In the Summer of 1780, war raged in the backcountry of South Carolina. It was truly America’s first Civil War, as most men on both sides had never been to Great Britain which meant it was American fighting American, and the style of battle between them was particularly brutal and gruesome, a trait their descendants would emulate some 80 years later. The Battle of Musgroves Mill was a tipping point of sorts, leading Patrick Ferguson to make a declaration that angered the backcountry woodsmen and led them to form up in militia to deal with him.