Traffic Jam, circa 1780! Major General De Kalb (in blue) and one of his subordinates (in hunting shirt) argue over who has the right of way as two roads converge in Catawba Town. Arguing with your superior officer is not conducive to career advancement. (click or double click all pictures to enlarge).

The next battle in our South Carolina 1780 Campaign is a medium sized affair with 8SPs for De Kalb’s Continental army and 7SPs for Colonel Webster’s British army. An SP, or „strength point“, represents one unit of infantry or cavalry.  The battle will be fought at a place called Fisher’s Crossing in the northeastern part of the state of South Carolina.

De Kalb had crossed the Catawba River, bearing south back towards Winnsboro, the site of his defeat  two months ago. However, when he receives reports that Webster is marching fast towards him, he retires back across to the north bank of the Catawba River.  He has selected a good defensive position with the Catawba River to his front and a low ridge on which he can deploy his army. The ridge also provides „dead ground“ that De Kalb can use to hide most of his army from the British line of sight from their likely position across the river at Fisher’s Crossing.

The table runs north (bottom of the picture) to south (top of the picture) divided by the Catawba River in the middle of the table. The Americans are posted along the north bank of the river and the British are approaching along the two roads at the top of the picture that converge at a Y-intersection known by the locals as Fisher’s Crossing.

The rest of the story will be told view the picture captions.

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