Orangeburg, South Carolina

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Orangeburg, South Carolina

ORANGEBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA. 11 May 1781. Refusing to join General Nathanael Greene for the campaign leading to the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill, General Thomas Sumter led his partisans first against Fort Granby but, finding it too strongly defended, decided to take Orangeburg on the North Edisto River, fifty miles south. Lieutenant Colonel Francis Rawdon had ordered this post abandoned, but the message was not received. After Sumter invested it, the garrison of fifteen British regulars and some thirty Loyalists surrendered without a fight. There were no casualties on either side.

SEE ALSO Hobkirk's Hill (Camden), South Carolina; Southern Campaigns of Nathanael Greene.

                           revised by Michael Bellesiles