Rugeley's Mills (Clermont), South Carolina
Rugeley's Mills (Clermont), South Carolina
RUGELEY'S MILLS (CLERMONT), SOUTH CAROLINA. 4 December 1780. As part of General Daniel Morgan's newly organized light corps, Lieutenant Colonel William Washington rode with his dragoons to investigate a report that Colonel Henry Rugeley had gathered a body of Loyalist militia at his farm just north of Camden. Washington found the enemy in a fortified log barn surrounded by a ditch and abatis. Unable to make any impression with small arms and lacking artillery, he tried the Quaker gun trick—making a fake cannon out of a pine log, moving it into view, and summoning the Loyalists to surrender or be blown to bits. The ruse worked. Out came Colonel Rugeley, a major, and just over a hundred privates. They were marched back to the American camp, and the military career of Rugeley was ended.
SEE ALSO Rugeley, Colonel Henry.
revised by Michael Bellesiles