"The enemy having effected a passage into Georgia, Pickens and Dooly, now joined by Col. Clarke, resolved to follow; and they accordingly crossed the Savannah on February 12, 1779, and camped the following night within four miles of the enemy. Forming the line of march in the order of battle, the Americans now prepared once more, at a great disadvantage of numbers, to contest with the Tories for the supremacy of upper Georgia. Much depended on this battle. If Boyd should be successful in driving back the Americans under such men as Pickens and Dooly and Clarke, he might rest assured that no further molestation, at least for a very long time, would follow, and all would yield to the British power, while on the other hand should the Americans be successful, it would not only crush the Tory power, already so galling to the people, but protect them from further insult, and give a stimulus to American courage, which a long series of disasters made essential. It was a moment big with the fate of upper Georgia.

"Boyd, with a carelesness evincing great lack of military skill and prudence, had halted on the morning of the 14th of February, 1779, at a farm house near Kettle Creek, in Wilkes County, having no suspicion of the near approach of the Americans, and his army was dispersed in various directions, some killing and gathering stock, others engaged in cooking and in different operations. Having reconnoitered the enemy's position, the Americans, under Pickens, advanced in three divisions; the right under Col. Dooly, the left under Col. Clarke and the center led by the Commander himself, with orders not to fire a gun until within at least thirty paces. As the center, led by Pickens, marched to the attack, Boyd met them at the head of a select party, his line being protected by a fence filled with fallen timber, which gave him a great advantage over the troops in front. Observing this half formed abatis, Pickens filed off to a rising ground on his right, and thence gaining the flank of Boyd rushed upon him with great bravery, the enemy fleeing when they saw their leader shot down before them. He was sustained in this charge by Dooly and Clarke, and the enemy after fighting with great bravery, retired across the creek, but were rallied by Major Spurgen on a hill beyond, where the battle was again renewed with fierceness. But Col. Clarke, with about fifty Georgians, having discovered a path leading to a ford, pushed through it, though in doing so he encountered a severe fire and had his horse shot down under him, and by a circuitous route rose upon the hill in the rear of Spurgen, opening a deadly fire. The enemy hemmed in on both sides, fled, and were hotly pursued by the victors, until the conquest was complete. For an hour and a half, under great disadvantage and against a force almost double, had the Americans maintained the now unequal contest, and though once or twice it seemed as if they must give way, especially when the Tories had gained the hill and were reinforced under Spurgen; yet the masterly stroke of Clarke, with his few brave Georgians, turned the scale, and victory, bloody indeed, but complete, was ours."