Haddrell’s Point Redoubt -1780-Revolutionary War

The Haddrell’s Point Redoubt, located along the shoreline just north of the 1776 Fascine Battery, was positioned to defend the mouth of the Hog Island Channel. Anticipating the advance of Admiral Arbuthnot and his fleet, General Lincoln placed obstructions, including three large ships, two brigs, and a variety of smaller vessels, in the channel between Shute’s Folly and Charles Town. The American warships were moved to take position in the Cooper River. The only route for the British fleet to reach Charles Town or the Cooper River was via the Hog Island Channel, which was both narrower and shallower than the main channel.

On April 8, Admiral Arbuthnot and the British fleet dashed past Fort Moultrie to anchor in the harbor just off Fort Johnson, now controlled by the British army. The three gun redoubt, armed with formidable 18-pound guns, was an effective deterrent, giving Arbuthnot serious pause about attempting to send his ships through the Hog Island channel. With Fort Moultrie’s strategic role diminished after the British fleet sailed past it, Colonel Charles Cotesworth Pinckney moved from Fort Moultrie to the Haddrell’s Point Redoubt.

British General Sir Henry Clinton needed Arbuthnot’s ships in the Cooper River to compliment his ground troops’ attacks on the Charles Town neck, but Arbuthnot would not attempt the movement unless Clinton’s troops controlled Christ Church Parish and silenced the American fortifications there. On April 22, Arbuthnot communicated to Clinton that “Rebel” batteries at Haddrell’s Point “prevents me from sending armed vessels I intended through Hog Island Channel.”

On April 29, a British galley Comet ran aground at the entrance to the Hog Island Channel. Americans at Haddrell’s Point destroyed the ship as it sat helpless in the shallow water.

The Haddrell’s Point Redoubt was in the vicinity of modern-day Middle Street in Mount Pleasant.

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