On November 3, 1775, Loyalists ambushed a supply wagon nearby in a prelude to the first land battle of the Revolution in South Carolina. The Council of Safety had sent gunpowder and lead to the Cherokees in an effort to prevent their siding with the Crown. Capt. Patrick Cunningham, with 150 men, overtook the wagon about 1¾ mi. southwest, where the Old Charleston Road crosses Mine Creek. After Cunningham captured the wagon and escort, Loyalists claimed that the Patriots wanted the Cherokees to wage war on them. Loyalist forces soon outnumbered Patriots in the area by more than three to one. The First Battle of Ninety Six, on November 19, saw the first bloodshed in the Revolution in South Carolina, and the brief truce that followed did little to ease tensions in the backcountry.