James, John

The conflict that led to war began in Virginia in late 1758, when settlers attacked and killed several Cherokee warriors returning from battles against the French. The Cherokees retaliated in North Carolina in spring 1759, and the conflict spread southward.

Prince Frederick’s Parish stretched like an elongated triangle from the Santee River northward “to the utmost bounds of the Province,” encompassing all or part of modern Dillon, Marion, Florence, Horry, Georgetown, and Williamsburg Counties.

Moultrie achieved national fame on June 28, 1776, when he successfully defended Fort Sullivan against a British attack and saved Charleston from capture. Other units contributed to the defense, but it was the famous palmetto-log and sand fort and Moultrie’s command of four hundred men and thirty cannons that became forever associated with the victory.

After the war a penniless Marion, whose plantation had been ruined, was awarded a gold medal, a full Continental colonelcy, and command of Fort Johnson in Charleston harbor.

In 1880 the river was the site of the last duel ever fought in South Carolina. Ellerbe Cash killed William Shannon near the bridge crossing at U.S. Highway 15, which prompted the South Carolina General Assembly to outlaw dueling.

British forces were at Eutaw Springs on September 7, encamped near a sturdy two-story brick home with palisaded garden, when Greene completed the consolidation of his forces at Burdell’s plantation about seven miles away.