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THE PRESERVATION OF CAMDEN BATTLEFIELD

by R. Bryan Whitfield

A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY

in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

in the department of History

May, 1980

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

�1980, R. Bryan Whitfield. Used by permission.


[ii]

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Dr. J. Edwin Hendricks, my advisor, for his many helpful suggestions and for his patience in dealing with this project. I would also like to thank Mrs. Hope Boykin, Director of Historic Camden, Mrs. Priscilla Oliver and the late Mr. Richard W. Lloyd, both of the Kershaw County Historical Society, and Mr. Roderick Cantey of Camden for providing me with extensive information on the Camden battlefield which I might not otherwise have been able to obtain. In addition, I would like to express special appreciation to Mrs. Phyllis Gale, past Regent of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, for her encouragement and for the many hours she spent detailing the activities of her organization. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the help of my parents, Ralph and Marguerite Whitfield, without whose assistance and support this project would not have been possible.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter   Page
  LIST OF FIGURES iv
  ABSTRACT v
  INTRODUCTION 1
I THE BATTLE OF CAMDEN 6
II THE BATTLEFIELD: 1780-1970 45
III THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
AND THE PLAN TO DEVELOP THE CAMDEN
BATTLEFIELD
73
IV POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CAMDEN
BATTLEFIELD ON THE LOCAL, STATE, AND
FEDERAL LEVELS
93
  APPENDICES 102
  BIBLIOGRAPHY 113
  VITA 120

 

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LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 1. Map of the War in the South 7
Figure 2. Map of the Camden Campaign 19
Figure 3. Map of Camden and Vicinity 23
Figure 4. Map of the Battle of Camden 33
Figure 5. Stone Tablet Placed Over the First Gravesite of
Baron Johann DeKalb Between 1805 and 1811
(1979)
49
Figure 6. Memorial Erected in 1825 Over the Second
Gravesite of Baron Johann DeKalb (1979) (1979)
55
Figure 7. Memorial Erected in 1909 by the Hobkirk Hill
Chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution Marking the Spot where Baron Johann
DeKalb Fell Mortally Wounded in the Battle of
Camden (1978)
61
Figure 8. Aerial Photograph of the Camden Battlefield (1956) 67
Figure 9. View of the Camden Battlefield West of Highway 58
(1979)
69
Figure 10 View of the Camden Battlefield East of Highway 58
(1979)
69
Figure 11. Roadside Marker Erected in 1974 for the Battle of Camden (1979) 72
Figure 12. Proposed Interpretive Station for the Camden
Battlefield
83
Figure 13. Site Development Plan for the Camden Battlefield 85

 

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Whitfield, R. Bryan

THE PRESERVATION OF CAMDEN BATTLEFIELD

Thesis under the direction of J. Edwin Hendricks, Ph.D., Professor of History.

On August 16, 1780, an American army led by Major General Horatio Gates was virtually annihilated by a smaller British force under Lord Charles Cornwallis. With the exception of the siege of Charleston, South Carolina, Camden was the worst American defeat of the war, costing the lives of nearly two hundred Continentals. More significantly, however, the disaster prompted Congress to replace the inept Gates with Major General Nathanael Greene as commander of the Southern army. Under the able leadership of Greene, the revitalized American forces successfully drove the British army from the southern theater.

After the Revolution the Camden battlefield was all but forgotten for quite some time. During the early 1900s, however, the newly organized Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution began to take an interest in the site, erecting a monument in 1909 to Johann DeKalb, one of the heroes of the action. In the years that followed the ladies of the Chapter struggled valiantly to preserve and bring national recognition to the field of action.

Despite the recent unsuccessful efforts of the D. A. R. to establish an interpretive station at the site, the Camden battlefield

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is inherently worthy of more extensive development. Local, state, or national parks have been created on the fields of virtually every other significant confrontation of the Revolution. With the approach of the two hundredth anniversary of the event, such recognition should be accorded to the battle of Camden.

[1]

INTRODUCTION

Early on the morning of August 16, 1780, an American army commanded by Major General Horatio Gates was virtually annihilated by a smaller British force under Lord Charles Cornwallis. Although the action lasted barely one hour, it was among the most significant of the Revolution. With the exception of the siege of Charleston, South Carolina, in April and May 1780, Camden was the worst American defeat of the war. Close to two hundred Continental troops were killed in the encounter and hundreds more were wounded or captured. Many militia troops fortunate enough to escape the scene of battle simply returned to their homes, never to fight again. More significantly, however, the disaster prompted the Continental Congress of the United States to replace the inept Gates with Major General Nathanael Greene, a Rhode Island Quaker, as commander of the Southern army. Under the able leadership of Greene, the revitalized American forces successfully drove the British army from the southern theater.

After the Revolution the Camden battlefield was all but forgotten, visited only by an occasional traveler. As time passed there gradually developed among local residents the sentiment that the sacrifices of those men who had fought and died in the action should be remembered

[2]

and honored. In 1909 the newly organized Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a marker on the spot where Major General Johann DeKalb, one of the few genuine American [59] heroes of the battle, fell mortally wounded. In the 1940s, after acquiring six acres of the battlefield area, the ladies of the Chapter also established a small park.[60]

The D.A.R.'s strong commitment to the preservation of the Camden battlefield eventually inspired others to take an interest in the site. In the spring of 1954 Mr. Allison P. DuBose, Vice-President of the Kershaw County Historical Society, applied to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, the official state preservation agency, for a road sign to mark the site of the battle for travelers. The application was quickly approved, and by the fall of 1954 the sign was in place.[61]

Local efforts to preserve and memorialize the battlefield finally prompted the federal government to take action. On January 20, 1961, the site was declared a National Historic Landmark under guidelines set forth in the Historic Sites Act of 1935. Five years

[2]

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CHAPTER II

THE BATTLEFIELD: 1780-1970

Early in the evening of August 16, 1780, a wagon carrying the wounded Baron Johann DeKalb rumbled through the streets of Camden, South Carolina, and came to a stop in frcnt of the Blue House, an inn located on the southern edge of town. Suffering greatly from eleven wounds received during the action of the morning, the Baron was gently lifted by his British captors and carried into the house. Dr. Isaac Alexander, a surgeon with the American army who had also been captured during the battle, was assigned to take care of the wounded man. The victorious British could afford to be generous.[1]

There was little, however, that Dr. Alexander could do except make the Baron's last hours a bit more comfortable. DeKalb had been pierced by eight British bayonets and three musket balls, and his strength was ebbing fast.[2] Realizing that his wounds would soon prove fatal, the dying man called his aide, the Chevalier DuBuysson, to his side. DuBuysson later recorded that DeKalb

[46]

expressed the greatest satisfaction in the testimony given by the British army of the bravery of his troops, and he was charmed with the firm opposition they made to superior force when abandoned by the rest of the army. The gallant behaviour of the Delaware regiment and the companies of artillery attached to the brigade, afforded him infinite pleasure, and the exemplary conduct of the whole division gave him an endearing sense of the merit of the troops he had the honor to command.[3]

On August 19, three days after the battle of Camden, DeKalb succumbed to his wounds. He was laid to rest between two British officers in a field behind the Blue House, very near the old Presbyterian Church.[4] According to DuBuysson, who witnessed the interment, DeKalb "was buried with all the honors of war, and his funeral was attended by all the officers of the British army."[5]

Shortly after the close of the Revolution, Mason Locke Weems, a veteran of the war, visited DeKalb's grave. In his biography of Francis Marion, the famous South Carolina partisan leader, Weems recorded his impressions:

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I have seen the place of his [DeKalbs] rest, in the lowest spot of the plain. No sculptured warrior mourned at his head, no cypress deck his heel. But the tall corn stood in darkening ranks around him, and seemed to shake their green leaves with joy over his narrow dwelling.

"Fair Camden's plains his glorious dust inhume,
Where annual Ceres shades her hero's tomb."[6]

In 1786 apparently several years after Weems made his observations, Elkanah Watson, a veteran of the Revolution from Massachusetts, also visited the site as part of his tour of the Southern states. In his memoirs, Watson reported that the grave was now "inclosed by a decent paling, " suggesting that the citizens of Camden had made a modest effort to remedy their earlier neglect of the site.[7]

As time passed, however, DeKalb's resting place apparently fell into a state of disrepair. Sometime between 1805 and 1811 the Masons of Camden sought to erect a monument over the grave to express their appreciation for the valiant general who had fallen in the cause of freedom. However, much to their surprise, they encountered a great deal of trouble in locating the site. According to an anonymous letter printed in an 1886 edition of the.Baltimore Sun, "a committee was appointed to make further search and elicit all the

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information possible to carry their intentions into effect." Dr. A. H. DeLeon, chairman of the committee, addressed an inquiry to a Mr. Nones of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of the few surviving witnesses of DeKalb's interment. Despite his advanced age, Nones vividly recalled the event and provided a detailed description of the site.[8]

With this information to guide their search, the Masons located the Baron's remains with little difficulty.[9] David Ramsay, author of several detailed histories of the Revolution in South Carolina, composed a brief tribute to DeKalb which was inscribed on a white stone tablet.[10] The tablet was then placed over the grave, and the entire plot was enclosed "by a plain brick structure three or four feet high.[11]

During the early 1820s the citizens of Camden desired to erect a more striking and permanent memorial to the fallen general, and they formed the Committee of the DeKalb Monument to carry their wish into effect. Since DeKalb's grave was in a section of town which had

[49]

Orig. DeKalb Stone

Figure 5. Stone Tablet Placed Over the First Gravesite of Baron Johann DeKalb Between 1805 and 1811. Photograph taken in 1979 by the author. [Photograph will be inserted when suitable image is obtained].

[50]

long since been abandoned, the Committee determined to re-inter the Baron's remains in the courtyard of the new Presbyterian Church, which lay in the heart of the community. Robert Mills, Architect and Engineer of South Carolina, designed an impressive monument to cover the new gravesite consisting of a base of twenty-six large granite blocks surmounted by a white marble obelisk. By the late summer of 1824 sufficient funds for the project had been raised, and the Committee ordered construction to begin immediately.[12]

As the work progressed, the members of the Committee learned that the Marquis de Lafayette, the famous French hero of the Revolution, had been invited by Congress to tour the United States as an official guest of the nation. Recalling that Lafayette and DeKalb had sailed together from France in 1777 to offer their services to America, they conceived the idea of having the distinguished French visitor lay the cornerstone of the monument to his fallen comrade. On behalf of the citizens of Camden, they extended an invitation to the Marquis which much to their delight, was immediately accepted. Work on the monument was speeded up in order to be ready for the ceremony.[13]

On March 8, 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette, accompanied by his son, George Washington Lafayette, his personal secretary,

[51]

Auguste Levasseur, and a cavalry escort, arrived at the outskirts Of Camden. There, the French hero boarded a waiting carriage and proceeded through the streets to the Cornwallis House, on the southern edge of town, where he was greeted by the tumultuous cheering of a large and enthusiastic crowd.[14]

The official welcoming festivities, consisting primarily of speeches by the most prominent citizens and accented every now and then by the booming of ceremonial cannon, continued throughout much of the day.[15] During the evening a ball was given in the Long Boom of the Camden Hotel to honor the Marquis. According to tradition, as each gentleman passed him in the receiving line, Lafayette would ask, "Married?" If the answer was "Yes, he would cry "Ah, happy fellow, happy fellow!" If the reply was "No," however, he would whisper with a wink, "Lucky dog, sir, lucky dog!"[16]

At noon the next day, a huge crowd gathered on the lawn in front of the Presbyterian Church to dedicate the unfinished memorial to the revered Baron DeKalb. After a short prayer the remains of the fallen hero, supported by six Revolutionary officers, were placed in the

[52]

vault and the funeral rites were offered.[17] The Marquis de Lafayette next moved forward and laid the cornerstone of the monument, after which he delivered a brief address:

The honor now bestowed upon me, I receive with the mingled emotions of patriotism, gratitude and friendship; and, like other honorable duties which await me in the more northern parts of the Union, I consider it as being conferred on the Revolutionary army in the person of a surviving general officer.

In that army, Sir, which offered a perfect assemblage of every civic and military virtue, Major General Baron DeKalb has acted a conspicuous part. His able conduct, undaunted valor, and glorious fall, in the first battle of Camden, form one of the remarkable traits of our struggle for independence and freedom. He was cordially devoted to our American cause, and while his public and private qualities have endeared hira to his con- temporaries, here I remain to pay to his merits on this tomb, the tribute of an admiring witness, of an intimate companion, of a mourning friend. [18]

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As the stone was slowly lowered to seal the vault, Lafayette, with head bowed, followed it with his hand. it bore the inscription

This Stone
was placed over
the remains
of
BARON DEKALB
by
GENERAL LAFAYETTE
1825.

The ceremony closed with the appropriate military honors, and the solemn crowd then filed away to the mournful strains of a funeral dirge.[19]

By 1827 the final touches on the monument had been completed. The obelisk bore the inscription composed by David Ramsay some years earlier for the stone tablet, eulogizing DeKalb as "a German by birth, but in principle a citizen of the world." The names of the states which made up the Union were engraved on twenty-four of the foundation stones, while the twenty-fifth block covered the vault.[20] At a cost of $2,900, the citizens of Camden at last believed that they had erected a fitting monument to the valiant general who had given his life to preserve their freedom.[21]

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For over one hundred years, however, little or no effort was expended to memorialize the field where DeKalb and close to two hundred additional soldiers in the service of America had fallen. At the time of the battle, a virgin forest of long leaf pines, limbless to a height of forty feet, covered the ground on either side of the road from Camden to Charlotte, North Carolina. The site had always been known locally as the "Parker Old Field;" however, in 1780 much of the land was apparently owned by Jasper Sutton, whose farm was located on the southern edge of the battlefield.[22]

As the years passed only an occasional traveler paused long enough to record his thoughts and observations of the field of action.

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DeKalb monument

Figure 6. Memorial Erected in 1825 Over the Second
Gravesite of Baron Johann DeKalb. Photograph taken
in 1979 by the author.

[56]

In 1786 Elkanah Watson had noted that "shattered trees, and the unburied bones of men and horses" were still much in evidence at the site.[23] By 1830, however, Mrs. Ann Royall, a prominent journalist who traveled extensively, reported that "not a vestige of the battle or entrenchments [sic] remain."[24]

On January 17, 1849, Benson J. Lossing, a noted nineteenth century historian and author of Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, visited the battlefield and recorded the most detailed description of the site up to that time:

The hottest of the engagement occurred upon the hill, just before descending to Sander's Creek from the north, now, as then, covered with an open forest of pine-trees. When I passed through it, the undergrowth had just been burned, and the blackened trunks of the venerable pines, standing like the columns of a vast temple, gave the whole scene a dreary, yet grand appearance. Many of the old trees yet bear marks of the battle, the scars of the bullets being made very distinct by large protuberances. I was informed that many musket-balls have been cut out of the trees; and I saw quite a number of trunks which, had been recently hewn with axes for the purpose. Some pines had been thus cut by searchers for bullets which must have been in the seed when the battle occurred.[25]

In 1853, four years after Lossing's visit, Margaret Maxwell Martin, a prominent South Carolina socialite, similarly noted that

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all along the road we observe incisions in the trees, for the purpose of extracting bullets . . . .The wagoners as they go along, said a countryman with whom we got into conversation, cut these holes in the trees to get out the balls lodged there.[26]

Mrs. Martin lamented, however, the absence of a "monument inscription stone" at the site to commemorate the actions of those who fought and died at Camden. She wrote:

I endorse the sentiment of a patriotic writer, that those battlefields in our state illustrated by the gallantry and devotion of our ancestors, should be marked by permanent mementos at the cost of the State; and he who would carry such a measure through the legislature would himself deserve a monument.[27]

Unfortunately, the government of South Carolina took little official interest in such matters and, during Mrs. Martin's lifetime at least, there was no local historical society capable of undertaking a project of that kind.

[58]

On the afternoon of August 9, 1890, however, a meeting took place in a small Washington, D. C. apartment which ultimately would remedy the situation. Frustrated by a recent decision by the Sons of the American Revolution to bar women, a few of the most outstanding ladies of the city assembled to establish an organization through which they could express, pursue, and promote their patriotic feelings. Thus was born the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion.[28]

Although at first not truly national in scope, the Society quickly spread across much of the country. in South Carolina, enthusiasm for the D. A. R. was especially strong. By 1907 there were 617 members organized into approximately 20 chapters around the state.[29]

Anxious not to be left out, the ladies of Camden organized the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the D. A. R. on July 10, 1907, and, almost from the beginning, took a special interest in the Camden battlefield.[30] Although clearly unable to undertake an extensive preservation project, they nevertheless were determined to make up for the neglect of the

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site by past generations.[31] Sometime near the end of 1908 they resolved to place a marker to the memory of Baron DeKalb on the battlefield itself. After receiving permission for their project from the owner of the land, William A. Edwards, the ladies held a "Tea" on January 21, 1909 to raise the necessary funds.[32] Construction of the marker began the following month,[33] and by the last week in May the work had been completed.[34]

On Friday afternoon, May 28, a large number of public officials and citizens of Camden assembled at the battlefield for the formal dedication of the marker. W. Bratton DeLoache, a local dignitary, delivered a stirring address in which he recounted the events of the

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battle and the heroic death of DeKalb. Afterwards, the marker, a large slab of granite firmly embedded in concrete and rock, was unveiled.[35] It bore the inscription

BARON DEKALB
MORTALLY WOUNDED
ON THIS SPOT.
AT BATTLE OF
CAMDEN.
AUG. 16, 1780.[36]

"All praise to our noble women of the D. A. R.!" proclaimed The Camden Chronicle of June 4, 1909." The monument will not only mark the spot where fell the gallant DeKalb, but will also bear testimony to the untiring efforts and loyal patriotism of these women."[37]

In 1912 William Edwards donated the acre of land which sur- rounded the DeKalb marker to the Hobkirk Hill Chapter.[38] Although the gift insured the future security of the marker, the ladies apparently felt at the time that there was little more which they could do to

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DAR marker

Figure 7. Memorial Erected in 1909 by the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution Marking the Spot Where Baron Johann DeKalb Fell Mortally Wounded in the Battle of Camden. Photograph taken in 1978 by the author.

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preserve or memorialize the battlefield, and thus moved on to other projects.

During the 1920s, however, the federal government began to take an interest in the preservation of battlefields of historical significance. in 1925, acting on instructions from the War Department, the Army War College prepared a "study of records pertaining to the battles of the United States with reference to the establishment of national military parks and national monuments."[39] The study contained the following classification scheme:

Class I. Battles worthy of commemoration by the establishment of national military parks . . . .
Class II. Battles of sufficient importance to warrant the designation of their sites as national monuments. The action of Congress and the great difference in the importance of these battles give reason for the subdivision under this class into:
Class IIa. Battles of such great military and historic interest as to warrant locating and indicating the battle lines of the forces engaged by a series of markers or tablets, but not necessarily by memorial monuments.
Class IIb. Battles of sufficient historic interest to be worthy of some form of monument, tablet, or marker to indicate the location of the battle field.[40]

The battle of Camden was placed in the last of these categories.[41]

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On June 11, 1926, President Calvin Coolidge signed into law An Act To provide for the study and investigation of battle fields in the United States for commemorative purposes,[42] With the understanding that the Army War College report would serve as the basis for the study. A portion of the funds appropriated to carry out the provisions of the act were allotted to the historical section of the Army War College for the purpose of preparing reports on selected battlefields.[43]

Camden was one of only a few battlefields chosen to be studied in detail. During the winter of 1929 Lieutenant Colonel H. L. Landers journeyed to South Carolina to collect the necessary data. Landers went over the battlefield carefully, made several detailed maps and

[64]

sketches, took a number of photographs, consulted with local authorities, and made extensive use of local libraries. By April he had completed his report, the first in-depth study of the battle, and turned it over to James W. Good, Secretary of War.[44]

On April 29, 1929, Good sent a copy of the report to William F. Stevenson, a member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina.[45] Stevenson was so impressed with the work that he introduced a resolution in the House, which was approved:

HOUSE RESOLUTION No. 37

PRESENTED BY MR. STEVENSON

Resolved, That the historical statements concerning the Battle of Camden, South Carolina, of August 16, 1780, prepared by Lieutenant Colonel H. L. Landers, of the Historical Section, Army War College, be printed, with illustrations, as a document.

Attest:

WILLIAM TYLER PAGE,
Clerk.[46]

Landers' book, The Battle of Camden, undoubtedly was responsible for reviving the interest of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the D. A. R. in the battlefield. On January 10, 1930, The Camden

[65]

Chronicle detailed an ambitious project which the ladies had apparently only recently decided to undertake: "the plan is to purchase the land on which the revolutionary battle of Camden was fought in 1780, and to make of it in time a National Park." According to the Chronicle, the Chapter "secured an option for purchase of 425� acres covering most of the feld [sic]. It will take about $6,500 to complete the purchase."[47] The economic depression which swept the United States during the 1930s may have forced the ladies to abandon their project. For whatever reason, the plan was not carried out.[48]

Despite their failure, the ladies of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter retained their interest in preserving the battlefield. On September 10, 1942, William A. Edwards gave five additional acres, adjoining the original acre donated in 1912, to the Chapter.[49] A short time later

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the ladies initiated a campaign to improve the appearance of the land surrounding the marker, undoubtedly with the hope that such an action would attract visitors to the site. The six acre-tract was surveyed and marked off,[50] and much of the underbrush was cleared away.[51] Other measures may have been taken as well, for the site was hereafter frequently referred to as "DeKalb Park" in the minutes of the monthly meetings.[52]

During the late 1940s the Craig Laird Timber Company of Camden purchased the timber rights to the land which surrounded DeKalb Park and almost immediately began an extensive cutting operation. In their haste to clear the land, Company workers mistakenly cut down a number of trees on the D.A.R. tract. Mrs. Sadie K. von Tresckow, Regent of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter, was furious because, according to one report at least, some of the fallen trees still contained musket balls from the battle.[53] To prevent future incursions by the

[67]

1956 aerial photo

[* Scale value not valid for this graphical image.]

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timber company, it was agreed upon at the meeting of the Chapter on September 22, 1950, that a barbed wire fence be placed around DeKalb Park.[54] Although unexpected delays were encountered, the fence was eventually completed in January 1953.[55]

Such deep concern for the preservation of the Camden battlefield eventually inspired others to take an interest in the site. In the spring of 1954 Mr. Allison P. DuBose, Vice-President of the newly organized Kershaw County Historical Society, applied to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, the official state preservation agency, for a road sign to mark the site and provide a brief history of the battle for travelers. As required, DuBose had done the necessary research and prepared a tentative text for the sign. After making a

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W. of Hwy. 58

Figure 9. View of the Camden Battlefield East of Highway 58. Photograph taken in 1979 by the author.

E. of Hwy. 58

Figure 10. View of the Camden Battlefield West of Highway 58. Photograph taken in 1979 by the author.

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few minor alterations in the text, J. H. Easterby, Director of Archives and History, approved the application.[56]

By the fall of 1954 the sign had been placed on the battlefield, just west of Route 58 near the DeKalb marker, by the South Carolina Department of Highways. It bore the inscription

BATTLE OF CAMDEN

Near this memorial on August 16, 1780,
an American army under the command of
General Gates was defeated by British
forces led by Lord Cornwallis. Major
General Baron de Kalb was mortally
wounded in this battle.

Troops Engaged

British

Tarleton's Legion, Twenty-third, Thirty-third,
and Seventy-first Regiments, Volunteers of
Ireland, Royal Artillery, four light
infantry companies, Royal North Carolina
Militia, volunteer militia, and
pioneers.

American

Armand's Legion, First and Second
Maryland Brigades, Delaware Regiment,
First Artillery Regiment, Porterfield's Light
Infantry, North Carolina Militia, and
Virginia Militia

Marked by the Kershaw County Historical Society.[57]

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Local efforts to mark the battlefield eventually prompted the federal government to renew its interest in the site. On January 20, 1961, the field of action was designated a National Historic Landmark under guidelines set forth in the Historic Sites Act of 1935. Five years later it was included as one of the premier entries in the newly created National Register of Historic Places.[58]

Thus, as the 1960s drew to a close, the Camden battlefield no longer appeared destined for obscurity. The site, once a lonely pine forest visited only by an occasional traveler, had at last received national recognition. With the approach of the bicentennial of the United States, the time appeared to be right for additional and more extensive development of the battlefield. All that was needed was an organization with the interest, money, and dedication to undertake the project.


S. of Mnmt. down Hwy. 58

Figure 10. View of the Camden Battlefield South of monument down Highway 58. Photograph taken in 1979 by the author.


TOP


Endnotes
Footnotes in original
  1. Thomas J. Kirkland and Robert M. Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part One, � Colonial and Revolutionary (Columbia, South Carolina: The State Company, 1905), pp. 188-191.

  2. Ibid., p. 191.

  3. Le Chevalier DuBuysson to Generals Mordecai Gist and William Smallwood, August 26, 1780, in Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part One, Colonial and Revolutionary, p. 190.

  4. Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part One, Colonial and Revolutionary, p. 257.

  5. Le Chevalier DuBuysson to unknown, September 2, 1780, in Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, 6 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1889), 1:421.

  6. P[eterl Horry and Mason Locke Weems, The Life of General Francis Marion, 4th ed. (Philadelphia: M. Carey, 1816), p. 109.

  7. Elkanah Watson, Men and Tirnes of the Revolution; Or, Memoirs of Elkanah Watson (New York: Dana and Company, Publishers, 1856), p. 259.

  8. Dr. E. M. Boykin to Baltimore Sun, 1886, in Thomas J. Kirkland and Robert M. Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part Two, Nineteenth Century (Columbia, South Carolina: The State Company, 1926), p. 78.

  9. Ibid.

  10. Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part Two, Nineteenth Century, p. 78. For the text of Ramsay's tribute see Appendix A.

  11. Edwin J. Scott, "Random Recollections," cited in Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part Two, Nineteenth Century, p. 77. Figure 5 is a photograph of the tablet, now embedded in the wall behind the stairs of the old Camden Courthouse.

  12. Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part Two, Nineteenth Century, pp. 79-80.

  13. The Southern Chronicle and Camden Aegis, December 29, 1824.

  14. The Southern Chronicle, and Camden Literary and Political Register, March 19, 1825.

  15. Ibid.

  16. Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part Two, Nineteenth Century, p. 73. According to Kirkland and Kennedy, the quotation is of an anecdote frequently told by General Joseph B. Kershaw of Camden.

  17. The Southern Chronicle, and Camden Literary and Political Register, March 19, 1825. DeKalb's remains were probably exhumed on March 8, shortly after Lafayette's arrival. According to Dr. E. M. Boykin, "He [DeKalb] lay, it seems, in the 'custom of knighthood', as last of his race, buried in his armor; that is to say, his helmet, his sword and his spurs were in the grave with him. My relator (an old slave of Mr. Lewis Ciples) went on to say that, when the body was taken up, old Captain Carter, who, to use the old man's expression, did what he pleased--(the old Captain had fought under DeKalb and was lame from a wound received during the war)--said he meant to take the helmet, and that they might keep [re-inter with DeKalb] the sword and spurs; and he did take it. " Dr. E. M. Boykin to Baltimore News, 1886, in Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part Two, Nineteenth Century, p. 79. The helmet was lost in 1902 while being transported to an exposition in Charleston, South Carolina. Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part Two, Nineteenth Century, p. 80.

  18. The Southern Chronicle, and Camden Literary and Political Register March 19, 1825.

  19. Ibid.

  20. DeKalb Monument, Camden, South Carolina.

  21. Ann Royall, Mrs. Royall's Southern Tour, Or Second Series of the Black Book, 3 vols. (Washington, D.C.: n.p., 1830-1831), 2: 40. Figure 6 is a photograph of the monument. In 1901 Thomas Kirkland and Robert Kennedy discovered the tablet which had been erected to mark DeKalb's first gravesite in the basement of the Camden Presbyterian Church. Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part Two, Nineteenth Century, p. 77. Shortly thereafter, the tablet was embedded in the wall under the steps of the old Camden Courthouse. Minutes of the meetings of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, August 11, 1939.

  22. Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part One, Colonial and Revolutionary, p. 169. Most of the early descriptions of the battlefield indicate that the site remained an undisturbed pine forest throughout much of the nineteenth century. Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, 2 vols. (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1860), 1:460; Margaret Maxwell Martin, "Number 7--Gum Swamp," in Rides About Camden, 1853 & 1873, ed. Harvey S. Teal (Camden South Carolina: n.p., ca. 1965), pp. 17-18; William M. Shannon, Old Times in Camden (originally a series of articles appearing in the Kershaw Gazette of Camden between April and July 1876), ed. Harvey S. Teal (Camden, South Carolina: n.p., 1961), pp. 10-11. In 1884 a fire destroyed an undetermined number of trees on the east side of the road from Camden to Charlotte. Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part One, Colonial and Revolutionary, p. 187.

  23. Watson, Men and Times of the Revolution; Or, Memoirs of Elkanah Watson, p. 259.

  24. Royall, Mrs. Royall's Southern Tour, Or Second Series of the Black Book, 2:41.

  25. Lossing, Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, 2:460.

  26. Martin, "Number 7--Gum Swamp," pp. 17-18. This practice apparently continued for quite some time. in 1876 William M. Shannon reported that, while touring the field of action near Camden, "our guide, who had been during a long life, a mighty hunter, assured us that the lead for his rifle had always been supplied from the great old pines of that battlefield. The cut and hacked condition of the trees well indicated that he and many another 'deerslayer' had drawn their bullets from the same storehouse." Shannon, Old Times in Camden, pp. 10- 11. As late as 1905 Thomas Kirkland and Robert Kennedy were able to report that they had "found grape shot and bullets in half-burnt and decayed trees. " Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part One, Colonial and Revolutionary, p. 162.

  27. Martin, "Number 7--Gum Swamp," p. 16.

  28. Martha Strayer, The D. A. R.: An Informal History (Washington, D. C.: Public Affairs Press, 1958), pp. 3, 7.

  29. Virginia Mason Bratton, "State Regents' Reports- South Carolina," American Monthly Magazine 35 (September 1909), 932- 933.

  30. Virginia Mason Bratton, History of the South Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution, 1892-1936 (n.p.: South Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution, 1937), p. 67.

  31. Throughout the early years of the twentieth century most of the battlefield was covered by a forest of pines with thick undergrowth. In 1905 Thomas Kirkland and Robert Kennedy noted that the original pines, "by the process of turpentining, have been reduced to a scanty few, so that not many remain that witnessed the battle. Their thinning has allowed to come up a growth of scrub oaks, which in summer ob- scure the view much more than did the pines." Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part One, Colonial and Revolutionary, p. 169. However, a photograph taken around 1910 reveals that there were a few clearings at the site. Newspaper clipping, ca. 1910, Files of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Camden, South Carolina. In 1918 a local tourist book observed that the battlefield "is largely wooded ground. At the time of the battle it was forested by pines, probably much more open than the low growth which now stands." Guide-Book of Camden (Camden, South Carolina: Edward Boltwood Hull, 1918), p. 39.

  32. The Camden Chronicle, January 15, 1909.

  33. Ibid., February 12, 1909.

  34. Ibid., June 4, 1909.

  35. Ibid. See Appendix B for the text of DeLoache's speech.

  36. The Camden Chronicle, June 4, 1909. Figure 7 is a photograph of the marker. Undoubtedly, the ladies of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter con- sulted Thomas Kirkland and Robert Kennedy, local historians, to determine where to place the marker. Based on tradition, Kirkland and Kennedy claimed that the site where Baron DeKalb fell wounded is located a short distance east of Route 58. Kirkland and Kennedy, Historic Camden: Part One, Colonial and Revolutionary, p. 187. However, the claim is doubtful at best, principally because as the battle is described in the records the monument is apparently on the wrong side of the road.

  37. The Camden Chronicle, June 4, 1909.

  38. Deed Book YYY, Office of the Clerk of Court for Kershaw County, Camden, South Carolina, p. 112.

  39. C. A. Bach, "Study of records pertaining to the battles of the United States with reference to the establishment of national military parks and national monuments," in U.S., Congress, House, Study and Investigation of Battle Fields in the United States for Commemorative Purposes, H.R. Rept. 1071 to Accompany H.R. 11613, 69th Cong., 1st sess., 1926, pp. 1-8.

  40. Ibid. , p. 4.

  41. Ibid., p. 5.

  42. An Act To provide for the study and investigation of battle fields in the United States for commemorative purposes, Statutes at Large 44, pt. 2, 726-727 (December 1925-March 1927).

  43. U.S., Congress, Senate, Message from the President of the United States Transmitting Report by the Acting Secretary of War of a Study and Investigation of Battle Fields in the United States for Com- memor tive Purposes, Together with His Recommendations for Further Operations, S. Doc. 46, 71st Cong., 2d sess., 1929, p. 2. Part of the remaining funds were spent preparing feasibility studies for development of selected battlefields. One such study was conducted in 1928 for the Camden battlefield. It reported that "the owner of a portion of the ground upon which the principal fighting occurred has offered to furnish to the United States free of cost the land necessary for a site for a marker. The Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution has also offered to cooperate to the extent of transferring to the Government the title to the 1 acre of land upon which an existing marker is located should the Government desire to acquire this plot." U.S., Congress, Senate, Communication from the President of the United States Transmitting Report by the Secretary of War of a Study and In- vestigation of Battle Fields in the United States for Commemorative Purposes, Together with His Recommendations for Further Operations, S. Doc. 187, 70th Cong., 2d sess., 1928, pp. 4-5.

  44. Ibid.: H. L. Landers, The Battle of Camden (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1929), pp. 20, 22, 24, 27, 36, 38, 40, 58,iii.

  45. Landers, The Battle of Camden, p. iii.

  46. Ibid., p. ii.

  47. The Camden Chronicle, January 10, 1930.

  48. During the 1920s or early 1930s a family named Hearon acquired a tract of land on the east side of Route 58, a few hundred yards south of the DeKalb marker. Years later, J. W. Z. Hearon, who had helped to farm the land as a boy, recounted how he had collected buckets full of musket balls from the soil. Roderick Cantey, interview by telephone at his office, Camden, South Carolina, January 18, 1980. As late as the early 1940s the farm was still active. An aerial photo- graph taken on January 29, 1941, shows a house, a barn, several smaller structures, and approximately forty acres of cultivated land. With the exception of a few scattered clearings, however, the rest of the battlefield remained woodland. Aerial photograph in the possession of Roderick Cantey, Camden, South Carolina, January 29, 1941.

  49. Copy of the deed of transfer in the possession of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Camden, South Carolina, September 10, 1942.

  50. Minutes of the meetings of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Camden, South Carolina, December 1942.

  51. Ibid., April 1943.

  52. Ibid., December 1948, June 1949.

  53. Roderick Cantey, interview at the site of the battle, Camden South Carolina, May 24, 1979. By the early 1950s the Craig Laird Timbee Company had completed its cutting operation. Roderick Cantey, interview by telephone at his office, Camden, South Carolina, January 18, 1980. Figure 8, an aerial photograph taken on December 31, 1956 shows that the entire battlefield, with the exception of DeKalb Park, a tract on the west side of Route 58, and a few scattered areas, has recently been clear-cut. Aerial photograph in the possession of the Kershaw County Historical Society, Camden, South Carolina, December 31, 1956. During the mid-1950s the Leonard Construction Company purchased the land which surrounded DeKalb Park for some distance, and almost immediately replanted the open areas. During the mid-1960s Leonard sold his holdings to Catawba Timber Company of Catawba, South Carolina. In 1971 Catawba clear-cut a tract on the west side of Route 58, but soon replanted. Roderick Cantey, interview at the site of the battle, Camden, South Carolina, May 24, 1979. At present, the entire battlefield is covered by a forest of pines, most ranging in age from nine to twenty-five years. Figures 9 and 10 provide recent views of the battlefield.

  54. Minutes of the meetings of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Camden, South Carolina, September 22, 1950.

  55. Ibid., January 1953.
  56. Files of the Historical Markers Program, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.

  57. Ibid.; In May 1971 the marker was stolen. The following year the Kershaw County Historical Society applied for a replacement; however, it was the fall of 1974 before the new marker was finally in place. Files of the Historical Markers Program, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina. Figure 11 is a photograph of the new marker.

  58. Files of the Historical Markers Program, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina; U.S., Department of the Interior, National Park Service, The National Register of Historic Places (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969), p. 266; The National Register, established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, is a record of "districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects significant in American history, architecture, archaeology and culture . . . ." U.S., Department of the Interior, National Park Service, The National Register of Historic Places (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1971), p. 2.

  59. The Camden Chronicle, June 4, 1909.

  60. Minutes of the meetings of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, December 1948, June 1949.

  61. Files of the Historical Markers Program, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.

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    [113]

    BIBLIOGRAPHY

    Books

    Alden, John R. A History of the American Revolution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969.

    _____, The South in the Revolution, 1763-1789. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, l957.

    Balch, Thomas. The French in America. 2 vols. Translated by Thomas Willing Balch. Philalelphia: Porter and Coates, 1891.

    Boatner, Mark M. III. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. New York: David McKay Co., Inc., 1966.

    Bratton, Virginia Mason. History of the South Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution, 1892-1936. n.p.: South Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution, 1937.

    Flood, Charles B. Rise, and Fight Again. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1976.

    Guide-Book of Camden. Camden, South Carolina: Edward Boltwood Hull, 1918.

    Hilborn, Nat and Hilborn, Sam. Battleground of Freedom, South Carolina in the Revolution. Columbia, South Carolina: Sandlapper Press, Inc., 1970.

    Horry, P[eter], andWeems, MasonLocke. The Life of General Francis Marion. 4th ed. Philadelphia: M. Carey, 1816.

    Kirkland, Thomas J. and Kennedy, Robert M. Historic Camden: Part One, Colonial and Revolutionary. Columbia, South Carolina: The State Company, 1905.

    ____, Historic Camden: Part Two, Nineteenth Century. Columbia, South Carolina: The State Company, 1926.

    Lamb, Roger. An Original and Authentic Journal of Occurrences During the Late American War, From its Commencement to the Year 1783. Dublin, Ireland: Wilkinson & Courtney, 1809.

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    Lee, Henry. Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States. New York: University Publishing Co., 1869; reprinted., New York: Arno Press, Inc., 1969.

    Lossing, Benson J. Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution. 2 vols. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1860.

    McCrady, Edward. History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775- 1780, 1780-1783. 2 vols. New York: Macmillan Co., 1901, 1902.

    Nelson, Paul D. General Horatio Gates. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1976.

    Ramsay, David. The History of the Revolution in South Carolina. 2 vols. Trenton, New Jersey: Isaac Collins, 1785.

    Rankin, Hugh F. The North Carolina Continentals. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1971.

    Royall, Ann. Mrs. Royall's Southern Tour, or Second Series of the Black Book. 3 vols. Washington, D.C.: n.p., 1830-1831.

    Scheer, George F. and Rankin, Hugh F. Rebels and Redcoats. New York: New American Library, Mentor Books, 1957.

    Shannon, William M. Old Times in Camden. (Originally a series of articles appearing in the Kershaw Gazette of Camden between April and July 1876.) Edited by Harvey S. Teal. Camden, South Carolina: n.p., 1961.

    Stedman, Charles. The History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War. Dublin, Ireland: n.p., 1794.

    Strayer, Martha. The D. A. R.: An Informal History. Washington, D. C.: Public Affairs Press, 1958.

    Tarleton, Banastre. A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781, in the Southern Provinces of North America. London, England: n.p., 1787.

    Teal, Harvey S., ed. Rides About Camden, 1853 & 1873. Camden, South Carolina: n.p., ca. 1965.

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    Ward, Christopher. The War of the Revolution. 2 vols. New York: Macmillan Co., 1952.

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    Wickwire, Franklin and Wickwire, Mary. Cornwallis: The American Adventure. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1970.

    Diaries and Journals

    Anderson, Thomas. "The Journal of Lieutenant Thomas Anderson of the Delaware Regiment, " Historical Society of Delaware, Wilmington, Delaware.

    Kirkwood, Robert. "Journal and Order Book of Captain Robert Kirkwood of the Delaware Regiment of the Continental Line. In Papers of the Historical Society of Delaware 56 (1910): 9-11.

    Seymour, William. "A Journal of the Southern Expedition, 1780-1783." In Papers of the Historical Society of Delaware 15 (1896): 3-8.

    Williams, Otho. "A Narrative of the Campaign of 1780." In William Johnson, Sketches of the Life and Correspondence of Nathanael Greene, 2 vols., 1, Appendix B: 485-510. Charleston, South Carolina: A. E. Miller, 1822.

    State and Federal Government Documents

    An Act To provide for the study and investigation of battle fields in the United States for commemorative purposes. Statutes at Large, vol. 44 (December 1925-March 1927).

    Bach, C. A. "Study of records pertaining to the battles of the United States with reference to the establishment of national military parks and national monuments." in U. S. Congress, House. Study and Investigation of Battle Fields in the United States for Commemorative Purposes, H.R. Rept. 1071 to Accompany H. R. 11613, 69th Cong., 1st sess., 1926.

    Files of the Historical Markers Program, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.

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    National Historic Preservation Act. Statutes at Large, vol. 80 (1966).

    Public Law 95-269. 95th Cong., 2d sess., November 10, 1978.

    U. S. Congress. Senate. Communication from the President of the United States Transmitting Report by the Secretary of War of a Study and Investigation of Battle Fields in the United States for Commemorative Purposes, Together with His Recommendations for Further Operations. S. Doc. 187, 70th Cong., 2d sess., 1928.

    U. S. Congress. Senate. Message from the President of the United States Transmitting Report by the Acting Secretary of War of a Study and Investigation of Battle Fields in the United States for Commemorative Purposes, Together with His Recommendations for Further Operations. S. Doc. 46, 71st Cong., 2d sess., 1929.

    U. S. Department of the Interior. National Park Service. The National Register of Historic Places. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969.

    U. S. Department of the Interior. National Park Service. The National Register of Historic Places. Washington, D. C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1971.

    Interviews

    Boykin, Hope. Camden, South Carolina. Interview in Mrs. Boykin's office at Historic Camden, May 23, 1979.

    Cantey, Roderick. Camden, South Carolina. Interview at the site of the battle of Camden, May 24, 1979.

    ____. Camden, South Carolina. Telephone interview. January 18, 1980.

    Edmonds, Marion. Columbia, South Carolina. Interview in his office at the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, December 14, 1979.

    Gale, Phyllis. Camden, South Carolina. Interview at Mrs. Gale's home, May 23, 1979.

    ____. Camden, South Carolina. Interview at Mrs. Gale's home, December 15, 1979.

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    Johnson, Ronald. Denver, Colorado. Interview by telephone in Mr. Johnson's office at the Denver Service Center, National Park Service, February 5, 1980.

    Lloyd, Richard. Camden, South Carolina. Interview in Mr. Lloyd's office, May 23, 1979.

    Brochures

    "Historic Camden." Brochure distributed by Historic Camden. Camden, South Carolina. 1980.

    "South Carolina State Parks." Brochure distributed by the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. Columbia, South Carolina. 1980.

    "South Carolina's Regional Councils." Brochure. distributed by the South Carolina Regional Councils of Government. 1980.

    Newspapers

    The Camden Chronicle, January-June, 1909; January 1930; January 1976.

    The Southern Chronicle and Camden Aegis, December 1824.

    The Southern Chronicle, and Camden Literary and Political Register, March 1825.

    The State (Columbia, South Carolina), May 31, 1909.

    Published Manuscripts

    Boyd, Julian P., ed. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. 19 vols. to date. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1950- .

    Palmer, William P., ed. Calendar of Virginia State Papers. 11 vols. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia State Library, 1875-1893; reprint ed., New York: Kraus Reprint Corporation, 1968.

    Syrett, Harold C., ed. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 26 vols. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961-1979.

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    Wharton, Francis, ed. The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States. 6 vols. Washington, D. C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1889.

    Photographs

    Aerial photograph in the possession of Roderick Cantey. Camden, South Carolina. January 29, 1941.

    Aerial photograph in the possession of the Kershaw County Historical Society. Camden, South Carolina. December 31, 1956.

    Newspaper photograph. Files of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. ca. 1910.

    Reports

    Bratton, Virginia Mason. "State Regents' Reports: South Carolina. In American Monthly Magazine 35 (September 1909): 932-934.

    Gale, Phyllis and Burns, Helen. "Proposed Art for Battle of Camden. Report presented at the monthly meeting of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Camden, South Carolina, January 1976.

    Gray, Wayne. "Battle of Camden Site Development Plan. " Santee-Wateree Regional Planning Council, Sumter, South Carolina, December 22, 1975.

    Lloyd, Richard and Oliver, Priscilla. "Memorandum Re Proposed Texts for Interpretive Station at Site of Battle of Camden." Kershaw County Historical Society, Camden, South Carolina, February 1976.

    Correspondence

    Boykin, E. M. to Baltimore News, 1886. In Thomas J. Kirkland and Robert M. Kennedy, Historic Camden:. Part Two, Nineteenth Century, p. 79. Columbia, South Carolina: The State Company, 1926.

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    Boykin, Hope to Mrs. Usher Myers, Camden, South Carolina, January 7, 1975. Files of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Camden, South Carolina.

    Miller, Israel to unknown, location and date unknown. Copy in the files of Historic Camden. Camden, South Carolina.

    Morrah, Bradley to Phyllis Gale, Camden, South Carolina, July 1, 1976. Files of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Camden, South Carolina.

    Pinkney, Thomas to William Johnson, July 27, 1822. In Historical Magazine 10 (August 1866): 244-253.

    Miscellaneous

    Copy of the deed transferring possession of five acres of the Camden battlefield from William A. Edwards to the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, September 10, 1942. Files of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Camden, South Carolina.

    Deed Book YYY. Office of the Clerk of Court for Kershaw County. Camden, South Carolina.

    DeKalb Monument. Camden, South Carolina.

    Minutes of the meetings of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1939 to 1972. Files of the Hobkirk Hill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Camden, South Carolina.


    Contact: R. Bryan Whitfield, rbwhitfieldemail

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