On this day 250 years ago at the “Black Hole” on the Coweecho River in present-day Macon County, North Carolina, about 500 Cherokees and 50 Loyalists ambushed the vanguard of Col. Andrew Williamson’s column of 1696 South Carolina militia and about 50 Catawbas under Kesegowaase that was invading Cherokee territory. The Americans won because the Cherokees ran out of ammunition but lost 12 militiamen and one Catawba killed and 26 (including 2 Catawbas) wounded. The Cherokee had 9 killed and 8 wounded and 13 Loyalists were captured.

I have been able to find the names of 8 of the South Carolina militiamen killed at the Battle of Black Hole: Samuel Thomson, John Brannen, Lt. James Lusk, John Guyton, William Moore, James Caldwell, a man named “Sentspeers”, and another with the name of “Linch” (probably Lynch). Some of the wounded militiamen had very serious wounds. A North Carolina militiaman recorded the names of some of the wounded South Carolina militiamen who were evacuated to the protection of the North Carolina forces:

Thomas Ha_ry. Shott in the Small back
Wm. Hammond. Tomahawked Scalped and his Left Thigh Broke
James Hooper. shott about 4 Inches above the pap of the left Breast the ball Cutt out under the Shoulder blade
Zachariah Taylor. in the Left Shoulder ranging to the Right Armpitt
Mosses Landon in both Thighs
Robert Harper in the Left arm
Morgan C____ in the Shoulder
Saml. Mahoons in the Shoulder
Willm. McCracon in the rist

It is unlikely that each of these men survived their wounds.

Sources: https://amrevnc.com/battle-of-the-black-hole/; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Coweecho_River; https://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/revolution_coweecho_river.htmlhttps://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2016/09/19/cherokee-defeat-south-carolina-militia-1776; https://ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?MarkerId=Q-7; https://smokymountainnews.com/news/news-latest/searching-for-the-black-hole/; https://filsonhistorical.org/wp-content/uploads/FHS-Mss-A-C187-26-William-Dells-Military-Journal.pdf