Battle of Ramsour's Mill 1780
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 20 June 1780 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1780 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | United States | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | American Revolutionary War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Kingdom of Great Britain, United States | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 35.4784, -81.2591 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Ramsour's Mill took place on June 20, 1780 in present-day Lincolnton, North Carolina, during the British campaign to gain control of the southern colonies in the American Revolutionary War. The number of fighters on each side of the battle is still an issue of contention, but Loyalist militiamen (many of them German Palatine emigrants and settlers in the local area) outnumbered Patriot militia.
The one to two-hour battle during the foggy morning of June 20 did not involve any regular army forces from either side and was literally fought between family, friends, and neighbors with muskets sometimes being used as clubs because of a lack of ammunition. Some cases of fratricide occurred during the battle. Peter Costner, a loyalist, was killed by his brother Thomas who buried his sibling's corpse after the fight. William Simpson, a patriot scout, rushed to the battle desiring to kill his brother; but arrived after the battle was over. He never located his brother Reuben, who had suffered a serious, but non-fatal injury and departed the battlefield earlier. Despite being outnumbered, the Patriot militia defeated the Loyalists.
The battle was significant in that it lowered the morale of Loyalists in the south, weakening their support of the British.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Ramsour's Mill (revision 1370587141), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the American Revolutionary War
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- Siege of Fort Vincennes 1779
- Siege of Savannah (1779) 1779
- Action of 8 January 1780 1780
- Action of 9 August 1780 1780
- Battle of Black Mingo 1780
- Battle of Blackstock's Farm 1780
- Battle of Bull's Ferry 1780
All 190 battles of the American Revolutionary War →
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