SC National Heritage Corridor

Eutaw Springs Battle Ground

Revolutionary War
In the summer of 1781, General Nathanael Greene led an American army southward to reclaim South Carolina from the British. On September 8, 1781, Greene’s troops clashed with Colonel Alexander Stewart’s army at Eutaw Springs in the last major battle of the Revolutionary War fought in South Carolina. The two evenly matched armies of veterans slugged it out for three hours in the heat of a late summer morning. The battle ended with Greene’s army in retreat and Stewart’s troops holding the bloody field. But Stewart’s victory was hollow—he had lost almost a third of his force. The British army limped back toward Charleston, leaving most of the countryside in American control. Greene’s defeat on the battlefield at Eutaw Springs became a major strategic victory in the war.

A portion of the battlefield is preserved by Santee Cooper off of SC Highway 6 northeast of Eutawville. Other parts of the battlefield are being investigated by the Palmetto Conservation Foundation in an ongoing effort to better understand the battle and protect its remnants.