| Battle of the Coweecho River | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the American Revolutionary War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
Cherokee Loyalist militia |
 Patriot militiaCatawba | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Unknown, possibly Ostenaco |
Col. Andrew Williamson | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
300 Cherokee 50 Loyalists | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
4 confirmed killed[1] 8 wounded 13 captured |
13 killed 26 wounded | ||||||
The Battle of the Coweecho River (also known as Black Hole) took place in what today is Macon County, North Carolina between Patriot militia and their Catawba allies and Cherokee warriors with their Loyalist allies on September 19, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War.[2][3]
The region of the Appalachian mountain range and nearby areas became the scene of a dispute between the Cherokee and Anglo-European settlers who were continuing to expand west. In response to this, the Cherokee initiated raids into these settlements in July and August 1776. The colonial governments coordinated counter-offenses to these attacks. Brigadier General Griffith Rutherford of the North Carolina militia and Colonel Andrew Williamson of the South Carolina Militia planned to rendezvous and attack the middle and lower Cherokee settlements located in both the Carolinas.[4][5]
En route to meet with General Rutherford, the South Carolinians with their Catawba scouts were ambushed by the Cherokee with their Loyalist allies on September 19, 1776.[1][6] Due to the terrain of the steep gorge there was no way to counter-attack except to charge straight towards the enemy, which the Patriot forces did, clearing a path with the use of bayonets. The Cherokee, running low on ammunition, were forced to withdraw.[7]
Eventually, Col. Andrew Williamson met up with Brigadier General Griffith Rutherford at what today is Murphy, North Carolina on September 26, creating a combined force of 4,500 Patriots to take further action against the Cherokee, but this would not come to be.
Today, a state historic marker entitled with the name of the battle denotes the site of the engagement. It reads as follows: "During the American Revolution, S.C. forces under Colonel Andrew Williamson defeated the Cherokees, nearby, at the "Black Hole, Sept. 1776."[8][9]
- ^ a b https://southern-campaigns.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/v2n10.pdf
- ^ "Battle of the Black Hole | American Revolution Tour of N.C." amrevnc.com. September 20, 2020.
- ^ "The American Revolution in North Carolina - Coweecho River". www.carolana.com.
- ^ "Rutherford Trace: Local historians examine the legacy of a shock-and-awe Revolutionary War campaign against the Cherokee". smokymountainnews.com.
- ^ Mason, Spencer (July 4, 2013). "NC Treasures: The American Revolution in North Carolina". North Carolinians for Home Education.
- ^ Gaffney, Mailing Address: Cowpens National Battlefield 338 New Pleasant Road; Us, SC 29341 Phone: 864 461-2828 Contact. "Revolutionary War Timeline - Cowpens National Battlefield (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "NCpedia | NCpedia".
- ^ "Marker: Q-7". ncmarkers.com.
- ^ "Cherokee Defeat by South Carolina Militia, 1776 | NC DNCR". www.dncr.nc.gov. September 19, 2016.