Other names:

What:
Friendly fire, Maj. Patrick Ferguson vs. Maj. Charles Cochran, 14 Mar 1780
Gen. Patterson camped at plantation of Isaac McPherson, 17-20 Mar 1780
Col. James Ladson vs. Capt. Abraham DePeyster, 18 Mar 1780, 6 mi. away
Apr 1781, unk. American cdr. vs. South Carolina Militia (Loyalist)

Where:
32.690560 -80.91689 McPherson's Plantation historical marker (JCP)
32.6918436 -80.9192743 McPherson's Plantation (McPhersonville)

Maps: [map notes]

• 32.690560,-80.91689 McPherson's Plantation historical marker (JCP)
• ACME Mapper.
• National Map
• Google
  
• Confidence: 5(marker), 3(Plantation)

• 32.6918436 -80.9192743 McPhersonville
• GNIS record for McPhersonville. Note mapping options.
• Confidence: 5(McPhersonville), 2(Plantation), 0(Ladson-Depeyster)

Sources:

• McPherson Historic Kiosk at McPhersonville Church, courtesy of Jack Parker:

  

• Terry Lipscomb, Names in South Carolina, XXI, p.25, "South Carolina Revolutionary Battles: Part II". pp.XXI:25.

  While Clinton was beginning his encirclement of Charleston, General James Paterson marched by land from Savannah with British reinforcements to aid in the seige.⁸ These troops fought several skirmishes with South Carolina militia before they reached Charleston. The first skirmish in which they were engaged, however, was a curious affair which involved no Patriot troops at all. Major Patrick Ferguson's American Volunteers and Major Charles Cochrane's detachment of the Legion were ordered forward by Paterson to secure the river crossing. While in advance of the main army, they received intelligence of two parties of Patriot militia in the area and set out in pursuit. After a fruitless chase, Ferguson reached the abandoned American camp at McPherson's Plantation on the evening of March 14[1780] and decided to rest his own troops for the night. Major Cochrane, coming upon the same location by a roundabout route, concluded that Ferguson's men were the enemy and launched an attack. By the time the two British commanders recognized each other's voices and stopped the fight, three men had been killed, several badly wounded, and Ferguson had received a bayonet wound in his left arm.⁹ We have been unable to find the exact location of this incident, but it could not have occurred very far from the present town of McPhersonville.

  ⁸ Banastre Tarleton, A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of North America, pp. 7-8;
  ⁹ Franklin Benjamin Hough, The Siege of Charleston, pp. 157- 159

• Terry Lipscomb, "South Carolina Revolutionary Battles - Part Ten (MS H-2-2)", unpublished, p.25-26

  In April of l78l, Marion received intelligence that the Tories on the north side of Pee Dee were intending to lend their support to British operations by joining Colonel John Watson. Colonel Peter Horry crossed the Pee Dee with a force of seventy Patriot troops and fell in with a comparable number of British and Loyalists who were on a foraging expedition.

  Horry's cavalry charged the enemy party at McPherson's plantation, killing two and capturing thirteen British, two Toriest and two slaves. The Patriots did not lose a single man. No information has yet been found that reveals the location of either of these two skirmishes.³⁴

  ³⁴ The South Carolina and American General Gazette, November 15, 1780; Gregg, Old Cheraws, pp. 340, 341; Marion to Greene, April 21, 1781, Continental Congress Papers, Item 155.

• Banastre Tarleton, A History Of The Campaigns Of 1780 And 1781, In The Southern Provinces Of North America, Chapter 1, p.8-9

  About the middle of March, General Patterson crossed the Savannah river, and on his march towards the Cambayee, through swamps and difficult passes, had frequent skirmishes with the militia of the country: A casual engagement likewise took place between Majors Ferguson and Cochrane, the former with his own corps, the latter with the infantry of the British legion; in which, the intrepidity and presence of mind of the leaders prevented any fatal extremity. These active officers, with their light troops, moved on the flanks of Brigadier-general Patterson's command, and each receiving intelligence of a corps of the enemy in the front, thought to surprise the Americans, and by an attack in the night deliver the main body from molestation. Ferguson marched, and arrived early in the night near the post from which he meant to dislodge the enemy; he found they were decamped, and he took their position, as the King's troops were to pass near it in the morning: Cochrane reached the place before day, and judging by the fires that the enemy were still in possession, he led his men to the attack with fixed bayonets, when the two commanders, in front of their respective corps, recognized each other's voice, and suppressed a conflict which might have been both mortifying and destructive.

  RoyalProvincial.com, "War Chronology, 1781"
  Apr 1781, McPherson's Plantation, South Carolina, detachment of South Carolina Militia (Loyalist)

  RevWar75  
  

  Mar 1780 listing:
  3/14/1780 McPherson's Plantation. Draw. Per O'Kelley.
  3/17/1780 McPherson's Plantation. British victory Per O'Kelley.
  Revlist post. It appears that the Ladson - DePeyster encounter occurred between McPherson's and Saltketcher Bridge.

  Apr 1781 listing:
  4/1781 McPherson's Plantation. Insufficient data. Per Braisted.

Related locations:

Confidence level:: See above.