About the same date [December, 1775] an expedition under Colonels Martin Polk and Rutherford marched from the Western part of the State against the Tories (called Scovilites, after the name of a Royalist emissary) in the Northwestern section of South Carolina; and in connection with the troops of that State under General Richardson and Colonel Thompson, drove the Tory Commanders, Cunningham and Fletcher from the siege of the Village of Ninety-Six, and on their retreat surprised and defeated them, with the capture of four hundred of their followers. This is known in tradition as the Snow Camp Campaign, from the violent snow storms with which its camps were visited.