Following this event, the Loyalists continued to retreat, moving toward the fort at Ninety Six, passing the homeplace of Andrew Pickens, and then the homeplace of James McCall, who had been involved in the skirmish near Rutledge Ford. Both homes were plundered. Pickens’ family was abused, and the McCall family was threatened and the plantation was destroyed. Did this impact Pickens and other neighbors to become a Patriot?

A ford is a shallow portion of a river where one could walk, ride or drive across. Today, easily accessible bridges cross nearly all the rivers and creeks that we encounter. However, at the time of the Revolutionary War, settlers would have relied on fords as the primary passage across rivers.