Yankee Doodle Disease

An Age-Old Problem

Throughout history, the greatest threat to most armies was not enemy swords, spears, bayonets, bombs, or bullets. Until at least World War II, disease and infection killed or incapacitated more soldiers than combat. Even today, during the Coronavirus pandemic, there are reports of infections within the military at much higher rates than the general population. Like many people worldwide, I have been staying at home and watching a global epidemiological disaster unfold, while trying to ignore the uncomfortable fact that I am at the center of it. As are we all. This naturally led me to reflect on the topic in the context of the times of the Yankee Doodle Spies.

The Black Death wreaked havoc and terrorized
over centuries of outbreaks

Disease in War

In a strange irony, war unites people. Not just through direct clashes between enemies but through the essential bonding of close-knit units who are forced to eat, sleep, train, and fight together. Camps and garrisons turn into breeding grounds, especially when hygiene is neglected. It is this very closeness that makes them so vulnerable when different outbreaks occur.

Gathering of soldiers in military camps was
ground-zero for the spread of disease

Epidemics have weakened armies, sometimes rendering them unfit for combat, outbreaks have halted military operations, and of course, there is the impact on civilian populations that armies come into contact with. Geography influences the spread of disease, with both bitter cold and scorching hot climates playing a role. Swamps, coastal areas, and cities all provide environments conducive to various types of illness. Additionally, the transportation of armies involves moving soldiers to new lands where they can encounter unfamiliar diseases and potentially bring their own to affect local populations. 

Yankee Doodle Disease

The American Revolution, in many ways, exemplifies all of these factors. Men from farms and forests mixed with men from towns and seaports. Undernourished, often poorly dressed and exposed to the elements, these men (and women) often faced an enemy worse than any redcoat or Hessian—a foe invisible to the naked eye that, in most cases, even the best medicine of the time could not understand or fight. Simply put, they faced germs that delivered a punch as deadly as any .69-inch musket ball or 17-inch bayonet. Diseases such as smallpox, dysentery, and malaria were common among American, British, and Hessian soldiers alike. This enemy didn't pick sides. Given the close quarters of 18th-century camps, these diseases spread through a camp like a windstorm across the high plains.

Disease killed more men than
musket balls or bayonets

A Different Kind of Battle

The soldier of the American Revolution faced highly professional armies equipped with the best weapons of the late 18th century. But if musket and cannon did not kill the soldier, the state-of-the-art treatment for a wound or illness might. Data indicates the typical combatant had a 98% chance of surviving battle but about a 75% chance of walking (or limping) out of the hospital. Unsanitary conditions, ignorance of vectors, and lack of practical remedies combined in a tragically unfair fight for the wounded or sick patriot. There were no antibiotics, but plenty of bleeding. No anesthetic, but plenty of bullets to bite. And if things looked really serious? Not to worry — there was an abundance of trained surgeons and their assistants who could cut off a limb or bleed the lifeblood from you.

State-of-the-art medical kit of the Rev War

A Different Kind of Surgeon

During the American Revolution, almost anyone could claim to be a doctor and start practicing medicine as long as they apprenticed with another doctor for a few years. Very few were trained surgeons from Edinburgh or London. Even if they were, medical science at the time was based on theories—often false—not on real scientific knowledge. This was especially true for illnesses, particularly infectious diseases. Doctors often believed most illness resulted from “an imbalance of the humors”—blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. How to restore the humors’ balance? The common methods included bloodletting or using herbal mixtures to induce vomiting or bowel movements. Many approaches aimed to rebalance the humors.

Bleeding was a common treatment for bad humors

A Different Kind of Pharmacist

Medicine during the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies was hard to find. Before the war, medicine, like nearly everything else, had to come from England. That was one reason we rebelled. The war broke that supply chain until the French alliance in 1778. A new supply line from France brought medicine to America. But even when medicine reached the army camps, most of it was of limited use, if not dangerous. In a medical field that had no anesthetics, opiates were the main painkillers, followed by hard liquor and the bullet previously mentioned. For various ailments, some surgeons used mercury compounds, lavender spirits, and cream of tartar.

Medicines of the day were interesting

Climate Change

Disease could strike regardless of climate. Winter brought seasonal flu and pneumonia that overwhelmed soldiers with their own lungs. The years of the American Revolution saw harsh winters, partly due to a mini-ice age. Many perished at Valley Forge, Morristown, Newburgh, and other winter cantonments. Summer, especially in the South, swamps, and low-lying coastal flats, produced noxious vapors—often malaria, but more frequently deadly yellow fever. Of course, these vapors, traditionally called miasmas, were not the actual cause. Insects, specifically mosquitoes, were the real vector.  

Swamps along the Georgia and Carolina littoral were a breeding ground
for the"noxious and bilious vapors" that plagued both sides

The war in the South was heavily affected by disease. It was one of the biggest concerns for the British high command, who had experience sending soldiers into warmer regions. The outbreak of disease repeatedly weakened General Charles Cornwallis’s army in the Carolinas, affecting battles and strategy. At crucial moments, key lieutenants got sick, as did Cornwallis himself. When he finally had a reasonably fit and equipped force at Wilmington, he chose to move north to Yorktown instead of back into South Carolina, partly to get his army into a healthier climate. We know how that turned out.

Disease factored into the strategy
 of Lord Cornwallis, with unpredictable results

Mother of All Maladies

Smallpox was a deadly disease during the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies. It could leave permanent scars even if it didn't kill you. Armies and their camp-followers were highly vulnerable, and outbreaks threatened both sides. Smallpox somewhat resembles the coronavirus in how it appears. It spreads through direct contact, not through insects or other vectors. The incubation period can be up to two weeks before symptoms appear. Its symptoms are similar to those of the flu and COVID-19, including fevers, headaches, and body aches.

However, smallpox also causes pustules to form across the body. Soldiers suffered for about another two weeks before they either recovered or succumbed. The disease killed about one out of three infected (a 30% mortality rate, in Dr. Fauci’s terms), and survivors often took weeks to fully recover. Of course, the characteristic scars served as a constant reminder for both the individual and those around them.

The Continental Army experienced outbreaks during the siege of Boston and the defense of New York, when large numbers of soldiers were gathered in cramped conditions. There were two main approaches to fighting the disease, neither of which was particularly effective when it came to waging war.

Soldiers from over a half-dozen states gathered outside
Boston, providing conditions ripe for the spread of disease

Social Distancing

The first was quarantine, the social distancing of the day. Hard to do when men are organized in units such as companies, regiments, and brigades. Harder to do in winter quarters, where men huddled freezing around smoky campfires and shared common meals together. Meals were often sparse and unnutritious. The Continental Army could not telework. Well, at least not for long.

Winter cantonments such as Valley Forge, Morristown
 and Newburgh offered little chance for social distancing

Variolation

As controversial in the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies as it is today, smallpox was one of the few diseases preventable by inoculation, then called variolation. The variolator used a lancet with fresh matter taken from the pustule of someone with active smallpox. The material was then scraped onto the arms or legs of the recipient, or introduced through the nose. There were risks associated with this; recipients often developed symptoms like fever and a rash. However, fewer people died from variolation than if they had contracted smallpox naturally. In a study conducted during an outbreak in Boston in 1722, those without variolation died at a rate of 14%, while the variolated died at 2% (.14 versus .02 in Dr. Fauci's terms). This might have been one of the earliest examples of data in medical science.

Surgeon-in-Chief

Besides serving as commander-in-chief and spymaster-in-chief, General George Washington was the ultimate decision-maker on medical procedures used to fight outbreaks. He had a mild case of smallpox earlier in life during an expedition to the West Indies. However, military needs in 1775 and 1776 prevented him from ordering widespread variolation. Meanwhile, the British were administering it to any recruits coming to America. 

The year 1777 required forced inoculation to
prevent the army from wasting away from smallpox

By 1777, the situation shifted. A series of outbreaks that year claimed as many as 100,00 lives in North America. The colonies had only 2.5 million residents, not including native tribes in the colonies, Spanish America, and Canada. But that's still a pretty large “numerator,” as the good doctor would say. Washington had to weigh the risk that mass inoculation might weaken the Continental Army and finally approved the procedure, starting with all new recruits. By the next year, however, a significant number of men had still somehow avoided the process. This time, Washington issued strict orders that these men would undergo inoculation. Washington made variolation for smallpox "settled science."

Father of Public Health

Just as the ravages of infectious disease helped signal the end of the Roman Empire, Medieval Europe, and other civilizations, the major smallpox outbreaks in America during the fight for independence may have achieved what large numbers of redcoats and Hessians could not—break the resolve of the patriots. It is not hyperbole to say that the mass inoculation ordered by Washington saved the army and, consequently, the American cause. He may even add the honorific, the “Father of Public Health,” in addition to the “Father of His Country.”

First in War, First in Peace,
First in Public Health

Captain Molly

Female First Patriot

The American War for Independence would not have succeeded without the dedicated efforts of many women, from all walks of life. Besides the obvious morale support women provided the cause, they maintained the farms or ran the shops when the men-folk were with the army or the militia. They raised money and engaged in the day to day commerce that kept the economy going and helped feed the revolution. They organized efforts to sew and knit, providing badly needed garments, blankets, and the like for an army poorly served by traditional logistics. Many also followed the gun, joining husbands or sweethearts with the forces as camp-followers. This female first patriot’s service began that way. But it did not end that way. Her name was Mary Chocrane Corbin, and she was indeed, a female bad-ass.

Captain Molly - an original bad-ass

Frontier Orphan

Margaret Chochrane (later changed to Chocran) was born near today’s Chambersburg, Pennsylvania in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on 12 November 1751, of Scotch-Irish settlers. Pennsylvania was a battlefront during the French and Indian War, however, and in 1756 and Indian attack changed her life for the worse. In a savage raid so common then, her father was killed and her mother carried off never to be seen again. Margaret escaped but now an orphan, she was raised by an uncle. This was not uncommon in those days. One can only think her hardscrabble youth steeled her for the challenges that lay in store for her.

Margaret's mother was carried off in an Indian raid

Newlywed... New Recruit

In 1772, at the relatively old age of twenty-one, she married John Corbin, a Virginian who came to Pennsylvania during the war and lingered on. In the run-up to the War for Independence, John Corbin enlisted in Captain Thomas Proctor’s company of the 1st Continental Artillery. Corbin was a matross, a gunner’s assistant in an artillery crew. As a matross, it was John Corbin’s duty to assist the gunner in loading, firing, and sponging the guns.

John Corbin served as a matross, assistant gunner

Follow the Army

Like many women of her day, Margaret joined the army with her husband and served his unit as a camp follower. Camp followers were an essential component of 18th-century armies, providing essential services such as cooking, washing clothes and blankets, fetching firewood and water. In combat, they often attended the wounded or carried water for the troops. Without the service of these dedicated women, soldiers of the Revolutionary War would have suffered even more than they did. Especially the Americans, whose logistics often lacked.

Camp Followers were critical to the armies

Active Service

Margaret was with the Continental Army in this capacity in New York in 1776. By November of that year, General Washington’s army had been driven from Brooklyn, had abandoned most of Manhattan, and had withdrawn to the Jerseys in the face of overwhelming British land and naval power. In Manhattan, the Continental Army was clinging to a small piece of rock at the northern tip of the island. Fort Washington stood high above the North (Hudson) River and the Harlem River, making it a critical piece of land.  On November 16, General William Howe ordered a three-pronged bombardment and assault on Washington’s namesake bastion.

Fort Washington

Captain Molly

The fort’s defenders put up a desperate fight at first, stymieing the efforts of British and Hessian regulars. But soon the endless pounding of guns and determined assaults took its toll on the outnumbered defenders.  John was assisting a gunner until the gunner was killed. At this point he took charge of the gun and Margaret stepped in to assist him. Before long, the intense British fire took him down - John Corbin was killed in combat. Undeterred, his wife now stepped in for him. 
Margaret was often reported to have a feisty nature. On this day it would serve the forlorn cause at the fort.  With no time to grieve her fallen husband, Margaret sprang into action and began serving one of the guns in his place, personally loading and firing round after round at the attackers. But the British soon trained their guns on the belching American cannon. Before long, Margaret herself was struck by a blast of grapeshot from the HMS Pearl firing from the river below the fort. A swarm of lead balls tore into her shoulder, mangled her chest, and lacerated her jaw. Several soldiers carried her to the rear where she received what little treatment they could give. 

Captain Molly working a cannon at Fort Washington

Wounded in the Line of Duty

The fort soon surrendered, and thousands of soldiers were marched off to eventual death on prison hulks. But Margaret’s wounds were so severe she was paroled by the fort’s new commandant, Hessian General von Knyphausen. Margaret and the other wounded were ferried across the river to Fort Lee. Bleeding from multiple wounds, and an arm hanging by a thread, Margaret suffered a wagon jolting and bumping along poor roads all the way to Philadelphia. She survived the journey and the wounds, although they would plague her for the rest of her life. In addition, she permanently lost the use of her left arm.

Corbin suffered horrific wounds in
the service of her country

Corps of Invalids

In time, Corbin’s condition was made known to the Pennsylvania Executive Council, which granted her a small sum of money and referred her to the Continental Congress. The Board of War, impressed by her reputation as “Captain Molly,” then voted her a soldier’s half-pay for life on July 29, 1779. Afterward, Corbin was allowed to join the Corps of Invalids at West Point, New York. Congress created the corps to garrison posts, using soldiers no longer fit for full active service.

Corbin was assigned to the Corps of Invalids
for the remainder of the war

Honorable Discharge & Second Marriage

She was also allotted one free suit of clothing per year or the equivalent in money. In 1782, Congress allowed her to receive a daily ration of rum due to veteran soldiers.  As the war drew to a close, she was formally discharged from the military in April 1783. While serving at West Point Margret married again. Her new husband was also invalid, and the couple lived several years in grinding poverty. When he died, "Captain Molly" lived hand and mouth, often relying on the charity of locals.

The Corps of Invalids garrisoned West Point

Legacy

Our female first patriot died just shy of her 50th birthday at Highland Falls, New York on January 16, 1800, and was buried in an unmarked grave.

The DAR helped move Margaret Corbin's remains to its
final resting place

There she lay until in the early 20th century, Corbin’s remains were subsequently rediscovered and, through the intervention of the daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), she was interred at the US Military Academy in 1926 with full military honors. Her grave was marked by a bronze memorial. Corbin was the first woman of the Revolutionary War to receive a disability pension for military service. Ir is fitting that she was laid to rest with some of the great military heroes of America's wars.

Margaret Corbin finally laid to rest at West Point's cemetery?

However, the tale of America's first female veteran took on a strange twist in 2016. Her grave was accidentally dug up and it was decided to conduct a post exhumation forensic analysis. Unfortunately, the results determined the remains were of a very large male. When notified, the DAR remained undaunted and have resolutely pledged to continue the search for Margaret Corbin's actual remains. But you do not have to travel to West Point to visit a Captain Molly memorial. A plaque was erected on the site of Fort Washington in upper Manhattan, in today's Fort Tryon Park. Visitors to the Big Apple can visit it and visit the site of her gallant action in the service of her nation.

In an interesting side-note: Mary Corbin’s association with the artillery often causes her to be confused with another gunner, Mary Ludwig Hays, or Molly Pitcher, a common name for camp followers at the time. The other Molly may be the subject of a future Yankee Doodle Spies profile.

The Surgeon General from Scotland

Fans of Outlander will instantly recognize the unique connection this first patriot shares with the main characters of the cherished books and TV series. A strong, passionate Scotsman with fiery temper meets a calm, strategic medical professional who faces the British across two continents. Yet in this case, both qualities are embodied in one person—Hugh Mercer, a man who blazed a trail from the streets of Aberdeen to the bloody fields of Culloden, through the war-torn mountains of Pennsylvania and the frozen farmlands of New Jersey.

General Hugh Mercer

The Streets of Aberdeen

Hugh Mercer was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1725 to Reverend William Mercer, a Church of Scotland minister, and Ann Monro. He graduated from the University of Aberdeen with a medical degree in 1744. That same year, he joined the Jacobite army of Prince Charles Edward, the Pretender, and served as an assistant surgeon during the disastrous engagement at Culloden in April 1746. He escaped the massacre that followed the battle, and after months on the run, fled to America.

Country Doctor

The young surgeon, a war veteran and fugitive, settled in present-day Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, to work as a doctor. When the French and Indian War started in 1755, he put aside his eight years of comfortable medical practice and offered his services to the provincial forces, taking part in several notable battles. 

Another Massacre

On the western frontier of Pennsylvania, Mercer helped care for the survivors of General Braddock’s defeat on the Monongahela River. Shocked by the suffering of the wounded, Mercer set aside his disdain for the crown and joined Britain’s fight for America.

Punitive Expedition

In September 1756, the newly appointed captain joined Colonel John Armstrong on his punitive expedition against the Indian villages at Kittanning and was severely wounded. Isolated, he survived for two weeks on his own, wandering over 100 miles before reaching the friendly outpost at Fort Shirley. His devotion and gallantry were recognized. 

Mercer served under Col John Armstrong
in western Pennsylvania raid

Fort Duquesne

Two years later, he served as a lieutenant colonel during the capture of Fort Duquesne (renamed Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh) and later took command of the fort. Mercer's first task was to build a temporary fort to control the two forks of the Ohio in case the French returned from the northwest. During this campaign, Mercer met and formed a lasting friendship with Colonel George Washington of the Virginia Regiment. 

The Old Dominion

The war ended in 1763, and because he had befriended several Virginians, he chose to settle in a small port town with a tight-knit community of Scottish ex-pats. Although Mercer arrived in Fredericksburg to start a medical practice, he discovered much more. The town filled a void that had existed since he left his homeland.

Mercer opened an Apothecary in his
adopted town of Fredericksburg

First Mother's Physician

Besides practicing medicine, Mercer opened an apothecary in town. Like many settlers, he bought land. He served as a doctor to George Washington’s mother, Mary Ball Washington, and acquired the Ferry Farm from her as his family homestead. 

One of Mercer's celebrated patients
was Mary Ball Washington

Civic Leader

He became active in local town issues and was a prominent businessman. Along the way, he joined the Masonic lodge, which included Washington and many other notable Virginians. To say he was finally comfortable with life is an understatement. But he would soon leave his comfort to follow the drum one last time.

Mercer, George Washington, and numerous founders
belonged to the Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge

The Minuteman

By 1775, the tensions between Britain and its colonies in North America had shifted from resistance to rebellion and eventually to war. It was only natural that the brave freedom-lover Mercer would join the cause and face his former enemies again. He became a member of the Fredericksburg Committee of Safety. In September, Mercer was appointed commander of all Minuteman companies in the four counties around Fredericksburg. 

Virginia Minutemen

The Continental

In January 1776, his talents were once again recognized. Virginia’s provincial congress appointed him a colonel in the 3rd Virginia Continental Line. He set to work training it into a sharp, disciplined unit, but that command was short-lived. His old friend and fellow soldier, George Washington, was now the commander in chief of the new Continental Army. Mercer enjoyed a strong military reputation, so Washington petitioned the Continental Congress to appoint him brigadier general that June.

Mercer commanded a Continental Line regiment
but was quickly promoted to the rank of
Brigadier General

Flying Camp Days

Washington quickly assigned him to lead the so-called Flying Camp, a mobile military reserve. He tried to use it to support the main army during the New York campaign, but the unit faced desertions, manpower shortages, and supply problems. The Flying Camp was disbanded that winter. 

Fort Lee before evacuation

Battle Across the Jerseys

Mercer was also responsible for constructing what became Fort Lee on the New Jersey side of the North (Hudson) River. Although the fort fell without resistance during the British invasion of the Jerseys in late 1776, Mercer still held Washington’s full confidence. He played a key role during the bold and skillful counter-attack at Trenton on December 1776, 1776. His brigade was instrumental in pushing the Hessian garrison out of the town, where they were compelled to surrender in a nearby field.

Mercer commanded a brigade at the crucial
assault on the Hessian garrison at Trenton

Escape from Assunpink

The Americans eventually moved to Assunpink Creek to wait for the inevitable British counterattack by a column of about 5,000 troops led by Major General Charles Earl Cornwallis. Some say Mercer may have suggested the famous ruse of leaving fires burning. Regardless, the British were fooled when the Americans slipped away into the night, got behind Cornwallis’s column, and launched an attack on Princeton. 

After repulsing Cornwallis's columns at Assunpink Creek
the Americans slipped away in the night

Advance on Princeton

On January 3, 1777, Mercer, leading the advance unit ahead of the main force, faced a brigade of about 1200 British regulars under Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood of the 17th Regiment of Foot. A fierce volley exchange broke out near Stony Brook Bridge. Instead of retreating from the redcoats' pressure, the formidable Scot charged into battle against the better-trained British troops. However, his men were pushed back after intense combat.

Mawhood's brigade was all that stood
between Mercer and Princeton

Clash and Flurry of Blades

While trying to rally his men, Mercer was shot from his horse. Refusing to surrender, he drew his saber but was overpowered and stabbed multiple times by furious British soldiers (who might have thought he was Washington). Wounded fatally, he was carried to the nearby home of Thomas Clarke, where a British surgeon's mate and some local women cared for him. When Washington learned his fate, he contacted Cornwallis, who kindly allowed Washington’s top doctor, Dr. Benjamin Rush, to tend to the dying general. 

British bayonets mortally wounded
the gallant Scot turned Yankee

Final Home

The brave soldier-surgeon Mercer lingered but eventually died from his wounds on January 12, 1776. His body was taken to Philadelphia for burial. Had Mercer survived, he likely would have played an even more important role in fighting for America's independence. Still, the greater tragedy is that this educated and committed soldier-surgeon never got the chance to help build the nation whose freedom was bought with his blood.

Gen Hugh Mercer's grave 

The Kentuckian

It is time we turn our attention to the South once more. The region is full of first patriots whose names were legendary to the generations after the struggle for independence but are now faded into the mists of time. The Southern struggle is most remembered for the exploits of Marion and Sumter. Yet countless others played roles both big and small. Not the least of these were those tough fighters called the “Over Mountain Men.” Hard-nosed and tough-fisted settlers west of the Appalachian Mountains, experienced in hunting, fighting, and hard liquor. This edition profiles one of these: Isaac Shelby.

Family of Migrants

Isaac Shelby was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, on December 11, 1750. His father, Evan Shelby, from Tregaron, Cardiganshire, Wales, had come to America in 1734. Around 1773, Evan moved his family to the Holston region of what is now upper East Tennessee, which was then part of Virginia.

In mid-18th century, the Alleghenies
were the western frontier

Raised on the Range

Young Isaac grew up immersed in the rough and tumble world of frontier life and fighting. He quickly learned to use arms and became familiar with the hardships of Western life. He received a solid education, worked on his father's plantation, occasionally surveyed land, and became a deputy sheriff at age eighteen.

Frontier cabin

Big Strong Man

Isaac Shelby was a large man, standing six feet tall, strong, and well-proportioned, with a striking face and a ruddy complexion. He could endure long hours of work, physical hardships, and great fatigue. Dignified and impressive in manner, he was also friendly and charming. In short, he was a natural leader. Additionally, he was intelligent and had clear executive skills that helped him both in peace and in war.

Shelby in later life

 Lord Dunmore's War

When the Earl of Dunmore, Virginia's Royal Governor John Murray, went to war with the Shawnee under Chief Cornstalk, Shelby joined the local militia as a lieutenant, serving under his father. On October 10, 1774, young Shelby fought in the Battle of Point Pleasant. He scored an early victory in the fight by charging the high ground on the Indian flank, causing them to leave the field. This was just a preview of what was to come.

John Murray,Royal Governor of
Virginia

A Rebel Goes West

The American Revolution intensified in 1775, and by 1776, Shelby had rejoined the militia, this time as a captain. Virginia’s governor, Patrick Henry, appointed him to a position on Virginia’s western frontier. There, he provided direct support to Colonel George Rogers Clark’s campaign into the Illinois Territory. Isaac also contributed to his father’s victory over the Indian chief Dragging Canoe in a battle on the Tennessee River in 1779.

Shelby provided logistic support to
George Rogers Clark's western campaign

Me? A Tar Heel?

Eighteenth-century boundaries in this region were mostly informal. When he discovered that his homestead was actually in North Carolina, Isaac became a militia colonel there. He also earned a seat in the state assembly. 

Although a newly minted Tar Heel, Shelby was in Kentucky when Charleston fell to the British in 1780, and the victorious and exuberant redcoats began to overrun his state. Upon hearing of the new threat, he rushed home and gathered around 200 men for the cause. He quickly teamed up with Colonel Joseph McDowell to try to stop the advance of British General Charles Cornwallis and his Loyalist supporters.

The Fall of Charleston opened up the Carolinas
to the Southern Strategy

Guerrilla Days

His first major test came on July 31 when Shelby and his men managed to surround Thickety Fort on the Pacolet River. His confidence and cleverness allowed him to persuade the commander to surrender his 94 men. Shelby then joined forces with a group of partisans led by Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clarke. With a combined force of 200 men, they attacked a Loyalist outpost at Musgrove Mills. Although outnumbered nearly two to one, they drove off the Loyalists in a fierce skirmish.

Enter the Counter Guerrilla

These activities threatened Cornwallis’s security, leading the British general to send arguably the army’s top guerrilla fighter, Major Patrick Ferguson. However, after the patriot army under General Horatio Gates was defeated at Camden on August 16, 1780, nearly all resistance broke down across the south. It appeared that the British “southern strategy“ was about to succeed.

Major Patrick Ferguson

 Run Away

For his part, Shelby retreated west with McDowell, and their forces disappeared into the frontier hinterland. There, they waited out the events. However, local atrocities committed by Loyalist bands angered the Southerners, leading to a series of partisan and guerrilla actions, and they continued to resist.

Partisan militia

 The Lord's Prayer

Seeking to bring the Carolinas under British control, Lord Cornwallis marched an army into North Carolina in a risky move that would end up backfiring. Alongside him was Ferguson, who issued a bold challenge to the “Over Mountain Men,” as the frontier rebels were called. The message was clear: submit to the crown, or their homes would be destroyed. But the men of the west were not impressed. In fact, this only motivated the frontiersmen.

Major General Charles Cornwallis

Band of Brothers, Tough Mothers

Shelby, along with another Overmountain man from Tennessee, John Sevier, assembled a force of 200 volunteers, gathered at Sycamore Shoals, and soon headed into war-torn North Carolina. There, they joined forces with Colonel William Campbell. Driven by a desire for revenge, the Overmountain men fiercely advanced to confront Ferguson. The feeling was mutual. The famed counter-guerrilla led a force of about 900 Loyalists eager to suppress the rebels.

John Sevier - another
Over Mountain Bad Ass

Go Tell it to the Mountain

But the tide turned against Ferguson, who was trapped on a high ground called King’s Mountain (just over the border in South Carolina) and cut off from the main British column under Cornwallis. Withering and accurate fire from the western rifles devastated the Loyalists. Ferguson was shot while trying to rally a defense and soon died. The few who did not taste lead eventually surrendered. Shelby played a key role in planning and executing the operation and soon became a local hero.

Kings Mountain was a turning point in the South

 Draining the Swamp, with the Swamp Fox

After King’s Mountain, Cornwallis’s strategy began to fall apart. However, there was still more fighting to be done. Shelby teamed up with the famous partisan general Francis Marion and helped capture Monk’s Corner. Fighting continued throughout the South even after Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown in October 1781. Nonetheless, the British and their loyal allies were defeated.

Francis Marion and his partisan militia

The Kentuckian

After the war, Shelby retired to private life, where his heroics during the conflict paved the way for a successful political career. He moved to Kentucky and helped organize the territory, build infrastructure, and strengthen defenses against the Indians and their British allies. On April 19, 1783, at Boonesboro, he married Susannah Hart, the daughter of Captain Nathaniel Hart, one of Kentucky's earliest settlers. Susannah eventually bore him eleven children.

Susannah Hart Shelby

 Politician, Pundit, and Warrior

In 1792, he was elected governor of the recently admitted state. He criticized President Washington’s foreign policy. Many westerners wanted a more aggressive stance against the British forts to the west and the Native Americans. 

However, he provided unwavering support to Major General Anthony Wayne’s Legion during the Indian campaigns of 1794. In 1812, Shelby was elected governor once again. His military and organizational skills were put to work mobilizing Kentucky’s militia for war. In 1813, he personally led a force of 3,500 mounted riflemen north to support General William Henry Harrison’s army near Thames, Ontario. After the war, Congress struck a gold medal in his honor.

Gen Anthony Wayne's American Legion

 Diplomat to the Indians

 In 1817, he turned down President James Madison’s offer to serve as Secretary of War. His last major contribution to the Overmountain region came in 1818 when he, Andrew Jackson, and others negotiated the “Jackson Purchase,” which transferred control of the western districts of Kentucky and Tennessee from the Chickasaw Indians. This opened the western region to settlement. To honor this service, the Tennessee General Assembly named Shelby County (Memphis) after him.

President James Madison

 A Model for the West

The fighting governor died near Danville, Kentucky, in July 1826. He was mourned as a distinguished public servant and soldier. One of the nation’s most notable frontiersmen, Shelby served as an example for future frontiersmen who would help establish the Republic of Texas and strengthen America’s westward expansion.

Shelby Cemetery is a KY historic site