Review of The Guide to the American Revolutionary War in South Carolina

The Guide to the American Revolutionary War in South Carolina, Battles, Raids, Skirmishes is a VERY good book. South Carolina was the ground of more battles and skirmishes of the American War for Independence than any other colony/state with the possible exception of New Jersey. There were literally hundreds of incidents of note. The author makes no attempt to categorize any particular incident as a “battle” or “skirmish” and definitions may vary, but that is not the purpose of this book.The purpose is to be a travel guide, with good commentary of the relevance and context of the incident being described whether it’s an attack on a remote farm/plantation by the Cherokee or the Battle of Camden and other skirmishes like Fishing Creek that was in its immediate aftermath.

It’s a very user-friendly travel guide with descriptions of the area as it appears today and directions on how to find the site along with landmarks and other helpful aids to finding it. The accompanying text tells about the soldiers and, in many cases, civilians involved in each action, often in their own words, and how it was a part of the big picture of the southern campaigns. It is well illustrated with photos and maps, though I must say that many people will need a magnifying glass to read the maps, and the table of contents is a bit tedious. The index is quite thorough and is probably a better resource for finding a specific action. Footnotes are extensive, as is the bibliography. This isn’t the kind of book that one sits down to read cover-to-cover like a novel or conventional history, but is the kind that you want on your shelf to pull down for a good overview of specific actions. The book is divided into regions, making it easy to plan a route within a certain area of the state. Various fights within that region are listed chronologically, with some concentrations around major centers of activity, like Charleston.

While it does not read like a novel, the volume of quotes from great men and small makes it interesting and does whet the appetite for more information on even obscure events. I was particularly pleased to see his treatment of the various Cherokee expeditions and actions—a very little-known aspect of the brutal fighting in upcountry South Carolina (in which some of my collateral ancestors suffered greatly). It was fascinating to simply browse through—stop at a page and just see what was on it! This is one that I’ll use frequently when I’m driving through South Carolina and I’m sure that every trip will be more meaningful just because the American War for Independence will come more alive as a result of the knowledge that the author has collected and provided in such an easily accessible form. I enjoyed the book. I’ll continue to enjoy it. You will as well.

Jay Callaham

4th Company, Brigade of Guards


Desmarais, Norman. The Guide to the American Revolutionary War in South Carolina, Battles, Raids,
Skirmishes. Ithaca, NY: Busca Inc. ISBN: 978-1-934934-06-7 © 2012. $38.