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The Siege of Charleston was one of the major battles which took place towards the end of the American Revolutionary War, after the British began to shift their strategic focus towards the Southern Colonies. As a defeat, it was the biggest loss of troops suffered to the Continental Army in the war. By contrast, General Washington avoided attempts to match force on force and adroitly avoided getting his forces pinned strategically so the superior British communications (SLOC) could assemble a crushing blow. At the same time, Washington, at the least with his aide and sub-commander General Lafayette, was cognizant of efforts to bring in the Kingdom of France against the British.
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Background
From 1777 to 1778, the British had considerable success in the southern colonies, namely in the Province of Georgia with the Siege of Savannah, whereas the waiting strategy of maneuver adopted by Washington leading the southern army, had the British freedom of action stymied, and with near parity of forces, the conflict was essentially a stalemate. The amount of battles won in the south by the British in 1779 immensely increased in the following year, when they victoriously swept up through South and North Carolina.
Siege
After failing to achieve any advantage in the north in 1779, the British government instructed Sir Henry Clinton to head a combined military and naval expedition southward. He evacuated Newport, Rhode Island, on October 25 and left New York in command of Hessian General Wilhelm von Knyphausen. In December, he sailed with 8,500 men to join Marc Prevost at Savannah. Charles Cornwallis accompanied him, and later Lord Rawdon joined him with an additional force totaling around 14,000 men. Marching upon Charleston, Clinton cut off the city from relief, and after a long siege, he compelled American General Benjamin Lincoln to surrender on May 12. The loss of the city and its 5,000 troops was a serious blow to the American cause. The apparent submission of South Carolina followed. In June, Clinton returned to New York City, leaving Cornwallis in command, with instructions to also reduce North Carolina.
Consequences
Meanwhile an active and bitter partisan warfare begun. The British advance had been marked by more than the usual destruction of war; the Loyalists rose to arms; the Whig population scattered and without much organization formed groups of riflemen and mounted troopers to harass the enemy. Little mercy was shown on either side. On April 14, 1780, Colonel Banastre Tarleton decimated a detachment of Lincoln's cavalry and followed it up by practically destroying Buford's Virginia regiment near the North Carolina border.
References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
Trivia
- Tarleton Campaign's reports total of 5,283 captured.
