The American Revolution in South Carolina - The Loyalists and Their Militias




The American Revolution in South Carolina

King's American Regiment

Engagements:

1780 - Georgetown

1781 - Pee Dee

1781 - Georgetown

1781 - Black River

1781 - Canty Plantation

1781 - Hobkirk's Hill

1781 - James' Plantation\

This Provincial Regiment was recruited by Loyalist Colonel Edmund Fanning in January 1777, in New York where they served garrison duty. In 1778, they were moved to Rhode Island and fought at Quaker Hill. The regiment, under General Leslie, sailed to Virginia and on to South Carolina in October 1780, to reinforce the British hold on South Carolina. They were posted at Georgetown, SC.

The Kings American Regiment (KAR) left Georgetown, SC on 24 February 1781, and marched to Camden, two months to the day after their arrival there. At the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill on 25 April 1781, the regiment formed the front left flank of the British line and had behaved superbly under fire. The KAR's light company was detached and on patrol after Patriot General Francis Marion and Lt. Colonel "Light Horse Harry" Lee with Lt. Colonel John Watson Tadwell Watson and 500 men under his command. The KAR lost forty three killed, wounded, and missing, their highest casualties of the war; Henry Nase recorded the losses as simply "inconsiderable".

After the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill, the KAR battalion companies retreated to Charleston and were soon shipped to Savannah, Georgia. The KAR was divided and some companies returned to Charleston in December 1781 and some went to New York. The light company fought at Eutaw Springs in September 1781. The regiment was reunited in New York after the evacuation of Charleston in January 1783. After the war, most of the soldiers settled in Nova Scotia.