Qualla: Battle of Tearcoat Swamp https://qualla.com/battle-of-tearcoat-swamp en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:06 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Battle of Tearcoat Swamp https://qualla.com/battle-of-tearcoat-swamp Battle of Tearcoat Swamp: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-tearcoat-swamp/ By October 1780, the American Revolution in the South appeared lost. Charleston had fallen to the British. The Continental Army had been destroyed at Camden. Organized resistance in South Carolina had collapsed. Only pockets of partisan fighters remained, operating from swamps and forests, striking and vanishing before British regulars could respond. The most successful of these guerrilla leaders was Lieutenant Colonel Francis Marion, who would become known as the 'Swamp Fox.' On October 25, 1780, Marion led 152 militiamen in a night attack on Loyalist forces encamped at Tearcoat Swamp in present-day Clarendon County. The battle lasted minutes. Six Loyalists were killed, fourteen wounded, and twenty-three captured along with more than eighty muskets and horses. Marion's force lost only two horses. It was a minor engagement in a larger war, but it demonstrated the tactics that would bleed British resources and keep resistance alive until the Continental Army could return.

Read more: Battle of Tearcoat Swamp on Qualla

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/p/0/battle-of-tearcoat-swamp-wk/dnp0-battle-of-tearcoat-swamp-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Tearcoat Swamp: The Partisan War https://qualla.com/battle-of-tearcoat-swamp/ After the disasters at Charleston and Camden, General Horatio Gates had fled and the Continental Army no longer existed in the Carolinas. Francis Marion, a lieutenant colonel in the South Carolina militia, retreated to the swamps of the Pee Dee region with a handful of men - some...

Read more: Battle of Tearcoat Swamp on Qualla

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/p/0/battle-of-tearcoat-swamp-wk/dnp0-battle-of-tearcoat-swamp-the-partisan-war.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Tearcoat Swamp: The Target https://qualla.com/battle-of-tearcoat-swamp/ In October 1780, Marion received intelligence that Loyalist militia were gathering near Tearcoat Swamp, a Black River tributary in the High Hills region. Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Tynes had been ordered by Major General Nisbet Balfour to recruit and train a Loyalist force to help...

Read more: Battle of Tearcoat Swamp on Qualla

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/p/0/battle-of-tearcoat-swamp-wk/dnp0-battle-of-tearcoat-swamp-the-target.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Tearcoat Swamp: The Night Attack https://qualla.com/battle-of-tearcoat-swamp/ Marion left his camp at Kingstree on the morning of October 25 and led his 152 men toward Salem. They marched all day, forded the Black River after nightfall, and sent scouts to reconnoiter the Loyalist camp. The scouts reported that only a few men were awake, playing cards; secu...

Read more: Battle of Tearcoat Swamp on Qualla

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/p/0/battle-of-tearcoat-swamp-wk/dnp0-battle-of-tearcoat-swamp-the-night-attack.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Tearcoat Swamp: The Spoils https://qualla.com/battle-of-tearcoat-swamp/ The engagement's brief violence produced significant results. Six Loyalists were killed, fourteen wounded, and twenty-three captured. Marion's force suffered no casualties - only two horses were killed. More valuable than the prisoners were the captured supplies: over eighty musk...

Read more: Battle of Tearcoat Swamp on Qualla

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/p/0/battle-of-tearcoat-swamp-wk/dnp0-battle-of-tearcoat-swamp-the-spoils.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Tearcoat Swamp: The Turning Tide https://qualla.com/battle-of-tearcoat-swamp/ Tearcoat Swamp was one of dozens of small actions Marion fought in 1780 and 1781. None were major battles by European standards, but collectively they kept resistance alive when British victory seemed certain. Marion's guerrilla campaign tied down British forces needed elsewhere,...

Read more: Battle of Tearcoat Swamp on Qualla

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/p/0/battle-of-tearcoat-swamp-wk/dnp0-battle-of-tearcoat-swamp-the-turning-tide.mp3 0:06 6 full