On this day 250 years ago in what is now Oconee County, South Carolina, but was then in the territory of the Cherokee Nation, a scouting party of 25 South Carolina Militia led by Captain Andrew Pickens was ambushed by a much larger party of Cherokees. The Cherokees had at least175 warriors and surrounded the militia but Pickens ordered his men to form a ring with men shooting out from the ring and falling back into the middle of the ring to reload. This battle would become known as the “Ring Fight” and was a defeat for the Cherokees who lost 65 men killed and 14 wounded. Some reports assert that the only casualty of the South Carolina militia was one man wounded but a more credible assessment is that the militia had 11 men killed.

Sources: https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/ring-fight; https://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/andrew-pickens-wins-ring-fight.html; https://revolutionarywarjournal.com/brigadier-general-andrew-pickens/; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=152185; Parker’s Guide at 363

On that day 250 years ago in Virginia, Baptist ministers wrote Governor Patrick Henry to thank him for his “constant attachment to the glorious cause of liberty, and the rights of conscience.”

At our Nation’s founding, Baptists were united. in their commitment to the separation of church and state.

“A Rebel Takes the Reins”, Trend & Tradition (Summer 2026) at 29