The Battle of Musgrove Mill was fought in the edge of Laurens County, SC on August 18th, 1780. It was another decisive victory following the earlier sound defeat of the British and Tory forces of Capt. Christian Huck, at the Battle of Huck’s Defeat near Historic Brattonsville, in York County, SC. The affair at Musgrove Mill (Wikipedia Link) involved patriot forces from Georgia, and both Carolina colonies. It is considered one of the major battles of the upcountry, where many historian now acknowledge the American Revolution was decided. Other major battles in the region include the Battle of Hanging Rock, Kings Mountain, and Cowpens.
The battle of Musgrove’s Mill, fought on August 18, 1780, was an early American victory in the South during the Revolution. The successful surprise attack lead by American Colonel Charles McDowell on the British post at Musgrove’s Mill indicated a weakness in the British hold on the backcountry. American troops routed a combined detachment of British and Tories at a ford on the Enoree River, but were forced to retreat to the mountains of North Carolina when Loyalist forces converged on the area. In this battle, British losses included 60 killed, 90 wounded, and 70 taken prisoner. Four Americans were killed and nine wounded. Occurring at the same time as the American defeat at Camden, this victory gave the American cause a badly needed boost in morale. The National Register site includes the land north of the Enoree River ford as well as a triangular portion of land south of the Enoree, opposite the mouth of Cedar Shoals Creek, where Major Edward Musgrove’s plantation house was standing until it burned in 1971. This is the area where the British and Tories were encamped at the time of the battle. Listed in the National Register March 4, 1975. [ Courtesy of the S.C. Dept. of Archives and History)
Among the earliest colonists of upper South Carolina was Edward Musgrove, of British descent, who prior to the controversy with the mother country, had established a residence described as being about one mile below Heads Ford on Enoree River and less than half a mile from the Cedar Shoals Creek Falls (now on State Highway 56).
Major Edward Musgrove owned and operated one of the most noted of the old mills, Musgrove Mills. For a graphic description of the environment of Miller Musgrove’s family, including Mary Musgrove of Revolutionary War fame, we turn to an article written for The State by Mrs. L. D. Childs of Columbia, and reprinted in The Advertiser, Laurens, on July 5, 1911. The stream in the millrace conducted the water to the head gate, which with a heavy spray was dashed from the large and slowly revolving wheel. From this mill wagons carried the ground contents down the stream to British soldiers who were unwelcome guests of the peace-loving but staunch colonist Musgrove. A mill cottage stood close by, erected for the comfort of the millers guests. The Reverend William Martin and Mrs. Martin of Columbia were guests in the mill cottage two generations before the 1911 visit by Mrs. Childs. A grandson of Major Edward Musgrove was host to the Martins, said Mrs. Childs. John Pendleton Kennedy in his book, Horse Shoe Robinson. Mrs. Childs stated the original Musgrove home and the mill were burned by the British in an act of retaliation. Both were rebuilt on the identical spots of the first buildings. , describes the mill house as a shaded cottage with its cedar lawn sloping to the stream and the mill. There is nothing visible now of the Musgrove estate and its famous mill but the two-story frame manor house with broad porch across the front of the first floor, and the end chimneys reaching sky-ward. The building is in critical need of repairs. Recorded in Book A, on page 28, Laurens County Records is the will of Major Edward Musgrove. A son, William Musgrove, was given “the dwelling plantation mill and all the land” with the stipulation that the wife would benefit from the proceeds from the property for the duration of her life.
(Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC)
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