SC, USA
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Stewart
1739–1794 · British Commander · 3rd Regiment of Foot Officer
1739–1794
British Commander · 3rd Regiment of Foot Officer
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Stewart was a professional British officer serving with the 3rd Regiment of Foot (The Buffs) during the southern campaign, part of the experienced regular force that Lord Cornwallis and then Lord Rawdon deployed in the effort to hold the Carolinas against Nathanael Greene's persistent pressure. Stewart arrived in the South as part of the reinforcements that followed the British capture of Charleston in May 1780 and gained experience in the brutal partisan warfare that characterized the South Carolina interior, where the line between military operations and civil conflict had effectively dissolved.
Stewart assumed command of British forces in the South Carolina interior after Rawdon's departure for Britain in the summer of 1781, inheriting a situation in which Patriot militia and Continental forces under Greene had systematically reduced the chain of interior posts that sustained British control. On September 8, 1781, Stewart's force of approximately two thousand men was surprised at Eutaw Springs by Greene's army. The battle that followed was among the most hard-fought of the entire southern campaign. The British initially broke the American line with a disciplined bayonet charge, but American forces rallied and drove the British back, and a portion of Stewart's troops became distracted looting the British camp rather than pursuing their advantage. The final result was a tactical draw, with both sides suffering severe casualties, but the battle stripped Stewart's army of its offensive capacity. He withdrew to the vicinity of Charleston and remained there, unable to contest the interior, until the British evacuation of Charleston in December 1782.
Eutaw Springs was the last major engagement of the southern campaign, and Stewart's withdrawal after the battle effectively ended organized British military operations outside Charleston. Greene had not won a tactical victory at Eutaw Springs, but he had achieved his strategic objective of making British occupation of the Carolina interior untenable. Stewart carried out the subsequent operations around Charleston with professional competence and departed with the evacuating British forces in 1782, returning to a British army career that would continue for years after the American war ended.
In Eutaw Springs
- Sep 1781Greene Marches to Find Stewart(British Commander)
Greene marched his combined force toward Stewart's position near Eutaw Springs in early September 1781, having received intelligence from Marion's partisan network about the British location and strength. Greene assembled approximately 2,200 men — Continentals and militia combined — and approached through the pine barrens of the South Carolina midlands.
- Sep 1781Greene Withdraws from Eutaw Springs(British Commander)
After the brick house assault failed and British regulars counterattacked, Greene ordered a withdrawal from the battlefield in the early afternoon. The American force had suffered approximately 500 casualties — roughly 22% of its strength. Greene pulled back north to recover. Stewart's British force, having suffered similar proportional losses, withdrew toward Charleston and never again operated in the South Carolina interior.
- Sep 1781Stewart Withdraws to Charleston(British Commander)
The morning after the battle, Stewart abandoned the Eutaw Springs position and began withdrawing toward Charleston. He left his severely wounded behind — including Marjoribanks, who died on the march — under a flag of truce with Greene. The withdrawal confirmed what the casualty figures implied: the British no longer had the field strength to operate beyond Charleston and its immediate vicinity.
- Oct 1781Death of Major Marjoribanks(British Commander)
Major John Marjoribanks, whose stand at the brick house had prevented the complete destruction of Stewart's force at Eutaw Springs, died of his wounds approximately six weeks after the battle. His death underscored the human cost of the tactical success he had achieved; the British officer corps in South Carolina was being worn away by attrition faster than it could be replaced.