Qualla: Battle of Blackstock's Farm

Battle of Blackstock's Farm: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Foxe, Public domain. Banastre Tarleton was twenty-six years old and the most feared cavalry commander in the British Army. His name had become a verb among American partisans - to be 'tarletoned' meant to be hunted down and sabered without quarter. On the afternoon of November 20, 1780, on the hills above the Tyger River in what is now Union County, South Carolina, Tarleton arrived ahead of his infantry and artillery, took one look at the American militia entrenched at William Blackstock's farm, and ordered a frontal charge. It was the kind of decision that had worked for him at Waxhaws and the Catawba. This time it didn't.

Image: John Foxe | Public domain

Battle of Blackstock's Farm: After Kings Mountain

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Foxe, Public domain. Major Patrick Ferguson's entire command of 900 men had been destroyed at Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780 - killed, wounded or captured. The southern campaign that had looked like a British walkover after the fall of Charleston in May was suddenly fragile. The South Carolina bac...

Image: John Foxe | Public domain

Battle of Blackstock's Farm: Blackstock's Hills

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Foxe, Public domain. On November 18, Tarleton's dragoons and the mounted infantry of the 63rd were watering their horses on the Broad River when some of Sumter's raiders fired across at them. The British scattered them with a three-pounder 'grasshopper' field gun. The next evening Tarleton's advance ...

Image: John Foxe | Public domain

Battle of Blackstock's Farm: The Charge

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Foxe, Public domain. Sumter put Colonel Henry Hampton and his South Carolina riflemen inside the farm outbuildings, stationed other units behind fences, and screened still more in the surrounding woods. Tarleton arrived late in a fall afternoon and chose not to wait for his infantry and artillery. He...

Image: John Foxe | Public domain

Battle of Blackstock's Farm: Tarleton Carries Money Out

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Foxe, Public domain. Tarleton ignored the rifle fire and led his dragoons uphill to rescue what remained of the 63rd. Many of his men and horses were wounded. He dismounted personally and carried Major Money to safety - one of the few moments in his record that suggests something other than ruthlessn...

Image: John Foxe | Public domain

Battle of Blackstock's Farm: What It Meant

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Foxe, Public domain. Tarleton reported to Cornwallis that he had broken the Americans and seriously wounded Sumter. Technically he held the field. But the British Legion - the regulars - had been stopped by colonial militia, even if from behind cover, and even if the militia had outnumbered them thre...

Image: John Foxe | Public domain