Battle of Fort Motte

The capture of Fort Motte in May 1781 was one of the most dramatic and unusual sieges of the Revolutionary War. The British had converted the plantation house of Rebecca Motte — a wealthy South Carolina Patriot widow — into a fortified post, surrounding it with a stockade and ditch. Mrs. Motte herself had been displaced to a smaller house nearby.

Lee and Marion arrived with their combined forces but again lacked the artillery needed for a direct assault. They began siege approaches, but learned that a British relief force under Rawdon was approaching. They needed to reduce the fort before help arrived. A decision was made to burn the house itself, forcing the garrison into the open.

When Lee and Marion came to Mrs. Motte to discuss borrowing fire arrows for the purpose, she reportedly produced an East Indian bow and quiver of arrows herself and urged them to use them freely — the plantation house and its contents were nothing compared to American independence, she told them. Fire arrows were shot onto the thatched roof of the main house, and flames began to spread. The garrison of about 165 men attempted to extinguish the fire under increasing rifle fire, then surrendered.

Mrs. Motte reportedly hosted a dinner for both the captured British officers and the American commanders after the surrender — a remarkable example of the civility that sometimes appeared even in the brutal partisan war of the South. The fall of Fort Motte, combined with other successes, continued the systematic dismantling of British interior posts.