Battle Of Mobley's Meeting House

The Battle of Mobley’s Meeting House is an engagement that occurred during the American Revolutionary War in the Mobley Settlement, Fairfield County, South Carolina during the Southern Campaign of Lord Cornwallis.

On a date between 7 and 11 June, most likely 10 June 1780, a small body of Whig militia numbering between 100 and 200 in total was formed from the commands of Colonel William Bratton, Colonel (Captain) Edward Lacey, Captain (Colonel) John McClure, Colonel Samuel Watson, Colonel Cooper, and Colonel William Hill, with Majors Richard Winn and “Paddy” McGriff as the Field Majors and Adjutant James ‘Jemmy’ Johns(t)on. This group was comprised in large part of the Whig forces that had a few days earlier routed and scattered a Tory gathering at Beckhamville, South Carolina under the command of the Tory Colonel (or Captain) Houseman. Colonel William Bratton was elected overall field commander for the engagement, and this group attacked a formation of Tories who were plundering the greater Fairfield District neighborhood in the aftermath of the fall of Charleston under the active encouragement of Lord Cornwallis at Camden and British Colonel Turnbull at Rocky Mount.

The attack occurred at daybreak with an assault on the Church and a nearby strong/block house or fortified building. The Whig forces attacked from three sides, leaving the fourth uncovered as it was thought that the embankment was too hazardous to climb for an attack or to descend in a retreat. However, during the confusion and panic, a number of Tories attempted just that and were injured in the process. Few casualties were noted on either side other than those resulting from falls down the embankment. Much of the plunder was recovered and restored to the owners, and a significant number of prisoners were taken and sent to North Carolina. After the battle, some of the Whigs immediately left for North Carolina while others stayed on. In the immediate aftermath, Colonel Turnbull, the regional British commander at Rocky Mount, sent the New York Provincials (the Green Coats Tories) under Captain Christian Huck in reprisal. They in turn destroyed the home and parsonage of the Reverend John Simpson and attacked the remaining Whigs at the Iron Works of Colonel William Hill. After the destruction of the Iron Works, the remaining Whigs were forced to withdraw into North Carolina and assist in Sumter’s rise and their vengeance on Huck in July.