A number of Loyalists fled to the nearby Cherokee towns (located in and around present-day western South Carolina in the southern Appalachian Mountains), where they were given refuge.

[citation needed] By early 1776, a delegation of northern Indians had arrived in the Cherokee villages, and convinced the younger generation of warriors to "take up the hatchet" against the colonists.

Henry Laurens wrote that the Cherokee attacked "very suddenly, without any pretense to Provocation those treacherous Devils in various Parties headed by White Men", killing as many as 60 South Carolinians.

A militia company under Major Jonathan Downs arrived at the fort on July 14, raising the total number of armed defenders to about 150.

Between late July and early October 1776, militia forces numbering in the thousands entered Cherokee land, destroying crops and villages.