Maj. James Wemyss was under orders from Lt. Col. Charles Cornwalls to disarm "in the most rigid manner" all those who opposed British rule. His force included 200 British Regulars of the 63rd Regiment of Foot and 100 Provincials of the Royal North Carolina Regiment and the SC Rangers.

Maj. Wemyss had his men to break spinning looms and burn any mills in their path. They were instructed to shoot milk cows and to bayonet sheep - this was to deprive the locals of clothing and food. Maj. Wemyss and his men laid waste to over 50 plantations, carried off their slaves as slave labor for the British army, and hanged several men who opposed these actions. Fortunately for the lowcountry citizens the corn was not housed yet and was able to be salvaged, for the most part.

There was some opposition to these invaders. Capt. John James, Jr. fired upon Maj. Wemyss's men at McGill's Plantation, but this only enraged them even more. Adam Cusack shot at a Loyalist officer, but missed and killed the officer's black servant instead. Cusack's wife and children threw themselves in front of Maj. Wemyss's horse, begging for mercy for her husband. Maj. Wemyss would have rode over the kneeling woman if it hadn't been for his own officers stopping him. Therefore, he hanged Cusack in front of his wife and children. Dr. James Wilson tried to stop the hanging, but he had his home burned for interfering.

Dr. Wilson then rode to North Carolina with many others from the area and joined Col. Francis Marion's brigade. Maj. James Wemyss became the second most hated man in the Carolinas, and one of Col. Marion's best recruiters. Once he learned of the carnage, Col. Marion returned to the South Carolina lowcountry.