Author’s Note and Sources

Author’s Note:

This series began as a simple request: write one article about Cloud’s Creek, the most tragic Revolutionary War event in what is now Saluda County.

As I started, it became clear that a deep divide ran through the people who lived here then, and I could not help but ask why. Tracing that question backward led me farther and farther into the past, until I realized the “seeds of division” had been planted very early in the colony’s history; so, I decided to start at the beginning—with no idea where the story would lead.

Following real people made that journey even more surprising. Early on, I chose a real backcountry settler, Dannett Abney, to tell a Patriot’s story, not knowing he would later die in the Bloody Scout.

I knew from the outset that “Bloody Bill” Cunningham was the butcher of Cloud’s Creek, but I still had to understand how he became that man. I meticulously referred to him as “William” until he passed the point of understandable humanity. He was, after all, a child and a young man before becoming twisted by the disappointments and tragedies of his own life experience.

Each answer I found only raised more questions, and I chased as many of them as I could.

What I began in mid‑December, thinking it would be finished by New Year’s Day, stretched into three months and twenty‑two chapters. I undertook this project as an exercise in storytelling rather than a formal research paper, but I did research it diligently and in great detail.

I hope that the people of this place—and the choices they made—will feel as real and complicated to you, as they became to me. ~ Amy Potts

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Key Online Resources

Carolana.com – The American Revolution in South Carolina
A highly detailed and accessible site that provided timelines, engagement summaries, commander information, and context for many incidents covered in the series. Particularly useful pages include those on:

• Mine Creek (November 3, 1775)
• Cloud’s Creek (November 17, 1781) and the Bloody Scout
• The Snow Campaign
• Saluda River and Saluda County engagements
• The Saluda Old Town Treaty and Ninety Six District overviews

Visit: https://www.carolana.com/SC/Revolution/

Wikipedia
Used, as an initial reference for quick background on people, places, and events (e.g., Saluda Old Town Site, Ninety Six District). Readers seeking greater depth are encouraged to follow the references and external links in those articles or consult the primary and secondary sources below.

Primary Sources

• Accounts Audited of Claims Growing Out of the Revolution in South Carolina, 1775–1856 (Series S108092, South Carolina Department of Archives and History – SCDAH). These contain thousands of individual claims for service, supplies, and losses by backcountry residents, both Patriot and Loyalist.
• William Moultrie, Memoirs of the American Revolution (1802). Includes contemporary accounts relevant to early backcountry actions.
• Revolutionary War Pension Applications and Affidavits (National Archives; many accessible via Fold3 or revwarapps.org). Especially useful for personal stories from the Ninety Six District.
• Records of the South Carolina Provincial Congresses and Papers of Henry Laurens (available through the South Caroliniana Library and SCDAH).

Secondary Sources – Books

• Walter B. Edgar, Partisans and Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution (2001). Strong overview of the guerrilla nature of the war in South Carolina.
• Robert Stansbury Lambert, South Carolina Loyalists in the American Revolution (University of South Carolina Press, 1987; also available in a later Clemson University Digital Press edition). Particularly helpful for Loyalist families such as the Cunninghams and the civil-war dynamics in the backcountry.
• Marvin L. Cann, Old Ninety Six in the South Carolina Backcountry, 1700–1781 (Sleepy Creek Publishing, 2000) and his articles in the South Carolina Historical Magazine.
• Robert M. Dunkerly and Eric K. Williams, Old Ninety Six: A History and Guide (The History Press, 2006).
• Robert D. Bass, Ninety Six: The Struggle for the South Carolina Back Country (Sandlapper Store, 1978).

Additional Helpful Resources

• National Park Service materials on Ninety Six National Historic Site (nps.gov/nisi).
• South Carolina Department of Archives and History (scdah.sc.gov) guides to Revolutionary sources.
• National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Saluda Old Town Site (1972), which details the July 2, 1755, treaty with Governor James Glen and Cherokee leaders including Old Hop (Conocartee).
• Edward McCrady, The History of South Carolina Under the Royal Government, 1719–1776 (for context on the 1755 treaty).

Many of these materials are available through the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, the South Caroliniana Library at the University of South Carolina, local libraries (including the Saluda County Library), or online databases.