EUTAWVILLE -- David Battle wanted to give his nine-year-old son, Wesley, a living history lesson.

John Moss wanted "to pay respect to our ancestors for what they've done for this country."

Palmer W. Olliff wanted to gain a better understanding of a pivotal event in his great-great-grandfather's life.

They were among the hundreds of people who gathered Saturday for the 225th anniversary re-enactment of the Battle of Eutaw Springs.

The event was held in newly harvested corn fields owned by Pinckney Thomas on Torrington Road, southeast of town.

Visitors were invited to browse an authentic replica of a British encampment: dozens of plain white tents, pitched in even rows, with men, women and children all attired in authentic period attire.

Distant sounds of gunfire were the first indication that the battle re-enactment had begun. Smoke curled up from behind the trees.

Then cannon fire shook the ground. There was more smoke, more gunfire, more cannon fire. Soon the audience could hear fifes and drums and yells.

The narrator, Herb Puckett of Georgetown, explained over the loudspeaker that the fifes and drums were used to communicate commands to the fighting forces.

Then the combatants came into view, demonstrating war tactics from a mounted cavalry charge to the use of artillery.

Puckett said the original clash began when the two armies "bumped into each other" near what is now St. Julien Plantation.

The British were considered, at the time, the best military in the world. But the Continentals inflicted so many casualties in the three-hour conflict that the British fled their camp, hightailed it to Charleston and stayed there.

"The British lost so many troops here, they never really had the power to do anything else. All they could do is draw back," said Frank Waters Jr. of Orangeburg.

Waters, a Revolutionary War buff, brought his 18-year-old twins Tripp and Leslie to the re-enactment "to get a better understanding of what took place."

"Most of the Revolutionary War battles took place in the South," Waters said. "The Revolutionary War was fought and won in the state of South Carolina, actually. We beat Tarleton at the Battle of Cowpens. That really was the turning point of the war. By beating him, they beat Cornwallis."

It's one thing to read about such events in a history book, as third-grader Wesley Battle did in school last year.

But his dad, David, brought him to Saturday's event because "we wanted him to see something a little bit more tangible, get a feel of what it would be like. This was an opportunity to see it as close and as personal as you can in this day and age."

It was really personal for 83-year-old Palmer W. Olliff of Charleston, whose great-great-grandfather, John Shears Olliff, was one of 150 North Carolinians who were recruited by Continental Gen. Nathanael Greene to fight at Eutaw Springs.

For his military service, Olliff was rewarded with acreage near Metter, Ga. He needed it: he had 15 children. Descendants still live in that area.

This weekend's event is the first re-enactment of the Battle of Eutaw Springs since a United States bicentennial production in 1976, Puckett said.

"The people that are here this weekend are really top-of-the-notch," he said. They have done "hundreds and hundreds of hours of research" and have spent "probably more money than anyone of us will admit to our wives."

Some of the outfits cost thousands of dollars, he said.

John Moss of Boiling Springs said the re-enactments combine his loves of camping, history and weaponry.

"It's a learning experience: you learn something every time. You can read about going to these things, but coming out and actually participating in one gives you more of the feeling of what them fellows went through," Moss said.

"Still, we don't get the full-fledge. I mean, we're out here for the weekend. We know we can go home, get good showers, go to bed, we can stop and go up the road and get a good meal."

"Them fellows didn't have all that. In fact, they probably wouldn't have had as much as we've got here. Although everything we've got is authentic, an officer probably would have had all this stuff, but we poor militiamen probably would have had what we could have carried on a backpack or on a horse."

Mrs. David Thompson of Greensboro, N.C., has been participating in re-enactments for about four years.

"A friend talked me into it," she said. "I was sold right away. My husband wasn't." He hesitated at having to wear 18th century clothing.

"Then he got to shoot the gun, and that was it. He was sold. He's been involved ever since. That's what sells most of the guys. History is a big plus, but shooting the guns, that's it. That gets them in every time," Thompson said.

"Our group goes to at least one (re-enactment) a month. This past year, sometimes three a month, because it's the 225th anniversary of a lot of the battles."

"This all will lead up to Yorktown, the third weekend in October. That was the deciding battle of the war. There will be thousands of re-enactors there," Thompson said.

Local aficionados won't have to wait that long to see combat revisited. The Battle of Eutaw Springs will be re-enacted again at 1:30 p.m. today.

Saturday's presentation was, in some ways, a dress rehearsal, Puckett said. "We'll do it a lot better (Sunday)."

T&D Staff Writer Lee Hendren can be reached by e-mail at lhendren@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5552. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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