Stirring Up a Hornet's Nest: - UGA Laboratory of Archaeology ...

Alexander Garden, a Revolutionary War veteran, provided a discussion of “Boyd’s Defeat at Kettle Creek”
(Garden 1822:86-87). Garden wrote:
The successes of the British in Georgia, had great influence in arousing the hostile spirit of the tories in the upper districts of
South-Carolina, which had been smothered, but not extinguished. They had been encouraged to embody themselves, and
cross the Savannah River, where they were told, that by uniting themselves to the British Regulars, so great a superiority of
force would be obtained, as to render resistance to the Royal Government abortive, and extinguish every symptom of
rebellion. A Colonel Boyd, a man of some influence, who had been effectually tampered with, undertook to be their Leader,
and actually marched some hundreds of them across the Cherokee Ford, into Georgia. A more motly crew were never
collected, being composed chiefly of persons distinguished by their crimes, and infinitely more anxious to plunder, and
appropriate whatever of value they could lay their hands on to their own use, than to promote the good of the cause, and the
interests of the Monarch, they professed to admire and to serve. Colonel Pickens, always on the alert, collected about three
hundred well-affected Militia, and immediately followed in pursuit. They had gained little or no advantage when he overtook
them at Kettle Creek, where he attacked them with such impetuosity that after losing forty men, they became panic struck,
and fled in every direction, leaving the whigs in possession of the battle-ground, and all the spoils collected on their march.
Had they successfully joined their allies, there is no saying where the mischief would have ended; for, there was an
abundance of inflammable material left behind, and the example of Boyd, might speedily have been followed up, on a more
extensive scale of revolt, and with more decided effect. The promptitude of Col. Pickens, therefore, in collecting men, and
bringing the contest to so successful an issue, does him great honour, and cannot be too highly commended. The prisoners
taken were numerous, and seventy of them were condemned to die as traitors, but mercy tempered the exercise of rigid
justice, and five only were executed (Garden 1822:86-87).
Historian Paul Allen (1822, Volume II: 228) wrote an early history of the American Revolution in which he
gave this battle summary:
A party of them [tories and loyalists], with Colonel Boyd at their head, having crossed the Savannah, Colonel Pickens, with
about 300 militia collected from the district of 96, followed them, and on the 14 th had a desperate engagement with them of
three quarters of an hour. Having lost their leader, and about 40 killed, they took to flight in every direction; a few of them
were enabled to reach the British posts in safety, but the greater part, being citizens of South Carolina, were apprehended and
brought to trial for treason, and five of the ringleaders executed.
This check, together with the threatening attituded which General Lincoln had assumed, induced Colonel Campbell to
abandon his position at Augusta on the very night of General Ashe’s arrival (Allen 1822, Volume II:228).
Reverend Adiel Sherwood’s (1827, 1829) gazetteer of Georgia provided a brief listing of the battle of
Kettle Creek. Sherwood’s information offers little specific details regarding the battlefield landscape. He
noted that a, “bloody battle was fought on this creek”, where, “Col. Boyd commanded the British, & Cols.
Pickens, Dooly, and Clarke the Americans, and obtained over their enemies a signal victory” (Sherwood
1829:121).
Italian historian Carlo Botta wrote this about the Kettle Creek battle prior to 1820:
In order, therefore, to encourage and support the loyalists, they [the British troops] moved up the Savannah as far as Augusta.
As soon as they were in possession of that post, they left no means unattempted that could re-animate their partisans, and
excite them to assemble in arms They sent among them numerous emissaries, who exaggerated to them the might of the royal
forces. They assured them that if they would but unite, they would become incomparably superior to their enemies; they were
prodigal of promises and presents; they exasperated minds already imbittered by flaming pictures of the cruelties committed
by the republicans. Such were the opinions propagated by the British generals among the friends of the king. Their
instigations produced the intended effect; the loyalists took arms, and putting themselves under the command of colonel
Boyd, one of their chiefs, they descended along the western frontiers of Carolina, in order to join the royal army. More
properly robbers than soldiers, they continually deviated from their route, in order to indulge their passion for pillage. What
they could neither consume nor carry off, they consigned to the flames. They had already passed the Savannah, and were near
the British posts, when they were encountered by colonel Pickens, who headed a strong detachment of Carolinians, levied in
the district of Ninety-six. Instantly, the action was engaged with all the fury excited by civil rancor, and all the desperation
inspired by the fear of those evils which the vanquished would have to suffer at the hands of the victors. The battle lasted for
a full hour. At length the loyalists were broken and completely routed.
Boyd remained dead upon the field; all were dispersed; many fell into the power of the republicans. Seventy were condemned
to death; only five, however, were executed. This success made a deep impression throughout Georgia, where the disaffected
were already on the point of arming against the congress. The incursions of the loyalists were repressed, and the republicans
could proceed with greater security in their preparations for defense against the royal arms. Another consequence of it was,
that the English evacuated Augusta, and, retiring lower down, concentered their force in the environs of Savannah (Botta,
translated by Otis 1837, Volume II: 79-80).
James Herring and James Barton Longacre (1836:4) provided an early biography of Andrew Pickens in
which they recounted the battle of Kettle Creek. Regarding the battle’s significance, they wrote, “This
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