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In the spring of 1780, after Charleston fell to the British, several military posts were established in the interior of South Carolina, including Camden. At the head of the Wateree River near major Indian trails, Camden was strategically positioned to be the main interior British outpost. Less than three weeks after the fall of Charleston General Lord Charles Cornwallis, ignoring orders to passively defend the conquered town, marched 2,500 British troops to the major inland trading center of South Carolina - Camden.
Cornwallis entered Camden on June 1, 1780 and made his headquarters here for nearly a year. He immediately set about buttressing the town. He surrounded Camden with a stockade wall anchored by a series of six strong redoubts. Fourteen Revolutionary War battles would be fought in the area before the British evacuated and burned Camden. The Americans under Horatio Gates moved immediately to destroy Cornwallis position but suffered the most disastrous American defeat in the Southern Department in August.
Just south of the crossroads town of Camden, on Route 521, is the Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site with restorations and reconstructions that recall the wilderness days of British occupation. The fortifications of Colonial Camden on the 107-acre site are reached on walking trails. Included are several of the earthen British redoubts, which George Washington explored during a visit on May 25, 1791, and the 1777 Powder Magazine with 48-inch walls. The magazine was built for the State of South Carolina under the supervision of Joseph Kershaw.
Upon arriving in Camden, Cornwallis commandeered the fine house of Kershaw, the town's founder. He kept the house for use by himself and his officers and exiled Kershaw, a staunch patriot, to Bermuda for the duration of the war. Kershaw, who amassed a fortune with diverse business interests before the Revolution, then mortgaged his fortune to outfit several ships with supplies for the war effort. The ships were hijacked and never delivered their vital cargo. After the war the State of South Carolina denied Kershaw's petition for restitution and he spent the waning years of his life trying to satisfy creditors. He died in 1791. His house, burned during the Civil War, has been reconstructed.
Of the battles fought in Camden, the two most important occurred north of town. Neither site has been developed but both can be visited. Both the British Army and the Continental Army were marching in mid-August 1780 when they collided in the swampy pinelands in the Battle of Camden on August 16. The British, under Cornwallis, were seeking to win the war by conquering the South; the Americans, directed by recent Saratoga hero Horatio Gates, were under orders to liberate the Carolinas.
Almost from the beginning the Americans, despite a large advantage in numbers, were routed. The indecisive Gates, when he did act, could not mount any coordinated attack. He would eventually quit the field and retreat deep into North Carolina. Meanwhile, his dispirited troops were left to deal with one of the most demoralizing defeats of the Revolution and to mourn the loss of Johann Kalb.
Johann Kalb was born on an Austrian peasant farm in 1721 and left home at sixteen to find adventure fighting in the French Army as Jean DeKalb. He rose to the rank of major before his marriage to a wealthy woman enabled him to retire in 1765. He returned to the army a decade later as a brigadier general and came to America with Lafayette in 1777 to enhance his military fortunes in the American Revolution.
It took two years for Congress to assign him a rank commensurate with his status in the French army. He was assigned to command the Maryland and Delaware Continentals in the south and led these troops onto the field at Camden. While the main of the American Army was routed and Horatio Gates was covering 60 miles in retreat in one day the 60-year old Baron DeKalb fought heroically, his body riddled with ten bleeding wounds. It was not until he was felled by an eleventh injury that his men dispersed. He died three days later in Camden.
DeKalb's remains are beneath the granite monument in front of the Bethesda Presbyterian Church. The church was built in 1822, designed by Robert Mills, a South Carolina native and architect of the Washington Monument. The cornerstone was laid in 1825 by the Marquis de Lafayette who had sailed with Baron DeKalb to America to fight for freedom nearly a half-century earlier.
The terrain of the Battle of Camden battlefield on Flat Rock Road, Route 58, is completely undeveloped and unmarked, save for a stone memorial on the spot where Baron DeKalb was mortally wounded.
As the Revolution dragged into 1781 Lord Cornwallis took the major part of his army to Virginia in hopes of winning the war in America's most important state, leaving a force of some 800 in Camden under 26-year old Lord Francis Rawdon. Nathanael Greene, new Southern Commander of the American forces, moved on Camden in April, hoping to sweep the British out of the Carolinas.
He approached the fortified town from the north with a force of 1,400 men, camping on Hobkirk Hill, a mile from Camden. Greene realized the futility of attacking the strong British position despite his superior numbers but while he was awaiting reinforcements Rawdon seized the initiative and attacked the camp on the morning of April 25, 1781.
Caught by surprise, the Continentals were saved only by the staunch resistance offered by the 5th Virginia Regiment. Although Rawdon was able to claim a technical victory on the battlefield at Hobkirk Hill his heavy losses were enough to force the British to abandon Camden and their isolated position in the Carolina interior. With Rawdon retiring to Charleston Greene rapidly reassembled his army and marched to Ninety-Six, the last important British outpost remaining on the South Carolina frontier.
The site of the battle at Hobkirk Hill has been covered completely by a residential neighborhood and is not developed historically. All that can be discerned from the area is the ridge above town upon which Greene and his men camped.
During Revolutionary War Field Days at the Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site in early November British and Continental armies take the field to compete in drill competitions. The battle skirmish and military "court" are highlights of the celebration. The grounds to the Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site are open every day of the week. Admission is free.
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