Colonel Charles McDowell and his Brothers
Colonel Charles McDowell and his brothers, Joseph and William, were sons of Joseph McDowell and Margaret O. Neal, who emigrated from Ireland and settled in Winchester, Va. Here, Charles and Joseph were born, the former, in 1743. Soon afterward, Joseph McDowell, Sr., moved to Burke County, North Carolina.In June 1780, Colonel Charles McDowell, joined by Colonels Isaac Shelby and John Sevier from Tennessee and by Colonel Clarke of Georgia, near the Cherokee Ford on Broad River in South Carolina, determined to attack a post held by the enemy on Pacolet River, in Spartanburg County. The position was strongly fortified by Captain Patrick Moore, a distinguished loyalist. On being surrounded, the enemy, after some conversation as to terms, surrendered as prisoners of war. One British Sergeant Major, ninety-three loyalists, two hundred and fifty firearms, and other munitions of war were the fruits of this victory. Soon afterward, Colonel McDowell detached Shelby to watch the movements of Ferguson and attack him. On the 1st of August, 1780, Shelby met the advance guard of Ferguson at Cedar Spring, about six hundred strong, when a spirited contest commenced. Shelby retreated, carrying twenty prisoners from the field, including two British officers.
On learning that a body of five hundred Toris had assembled on the south side of Enoree River, near Musgroves Mill, Colonel McDowell detached Colonels Shelby, Williams, and Clarke to attack them. Colonel Ferguson, with his whole force, lay encamped between them. They left the camp on the 18th of August at Smith's Ford on Broad River and avoided Ferguson's forces, taking a circuitous route through the woods. They rode hard all night and encountered a strong patrol party of the enemy at daybreak. A skirmish immediately ensued, and the Tories retreated. They then advanced on the main body of the Tories. At this juncture, a countryman living nearby, a friend of liberty, came to Shelby and informed him that the enemy had been reinforced the evening before by six hundred regular troops and the Queen's American regiment from New York, commanded by Colonel Innis, marching to join Ferguson. Here was a position that would have tried the talent and nerve of the most skillful and brave officer. The advance was hopeless, and retreat impossible. But Shelby was equal to the emergency. He immediately commenced forming a breast-work of brush and old logs while he detailed twenty-five tried men to inspect and skirmish with the enemy as soon as they crossed the Enoree River. Captain Inman fired and retreated. This stratagem, suggested by Captain Inman himself, was successful in its object. The enemy advanced in rapid pursuit and great confusion. When they approached Shelby's rude breast-work, they received a most destructive fire from his riflemen, which carried great slaughter among them. All the British officers were killed or wounded, and Hawsey, the Tory leader, was shot down. The enemy then began a disorderly retreat. The Americans now pursued, and in this pursuit, the brave Captain Inman was killed, fighting hand-to-hand with the enemy. Colonel Shelby commanded the right wing, Colonel Clarke the left, and Colonel Williams the center.
The British lost this brilliant and well-planned battle, with sixty-three killed and one hundred wounded prisoners; the American loss was only four killed, including Captain Inman and Captain Clarke wounded.
The triumphant victors were about to remount and advance on the British post at Ninety-Six when an express arrived from Colonel McDowell, with a letter from Governor Caswell, informing them of the defeat of General Gates at Camden on the 16th of August and advising the retreat of our troops, as the British, flushed with victory, would advance in solid force and cut off all detachments of our people. With Ferguson near him, Colonel Shelby, burdened with more than two hundred prisoners, acted with energy and promptness. He distributed the prisoners among the companies, each behind a private, and without stopping day or night, retreated over the mountains to a place of safety.
This rapid movement saved his men and himself. The next day, Major DePeyster of Ferguson's forces, with a substantial body of men, made an active but fruitless search.
In consequence of the panic after the defeat of General Gates on the 16th of August, 1780, and the surprise and dispersion of Sumter's forces at Fishing Creek by Tarleton's cavalry on the 18th following, Colonel McDowell disbanded, for a time, his little army, and he retreated over the mountains.
It was a dark and mournful period of American history. The British flag floated in triumph over Charleston and Savannah. The troops of Lord Cornwallis, with all the pomp and circumstance of glory, advanced from the battlefield of Camden to Charlotte with the fond expectation of soon placing North Carolina under his subjection. Many of the brave had despaired of final success, and the timid, and some of the wealthy, to save their property, had taken protection under the enemy. Colonel Ferguson, with chosen troops, was ravaging the whole western portion of upper South Carolina, subduing in his progress to west North Carolina all opponents of English power and encouraging, by bribes and artifice, others to join the royal standard.
Colonel Charles McDowell was elected the first Senator to the State Legislature from Burke County in 1778 and successively from 1782 to 1790. From 1791 to 1795, his brother, Major Joseph McDowell, succeeded him in the same position. About this period, at three or four different times, all three of the members of the Assembly to which the County was entitled were of this family, which proved their great popularity and worth. Major Joseph McDowell also served as a member of Congress from 1793 to 1795 and from 1797 to 1799. He lived on John's River and died there. His family returned to Virginia. One of his sons, Hugh Harvey, settled in Missouri, and Joseph J. McDowell, in Ohio, was a member of Congress from that State from 1843 to 1847.
General Charles McDowell married Grace Greenlee, the widow of Captain John Bowman, who fell at the battle of Ramsours Mill. He had several children by this union, including the late Captain Charles McDowell, who resided on the Catawba River near Morganton.
General Charles McDowell died on the 31st of March, 1815, aged about seventy-two years.