Saturday, April 21, 2012

Fort Watson, 23 April 1781

A LIST of PRISONERS taken at Scott's Lake,
                    April 23, 1781.
             Commanding Officers.
Lieutenant [James] Mackay, commandant of the fort.
Surgeon [Thomas B.] Campbell, king's American regiment.
Ensign [Robert] Robinson, loyal American regiment.
Lieutenant Lewis, South-Carolina rangers.
Ensign and quarter-masters M'Kallam, ditto.
73 British privates.

36 Tories.
Total, 5 Commissioned officers, and 109 privates.

Pennsylvania Packet (Philadelphia), 26 May 1781


On the capture of Fort Watson at Scott's Lake, South Carolina, Patrick O'Kelley described the terms of surrender as "very generous."  O'Kelley wrote, "The officers were granted paroles, kept their swords, and were able to take their baggage with them to Charlestown, where they were to await a general exchange."  Patrick O'Kelley, Unwaried Patience and Fortitude: Francis Marion's Orderly Book (West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania: Infinity Publishing, 2006), page 527. For the names of several officers, please consult [Great Britain] Historical Manuscript Commission, Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal Institution of Great Britain 4 vols. (Dublin: John Falconer, 1904-1906), 2:271.

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