page_title: Battle of Kettle Creek
section_title: American response
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Kettle Creek / Background / American response
caption_attribution_description: Georgia Revolutionary War hero Elijah Clarke.
context_page_description: The Battle of Kettle Creek was a minor encounter in the back country of Georgia during the American Revolutionary War that took place on February 14, 1779. It was fought in Wilkes County about eight miles from present-day Washington, Georgia. A militia force of Patriots decisively defeated and scattered a Loyalist militia force that was on its way to British-controlled Augusta.
  The victory demonstrated the inability of British forces to hold the interior of the state, or to protect even sizable numbers of Loyalist recruits outside their immediate area. The British, who had already decided to abandon Augusta, recovered some prestige a few weeks later, surprising a Patriot force in the Battle of Brier Creek. Georgia's back country would not come fully under British control until after the 1780 Siege of Charleston broke Patriot forces in the South.
context_section_description: The Continental Army commander in the South, Major General Benjamin Lincoln, based in Charleston, South Carolina, had been unable to respond adequately to the capture of Savannah. With only limited resources (he was short of both men and funds), he was able to raise about 1,400 South Carolina militia, but did not have authorization to order them outside the state.  On January 30, he was further reinforced at Charleston by the arrival of 1,100 North Carolina militia under General John Ashe. Then he immediately dispatched them to join Williamson on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River near Augusta.
  The Georgia banks of the Savannah in the Augusta area were controlled by a Loyalist force led by Colonel Daniel McGirth, while the South Carolina banks were controlled by a Georgia Patriot militia led by Colonel John Dooly.  When about 250 South Carolina militia under Colonel Andrew Pickens arrived, Pickens and Dooly joined forces to conduct offensive operations into Georgia, with Pickens taking overall command.  They were at some point joined by a few companies of North Carolina light horse militia.
  On February 10, Pickens and Dooly crossed the Savannah River to attack a British Army camp southeast of Augusta. Finding the camp unoccupied, they learned that the company was out on an extended patrol. Suspecting they would head for a stockaded frontier post called Carr's Fort, Pickens sent men directly there while the main body chased after the British.  The British made it into the fort, but were forced to abandon their horses and baggage outside its walls.  Pickens then besieged the fort until he learned that Boyd was passing through the Ninety Six district of South Carolina with seven to eight hundred Loyalists, headed for Georgia. He reluctantly raised the siege and moved to intercept Boyd.
  Pickens established a strong presence near the mouth of the Broad River, where he expected Boyd might try to cross. However, Boyd, his force grown by then to 800 men, chose to go to the north. He first tried Cherokee Ford, the southernmost fording of the Savannah River, where he was met with some resistance known as the Engagement at McGowen's Blockhouse. The encounter consisted of a detachment of eight Patriots commanded by Capt. Robert Anderson with two small swivel guns in an entrenched position, who thwarted Boyd's approach to Cherokee Ford. Boyd moved north upstream about 5 miles (8.0 km) and crossed the Savannah River there, skirmishing with a small Patriot force that had shadowed his movements on the Georgia side.  Boyd reported losing 100 men, killed, wounded, or deserted, in the encounter.
  By the time Pickens learned that Boyd had crossed the river, he had himself crossed into South Carolina in an attempt to intercept Boyd. He immediately recrossed into Georgia upon learning of Boyd's whereabouts. On February 14, Pickens caught up with Boyd when he paused to rest his troops near Kettle Creek, only a few miles from Colonel McGirth's Loyalist camp.
caption: Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clarke, portrait by Rembrandt Peale
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