LACY OR LACEY’S FORT: Also known as Liberty Hill and Rebel’s Folly, this campsite is situated at the intersection of Blanton Road and Highway 322. In 1780, Colonel Edward Lacey established this fort to oversee the road leading from Camden and Charleston to Rutherfordton County, North Carolina. Vignettes from this camp watched Loves Ford and Hamilton’s Ford on the Broad River. Lord Cornwallis and his troops were in this camp in January 1781 when he received news of the British defeat at Cowpens. See Mayhugh’s HERITAGE MAP COLLECTION FOR NUMEROUS GRANTS ON TURKEY CREEK INCLUDING: Fort Branch of Turkey Creek
*** Note Fort Branch (presumably named for and as the approximate location of the Revolutionary Fort), is a tributary of Turkey Creek on the east side of Old Quinn’s Road and somewhat parallel to Kirkpatrick Branch (in 2020 now commonly called Blue Branch Creek), on the west side of Blanton or Old Quinn’s Road. The route of Fort Branch as marked on Tom Mayhugh’s Heritage Plat Maps shows it as a tributary running through the land grands of: Joseph Feemster, George King, George Dickey, William Galloway and David Leech.
Jerry L. West and W.B. Fairey, Sr., tirelessly walked the area between Blue Branch Church and Turkey Creek in the early 1980’s, traversing extremely rough and hilly terrain. It was on the east side of what we believed was Fort Branch of Turkey Creek, that we discovered a potential area for further exploration. However, without GPS locator equipment we were unable to determine the exact location and were not afforded further access.
LIBERTY HILL: Colonel Edward Lacy of Revolutionary War fame selected this site to build a redoubt and use it as a look-out point to control the movement of the British from the south into North Carolina. The site is located about a mile north of Turkey Creek and at the intersection of Blanton Road and Highway 322. (This location is approximate as outlined by J.L. West, Bullock’s Creek long-term historian.) The redoubt constructed here was sometimes called “Lacey’s Fort” by the Americans and in derision, “Patriot’s Folly” by the British. From this advantage point the American forces were able to keep an eye on Love’s Ford and Hamilton’s Ford on the Broad River in the east as well as the road from Camden to the south. When the Americas were ordered to advance to Ninety-Six in December 1780, Lord General Cornwallis moved his forces from Camden to Liberty Hill, in Kershaw County, S.C., and occupied the site from 16 January through the 19th. It was here that Cornwallis heard from Colonel Tarleton that he had been driven from the field at Cowpens by General Daniel Morgan.
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