Daufuskie Island Nomination for Historic Registry

The earliest recorded reference found to Daufuskie Island history dates back to 1701 when Fort Passage, a lookout (clapboard hut and crude tower) ordered by the colonial legislature, was apparently established at Bloody Point (#372). It was garrisoned by a scout boat crew, whose duty was to patrol the inland passage (Intracoastal Waterway), alert for the approach of Indian raiding parties.

A 1715 Yemassee War ambush called the "Daufuskie fight," which took place on the island's southwestern point and which left thirty Yemassee Indians dead, was followed in 1728 by a surprise attack on the scout boat forces encamped at Bloody Point, in which all but the commander were killed.

A 1715 Yemassee War ambush called the "Daufuskie fight," which took place on the island's southwestern point and which left thirty Yemassee Indians dead, was followed in 1728 by a surprise attack on the scout boat forces encamped at Bloody Point, in which all but the commander were killed. It is the latter battle of the long Yemasee conflict which gives the site its name. It may have prompted the execution of Palmer's Raid, planned in 1727 but not set in motion until one month after the Bloody Point disaster. Col. John Palmer and a crew of South Carolina scouts attacked and destroyed the Yemassee towns near St. Augustine, Florida, during early March 1728, after which the Yemassee raids on South Coastal plantations abated.