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

position. Colonel Boyd defended the fence with great bravery, but was finally overpowered and driven back upon the main
body.
While retreating he fell mortally wounded, pierced with three balls, two passing through his body and the third through his
thigh.
The conflict now became close, warm, and general. Some of the enemy, sore pressed, fled into the swamp and passed over
the creek, leaving their horses, baggage, and arms behind them.
After a contest lasting an hour the Tories retreated through the swamp. Observing a rising ground on the other side of the
creek and in rear of the enemy's right on which he thought the loyalists would attempt to form, Colonel Clarke, ordering the
left wing to follow him, prepared to cross the stream. At this moment his horse was killed under him. Mounting another, he
followed a path which led to a ford and soon gained the side of the hill, just in time to attack Major Spurgen who was
endeavoring to form his command upon it. He was then accompanied by not more than a fourth of his division, there having
been some mistake in extending the order. The firing, however, soon attracted the attention of the rest of his men, who rushed
to his support. Colonels Pickens and Dooly also pressed through the swamp and the battle was renewed with much vigor on
the other side of the creek. Bloody and obstinate was the conflict. For some time the issue seemed doubtful. At length the
Americans obtained complete possession of the hill; and the enemy, routed at all points, fled from the scene of action leaving
seventy of their number dead upon the field, and seventy-five wounded and captured. On the part of the Americans nine were
slain and twenty-three wounded. To Colonel Clarke great praise is due for his foresight and activity in comprehending and
checking, at its earliest stage, the movement of the loyalists beyond the swamp. Had they succeeded in effecting a permanent
lodgment upon the hill, the fortunes of the day would have proved far otherwise. This engagement lasted for one hour and
forty-five minutes, and during most of that time was hotly contested.
As the guard having charge of the prisoners captured when Boyd crossed the Savannah River heard of the disaster which had
overtaken the main body, they voluntarily surrendered themselves, thirty-three in number, to those whom they held in
captivity, promising, if allowed to return in peace to their homes, to take the oath of allegiance to the government of the
Confederated States.
The battle ended, Colonel Pickens waited upon Colonel Boyd and tendered him every relief in his power. Thanking him for
his civility, the loyalist chief, disabled by mortal wounds and yet brave of heart, inquired particularly with regard to the result
of the engagement. When told that the victory rested entirely with the Americans, he asserted that the issue would have been
different had he not fallen. During the conversation which ensued he stated that he had set out upon this march with eight
hundred men. In crossing the Savannah River he sustained a loss of one hundred in killed, wounded, and missing. In the
present action, he had seven hundred men under his command. His expectation was that McGirth with five hundred men
would form a junction with him on Little River either that very afternoon or on the ensuing morning. The point named for
this union of forces was not more than six miles distant from the place where this battle had been fought. Alluding to his own
condition he remarked that he had but a few hours to live, and requested Colonel Pickens to detail two men to furnish him
with water and to inter his body after death. Delivering to that officer certain articles of value which he had upon his person,
he asked the favor that they be forwarded to his wife with a letter acquainting her with the circumstances of his demise and
burial. These dying injunctions were carefully observed. He was a corpse before morning.
Dispirited by the loss of their leader, and stunned by the heavy blow which had fallen upon them in an unexpected moment,
the followers of this dangerous chieftain scattered in various directions. Some fled to Florida; others betook themselves to the
Creek nation; others still sought refuge among the Cherokees; others returned to their homes and craved mercy at the hands
of the patriots; while a remnant, under the command of Colonel Moore, numbering some two hundred, retreated to Augusta.
Dismayed at the defeat which had overtaken Colonel Boyd, and pausing not to retrieve the fortunes of the day, McGirth fled
precipitately to Augusta and rejoined the forces under Colonel Campbell. The prisoners captured at Kettle Creek were carried
to South Carolina, tried, found guilty of treason, and sentenced to death. Only five of the most noted offenders were
executed. The others were pardoned. Departing from the field of action the Americans encamped for the night in a locality
near the present town of Washington and, on the 15th recrossed the Savannah River. In the affair at Carr's Fort and in the
engagement at Kettle Creek the Americans possessed themselves of some six hundred horses and a large quantity of arms,
equipments, and clothing. This accession to the scanty stores of the patriots was most opportune and valuable. In the general
gloom which was encompassing all, this victory shone like a star of substantial hope, dissipating despair and enkindling
confidence in the hearts of the Revolutionists. From the banks of this insignificant stream, rendered historic by the prowess of
Pickens, Dooly, Clarke, and their valiant followers, there arose a martial shout which proclaimed the restoration of Whig
ascendency in Upper Georgia and the discomfiture of the Royalist cohorts. With no uncertain sound did the bugle-blasts then
blown summon to further feats of patriotic emprise, and admonish the king's officers that Georgia was not wholly within their
grasp.
This battle was quickly followed by movements which, although partial in their character, indicated that the love of liberty
and the spirit of resistance were abroad in the land. Advancing with a portion of his brigade and some of the Georgia militia,
General Andrew Williamson encamped not far from Augusta, on the Carolina side of the Savannah River (Jones 2001).
In his more than 700 pages on Revolutionary War battlefields, first published in 1877, Colonel Henry B.
Carrington offered only one sentence about the engagement at Kettle Creek. He stated, “On the fourteenth,
Colonel Andrew Pickens, of South Carolina, and Colonel Dooley, of Georgia, with three hundred men,
surprised Colonel Boyd’s Provincials on the north side of Kettle Creek, in Wilkes county, Georgia”. In his
Index, Carrington referred to “Boyd’s Provincials”, and he dismisses the action at Kettle Creek as a,
“skirmish”. This brief mention shows that Carrington considered Kettle Creek to be of little significance in
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