Siege of Savage ' s Old Fields The Siege of Savage ' s Old Fields ( also known as the First Siege of Ninety Six , November 19 – 21 , 1775 ) was an encounter between Patriot and Loyalist forces in the back country town of Ninety Six , South Carolina , early in the American Revolutionary War . It was the first major conflict in South Carolina in the war , having been preceded by bloodless seizures of several military fortifications in the province . Patriot forces under the command of Major Andrew Williamson had been dispatched to the area to recover a shipment of gunpowder and ammunition intended for the Cherokees that had been seized by Loyalists . Williamson ' s force , numbering over 500 , established a stockaded fort near Ninety Six , where it was surrounded by some 1 , 900 Loyalists . Because the war was in its early days and the partisan war in the southern back country had not become as brutal as it would be later in the war , the siege was conducted desultorily , and was effectively a stalemate . After two days the Loyalists withdrew , having lost four killed and 20 wounded to one Patriot killed and 12 wounded . The Patriots also withdrew toward the coast , but a major Patriot expedition not long after resulted in the arrest or flight of most of the Loyalist leadership . Background . When the American Revolutionary War began in Massachusetts in April 1775 , the free population of the Province of South Carolina was divided in its reaction . Many English coastal residents were either neutral or favored the rebellion , while significant numbers of back country residents , many of whom were German and Scottish immigrants , were opposed . Loyalist sentiment in the back country was dominated by Thomas Fletchall , a vocal and active opponent of Patriot attempts to resist King and Parliament . By August 1775 tensions between Patriot and Loyalist in the province had escalated to the point where both sides had raised sizable militia forces . Events were largely nonviolent for some time , although there were isolated instances of tarring and feathering , but tensions were high as the sides struggled for control of munitions . The in early August sent William Henry Drayton and Reverend William Tennent to Ninety Six to rally Patriot support and suppress growing Loyalist support in the back country . Drayton was able to negotiate a tenuous truce with Fletchall in September . On September 15 , Patriot militia seized Fort Johnson , the principal fortification overlooking the Charleston harbor . Governor William Campbell dissolved the provincial assembly , and fearing for his personal safety , fled to the Royal Navy sloop of war . This left the Patriot Council of Safety in control of the provincial capital . The council began improving and expanding Charleston ' s coastal defenses ; eventually this culminated in a bloodless exchange of cannon fire between Patriot positions and Royal Navy ships in the harbor on November 11 and 12 . Matters also escalated after the seizure by Loyalists in October of a shipment of gunpowder and ammunition sent by the Council of Safety and intended for the Cherokee . The council responded by organizing a large - scale expedition to recover the munitions . On November 8 it voted to send Colonel Richard Richardson , the commander of the Camden militia , to recover the shipment and arrest Loyalist leaders . Siege . While Richardson gathered his forces , Major Andrew Williamson , who had already been recruiting in the back country , learned of the gunpowder seizure . He arrived at Ninety Six early on November 19 with 560 men . Finding the small town to be not very defensible , he established a camp on John Savage ' s plantation , provided a field of fire for the force ' s three swivel gun s . He began fortifying the camp , ordering the construction of an improvised stockade . Loyalist recruiting had been more successful : Williamson had learned that Captain Patrick Cuningham and Major Joseph Robinson were leading a large Loyalist force ( estimated to number about 1 , 900 ) toward Ninety Six . In a war council that day , the Patriot leaders decided against marching out to face the Loyalists . The Loyalists arrived the next day , and surrounded the Patriot camp . The leaders of the two factions were in the midst of negotiating an end to the standoff when two Patriot militiamen were seized by Loyalists outside the stockade . This set off a gunfight that lasted for about two hours . The next morning the two sides resumed firing at each other at long range . The Loyalists attempted to set fires , creating a smokescreen they could use to approach the stockade . This attempt was frustrated by the wet ground . The Loyalists next constructed a large wooden shield behind which they sought to bring incendiaries closer to the fort , but they only succeeded in " [ setting ] Fire to their own Engine themselves " , according to one account , and it was not proof against the Patriot ' s guns . On the afternoon of November 21 the Patriots held a war council , in which they decided to sortie that night . They were preparing for this action at sunset when a Loyalist approached with a parley flag . Nothing was decided in the discussion beyond an agreement to meet the next morning . In that meeting , the Loyalists agreed to withdraw across the Saluda River and the Patriots agreed to destroy the fort . Both sides were to return prisoners taken since November 2 and not interfere with each other ' s communications with their respective political leaders . The Patriot leaders were also required to surrender their swivel gun s , although they were returned three days later . The truce also included reinforcements for both sides , terms that the Council of Safety claimed did not apply to Colonel Richardson ' s force . Aftermath . The reasons why the Loyalists chose to negotiate the truce are unknown . Governor Campbell described the Loyalists as lacking in effective leadership , and historian Martin Cann speculates that it may have been caused by Colonel Richardson ' s preparations or approach . Richardson mobilized 2 , 500 men , which grew by the end of November to more than 4 , 000 . This force scoured the back country , arresting or driving away most of the Loyalist leadership . The campaign effectively ended on December 22 , when of snow fell on the area . Richardson ' s men , unprepared for the snow , made a difficult trek back to the lowlands . Some of the Loyalist leaders who escaped Richardson ' s expedition , including most notably Thomas Brown , fled to West Florida where they joined regular and irregular forces serving with the British . These events resulted in the end of large - scale Loyalist activity in the southern Appalachians , although what was in many ways a civil war became progressively more brutal in the following years . Ninety Six became a British outpost after the 1780 Siege of Charleston , and was besieged in 1781 by forces under the command of Nathanael Greene . Although Greene was forced to lift that siege by the approach of a relief force , the British abandoned Ninety Six not long afterward .