THE INFLUENCE OF ATLANTIC COASTAL PLAIN GEOLOGY ON ACTIVITIES LEADING TO AND INCLUDING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR BATTLE OF EUTAW SPRINGS, SOUTH CAROLINA

A Revolutionary War memorial park in Eutaw Springs and the High Hills of Santee, both located in the Atlantic Coastal Plain in central South Carolina, provide an excellent opportunity to blend a study of geology and Revolutionary War history. Located 35 miles N of Eutaw Springs, the High Hills of Santee, a prominent ridge in the Upper Coastal Plain, are remnants of a Middle to Late Miocene sequence bounded on the E by the Orangeburg scarp and on the W by the Middle Coastal Plain Wateree River valley. Due to steep topography, with relief of 100 feet or more over short distances and a paucity of large flat areas, conditions considered by the British to be unfavorable for fighting, no battles were fought in the High Hills. However, General Nathanael Greene used the High Hills to rest and rebuild his forces, ultimately to 2400 troops, before beginning an offensive against British forces commanded by Colonel Alexander Stewart. Greene knew Stewart was camped within 15 miles of him, at the confluence of the Congaree and Wateree, the beginning of the Santee, but separated from him by their extensive flood plain swamps. Seeking a more defendable position, Stewart made his way south to Eutaw Springs, located on the Middle Coastal Plain near the base of the Surry Scarp, on an outcropping of Santee Limestone (dated Middle Eocene in 1845 by Charles Lyell) along the banks of Eutaw Creek, presently on the S shore of Lake Marion. In 1781, Eutaw Creek flowed northwestward to the Santee River from three springs at Eutaw Springs, fed by underground streams flowing through a cave system in Santee Limestone. Stewart chose to camp his force of 2000 men at Eutaw Springs because drinking water and farm crops were available and the position was defendable, bordered by a swamp on the N and flat open fields elsewhere. The position also offered an easy escape route, being on the main road to Charleston, 40 miles to the SSW. The battle of Eutaw Springs was the last major Revolutionary War battle in South Carolina, also the costliest, with over 500 dead, wounded, and missing in action on each side. Both sides claimed victory, but heavy losses suffered by the British, 34 % of Stewart’s force, helped convince the British that they should give up their quest to subdue the thirteen Colonies.