The Battle of Musgrove Mill/James Williams at Musgrove Mill

The Battle of Musgrove Mill

On August 19, 1780 Colonel James Williams’ Little River Regiment, along with units commanded by Colonels Elijah Clark and Isaac Shelby, met British and Loyalist forces commanded by Colonel Alexander Innes at Musgrove Mill. The American Patriots were greatly outnumber but defeated the Loyalists decisively by strategy and maneuver. Sixty British Troops and Loyalist were killed with seventy captured. This Patriot victory provided needed encouragement for the American cause following the defeat of General Horatio Gates and his Patriot command at Camden only three days previous.

James Williams at Musgrove Mill

James Williams was born in Virginia in 1740. He married Mary Wallace in 1762 and the couple had eight children. The Williams family moved south to Caswell County, N.C., then to present day Laurens County, S.C. in 1773. Williams served in the First Provincial (S.C.) Congress in 1775 and in the Second Provincial Congress convened later that year. He served on the Committee on Safety, a military group that protected S.C. backcountry from the Cherokee Indian raids. A Colonel in the S.C. Militia, he led his Little River Regiment to victory at Musgrove Mill and later at Kings Mountain where he died on October 8, 1780. His sons, Daniel and Joseph (both teenagers) died at Hayes Station November 17, 1781 at the hand of Loyalists led by Bloody Bill Cunningham.