In November 1782, the landscape around occupied Charleston was weary from more than two years of British rule. The Continental Army, commanded by Gen. Nathanael Greene, had successfully pushed British forces into a tight coastal perimeter following the Battle of Eutaw Springs, in what is present-day Orangeburg County.
Convinced the occupation was nearing its end, the British high command had already ordered a total withdrawal from the city. Yet, right up until the final weeks before the British sailed away, the Lowcountry remained a dangerous battleground.
Because Gen. Greene’s forces tightly restricted land access to Charleston, the British army faced critical shortages of basic necessities. As Carl Borick, Director of the Charleston Museum, explains, the British were completely cut off from standard local supply chains.
"They needed to send foraging expeditions outside of Charleston to collect supplies because they couldn't get enough by sea... A lot of the trees in this area would have been cut down for firewood not only during the Revolutionary War but before” Said Borick, “And so they plan an ambush. They cross troops over James Island Creek to interdict this party that's collecting firewood."
The Ambush at James Island Creek
The American operation was led by Tadeusz Kościuszko, a highly skilled Polish military engineer who had volunteered his services to the Patriot cause in 1777. Kosciuszko led a small, well-trained contingent of roughly 70 Continental regulars across James Island Creek, expecting to surprise a routine British woodcutting detachment. Instead, they stumbled into a hornet's nest.
According to Borick, the Patriots severely underestimated the strength of the British detail.
"When they got there, they found that the British had sent a pretty strong guard of about 300 men, including 23rd, 33rd, and 71st regiments, which were very much battle-hardened, experienced British troops.” Borick said. “And the American party under Tadeusz Kościuszko is going to run into these troops."
Outnumbered more than four to one, Kościuszko's men found themselves under heavy fire. The American commander faced intense, direct combat. Four musket balls tore through Kościuszko's coat; his spontoon—the traditional military spear carried by officers—was completely shattered in his hand. However, he escaped without being wounded.
The Cost of the Last Battle
Realizing they were severely outmatched, the Americans executed a retreat across James Island, eventually crossing the Stono River to safety on Johns Island. The brief but bloody engagement resulted in about 10 casualties on each side. Borick notes that while the retreat was successful, the decision to engage was highly questionable.
Among the American dead was Capt. William Wilmot, a regular officer from the Maryland Line. Wilmot had been operating as Gen. Greene’s chief of intelligence in the Lowcountry, monitoring British troop movements. His death earned him the somber distinction of being one of the final American officers killed in the line of duty during the Revolutionary War.
The clash also underscored the complex and contradictory realities of the fight for American independence. Fighting alongside the Continental regulars that day was William Smith, an enslaved man who was badly wounded and taken prisoner by the British. Borick points out the stark irony of Smith's sacrifice.
"The Americans are fighting for liberty, but that means liberty mostly for white people," he said. "And here you have an enslaved person who's one of the last casualties of the Revolutionary War."
Smith would die in British captivity, just a few weeks later.
A Legacy of Resistance
Technically, the Battle of Dills Bluff was a British victory, as the Patriot forces were successfully repelled and forced to abandon the field. Borick said, "If you're going to say one side won or the other, I would say the British won because the Americans did have to retreat across James Island."
However, the skirmish had zero impact on the ultimate trajectory of the war. The British had already solidified their timeline for departure, and just a few weeks after the fight, they evacuated James Island entirely and left Charleston altogether on Dec. 14, 1782.
Today, the exact location of the battlefield remains lost to history; while a historical marker stands along Dills Bluff Road on James Island, no definitive archaeological evidence of the engagement has ever been recovered.
