Discover the myriad of sites across The Liberty Trail where significant cultural and Revolutionary history unfolded. From military ruins to meticulously restored mansions, immerse yourself in the footsteps of our nation’s history-makers.
Fort Fair Lawn was a British outpost in 1780–1781 and was the target of a daring Patriot raid on November 17, 1781, and abandoned by the British a...
One of the many forts that dotted the landscape around Charleston, Patriots seized this fortification and raised the Moultrie flag, which bears...
A station constructed during high tensions with the Cherokee, this fortification was utilized by Loyalists until July of 1780.
After an eight-day siege, this strategic outpost fell to the Americans, who used an ingenious structure called Maham’s Tower to fire down into the...
The Francis Marion is a forest literally steeped in history. Marion, dubbed the “Swamp Fox” by the British troops whose supply lines he disrupted with...
Francis Marion was a skilled military leader during the American Revolutionary War, known for his guerilla tactics and strategic maneuvers in the...
William Moultrie died in 1805 and was buried in the family cemetery. In 1977, his remains were moved to Sullivan's Island within Fort Moultrie.
James Henderson Williams, a South Carolina militia colonel and Patriot leader, was killed at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780 and is commemorated...
This 18th-century plantation home, on the grounds of the Hampton Plantation State Historic Site, served as a place of refuge for Francis Marion who...
At the Battle of Camden, British General Lord Cornwallis routed Gates’s army and captured nearly 1,000 men, including their supplies, baggage, and artillery. There was no organized retreat, and Gates rode near 170 miles north in three days to flee. It destroyed his reputation and his new southern army.
Colonel Henry Rugeley was a prominent South Carolina Tory who earned a commission in the British army after the siege of Charleston in 1780.
During the Battle of Camden, when the American line collapsed, de Kalb and his infantry remained on the field. De Kalb led a counterattack in an attempt to stem the tide but the British swarmed around the American. As Gates’s army retreated, de Kalb fell and was taken to Camden where he died in 3 days.
Commander of a Virginia unit during the American Revolution, Abraham Buford saw his troops massacred by Banastre Tarleton and his British Legion at the Battle of Waxhaws in South Carolina.
An architectural treasure in its own right, the South Carolina Historical Society Museum is housed in a National Historic Landmark building and features interactive exhibits on the people, places, and movements that shaped the state and nation.
The Francis Marion is a forest literally steeped in history. Marion, dubbed the “Swamp Fox” by the British troops whose supply lines he disrupted with surprise attacks from the swamps.
Middleton Place is America’s Oldest Landscaped Gardens and home to a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
An oyster-shell, “tabby,” fortress, originally constructed here during the French and Indian War, was restored, and occupied by both the British and Patriots.
Francis Salvador, the first Jewish person to die in the Revolutionary War, was a London-born pioneer who moved to South Carolina in 1773. A vocal supporter of independence, he became the first Jewish person to hold political office in the state. Known as the "Southern Paul Revere," Salvador warned of attacks during the war but tragically died in an ambush in 1776 at just 29 years old, leaving behind a legacy of courage and commitment to freedom.
The Battle of Sullivan’s Island, fought near the site of today’s Fort Moultrie in June 1776, was the first significant Patriot victory of the Revolutionary War.
Not far from Camden Battlefield, Goodale State Park is lined with cypress trees, a spring-fed lake that offers boating, fishing, and hiking opportunities.
Located within the Santee Wildlife Refuge, this was the last major battle of the war in South Carolina.
Built in 1716 for Paul de St. Julien in Berkeley County. The house was later dismantled and moved to Clemson University and functions as a house museum.
The Patriots launch a misguided attack on British troops retreating from an aborted raid on Charleston
The site of the 1775 Battle of Williamson's Fort and a critical outpost for the British after they captured Charleston in 1780, the colonial town of Ninety Six was also the setting of a 28-day siege in 1781. Here, Nathanael Greene’s Patriots attacked the heart of Loyalist commander John Cruger’s defenses — the Star Fort.
The Battle of Camden was a devastating defeat suffered by the Americans in the British military offensive in the South.
