December 20, Benedict Arnold, now a brigadier general in the British army, departs New York
City with 1600 men. He plans to invade Virginia.
The War in the South
On April 8, British General Henry Clinton summons General Benjamin Lincoln to surrender before beginning bombardment
of Charleston, South Carolina. Lincoln responds with a declaration to fight to the last. April 13, the British begin
bombarding the town, and on April 14, Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton and his Legion and
loyalist militia defeat Isaac Huger's troops at the battle of Monck's Corner outside the town. Having sealed the
American army in the city, on May 8 Clinton sends another summons to surrender. Lincoln again
refuses and the next evening, after further summons by Clinton, the army, according to German mercenary for the British,
Captain Johann von Ewald, "shouted 'Hurrah' three times," opened fire, and all the city's church
bells rang out in a seeming frenzy of futile resistance. Lieutenant Governor Christopher Gadsden,
who had earlier
opposed surrender, now requests that Lincoln do so to save the much damaged city from further
destruction. Gadsden is supported by two petitions by citizens.
May 12, General Benjamin Lincoln surrenders Charleston, South Carolina, to British General
Henry Clinton. German mercenary for the British, Captain Johann von Ewald, notes upon surrender that
the "garrison consisted of handsome young men whose apparel was extremely ragged, and on the
whole the people looked greatly starved." Officers are confined on land, while enlisted soldiers are
held in prison ships in the harbor. A Virginia Continental regiment on its way to aid Charleston
gets as far as the Santee River before learning of the surrender and then turns back to North Carolina. Clinton's
proclamation to the citizens of South Carolina calls for a declaration of allegiance to the Crown.
(Johann von Ewald, Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal [New Haven and London: 1979].)
George Washington's
letterbook copy of
Benjamin Lincoln's April 21, 1780, letter
to Sir
Henry Clinton expressing a willingness to discuss terms of surrender of
Charleston. George Washington Papers.
|
June 5, Henry Clinton sails back to New York, leaving General Charles Cornwallis in command with orders to move into
the interior of South Carolina and to finish subduing the south.
June 11, Washington writes Connecticut governor, Jonathan Trumbull, that the capture of
Charleston may force the British to "dissipate their force." In a June 14 letter to James Bowdoin,
governor of Massachusetts, Washington writes that the loss or "Something like it seems to have
been necessary, to rouse us...."
George Washington to Jonathan Trumbull, June 11, 1780 |
George Washington to James Bowdoin, June 14, 1780
July 25, American General Horatio Gates arrives in Coxe's Mill, North Carolina, to take command of a
reconstituted southern army. The Maryland and Delaware Continental regiments sent by
Washington have arrived under command of Baron Johann de Kalb. Two-thirds of Gates's army
will consist of Virginia and North Carolina militia.
August 16, the Battle of Camden, South Carolina. Gates's army marches to Camden in hope of
surprising the British there but instead runs into them by mistake. De Kalb is mortally wounded, and after
heavy fighting Gates is forced to retreat by Lord Rawdon and Cornwallis and their forces. Of the
approximately 4,000 American troops, only about 700 are left to rejoin Gates at Hillsboro.
Washington writes Thomas Jefferson, governor of Virginia, with news of the heavy loss.
George Washington to Thomas Jefferson, September 11, 1780
August 20, General Francis Marion and militia attack a British detachment, rescuing the Maryland
regiment captured at Camden.
September 8, British General Charles Cornwallis begins his invasion of North Carolina.
October 10, Washington writes Thomas Jefferson, governor of Virginia, on the state of the Army and on British General Cornwallis's severity in his progress through the
south. Washington refers to a letter Cornwallis has written to a fellow British officer, a transcript
of which Washington has received, in which Cornwallis outlines punishments for rebels. [The text
of Cornwallis's letter is reproduced in annotation in the transcription linked to this document.]
Washington closes his letter to Jefferson with a full history of Benedict Arnold's defection to the
British.
George Washington to Thomas Jefferson, October 10, 1780
News from America,
or the Patriots in the dumps.
1776 Dec. 1]
from Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
Reproduction #:
(color)LC-USZC4-5291
|
October 7, the Battle of King's Mountain in North Carolina. Cornwallis sends Major Patrick
Ferguson ahead of him to raise loyalist troops in North Carolina. Prior to the march to King's
Mountain, Ferguson sends a threatening message ahead that he will lay waste to the land if its
inhabitants do not cease resistance. This so angers southern militia that they quickly raise a force
and brutally defeat Ferguson and his troops. With King's Mountain, Cornwallis begins to realize
that loyalist sentiment has been overestimated in British plans to subdue the south. Washington
writes Abner Nash, governor of North Carolina, about the "success of the militia against Col
Ferguson."
George Washington to Abner Nash, November 6, 1780
December 2, Nathanael Greene replaces Horatio Gates as commander of the American southern army. He assumes command in Charlotte, North Carolina. His officers are Brigadier General Daniel
Morgan, Lieutenant Colonel William Washington (a cousin of George Washington), and
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lee and his Legion. When Greene arrives in the south, he is appalled at
the brutality and extent of the civil war between patriots and loyalists.
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