Liberty Trail History Makers
America’s independence was secured in South Carolina across its swamps, fields, woods and mountains. These events of 1779-1782 directly led to victory in the Revolutionary War. We call this history The Liberty Trail.
Catawba leader General New River, born around 1740, allied with the Patriots during the Revolutionary War, leading Catawba warriors in key southern battles. Despite their service, the Catawba lost much of their ancestral land, and New River continued advocating for his people's rights until his death in 1804.
On June 28, 1776, the British attacked Sullivan’s Island. Against impossible odds and outnumbered 2,200 British troops to 435 soldiers within the fort, Moultrie successfully prevented land and sea invasions of Charleston. The British retreated to New York and would not return to South Carolina until 1780.
Ferguson, inventor of the Ferguson rifle, commanded a group of Cornwallis' Loyalists he had recruited. Ferguson threatened to invade the mountains beyond the legal limit of settlement westward. The locals organized a militia and fought against the loyalist forces on October 7, 1780 in the Battle of King’s Mountain.
Robert Mursh, a Pamunkey Indian and Continental Army soldier, fought in key Revolutionary War battles and later became a Christian pastor in South Carolina, with his service documented in his 1820 pension application.
Treacherous waters and Patriot fire foil a British attack on Charleston Harbor
Visit Historic Drayton Hall — Tour the nation’s oldest preserved plantation house in America still open to the public. Explore Drayton Hall's 18th-century architecture, landscapes & the people who lived here.
Established in 1767 by the Patriot supporting Moore family. Local militia gathered at Walnut Grove prior to the Battle of Cowpens. Visitors may take guided tours of the house and grounds.
Patriot Leader Nathanael Greene Is repulsed but not defeated in his campaign to chase the British from the South Carolina backcountry
Andrew Jackson State Park combines history, art and community activities into a setting that has made it one of the state’s most popular parks.
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 Battle of Camden was a devastating defeat suffered by the Americans in the British military offensive in the South.
Now under the man-made Lake Marion, British Lieutenant Colonel John Watson and Patriot Brigadier General Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox,” skirmished in Wyboo Swamp near Santee Road.
Built circa 1740, Hopsewee Plantation was one of the South’s major rice plantations and the birthplace of Thomas Lynch, Jr., one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
A former British headquarters, explore the reconstructed Kershaw/Cornwallis House, British redoubts, and programs about colonial life.
In 1780, after the British occupied Charleston during the American Revolutionary War, the Brewton house was used as the British headquarters for Henry Clinton.
An ingenious Patriot deception provokes a prominent Loyalist to surrender his outpost