Visiting Blackstocks Battlefield In Union County (SC)
This Beautiful Carolina site is where Tarleton suffered his first defeat
Very recently I once again returned to neighboring Union County, South Carolina to visit the site of one of the more significant battles of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War in my corner of the Palmetto State.
The Battle of Blackstock's Farm (also known locally as the Battle of Blackstock's Plantation, Battle of Blackstock's Hill, or simply Blackstocks) took place on Monday, November 20, 1780 between backcountry Patriot militia under the command of Brigadier General Thomas Sumter and British army regulars and Loyalist provincials commanded by British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton of the British Legion.
The battle was a significant American victory as it was the first major battle in the South Carolina backcountry where Patriot militia defeated British army regulars and a personal defeat for "Bloody Ban" Tarleton himself -- who was infamous in the South Carolina upstate for his alleged massacre of…