Imagine singing "God Save the Queen" rather than the "Star-Spangled Banner."

Were it not for a Revolutionary War battle fought in eastern Orangeburg County 225 years ago, that may well have been the case for South and North Carolinians and Georgians.

"It's the culminating battle of (Brig. Gen. Nathanael) Greene's campaign to take back the South, so the British couldn't claim it," Dr. Christine Swager said. "It was the last time the British faced the Americans in force."

It was the Battle of Eutaw Springs, and this weekend, Sept. 2-3, more than 200 re-enactors from Florida to Virginia are scheduled to appear representing both British and Continental troops and South Carolina militia.

The Saturday-Sunday event will mark the first time in 25 years that the last major battle of the Revolutionary War has been re-enacted.

The author of several works on the war, Swager will lecture at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 1, in Eutawville's Episcopal Church of the Epiphany as to why the Eutaw Springs battle was critical not only to the war effort, but to the formation of the colonies as well.

On Sept. 8, 1781, Continental Brig. Gen. Greene gathered nearly 2,000 troops who were able to slip nearly undetected onto the picket lines of British Lt. Col. Alexander Stewart's army of equal number. In the end, both sides claimed victory.

Under international law of the day, an occupying army could claim territory as war prizes, Swager said. Hence, should the war have ended five weeks later at Yorktown with the lower colonies under British control, those colonies could have remained British territory.

"Without that campaign, there would of only been 10 colonies," she said. "They (the British) could have kept everything they held."

This weekend's living history is scheduled to include military encampments with explanations on camp life, muskets, rifles and cannon fire. Visitors will also be offered a chance to learn military tactics of the period.

The event is being sponsored by the Town of Eutawville and the Second Regiment South Carolina Line Continental Establishment.

The campsite, set up off Torrington Street outside Eutawville, will open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

The Eutaw Springs battle re-enactment is slated for 4:30 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Admission to the events are free, however, there will be a $5 parking fee per car. Lawn chairs and picnic baskets are encouraged.

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.

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