The loss of Mr. Salvador was greatly deplored by the province. He was a man of prominence, intelligence and worth and his services to the American cause would have been most valuable. An interesting sketch of his life may be found in Elzas "History of Jews of South Carolina," written by Mr. A. S. Salley.
On the 8th of August, 1776, Williamson marched with 640 men upon the Indian towns. They destroyed Ostatoy, Tugaloo, Tomassee, Chehohee and Eustash; every bit of the corn was burned and the Indians were forced to live upon roots and berries, etc. The expedition was most successful and completely retrieved the defeat at Seneca. McCrady states that about this time Major Williamson was appointed colonel of the Ninety-six Regiment and upon Colonel Williamson's return to his camp he found that numbers of his men had gone home, forced to do so from fatigue, want of clothes, and other necessaries and that many who had remained were in equal distress. He was obliged therefore to grant furloughs ordering them to rejoin him at Esseneca on the 28th to which place he marched on the 16th with about six hundred men. Here he erected a fort, which in honor of the president of South Carolina, he called Fort Rutledge.
Upon the breaking out of this war application had been made to North Carolina and Virginia to co-operate with the forces of South Carolina in this region. Each of these states complied and raised a body of troops. The first under General Rutherford, to act in conjunction with the South Carolinians on this side the mountains, and the other under Colonel Christie, to act against the over-hill Cherokees. But Colonel Williamson had destroyed all the lower settlements before the North Carolinians under General Rutherford took the field.
Colonel Williamson now having increased his force to 2,300 men, broke up the camp at Esseneca; leaving 300 men as a guard to the inhabitants and as a garrison to Fort Rutledge he marched with about 2,000 men to co-operate with General Rutherford.
History tells us that the campaign was successful; the Indians received lessons they never forgot; in less than three months the Cherokees lost 2,000 and humbled and broken in spirit; they sued for peace on any terms. A treaty of pacification was signed and the Indians yielded to South Carolina a large tract of land embracing the counties of Anderson, Pickens, Oconee and Greenville.
So this is the story of the building and holding of Fort Rutledge. The remains of the old fort are well worth preserving for its foundations were laid in a period of storm and stress and suffering; its rude walls frowned upon the Indians early in the Revolution; its watch tower kept guard so that the settler's family in his humble cabin might rest in peace; with its little garrison of three hundred men it did its work well and effectually intimidated the enemies of the province in this part of the country.
After the Revolutionary war it was abandoned and gradually fell into ruins and decay but the name "Fort Hill" has always clung to it and the site never has been forgotten.—American Monthly, 1907.