago. There could be political motives behind that but we won't go there in this forum.
I posted about a Carolina Day in SC remembering the battle of Sullivan's Island. I see in news there's multiple events around South Carolina this week but man, we're in triple digits heat wave and I'm just not built to take that heat these days.
Cindy and I visited the Cowpens battlefield a couple of years ago. You may remember this from the Mel Gibson film "The Patriot". I do not understand why they had to make up a character for that movie when so many patriots stories could be worthy of a movie on their own. What I took away from that visit was you can read about a battle multiple times and not appreciate how the lay of the land plays into the deployment of troops. Especially 250 years ago where reconnaissance was a troop of fast riders peeking around bends of the roads and crest of the hills to see what was waiting for them. Fortunately for us, Banastre Tarleton didn't bother with such details that day and just plunged headlong into a double envelopment that Hannibal would have been proud of. Please read American Hannibal by Jim Stempel if you want more detail about this battle.
We haven't been to Camden yet, this is where we learn the true nature of Horatio Gates backbone...
Literally right down the road from me there's a minor battle site where Bloody Bill Cunningham (Tory/Loyalist militia leader) attacked Pratt's Mill. He was a particularly nasty character. There's other locations around Abbeville County that I could talk about but that would make a really long post.
Also I can't forget to mention Star Fort and the Siege of Ninety Six where Patriots laid siege on the star shaped outpost held by loyalist. This was actually the second engagement at the star shaped fort. At that engagement we had Nathanael Greene (the man Washington named as his successor incase he incapacitated as Commander in Chief) Andrew Pickens, local leader who was also at Cowpens, Henry "Light Horse" Lee (Robert E Lee's pappy but that's another story) and Tadeusz Kosciuszko (Polish engineer who was one of many men who came to America to help fight the British).
@Sharkmouth and @Cheyenne I know there are a lot of sites around you guys that were very important to the revolution.
Anyways, y'all got any plans? Me, I'm just writing checks for a new roof and doing some modeling.
It's the United States of America 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
I remember well the bicentennial celebrations 50 years ago, actually learned some things from the Bicentennial Minutes, wish they all were available today but I don't find them. I don't think there's as much interest in this half century mark as it was 50 years ago. There could be political motives behind that but we won't go there in this forum.
I posted about a Carolina Day in SC remembering the battle of Sullivan's Island. I see in news there's multiple events around South Carolina this week but man, we're in triple digits heat wave and I'm just not built to take that heat these days.
Cindy and I visited the Cowpens battlefield a couple of years ago. You may remember this from the Mel Gibson film "The Patriot". I do not understand why they had to make up a character for that movie when so many patriots stories could be worthy of a movie on their own. What I took away from that visit was you can read about a battle multiple times and not appreciate how the lay of the land plays into the deployment of troops. Especially 250 years ago where reconnaissance was a troop of fast riders peeking around bends of the roads and crest of the hills to see what was waiting for them. Fortunately for us, Banastre Tarleton didn't bother with such details that day and just plunged headlong into a double envelopment that Hannibal would have been proud of. Please read American Hannibal by Jim Stempel if you want more detail about this battle.
We haven't been to Camden yet, this is where we learn the true nature of Horatio Gates backbone...
Literally right down the road from me there's a minor battle site where Bloody Bill Cunningham (Tory/Loyalist militia leader) attacked Pratt's Mill. He was a particularly nasty character. There's other locations around Abbeville County that I could talk about but that would make a really long post.
Also I can't forget to mention Star Fort and the Siege of Ninety Six where Patriots laid siege on the star shaped outpost held by loyalist. This was actually the second engagement at the star shaped fort. At that engagement we had Nathanael Greene (the man Washington named as his successor incase he incapacitated as Commander in Chief) Andrew Pickens, local leader who was also at Cowpens, Henry "Light Horse" Lee (Robert E Lee's pappy but that's another story) and Tadeusz Kosciuszko (Polish engineer who was one of many men who came to America to help fight the British).
@Sharkmouth and @Cheyenne I know there are a lot of sites around you guys that were very important to the revolution.
Anyways, y'all got any plans? Me, I'm just writing checks for a new roof and doing some modeling.
Last edited:
) and he states that he was at Eutaw springs as well as at the siege of Savanah. He states he was foraging in Thunderbolt GA when the action happened in Savanah. Also states he marched down to St Johns river in Florida to keep the British from invading from that direction. Did a good job cause they didn't come that direction 
.
