Fort Charlotte (McCormick County, South Carolina)

McCormick County · South Carolina · American Revolutionary War

Quick BriefFort Charlotte, built of local stone between 1765 and 1767, protected French, British, and German settlements near Long Canes in McCormick County. Major James Mayson's seizure of the fort on July 12, 1775, was the first overt act of the Revolutionary War in South Carolina. Now located beneath the waters of J. Strom Thurmond Lake (also known as Clarks Hill Lake), the fort remains one of the state's most significant colonial-era military sites.

Civil War

History & Significance

The Long Cane Massacre triggered escalated tensions, leading the Royal government to force the Cherokee into submission and set borders further inland. Fort Charlotte, officially declared sufficiently complete on December 5, 1766, was established at the same river bend in present-day McCormick County used by Creek raiders.

The fort measured approximately 170 feet squared with bastions at every corner and a wall height of between 10 and 20 feet. In 1768, as other forts closed, Fort Charlotte received ordnance, cannon, powder, and ammunition destined for Patriot forces, with supplies later used against Carolina Backcountry Tories and in the Second Siege of Fort Ninety-Six.

Captain George Whitfield of the Long Cane settlement commanded the fort with Lieutenant Jean Louis du Mesnil de St. Pierre of New Bordeaux as second in command. On July 12, the Patriot force of Ranger companies captured the fort without bloodshed or opposition; the only occupants were Whitfield, his family, and a few garrison men.

Ordnance distribution from the fort's magazine significantly impacted the South Carolina backcountry war, with cannons and swivel guns deployed to Fort Ninety-Six. The site was known to still be manned in 1779.