The most intense period of the fight to control the South Carolina backcountry during the American Revolution lasted about five months, from July to November 1780. There were over twenty engagements between Loyalists and Patriots, most akin to armed brawls between small groups of mounted men than pitched battles. Since there was no real training, the men were simply expected to ride hard, shoot well, and show no mercy to the enemy.

Following the fall of Charleston, backcountry Loyalists rallied around the Union Jack. But more than wanting to defend King and Country, many simply wanted to settle old scores with their neighbors. The South Carolina backcountry, an area fifty miles inland from the coast to the mountains, was largely unsettled by European-Americans until the 1740s when large numbers of Scots-Irish began immigrating there. Bad blood began boiling at the close of the Cherokee Indian war in 1761, and fractured whatever harmony had existed in the backcountry. This episode was a prelude to the terrible backcountry brawl of the 1780s, one that would see some of the most bitter action of the American Revolution.

In February 1780, Sir Henry Clinton, commander of British forces in North America, and 8,500 Redcoats disembarked thirty miles south of Charleston, intent on capturing the Queen City of the South. Charleston was defended by 6,000 Americans led by General Benjamin Lincoln and included a fleet of ten ships under the command of Admiral Abraham Whipple. By mid-April, the city was surrounded, and, on May 12, 1780, Lincoln surrendered the city and his entire command.