Battle Research - Haddrell's Point May 2, 1780

In trying to look up information on this small battle, I started with the Carolana website as it has some good general information about revolutionary battles in South Carolina. However, the information can be slightly dated and some of the information may be contradictory or inaccurate. The basics are there. Major Patrick Ferguson and elements of the American Volunteers advanced from their location at Lempieries Point down to attack a redoubt at Haddrell's Point. The defenders were twenty men from the 1st South Carolina Regiment of Continentals. After a brief skirmish, the Continentals surrendered their position and fled.

I wanted to get an idea of what this redoubt would look like. The Carolana site provides a map of where the battle occured on a modern map of South Carolina. However Haddrell's Point is a much larger area that had a number of fortifications facing down into Charleston Harbor. The location marked on the Carolana site does not make sense when it is noted that the British were fired on from Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island. That is a distance of over 2.5 miles. On top of it, there is a quote from Lt Allaire of the American Volunteers quoted and mentioned the bridge from the redoubt to Sullivan's Island. The bridge is not near that part of Mount Pleasant.

I started digging. Fortunately, there is plenty of new reearch coming out now with the 250th Anniversary of the nation. The Mount Plesant Historical Society has created a very nice website detailing actions of the revolution in their small community. In addition, I found a map made in June of 1780 by de Barres that detailed the fortifications of Charleston Harbor. The Library of Congress has a high resolution copy of this map. Below is an excerpt.

On the left hand side of the map under the heading "Haddrell Pt" you can see a fortification marked. This is the location of the battle according to the Carolana site. If you see in the top center of the map under the text "Prineaux" is a dock. Above it is a notification of a "barracks for 3000 men." This barracks was built for the men stationed east of the Cooper River guarding the harbor. These would be taken over by the British and used to house American officers after the surrender of Charleston. On the Right hand side of the excerpt of the map is a letter "Q". Along here there is a series of fortifications. At the base of it is a fort with a bridge extending from it. It looks like the fort on the bridge is actually the most likely site of the Haddrell's Point battle. The bridge connected Mount Pleasant to Sullivan's Island. This would be a much more direct and visible location for the Fort Moultrie batteries to fire on.

Each of these marked fortifications has its own story. Lets start with the first location from the story. Allaire's description on the Carolana site begins, "Tuesday, 2nd. Began to fortify Lempriere's Point." Lempriere's Point was a linkage between Charelston and the fortifications east of the Cooper River. It was the escape route that General Benjamin Lincoln's Army had. A large force was stationed here with significant earthworks. You can see the size of the works on the des Barres map (see excerpt below). It was attacked on April 19th, 1780 by Major Patrick Ferguson and the American Volunteers as well as other units. As they approached, Ferguson believed that the works were far too strong to assault and backed away. The British maneuvered nearby again on the 26th and again on the 27th. However, something must have frightened the Rebel commander as he abandoned Lempriere's Point without a shot fired. He sent his men in boats back to Charleston. When Lincoln saw the men from Lempriere's Point in Charleston, he knew that there was no place for his army to fall back to.

The redoubt at the Carolana location was known as the Shem Creek Lunette. The small fort was a four sided fort with a fifth side that was open at the back. Behind the open section was a a battery pointed into the harbor. More Coming.....

British Legion Project - Update

I managed to get some writing done this weekend. The main source currently is Carl Borick's book "A Gallant Defense." It covers the siege of Charleston broadly while I am looking more at the actions surrounding the siege itself. Crossreferencing this with my other books has been fun. Spent some time reading on the action at McPherson's Plantation - March 14, 1780. The incident would be very hard to put on the tabletop since both sides were British/Provincials. I have been working to try to find where this plantation would have been. The actual location is probably lost to history. It was located near the present town of McPhersonville. The 1820 map from Robert Mills of the Buford District of South Carolina. The area is in present day Buford county.

Robert Mills did a series of maps of South Carolina involving every district at the time. They are very details and would make for an excelent source for a map campaign. In addition, there is a website detailing information on plantations across the state: https://south-carolina-plantations.com/. This is also useful to attempt to find locations referenced on the Mouzon map that disapeared by the production of the Mills Maps.

I managed to pick up a can of primer last week. I did undercoat some Cold War vehicles with it. I have not picked up a brush though. Need to correct that soon.

British Legion Project Continues

I spent some time working on some scenarios last week. Mostly been reading the first portion of Tarleton's book on the Southern Campaign. It makes for interesting if sparse reading. There isn't great details there on the actions he fought. It comes across that he didn't think much of the Continentals and Militia that he faced during the seige of Charleston. The distances that his cavalry covered is surprising. I can understand how his opponents would feel that he was everywhere at once.

I also spent a bit of time working some casualty figures. Not much if I am honest. The two dead horses I was working on still need saddles and tack painted. Once those are done, I will move on to the Infantry. I have two more groups on painting sticks. One is half painted and the other is unstarted. The cavalry needs paint as well. I think I have at least two more groups on painting sticks plus some officers. Currently these figures are sharing space on the painting desk with the Cold War miniatures. I need to find a day or two to get some work in.

Fall Pivot to the AWI

Given the lack of primer and an inability to sit still, I have pivoted to researching the early actions of the British Legion in the Southern Theater of the AWI. What is standing out is how quickly the Legion was able to move across the area around Charleston and how they had outmatched the light cavalry of the Continental forces in the area. One battle in particular was interesting since it seems to have been a rematch of sorts. Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Walton White arrived in South Carolina on April 23rd. He was the senior calvaly officer and assumed direct command of the 1st Continental Light Dragoons. He also outranked LTC William Washington, the commander of the 3rd Continental Light Dragoons. Colonel White had previously fought against Banastre Tarleton twice before in August and September of 1779. Apparently, White didn't hold a high opinion of the young cavalry officer.

Over the objections of LTC Washington, he had ordered his men to remove saddles and bridles while waiting to be joined by Colonel Buford's Virginia Continentals that were marching South to join them at Lenud's Ferry. This was a mistake that led to Both Washington and White smimming across the river in defeat. This happened while Buford's Virginia Continentals watched on the other side of the Santee. This could make for an interesting scenario.

Some painting

I managed to paint some more. I now have 4 of these tanks painted up. They are smaller than my other Soviet tanks and I am not sure what they are. I think they look like T-55s but a bit smaller than others. I may add some dust to them. Not sure what else I will do with them. Once again, the pictures came out poorly.

I also assembled some T-72s. I have one more left in the box of Team Yankee T-72s that I bought still on the sprue.

I also finished the basing of my painted Flank March Soviets. I really like these figures. The picture came out dark. I really don't have good lighting for my painting area.