The Battle of Ninety-Six

The Battle of Ninety-Six was an extraordinary event. The reason it was called Ninety-Six was because the citizens thought it was 96 miles to the Cherokee town of Kiowee.

There was a Fort located on Ninety-Six called the Star Fort. It was lined with sandbags to protect the soldiers from being shot. It was built by English Col. John Cruger. Major General Nathaniel Greene and about 1,000 men arrived outside Ninety Six on May 22. They immediately began siege operations, targeting the Star Fort, under their chief engineer, the Pole Col. Thaddeus Kosciuszko. As General Greene was preparing for an attack, he learned that Cruger was receiving 2,000 more reinforcements from Charleston, SC. Greene had three options:

1. To stay and attack the reinforcements
2. To retreat from the Star Fort
3. To make an attack on the Star Fort before the reinforcements arrived

General Greene chose the third. General Greene sent some men to try and bring down some of the sandbags so that the rest of the army could enter and attack the fort. They called this "The Suicide Mission". The men ran through a dug out trench and charged the star for using hooks to bring down the sandbags. Col. Cruger sent out a party of men through the same trench to attack the men on the side. General Greene's men were slaughtered with only a few being able to get away. The results were that Greene lost 150 men while Cruger lost less than 100. Greene then retreated to Charlotte, NC. It was really interesting. Here are some pictures:

Mr. Potter giving a lecture on Ninety-Six

A picture of the bloody attack on the Star Fort


This is where the Star Fort was located

Claire Bear taking a break