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“E” is for Eutaw Springs, Battle of (September 8, 1781)

“E” is for Eutaw Springs, Battle of (September 8, 1781). The Battle of Eutaw Springs was the last major engagement in South Carolina between American and British forces during the Revolutionary War. In the bloody encounter, some two thousand Continental and militia soldiers under General Nathanael Greene clashed with 2,300 British regulars and Loyalists under Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Stewart. Although Greene was forced to leave the field, the British were equally mauled and retreated to Charleston, abandoning the South Carolina upcountry. The battle site is located in Orangeburg County near Eutawville. A portion of the battlefield is a state historic park. Among American unit commanders were Francis Marion, William Washington, and Andrew Pickens. At the Battle of Eutaw Springs, the losses on both sides were high: the British admitted to 683 casualties and the Americans 517 casualties.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.