In the August 1780, a group of 200 Patriot militiamen attempted to strike what they thought was an equal number of Loyalists camped near a ford on the Enoree River. The Loyalists, however, had recently been joined by 300 more, two hundred of them provincial regulars from the British post at Ninety Six, South Carolina. Once discovered, the Patriots were unable to either retreat or make a frontal assault. Instead they took up a position behind logs and brush on a nearby ridge and lured the Loyalists into attacking them. A fierce fight ensued and turned into a near rout of the Loyalists. Nevertheless, when the Patriot militia learned that American forces had been defeated three days before at the Battle of Camden, they also retreated.