Battles & Campaigns · 1779
Battle of Kettle Creek
Kettle Creek, Wilkes County, Georgia, USA
What happened
Patriot militia under Andrew Pickens, John Dooly and Elijah Clarke attacked Loyalist militia under John Boyd. Boyd was leading Loyalist recruits to join the British. Pickens's men caught up with them while they rested by Kettle Creek, not expecting an attack. After about 90 minutes of fighting the Loyalist line broke.
Why it matters
Why it matters: It was the first major Patriot victory in the backcountry of Georgia. It showed the British could not easily hold the interior.
What came next
The British withdrew from Augusta and won at Brier Creek in March. Pickens went on to help win the Battle of Cowpens in 1781.
Did you know?
Before he died, Boyd asked Pickens, whom he had known before the war, to take a brooch to his wife, and Pickens did.
Timeline
- 14 February 1779Battle of Kettle Creek.
- 3 March 1779British victory at Brier Creek.
- 17 January 1781Pickens helps win at Cowpens.
- 11 August 1817Pickens dies in South Carolina.