The Patriot Force Arrives

After a series of disastrous defeats in South Carolina, George Washington appointed General Nathanael Greene to command Patriot forces in the South in December 1780. Greene moved into the backcountry hoping to capture key Loyalist strongholds such as Ninety Six. By May 22, 1781, his force of almost 1,000 Continental Army soldiers from Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia, along with North Carolina militia, approached these grounds from the Island Ford Road in rainy darkness, carrying heavy artillery, supplies, and tools. The force split and spread out around the town, converging from two directions to cut off food, water, and reinforcements. But Lieutenant Colonel John Harris Cruger, the Loyalist commander at Ninety Six, had anticipated Greene's arrival and prepared strong defenses, including a stockade, blockhouses, bastions, earthworks protecting the town's water supply, and a large star-shaped fort on the north side of town near the Island Ford Road. As Greene's exhausted men established a camp nearby on May 22, he faced inadequate artillery and no promise of reinforcements, and on the advice of his chief engineer decided to begin a siege against the Star Fort, the center of the Loyalist defense.

Ninety Six, South Carolina · United States