American Revolutionary War: Encyclopedia II - American Revolutionary War - War in the South

American Revolutionary War - War in the South

During the first three years of the American Revolutionary War, the primary military encounters were in the North. One notable exception was in June 1776, when General Henry Clinton sailed south to attack Charleston, South Carolina. This ended in humiliating defeat for the British, and the Patriots remained in control of the southern states for the next three years. Starting in 1778, the British once again turned their attention to Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, where they hoped to regain control by recruiting thousands of Loyalists.

On December 29, 1778, an expeditionary corps of 3,500 men from Clinton's army in New York captured Savannah, Georgia. An attempt by French and Revolutionary forces to retake Savannah failed on October 9, 1779. In this assault, Count Casimir Pulaski, the Polish commander of American Revolutionary cavalry, was mortally wounded. With Savannah secured, Clinton could now launch a new assault on Charleston, South Carolina, where he had failed in 1776.

American Revolutionary War - Carolinas 1780 to 1781

Clinton finally moved against Charleston in 1780, blockading the harbor in March, and building up about 10,000 troops in the area. Inside the city, General Benjamin Lincoln commanded about 2,650 Continentals and 2,500 militiamen. When British Colonel Banastre Tarleton cut off the city's supply lines in victories at Monck's Corner in April and Lenud's Ferry in early May, Charleston was surrounded.

On May 12, 1780, General Lincoln surrendered his 5,000 men—the largest surrender of U.S. troops until the American Civil War. With relatively few casualties, Clinton had seized the South’s biggest city and seaport, winning perhaps the greatest British victory of the war, and paving the way for what seemed like certain conquest of the South.

The remnants of the southern Continental Army began to withdraw to North Carolina, but were pursued by Colonel Tarleton, who defeated them at the Battle of Waxhaws on May 29, 1780. Among the Americans , a story spread that Tarleton had massacred many Americans after they had surrendered (the truth of this charge is still debated). “Bloody Tarleton” became a hated name, and “Tarleton’s quarter”—referring to his reputed lack of mercy (or “quarter”)—soon became a rallying cry.

With these events, organized American military activity in the South had collapsed. The states however carried on their functions, and the war was carried on by partisans such as Francis Marion. General Clinton turned over British operations in the South to Lord Cornwallis. The Continental Congress dispatched General Horatio Gates, to the rescue with a new army. But Gates promptly suffered one of the worst defeats in U.S. military history at the Battle of Camden on August 16, 1780, setting the stage for Cornwallis to invade North Carolina.

The tables were quickly turned on Cornwallis, however. One wing of his army was utterly defeated at the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780, delaying his move into North Carolina. Kings Mountain was noteworthy because it was not a battle between British redcoats and colonial troops: it was a battle between American Loyalists and American Patriots. The British plan to raise large Loyalist armies failed; not enough Loyalists enlisted, and those who did were at risk once the British army moved on. Only in Georgia did the Crown manage to create a counter-revolutionary civil government.

Gates was replaced by George Washington's most dependable subordinate, General Nathanael Greene. Greene assigned about 1,000 men to General Daniel Morgan, a superb tactician who crushed Tarleton’s troops at the Battle of Cowpens on January 17, 1781. Greene proceeded to wear down his opponents in a series of battles (Guilford Court House, Hobkirk's Hill, Ninety Six, and Eutaw Springs), each of them tactically a victory for the British, but giving no strategic advantage to the victors. Greene summed up his approach in a motto that would become famous: "We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again." Unable to capture or destroy Greene's army, Cornwallis moved north to to Virginia.

American Revolutionary War - Virginia 1775 to 1781

Virginia had been under revolutionary control since Loyalist forces (including runaway slaves) under Governor Dunmore had been defeated at the Battle of Great Bridge on December 9, 1775. After the defeat, Dunmore and his troops took refuge on British ships off of Norfolk, which Dunmore bombarded and burned on January 1, 1776. He was driven from an island in Chesapeake Bay that summer, never to return.

British forces raided Virginia sporadically during the war. In January 1781, the rebel capital of Richmond was put to the torch by none other than Benedict Arnold, now a turncoat, who had sold his services to the other side and was now a British general.

In March 1781, General Washington dispatched Lafayette to defend Virginia. The young Frenchman had 3,200 men at his command, but British troops in the state, now reinforced and commanded by Cornwallis, totaled 7,200. Lafayette skirmished with Cornwallis, avoiding a decisive battle while gathering reinforcements. "The boy cannot escape me," Cornwallis is supposed to have said. However, Cornwallis was unable to trap Lafayette, and so he moved his forces to Yorktown, Virginia in July in order to link up with the British navy.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "War in the South", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki