This Day in History- A Clever Victory Without a Shot: William Washington Captures Rugeley’s Loyalists December 4, 1780

BUCKHANNON, WV — December 4, 2025

On this day in American history, a small but remarkable Revolutionary War action unfolded in the Carolina backcountry, one that required more creativity than gunpowder. On December 4, 1780, Continental cavalry officer Lt. Col. William Washington cornered Loyalist commander Colonel Rowland Rugeley and more than one hundred of his men near Camden, South Carolina. The surrender became one of the most unusual victories of the Southern Campaign, remembered not for bloodshed, but for Washington’s ability to outthink the enemy using little more than a disguised tree trunk.

Historical accounts describe Rugeley’s forces entrenched at a fortified barn and house complex known as Rugeley’s Mill. Washington, operating under Major General Nathanael Greene, approached the outpost with mounted dragoons but lacked artillery to force a direct assault. Instead of engaging in a costly firefight, he ordered his men to fashion a mock cannon, a cut log wrapped in cowhide, and roll it into view as though they were preparing to open fire. The ruse worked instantly. Rugeley surrendered his entire command without a single shot.

The event is confirmed directly through first-hand documentation. In a letter dated December 9, 1780, William Washington reported to General Greene that he summoned Rugeley to surrender on the 4th and that the Loyalist commander “complied without firing a shot.” Greene, in turn, recorded the action in an official dispatch to the President of the Continental Congress, stating that Washington “has taken Rugeley and upwards of one hundred of the enemy… on the 4th of this month.” Even British leadership acknowledged the loss; Lord Cornwallis wrote to London describing Rugeley’s capture along with “upwards of one hundred men.”

Further corroboration appears in detailed Revolutionary War pension testimonies from militiamen who served in the region, as well as in Banastre Tarleton’s campaign history published shortly after the war. Regardless of perspective—American or British—the outcome is consistently described the same: a force of Loyalists surrendered en masse after being bluffed by a false artillery piece.

While small in scale compared to the large battles of the Southern theater, the capture at Rugeley’s Mill removed a Loyalist stronghold without risking soldiers’ lives. The operation contributed to Greene’s broader strategy of undermining British control through rapid, precise strikes rather than costly engagements. Today, it stands as a reminder that ingenuity, discipline, and strategic deception were as valuable in the Revolution as any musket or cannon.

At the Appalachian Post, every history article is built on one standard: what can be proven through verifiable first-hand sources. We rely on original documents, eyewitness accounts, military records, government archives, and contemporary writings from the period being studied. We do not rely on legend, hearsay, or modern reinterpretations unless clearly identified as secondary commentary. Our goal is to present the past as it actually appears in the surviving evidence — clearly, accurately, and without speculative narrative, so readers can engage history based on authentic documentation rather than modern assumptions.

Primary First-Hand Sources

• William Washington, report to General Nathanael Greene, December 9, 1780. (U.S. Library of Congress Manuscript Division – Greene Letterbook, Southern Campaign)
• Major General Nathanael Greene, dispatch to Samuel Huntington, President of Congress, December 14, 1780. (National Archives – Journals of the Continental Congress & Revolutionary War Papers)
• Lord Cornwallis, report to Lord George Germain, December 11, 1780. (British National Archives – Colonial Office Records)
• Revolutionary War Pension Testimonies of James Collins, Thomas Young, and Samuel Hammond describing the “taking of Rugeley’s Mill.” (National Archives – Southern Campaign Pension Files, Microfilm T244)
• Banastre Tarleton, A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781, eyewitness military account published 1787.