The Siege of Savage's Old Fields at Ninety Six in November 1775 is notable as the first land battle of the Revolutionary War in South Carolina — a fact that illustrates how early the conflict began in the backcountry even before the formal declaration of independence. The engagem…
The Siege of Savage's Old Fields at Ninety Six in November 1775 is notable as the first land battle of the Revolutionary War in South Carolina — a fact that illustrates how early the conflict began in the backcountry even before the formal declaration of independence. The engagement pitted South Carolina Patriots against Loyalist militia in the contested interior.
Andrew Williamson commanded Patriot forces that besieged a Loyalist stronghold at the Savage's Old Fields site near Ninety Six. Patrick Cunningham commanded the Loyalists. After two days of skirmishing and a brief siege, a truce was arranged between the opposing sides — one of the few negotiated settlements in the backcountry war.
The truce proved short-lived. Fighting resumed throughout the region, culminating in the Snow Campaign of December 1775 that temporarily suppressed Loyalist resistance in the South Carolina backcountry. The engagement at Ninety Six foreshadowed the intense and brutal partisan warfare that would devastate the region between 1780 and 1782, when the British occupation brought organized Loyalist forces back to the same ground that had seen this first clash in 1775.
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