Historical Marker for the Battle of Blue Savannah

On Sept. 3, 1780, Lt. Col. Francis Marion led his men to Port’s Ferry, south of here, where they crossed the Pee Dee River. Before dawn on Sept. 4, Marion’s mounted command of about 53 men marched and attacked an advance part of loyalist militia volunteers in Maj. Micajah Ganey’s force, led by Capt. Jesse Barfield.

During a second skirmish, occurring roughly three miles north, in the vicinity of a Carolina Bay known as Blue Savannah, Marion again attacked and dispersed a larger detachment of approximately 200 loyalists. Marion’s victory here encouraged new recruits to join his force. Reinforcements to the local Tory militia, however, soon forced the Patriot militia leaders to withdraw from here into N.C.