Skirmish, Maj. John Cooper vs. Maj. Thomas Fraser.

Maj. Thomas Fraser and his South Carolina Royalists attacked Maj. John Cooper and eighty-six men of Col. William Harden’s Regiment at Parson’s Plantation. Maj. Fraser reported that he killed fifteen of the Patriots and captured four, while only having two of his men killed and one wounded. The swamp where the action took place was so deep that the British horses were mired up their bellies.

Maj. Cooper tried to get the four captured men exchanged for British prisoners. He sent Capt. John Melton and Simon Fraser to Maj. Thomas Fraser with a flag of truce. The two Patriots were brought into the Loyalist camp. When Maj. Fraser noticed Simon Fraser’s name on the flag of truce, he asked if this was the same Simon Fraser who had killed a man named Ingles. Simon Fraser stated that he was the same man.

Earlier in the year Col. Harden had sent his men out to round up any Loyalists officers. Simon Fraser and some other men had surrounded the house of Maj. James Clitherall, the surgeon of the South Carolina Royalists. Fraser ordered Clitherall to open the door. A man named Ingles answered the door, and seeing the armed Patriots quickly tried to slam it shut. Fraser fired through the door, hitting Ingles in the chest and killing him. Fraser took Maj. Clitherall prisoner.

Maj. Fraser had Simon Fraser arrested and placed in irons. This was in direct violation to the flag of truce and was considered a serious breach of protocol in the 18th century.