Along this ridge, American and British armies clashed on April 25, 1781, in the Revolutionary War Battle of Hobkirk’s Hill. Major General Nathanael Greene’s American troops had occupied the hill to threaten Camden, the most important British post in the South Carolina interior. The British commander, Lieutenant Colonel Francis, Lord Rawdon, launched a surprise attack in hopes of driving off the Americans. The British attack began at the eastern end of the hill, and fighting spread westward across the Great Wagon Road, now Broad Street, as more British units joined the battle. Greene ordered his larger army to counterattack, but the retreat of one American regiment and tenacious British resistance stopped the American advance. Rawdon then resumed the offensive and drove Greene’s forces from the hill.