Property Description
Major General Lord Charles Cornwallis retreated towards Wilmington, North Carolina to resupply after the March 15, 1781, battle at Guilford Courthouse. Beyond pursuit of him, Southern Department Commander Major General Nathanael Greene "determined to carry the war immediately into South Carolina. The British control of the interior of South Carolina depended on their major depots at Georgetown, Camden, Ninety Six, and Augusta, Georgia, and numerous intermittent posts. Greene began his march on April 7 and arrived on April 20. Green's well-chosen camp was established on the crest of Hobkirk's Hill. The subject property was the Patriot right-flank occupied by a Virginia Continental regiment commanded by Lt. Colonel Richard Campbell.
In the ensuing battle, the Patriots lost 21 killed, 113 wounded, 47 captured, and 89 missing. British casualties were 39 killed, 210 wounded, and 12 missing. "The conflict was short and seemed once to promise us advantage, but we were obliged to retire... with no material loss. We are now within five miles of Camden and shall closely invest it in a day or two again," Greene wrote to Francis Marion on April 26. The battle was a technical win for the British. It was, however, a strategic win for Greene. After the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill, the British chose to abandon their post at Camden.
The 1.72-acre Conder Property in Camden would be the second part of the battlefield at Hobkirk Hill to be preserved. In 2007, the National Park Service in its Report to Congress on the Historic Preservation of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the United States ranked the Hobkirk's Hill battlefield as a high priority battlefield needing protection, making the subject property eligible for a matching Federal grant.
This property would become part of the South Carolina Liberty Trail, The South Carolina Liberty Trail is a partnership between the SC Battleground Trust and the American Battlefield Trust in Washington, DC. The ambition is to create a driving tour network of seventy Revolutionary War battlefields throughout the State and connect to smaller and related historic and cultural sites through an innovative APP now in development.