Did you know more Revolutionary War battles were fought in South Carolina than any other state? On June 28, 1776, America won its first significant battle of the Revolutionary War when a modest force of less than 500 South Carolina troops on Sullivan's Island, under the command of Colonel William Moultrie, defeated a large British invasion fleet.

The British plan called for four warships, including two, fifty-gun, ships-of-the-line, to anchor directly in front of an incomplete American fort of palmetto logs and sand, while three frigates attempted to sail through the harbor mouth toward Mount Pleasant to direct enfilading fire. While the British fleet engaged the Americans on the western end of Sullivan's Island, British General Cornwallis attempted to cross Breach Inlet with infantry to attack from the east. The British met disaster on every front. Breach inlet was not the shallow creek they hoped to march across; and each of three British attacks in flat boats was repulsed by Colonel William "Danger" Thomson and his South Carolina troops. The British had 300 cannons on their ships opposing 31 in the fort. Despite this ten-to-one advantage in fire power, the British shots were absorbed by the fort's walls of palmetto logs and sand. The Americans, short on gun powder, fired cautiously and focused on the two largest ships with great effect. The British frigates that tried to get around the fort were grounded by the outgoing tide. Two were able to retreat, but the third was abandoned by the British and burned. By sunset, after 10 hours of fire, the British called off the attack and withdrew, suffering 220 casualties, compared to 37 casualties among the Carolinians.

Image Credit: Town website: Revolutionary War Era