Siege of Fort Motte

Siege of Fort Motte
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Mrs. Motte Directing Generals Marion and Lee to Burn Her Mansion, by John Blake White (painted before 1859)
Date May 8–12, 1781 Location Fort Motte, South Carolina 33°45′39″N 80°40′11″W / 33.76084°N 80.66965°W / 33.76084; -80.66965 Result American victory
Belligerents
Great Britain Loyalists	United States
Commanders and leaders
Daniel McPherson	Francis Marion Henry Lee
Strength
About 140[1]	About 450
Casualties and losses
all captured[1]	2 wounded

The siege of Fort Motte was a military operation during the American Revolutionary War. A force of Patriots led by General Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion and Lt. Colonel "Light Horse" Harry Lee set out to capture the British post at Fort Motte, the informal name of a plantation mansion fortified by the British for use as a depot because of its strategic location at the confluence of the Congaree and Wateree rivers. The British garrisoned roughly 175 British soldiers under Lt. Daniel McPherson at the fort.

Marion and Lee learned that Lord Rawdon was retreating towards Fort Motte in the aftermath of the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill. The Americans forces invested the place on May 8 and wanted to capture the fort before Rawdon arrived. Two days later, Marion called for the British to surrender and McPherson refused. The next day, Colonel Lee informed Mrs. Motte that he intended to burn the mansion down to force the British out. On May 12, 1781, the American forces had entrenched themselves close enough to the mansion they were able to hit the roof with flaming arrows. Mrs Motte, a patriot, accepted Lee's plan, and offered her own arrows for it. The mansion was set on fire. Marion's artillery fire added to the desperation of the British and, by one o'clock that afternoon, Lt. McPherson surrendered the garrison to the Patriots.