The Battles of Fort Watson & Fort Motte, 1781

The Horry County Museum presents a program by Steven Smith on his new book The Battles of Fort Watson & Fort Motte, 1781 on Saturday, Aug. 8 at 1 p.m.

In his book, Smith relates the history of four critical weeks from April 12 until May 12, 1781, in which the tide of the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War turned in favor of the Americans. The book focuses on General Francis Marion’s and Colonel Henry Lee’s capture of two key British forts, Fort Watson and Fort Motte, coordinating with Nathanael Greene in retaking the South Carolina backcountry. These posts defended the supply line between Charleston and the British-occupied villages of Camden and Ninety Six. Once the two forts were lost, the British had to abandon the backcountry and were confined to Charleston and ultimately abandoned the city in December 1782.

Smith is a Research Professor, Emeritus at the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina. He is the former Director of the Institute, and has over 40 years’ experience in historical archaeology, largely focused on military sites of the American Revolution in the South.

He has conducted excavations associated with Francis Marion and American Revolutionary War battlefields including the siege of Fort Motte, Parker’s Ferry, Black Mingo, Snow’s Island, Camden, the siege of Ninety Six and the battle of Williamson’s Plantation. He is the author or co-author of six books, including, Partisans, Guerillas, and Irregulars: Historical Archaeology of Asymmetric Warfare, 2019, University of Alabama Press, and Francis Marion and the Snow’s Island Community, United Writers Press, 2021. His latest book, coauthored with Colonel Kevin Dougherty, is entitled Leading Like the Swamp Fox: The Leadership Lessons of Francis Marion, and The Battles of Fort Watson and Fort Motte, 1781.

The program is free to the public and will be held in the Museum’s McCown Auditorium located at 805 Main Street in Conway,. This event is free and open to the public.

For more information, call (843) 915-5320 or email hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov. For more information about our programs, visit the museum website.