Battle of Eutaw Springs - Battle

Battle

In order to make up for a shortage of bread in his supplies, Stewart had been sending out foraging parties each morning to dig up yams, unarmed except for a small guard detail. At around 8 a.m. on September 8, Captain John Coffin and a detachment of his South Carolina Loyalist cavalry were reconnoitring ahead of Stewart’s main force when he encountered a mounted American scouting party under Major John Armstrong. Coffin pursued Armstrong, who led him into an ambush. Attacked by Henry Lee’s 2nd Partisan Corps, Coffin escaped but left 4 or 5 of his men killed and 40 more captured. The Americans then came across Stewart’s foragers and captured about 400 of them.

Greene's force, with around 2,200 men, now approached Stewart's camp while Stewart, warned by Coffin, deployed his force. When the Americans realized they were approaching the British force, they formed two lines, with the militia in the front line and the North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia regulars in the second line. The British charged the American position and broke the center of the American forces' first line. The North Carolina Continentals in the second line reinforced the first, and were temporarily successful until they too were broken by a British charge. The Virginia and Maryland regulars then came to the aid of their comrades. This attack stopped the British advance and the British began to retreat in disorder.

The Americans pursued the retreating British soldiers into the British camp, where a majority of the Americans stopped to plunder the British supplies. The tables now turned again. At the north-east corner of the camp was a strong brick house defended by a British battalion commanded by Major John Majoribanks. This battalion had driven off an earlier American cavalry attack before falling back to the house. An American assault on the house failed, and Majoribanks was able to restore order to the rest of the British force. The British forces launched a counterattack and drove the American forces from the British camp. One American battalion was able to delay the British advance sufficiently to allow the American army to retreat in good order.