Closing Scenes in the Southern Theater of the Revolutionary War
By the late summer of 1781, the American Revolution was drawing to a close. Hoping to inflict more damage to the British, Major General Nathanael Greene planned a strike at the one remaining British army in South Carolina. The Battle of Eutaw Springs, fought on September 8, 1781, sixty miles from Charleston, resulted in another frustrating loss for General Nathanael Greene and his Continental Army, a fight Greene described as the most obstinate he ever saw.
Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, discusses the closing scenes in the southern theater of the American Revolution and why it still matters today.
Images courtesy of Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery - Smithsonian Institution, The New York Public Library, Yale University Art Gallery, National Army Museum, New York Historical Society Museum and Library, Brown University Library, University of North Carolina University Libraries, Wikipedia.
By the late summer of 1781, the American Revolution in the south was drawing to a close. Hoping to inflict more damage to the British, Major General Nathanael Greene, the commander of the southern Continental Army, planned a strike at the one remaining British army in South Carolina.
In the spring of 1781, American forces under General Nathanael Greene rolled up the British garrisons in the interior of the Carolinas one by one. The last British holdout was the fortified town of Ninety Six, in the foothills of western South Carolina. Greene arrived on the scene with 1,000 men and commenced the siege of Ninety Six on May 22.
When General Nathanael Greene crossed the Dan River and escaped to Virginia on February 14, 1781, Lord Charles Cornwallis’s British army controlled all of North Carolina, and most of South Carolina and Georgia. Within the short span of seven weeks, all that would change.
Following the successful conclusion of the Race to the Dan, General Nathanael Greene and his southern army was safe for the moment from the British troops under Lord Charles Cornwallis just across the river. Due to a lack of supplies in the area, Cornwallis retreated to Hillsboro, about sixty miles southeast, to get refitted. By late February, Greene had received reinforcements, recrossed the Dan, and had the American army back in North Carolina.
The Battle of Cowpens on January 17, 1781, was a great victory for Daniel Morgan and his army of Continentals and militiamen. They had virtually annihilated Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s famed British Legion, but Morgan’s contingent was in a dangerous position, with a larger British force under Lord Charles Cornwallis only twenty-five miles away. The race was now on to get to a place of safety.
Despite the disastrous defeat at King’s Mountain on October 7, 1780 and several victories by Patriot partisans, Lord Charles Cornwallis and the British army still controlled most of South Carolina and Georgia at end of 1780. The new year would see a reverse of fortunes for the American cause as two gifted commanders, Major General Nathanael Greene and Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, took the helm of the southern Continental Army.
Nathanael Greene was one of the greatest American generals to emerge from the American Revolution. Without any formal military training or any experience, Greene developed into a leader feared and respected by his British counterparts.
This Continental Army General’s family arrived in America in the mid-1600s and soon became prominent and prosperous in their region. As a youth, he had little formal education but managed to find time to study great military leaders of the past. During our War for Independence, he lost most of the battles he fought but managed to hold his thread-bare regiments together.
In July 1780, Patriot partisan bands in the backcountry of South Carolina launched a series of successful attacks on Loyalist contingents, weakening the British hold on the state. These rapid-fire engagements continued into August as six more Patriot partisan victories were sandwiched around the disastrous Continental Army defeat at Camden and the capture of an American supply train at Fishing Creek.
As dawn broke on the morning of August 16, 1780, the British army under Lord Charles Cornwallis and the American southern army under Major General Horatio Gates were half a mile apart, preparing to do battle. It would be a short affair, but a costly one for the Americans.
The surrender of Charleston and its entire 5,000-man garrison on May 12, 1780, essentially eliminated the American southern Continental Army. At that point, Lord Charles Cornwallis and his British legions were able to operate virtually unopposed in South Carolina.
Nathanael Greene was truly the savior of the south, and significantly responsible for winning the American Revolution. His contemporaries recognized this fact, and awards, accolades, and even land grants were given to Greene.