Brandon's Camp

In the summer of 1780, Colonel Thomas Brandon was the commander of the Fairforest Militia Regiment. He and about seventy or eighty of his men were camped along Fairforest Creek about five miles below the present site of Union, SC. They were waiting on the arrival of two other militia regiments. They had captured a Loyalist named Adam Steedham and were holding him as a prisoner. On the night of June 9, Steedham escaped. He went to the camp of Captain William Cunningham (known to the Patriots as “Bloody Bill”) who was camped close-by with a band of Tories from the Saluda River area. He led the Tories back to attack Brandon’s camp the next morning. They completely defeated and scattered the Patriots. They killed several Patriots including a man named John Young. His brother, Thomas Young, later left an account of what he did after he found out about his brothers death at the hands of the Tories. He joined Brandon’s Militia troops and said “Subsequently, a hundred Tories felt the weight of my arm for the deed and around Steedham’s neck, I fastened a rope as a reward for his cruelties.”

 

Brandon’s Camp was about 20 miles from our bridge at Trough Shoals

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See more information about my Pacolet connection at Gerald Teaster.