Over three weeks in March 1781, Brig. Gen. Francis Marion conducted a series of engagements between the Santee River and Georgetown against a larger force of British regulars and Loyalist militiamen under Col. John Watson, a campaign known as Watson’s Chase or the Bridges Campaign. After clashes at Wiboo Swamp and Mount Hope Swamp, Marion continued east along the Santee toward Murray’s Ferry, expecting Watson to follow, but Watson instead turned north for the Lower Bridge over the Black River, with Kingstree just beyond. Marion and his men moved quickly and reached the Lower Bridge first. When Watson arrived at the high bluffs on the south bank, he found the bridge partly destroyed and Marion’s men drawn up on the low, swampy ground of the north bank. Although high ground was usually the stronger tactical position, Watson’s artillerymen could not lower their guns enough to strike the men below, and as Marion’s expert riflemen picked off the artillerymen, Watson withdrew to the nearby Witherspoon plantation. Baffled by the defeat, Watson reportedly told his unwilling Whig hostess, “I have never seen such shooting before in my life.”