Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site – Situated on US Highway 521 Between the town of Camden and Interstate I20.
HISTORY
Camden, the state’s oldest inland settlement, was founded in 1730 as part of King George II’s township scheme. By the 1750s, Quakers and Scots-Irish emigrants and immigrants from Virginia had founded themselves in the frontier settlement, which was originally known as Fredericksburg Township (later Pine Tree Hill).
In 1758, Joseph Kershaw, a native of Yorkshire, England, settled in Charleston and opened a shop for a mercantile company. He prospered, and by 1768, the town had become the colony’s most important inland trading hub. The town was renamed Camden after Lord Camden, the defender of colonial freedom, at his suggestion.
The American Revolutionary War returned to Charleston in May of 1780. It came crashing down. Lord Charles Cornwallis and 2,500 British troops marched to Camden almost immediately, establishing the largest British supply post for the Southern Campaign. Camden residents have been aware of the horrors of war for eleven months.
Nearby, two wars were waged. The Battle of Camden, the Revolution’s worst American battle setback, took place nine miles north of the museum on August 16, 1780. On April 25, 1781, General Nathanael Greene and about 1,400 Americans fought 950 British soldiers led by Lord Francis Rawdon in a nearby battle. The Redcoats were compelled to flee Camden as a result of the British victory.
Fort Camden
Camden was strategically the most important of the five principal inland garrisons maintained by the British during the1780-1781 Southern Campaign.
Men Of Camden
After the surrender of Charleston, Lt. Colonel Banastre left, and 270 mounted British troops covered 105 miles in 54 hours in pursuit of Colonel Abraham Buford .
The Battle Of Camden
The tragedy of the Battle of Camden is that it should never have taken place when and where it did. The marker & monument are located 2.2 miles from the fork.
MUSEUM
Just spend a couple of quiet hours spending a hard year with the British! Visitors may select a guided or self-guided tour, focused on the Colonial and Revolutionary periods, to learn about Camden’s early history.
The 107 hectares of outdoor complex comprises the town site of the XVIIIth century in Camden, John Craven House restore and furnished in 1785, the Cunningham House in 1830 (the tour office and the gift shop), two log cabins with exhibits from the early 19th century, the partially restored McCaa House, the rebuilt and furnished mansión of Joseph Kershaw, the headquarters in 1795. Camden Historic is a National Park Service affiliate location.
Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site – A brief description of
Fort Camden
Camden was geographically the largest of the British’s five major inland guards in the 1780-1781 Southern Campaign. Four redoubts strengthened it well. The city was encircled by a wide fence and a house across the Kershaw, the headquarters of the city. Joseph Kershaw’s close-known gaol and powder magazine for the State of South Carolina was also fortified.
On 1 June 1780, Lord Cornwallis took over the city of Camden, leaving Lord Francis Rawdon in charge. He returned to Charleston for his “government season.” At the hearing of the march to Camden by General Gates, he called in his whole command to visit him on 13 August in Camden. The Cornwallis army stayed in Camden until September 8, 1780, after three days at the Battle of Camden.
The regular Camden garrisons under Rawdon included the 23rd and 33rd Foot Regiments, Irish Volunteers (recruited in Philadelphia, New York by Rawdon), a cavalry legion, infantry units, and North Carolina Provincials Corps of Brown’s and Hamilton. The garrison was housed in the rough huts, made up Camden’s shops and churches.
MISSION
Welcome to the Battle of Camden Center – a local history research library and museum that includes collections from the Public Library, Historic Resources Committee. We are a non-profit organization that relies on memberships and donations to support our mission.
Our Mission is:
- To collect, organize and preserve the records and information, whether published or unpublished, that are of historic significance to the residents of the towns of Camden, Rockport, and Lincolnville and to make such information available to the public.
- To publish an illustrated history of the area and keeping it updates.
- To establish a permanent home for these collections.
Please remember us when cleaning out your family pictures, movies, scrapbooks and other documents. If they are family treasures, we can quickly scan them and return them to you.
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