The Patriot militia left Sumter's camp on the night of July 11th, guided by a bright moon and an unusual display of the aurora borealis, or northern lights. They rode 40 miles through the night to the Bratton plantation, where they dismounted and made plans to attack. A council of officers including Colonel Bratton, Colonel Andrew Neel, Colonel Edward Lacey, Captain John McClure, and Captain Richard Winn divided the Patriot force into two divisions: one group under Bratton, Neel, and Captain James Reed would attack from the west, while the other group under Lacey and McClure would attack from the east. As Lieutenant John Adair recalled, the Whigs marched to within a short distance of Bratton's, halted in the woods, learned that the British were not at Bratton's but at Williamson's, and then marched down and attacked them about daylight. The battle unfolded in July 1780 around the Williamson plantation and battlefield, with the Williamson house, British and Loyalist camps, Patriot lines of attack, and Williamson's Lane, the short road connecting the Williamson and Bratton plantations, forming the scene of the fighting.