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.
Tony Small, a formerly enslaved man, saved British soldier Lord Edward FitzGerald after the Battle of Eutaw Springs in 1781. Grateful, FitzGerald freed Small, who became his assistant and followed him to Ireland. They remained close until FitzGerald's death in 1798, after which Small settled near London.
During the Battle of Camden in August, Rawdon commanded Charges Lord Cornwallis's left wing. After defeat at Cowpens, Cornwallis sought out northern territory, leaving Rawdon behind to defend both Georgia and South Carolina with a miniscule force.
James Carter, a native of Virginia, fought bravely in pivotal battles like Camden and Yorktown during the American Revolution, earning a land bounty and a pension for his service, and was recognized as a "free person of color" at age eighty-five in the 1840 census.
Jim Capers, a free African American who courageously served as a Drum Major during the American Revolution, survived brutal battles and close-quarters combat, including being severely wounded at Eutaw Springs. Capers spent his final years in Alabama, where his extraordinary contributions to the fight for independence went largely uncelebrated before his death at the age of 111 in 1853.
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.
The Cowpens Battlefield commemorates Daniel Morgan’s victory over Banastre Tarleton on January 17, 1781.
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.
The Battle of Camden was a devastating defeat suffered by the Americans in the British military offensive in the South.
After the Siege of Charleston in 1780, the British established a headquarters at the Kershaw/Cornwallis House. Today the house and grounds are open to tours.
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.
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.
An ingenious Patriot deception provokes a prominent Loyalist to surrender his outpost
Treacherous waters and Patriot fire foil a British attack on Charleston Harbor
Marion Square, named in honor of Francis Marion, is greenspace in downtown Charleston, South Carolina and features remnants of The Hornwork, a large fortification built in 1758 that played a major role in the fight for independence.
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.
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 week later.